Saturday 2 May 2020

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Star Wars: Legion" May 2020

"Star Wars: Legion" WIPs - Some Rebel Fleet Troopers primed and ready for basecoating
This month's themed attempt to reduce my mountain of metal, plastic and resin models will primarily focus upon five miniatures taken from the Fleet Troopers Unit Expansion for "Star Wars: Legion" by "Fantasy Flight Games". These figures have rather embarrassingly been sat on my painting table for the past eighteen months, having initially been assembled and based in preparation to be one of my submissions for the Ninth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC).

The set's box actually contains seven close-quarters combat specialists, including two heavy weapons experts carrying an MPL-57 and a deadly scatter gun, so should I make some prodigious progress on my opening five models I definitely plan on adding some extra Fleet Troopers to my tally. For now though I'm sticking with the squad's leader, Captain Raymus Antilles, and a quartet of DH-17 blaster pistol-carrying soldiers.
"Heroclix" WIPs - Captain Marvel, Mandroid armour and an innocent bystander
In addition to these defenders of Princess Organa’s starship, as well as cracking on with last month's unsuccessful goal of two Warhound Titans from the Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy starter set by "Games Workshop", I'm also hoping to make some progress on my plans to paint up enough "Heroclix" miniatures to play some Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game by "TSR". I intend to dive straight in with the original starter set's introductory adventure "Day Of The Octopus", which features Spider-Man, The Thing, Captain America and Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) as the main super-heroes.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a model of Rambeau's definitive Captain Marvel, so have been waiting these past weeks for a figure of her to reach me from across the Pond. The early fights also feature at least one civilian victim and the potential for some Mandroid armour to be stolen, so I've re-based some of these miniatures from my collection as well.
March 2020 - "Wizkids" continue to dominate my painting output despite a highly unproductive month
Productivity wise, the past four weeks have disappointingly been one of my least successful stints ever, due to some significant burn-out following the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and a brief period of disillusionment regarding just how few games I'm playing in comparison to my persistent painting output. Indeed, I haven't had such a barren period in my hobby for almost six years.

Happily however, I did still manage to complete the last of my Gotham Police Department flatfoots using a couple of "Wizkids" plastic sculpts, and am now ready to get my twelve-man strong force for law and order on the tabletop. The New Jersey-based company have already dominated my painting queue this year, and with a consignment of Spaceknights, super-heroes and squirrels currently being assembled for future projects, I doubt they'll be toppled from being my favourite miniature company any time soon... 

14 comments:

  1. after painting my first whizkid miniature i have to admit they are nice, i need to invest into more of them for my fantasy collection.
    nice write up also.

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    1. Thanks Mr. Martin. I always like to take stock of the month that's been and what I'm planning to do over the next four weeks - not that I stick to the plan all that often ;-)

      "Heroclix" are probably my fave minis of my hobbying lifetime, as I continue to collect, paint and convert large numbers of them year in and year out.

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    2. definitely at the next con i get to go to, gonna hit up a Heroclix dumpbin and just buy up a bunch. see what i can do with that. friend of mine got me the Super Mission Force 2ed. book and im eager to give it a go.

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    3. Is that the latest version of the old "Supersystem", Mr Martin? With the goal achievement etc. I used to play that to death with my SuperFigs when "West Wind Productions" used to carry the game.

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  2. Look forward to seeing the progress on these Simon, some interesting models for you to work on. Hope you feel happy painting again after your burnout

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    1. Cheers Dave. I've got a few straightforward paint-jobs like the Mandroid armour to get me back into the swing of things, so I should quickly paint up as many as I did last month within the next few days. And having my eye on my "Star Wars" Campaign is certainly motivating me currently too :-)

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  3. Nice Star Wars mini's Simon,, I'm not that impressed by the Captain Mar54vel figure though the detail looks a little soft to me, though I'm sure you will lick her into shape!

    Sorry to hear that you had ales that productive month, but I'm sure you were busy with something else ;-)

    Cheers Roger.

    (oh and that innocent bystander doesn't look that innocent to me!)

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    1. Thanks Roger. Unfortunately, that Captain Marvel really is the best "Heroclix" mini I can find, albeit I have also bought a Monica Rambeau figure, which I might use if I'm not happy with how Captain Marvel turns out.

      Even with all my distractions last month, I was still somewhat disappointed to find I'd only painted a pair of cops - as I actually thought I'd done a few more minis than that. But hopefully this month will prove somewhat more productive ;-)

      Spot on about the bystander, as he's actually an Investigative Reporter :-)

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  4. Some interesting sculpts in the pipeline and I'm not surprised by your 'burnout; afte the challenge, but every little helps and prep is one of those things that occupy us a lot.

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    1. Cheers Joe. I've got lots of games planned for the next month or so, and think that'll help enormously to get me re-energised for the hobby. At least that month I finished off my G.C.P.D., and this month I hope to have a few more "Heroclix" miniatures done too.

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  5. Excellent news a Star Wars themed month! I had hoped to do something similar but the castle lives on, but at least I can enjoy yours in the interim.

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    1. Thanks Michael. I'm certainly enjoying your Castle project, so please do keep up the good work. Plenty of "Star Wars" to come this month I assure you ;-)

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  6. I love those Fleet Trooper models! I have to confess mine have been on the painting pile for ages too, but in my defence the leader model is done!! Can't wait to see the completed warhound titans too as I have recently painted some of those and really adore the models.

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I didn't realise until starting up my "Star Wars" campaign just how few Rebels I'd painted, and how many Empire I had finished. So the Fleet troopers are needed as urgent reinforcements asap. Spookily, I intend to paint Captain Antilles first as I can get him on the tabletop asap as a much needed Rebel Leader, and see if Chewie can best the Death Troopers with him on his side. The Warhounds are coming along, so expect some WIPs soon :-)

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