“Well, there are two banthas down there, but I don’t see any...

...wait a second, they’re sand people, alright.

Sadly not two Banthas, just the one and the briefest of posts to finish of this run of Tatooine themed Star Wars related offerings.  Again looking for a bit of native colour for a Tatooine themed board, I came across this splendid piece originally intended for Imperial Assault.  Although not a fit, scale wise, with Legion models, I wondered if it might make a nice background piece? 

The Bantha and rider comes as a multipart kit and so the first job was to glue the beastie together.  Just as an aside, I went on to use another Sorastro painting tutorial where he suggests painting the head first before assembly - I can now testify that this would have been a good idea if I hadn't been so quick out of the blocks! 

Relatively straightforward with regards to colours, which all had a muted, worn feel.  Plenty of washes and some 'dusty' drybrushing and another piece was completed.

Whilst I was gluing things together I took the opportunity to assemble the water vaporators and some boxes from the Priority Supplies set along with a Satellite Array from 'Sarissa Precision'.  

I tried to tie the colours together to give a unified feel, again with help from a Sorastro painting tutorial.  Great fun to do and I would never have thought to put a brass colour down first, before covering with a clear, red paint to create a vivid lighting effect; that Sorastro is a clever chap!   

Droids? What Droids?

Hot on the heels of the Droids from the previous post, I present the most luckless search party in celluloid history!  I am tinkering away with various bits of terrain for a Tatooine themed board and needed a couple of ‘extras’ to set the scene, as it were.  

To that end I have grabbed my Imperial Assault Dewback and five Stormtroopers from the Star Wars: Legion core box to represent the Imperial presence.  Once again I used Sorastro's painting tutorials for both, which this time saw me take on wet blending with a glaze medium.  Another leap of faith, this technique was made all the easier for some cheap palettes, as seen above, found on Amazon for a £1.

I have become so impressed, and perhaps a little bit dependent, on this man’s work that I have decided to become a patron and was pleasantly surprised at the additional PDF guides that this allowed me access to.  There is no doubt in my mind that these guides have seen me change my painting style and I would like to think for the better?

Once again the scale discrepancy is notable between the two game systems, but interestingly the backpack on the Dewback rider and that of the Heavy Weapon Trooper are identical in size!  Speaking of the Dewback, I needed to adapt the shock lance using some brass rod as the original model's was a bit bendy.  

The Stormtroopers are, of course, not really Sandtroopers, but will suffice although they have clearly only just arrived on the planet judging by their mostly pristine armour!  If the truth be told, I just couldn't bring myself to wash over my carefully painted work!

Any old iron? Any old iron?

...any, any, any old iron?

I have a hankering for a Tatooine themed board for Star Wars: Legion and nothing says Tatooine more than Jawas and Droids.  I had already painted several of these wasteland natives curtesy of Imperial Assault, but have added to these with some Wizards of the Coast pre-painted Star Wars Miniatures and some new 3D printed sculpts from Skull Forge Studios.  All were primed, including the pre-painted ones, which on reflection seemed a waste of time, and based to match the existing models in my collection. 

 The 3D printed sculpts were lovely, but a little smaller than I imagined so I decided to raise them a little with an additional washer.  Then, following a painting tutorial from Sorastro, set about polishing off half a dozen of the little scrap metal merchants, before turning my attention to their stock and trade.  

I seem to have amassed quite an assortment of Droids from various benefactors and manufactures over the years.  They have sat idle for far too long whilst I pondered over colours and designations.  Now, with a little more time at my disposal, I decided to stop prevaricating and get on with it!

With decisions made and research completed, I was pleasantly surprised and how quickly I managed to get through them.  Having decided that these droids were going to have found themselves abandoned on such a desolate place, they were given a fair amount of rust and weathering, which had the added advantage of concealing a multitude of mistakes.

Bring on the Dancing Girls

This most wholesome of hobbies is a wonderful thing, it allows me be creative, to escape any real world difficulties and has introduced me to some truly wonderful people.  One such individual is Dave Stone of 'Wargames Terrain Workshop'.  I have already made mention of Dave's generosity in the past, but he also has an unerring knack of bringing a smile to my face at just the right time.  At the start of the academic year, I had dropped off the blogging scene due to the difficulties at work, a sad portent of what was to unfold.  There I was quietly going about my business when I was roused from my lethargy by a sharp rap on the door.  

Having padded to the front door, I thanked the Postman for the parcel he was delivering and headed back upstairs to my little corner of the spare room.  Having seen the W.T.W. sticker on the front of the box, I could hardly contain my excitement as I opened the package to find more exquisitely wrapped goodies inside.  As I carefully unwrapped each piece I was somewhat overcome at the generosity of the gift.  Dave had gifted me a collection of bespoke Star Wars miniatures, crafted by his own fair hand, and not available for sale.  

