"You're About To Face Off With The Dark Troopers."

"You had your hands full with one."

This 40mm scale model of a Phase-III Dark Trooper is produced by "Atomic Mass Games", and comes as part of the company's "Star Wars: Shatterpoint You Have Something I Want Squad Pack". Based upon the "elite, experimental third-generation battle droid manufactured by the Imperial Department of Military Research", the infuriatingly overcomplicated sixteen-piece plastic miniature was eventually assembled using the instructions found on the Minnesota-based manufacturer's website, and glued to one of the tabletop game's 40mm circular bases.

To be honest, this figure actually seemed to take longer to (plastic) glue together than it did to paint, and on several occasions was close to being shelved when one of its tiny parts inadvertently slipped from my grasp and ended up temporarily lost on my floor. Just why the sculpt needed to be so 'over-designed' I have no idea. But all my enthusiasm for the remaining three Imperial infantry units found inside the box has been almost irretrievably destroyed.

"Beast In The Broch" WIPs - These two FedSec Commanders are almost finished

"The black and silver-plated droid" was initially primed using "Citadel" Abaddon Black and subsequently base-layered with "Vallejo" Glossy Black. I did momentarily toy with the idea of giving the model a delicate dry-brush of "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal too - in an attempt to highlight the miniature. However, in the end I thought the oils and greases caused by my handling of the Dark Trooper tabletop would, over time, also provide a suitable effect.

To break the overwhelming all-black palette though, I decided to 'pick out' all the figure's elbow, wrist, knee and elbow joints using a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, as well as the robot's E-450 "Arc Hammer" heavy blaster rifle. Finally I used a little "Vallejo" Heavy Red, "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, and "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion for the deadly droid's eyes and chest computer.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - This scenic piece has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Alongside this surprisingly time-consuming project, I have also continued plugging away at the two remaining officers from the FedSec Command 2 set by "Beast In The Broch". As I'm currently in something of a major "Blake's 7" mood I was actually hoping to make a start on the company's Systemic Units set this month too. Yet now I find myself needing to really focus just upon these (not) Federation officers if I'm going to get the trio finished before August is done.

Lastly, I've managed to get some basic layers of paint upon my first entry into Dave Stone's Season of Scenery over on his "Wargames Terrain Workshop" blog. This 3D printed part from the "Warlord Games" Sturmriese Axis Walker was meant to be used for "Konlikt '47". But instead I'm aiming on using it as an energy pylon for some games of Matt Forbeck's Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game...