- Tattúínárdǿla saga, Chapter 28: Concerning the Burning of Aldiranborg
I previously talked about how much we enjoyed Star Wars: Rebellion. One of its attractive features is the miniatures, which really contribute to the feel and theme of the game. Below are all the models from the base game and the Rise of the Empire expansion (as well as some Armada models, but ignore those), and, well, there are several.
I'm going to paint them! Or at least some of them.
Painting miniatures isn't just an aesthetic thing: it's a lot easier to tell different miniatures apart and spot them on the board or table if they're even rudimentarily painted. The Rebellion board is mostly black, like our TV table above; the white rebel miniatures stand out quite well, while the grey Imperial models tend to blend into the background and each other, forming a grey mass where it can be difficult to tell how many and what kind of miniatures there are. So if I'm going to paint something, I should start with the Imperials, and especially the smaller models.
Another angle is figuring out where you get the greatest return on investment. Most of the Imperial starships are grey, and you could paint them... well, grey. I think my last priority would be painting the Death Stars, as it just doesn't seem necessary. However, it's almost miraculous what you can do to a drab plastic model if you make it a nice base! So infantry models with bases tend to offer the best return on investment; I'm especially looking at the stormtroopers here. However, I also read a very clever blog post on how to paint TIE Fighters easily, and that also represents a considerable return on investment, since there are 24 of them!
So, based on this logic, I'm going to start by painting the stormtroopers and TIE Fighters. Because I've got the expansion unboxed as well, I'm also throwing in the TIE Strikers and assault tanks, because the same painting logic should work for the Strikers as for the Fighters, and I like tanks.
So here's what I did!
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1. TIE Fighters and Strikers
I'm trying r2eq's method, which seems wonderfully simple - something you want when painting two dozen tiny models!
Phase 1: black primer
I used Army Painter matt black primer, and did the Death Star bases while I was at it. The primer was excellent; I highly recommend it.
Phase 2: drybrush the hull with Neutral Grey
Apart from the spray primers, I exclusively use Vallejo paints. A Neutral Grey drybrush paints the hull while leaving the cockpit windows and engine exhaust black, which is perfect.
Phase 3: paint the "spokes" and edges of the panels Neutral Grey
And that's it! Spray on varnish and it's done.
2. Stormtroopers
Phase 1: white primer
The Army Painter white primer is every bit as good as the black. Very satisfying finish.
Phase 2: bases
Like I said, bases are an easy way to make models look so much better! I knew from the outset that I didn't want to paint up 30 identical stormtroopers, so I went trawling through Wookiepedia for different paint schemes, and figured out appropriate bases for each. I did about half in Basalt Grey, which I think is a neutral enough color that can represent, say, rock or the deck of a starship. It's dark enough to be a good contrast for a light miniature, but not black enough to look like the poor guys are standing on empty space when you put them on the board. The sand-colored bases in the middle are German Camo Orange Ochre; the light green ones are, well, Light Green; and finally the dark green bases are German Camo Bright Green.
Phase 3: black details
You can do all sorts of complicated things with inks here if you want, but I just straight up painted the eye slots, guns and leg joints black. You can apply paint fairly liberally, as it can be painted over in the next phase.
For one group of stormtroopers, black details meant literally everything except two dots of Fluorescent Green per model: Krennic's Death Troopers.
Yes, they have black armor and black guns. Yes, it will be impossible to see them on the board. No, I was not in charge of wardrobe for Rogue One, so it isn't my fault. I liked the movie, so I wanted the Death Troopers to be represented among my models.
Phase 4: paint the armor your chosen color
For your basic stormtroopers, this simply means giving the white armor parts a coat of white paint, and you're done! If, like me, you suck at painting, this is a perfectly acceptable level of detail to shoot for.
Or choose a different color! I also painted up some crimson stormtroopers because apparently they canonically exist; I chose them to evoke the (in my mind nonsensically named) Emperor's royal guard. The color is Vallejo Scarlet.
Finally, going through stormtrooper subtypes on Wookiepedia taught me that such things as forest troopers exist; as a published forest history researcher, how could I resist? Instead of painting the armor white, I gave them a coat of Luftwaffe Camo Green.
Phase 5: apply armor markings
Like I said, I wanted variety in my stormtroopers and looked through Wookiepedia for some paint schemes. Below are two simple ones: the guys with red markings (plain Vallejo red) are Imperial shock troopers, and the ones with blue shoulder pads are stormtrooper snipers (Deep Sky Blue).
