Star Wars: Legion Project - The Imps

I am a big Star Wars fan. Star Wars (the 1977 film) changed my life, inculcating a lifelong love of science fiction and fantasy. However, it took me almost two years to pull the trigger on FFG's miniature war game, Star Wars: Legion, after its release in 2018.

The rules are elegant. Combat, at its heart, is an opposed dice roll, whose outcome results in both casualties and morale effects, including suppression and panic. The various effects and stratagems really have a Star Wars feel to them.

The figures are well sculpted. But. They are also 40mm tall. Darth Vader is even taller. Which means all the Star Wars figures I have collected for the past almost 30 years are not compatible with the new figures; the old figs are too small. This also means that my pre-existing building terrain is too small.

A certain critical mass was achieved during the Game-itoba convention last fall. As I ran What a Tanker! several times, on the next table over the Winnipeg Wookies game club ran Star Wars: Legion, which I watched when I could throughout the day. At weekend's end, I contacted Brian at Amuse 'N Games and went all-in, purchasing a starter set and several trooper and vehicle expansion boxes. I also went all-in on the terrain, obtaining all the Galactic Warzones terrain (including some dupes) from GF9, and have ordered some really neat stuff on Etsy that I am saving as a bit of a surprise.

My intent is to provide both sides' forces in a series of linked games for my fellow Conscripts. To that end, I have collected a selection of both Imperial and Rebel units for everyone to game with. Approaching 70 figures and vehicles, this was waaaay too much for me to tackle by myself. So, I enlisted the aid of fellow modelers Steve Brown and Cody Bernard. I commissioned Steve to paint the bulk of the Imperial forces, and Cody the Rebels. (That left for me to paint some of the heroes of the Galactic Civil War: Jedi Luke Skywalker, his sister Princess Leia, Han, Chewie, Artoo, Threepio, Boba Fett, General Veers, Mandalorian Sabine Wren, and Bossk.)

This post shows the main components of Steve's Imperial commission, which was completed last week.

At the top of the page is Darth Vader. The pose is suitable menacing, showing Vader Force-choking some hapless victim. Steve rendered both the varying textures of Vader's uniform, and the glow of his red lightsaber, very well.

Below, two squads of the ubiquitous Imperial Stormtroopers, with some optional heavy weapons. I  really like how Steve rendered their armour. There's no white involved, just varying shades of darker and lighter grey! The groundwork and dusty boots fit the desert planet theme I have in mind.








Below is an Imperial Officer, a communications tech, and a couple of droids. The Officer provides a much cheaper (points-wise) commander option than Vader, and the others provide different kinds of tactical support in-game.




Below, a unit of Scout Troopers riding speeder bikes. They will allow for fast, deep striking attacks. The bikes are suitably lean and mean looking. The pose of the one firing a Parthian Shot is neat.




Another unit of Scouts on speeder bikes.




Below is the heavy metal of my Imperial forces. An Imperial All Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) walker, armed to the teeth. The weathering effects are well rendered.




The model is huge. Recall, the officer figure is about 40mm tall.




With these models I am ready to run the Imperial side of the first three games in a Star Wars campaign setting. Steve has more Stormtroopers on the go for me; another full squad, and some different heavy weapon and support troops.

I was so excited to receive these models. They evoke fond memories of movies past, and they will allow us to fight some key moments in an alternate history of "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

Painting Challenge Submission 13 - Female WW2 Russian Scout in 28mm

Death to the fascist invaders! 28mm figure from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range.

In Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I continue to plot my way along the "Challenge Island" map (for info on how and why the participants do that, see here).  I needed another balloon ride, and so I looked for another chance to paint a female figure.  The Soviet Army of WW2 offered a great opportunity to do so.

28mm Female Russian Infantry Scout

Dangerous work, close to the enemy - a female scout for my 28mm winter WW2 Russians.

As you have seen I have been working on a 28mm winter WW2 project.  Amid the many submissions involving various late WW2 Germans, a few have asked if and when their tabletop opposition might appear? Well, I'm hoping Dallas will get his 28mm winter US troops organized for some "Battle of The Bulge" games.  But in terms of painting opposition myself, well, I'm focused on the Eastern Front as always, so this is the first opponent - a 28mm Female Russian Infantry Scout.  This is a metal figure from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" Range.

As always, great details on these metal sculpts from Warlord.

