Painting Challenge Submission #13 - Director Krennic and Death Trooper Guards for Star Wars Legion

Director Krennic and his Death Trooper body guards - figures from Fantasy Flight Games

Rounding my recent run of "Star Wars" painting for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, we have the antagonist from the film "Rogue One" - Director Krennic, accompanied by his bodyguard squad of sinister Imperial Death Troopers. These are all figures from Fantasy Flight Games range for Star Wars "Legion". 

One of the many things that make "Rogue One" so awesome is the non-supernatural nature of the protagonists and antagonists. I mean, it is still clearly a sci-fi setting of course, with all that can entail, but Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Director Krennic, leader of the Death Star development program, was so well done, creating a relatable antagonist amid a fantastical setting. The Death Star or the Galactic Empire do not exist in the real world (at least, not yet), but Director Krennic types are everywhere in our increasingly futile-o-crat bound society. Krennic is a pencil pusher, a super bureaucrat, adept at navigating and climbing in the bureaucracy of the Galactic Empire. Never mind The Force, he has a Program with a Budget. Never mind Order 66, Krennic could have simply buried the Jedi order with TPS report audits. 

Director Krennic, prepared to sort out a few bureaucratic SNAFUs personally...

Sure, he is working on a genocide-level terror weapon, but for him it's all about getting the credit - even after Vader nearly strangles him! Will the Emperor be told I did a good job? Switch out "Death Star" and replace it with "Winnipeg Regional Health Authority" or "Competition Bureau of Canada" and his movie dialogue is depressingly close to real-life. Death Stars and Sith Lords are products of our imagination, but there are Director Krennics all over the place, right now, in our world, working on a program that will "fix health care" and accumulating a defined benefit pension obligation that your taxes will have to fund somehow.

So look, he makes an awesome character for a Star Wars game! And Fantasy Flight did a great job on the miniature. In particular the sculptor captured Krennic's near-constant annoyance with his subordinates, best captured in his exhortation/command to deploy the garrison on Scarif...

Krennic-types may lurk all over, but the Imperial Death Troopers, on the other hand, are thankfully NOT a common feature of our real world (for now). I believe the idea for these Troopers came from one of the Star Wars FPS video games from the 90s? I'm not certain on that, but they sure looked cool in "Rogue One".

No need to panic! The Death Trooper are here!

Not only is their armour black, sleek and sinister, but they are festooned with all sorts of different blasters - which they carry with them everywhere! The "Rogue One" film handled them brilliantly - I mean, sure, a small child DID manage to out-whit them (they didn't seem too intent on burning up calories to search for young Jyn Erso, did they?), but notice how the Death Troopers never have any silly Stormtrooper-esque dialogue (i.e. "they're over there!" or "get them" or whatever). Rather, when they are present you catch the faint audio snippets of some kind of closed-channel radio chatter, and that's it. They are communicating with each other, but the only message they'll send to you will come from the barrel of a blaster. I find it makes them more sinister.

I love these poses - Curt described them as having a real "special forces" look, and I think that description is perfect.

Finally, when they are sent to combat, they actually hit pretty hard, exacting a heavy toll on the brave Rebels making the raid on Scarif, and sealing the fate of the diversionary ground attack.

A handy DLT-19D blaster on the left, while the fellow on the right prepares a grenade...they are going to clear that room...

Great firing poses - they might actually hit something!

Once more, I have to hand it to the sculptors employed by Fantasy Flight Games - they really nailed these models. The blasters, the grenades, the grenade launchers, the harnesses, the cool helmets, it's all there.

Now painting these all-black sinister SOBs was a bit of a head scratcher....how to capture the look? Maybe this called for some grisaille? Hah! Hell no. In the end, I did my best with grey highlights and a lot of black washes. Thankfully GW's new "Nuln Oil" is not as f*cked over as its new "Agrax Earthshade", so still has applications on subject like this. I also added some red for the eye lenses and scopes, and touch of green on the helmets. I considered attempting some kind of gloss varnish, but decided against it in the end. 

The garrison deploys...

