Return of the Yeti

See what I did there? No? Nevermind then. My group just played the Imperial Assault campaign over the last 3 months and it was a blast. That said, I was busy painting and pimping the game but not reporting much because spoilers. Recently I pulled out Bushido again and am slapping paint on them now to get Ito to 50 rice and I have a Savage Wave starter coming in from Ol' Blighty.

So, how about a bunch of pics of stuff I had built and painted from the campaign in no particular order?

Rubble counters and a 3D printed hatch

Elite Royal Guard

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Han Solo and Shocktroopers

So here is what's great about Imperial Assault from the hobby perspective. The figures have good sculpts and really benefit from some paint... they pop on the board in a really satisfying way. While you can adjust poses and bends with hot water, it doesn't really pay to clean up the models in a complete way that is slightly alarming to a seasoned mini painter; the material is just really hard to work with and trimming flash is like failing a sobriety test. That said, it leaves you in a cool place to challenge yourself to paint fast and try new things since there isn't much to be done about the material used.

With that in mind I have been letting the campaign dictate my painting schedule and so, as we progress through the campaign I usually tackle a few minis a week. For the side mission, "Sorry About the Mess" I needed Solo and an Elite Stormtrooper unit done up. So I simply put them on the table ahead of the impending game and knocked it out.

There is a ton of source material to paint from and that has been a ton of fun for me, instead of the usual fretting about designing color harmonies and sourcing or mixing colors. For the most part, I toned stock colors and built up highlights again.

I had about 2.5 hours to paint Solo and about another night to get the Elite Stormtroopers-Shocktroopers finished. In all, a ton of fun and they look the part on the board. The only real issue I had was the humidity was bonkers in Philly, so the Troopers and Solo got a bit frosted when primed.

Again, I threw caution to the wind and just got it done... pretty happy with the speed and outcome and I am knocking out a handful of figures every week. I have more Stormtroopers on the table along with Kayne Somos and I am mostly done the box set. I will be done the entire box set plus multiple expansions by mid September.

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Chewbacca

My game group played The Spice Job mission Saturday, so I painted Chewbacca up Friday in anticipation. Many people are saying that painted models win games, so it must be true as Chewie was a walking carpet of destruction in the game and seriously fun to paint.

X Wing Miniatures: Ghost pics from Last Game

My Ghost Cake Topper finally saw action as a Leebo/Chewie YT 2400 with an accompanying K Wing loaded with ordnance against a Decimator picket.

The info drop for FFG's actual Ghost looks like it is going to be really good and I am sure it will be a beast on the board. Still, this stand in looked cool right now and my son felt like it was a real Rebels game, which we both enjoyed. The YT is so damn fast I am not sure I will be able to see FFG's Ghost the same way again...

Star Wars Rebels: Season 2

I won't be making Rebels part of the fabric of the blog often but I am compelled to say that episode 1 of Rebels season 2, The Siege of Lothal,  was the most exciting Star Wars-anything I have seen in a long time. They took serious notes from movie Episodes 4-6 in terms of visual styles and aesthetics and I appreciated the hell out of it.

Being a McQuarrie fan since childhood, I see so much of his handiwork embodied in Rebels, from Lothal itself to the profile of Vader's mask and while I have enjoyed how Disney deployed his conceptualization from the beginning, something really congealed in this episode, really pulled together his signature influence and the classic Star Wars look from A New Hope onwards. Visually, it was more Star Wars than I though a cartoon could get, in due part to the "classic" look of everything on screen (no offense Clone Wars) but also the spotlight on Vader and how the universe "felt right." GOOD lightsaber fights, A-Wings, CR90's lumbering around, Imperial scapegoats... and Vader. Such Vader. Wow.

Season one was a bit childish and weak (even my 11 year old says so) but it is desirably dark now and feels so Star Warsy it has me scrambling to play Imperial Assault and X Wing (well played Disney).

If you haven't watched the series until now then you could simply jump into this episode and maybe feel thrills you forgot you once had, even without all of the back story there. Those with the Lucas-trope gene will know how to fill gaps in motives but if you had a choice I would say watch Season 1 first.

You may be surprised at how into it you get. Either way, enjoy!

