Painting Challenge Submission #7 - Imperial Shore Troopers

More members of the Scarif garrison ready to deploy.

After a delay caused by the move, I am (mostly) back the painting wagon again, and for my submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I returned to a favourite subject from last year - Star Wars and the Scarif garrison from the movie "Rogue One". We have a group of Shore Troopers to bulk out the garrison. These are 28mm figures (yes, they still are, even if they are big), a mix of "official" figures from Fantasy Flight Games (not called that anymore, but I have lost track of what they are now called) and 3D print designs from DarkFire.

Shore Trooper squad from Fantasy Flight Games.

The Fantasy Flight Games figures comprise a regular squad of Shore Troopers, an officer and five troopers, including one with a heavy weapon. These are lovely sculpts and I really like the poses of the troopers, a nice mix of action, firing and moving among the group.

Squad leader and corporal, ready to deploy.

I love these firing poses...

The action poses are fantastic too - great sculpts.

Moving into the 3D prints, we have two support groups that are rounding the garrison out nicely. One is a sniper team (cue the jokes), comprised of a marksman and a spotter.

Imperial Shore Trooper "sniper" team - we know all the jokes about Imperial soldiers and their inability to hit anything in the films...but in actual table top games, the Imperial soldiers can indeed hit targets!

And to provide some leadership and direction for what is now a platoon-sized Shore Trooper force, we have a senior officer and a communications trooper. 

Command team for the beach!

Another view of the officer/command team.

I have applied my own interpretation of the various colour schemes I have seen online - and in the film - for the Shore Troopers.  The senior officer has the greatest variety of colours - between that, his pose and his pistol armament, and the flunky with the comms unit following him around, he is all set to look the part on a gaming table and lead an Imperial garrison in response to terrorist acts carried out by the so-called "Rebel Alliance". 

The Fantasy Flight sculpts of these figures are awesome, but the 3D prints are tremendous too - Dark Fire Designs is just great, and if you like Star Wars, I really recommend checking out their STLs. Conscript Dave V is the one who inspired me to look more into the 3D world of Star Wars figures, and wow, is there a lot to choose from. I find Dark Fire to be one of the best. They have a number of licensed printers too, so you are spared from actually having to contemplate owning one of those !@#!@#ing things yourself :) 

Anyway, that is all for now - thanks for reading, and watch for more progress by the Fawcett Conscripts through this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

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.

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!

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 #3 - Rebel Alliance Pathfinders

Rebel Pathfinders and a heavy support weapon for "Star Wars".

My third submission to AHPC XIII returns to the Star Wars setting, and picks things up right where I left off at AHPC XII. This is a group of Rebel Alliance troopers - most of them "pathfinders" intended to supplement the ranks of Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso's team that I painted last March. There is also one rebel trooper ready to employ a liberated Imperial heavy laser against its previous owners. All of these are independent 3D sculpts, printed in the unique and oddly large scale of the "Star Wars: Legion" game.

View showing the rear of the fatigues, and some of the kit you can put on their belts etc.

The "Legion" rules themselves are...not for me. I find them almost unplayably baroque, riven with mindless, card-driven complexity for no good reason and requiring a gaming table that fills rapidly with clouds of chit-style markers. 

But sometimes you need to separate the figures from the rules. "Legion" has bad rules IMO, but a lot of great figures which have been a lot of fun to paint. And there are a great variety of rules you can use out there, so I find I am more and more "stuck in" to collecting and painting figures for this setting. 

Painting Star Wars figures is also good for a sense of connection to my hobby roots. Since relocating to Ontario, I've no longer been able to take for granted that a "Star Wars" game could be whipped together at a moment's notice (one of the many things that is so great about the Winnipeg group on this blog). So in the past couple of years, I have started painting up/collecting my own "Star Wars" figures and models - when I see them, I think of my friends, and hey, they are also ready for a game at any time should folks end up visiting, right?

Selection of the Pathfinders - equipped with A-300 blasters in "long range" configuration.