The "scout" set from Warlord's WW2 Russian figure range is not intended for winter, strictly speaking.  They are sculpted wearing the "ameoba" style body suits, which are often seen in browns and a (rather bright) green.  So I'm taking artistic license of a sort - I don't think it's a huge reach, as scouting would still need to be done during the winter fighting, so I just painted the suit white instead.  Warlord also tends to give you some options for alternate heads for the figures, and they include a female head among them - so I thought this would be a great figure to accompany a passage on Lady Sarah's Balloon.

No reason the scout suits couldn't be white, right?

The war in the east in WW2 was so tremendous and vast in scale.  I read about it, I try to study it...but it is hard to truly understand or picture, such a complete and total mobilization of an entire people across vast distances in an all-out effort to repel the Germans and their allies, and vanquish them totally.  Of course all the main countries in the conflict did the most they could to pit their entire national power into the effort - it was total war. But in the east, and Russia in particular...the scale, it was incredible, and the sacrifice it took - the numbers get so large, so fast, they sort of lose their impact.

Russian women - fighting at the front lines.

Women made tremendous contributions to the Allied war effort in many countries. But in the case of Russia, this contribution stood out to my mind.  Russian women - hundreds of thousands of them - served in what were thought of as traditional non combatant roles - nurses, medical support, industry.  But huge swathes of Russian territory came under occupation, and as the front lines found the Russian people, Russian women made important contributions to front-line fighting.  As pilots, snipers, partisans, machine gunners, all in the front line - decorated for bravery and courage under fire, and in untold cases, making the ultimate sacrifice along side so, so many of their fellow people.

Once again, some fine blanquette from Limoux to enjoy during the balloon trip.

Bad Squiddo Games have some fantastic sculpts of female Russian soldiers - just look here for some examples painted by the incredibly talented Dave V. I will look to add one of their sniper teams down the road. But the scouts will work for now, and I thought it would be great to have one of my first 28mm Russian painted as part of the small scouting squad, the first of what I hope will be a healthy-sized collection of 28mm Winter Russians to oppose all of the Germans I have been painting.  Scouting is dangerous work, but she is more than up to the task...we see here she has snuck into a position, and is tossing a grenade toward some unwary invaders...

This balloon trip involves a perilous destination...

This figure allowed me to take a balloon trip directly to the centre of "Challenge Island", where Curt will hit me with a hobby challenge to complete prior to March 21st. Stay tuned for more on that.  In the meantime, thanks for looking!

Painting Challenge Submission 12 - WW2 German 8cm Mortar and LMG Team

28mm WW2 Germans in winter kit - figures a mix of Warlord's "Bolt Action" range and Offensive Miniatures' "Elite" range.

The 28mm Winter WW2 project continues to move along. I continue to "round out" my initial German forces with some additional support in the form of an 8cm mortar team and an additional MG42 LMG team.  The mortar team are 28mm figures from Warlord's "Bolt Action" range - the mortar and crew are all metal, while the spotter is a plastic figure. The LMG team are 28mm metal figures from the "Elite" range produced by "Offensive Miniatures" (these are awesome figures, although the name of the business is unfortunate and not ideal for Google searches...)

8cm Mortar Team

Great weapon team from Warlord Games.

On-table mortars and artillery are a bit iffy when in comes to 28mm gaming, but the models are fun and the presence of an 8cm tube is at least somewhat plausible (as opposed to, say, a 12cm mortar).  This is yet another fine piece of sculpting from Warlord's range of metal "Bolt Action" figures.

The crew crowd around, ready to fire another round...

As always, Warlord's winter WW2 German figures have a lot of character.

Love the fellow at the back, pointing to his map - "Are we sure about these coordinates?"

It is often the case in different rules that a spotter of some sort is required in order for the mortar to fire indirectly on enemy targets. I had one figure that would probably do the trick already from the Platoon Command pack, but I wanted to give some of the Warlord 28mm plastic infantry a try, so I put this fellow together - he could act as a spotter/commander for the mortar team, or just a late war German NCO generally.

NCO/spotter - plastic 28mm figure from Warlord.

Not terrible, considering it's a plastic historical figure.

Useful as a commander for the mortar team, or just an NCO figure generally.