 It was fun to take this little run on Star Wars figures - and great to knock out so many boxes of figures from the "pile of shame" in my basement. The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge continues - we are nearly 2/3 of the way through - so keep watching this space for more submissions, and thanks for reading.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #6 - Some Lord of the Rings Bits and Bobs

 For this submission I decided to work on clearing away a lot of loose ends to make room on my desk for some large projects that are coming down the pipe. What we have today is a mix of Uruk-hai Berserkers, Mordor Uruk-hai, some Dwarf Heroes, a trio of Trolls, and a collection of Mines of Moria terrain and dead.

The three Uruk-hai Berserkers are metal figures from Games Workshop that were mixed in with the secondhand Uruk-hai Scout that I was given. The paint job left much to be desired, so they got stripped back down to raw metal and then were primed black with a rattle can. Vallejo acrylics were used for most of the colors - Cavalry Brown for the skin areas, Leather Brown for the loincloth, sandals, and gloves, and Gun Metal for the helmet and sword. They were then given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade.

 

  The three Mordor Uruk-hai were from another blister of metal figures from Games Workshop that I picked up years ago, and they have been sitting in the pending box ever since they got mounted on their bases and primed black. Again, I used primarily Vallejo acrylics, but also some craft store acrylics that I still have in my paint box. I used a colour called Hippo Grey for the skin areas, and Charcoal for the cloaks. The leather pieces got painted a mix of Leather Brown, Chocolate Brown, and Flat Earth, while helmets, greaves, gauntlets, and weapons were painted with Gun Metal. Finally I gave them a coat of Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

 

 

 

 Next up are four Dwarven Heroes consisting of a Shieldbearer, a King's Champion, and two Heralds.These are resin figures from Games Workshop that were available at one time as metal miniatures. Like the Dwarves I painted for last week's submission, these were mounted on their bases, some sand glued down to the base with PVA glue, and then primed black with an airbrush. I used mostly Vallejo acrylics, but also some Partha paints for the True Blue and Bronze Metallic.

King's Champion and Heralds

 

Side view to show off the banners

Showing off the shield design

A Shieldbearer is a Minor Hero bodyguard

 

 The three trolls are a mix of two Games Workshop Cave Trolls, one in metal and the other in plastic, and a Reaper Miniatures Mountain Troll that I am going to use as a Mordor Troll. The metal Cave Troll I purchased years ago, and like the Mordor Uruk-hai, it was prepped and then gathered dust. The plastic Cave Troll is the one that comes with the Mines of Moria starter box. Somebody bought it, but was only interested in the Moria Goblins and the Fellowship figures, so I ended up with the Cave Troll and the terrain. The Reaper Mountain Troll is a massive metal figure that has since been replaced with a plastic version of the sculpt. Again, Vallejo acrylics were used, followed by a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. I had used Medium Flesh on the Mountain Troll as a base colour, and with the Earthshade wash, it came out looking a bit more orange than I expected, but it still looks pretty menacing. These all stand 55-60mm tall.

 

Reaper Mountain Troll, plastic Cave Troll, and metal Cave Troll

 

The backside of the trio of trolls

 

 Lastly I have two sets of terrain pieces from the Mines of Moria starter box. I got one set from someone who only wanted the Fellowship figures and the Moria Goblins, and the other from someone who just wanted all the figures, including the Cave Troll. So I ended up being given a total of 8 pillars, 4 trapdoors, 2 chests, 2 wells, 2 sarcophagi, and 6 assorted skeleton/skull pieces. These were all primed black using a rattle can, and then dry brushed with progressively lighter shades of grey. I used Iraqi Sand on the skeletons and skulls, Stone Grey on all the pages, Chocolate Brown on the chests and book covers, with Bronze Metallic and Gun Metal painted on various other bits. I then used a fine tipped Sharpie to put lines of dots and dashes on the pages to look like writing. Finally everything got a wash with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

Two sets of Mines of Moria terrain

 

An elevated view

 

A closeup showing the dead and skeletons and the detail on the pages

 Thanks for stopping by.

Painting Challenge Submission #12 - Imperial Shoretroopers for Star Wars Legion

Shoretrooper Squads for Star Wars "Legion" - figures from Fantasy Flight Games.

More painting from the "Star Wars" setting, and more figures for Star Wars "Legion" - here we have a detachment of Shoretroopers. They're like Stormtroopers, but they are, you know, for service near the shore - the specialist tropical climate infantry (I suppose) of the Galactic Empire. 