I wiped the tears of joy from my eyes as the largest smile broke across my reddened face; this was just too much.  As I arranged each piece carefully on the table in front of me I realised that I was now the proud owner of a complete set of Jabba the Hutt's dancers and indeed the rest of the band that played in his courtroom.  It gives me great pleasure to finally present the dancers here and therefore have the opportunity to publicly thank Dave for his incredible generosity.  

The dancers include, Oola, who met her grisly end in the Rancor's pit, Greeata, Lyn Me, Rystáll and Yarna d'al' Gargan.  They are cast in resin and although the extremities are delicate, they take paint rather well.  

So all that remains is to once gain thank Dave for his wonderful gift, I am just sorry you have had to wait so long to see them finally posted here.  I would like to say that the rest of the band are next, but it would seem that I have been somewhat distracted of late, but rest assured I will get to them in due course.

Rancor!

My goodness me, where has the time gone?  The end of any academic year is always a fraught affair; there is always so much to do before waving off your charges for the summer break.  This year seems to have been particularly busy, not least because it also marked the end of the Saintly Mrs. Awdry's tenure at the school.  It will be very strange to return in September without her, but I am so proud of how she managed to take control of a very difficult situation and has ultimately given herself the opportunity for a fresh start. 

 I do enjoy the start of this break, an opportunity to stop and think, to catch up with oneself and to dream of new projects.  I hope to continue to post some backlogged items, but there is also some big news to reveal in due cause, but more of that in a latter post.   

First a bit of a beast, a Rancor to be precise.  This beastie formed part of an entry to the 'IX Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge’ and can be found in the Imperial Assault core box from Fantasy Flight Games.  It is a multi Part plastic model standing a whopping 100mm high.  Safely assembled and any gaps willed with Greenstuff, I found myself frozen in terror; how to paint it?  

Fortunately for me, the genius that is Sorastro has produced a handy YouTube tutorial.  I am now becoming more au fait with his process of applying base colours and then shading these with washes, bur even so they often require a certain leap of faith when covering your carefully applied undercoat.  That said, he has yet to let me down and before long the slavering abomination was brought to life. 

I had considered the idea of creating the creature’s pit as a scenic backdrop, but sadly this idea has been shelved and I have had to content myself with littering the supplied base with an assortment of previous victims’ body parts.

'Allo! 'Allo!

The keen eyed viewer may have noticed that there were some French civilians represented on the model of Pegasus Bridge.  It only seemed fitting to do so, especially in the case of Monsieur Gondrée, the cafe owner.  The only issue with this was that, try as I might, I just couldn't shift the idea of the cast of  'Allo! 'Allo! running amok on Pegasus Bridge.  This, of course, was a ludicrous notion and it was certainly not my intention to belittle the memory of those brave souls that fought for our freedom seventy five years ago.  That said it is a particularly British phenomenon to find laughter in the most direst of circumstances.  Who would have though that a comedy program about a small French cafe in war torn France would prove to such a hit, but a hit it was.  Running for ten years, 'Allo! 'Allo! was a firm favourite of Young Master Awdry.  The absurdity of the plots, the murder of the French language at the hands of Officer Crabtree and let's not underestimate the allure of Yvette's French accent on my teenage sensitivities, but where to find the miniatures?

A quick bout of web based research threw up some promising leads, with 'Artizan Designs', proving a rich vein to mine.  Martin Thornton, of 'The Life and Times of Mad Lord Snapcase' fame also proved incredibly helpful and was able to give me some suggestions for possible miniatures to convert to represent some of the other characters.

So it was that René Artois, Yvette Carte-Blanche and Michelle Dubois soon sprang to life.  They were closely followed by Colonel Kurt von Strohm, Herr Otto Flick and of course, Gruber's Little Tank.

It wasn't long before the whole affair was bordering on the obsessive, but it was great fun, particularly when it came to converting a couple of characters.  The first, Madame Fanny La Fan, saw a Hag's body chopped and then placed into a lovely resin piece from 'Charlie Foxtrot Models', the addition of some Milliput sheets helping to complete the illusion.  

Officer Crabtree, the British agent working undercover as a French Gendarme, saw another 'Artizan Designs' sculpt used, but with the addition of a truncheon and Milliput cape.  Finally the Resistance's master of disguise, Roger Leclerc, was created with yet another 'Artizan Designs' miniature, but this time with the addition of an MDF bicycle and strings of onions fashioned from some tiny beads.  

 With the addition of Flying Officers Fairfax and Carstairs, and a pile of stolen loot, sourced from 'Anyscale Models', and containing the infamous Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies* the collection was at an end, at least for the time being.  That said if anyone can think of any suitable miniatures for the remaining characters then do let me know.

*Attributed to van Clomp.

So with a good proportion of the cast assembled, it seemed like a wasted opportunity not to take a few shots on the wonderful Pegasus Bridge model, the Café Gondrée, becoming Café René!

"I was pissing by the door, when I heard two shats. You are holding in your hand a smoking goon; you are clearly the guilty potty."

 Officer Crabtree