Phase 6: finish bases and varnish
When all the various paint schemes were done, I gave all the stormtroopers a coat of Gloss Varnish, and then set out to finish their bases. The basic stormtroopers, snipers and crimson stormtroopers got a simple Basalt Grey base, which I think kinda works for contrast.
The shock troopers' bases are German Camo Orange Ochre, with sand stuck on and painted Tan Yellow.
The forest troopers' bases were simply flocked.
For the Death Troopers, I wanted to evoke the scene at the beginning of Rogue One where they're fetching Galen Erso from Lah'mu, so I glued some larger flock to their bases, and I think it worked all right:
So here they all are!
I am just absolutely delighted with the way these turned out.
3. Tanks
I took the easy route with the tanks: I primed them white with the stormtroopers, and then painted two of them Neutral Grey. Two others got a coat of Luftwaffe Camo Green to match the forest troopers, and the last two were done in Tan Yellow to go with the shock troopers' sand bases.
I'm unsure whether to do more with them or not; in my opinion, a simple coat of paint makes them look like combat vehicles.
4. Captain Phasma
Apart from painting up different kinds of stormtroopers, I also knew I wanted to do something special. Now, I didn't particularly like the new trilogy, but it did have some excellent characters, and even though I'm sure it's a horrible anachronism, I wanted to include my favorite: Captain Phasma. I mean basically, she's a stormtrooper with a cloak. So I found some antique green stuff I had lying around, and made a cloak:
I rolled out an approximately cloak-sized chunk of green stuff and tried to make it look like it flows off her shoulders like her cloak does in the movies. She was then primed white with the other stormtroopers.
I gave her a Basalt Grey base and painted the edges of the cloak with Red.
The rest of the cloak, the armor joints and eyes were painted black.
Here's a view of the cloak from behind; I think it looks great!
Finally, the armor was painted in Natural Steel (whatever that is!), which I think turned out to be absolutely perfect. Here she is hanging out with the Death Troopers, because I was finishing them at the same time. The armor was varnished with Gloss Varnish, and the cape and gun with Matt Varnish.
I couldn't be happier with my Phasma! I've done my share of conversions on 28mm models, but never on anything this small, and I've rarely done anything with green stuff - never anything this substantial. So I'm absolutely delighted. I think this is the best model I've ever made: certainly it's the one I'm most proud of.
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So that was the first batch of models!
They've made a significant dent in the sea of grey that is the Empire, but there's still lots of work to do!
I was working under a time constraint when I painted the first miniatures: everything had to be ready to be packed away by the time we left to spend Midsummer in the country. I think the stormtroopers and TIE Fighters looked great!
For the next batch, however, there's no rush at all, which means I could look into painting some rebel infantry. The rebel troopers are the biggest group of unpainted models left, and while I'm at it, I might as well paint the vanguards from the expansion too.
The next most common model remaining is the Y-wing, which I accept is a thing that exists in the Star Wars universe, but that's pretty much the extent of my feelings towards it. You can see why I started with the Imperials. Speaking of whom, there are also ten AT-STs.
Finally, in recognition of the glorious victory of Malastare in our first game ever, where the Emperor defeated the revolution using only a single assault carrier, I'll be painting the assault carriers as well.
Therefore, batch 2 consists of 21 rebel troopers, 6 rebel vanguards, 12 Y-wings, and 10 AT-STs and 8 assault carriers; everything's getting primed white.
5. Rebel
I was kind of struggling to come up with ideas to paint my rebel troopers, other than the basic Alderaanian consular security look. The Rogue One visual guide was a great help and inspiration here; I quite liked the ramshackle but very military look of the rebel troops in Rogue One, and it inspired me to put in a little effort with my troopers. I therefore painted up a bunch in their mixed greens, browns and blues. The blue is Dark Blue, the greens variously Luftwaffe Camo Green, Medium Olive and German Camo Bright Green, and the browns include German Camo Orange Ochre and Stone Grey.
Of course, I did some Alderaan guys as well. The shirts are Dark Pale Blue (surely an oxymoron?), the pants Neutral Grey and the helmets Ivory. I also painted two figures as rebel honor guards, with Luftwaffe Camo Green uniforms and Ivory helmets.
Another group was modeled on the Endor strike team from the movies; the green is USA Uniform drybrushed with Light Green, and the vests Neutral Grey.
