Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

74-Z Speeder Bikes

The 74-Z speeder bike was a model of speeder bike used by the Galactic Empire for combat reconnaissance purposes during the Galactic Civil War. They were usually piloted by scout troopers and were able to jam comlinks. All machinery the Empire deemed unnecessary was stripped off to maximize the speeder bike’s speed.

In the Star Wars Legion box you get two 74-Z speeder bikes with Scout Trooper riders.

The models go together really easily and I like the look of them.

The next stage will be a white undercoat. I did think about doing a black undercoat. Storm troopers appear to be wearing black with white armour plates. Giving the models a white undercoat doesn’t stop me from painting them (all) black, but I think I will try and avoid that. Another reason for a white undercoat is the bikes will be brown.

Basing the Imperial Stormtroopers

Stormtroopers were the infantry soldiers of the Galactic Empire. The members of the Imperial Army’s Stormtrooper Corps served on the frontline as elite shock troops, and their loyalty to the Empire was absolute as a result of their training. The stormtrooper armor that they wore consisted of white plastoid plates over a black body glove, and their standard weapon was the E-11 blaster rifle.

In the Star Wars Legion box you get fourteen Stormtroopers, eight (regular) Stormtroopers, four heavy weapons and two unit leaders.

After constructing the Imperial forces I stuck them to their bases. Like my Rebel Troopers I have been using Citadel Sand for the bases of my Star Wars Legion Imperial Stormtroopers.

Here are the four regular troopers. I have two each of these.

There are two troopers with heavy weapons. The kneeling Stormtrooper has the HH-12 rocket launcher. The other is armed with a DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle.

The unit leaders are armed with a blaster pistol.

Constructing the Imperial Stormtroopers

In the Star Wars Legion box you get fourteen Stormtroopers, eight (regular) Stormtroopers, four heavy weapons and two unit leaders.

The unit leaders are armed with a blaster pistol.

Here are the regular troopers.

All together there are eight model of four variants.

There are four troopers with heavy weapons. The kneeling Stormtrooper has the HH-12 rocket launcher. The other is armed with a DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle.

This kneeling Stormtrooper has the HH-12 rocket launcher.

This Stormtrooper has a DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle.

The models went together very easily.

Vickers Valiant

The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force’s “V bomber” strategic deterrent force. It was developed by Vickers-Armstrongs in response to a specification issued by the Air Ministry for a nuclear-armed jet-powered bomber. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan.

Forward view of preserved Vickers Valiant XD818 at RAF Museum Cosford.

Another similar view.

The Valiant was the only V bomber to have dropped live nuclear weapons (for test purposes).

The Valiant was the first of the V Bombers and to me looks like an aircraft of the 1950s, compared to the much more futuristic look of the Victor.

You’re doing it wrong!

So today I realised I had been playing one of the cards in Talisman “wrong” for nearly forty years.

I first played Talisman back in 1983 when the first edition was released, back when there was black and white adventure cards. A friend in our gaming group back then had bought a copy of the game.

Can’t quite believe that was 38 years ago…

We would play the game quite a bit and as with most games I played back then I was quite reliant on the interpretation of the rules so followed their lead.

When the second edition was released, which was a colourised version fo the first edition (and the game board was changed from a single folded unit to four interlocking pieces) I took the time to read the rules.

One rule was this one on gaining craft.

2.4 Craft can only be gained as a result of Encounters.

You could gain strength by “cashing in” Enemy cards and with every seven enemy strength points you would gain one strength. We would play a similar rule for gaining craft by “cashing in” Enemy cards where the enemy would use craft.

I am not sure if we changed our gameplay as a result and kept a house rule where you could collect enemy cards and cash them in for craft, as you could for strength.

I never understood why you could cash in strength but not craft, as this was a real disadvantage for those characters who were stronger in craft than strength.

Those who play Fourth Edition will know that is now the norm.

It’s funny how when you play a game, sometimes your interpretation of rules or assumptions you make become normalised and you don’t realise you’ve been playing it wrong.

Playing Talisman today I realised I had been playing one of the cards in Talisman “wrong” for nearly forty years.

That card is one of the best weapons in Talisman, the Runesword.

This weapon would add one to your strength in combat and if you win the combat and cause a loss of life, you would gain a life.

Or so I thought…

I was playing the game today and my character, the Halfling, managed to pick up the Runesword. It was then reading the card that I realised I had been playing the card wrong for nearly forty years.