So that brings us around to these specific figures - the "Pathfinders" are something of a separate, and perhaps more elite (ish?) class of Rebel Alliance infantry. I think of them more as "the troopers who fought at Scarif in 'Rogue One'" - and in this sense, they are different from "the troopers who fought at Echo Base" or "the commandos that fought on Endor" etc.
 

"Take cover!"

This distinction was not lost on Fantasy Flight Games, and they issued a "Rebel Pathfinders" box set. Those are nice figures, but the pack is quite specific, and you really cannot use the box to build up a more generic force of "Pathfinder" type troops the way you can with the more generic Rebel infantry in the starter box. I really like the look of the Rebels who fought on the the islands at the Imperial base on Scarif, and wished I could find more troopers with that look to add to my collection. 

Officer in the middle with a pistol - and the set also included a discarded Shore Trooper helmet, so I put that on the base to mark him out. The other two Pathfinders are carrying A-300 blasters in their short range, carbine-style configuration.

What to do? It was hardly a serious problem - I just had enter the vast, and incredibly talented world of 3D sculptors and printers dedicated to Star Wars! Dave V had some awesome suggestions for me, including the figures you see here. This "Modular Pathfinder Battalion" was a bit pricey, but fit the bill perfectly - the right mix of helmets, of fatigues and the different blasters used by the "Pathfinders", including the odd rifles and carbines that have what seem to be air-cooled barrels...that makes no sense, but why should it, right? I love it. 

Like so many good projects, these sat in the "pending pile" for months, and as AHPC XIII loomed, I thought it would be good to get them done! They are painted in colours to match the "Pathfinders" from the FFG box I painted last March.

A "liberated" E-web blaster - the sculptor did a great job on this 3D printed design - the Rebel trooper looks to be really enjoying using this weapon against the Empire!

When shopping online, it is very rare that I buy just ONE thing, so when I was purchasing these Pathfinders, I spotted the figure of the Rebel trooper with the heavy laser and, well, it just sort of click-fell into my online basket, as things do. The colours on her are only slightly different, so she could fight with the Pathfinders, or with the more generic Rebel infantry I had painted previously. 

Another view of the gunner. I'm sure nothing will go wrong if a stray blaster shot hits that generator, right?

I now have enough Pathfinder-style Rebel infantry for a fun scenario where the brave Alliance troops must launch a daring raid on an Imperial base - and really, is there any other kind of raid, right? But the pendulum in my collection, having swung to the Rebel side, looks like it needs to get back to the bad guys...hopefully there will be more to share in that regard as this edition of the Challenge proceeds.

For the Rebellion!

This added 89 points toward my tally in the Challenge - a decent step toward my 800 point goal. Thanks for reading - stay tuned for more AHPC XIII entries - not only from me, but watch as Dallas, Mike, Dave and Frederick join the fray as well (Federick in particular continues to deliver crushing 'points bombs' that keep him near the top of scoring table - well done!). Cheers!

Painting Challenge Submission #1 - Mando and The Child

3d prints of The Mandalorian and The Child - 28mm figures.

Happy new year, everyone! The 13th edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is off and running, and a number of Conscripts are participating once again. This will be the first of what I hope will be many posts sharing work submitted to the Challenge - from myself, and from the other participants! 

I was pleased to kick off my APHC XIII run with two figures that most folks visiting this blog will likely recognize - The Mandalorian and "the Child". These are 3D prints sourced from Etsy, and while they are intended for use in games such as "Star Wars: Legion", these particular figures are a little unusual in that they will not see service on a gaming table, but rather on display, as they were a request from my lovely wife Linda.

Mando at the ready with his super-amazing rifle...

To truly enjoy and embrace the madness of the hobby, a supporting (or at least very understanding) partner is essential. I am blessed in this regard (one of many) when it comes to Linda, as she pleasantly tolerates what surely must be a baffling accumulation of painted figures, steady stream of strange parcel deliveries, variety of projects etc. It is extremely rare that any particular painting subject or gaming setting would overlap with her interests...

