Terrain, terrain, terrain!

 o/

Floyd's discount droid repair is open for business!

I was off on a staycation last week with my dad & stepmother visiting for the first half of it. It was a good visit with fun had by all. The second half of the week I had more or less to myself where I did a fair bit of hiking as well as miniature painting, terrain specifically. 

The wing tower is a separate piece for ease of storage & transport.

While the interior is lightly detailed, I glued the roof on as I couldn't fathom any troops fighting within the tight confines of the structure. Plus painting the interior was proving troublesome (which is the real reason I glued the top on). 

I recently bought several 3D printed pieces off of Etsy and have been worked on them thru the latter part of my week off. I used the Krylon filling primer which mitigated the worst of the print lines, though some are still visible. Overall, the print quality is really good considering all of the curved surfaces.

Like so many of the outlying Outer Rim worlds in the Andor series, I opted to go for the dirty & grubby look. Shocked, aren't you? 

The print lines are most visible on the roof panels, but nothing too terrible.

I tried priming over the Krylon but while the black GW spray seemed to go one fine, the Vallejo spray primer rubbed off a bit during handling/painting giving some of the surfaces a bit of a granular appearance. Not too big of a deal as this building is of an adobe-like construction, but I'll omit that step in the future.

This turret has been out of action for so long that plants have already taken root inside the wreckage.

A few flowers, maybe a lick of paint and she'll be as good as new!

I have another house in this Massa'dun style, as well as a bunker and two destroyed turret emplacements that would look right at home on Hoth. However, as I am not painting any of my forces like they are on Hoth, I have based my first wrecked turret for a more temperate climate. 

I actually got these pieces late the week before and put 'em in game the next day, straight out of the box, not even primed!

My droids suffered a thorough drubbing in this game, aside from Grievous who proved impervious having made 8 consecutive armor saves in a row! Poor Tom was tired of trying to kill him at that point.

A fully painted army = Victory?

Well...it took a little help from my opponent too, but yes. 

Fully painted army, check. Some of you may have noted that the black squad from my last post isn't included, meaning this isn't even all of them!

Up front I should say that I don't mean that in the sense of he did something really stupid and I capitalized on the mistake. Rather on the last turn, as I was about to make said mistake, my opponent convinced me to do otherwise. I was about to charge his AT-ST with my electrostaff armed Super tactical droid, when Tom stopped me and said: 'Don't do that or the game will end in a tie rather than you winning.' 

The Super Tactical droid in question, just before it killed his close combat-oriented agent who routinely kicks my ass. However, this time around said agent was taken down with ease by my Super Tac.

Tom asked if a could see the path to victory and flummoxed, I could not. He asked if my super tac could reach the nearby POI in my deployment zone, which it could. If it did so, then I would have 2 units (my T-series command droid was camped there all game) to his 1 (the aforementioned AT-ST).

The droid horde advancing earlier in the game. 

His plan was to double move his other AT-ST up to the objective, which would only allow him to contest said POI as the odds of the resident AT-ST killing one, if not both of my command droids in 1 volley was debatable. 

I had already taken his deployment zone POI with a dwarf spider droid, and we each held another POI in no man's land. As such we had a tie score going into the last turn. 

I apologize if this does not make a whole lot of sense as I only took 3 pics, so do not have enough for a battle report. 

General Grievous leading the charge in Tom's backfield. Of all of the Imperial troops in this pic, only a handful of Storm troopers on the right would survive the game. 

That said, many a time I have stopped a newer player from doing something detrimental to the chances of victory, not because what they were doing was wrong necessarily, but because their grasp of the game was still limited. I've even done this in tournaments (where I was already out of the running). 

As such, it was nice to be on the receiving end of that kind of advice for a change. Especially as, up until this game, I had never beaten Tom nor even come close to doing so (though he is always fun to play legion with regardless of my losses). 

I can't but help compare this experience to oh so many times witnessing the schmuck in Tennessee at my old FLGS whose 'teaching games' involved him grinding noobs into the dirt with meta-optimized tournament lists. Which sadly is very reminiscent of my first legion game here in South Carolina.

THE END IS NIGH!

 o/

Tufts aside there's not much new to see here.

They are done! All SIXTY B1 Battledroids in my Separatists army are painted, whew! These last two squads are all repaints of 2nd hand minis and have some minor damage (missing a gun barrel tip or antenna here and there), but nothing too terrible. 

About half of this squad are repaints of my original 'blue squad' whose cleaner scheme did not look good next to the rest of the newly painted horde. 

I still need to 'ard coat the backpack lights, but that is the only thing left to do. With such a negligible difference in their final appearance, I just went ahead and took pics.

