Tag: painting

The Empire’s Time…Has Come!

Imperial Special Forces for Legion!

tehlulzpare3 Comments
“I see a white Stormtrooper and I want it painted black…”

I was visiting my friendly local gaming store, when I noticed something; a nice stockpile of the new Star Wars Legion expansions. Did I go there for them? Goodness no, but given my recent paycheque and the very real possibility of a better job in the near future….I couldn’t resist leaving with something. While ARC Troopers are the coolest choice, I am not playing the Republic(yet). So I instead walked out with Inferno Squad!

Now for those of you not in the know, Inferno Squad is from the much maligned Star Wars Battlefront 2 game by EA. While I definitely had my problems with it, I did enjoy the single player experience, which focuses on the exploits of Inferno Squad, from the Imperial Special Forces.

The box set by Fantasy Flight allows you to make these characters except for their leader, Iden Versio, who got rolled into a Commander/Operative class model. However, as I can see myself buying a second box of these fantastic models, I decided to be a bit daring and make instead my own custom Special Forces team.

Taking a page from my Black Templars from Warhammer 40k, I primed black, then drybrushed lightly with Eshin Grey. This was followed by a drybrush of Dawnstone. What this did was introduce some gradients to the black uniform, so that a shade, Nuln Oil, would actually add some depth.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it worked or not, but I was quite happy with them. This, to be entirely honest, is where I left the black uniform; A lot of the colours are so similar and my collection of black and grey paints is running thin. I did however repaint the E-11 and DLT-19 blasters in Eshin Grey fully, to add some different tones. I have come to quite enjoy painting weapons in that color, its actually closer to what colour the weapons are in films and cartoons, instead of being painted with metallics.

A DLT-19 toting Special Forces trooper, with a sharp looking weapon.

I decided early on that I would use Army Painter’s Electric Blue as my insignia colour, to make them distinct from Inferno Squad’s red details. On most of the troopers, this was just on the small blue discs on their shoulders.

However, for interest, I decided to have on three troopers a stripe running down their legs. I did this on the Squad Leader, and the alternate builds for Gideon Hask and Del Meeko. This brought in some much needed visual interest.

Is it practical on ‘stealth’ uniforms? Goodness no. Is it cool? Yes…I think.
The drybrushed highlights really worked on the back armour plates.
Another model, this one being the alternative Gideon with helmet build. Here you can see the gloss coat I added to the eye-lenses.
And here is the alternate Del Meeko build. I’ve based these models to fit my Mimban campaign idea.
And the whole squad coming together. I really enjoyed this little project.

I’m quite pleased with these models! I was pretty happy with the fact Fantasy Flight has moved to a plastic sprue for their newer kits; this extra detail really helped the drybrush along.

As a happy accident, one of my friends had picked up a can of Vallejo Spray for my Team Yankee stuff. However, he had accidently grabbed a German Field Grey can instead of my Russian Uniform! I decided to try it out on my General Veers to see if it was a good match for the Imperial Officer uniform, the olive-grey seen in the movies!

“The shield will be down in moments. You may start your landing”-General Veers, Empire Strikes Back.

Its…admittedly not a perfect match. But it’s not entirely terrible either, and I decided to press on regardless. The uniforms are a tough nut to crack, as they were made in an olive-grey materiel but the colour grading makes them appear more grey in the films. I feel like this leans a bit on the green side….

This is an older Legion model, from Wave 2. It shows; the face isn’t up to par with the newer sculpts and it’s features are quite chunky. Still a great model and really fun to paint!
He still looks the business leading the troops!

All in all, a good days work! My Legion stuff seems to find its way to the top of my painting queue quite often…I can’t seem to figure out why! In any event, I’m making decent progress at being able to play a game with fully painted models!

The whole, unhappy, imperialist, Jawa-murdering, family!

This was, to be entirely honest, a deviation from the content I meant to have done this weekend. Seeing as I have a day off between today and my next class, I might try and sneak in a VBCW article! My friend in the city has been making good progress on Albertines, and I have a most royal project waiting in the wings.

But for now, that is all I have! I hope you enjoyed! I’m still in the process of trying to find a name for my ‘not’ Inferno Squad, and if you have any suggestions, let me know! Happy War-Gaming, wherever you are, and may the Force be with you!

The Road to Miniwargaming: Part 2….and a detour to 1944…

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They may look majestic, but keeping these mighty stallions of the air on the table is a game unto itself!

Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. A hurried rush to get everything painted before the big day, but…its done. My list is painted, varnished, and safely ensconced in protective foam for it’s long journey to Welland, Ontario.

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The last stragglers cross the finish line. I ran out of my preferred brown paint, Army Painters Oak Brown, and had to use GW’s Dryad Bark; Similar, but not the same! However, they still rank up nicely with the rest…so I guess its fine?

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Ready to roll poorly, at my command, at the worst possible time…now on Youtube for all to see!

This has been a hectic last week, as the clubhouse was a hive of activity. I managed to get another practice game in. I decided before that game to remove one Lascannon squad and Ratlings to bring in a Leman Russ Annihilator, a unit I’ve had for a while. It saved me one squad of painting, and its durability and firepower paid off; It was the right decision to amend the list. I’m still not bringing the best possible list in the world, with my Imperial Navy assets still front and centre, despite the FAQ making them far harder to use. I don’t want to spoil who I’m facing; Suffice to say, I hope to make for good sport!

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The last practice! I lost, but learned some tricks and tactics to use for later, and learned I MUST fly in careful patterns or risk losing the 300+ point model in a very embarrassing way…

This whole thing has got me terribly excited! If I am allowed, I will take as many pictures as I can, and I’ll try to keep you guys informed as to what is going on.