I had been playing that if I used the Runesword in combat against any Enemy (or a Character) and took a life, my character would gain a life.

However if you actually read the card it says:

2. When you use it in Combat to defeat a Monster or another player and then cause them to lose a Life, you gain 1 Life.

So in the second edition, the Runesword would only work against Enemy Monsters. You wouldn’t gain a life when fighting animals or dragons.

I have been playing it wrong all these years.

Undercoating the Titan Armour

It is recommended in the Adeptus Titanic Titan instructions to paint the legs before adding the armour plates. Looking at the armour plates I did think it might be challenging to paint the back of them once affixed. So I decided to follow the instructions and paint the legs first and then paint armour plates separately.

I also decided to paint the armour plates “on the bone” leaving them on the sprue.

I gave the sprues a white spray undercoat on both sides, before giving the rear side of the plates a spray of Leadbelcher.

These are the Reaver sprues.

These are the Warlord sprues.

Still thinking about the actual paint scheme for the titans.

Painting Rebel Troopers

Rebel troopers, also known as Rebel soldiers or Alliance troopers, were the front-line soldiers of both the early rebel movement and later, the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. Initially formed from loosely connected resistance cells, the leadership of Mon Mothma saw them become an impressively armed and trained galaxy-spanning infantry.

In the Star Wars Legion starter box you get fourteen Rebel models, with two each of seven variations. There are two offices, four with heavy weapons and eight “regular” troopers.

Having started to revisit my Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers, flocking their bases and giving them a white undercoat the next stage will be painting them.

I started planning the painting of my Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers.

We first really see Rebel Troopers in The Empire Strikes Back on Hoth. These Rebel Troopers are equipped for fighting in the harsh freezing conditions of Hoth. There uniforms are light brown and white.

I didn’t want to go down that cold road, as my Imperial Stormtroopers are not equipped for cold weather.

In Return of the Jedi we see more Rebel Troopers on the forest moon of Endor.

These have uniforms ideal for the wooded environment they were going to be fighting in. The Empire troops on the other hand were still equipped with the white shiny armour!

There are plenty of options open for playing games in terms of terrain, from the snow of Hoth, to the forest moon of Endor. As I really like the Rogue One film, I decided that I wanted to go with the colour scheme that the troopers in Rogue One had on Scarif.

Challenge though was finding some decent images of the rebel troopers. So best go back to the source material and I watched the film.

I re-watched the battle scene, pausing as I went.

There was no consistency across the uniforms, there were many different colours used. Kind of what you would expect from a newly formed rebel army.

As there are duplicate models in my collection of Rebel Troopers, that gives me an excuse to use different colours across the force.

Seven will be mainly green and seven will be mainly light brown.

Initially I painted a couple of models, one with Militarum Green contrast paint and the other Snakebite Leather.

Next step will be adding details to the models. Oh and buying some Shoretroopers.

MiG-15bis

The MiG-15 is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate swept wings to achieve high transonic speeds.

This MiG-15bis was on display at RAF Cosford.

In combat over Korea, it outclassed straight-winged jet day fighters, which were largely relegated to ground-attack roles, and quickly countered the similar American swept-wing North American F-86 Sabre.

Undercoating the Thunderhawk Gunship

Designed to operate in both planetary atmosphere and the cold void of space, the Thunderhawk Gunship combines the roles of orbital troop lander, heavy gunship, and bomber into a single, brutally effective aircraft. Sturdy and well-armoured, Thunderhawks deliver their Adeptus Astartes passengers into the very heart of raging battle, and provide fire support with a truly fearsome array of weapons afterwards. These iconic vessels have come to be feared as the harbinger of doom by the enemies of the Imperium of Mankind.

I picked up an Aeronautica Imperialis Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship from my local FLGS.

Construction was actually quite simple and I found the model was easily put together.

I will be painting my Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship as a Grey Knights Thunderhawk as discussed in this blog post.

I gave the model a white undercoat.

De Havilland Mosquito

The de Havilland Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. This Mosquito was at RAF Cosford.

Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the “Wooden Wonder”. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, the Mosquito’s use evolved during the war into many roles, including low- to medium-altitude daytime tactical bomber, high-altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike, and photo-reconnaissance aircraft. It was also used by the British Overseas Airways Corporation as a fast transport to carry small, high-value cargo to and from neutral countries through enemy-controlled airspace.