One of the Shoretrooper squads.

Everyone recalls the Shoretroopers in the movie "Rogue One". I loved them, and I can hardly be the only one, as these things seem to be popular! They are a very cool alternate infantry for the Galactic Empire. Given that you first see them as part of the garrison on Scarif, I suppose it might be inferred that they are a cut above the (highly theoretical) fighting quality of the average Stormtrooper. I'm not sure their actual combat performance bears that out - either as observed on Scarif, or at the remnant Imperial refinery base seen in the second season of "The Mandalorian". 

Some view of the rear detail.

In "Andor" (another amazing Star Wars series) we see them shaking down and rounding up randos as part of a general Imperial crackdown - so I suppose the Shoretrooper is just a basic trooper with tropical kit. That said, they sure look cool - I like the lines of their helmets and the colours on the armour. 

Squad leader on the left, and I used the sculpt on the right as a second-in-command for each squad.

Not only to Shoretroopers have different coloured armour, but they seem to sport a marking scheme. Almost all of them seem to have a stripe on their left shoulder pads, and then varying combinations of red, blue and even yellow lines and pauldrons to denote various ranks and specialties. For my part, I have opted to be much more limited with the markings - while I did put a red armour section on the right arms of each Shoretrooper, I decided against the "everyone gets a stripe day" look - leaving those only for the squad leaders and assistant squad leaders, and only the NCO squad leader got any blue markings. 

Trooper rocking a T-21B blaster on the left, regular grunt on the right.

Fantasy Flight Games did a great job on these sculpts, I love them. And it is kind of nuts, each box comes with a mortar and a gunner. Like - how many mortars do you need? I decided I would only paint up one for now. 

I love the poses on these sculpts - well done by FFG.

Painting these was a bit tricky, as it brought me further into the realization that GW has utterly f*cked up its "Agrax Earthshade" wash. They issued a new formulation for this beloved and endlessly useful product last year. Given GW's compulsion to "fix" things that are not broken and make changes for no good reason in a way that makes things worse, news of the "new" formulation filled me with dread. Having tried the new formulation and given it a fair shot, I can confirm that my worst fears have been realized - the new formulation of "Agrax Earthshade" sucks sh!t 

Why? Well, for starters, it dries glossy as f*ck (even though there is still a separate "glossy" version - can only surmise that one finishes so glossy you can see it from space). It has also lost its tinting properties, and while it is supposedly "thinner", it does not flow well into recesses for highlighting. You might as well drop your figure in some vaguely brown water...it would need less cleaning up...

DF-90 mortar and its one-person crew.

Using the "new formulation", the usually straightforward process of achieving some highlights on the armour via recess wash became a distended exercise in frustration, leading to a lot of re-painting. I ultimately had to try and some new "Contrast" paints from GW instead - in this case, "Skeleton Horde". On balance, this was too light, but it did flow much better, so I'm going to step up the experimenting with the new "Contrast" paint range, as I will need some kind of replacement for "Agrax Earthshade".

Another view of the mortar and gunner.

Whatever the tribulations, my Imperial forces are now considerably expanded with the addition of two squads of Shoretroopers, supported by a mortar (or, I guess, a "space mortar"). I am scouring the 3D printing sites to get some more specialists kitted out in Shoretrooper armour, as I much prefer the look of these fellows to the basic Stormtroopers. Depending on shipping time, they may appear in this edition of the Challenge...

Stay tuned for more - and I hope you have a chance to escape winter and enjoy a beach somewhere...just like these fellows do!

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #5 - Units of the BEF (Balin's Expeditionary Force)

This week's submission is a mix of units from Balin's Expeditionary Force for the reconquest of Khazad-dûm, commonly known as Moria or the Dwarrowdel, It consists of a box of 24 plastic Dwarf Warriors, a box of 24 Dwarf Rangers, 22 metal Dwarf Warriors, and three resin figures from the Dwarf Command set, all produced by Games Workshop. I had picked up the metal figures over a decade ago, and had used some to form a seven figure Battle Company. I later expanded this group into a larger force using additional plastic figures that were eBay rescues to form Nali's Household. The two boxes of plastic figures I had purchased new more recently, while the three resin figures were acquired in late November of last year.

