CIS Droid Specialists

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These are also not the droids you were looking for.

Thus far I've avoided the CIS due to hearing horror stories about assembling the spindly little B1 Battle Droids (the Roger Roger droids). Annnnd...while I still haven't built any of those, these guys were a real peach. The worker & recon drones were fine, even the medical droid went together alright for the most part (though I did break it while painting it), but then there is the T-Series Tactical droid. 

I spent about 2/3 of its assembly process crawling around under my desk searching for its oddly shaped parts that I kept dropping (three fucking times!) onto the grey rug under the desk (worst color, would not recommend for a hobby space). I can only imagine the potential future hell of the B1's...

Oddly, applying the decal to its computer screen was quite easy.

I bought these (actually all I wanted was the t-Series) as I was intrigued by the new Experimental Droid Battleforce for Star Wars Legion. Rather than being an army full of not-quite-as-good-as-stock prototypes, I saw them more as an option for an old, rusty, and worn out but still active droid army for some Separatist holdouts. That would at least make them a plausible opponent for either my Rebel and Empire armies. 

Black Dragons Ballistus Dreadnought for Dreadtober 2023 (pt.1)

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The New and Improved Space Marine Dreadnought, now with talons!

Well its that time of the year again folks. Like so many, I too have recently purchased a new Ballistus dreadnought from the Levithan boxed set, and why not go ahead and paint it up rather than having languish in primer for...possibly ever. Right? Right.

I chopped up a beastman's skull from the skulls basing set to give my dread some of the requisite Black Dragons' claws. 

I'm off to a good start as my dread is already built, primed, and even battle hardened. There's not much in the way of conversion potential with this kit, but a few added dragon's horns and claws with hopefully help it stand out from the norm. 

Naturally, one of these two horns went on easily, and the other dropped down into the sarcophagus, threatening to never be seen again...

EWOKS!

The Ewoks of East Tennessee Endor's forest moon. 

What? You can't see 'em? Yeah well, that's kinda the point really. These are tiny little guys! Smaller than my Jawas even. As such they were easy to paint as they're mostly just shades of brown, inking and a little dry brushing. 

A better view of the basing and one of the mossy patches in my yard. 

Unfortunately, I somehow missed the trapper model when I primed these little guys. He's primed now, but as yet still unpainted. I'm not much of a fan of that particular sculpt anyways, though will paint it up to match it's squad. 

MUCH better!

Speaking of Furry Star Wars Characters (beware of that convention folks!), I rebased my Gigorgon to use as a support weapon gunner for my Anomid squad of Rebel veterans (previously just troopers). While his new stat line still pales in comparison to Chewbacca, he at least is now more formidable than a simple, 1-wound Z-6 gunner.  

The Buddha Bot

As opposed to the other meditation droid...

In all likelihood this droid powered down for a reboot and just never powered back up...or something like that. This is another Robot of the Month Club bot that I didn't quite know what to do with and so it sat (literally) on a shelf for a few months until I primed it on a whim and dry brushed it up. 

I figure that I can use this as a terrain piece for Star Wars Legion if I ever play it, as this is about twice the height of a stormtrooper. 

3-Color minimum: Vallejo grey primer, flat red & clear orange. Following that came a heavy dousing of tufts, flock and lastly matte varnish. The tufts and whatnot are to give the impression that its been sitting there, rusting for a very long time. 

Buns of steel?

Star Wars Legion Rebel AT-RT

An AT-RT was the first ever Legion mini that I painted back during the dark days of the pandemic. I wasn't too fond of it and promptly eBayed it away. 

Whilst I only made a few bucks on the endeavor, the best part by far was the buyer sending me a message after he received it in the mail, saying that he was thrilled with the paint job and that it was to be the centerpiece of his army!

That memory still makes me smile. 

AT-RT v2, mounting the laser cannon with the interchangeable rotary cannon and flame thrower in the foreground.

They really don't make legion decals (without spending too much on 3rd party custom ones), however some inverted Leagues of Votann decals worked well enough. 

The quarter lines are still quite visible as foliage. Next time I think that I'll make 'em entirely out of tufts.

Skipping forward to today and I'm quite pleased with my second AT-RT. It was so much easier to paint with the driver not already glued in place (that was my issue with the original, 2nd hand mini). Also, note the Chiss pilot. The blue skin is rather eye catching I think as opposed to the just another rebel dude with a human flesh tone.

On patrol in the wilds of Tennessee the Forest Moon of Endor. 

Black Dragons Intercessors

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These were all supposed to be in the same squad, however then I noticed a second sergeant model...

Following hot on the heals of my Ultramarine Assault Intercessors, are my first five painted Black Dragon Intercessors. I first started work on the Sergeant with the hand flamer and claw (CCW). Then I figured batch painting would be a better idea and grabbed and primed four more random guys for a combat squad of five. 

Sergeant with hand flamer and CCW.

A slightly better view of the adamantium tipped claw that extends from his right arm.

However it wasn't long before I realized that one of the four random dudes that I grabbed out of the pile was a second sergeant model. Well crap. Oh well, now that they're completed, they'll split into two partially painted squads rather than just one painted unit. 

Not pictured, but to the right is the shelving unit/wall of gaming stuff. 

In other news, 18ish months after moving into our house, the basement is cleared out enough to finally have Da Battle Bunka ready for proper use. Frankie and I have played a few games of Alpha Strike in here already, but it was very crowded around the table with very little room to maneuver. Now I just need to add posters to the walls and a second desk chair (which is on order). 

Ultramarines update

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My last two Ultramarine assault intercessors are complete. The other five will go to the Black Dragons.

I'm really liking the laser cut plants!

The squad as a whole.

While a Star Wars legion AT-RT and a handful of Black Dragon Intercessors are vying for total control of my hobby time at the moment, that doesn't mean that there aren't any other side projects in progress as well. For example, this week I finished up my last two Ultramarine assault intercessors which you can see above.

The painted army thus far.

This brings the painted portion of my army to twenty minis. Due to my short attention span, I'm pretty sure that I haven't had that many marines painted in the same color scheme since going all the way back to my Storm Wardens from about a decade or so ago.

Both the Ultramarines and Black Dragons will each get at least five Hellblasters apiece. As is the case with most squads, in that they only come in numbers of five and ten now, it remains to be seen as to which army will get the remaining five.

Here of late the Black Dragons have been syphoning off units from this army. As if I was ever going to paint 30 intercessors all in the same color scheme anyways. Nonetheless, both forces easily clock in at 1000 points each, though I can't field them side-by-side, as unpainted minis slide freely back and forth between the two armies. 

I'm thinking that the female space marine in back will be promoted to be the sergeant of my 2nd, 5-strong squad of intercessors. She'll be taking one of the AGL gunners with her, meaning the next two painted Ultramarine intercessors will still go to this squad.

Lastly we have Captain Horridus, the Company's Ancient, and the only vehicle in the army, my servo-strike turret.