Star Wars Legion - Clone Wars Core Set and Commander Rex

 After painting Rex with my son, he convinced me to get the core set (what a fool I am). The kit was good for a first offering for new players and new collectors. And I got to take Citadel Contrast for a spin to add another skill for my painting belt.

The models were decent. ObiWan and Clone Troopers were supplied in bags, basically clean except for mould lines.  Owing to their spindly bits, Grevious, two Droidekas, and the  B-1 Battle Droids were still on sprue. The plastic is definitely different from Games Workshop sprue. It was less solvable than GW plastic when using Testors and Tamiya plastic glue. Parts kept coming unwelded, but a little super glue put it right. Detail was tight and almost always movie/animation accurate, and the extra parts for Grevious even allowed for some simple conversions (see below for an extra surprise; you can blame my son for it). After assembling them, I realized the 28mm accurate scale is so much more fiddly than the 28mm heroics I'm used to.  Hands and guns are smaller.  Weapons are smaller too. But the accurate proportions make for great squads. In a crowd, they look like right even when base to base.

I was not interested in spending months painting these minis.  Especially since my son had lost interest in playing almost immediately after purchase. I was delighted to find Sorastro's painting guides for Legion.  He helped me get from prime to table-ready in less than a month. This was my first adventure with Citadel's Contrast paint, and the advice to thin with medium and how to handle flow was excellent.  His colors were spot on too. After spending the pandemic bemoaning my mistake, it was refreshing to go so fast from concept to finished product.

Militarum Tempestus Start Collecting: Reliquary Squad and Taurox

I bought a Tempestus Scions Start Collecting box from Games Workshop, part of their Adeptus Militarum line, with the intention of painting them in memoriam for my father who passed in 2017. After four years and some tribulation, I completely painted the entire box.

The initial plan for the Scions was a true-to-life Reliquary Guard: I wanted to display them with my father's urn, but it seemed like a little much after ruminating on it for a while. I took several runs at the squad, but my painting was very inconsistent as well. Did I know enought to do them justice? After a move to Washington and the start of the pandemic, I had no more excuses.  I worked a color at a time and taught myself highlighting, wet blending, and how to use a wet palette. I also started managing my paints and color schemes with the Citadel Colour app. I seriously skilled up on these minis. I finished the squad in March of 2020. Or so I thought.

After the highlights and before 'ard Coat for the lenses, I needed to seal the minis with matte spray. So on April 1, 2020, I lined them up and hit them with Testors Dullcote. Except something was wrong. It wasn't Dullcote; it was white primer in that tiny can. Some had it worse than others, but all were at least speckled with the brightest of white dots where perfect highlights had shown through only moments earlier. In my desperation, I tried washing them. I tried brushing the primer away with a toothbrush.  I almost tossed them in the trash can. But I couldn't, after buying them in mourning, throw them away in despair. So they sat, dusty white, for the rest of 2020.

It took a year to pull myself together and get the courage to face them again.  Normally, I paint one color at a time from base to highlights. But I knew that looking at the dusty white splotches would demotivate me. So I first blocked in all the colors and eradicated the evidence of my carelessness. Laying down base colors first allowed me to get most borders clean and crisp and clean up any mistakes almost immediately.  If I happened to stray, I did not need to redo the base, layer, and highlights. This worked so well that I would try it again on the Taurox with great success. Another delight was that, in spite of the minis bearing two complete paint jobs, the detail remains crisp on most surfaces. Praise the Lord of Layers, Duncan Rhodes! To remember the mishap in as good a spirit as possible, I added snow to all the bases. They were reborn after almost going in the trash, and I could not have been happier.

As the first vehicle under my brush since my Techmarine army, the Taurox taught me about the mechanics of painting vehicles. It is a ghastly beast of an impractical APC with serious OSHA concerns (laser cannons with a fire line that shoots across the side doors, 4 tracks instead of wheels, brilliant!). I applied all I learned on the squad to their new ride.  I painted and repainted until I could get that perfect pop from highlighting the deep blue-green tones into a brilliant and sharp white corner.  There are no painting handles for these big boys unless you glue one on, so I also learned to be careful with the corners lest you rub off all your hard work flipping the tank every which way in your hands. And I learned to block in the major color on vehicles including the first layer.  Building up the true and main color of the hull before the rest of the base coats allows you to get those most-prevalent colors out of the way fast, and without too much muss or fuss over stray paint. My understanding of how light plays across a geometric surface also improved. I am finally looking forward to painting my Knights and any vehicles I need for my Adeptus Mechanicus force that is taking shape.