In terms of detail, I liked the metal figures best. It is interesting that they were sculpted wearing chainmail, while the later plastic figures were sculpted wearing a coat of plates. The resin figures were based directly on earlier metal figures. They have the same detail, but are more fragile, and the banner pole was very warped.

The only assembly required on the plastic figures were the separate shields on eight of the Dwarf Warriors. I left these on the sprue until all the painting was complete, and then glued them in place with super glue. All the figures were fitted to their slotted bases, and some small pebbles and sand were glued to the base using PVA glue.

They were then primed black with either a rattle can or an airbrush. Painting was done primarily using Vallejo acrylics, although I used a few colors from some old containers of Partha paints that were still in good shape, specifically True Blue and Bronze Metallic. I also used some Citadel washes, especially on the Dwarf Rangers. Here is the end result.

 

A Host of Dwarves

Dain's Household 

Dain's Household consists of 8 dwarves with hand axe and shield, 8 dwarves with two-handed axe, and 8 dwarves with bow, plus a captain and a banner. Nine of the figures are metal, the captain and banner are resin, and the rest are plastic. The main colour I used for their tunics was blue, a few with yellow trim. I used the same blue on their shields, while the banner was painted with a combination of blue and yellow. 

 

Dain's Household

A closeup of the Banner and Captain

Dwarf Rangers

The composition of the ranger company is similar to that of Dain's Household, except none carry shields. Instead of hand axe and shield, 8 of the rangers wield two throwing axes. The ranger figures have nice animation in the sculpts, and were very enjoyable to paint. I gave them all green tunics and leather jerkins but used four different shades of green, and four different shades of light brown. Vallejo Leather Brown was used for all the boots, belts, pouches, and quivers, and a medium grey for the trousers. Vallejo Beige Brown was used for all the bows, ax handles and arrow shafts. I then applied a wash of Agrax Earthshade before painting the cloaks using a light grey.

 

Rangers with eyes of hawks and ears of foxes

The Remnants of Lóni's and Frár's Households

 I was left with 13 metal figures, 10 plastic figures, and 1 resin figure which were 4 dwarves with two-handed axes, 7 dwarves with hand axe and shield, 12 dwarves with bows, and the war horn. The backstory I created for them is that they are all that is left of two households involved in the defence of Durin's Bridge and the Second Hall. As the Dwarf forces fell back from the bridge, Lóni's Household was surrounded and overwhelmed with only 4 dwarves with bows managing to escape. With the number of goblins growing ever larger, Frár asked for four volunteers from those in his household armed with two-handed axes to defend the entrance to the Second Hall and buy time for the rest to fall back to safety. Neither Frár nor his volunteers survived. They are painted in a similar style to Dain's Household but I used dark green on the tunics of Lóni's four surviving bows, and red for Frár's household.

 

All that remains of Frár's and Lóni's Households

 

A closeup of the war horn

 

 I have a few more character figures in the painting queue, but the bulk of my Dwarves are now done. Thanks for reading.

Painting Challenge Submission #11 - Specialist Storm Troopers for Star Wars Legion

Stormtrooper specialists for Star Wars "Legion" - figures from Fantasy Flight Games.

More Star Wars content for me from Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. These are specialist Stormtroopers, plastic models from Fantasy Flight Games' figure range for the game Star Wars "Legion". 

Some detail on the backpacks. Is that one guy carrying beers? Sure looks like it...

These figures are meant to represent a selection of enhancement options for your Stormtrooper force - there is an officer, a communications specialist, and a couple of Stormtroopers equipped with heavy weapons - a DLT-19 blaster (i.e. a "space MG34") and a DT-21 blaster (i.e. a "space Lewis gun"). Also interesting that the fellow with the DT-21 also seems to have a communications unit in his pack too.

There are also pauldrons on all of the models. With a little help from Dallas, I did some digging into what the different colours might mean, and settled on orange for the officer, white for the communications specialist, and black/dark grey pauldrons for the troopers carrying the heavy blasters.

This photo shows up the limitations in my approach to painting bright white...but hey, they'll do.