Why are their tufts black? Must be from the radiation...

Fun fact, the rad gunner was the first B1 painted, as I used it as a test model to see the results of my proposed quick and easy paint scheme. 

The new 'Blues'. 

I had a bucket load of blue tufts, so I decided to make a new blue squad, and sell the old ones on eBay, leaving the 4th black squad as a smaller unit. However, there is a metric ton of tan/beige painted B1s on there already. So instead I scraped off their tufts, considered them 'primed' and inked them along with the other primed models to make the black squad above. 

Roger Roger! I have to say that in every B1 post.

(Am pretty sure that is a written rule somewhere.)

Clearly these are tactically advancing in the other direction, as the expendable B1s are not programmed to retreat out of self-preservation.

The blues have the same support weapon options as the red & purple squads, only the black squad is the odd one out with the rad gun.

All I have left now to do is assemble and paint a pair of Droidekas (no easy task that is) and paint a second squad of B2s. Then I will be ready to post some fully painted army pics. 

Massed Production!

 o/

The 'red' Roger Rogers.

I am using the color of the tufts to differentiate the different squads. 

It keeps their physical appearance uniform, while making them easily identifiable which will be helpful when inevitably they get in close with one another. 

The squad leader droid is also marked out in the same color as the tufts. 

Given the sheer number of B1 Battle Droids in need of paint, I have resorted to the age old (and often loathed) batch painting method. I also decided to keep them stupid simple: 

Step 1: Prime in Wraithbone

Step 2: Ink in Agrax Earthshade

Step 3: Drybrush in Wraithbone

Step 4 paint the guns (all Corvus black)

Step 5: paint the details which are just a few bits & bobs 

Step 6: Basing

Step 7: Matte Varnish and done. I do Ard' Coat a few bits & bobs as well. 

The big & little tufts are different shades of purple, but it still works. 

Each super squad has the option for either an E-5C (SAW) or an E-60R (rocket launcher). 

The little green light on the backpacks is the only spot to get any Ard' Coat aside from a few lights/lenses on the E-60R

Better view of the E-5C gunner here. 

This method has worked well, resulting in 30 Battle Droids painted in about 3 weeks' time. Plus, a little work on a mechs for Battletech and a not Harley Quinn inspired Super Tactical Droid (it just worked out that way). 

Am not happy that the 3-legged version isn't an option, but rather a necessity in order to build 2 Super Tactical droids with the kit. 

The heavy arm cannon will make this droid a free roaming, short ranged, light support weapon, as well as a leader. 

The dead B1 on its base looks to have suffered a Jedi induced, rapid disassembly event.

I have another 15 B1s primed and on deck as well as a second Super Tactical droid. I have also primed and dry brushed the Droidekas on the sprue. I loathe assembling those however and will likely leave them for last.  

General Grievous

 o/

Looks like my T-Series command droid just got demoted.

So, this guy was (not) fun to build. Sausage fingers does not excel as assembling tiny, thin & spindly parts everywhere. Speaking of, good luck to those who opt to build him with the 4 arms and light sabers option. I opted to attach his cape after he was painted as it would be all but impossible to do a good job with it attached ahead of time. More on that below...

The pistol, like all of his darker metallic areas is just leadbelcher dry brushed over Vallejo's bronze green primer. 

He was only attached to his base with one foot, so I added some dwarf spider droid wreckage for him to be stepping over to make him a bit sturdier. That being the laser cannon and a portion of the ring that form's the spider droid's torso.

Painting wasn't too bad with the majority being a combination of Agrax Earthshade and dry brushing. Given that I have close to 60 droids of various types to paint, that is more or less going to be my paint recipe for this entire army: Agrax Earthshade & dry brushing. 

I am really pleased with how the cloak came out.

Anyways, once I was ready to attach the cloak, it wouldn't fit. Yes, profanity ensued. It looked like the wreckage's gun barrel was too long and was hitting the cloak, so I hacked off the end and touched up the clipped ends, annnnd it still wouldn't fit. More profanity.

It doesn't look quite this light in person, the previous pic is a bit more color accurate. The camera just pics up on colors weirdly sometimes. 

Apparently, I glued his lightsaber arm at too high of an angle, so I had to trim off the right shoulder's pauldron to make it fit and after doing so touched up that part of the cloak to hide the damage. That worked and left me wondering if I needed to trim the wreckage at all but whatever. It done and looks good enough for the tabletop. 

Three more across the finish line.

 o/

I've been making progress on all three Star Wars Legion armies. First up, my Imperial Scout trooper's squad leader who also serves as my stand-in Imperial agent (since the FLGS can't seem to get the official one in).