I have a generally dim view of plastic historical miniatures, but the plastic WW2 Germans in winter kit from Warlord are not too bad. The selection of poses available for LMG teams in the plastic box is terrible, but for regular infantry and officers, not too bad at all.  The weapon loads definitely skew to late war, which is fine for my project, but if you are looking for winter of 1941 or 1942 they might not be so good.  They paint up OK - not as nice as proper metal figures of course, but they are OK.

MG 42 Team

Snug in winter parkas, ready to bring the MG42 into action.

When I decided I wanted to dive into this project, I naturally had wasted invested much time in many online searches for different figures I might use.  I had seen these "Offensive" miniatures advertised many times, and thought I would give them a go - the sculpts look neat, with a lot of character.  The range is fairly complete - and there are no prone LMG teams, so, a win!

Lots of nice details on these sculpts.

Sadly, they took a long time to arrive in the post. The combination of Canada Post and the Canada Customs agency is a potent force for delay...toss in the Christmas holiday, and it was going to take a long time to arrive.  So by the time they did get here, I had already painted several units of figures from Warlord's Range, leaving these other ones on the back-burner for now.  Still, I am short on LMG teams, and I did want to at least try some of these new ones out, so I pulled this LMG team out of one of the squad packs.

I always enjoy an LMG gunner carrying belts and belts of ammo...

These are very nice sculpts - 28mm for sure, although not as large or heavy as Warlord's "Bolt Action" figures. I also found the faces lacked some of the definition and character you get on the Warlord sculpts.  But overall, these are still wonderful sculpts, and I highly, highly recommend them to folks looking for 28mm late-war Germans. 

Thanks for looking!

Painting Challenge Submission 11 - WW2 German Support Teams in Winter Kit

German WW2 infantry support elements in winter kit - 28mm figures from Warlord Games.

This submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is for another location on the "Challenge Island" - Piper's Peak.  One condition to fulfill the theme requirements of this location are figures "taking a peak". This gave me the chance to add further to my winter WW2 project with a group of German platoon support elements - all 28mm metal figures from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range.

Sniper Team - Taking a "Peak"

"Have we escaped that absurd Sandhill?"

This pair is the core of the submission for this Challenge Island location. There are two snipers/marksmen - one "taking a peak" through a pair of binoculars, the other "taking a peak" down the sights of his rifle, drawing a bead on an unfortunate battlefield opponent...

Great sculpts from Warlord games.

Generally I dislike prone figures in 28mm, but given their battlefield roles, having these guys prone makes sense. They are great sculpts and castings once again from Warlord.

Panzerschreck Team

AT support for my German infantry.

Another important addition for any late-war German WW2 infantry force, the Panzerschreck will provide some important anti-tank capability.  While many of the infantry will be carrying one-shot Panzerfausts, this Panzerschreck has better range and capability, and this two-man team can focus on taking out enemy armour while their colleagues fire and maneuver on the battlefield.

Mind the back blast of exhaust...

I tried to get some cammo peeking out from underneath the reversible winter smock...

Whether moving through the forests of the Ardennes or the hills north-west of Budapest, my winter WW2 Germans will need the support on the tabletop.

Flamethrower Team

"Don't be hasty"...apparently the motto of this flamethrower team...

This little set is...odd. As you might have guessed, I have a low opinion of prone figures in any miniatures sized larger than 15mm...but sometimes, it makes sense (like the sniper team).  But a prone flamethrower team...I don't get it. Usually one sees flamethrower miniatures moving forward with dash and determination - after all, it was a very dangerous assignment.  But these fellows are...sitting on the ground. So, I tried to imagine some kinds of stories happening with this flamethrower team...

"If we wait here, the enemy will come to us!"

Maybe they know how few flamethrower crews survive action, and so they are taking it easy, and not rushing forward to precipitously? Or perhaps they have cooked up some kind of Wile. E. Coyote-level ambush plan using their flamethrower to hit the bottom of a vehicle or enemy patrol?  It's a different take on the usual action-oriented pose, that's for sure.

Another location visited...looks to be some sort of Tower in the distance...might have to check that out...

In the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge we are painting for "points" - it's a race against your own target, so you are Challenging yourself.  I set a goal of 1,000 points of painting, and these figures got me past the half-way mark toward my target.  Thanks for visiting, and stay tuned for more.

