Thursday 4 April 2019

"With These New Battle Droids We Built For You..."

"...You'll have the finest army in the galaxy."
These four 28mm scale plastic "Wizards Of The Coast" Super Battle Droids are all miniature number 32 from the company's now out of production "Star Wars Miniatures" range. "An advanced battle droid used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars", these B2 super battle droids made their first appearance during the Battle of Geonosis in George Lucas’ 2002 American epic space opera film “Attack Of The Clones”.

Having re-based each of models onto 25mm round bases, they were all primed with a coat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and subsequently treated to two layers of Leadbelcher. I then heavily washed them with "Citadel" Nuln Oil before dry-brushing them with (more) Leadbelcher.
Aztec Style Serpent Statue WIPs - The totem has been primed, washed and dry-brushed
Initially, I was actually tempted to leave the Baktoid Combat Automata-built robots at that, but having looked more closely at some of their 'on-screen' counterparts, took the opportunity to significantly darken their waists with a further application of "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and 'spot' a light-emitting diode on their chest using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

In addition to pigmenting a quartet of Super Battle Droids I have also been making some steady progress on a piece of scenery by "Wargames Terrain Workshop" for my "Conan - Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of" project. Dave Stone's formidable-looking Aztec Style Serpent Statue should definitely fit the bill for any scenarios featuring Serpent Men or hooded cultists as it smacks of the Hyborian Age's Stygian serpent-god Set. 
Skulltaker WIPs - The Herald of Khorne is slowly having all his intricate details 'picked out'.
 I've actually settled down to work on this piece a few times in the past, but on this occasion have finally managed to get past its simple "Vallejo" Dark Grey undercoat by using the formidably-sized totem as a testing site for my recently arrived "Citadel" Small Layer Brush; which came courtesy of "Hachette Partworks Limited" and their "Warhammer 40,000: Conquest" magazine. I still haven't made my mind up as to whether I'll actually 'fork out' and buy any more of the "hand made, with pure sable bristles" brushes, as I still much prefer my ever-trusty "Winsor & Newton" University series when it comes to applying the fine black detail lines I tend to rely upon with my miniature painting.

Lastly, I have made some significant inroads on my "Finecast" model of Skulltaker for "Age Of Sigmar". Most of the work on the Bloodletter's numerous skull trophies has been completed, and I now just need to patiently work my way up the miniature, tidying up the legendary Herald of Khorne's significant gold trim as I go...

28 comments:

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    1. Thanks Simon. Simple stuff, but I think they look the biz on the tabletop.

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  2. You have done a really good job on the skulltaker.

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    1. Cheers Phil. Slowly getting there with Skulltaker, and a huge thanks for the Super Battle Droids!! Great minis to paint :-)

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  3. Nice work on the battle droids BK - well done mate. :)

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    1. Thanks Leon. Looking forward to seeing some for "Star Wars: Legion" now its looking to be set during the Clone Wars.

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  4. Battle droids look very good and you can't go wrong with Dave's terrific scenery pieces.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I totally agree with you Ref Dave's scenery, and have actually pre-ordered three more of the Snake Totems from him for collection at Salute; so I can have two grass versions and two snow snow ones :-)

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  5. Very nice Simon, will you be interested in the new Legion box set?

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    1. Thanks Michael. Yes, I'm very interested in the Clone Wars set. It looks awesome and I'm hoping it means a Count Dooku mini will be out soon - my fave "Star Wars" baddie.

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  6. All really nice stuff Simon.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Lots of the go currently :-)

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  7. Battle droids turned out really well Simon, the Aztec serpent statue is almost there and Skulltaker is coming on really well, the cloak is especially good

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    1. Thanks Dave. Hope to have the Serpent statue finished soon, especially as I now have another three to paint ;-) Hope you had a good show yesterday? There certainly seemed to be plenty of people at your stall when I was walking past.

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    2. It seemed busy all day, which has to be good

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    3. Well browsing your shelves certainly reminded me of just how much unpainted "Wargames Terrain Workshop" scenery I own, so I've already dug out some stuff from my backlog to get to work on this month!! LOL!!!

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    4. Anything that helps with the pile of unpainted has to be a good thing ! LOL

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    5. Indeed it is, Dave, LOL :-)

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  8. Ahhh finally I`m back back to some fantasy (historical is amazing, but I do need a bit of fantasy back in my hobby... lots of blog to catch up on). Yeah I have some of these Battle droids from the old Wizard of the Coast skirmish game (I notice many of the old moulds are now being used by FFG for their IA games). You can`t beat a good Battle Droid.

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    1. Terrific to have you back commenting, Steve, you have been much missed :-) I agree the Super Battle Droids are excellent "Star Wars" minis and I'm really looking forward to them coming out for "Star Wars: Legion" once "The Clone Wars" expansions are released.

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    2. Thanks Simon, that means a lot :-)

      Sorry I`ve not been commenting for so long (I really was taking a much needed and long.. long break from fantasy). Much catching up to do now -))

      Fabulous minis Simon.

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    3. Breaks can be a great motivator for when you come back Steve, but I always enjoyed your thoughts on both my hobbying and your own plans :-)

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  9. The droid looks great and I reallylike the staute too!

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    1. Thanks Joe. Much appreciated. I'm hoping to have the statue finished soon.

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  10. Really nice work Simon, I'm definitely going to pick up that totem myself.

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    1. Cheers Wouter. The Aztec Style Serpent Statue is awesome imho, and I should know as I've now got four of the things to paint following "Salute 2019", LOL!!!

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    2. Hahaha, I know how that goes. Luckily for my wallet I haven't been to a convention in years .

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    3. I am hoping to cull my spending quite significantly this year, and focus on some painting priorities instead. That'll probably mean my next show won't be until late Autumn/early Winter with Colours and Warfare. But time will tell... ;-)

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