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.

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Painted Figs with Litko Bases and Re-Posed ATST

Here is some more painted Imperial Assault I have been working on the last 2 weeks for our ongoing campaign which I am running with my cousins and my son. These sculpts are fun to paint and have decent detail but clean up could be a nightmare with flash if you are counting on making these showcase paint jobs. So, don't bother. Color adds so much to the game and a tabletop painting standard is more than enough to bring it to life. I added Litko clear bases too, which I really like on these models. I used a jeweler's saw to remove the figures from their bases. I'll close this post with a few other in-game shots.

Gideon Argus

Mak

Diala with brass rod saber blade

Gaar

Stormtroopers and Scout Trooper with EWeb

Imperial Officer

Royal Guard

Darth Vader with brass rod saber blade

Imperial Officer #2 conversion/General Weiss on Foot (Weiss is magnetized at the waist so he can be mounted in the ATST)

ATST, reposed

Weiss mounted in his Experimental ATST

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Gaarkhan

Just a tabletop quality Gaarkhan here to continue with the box game painting... Diala, Gideon and Mak are on the table as well as some of the Imps themselves. I converted the ATST so we will see how that looks in the end, which should be soon. I'm using all of this as a warm up for some Khador I am stuck on.

I was asked if re-basing the figs on clear bases takes a lot of time. Answer: Nope, not really. The only funky fig I ran into with that was getting the feet of the ATST off the base but more on that later. Stay tuned, I should have a few updates this week of the work I have been up too, including some WIP diary from the 6'x8' Libertyhammer airbase board I built last month.

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 X Wing Miniatures: Ghost Final (Cake Topper)

I have been working on this on-and-off for too long. That's why I have to be done! I worked to make this look like the color palette in the source materials, in the McQuarrie style. This is a complete repaint of the Ghost, not a touch up of the original finish. I added brass barrels on the gun positions which were barely an original detail and I did layers of grime, wear and subtle chipping. There were a few points during the painting where the details on this cake topper decoration just sucked, frankly, and I moved on. Perfect example is the main cockpit bubble.Ugh. I had even filed parts of the canopy to get it to match up across the upper and lower sections. Still, it was a good exercise and my son is thrilled to have a Ghost to use in X Wing as an Outer Rim smuggler, until the FFG Ghost drops. All-in-all, worth it for 8 bucks!

Here's a before shot, followed by final after primer and paints.

Star Wars X Wing: Ghost (Cake Topper) Part 2

I've had this on the paint bench for far too long. I got this cake topper for my son then got discouraged by the wrong base color. And it sat. Well, the boy asked for the Ghost again so with no delay I re-based in OOP GW Space Wolf Grey and made with the painting. This thing was like US$8 bucks, so not expecting much but the lack of detail is daunting. The canopy is a real test but so far it's passable.

Now I am at an impasse. I mixed the colors based on source pictured and generally nailed it but the question is now one of finishing. There is some yellow stripe and detail painting that needs doing but really it comes down to hard lining: do I use technical pen or something brush-based like Nuln oil which won't be as harsh? Hard to tell really, looking at the source material you would to try to keep contrasts lower than how FFG would finish the model. But this will roll alongside other FFG models so I guess get with the idea that contrast will join it. Stay tuned for the finishing.

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!