A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy...

I finally succeeded in getting my hands on a Star Wars Legion Clone Wars core set. It had eluded me for ages, so I am quite happy to have secured a copy.

I have absolutely NO hobby time to spend at the moment, but I think that when I do I shall start playing some smaller skirmishes, using the Fistful of Lead Galactic Heroes rules, so that I can paint and use single minis without the need for completing an entire squad each time I want to use new models.

I am beginning to have hobby withdrawal symptoms, but I have to keep working on getting the house and garden ready for Lea's covid-delayed confirmation celebration, even though I really want to start using the new painting desk.

Second Hand Find: Hasbro 2004 Millennium Falcon

We just returned from our annual camping trip through Europe, and while staying some days at Camping Les Terrasses du Périgord *** the son of the owner held an outdoor used toys sale, and I could not help noticing the Falcon sitting prominently on the table. I got it for €40 as it is missing some pieces (but that's what 3D printers are for, right? 👀)

The Imperial Assault Hera Syndulla is there for size comparison.

The model has access to some of the interior, and it should be possible to put some bits and bobs in there fitting 28/30mm models (I definitely have to lower that gaming table a tad).

The Belgian roads had shaken this piece loose, and I found it when unwrapping the Falcon from the carpet that protected it on the trip from Périgord to Denmark. At first I had no clue what it is, but watching a couple of presentation videos made it clear that it is the 'dashboard', meant to sit inside the cockpit canopy, and I managed to get it 'clicked' in place without any damage done.

I am quite happy with the purchase, as this Corellian freighter should make a great piece on the table when I get the exteriors properly fitted (and I have not yet tried putting batteries in it to find out if the lights and sounds still work).

Spectre 2 - Hera Syndulla

I also got Hera cleaned up and rebased today, and I have now put some filler on her and Brian Blake's bases.

I absolutely loathe the plastic those Imperial Assault miniatures are made from, but a good side cutter and a sharp X-acto blade go a long way when working them.

I expect to prime Hera at the same time as Brian, so she will be ready for painting when I have finished Brain and the Barbarian for Lea's Sellswords & Spellslingers party (Galactic Heroes has been released, now, and as soon as I have Hera and Chopper painted, I am going to purchase both that ruleset and FfoL Horse and Musket, which I want for very small scale Napoleonic conflict (smaller than Song of Drums and Shakos)).

I may not get to work a lot on myhobby stuff tomorrow, as I have to do some more work in the vegetable garden before noon (while the sun still shines), and I have promised the kids to play some games after lunch, but I still expect to get basing finished on both Hera and Brian Blake, so that they can be primed Sunday evening.

Land Speeder Reprise

Thought I would show one of my prints with a couple of minis - I also needed a place-holder for the pic to use it at one of the forums I use 😏

3D Printed: A Bunch of Star Wars Containers

I have quite a collection of 'Medium Cargo Containers' by now - and I also printed some Kyber Crystal Containers, to have something to use as portable objectives.

When I leave work Monday morning, I have 1½ week off, until Wednesday night in week 43, so I expect to get my second batch of jungle bases moving and finished, so that I can use the dinner table for some gaming (and dining, og course); it has been occupied by spread newspapers and boxes for far too long.

3D Printed: Medium Sized Cargo Container

Not my first attempt at this print, but probably the nicest one.

The STL can be found here on Thingiverse.

I am trying to organize the stuff I have painted for Legion into some boxes in a larger cardboard crate, and I shall be taking some more photos of stuff I have not shown, yet, over the next couple of days (there is actually quite a back-log, regarding blog posts).

3D Printed: Landspeeder

Another Thingiverse item that I printed recently. Icon of the first ever Star Wars movie, this speeder is a must for a Tatooine set-up. Of course, I am goin to pain tit, eventually, but in the meantime it will be used as is, to provide some - perhaps movable - cover in Star Wars games.

3D Printed: Star Wars TA12 Wreck

One of the many prints I have not had time to show until now. Of course meant as a piece of terrain, and is destined to be painted, but I printed it in a pale grey to be able to use it on the table right off the printer.

I have some more files from Thingiverse, including an intact version and a couple of other wrecks, and I am definitely going to print all of them, given time. There is even a version with interiors, that I might use as the mobile base of a group of smugglers/adventurers at a later point!

3D Printed: More Star Wars Crates

I have had some problems with a recently purchased roll of blue PLA filament, and I am now churning out small bits and bobs to tune a profile for handling it.

At the front you can see one of the weird results - I am keeping that one, because I think I can paint it as if burning, but I have had to chuck quite a few pieces. They are turning out OK, now, and I have started a medium sized cargo container which should finish about 7:30 tomorrow morning.

NOT 3D Printed Star Wars Rebels Phantom

*Gasp* 😛

I have been seaching and asking for a printable version of the modified VCX-series auxiliary starfighter known as 'Phantom' in Star Wars Rebels, and was pointed to this Hasbro toy.