Judge Dredd Battle Report, or Why Greg Hates "Special Dice"

"This is Hyundai McKesson for Mega-City Channel 7 News with Judge Fraser and rookie Judge Gregg near the Jane Goodall Block, where Jane Goodall Citi-Def members have been going ape for the last few hours..."

Last week I set up our first game of Judge Dredd, the new 2000AD-comic-themed miniatures game from Warlord. I've always been a huge fan of Old Stony Face and the insanity that is Mega-City One, so I have jumped into the new JD with both feet... at the very least, it'll give some renewed impetus to paint some of the OLD Dredd models I still have from the last miniatures incarnation - Mongoose Models' "Gangs of Mega-City One". But anyway...

Here's the 4x4 table set up for the game. The story: Jane Goodall Block Citi-Def has been running an armed exercise in an industrial area of the city bottom, and complaints about gunfire and general arsing-about have been received by the Justice Department. As the JGCD has previously been warned, this incident has escalated to Judge intervention and a Pat-Wagon was dispatched with Judges Fraser (a Veteran Street Judge) and Gregg (a rookie Judge) aboard.

We pick up the game with the two Judges in the middle of the table and the Jane Goodall forces (Eureka Miniatures' excellent "Boiler-suit Apes") about to spring an ambush...

Jane Goodall squad leader and female 2IC lurk...

...while the Gibbon squad waits under cover. The JG apes had to deploy at least 12" from the two Judges and out of their line of sight.

Heavy spit gun with two-Gibbon crew.

The view from the other side of the table.

In his first activation, the JGCD squad leader targeted Judge Gregg, causing some injuries... another ape also activated and put her out of action even before she could activate, herself! Conscript Greg notably failed to roll a single "Shield" result on any of his Resist dice :-(

Disappointing development for the Justice Department side, but Judge Fraser activated next and Conscript Mike had a cunning plan...

He took a Double Action to run, then played the "Crazie" card to take another immediate Charge action, catching the rocket-launcher-toting gibbon flat footed... a light beating with daystick put the Jane Goodall Blocker out of action.

The sensitive simian hearing of the Jane Goodall Blockers picked up the approaching sound of sirens...

...knowing that a Lawmaster bike was on the way, the simians shifted around to Overwatch the road entrances.

On the next Justice Department chip, Street Judge Burch appeared on his Lawmaster bike... the Justice Department also played a Big Meg card - Weather Control. The random dice came up with a snowstorm!

While the simians blazed away with their heavy spit gun, they failed to stop the bike... and Judge Burch dropped them with his Lawgiver pistol.

On his next activation, the simian on top of the power building (top centre) shot at the Lawmaster, immobilizing it! Greg's lousy die rolling continued...

Meanwhile, Judge Fraser was under attack by gibbons with spit pistols...

... and it was not going well. :-(

The simians in the middle moved up towards Judge Burch...

Who had dismounted from his now-immobilized Lawmaster bike.

The gibbon on the rooftop moved towards the middle of the roof and took a "Hunker Down" double action to rid himself of an injury marker.

However, in true Dredd fashion, Judge Burch activated and played a "Ricochet" Armoury card, allowing him to bounce a Lawgiver round off the tower and into the rooftop simian, ending his gibbon adversary in true comic-book style. Nice one!

But in the middle of the table, the Jane Goodall squad leader broke cover...

...while behind Judge Burch another gibbon lurked!

The simian squad leader blazed away at the Judge, who used his "Gunfighter" trait to shoot back and wound the ape, who was himself killed in a volley of Bike Cannon fire.

Judge Burch was finished off by a backshooting gibbon, of all things, and we called the game at that point, with only an immobilized Lawmaster left on the Justice Department side.

The objects of Conscript Greg's fury... a set of extremely uncooperative special dice supplied with the game. The faces bear three explosions (denoting hits), two shields (useful when making Resist (save) rolls), and one special symbol - the 2000AD logo, needed to make tests against a model's Cool characteristic. Greg never seemed to get any traction with these, as his rolls always came up with exactly the symbols he didn't need.

In the end, it was a pretty fun game, and for a first try I reckon we got 80% of the rules right. Drawing chips for activations is a fun mechanic, but we saw the downside in this game with the severely outnumbered Judges having a tough time. I think in games with a more even number of opponents it'll work even better. I've got my East-Meg/Sov Judges and Sentenoid (from the old Mongoose kickstarter) primed up and once they're done it'll be time for some Apocalypse War gaming!