Now, I would end here, but a rather surprising turn of events happened at the Clubhouse this week. During the middle of my practice game, Paul, the owner, walked in, hands full of Warlord Games Konflikt 47 starter sets! Turns out, while not a fan of historical gaming, the simple addition of “weird” elements has convinced him….it was all downhill from here. The Clubhouse, while having a couple of lapsed Bolt Action players, mainly played 40k and AOS, and we didn’t have the drive to play that we would normally have. But suddenly, at least 4-5 people have committed to playing Konflikt 47, purchasing starters and assembling in mad haste. And with Konflikt 47 being an offshoot of Bolt Action, using much the same rules, us WW2 fans found ourselves suddenly experts. At least two of the new players want to do Bolt Action as well! I helped run a demo at the Giddy Goblin in Hanover, Ontario, and played a few games at the Clubhouse as well.

Unfortunately my primary Bolt Action force is the British 8th Army, specifically in the North African campaign. Being a 1941-1943 force, they lack heavy armor by 1944(and onward!) standards, and also lack firepower. Luckily, I did just happen to have a British Airborne starter army just sitting on my shelf, and a plastic Sherman to temporarily give them a wee bit of a chance against any Tigers or the like! One frantic day of assembly gave me 1000ish points of plucky British Paras, ready to take the fight to Jerry!

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A plucky British Paratrooper, freshly assembled.

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Major Allison Digby Tatham-Warter, a real life paratrooper who fought at Arnhem, 1944 . Known for his distinctive umbrella, which he carried because he couldn’t remember passwords…and figured no British soldier would mistake him for a Jerry, as they were sensible enough not to carry umbrellas! He’ll be acting as my Major in my army, granting significant buffs to my Paras.

Now, none of my WW2 stuff is painted; why would it be? No-one locally played at the time, and my only opponent was my friend in the city, and at least he had started on the painting part. However, I now find myself in the position where I need to paint up my British 1st Airborne for engagements in 1944-47, and so begins yet another intricately detailed miniature army to paint. The cycle continues! As I finish work on them, I will post updates!

Until I post again, Ave Imperator, and happy war-gaming, wherever you might be!

 

The Road to Miniwargaming!

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Hey folks! It has been a while, hasn’t it? As life tends to do, I was saddled with a lot of non-hobby related stuff, and had to clear that hurdle before I could throw myself back into the fight (Lest the Commissar get riled!). As it so happens, I can do even better…

About 5-6 months ago, a friend of mine at the Chesley Gaming Clubhouse, a guy named Kyle, offered to have me tag-a-long on his next jaunt to Miniwargaming, a major Youtube channel in our community. Suffice to say, you’ve either heard of it, and are waiting for me to get to the point, or you haven’t heard of it, in which case prepare to be enlightened.

Miniwargaming mainly produces Battle Reports, and the production value of these videos is extremely high. It is safe to say that before I played regularly, this was my primary way of getting 40k knowledge, and many people watch them, somewhere in the tune of 300,000 subscribers!

Of course, such an offer couldn’t be turned down. I have been in contact with them, and my game(s) is set for August 1st and 2nd. My Vostroyans, probably my most painted army, is set to fight an as yet unknown opponent! I’m excited beyond belief….but there is a problem. A not insignificant one. That is, my army isn’t….actually….fully painted yet.

Luckily, I don’t need the whole lot done, just my army list. This week and last has been full of frantic painting.

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This week and lasts completed work; Not pictured: 6 lascannon teams and 1 more infantry squad, whose bolter team IS done.

One of my favourite commissar models, reading the Uplifting Primer to his men, fist raised!
Heavy bolters are my primary heavy weapons choice for my army, can’t go wrong with some extra dakka.
A basic paint job: I’d love to see a pro do this model!
Good Ole Heavy B!
“You will stand!”
Sentinels! People seem to dislike them, but they are excellent deep-strike denial units.
Burn Baby Burn: I’m very tempted to paint Napalm Sticks to Nids on the side!

 

Not too shabby. I’m by far not the greatest painter, nor the fastest. But I am fairly proud of my work. I can always go back and add some details when the mood strikes me, and nothing is set in stone. Vostroyans, luckily, take well to my painting style. As I have mentioned before, I paint my army in a very lore focused manner, and this is why my Vehicles are not painted Vostroyan colors; as per the Imperial Guard operating procedure, no regiment can have troops outside of their typical role, and therefore they belong to the Pardus Armoured Regiments, a planet in or near the Sabbat Worlds. In-game, they can either function as Vostroyans in rules, representing their close teamwork, or run as a separate detachment of say, Valhallans or Cadians, giving them a lot of versatility.

Of course, going to MWG without getting a lot of games in as practice will make for a relatively boring video as I lose without any consequence, or look foolish as I get rules wrong! So I have been getting in as many practice games as possible. Below is one of my games against a local, Cody, and his Tyranids, played to perfection by him. Tyler, he watches. Doesn’t actually play, but somehow by osmosis knows more about the game then we do!

Cody on the left, Tyler on the right. A vast host prepare to fight across the snowy battleground.
Hellhound…he didn’t survive turn 1.
Ah my Thunderbolts! One of my favourite models, I try to use them as much as possible.
“Hold the line Comrades!”
Hormagaunts skitter around a building!
“Make ready! Present…”
Tanith, skulking in a building, looking for the perfect shot

What followed was a brutal turn one assault by a large force of Genestealers, killing all 6 of my Lascannons and a Command Squad. The losses were a bad look at what was to come, as the Genestealers cleaned house until I finally rolled well enough to kill them, but far too late to change the course of the game. It was a fun match, and is making me reconsider taking the Lascannons in their own squads, replacing them with some Leman Russes?

Anyways, I must go back to the grind of Sleep, Play, Paint, and Paint some more. So until next time, Happy War-gaming, and Ave Imperator!