Mostly the old brown and grey armour for this early "Mando" - just a bit of beskar steel.

But then, out of the steaming pit of garbage that is Disney Star Wars, somehow "The Mandalorian" arose...and Linda loved it just as much as I ultimately did. I mean, who can resist "the Child"? Linda knew I painted Star Wars figures, and knew that we often played games set in the Star Wars universe, so she asked me this summer if the gaming companies made figures for "The Mandalorian". I explained at the time there no official ones as yet, but that the world of 3D printing folks had already been all over it...Dave V helped me with some suggestions for possible figures to paint, and she selected these two. 

Who's up for some snacks?

I was pleased with her choice - here we have Mando as seen in the second episode of the first season, rifle at the ready. I did my best to capture the many small details of his original get up - armoured, but not yet covered in beskar. Here is is escorting the Child toward an unknown fate, experiencing an inner torment, a conflict between his obligations to the Bounty Hunting Guild, and the immediate bond with this unique foundling.

The 3D prints took some time to arrive, and of course I am always distracted by other projects etc. so these figures sat for some time. But we spent this past Christmas out at our cabin, and I thought getting these two finished for her would be a good Christmas Eve project. Besides, as I said, it is extremely rare for Linda to ever ask for a painted figure, so best to ensure I deliver before Christmas!

The Child and his space pram...what a brilliant idea...

For me, "The Mandalorian" peaked in those first three episodes of that first season. While Mando and the Child would enjoy many more interesting adventures over the first two seasons of this show, I really don't see how they can top that first season. And the more plot and story they tag on, the less I find we both enjoy it. For example, just contemplating the tiresome politics of the Mandalorian subculture, or the whatever-is-really-going-on with the "Dark Sabre"...sigh, sometimes the less things are explained, the better...

Mando is tense, but no need to worry - only a display shelf to worry about now!

Anyway, the point here is not to lament, but to share, and to get some points on the board. These two counted for 30 points towards my 800-point target (they benefited from a bonus allocation due to a Challenge Map location - see the AHPC blog for more on that if you are interested.)

Thanks for readings, and stay tuned for more, as the Conscripts set forth once again to make waves in the AHPC!

Starfighters! "Get Veers!"

 Last month Greg Burch was in town, so I hosted a Star Wars space combat game. 

Scenario: Get Veers! 

• General Veers is on a tour of bases on the outer Rim. Rebel operatives have intercepted his itinerary.
• The Imperial space forces have been tasked with escorting the shuttles carrying Veers and his command and logistics staff. 
• They must reach the other side of the playing area before they reach the designated Jump Point.

• Unfortunately, this part of space is full of unfriendly, Rebellious types.

We used miniatures from the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures line, and the Starfighters! rules from Wiley Games. https://wiley-games.myshopify.com/products/fistful-of-lead-starfighters-downloadable-pdf-preview-only-on-sale-any-day-now

Nine X-Wings from Red Squadron squared off against 9 TIE fighters of Black Squadron, with 3 Lambda Shuttles caught in the furball. After the Rebels started closing, they fired off a volley of 18(!) Proton Torpedoes, which would penetrate the shuttles’ shields. The TIE fighters shot down about a third of the torpedoes, then proceeded to knife fighting distance. 

Many dogfights ensued, with the Rebels trying to avoid those turning fights to concentrate on the shuttles. Though the shuttles’ heavy shielding protected them, the sheer number of Rebel attacks proved overwhelming. 

The cost was high, with 4 X-Wings, 3 TIE Fighters, and all 3 Lambdas shot down. 

For our ongoing Star Wars Galactic Heroes campaign, this will have in-game consequences. General Veers will not be available to lead any of the increasingly scattered Imperial ground forces. 

Thanks to Greg, Frederick, Brian, Rob, John, Kevin, and Hugh for playing!

(Before the game I had my lovely wife Jennifer randomly choose one of the shuttles as Veers’ own, which she duly secretly recorded. As it turned out, Veers’ ship was the last to fall.)