It is probably a wee bit oversized - Wookiepedia has it at 11.63 metres, and the hull is a bit more than six Heras long (my new official Star Wars measurement unit 😉), which would indicate about the right length, but Wookiepedia does not state if the front twin laser cannon is part of that length.

On occasions, we see up to three members of the Spectres in the cockpit, and i think that with bases swapped with 20mm washers, I should be able to squeeze that many minis in there.

Wookiepedia also gives passenger capacty as eight, which is probably what can fit in the back compartment, so all in all I think this is the Phantom I was looking for!

I am very happy with this purchase, and it is now time to begin prepping Hera and Copper so that they can be painted and fly their first solo missions (as soon as I have decided on which skirmish rules system to use, that is - I may go for the Goal System, either Blasters&Bulkheads or Void Pirates, while I wait for Galactic Heroes to be published...

3D Printed: Tatooine Dwelling

My hitherto longest complete print, about 26 hours from start to finish, at resolution 0.1, speed 30mm/sec, and advanced bridging settings on.

Of course, I also have to print a door, but it will have to wait until I have printed some more desert building, and have a reason for changing filament.

I think it really pays off to allow for longer printing time - and it also paid off that I took the time and money to purchase different colours of filament, until I found the right hue for this kind of building/terrain. This way I can use the printed buildings right away, and texturing/painting can wait, without deducting notably from the visual impact.

I am very pleased with this print, and it makes me want to try printing with a smaller nozzle, for even finer resolution - but that is for somewhen in the future; right now I just need to churn out a sizeable collection of desert and jungle terrain (I am going to start some more jungle bases next week - too much else to preoccupy my mind this weekend, as we have to stack five cubic meters of firewood I got delivered Tuesday morning, and just managed to get into the shed yesterday evening, in time for the deluge we are experiencing since abour 2 am, and I am going to something called the 'Tie Party', a celebration for gents only at the local inn, being held as a pendant to the ladies only 'Hat Party' which is tradition on the weekend before Egeskov Fair, Saturday afternoon.

I am currently printing a Tatooine storage building with floor and removable roof, expecting it to finish late this evening.

Star Wars: Unboxing the Spectres - and Then Some

Yesterday, I received my latest order from Hyggeonkel, and set about unboxing everything right away


Why Imperial Assault, I hear you ask; simply because I am probably going to buy that game in a not-too-distant future, and I really want to be able to use the Spectres (also for other games like the upcoming Galactic Heroes from Jake Wiley, and perhaps a sci-fi version of Sellswords & Spellslingers), - and I have a standing invitation for joining an Imperial Assault group this fall.

Well, the first clamshell I cut open with my lightsaber (pair of scissors) contained everybody's favourite pair of droids.

I included R2-D2 and C-3PO in my order, simply because they are available. No Star Wars collection is complete without them, and they are an obvious choice for complications, objectives, secret missions, and other ideas for spicing up scenarios.

I have NO idea about the rules, yet, but I expect to have a clue after my first evening playing the game.

Note the two Deployment Cards for R2-D2 - that concept is really puzzling me!

Next up was Spectre 2 and Spectre 3/Chopper; Hera Syndulla and C1-10P - simply because I was in the mood for more droid, and a getaway pilot is always handy!

Spectre 1 and Spectre 6, master and apprentice, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger.

I would have preferred to start with an earlier version of this pair - Kanan with his eyesight, and Ezra with uncut hair, as seen in the earlier seasons of Rebels, but I guess you cannot have it all...

Spectre 4 and Spectre 5, Zeb Orrelios and Sabine Wren.

Sabine is one of my favourite female Star Wars characters, because she is displaying such a complex dual personality; the artist, and the crazy pyrotechnician. That, and because she is tagging the phoenix that is turning into the emblem of the Rebellion.

Zeb is the brawler of the group, and although the knuckle-cracking pose is often seen, I would have preferred a more dynamic one for gaming.

Once more, I just have to settle for what has been made available, but I really hope FFG makes another pose for Legion, should they decide to add the Spectres to that game!

All in all a nice haul, and I am looking forward to getting some of them painted and used in a game (I also plan to mock-up some stats/rules for Legion, so that I can play covert ops/sabotage missions/fuel and food raids, and other scenarios as seen in the Rebels show.

Finally, a 'family photo' of the entire group in front of some of my recently completed jungle bases (and 3D printed giant tree trunks).

I shall probably paint up Hera and Chopper, first - as pilot and astromech of the Ghost, they are indespendable (and may fly missions on their own, which is also a good reason).

3D Printed: Tree Trunks

Yesterday and today I was printing two 30 cm. tall tree trunks  - or so I thought!

When I entered the hobby room after dinner today, the hotend was drawing lines above an unfinished stump, and it was soon obvious that I had a severe filament clog.

It took me over half an hour to get the filament flowing (changed the spool back to the darker grey which worked fine yesterday, just to make sure), and now the printer is up and running once more!

