A Long Time Ago....

I've been a Star Wars fan ever since my 11 year old imagination got carried away by that Star Destroyer looming onto the screen firing at Princess Leia's corvette. Star Wars IV: A New Hope literally changed my world and set me on the path of Geekdom that I still walk with pride today. So, when Fantasy Flight Games started advertising Star Wars: Legion, I was hooked instantly. The iconic figures seen in miniature grabbed my attention and I knew in an instant I'd be buying this game. My copy arrived last week and Star Wars: Legion is my new obsession.

Beautiful box art...FFG's usual high quality.

Outstanding components...again, as usual.

The 4 Year Old is as geeked as his old man!

Minis are excellent!

Even dry-fitted straight from the box they look suburb!

Simple assemblies with exquisite detail.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Someone's just begging to get Force choked!

The only down side here is that the figure scale is BIG. I measured a Stormtrooper and he is 35mm from the bottom of his feet to eye level. Definitely much larger than the 28-32mm "heroic" size minis produced these days. It is disappointing that I won't be able to match these figures in games with the rest of my 28mm collection. Still, I have to say I'm very pleased overall with these figures and this game.

The rules look interesting. I haven't played the game yet, but the mechanics look to be simple with enough variety and "crunch" to make for a good tactical tabletop wargame. I'll write up some battle reports when I've played.

Obviously I will need to build new terrain to fit this larger scale, but, hey, who am I kidding? I'm feeling geeked about that too!

FFG is releasing an entire line of Star Wars: Legion figures and models. I anticipate blowing the gaming budget on this stuff for quite a while.

Until next time, carry on!

Panzergrenadiers

Long time, no blog...but here's an update...

I've been playing a lot of D&D and card and counter games lately, so not much miniature stuff to post. However, I have been working off and on with some Bolt Action figures.  I recently finished a squad of 12 late war German Panzergrenadiers from the Band of Brothers starter set at Warlord Games...

I've painted them to gaming standard. Nothing too fancy. Primed with grey auto primer. Base colors using Warlord Games suggested Vallejo colors. A coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. A highlight of original base color. A spray of Army Painter "Anti-Shine" matte coat. Finished the bases with some model railroad flock and stones/ballast. Simple, quick, and effective for the tabletop.

This morning I finished assembling a squad of 9 US paratroopers and got them primed...

They'll be painted in the same way, hopefully in a more timely fashion than the Germans. Then the plan is to have a few games of Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames. Good times...good times...

That's it for now. Until next time, carry on!

Playing with the Castle

Been playing around with my DwarvenForge Castle stuff. As you can see, it is for sale on the Dwarvenforge website.

This is the Count's Castle with the Watchtower on one corner and some other added parts.

Large corner tower on the cliff.

The hanging parapet on this corner is a cool item, in my opinion.

Model's eye view.
Looks impregnable to me...

The Mountains of Erinthor set allows me to raise the castle up, making it more imposing on the tabletop. I threw this set up together the other morning, so the cliffs aren't perfect. I had to use a lot of pieces under the castle to hold it up, including some stuff from my caverns set, but I made it work. Part of the fun of Dwarvenforge stuff is building and solving the puzzle of how to do what you imagine. It's a bit like Legos that way.

This week I bought a 4'x8' sheet of 2 inch insulation foam for a home improvement project. That will give me lots of 2 inch foam to use to make risers for beneath my builds. Once the foam is cut to some appropriate sizes and painted matte black, it will be perfect for building on. That will give me more pieces to use for the parts of a build that actually show.

Anyway, until next time, carry on!

Tiefling Sorcerer

Finished another Reaper model this week...

As with my other figures, he will be mounted onto a clear acrylic base once I've finished clear coating him.

That completes all the player minis for the two D&D 5e campaigns I currently participate in. Only took me 2 years, so not too bad. ; )

That's it for now. Until next time, carry on!

Another Wizard

I finished another Reaper Wizard model this week...

I've been trying to be more disciplined about painting figures, so I started a new challenge I heard about. I can't find the links, but it's a simple enough challenge: paint one miniature a week. That's it. Just one figure a week, each and every week, for one year. That seems doable to me. So this is my first week....

Anyway, that's it for today. Until next time, carry on!

Count's Castle

Last week I said I received my Dwarvenforge Castles Kickstarter. Here are some shots of the Count's Castle being assembled in all it's glory...

Gate House.
The lighted LED torches are a nice touch.

Everything is modular.
The corner towers can be broken out to be free standing with the add-on I bought.

It's a lot of parts.
It took me a while to figure out how it all goes together, which is part of the fun.

Getting there!

Voila! The Count's Castle.
This an amazing addition to my collection.

Drone view.
The details are superb. We will be having much fun with this stuff for years to come.

My daughter's Reaper Druid takes aim from the parapet!

Well, that's it for this week. Until next time, carry on!

Castle in a Box

I received my Dwarvenforge Castles Kickstarter stuff the other day.

Main pledge and add-ons.
Couldn't wait to haul it to the basement.
Had to start unboxing in the kitchen.

It's a pile of stuff and this isn't even all of it.

All the add-ons unboxed and spread on the table.

Suspended Parapets set.

Small Tower Batter Bases.

Small Tower Breakout set.
(Allows you to make a free standing tower from a castle corner tower.)

Ruined Walls set.

Stone Bridge set.

Ruined Large Tower set.

Larger Tower Batter Base.

Large Tower Transition set.
(Allows you to add a Large Tower to the corner of a castle.)

Of course that is just all the add-ons that allow me to have some variety in my castle layouts. My main pledge was the Count's Castle...

Count's Castle boxed.

Next week I'll show you what this looks like when it's all put together.

Until next time, carry on!