As you can see, he has skillfully chosen a tactical log that has been concealed by vegetation.

In keeping with my vaguely Imperial Remnant army and general preferences for all things miniature, his armor is fairly dirty. 

I opted for a red shoulder to mark him out as being of senior rank. 

No doubt he is using the scanner to locate his retinue squad, which in my last game, I stupidly deployed on the opposite side of the table. 

Next up, a second Shoretrooper squad leader. This one came out better than the first one, I think. The last four Shoretroopers are base coated as well. Still not a fan of painting these models but am glad to be almost done with them.  

He's probably just standing on the beach, taking in the view...

Were it not for the rifle, this guy may have been promoted to Imperial officer. 

Especially as he has a close combat baton strapped (somewhat awkwardly) to his pack. 

Lastly, my Rebel comms chick agent. She came with the specialists pack that I bought to get the pilot & astromech for the speeder in my previous post. My original intent was to use her as a squad leader, however after realizing that she had a second pistol strapped to her pack, I decided to use her as an officer/agent (FLGS can't get that model in either). Given that Rebel officers/agents have the option to fire two pistols, I think she will be of much more value in that role. 

Wait, shouldn't it be: Ladies first?

While simple, I was pleased with how her camo coat/smock came out.

Pistol # 2, for use when not calling in an orbital strike are starfighter support.

Not to leave the droids out, I've assembled all of the B1 battle droids, which when combined with my original horde gives me enough for 4 full super squads (13 + support weapon droid). 

To quote Screech: 'That's a lot of Clankers.'

Each squad as both the rocket launcher and E-5C gunners, plus a lone rad gun droid in the event I want to give someone radiation poisoning. There are a handful of extra squad leaders and rocket droids left over that will likely suffer the fate of basing material. 

Running the Empire into the ground.

Tuesday night I lead my Empire forces into yet another doomed battle. This time my Imperial army vs. Tom's Rebels which I have heard about but only faced now for this first time. Up to this point I have yet to beat Tom who is also new to the game, but also only plays Legion, and plays more regularly than I. That said, he is a blast to play with, and I thoroughly enjoy our games, regardless of my abysmal record. 

Here are a few highlights:

My army. Notably, the Scout on the tactical log was serving as an Imperial agent with his basic pistol only, and the Spaceballs would be Pykes as mentioned in my previous post. 

The only overall photo of the battlefield. My Storm Troopers, Scouts and Spaceballs have already suffered heavy casualties by this point. The speeder bikes were already dead because that is their job. Apparently.

*On the Record*, the Spaceballs are being blamed for the Empire's loss, as none were left alive to defend themselves. That's the points of mercenaries, isn't it? To purchase a fall guy?

One Scout was in combat with a squad of veterans, much to the annoyance of my Shoretrooper Mortar gunner. In the backfield, my Agent and his log had just charged and finished off the Veteran's support gunner (who was already wounded and suppressed into oblivion). Standing atop said log, he is looking for his next quarry.

As much as I loathe (and suck at) painting Shore Troopers, and despite their inability to actually move anywhere, these fuckers deserve to be painted. They used long shot to put three wounds on a very surprised Princess Leia (and Tom who thought she was safely out of range). Were it not for an excellent cover roll, she would likely have died. In the following turn, they gunned down two Taun-Taun riders who had yet to even be shot at!

Running amuck in the backfield, my Agent, despite having taken a few wounds himself, charges Leia reducing her to her last wound (were it not for her dodges he'd have killed her). Following this, she would withdraw from combat and...

...a heavily wounded and enraged Chewbacca ripped his arms out of their sockets. At this point the game was over. While my scouts as a whole were true to form and showed up and died, this guy should also be painted. 

*****

Following the game, I bought the Separatist starter box, chosen as it had the most appealing models of all four factions. The Rebel box has Wookies, the models for which I do not like, commandos who suck (but could just be used as regular Rebels), and Luke in the clothes he wore to get a medal, but never in combat. A curious choice. The empire box has an admittedly cool looking Vader mini, 2 squads of Stormtroopers, and 3 squads of Scouts who (again) always show up and just die. I suppose it is fluffy, but it's kinda boring,

I do not have any clones and honestly that army's only real appeal to me is the multiple generic Jedi options. It's really an army for all the folks who watched all of the animated Clone wars series (which I haven't). Most of their vehicles are kinda ugly too, also more Wookies. 

I didn't much care for the prequels, but I did like this army. Especially the hordes of comical and idiotic B1 Battle Droids. 

So, I opted for the endless horde of Roger Rogers which, as an old Iggy player appeals to me greatly. Including all support weapon options, I now have 58 B1 battle droids! I expect to have them all painted sometime around: never.