Legion - Beginning

Epic Day
Had Epic Day on sunday (couple of days ago). Was enjoyable.

We played two games and i played my Experimental Black Templars for both.

Game one was versus Sisters of Battle with the Templars planet-falling (mainly by stormraven - due to high build up of anti-air opposition, making WE landing craft an iffy selection) in turn 3, hoping to blitz the enemy positions at the last moment.  Without waxing lyrical this was an action packed, brutal game from the moment the first drop pods screamed into atmo - but both sides really held their own despite a high number of close combat clashes.
Final result - Turn 4 victory by Sisters of battle 2:0 on Victory Conditions (Blitz/Takehold)


The force deployed in game 1...

Game two was versus Dark Eldar with the Templar sporting a mix of planet-fall and landing craft troops (less dedicated anti-AC to worry about). Templar dropped in on Turn 2 - enough time to delay and spread out the enemy - not quite enough time for them to all set overwatch! Despite the Eldar being a bit misplaced across the board, they held on bitterly to protect their blitz against the swarm of Templars and their Lander before breaking to several formations' fire.
Final result - Turn 3 victory by Black Templars 2:0 on Victory Conditions (Blitz/Takehold)


Final disposition Game 2...

While my enthusiasm for Epic is... plateaued at best, it was a fun afternoon.


I have been spending more of my hobby efforts on Star Wars Legion recently. Not flat out with it though; it's heading toward winter and garage is becoming too cold for long hobby jaunts. The printer has been running notably and consistently well, even in the colder temperatures.


Legion Models
So i mentioned i got the basic starter set and had just assembled them in the previous post.

Everything starts with a coat of... white (which just feels wrong) or black (aaaah, so much better).

Not going to be doing anything fancy on these models. Just working some washes and dry brushing to bring out the gross details.

Blocking in the 'detail' areas and a bit of clean up. Apart from bases and a dry brush of leadbelcher on the guns this is about as far as they're going.

Vader, early completion.


Legion Structures
Mainly a 'because i can' project, i'm building some dessert hab buildings (downloaded from thingiverse).

Each piece takes about 6 hours to print and that's at draft quality. Printing larger pieces is generally more forgiving (no detail to nouce up, just big flat plains). I was getting some bed lift (pic above) and ended up strapping down the pieces fairly heavily just to avoid 'warp'. Ugly but it works.

So, two building done, models show in situ for scale.

The roofs lift off easily so allows inside access. Not sure how i'm going to base these yet, probably just glue to a sheet of mdf cut to size (hexagon). Means i can paint on a static floor.
There's a bit of filler and sanding work required (roof will need grinding down those 'ribs') and the walls have a heavy striation in places.

I made some doors and 'windows' to spruce them up a bit.

Aside: i also finished off the chaos ships for BFG while i had the printer finishing off odd-jobs. At this stage i'm nonchalant about the fleet but i'll finish off the shucking and get them presentable.


Legion Custom Character - Grand Inquisitor
Not content to wait for an official replacement for Darth Vader i decided to start working on a custom character for my general.

At HOH i picked up a 'grand inquisitor' model from the SW Imperial Assault game. The models are a little shorter but i attempted to 'tru-scale' it by extending and filling the torso and legs with some sprue offcuts and liquid green stuff. It's now a comparable height... if somewhat skinny.

My overall aim here was to make a 'combat-centric' general. Vader is powerful enough of course but desk-punchingly slow and Veers (at least conceptually) should be more about bringing command synergies than combat (as one would expect from a Master Tactician).

When i was looking at stats/abilities/goals my requirements were:
- attack focused - This is an experienced, aggressive unit; entirely suited to getting into the middle of a melee.
- lithe/agile/fast - read:- 'Not a tank like vader.' The Inquisitor is a skinny, lightly armoured dude. If anything he's more suited to running around the guts of a starship than on a true mud-and-guts battlefield.
- well trained/highly skilled - fluff says he was 'trained by vader', he was a jedi temple guard before shizzle went down; and was then a jedi hunter... implying he's no slouch with a lightsaber (unlike certain other 'masters' who only got 3 days training).

Obviously the character is not 'tournament legal', but hopefully will be acceptable for local pickup games. The Inquisitor card is effectively a meld of:
- Vader's saber stats    (trained by vader... and not dead)
- Duplicate of Luke's abilities   (agility and trained)
- Half way between both (DV/LS) for hp & courage   (experienced, 'cold and ruthless' according to fluff, so doesn't break easily)
- Very fast movement speed which is his 'feature'   (training, force ability, agile, hunter)

Which i 'gut valued' at 200 points. He's better than Luke for saber, hp and speed. Worse than vader for abilities and hp. Better than both for speed. Round up to 200 pts to avoid red-faced screams of 'overpowered/underpriced'.

In situ next to vader. He's a bit shorter but the stance is lower and Vader (at least in the original trilogy) looks like he's meant to be quite tall and imposing.
In the fluff the Inquisitor is meant to be 'a hunter', so fast, agile and mainly about attack.

Shown in situ with a pack of minions. Does the trick i think.

We'll see how it runs on the board.


Until next time...