To add a little color, I painted three figures as rebel pilots, with Orange flight suits and Ivory helmets and vests.
Finally, I wanted to do something a little special with my rebel troopers as well. One paint scheme for the troopers that suggested itself was the Hoth snow camouflage; but if I was going to do that, what do I do with the base? Plain white doesn't usually look great on a base, as it just tends to look unpainted. Then it occurred to me that a friend of mine has glitter paint! Or to be specific, pearlescent acrylic, but y'know, it glitters! So I had to try it.
And it worked! The mix of ink and Matt Medium doesn't glitter much, but it does give the bases a kind of, well, pearlescent hue that's easily the best snow effect I've ever managed to produce.
6. Y-wings
The Y-wings ended up becoming the testbeds for my rebel paint scheme ideas, and I think they turned out all right. First, I painted the engine bays and cockpit window black.
Then the hull was given a coat of Ivory, and the rods on the nacelles were painted Gunmetal Grey. I then did the squadron markings: three Y-wings each from Red, Blue, Green and Gold squadron.
I wasn't entirely happy with the Gunmetal Grey, as I think it ended up being too dark, so I gave those bits and the protrusions on the rear part of the hull a little highlight in Natural Steel, and painted the cables (?) coming off the nacelles with Copper. I also dabbed just a tiny amount of Natural Steel on the front of the nacelles. Finally, the whole model was given a wash of thinned-down Smoke to give it a slightly dirty, worn look.
I absolutely love the way these turned out! I wanted them to be a kind of slightly dirty off-white color to really contrast with the clean grey of the Imperial models, and the Ivory-Smoke combo worked brilliantly. I'll be painting all the rest of the rebel small craft with the same scheme.
7. AT-STs
These guys were easy to paint: I painted the legs with Dark Seagreen, and then did the top bit in Neutral Grey and gave the legs a light drybrush with the same. They were based to match the various stormtrooper bases, plus a pair in white and glitter.
8. Assault carriers
These are some of the easiest models I've ever painted. First, I gave them a coat of Dark Seagreen:
Followed by drybrushing with Neutral Grey.
I quite like the end result, so I'm sticking with it. I'm kinda tempted to just do the star destroyers the same way.
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So here's batch two in its finished glory:
I actually got through these figures so fast that I still had time for another batch before our next trip to the country. Now that I have a paint scheme for the rebel fighters, I feel like I have to paint up the X-wings as well; after all, they blew up a Death Star for me! While I'm at it, I might as well do the airspeeders and U-wings as well, to finish all the rebel small craft.
On the Imperial side, the AT-ATs are the last unpainted Imperial ground units, and I'm going to try the assault carrier paint scheme on the Interdictors because we haven't got as far as using the expansion yet, so if it doesn't work out I'll have time to fix it. Finally, I think I discovered the perfect blues for a super star destroyer? Only one way to find out!
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9. X-wings, U-wings and airspeeders
I used the same method as with my Y-wings, starting with painting the cockpit windows, guns and what have you in black.
I then did the metal bits in Gunmetal Grey, painted the hull Ivory and added squadron markings:
And finally, a wash of watered-down Smoke ink.
10. AT-ATs
These big boys got a base coat in Dark Seagreen, and I then painted the large surfaces on the hull with Neutral Grey. It's a bit dark grey perhaps, but I'm happy with it.
11. Interdictors
To test the assault carrier scheme, I painted the three Interdictors with Dark Seagreen, and then drybrushed with Neutral Grey. This, I think, turned out too dark.
Drybrushing with Light Grey, however, worked!
12. Super star destroyers
My super star destroyer paint scheme was very simple: basecoat in Dark Blue, followed by drybrushing with Dark Blue Pale. I think it's perfect.
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So, with the Interdictors set aside for the moment, here's the finished third batch of miniatures.
The big picture is also starting to look a whole lot better.
At this point, I set off for the country again, and I can't go on without praising the Feldherr foam trays my friendly local game store sold me. Look at them!
Everything fits brilliantly and travels safely.
There's even spaces for all the cards, counters and dice.
These were fairly cheap where I got them, and I definitely recommend them, especially if you have to move your game around at all.
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That's what I've managed so far! I'll be finishing the starships and ground installations over the winter, so hopefully by next year, I'll have a fully painted set of miniatures. These models have been lots of fun to paint; I have a feeling I'm going to need another painting project when this is done...
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