Star Wars X Wing Miniatures: WIP HWK 290 Mod Part 2

So, this HWK is totally repainted though you'd probably never know, since I essentially modified it and then primed it brown, added some sponge weathering, a few washes to shade and add some color, picked out metals and re-did the canopy... only for it to look very close to the original. Hmmm. Was sorta surprised it ended up so close. I will be adding a flash of color somewhere but I am not sure yet where. So, probably another hour of so and that's it. More when finished.

Star Wars X Wing Miniatures: WIP HWK 290 Mod

My FLGS Redcap's Corner is running what equates to an RPG X Wing campaign, with pilots leveling up and acquiring more ships, skills and traits. I'm thinking of joining. The HWK seems a natural place to start. After all, if I was in Star Wars, I'd probably flying something like this ship, a cross between a freight truck and Bradley, depending on the situation.

I wanted to mod the HWK because I just wasn't feeling the stock pose since I got it. When I GIS'd and saw some simple moves of engine stacks I realized that I do love some new lines on the ship, basically the flat-top version of the HWK. I want to credit somebody I think named James who I saw on the Team Covenant site for his but at press time I couldn't source it. If I find it I will cite it.

This was fairly easy. I sawed off both wings and separated the wing nacelles. I trimmed and smoothed the pieces for fit and glued it together. I added a magnet to the turret too so it can spin because why not, right?

So now it is primed and ready for paint, which I might actually tackle tonight.

I think I am leaning towards some card art scheme like that of Torkil Mux's... utilitarian and low-key. Maybe a dash of color here and there.

More as it develops!

Weekend Star Wars X Wing

Colin's many points of articulation come in handy when explaining Star Wars X Wing to Jason

I had some of the fine PAGE fellows over Saturday evening to get some X Wing in. My cousin Mike joined us too, him being predisposed to playing this game really well despite not owning anything from the game at all and only playing when he is at my place. This is frustrating.

Colin has been playing steadily but just recently started into the game, Jason really doesn't like the Star Wars setting (you may have heard about that by now) but he acknowledged that the game is well-conceived and fun. Saying that he'd play it again is about as ringing of an endorsement as you can get from somebody who really needs infantry in his game and doesn't care about the difference between a proton torpedo and a photon torpedo. Colin and I offered D&D attack wing as a possible next step since it shares the same game mechanics and has some ground elements but my heating system did tick on when the chill went through the room at the mention of a Wizkids game. We had a 200 point non-scenario match, which was a first for me and probably for Colin and Mike.

Here, Colin's TIE Interceptors break through the trap the B Wings set for them and ride out the buffeting fire they took on their approach.

Farlander and his Dagger Squadron wheel back via advanced sensors and Keyan's intrinsic Stress-eating abilities to thin the darting TIES. Wedge makes it personal and how. The Merc Firespray bloodies everything around it and Lando leaves Chewbacca under the deck with his hydrospanners, ducking into an escape pod with some Colt 45's since it works every time.

 Colin ran a sweet elite TIE Interceptor force (minus Autothrusters) and Jason ran a bloated TIE bomber with a TIE Advanced escort along with a Merc Firespray. Mike ran a Lando perked-up YT with Chewbacca as crew along with the amazing Wedge Antilles with R2D2. True Story: Wedge rolled 100% on hits for 3 or 4 turns in a row with no dice modifications... you can't really walk that off, you just take it and start thinking about what you are going to eat for dinner, since your pilots never will again. Anyway we had a big ship traffic jam for a few turns as players learned to deal with blocking in ways they hadn't seen before and actually back-lighted the tactics, strategies and game features really well.

Nate the Great debates how to beat up Dad with the best '80's robot voice.

I ran a Farlander triple B Wing list that I liked enough to edit and try again Sunday morning against my 10 year old son, who I brutally destroyed when he ran IG88 against it. Hurray for making your opponents! And no, I don't feel bad. He usually beats me.

Nate88's bold move to close the distance before the warheads can activate.

Everyone is dented up by now, Guri strafes the hell out of Farlander as he up-and-overs his B Wing

Guri comes about hard on the accelerating Farlander, warming up the ordnance as his targeting computer chimes...

Guri's formidable Star Viper hits with a nice spread of Ion Torps, assisted by Focus, dealing Farlander a hit and Ionization as well as the same for a Range 1 Dagger!

Alas it was not to be for the Scum and Villainy, as The Rebels ride out the White 1 moves, shake the crippling Ionization and slowly mop up with their darting B Wings as they ride IG88's wake and slaughter the M3A.

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU ALL

Wish I knew who made this amazing piece... anybody?