Michka's Star Wars (Vendor Stall finished & TIEs 6/14/2017)

[lordbryon]

I think the AT-ST's are perfect. The AT-AT are about half the size they should be methinks. I'm basing this on the fact that the foot of the AT-AT was roughly the same size as the Rebel Snow Speeder. That being said. They look fantastic!...

[DnDPaladin]

ITS A FRAP !!!

[michka]

Thank You DungeonMasterRandom. I'm pretty happy to get these photographed and posted finally. Glad you like them.

Thank You lordbryon. I see what you're saying, but when you take into account that the average gamer is lucky to have a six foot by six foot game space, a one and a half foot long model that moves across the table is a bit unwieldy. That said, I do have a larger AT-AT kit that I plan to use with the larger, more modern stuff. It won't be the right size either, but it'll scale well with the AT-ST in the Imperial Assault box. Any discussion of scale and dimensions usually ends with personal preference, of an unending argument. I usually lean toward the freindly option.

Thank you DnDPaladin. It's little known that Admiral Ackbar was a fine pastry chef.

 

[lordbryon]

I hope I wasn't coming off as a member of the scale police. 

I totally agree with you.  AT-AT's take up a lot of table space. 

[curufin]

Great paint job on all of those miniatures! As to the scale of the AT-AT and AT-ST, I think they are pretty damn close and certainly close enough to represent them at the table. Awesome stuff, and I too want to dust off the ole SW RPG. Nothing captured the essence of Star Wars like the old WEG books.

[michka]

No offense taken or given lordbryon, I wasn't taking anything too seriously. There really is no right way to do scale. So long as we use abstractions for our characters miniatures we have to expect some abstractions to creep into the terrain. 

Thank You curufin.I'm lucky enough to have the same game group I played with when the West End Games Star Wars books first came out. In fact I'm running a game this Sunday for a couple of those guys. I won't have any terrain ready yet, but when I do I'll post it up.

Quick update time. I'm falling asleep in the chair right now, so if this doesn't make sense you know why. First up, and resin piece that I found at a con years ago. I always thought it would make a great command pit for the detention block.





And this is the AT-ST from the Imperial Assault box set. The weathering is a hell of a lot more subtle. I still enjoy the old figures, but this is an improvement.



and one for scale.



and finally a W.I.P. shot. I've been planning on making a statue for my Star Wars games for years now. What I'm showing off is the plinth that the statue will sit one.



The plinth is made from a wedding cake column, with some slotta-bases and plasticard added for details. An re-painted action figure will be the statue at the top of the plinth. I should have this one done by tomorrow night if all goes well. Let me know what you think.

[michka]

Looks like time for another update. I'll start with some Rebel Troopers. These are add-ons for the Imperial Assault game.



Now here is what I did with the plinth that I showed in my last post.



This is the plinth with the statue.



The statue is the Kenner Star Wars action figure Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. I primed both pieces with black spray paint. Then did a heavy dry-brush of Reaper Tarnished Brass. Then covered the whole thing with Citadel's Agrax Earthshade Wash. To make the oxidization effect, or Verdigris, I created a mix of Reaper Sky Blue and Meadow Green together with some water to thin the paint, and a couple drops of Reaper Flow Improver to help the thinned solution stick to the surface, instead of just running into the recesses. Adding Flow Improver to the mix was an experiment that worked pretty darn well. Finally I gave the whole thing a light dry-brush with the Tarnished Brass, hit a few of the deeper creases with the turquoise mix and it was done. I kept the statue and plinth separate for ease of storage, and so I can use the plinth with other statues. Waste not, Want not.

Let me know what you think. 

[tauster]

Looking amazing! Plus, thx for the detailed tutorial. Sharing pics of our crafted stuff is already fun, but it gets double plus good when I can read up how someone made that stuff and try it myself!

[lordbryon]

Very nice. In fact I might have a few star wars figures around that can be used for similar statures. This guy although recognizable as Palpatine is generic enough to be a character in fantasy as well.

the paint job and the plinth are perfect!

[michka]

Thank You tauster. I've been so focused on painting lately that I haven't had time to make terrain. It was time to dive back into terrain, before I forgot all my tricks.

Thank You lordbryon. I was thinking about getting an Emperor Palpatine action figure sometime and making another statue to go with the Supreme Chancellor. Then if I find a good Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, I'd have a Hall of Heroes set. In the meantime I think I'll gather up some more slotta bases so I can make more plinths. Even without the figures these will look cool as a colonnade.

[curufin]

Absolutely love the plinth and statue. It never occurred to me to use mini bases in a craft. Awesome idea! Fantastic paint job too!

[lordbryon]

Great idea for more statures. I picked up an incomplete star wars chess set at Goodwill that has some cool figures. I'd bet you could find a similar item out there.


Was curios about this so looked it up on amazon.  link   holy crap I really got a deal for $5.   Maybe I should look at selling the figures  

[chiefsgtbradley]

Damn, i freakin' love all your work and especially the star wars stuff, cause it's star wars. Wow, you are awesome, Sir!