Yes, painting miniatures can sometimes be relaxing, but mistakes like mine bring up the possibility for therapy in the creative process of building and painting these miniatures. I took a terrible time in my life and turned out a touchstone for future me. And I have tangible evidence of my stubbornness in the face of things going awry. I would rather not have had it happen, but I'm glad the salvage operation netted a good-looking squad as well as some soul-searching in high-definition.

And so, without further ado, and with the minis safely primed SEALED this time, here are my repainted Tempestus Scions in all their glory.

Taurox Prime

 

Squad Detail

Citadel Colours Palette 

2014 Board Game Buying Guide

I've been playing games with people at the office, and it has shown me that you can get a game in with even a short lunch and new players.  I decided to put together a quick list of game recommendations based on venue and number of players.  Links to Amazon are provided, but most of these titles can be purchased from your Friendly Local Game Store.

Lunch

Bring co-workers together, let off some steam, and renew rivalries between departments with this selection of quick and easy games selected to allow you to teach and play in under 30 minutes.

• Love Letter is a card game of bluffing and card counting with just 16 cards.  It handles 2-4 players, but it is best with 4.  Also, it comes in a number of different re-themes, so you can get a non-threatening version to appeal more to co-workers.
• Tsuro of the Seas handles 2-8 players.  This "last man standing" tile game has compelling artwork, fast rounds, and dead simple rules.  A whole game seldom lasts more than 15 minutes so people can jump in with little fear of going over their lunch time.  There are simpler versions and expansions, so you can get as much depth as you want in the time allotted.
• Hey That's My Fish plays well for between 2 and 4 players.  You should be able to explain rules while setting it up.  All about area control, the gradually shrinking board is apt to cause panic even in the normally stone-faced players from Finance.

Date Night

Games that play best with or are designed for just two people can test the limits of your affection or bring you closer together (no warranty either way).  Though these games will work at work, teaching might take longer so an hour lunch is preferred for newer players.

• Hive is one of the few abstract games on this list (like chess or checkers).  It presents the elegance of chess without a board, and the pieces have heft and make a wonderful clacking sound like Majong tiles.
• Jaipur is a colorful trading game whose tokens and cards make a visually impressive setup.  The 2 of 3 mechanics means it is natural to play round after round.  This game used to be rare, but it has benefited from a recent reprint.
• Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game maxes out the nerd factor.  This is as close as you can get to a war game, so check with your significant other before taking the leap.  Games run about 45 minutes, and it plays in a space the size of your dining room table.  Best of all, there are endless expansions to add iconic and obscure characters to your fleet of ships.

Family/Friends Game Night

Have more than two?  Hate Monopoly as much as I do?  This mix of competitive and cooperative games are sure to show you what the modern board gaming renaissance is all about.

• Forbidden Desert is a cooperative game where you play against the game to avoid thirst, storms and the heat to get out of the desert alive.  The mechanics and components are top notch, and it plays in under an hour.
• In King of Tokyo, players take the role of giant monsters vying for control of Tokyo.  A fast paced dice game, the randomness and ridiculousness of it all is a hit.
• Card game The Builders: Middle Ages is a great worker placement game: hire and set workers to build a town.  The rules are simple, but the gameplay is complex.  This definitely benefits from replayability and the tin means it is sturdy enough to go anywhere.
• Love Scrabble but have that one friend that outstrips you every single game?  Try Qwirkle for scrabble like crosswords without the burden of words.  It is more puzzle than game, depending on how cut-throat you get.
• Ticket To Ride: Europe is rummy with a board, and this edition of the game is fantastic.  I learned more geography from this game than I did in grade school, and the artwork is fantastic.  Expansions are available and cover alternate maps and expanded ticket options.  It even has an App version you can pass-and-play if you don't want the fancy box.

Flames of War - SS Army Pics

This weekend, I returned briefly to the world of miniature war gaming.  My father is putting up his Flames of War army for sale locally.  He's a history buff, and I learned a lot about the German WWII army composition by helping him catalog these.  I built some of these pieces, but mostly I just took the pics.  No detail shots, unfortunately.

Artillery

I love the frozen ground effect on these bases

Misc Infantry

Misc Command 

Heavy Machine Guns 

 Mortar Half Tracks

Tanks

 Panthers

Reconnaissance Car/Tanks 

PIVHs with Skirts 

Tigers

Mechanized Infantry

 Platoon 1

Platoon 2 

Platoon Command