Merry Meme's mas!

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What better way is there to (potentially) finish out a year of waning blog posting and interest than with a good ol' meme post?

No this isn't one of my creations. I tried to build a gingerbread house once. It was a...disaster (just ask Neverness, he was there and fared no better as I recall).  

 

Victory goes to The Empire!

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My Storm Troopers advancing along with the AT-PT & Shore Troopers in the background.

I managed to get in a game this past Tuesday evening, with my Empire army making its battlefield debut against...The Empire. Heh, I am sure that this post's title is now raising some eyebrows. While also new, my opponent is a more regular player than I and only has a fieldable Empire army, so his forces did carry the day quite handily. 

I swapped squad leaders in the Shore trooper squads to easily differentiate those models. This squad did well, gunning down 2 Scout bikers in 1 volley, and wounding that agent in the backfield as well!

The AT-PT (AT-ST proxy with no upgrades other than the pilot), it shot a few of the storm troopers near the POI.

They made most of their saves and so following that it decided that simply stepping on them was far more efficient. It survived the game having suffered only 5 wounds. 

Nonetheless I managed several impressive rolls throughout the game and got a decent idea on how the Empire works. I didn't take enough pics for a proper bat rep, (hell, I don't think they're in order for that matter) as such below are a few highlights. In hindsight my biggest highlight unfortunately did not get a pic. 

That was when my 10-strong Stormtrooper squad with a T21 gunner rolled an impressive 7 criticals and 1 hit while only using 1 aim token where I forgot to utilize the precision 1! For my 40k centric readers, that is like having Orks roll 13 dice with shootas, hitting 8 times with only 2 dice rerolled, and all but 1 hit ignoring cover!

Ah yes, a good ol' 40K like scrum! This fight would in the end be inconclusive with no units wiped out, though the Shore and Riot squads were both down to just 1 model each I think, 

My commander, leading from the rear and beneath the shade of a giant shroom. He strategized our way into the debacle and walked away unscathed, typical.

One thing I seem to have issues with (vehicles aside) is getting my troopers out of my deployment zone and into that of the enemy. 

Another highlight roll (which I am sure my opponent was happy to not have photographed) was when one of his Storm Troopers squads fired and missed with 3 of their white dice. Not bad, but then he used FOUR consecutive rerolls (thanks to his officer and the Storm Trooper Battalion abilities), and on those three dice (12 rolls total) he still hit with nothing!

Truly impressive and for all the wrong reasons...

I've read and been told many a time to NEVER RUN SCOUT BIKES RIGHT UP THE MIDDLE OF THE BOARD! So, I did just that. Twit. To their credit they killed an enemy biker and sponged 8 light cover saves (those are like 40K T-shirt saves) before expiring.

Here the not Agent Callus wipes out the last of my mostly painted squad of Shore troopers. 

This was fun, all the more so as there were no Force users in either list, so it wasn't a case of Vader killing everything but rather squads killing squads for the most part. Afterwards, I pulled most of the of the superfluously unused/forgotten about upgrades out of my list, making enough room to squeeze in my newly assembled Scout Troopers for my next game.

Shore Troopers

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None of their helmet grills came out good, no matter how much I touched them up. In the end I opted for the looks good from 3 feet away standard. 

*Officially* they're called Coastal Defender Storm Troopers. However, more often than not everyone just refers to these guys as Shore Troopers. As far as I know are required for Empire armies located in the South Carolina Low Country (SC's coastal region), or at least they should be. As such stay tuned folks, I forsee a Shore Trooper photo op on the beach at some future point. 

I wasn't intentionally aiming for an Imperial remnant force which curiously requires the inclusion of Shore Troopers, even though they made no appearance in the Mandalorian series where the Imperial Remnant was a featured adversary. I'm guessing that the game designers needed a second core option and the Shore Troopers fit the bill better than Snow Troopers. 

If you hadn't guessed already, these are 3D prints and have enough detail to be reminiscent of painting 40K minis, god it was awful! I've been spoiled by painting easy-peasy Battemechs. 

Personally, Scout Troopers sans strike teams would have been more thematic, and not really OP as they seem to die quickly in my limited experience (which bodes well for the squad I am going to assemble this week). But I'm not a game designer so who the hell knows.

Squad sergeant on the left and the T-21B gunner on the right. Just like when pulling casualties in 40K, these two will likely be the squad's last standing members.

To generic dudes, in unassuming poses and likely the first to be pulled as casualties.

I have a second squad of 5 to assemble or, to use as the second half of a super squad if I so choose. There was no option for the mortar trooper when I ordered these, which is odd as have two dudes carrying what looks like mortar ammo to me. The point is more or less moot as the mortar is operated by a standalone trooper i who functions as a separate unit anyway. 

The' squad logistics trooper' on the left and a more aggressively posed grunt on the right. 

As there are no mortars to accompany my Shore Trooper squads, I am guessing that this guy and his counterpart in my second squad are carrying everyone's lunchboxes...err, uh provision cylinders.

For now, my Imperial army slots nicely into an Imperial Remnant Recon list, or at least it does until the AT-PT that you see below is added to its base and painted up (am not sure which order those two things will come in). The Remnant cannot have an AT-ST, so instead my Imperials will be a generic force, stationed somewhere out on the ass-end of the outer rim. 

Now where were we? Ah yes, that's right...we were renegotiating the terms of your contract...

Edit: These Shore Troopers look fairly good to me in person, but they look atrocious in these photos!