[michka]

Thank you curufin. The mini bases idea is what finally got me to finish this project. I've had that Kenner figure since Revenge oft he Sith came out.

Thank you lordbryon. You did get a great deal.

Thank You chiefsgtbradley. Star Wars for the win!!!

[michka]

Update time. I'll start out with the only Imperial Assault figure I've painted recently, Diala Passil: haunted exile.



Someone needs a second dull coat. I didn't like the pink skin shown in the art from the game, so my Twi'lik is green. I removed the molded blade and replaced it with brass rod, as I do with most lightsabres. This is not one of the better sculpts in the Imperial Assault box. There are some rough mold lines and the hand that holds the lightsabre is pretty chunky. At least it's done, and I only have two more Characters to go. Three if you include Luke Skywalker.

The rest of these will be from different manufacturers, made for different games. I'll start with these Ammo Crates from DUST tactics. DUST is an alternate World War Two setting that supports a board game and miniatures combat. There's even a role playing game coming out soon. The combination of WWII and sci-fi is perfect for Star Wars. The crates are REALLY BIG, but they seem to fit with the Stormtrooper. Best of all, they block line-of-sight and provide cover, both essential elements of modern and sci-fi combat.



This next piece is a Heavy Labor Droid. It's been built using the Mule model from the Eisenkern Trooper Accessory Set with treads from a 1/144th scale halftrack and some plasticard.



I went way, way too far with the weathering on this guy. Most of the detail has been lost because I was trying to fix a different problem. I got two Mules in the accessory pack, so I'll have to make another one soon. Here's a shot of the Heavy Labor Droid carrying one of the Ammo Crates.



And finally I have some Doors from the wonderful Sedition Wars Terrain pack.



I may have gone a little heavy on the weathering here too, but it works for a dingy location. I've included a Vanguard trooper from the Sedition Wars game for scale. The figures from Sedition Wars aren't the greatest, but the Terrain Pack is amazing. Made from the same hard plastic most models are made of. I plan to use these doors for lots of different science fiction games. You know, I wonder how a game of Sedition Wars would look with Stormtroopers in place of Vanguard troops. Hmm...

Let me know what you think.

[lordbryon]

Nicely done as usual. I don't think the weathering went to far on the labor droid.

Do you have any of the Eisenkern Troopers? I've been thinking of using them as Storm Troopers.

[teazia]

Wow, those doors are sweet. Would be a bit too stubby with my SW Command figs though. Almost bought a set till I rechexked the scale.

[voodoo]

great doors! and never too much weathering. super cool!

[michka]

Thank You teazia. I think you'll need to make your own terrain for those SW Command figures. That scale is pretty close to 1/32nd scale, so there are a lot of WWII and Modern model kits out there that you can plunder for parts.

Thank You voodoo. I think I'll stick with this amount of weathering for the doors. Now if only I can match it with the rest.

Thank You lordbryon. As a matter of fact, I had one Eisenkern Trooper sitting around unpainted. I figured I'd give it the Stormtrooper look to see how it came out, and here it is... 



It looks pretty good, but I hate the long gun. I think I'll make another one with a carbine instead. Carbines look more Science fiction to me.

My buddy Mike and I gave the Imperial Assault game a try last night. Here are some shots from the table. This is the initial set-up.



Here the Jedi Diala Passil is confronting the entire Imperial side. She got really lucky and rolled two dodges during the game. This let her avoid all the damage from a single attack two different times. If that hadn't happened she'd have gone down pretty quickly.



And here the Imperial Officer has moved around our hero to shoot her in the back. The smuggler sneaks up on the Imperial Officer and shoots him in the back before he can shoot Diala a second time.



It was a fun little game, but I don't see myself playing it very often. There's just too many cards and counters and special rules. I like my games quick and simple. Having to consult the rule book every other action gets tedious. I'm sure if I was playing this more often I'd love it, but there just isn't enough time to play nowadays. 

Speaking of the Smuggler, Jyn Odan is the only Imperial Assault figure I got painted this week.



I like the design of the character, but that pose is ridiculous. I'll have to find another female smuggler to replace this one, because it just looks silly.

While looking for some other Star Wars stuff this week I found my old West End Games miniature vehicles. First off, the Snowspeeders.





I pinned the roofs on instead of gluing them in place, mostly so I could show that I painted the pilots. If you're going to paint Rebel Pilots you need to be able to show them off. Painting that orange flight suit isn't easy.

Finally, these are all the painted WEG Speeder Bikes I have. Four Imperials and one Rebel, sounds about right. 



I'll never understand why they sculpted the Rebel in a navy uniform. Why not use the Endor Commando costume? It's what we saw in the movies.

Oh well.I need to stop grumbling. Let me know what you think.

[lordbryon]

Those look great and the Eisenkern Trooper repurposed as a Storm Trooper looks awesome. I'm thinking along the lines of Imperial Commando. By chance do you have a picture of the Eisenkern next to the Imperial Assault Troopers you've done?