I am planning to start my largest print so far, either later today or tomorrow (est. 27hs 19ms); the upscaled (575%) X-wing escape pod for all kinds of Star Wars settings (and a certain pair of droids to get away in).

3D Printed: Star Wars Scatter Terrain

Smaller pieces to populate the Star Wars Legion table printed so far (the Imperial bunker and the power-thingies not included). Everything off Thingiverse.

Currently printing a 30cm redwood (jungle/Endor), and when it finishes this evening, I shall have to change filament to a lighter grey for printing some additional commission pieces for Imperial Assault.

Later this week I shall try my largest print so far, an escape pod, scaled up from a Thingiverse X-wing scale model (I ordered C-3PO, and R2-D2, yesterday, and am going to make a large dune with an indent for the escape pod, so I can stage an Ep. IV Tatooine display).

DIY Desert Mat

I have been working at a 3x3 (approximately) test piece painter's felt desert mat, as I am going to make a 6x3 Tatooine mat for Star Wars Legion, and I wanted to start out with a smaller one that can also be used for smaller games like Pulp Alley, Strange Aeons, Sellswords & Spellslingers, etc.

I started out by painting some patches in various earthy colours; red-browns, light terracotta, khaki, etc., an drybrushed them with Buff Titanium. I did not like any of the results, as they turned out way darker than intended, and I decided to paint the entire mat with Buff Titanium, ending up giving it two coats.

I then mixed some white and Buff Titanium and drybrushed the entire surface, and I think it turned out OK, As you can see, the (used) felt had some wrinkles, and I should probably have ironed it before painting, but I wanted to get stuck in right away, and - hey - with some terrain pieces on top, the wrinkles should not be all that noticeable!

3D Printed: Door Frames for Imperial Assault

A friend of mine asked if I could print some pieces found on Thingiverse for FFG's Imperial Assault, and of course I accepted.

The first one I printed without reading the instructions, so it was printed top side up, with supports which would have been all right if the new filament (Fiberlogy) did not require other temperature settings than my other brands (3DE and Spectrum), and caused a lot of bed adhesion problems.

This attempt ended up with a lot of visible stepping, and a slight layer shift close to the base. I also had to remove supports from the narrow slot in which the cardboard door is supposed to fit, which is rather tedious and difficult work. I would say, with a bit of filing and sanding, it will probably be passable, but of course I was not content with this.

The solution to the adhesion issue was to not just print at higher temperature, but only do so on the first layer, lowering the nozzle temperature for the rest of the print - which also means that I can get good adhesion AND print a low speed!

I then read the instructions that said to print in reverse orientation, with raft and supports, and I did so with lower print temperature. Only problem with this method is that the top (bottom) layer does not come out very smooth, and will require some filling/sanding (probably just some filler primer), and I felt that my printer should be able to do better.

So while I printed a second piece with those settings, I pondered how to do it.

I decided to try printing right side up, with raft and supports, but while this gave a nice top, it once more required a lot of material to be removed from the finished model (including the door slot).

So I played around with the Cura settings until I succeeded in printing directly on the glass bed (higher first layer temperature with some glue stick applied), and the fourth door frame is the first piece I have printed that way (but hopefully not the last). I printed it upside down, with supports (although they probably were not necessary), and as the first layer is shaped by the surface of the bed, it turned out almost perfectly flat.

The photo is a bit blurred in the foreground, could not get the focus to work without a proper light setting, but you get the idea.

There will be some cleaning up to do, especially around the small buttons, but nothing an experienced miniatures gamer will find difficult. I think I shall try printing one without supports tomorrow, as I would like to see how clean a result I can get...

Legion Terain: A Small Cluster

A 'family photo' of the recently printed terrain pieces.

The printer has been busy doing dungeon tiles the last couple of days, and a Baby Groot pencil holder today, and I have not had time to clean up the extra five Rhydonium cannisters, yet, because I have been working on my jungle terrain, but expect more home-made plastic stuff, soonish...

The girls and I are going to Horsens European Medieval Festival this coming weekend, so there will be no games to report this week, but as soon as I have cleared the jungle bases away, I shall get back to painting Lea's party for Sellswwords & Spellslingers, and hopefully get a game in with her soon!

Star Wars Legion: Rhydonium Cannister

Photo's a bit unfocused, but I think you'll get the picture 😜 Very dangerous stuff to use as cover, but never the less going to be used as scatter terrain!

Printed at 30mm/sec, 200 Centigrades, 0.1 resolution. Currently printing another five of those.

Star Wars Legion: Fuel Energizer

No idea what this is supposed to be doing, but it provides cover! Mini only for scale.

Star Wars Legion: Vaporator

This iconic piece of imaginary tech spells Star Wars as clearly as a Lightsaber.

In use all over the galaxy, wherever clean surface water is hard to come by, and frequently seen on arid planets like Tatooine.

I printed this at 200 Centigrades, 0.1 resolution, 40mm/sec, 10% triangular infill; slow prints at low temperatures definitely seem the way to go!

Model is from Thingiverse, and the mini is just for scale purposes.