All of the blasters look impressive, but we all know what the chances of these fellows hitting the broad side of a wampa barn with any of these things is...pretty low...that said, you can't play "Star Wars" without plenty of Stormtroopers, so it is nice to have some specialists to bulk of the firepower of my Galactic Empire collection. 

"Have you seen any droids?"

Painting white is always a hassle, and the bright, clean and clear white of the Stormtroopers is an extra challenge, and a bit of a bridge too far for my painting style. It occurs to me that if I'm ever going to paint up more of these fellows - or even Clone soldiers for the Clone Wars - I'll need to lean into white base coat sprays (madness) or finally screw up the courage to try my airbrush...all problems for another day, and maybe another Painting Challenge...

Points wise, these guys were good for 28 points. They can't hit anything, but they'll help me hit my points target! Thanks for reading, and as always, stay tuned for more!

Painting Challenge Submission #10 - XQ Platforms for Star Wars Armada

XQ platforms for Star Wars "Armada" - models by Mel Miniatures.

After a multi-week run of 30k projects during the current edition of the 13th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, my brushes took some time away from the grim darkness of the far future and switched over to some things from a long time ago in a galaxy far away. Up first are two "XQ" series space platforms, intended for use in the Star Wars "Armada" game. These are 3D prints from Mel Miniatures on Shapeways.

"Armada", you ask? Well, when I like a setting, I tend to collect it multiple scales - Star Wars "Armada" is the fleet scale Star Wars game from Fantasy Flight. The ship models from the game are pre-painted (and are quite awesome). I fell into collecting fleets for "Armada" last year, and now have fleets for the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

Some bright landing markings for this platform - it is the smaller and sleeker of the two, so maybe it's just a research station? Or up to no good?

Better scan that thing, just to be sure...

So how do these platforms fit in?

Well, the "Armada" core box set comes with assorted 2D markers to use for terrain, including one to represent a platform. Space platforms are not only fun terrain, but great plot devices and objectives for scenarios, and I much preferred to have models to represent them. Thankfully, the amazing universe of 3D sculptors and printers who clearly love Star Wars has this covered!

A little more going on with this one - including some more obvious weapons for defence.

Could be a harmless observation outpost...right? I mean, room for a squadron of starfighters, sure...

These are intended to be generic stations - they can be Rebel stations, Imperial stations, neutral or even a mercenary location out somewhere in Outer Rim! I hope they will help bring games of Star Wars "Armada"more life on the table! The sculpts were very nicely printed, easy to paint, and designed specifically to fit with the large bases from the game "X-Wing" (which are square). Maybe my only quibble is how hard it is to get extra bases for either "X-Wing" or "Armada" - but that is a knock on Fantasy Flight Games more generally, and not Mel Miniatures!

"Armada" is an excellent game, and I find the fleet combat setting is much more tolerable for the hordes of chits and markers that Fantasy Flight tends to burden its rulesets with. That said, it is vulnerable to the power gaming sorts as it features a byzantine array of upgrade cards and characters that can really twist and exploit gaps in the rules - the best cure for this is to keep the upgrades and character nonsense to a minimum, in which case, it is a lot of fun.

Stay tuned for more Star Wars stuff, and, as always, for more Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submissions from all of the Conscripts!

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #4 - Ambush at Amon Hen

 

 Continuing on with the whittling down of my stash of unpainted Lord of the Rings figures, I give you 'Ambush at Amon Hen'. This is a boxed set depicting that event released by Games Workshop consisting of ten miniatures. The set includes Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, Lurtz, three Uruk-hai scouts with sword and shield, and two Uruk-hai scouts with the captured hobbits, Merry and Pippin. Most of the figures are one piece metal castings with the exception of Boromir who comes with three separate arrows and two pieces of the broken 'Horn of Gondor', and Aragorn whose left arm is a separate piece.

Once all the miniatures were assembled and mounted on their bases, some sand was glued down with PVA, along with the occasional pebble for variety. They were then primed black with a rattle can. I used a combination of Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes to paint them. Here is the end result.

Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas

Uruk-hai scouts with sword and shield

Uruk-hai scouts carrying captured Pippin and Merry

Lurtz and Boromir

The Ambush at Amon Hen

 At some point I want to build the Seat of Seeing, but that will have to wait for another day. Thanks for stopping by.