Imperial Shoretroopers

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Star Wars Legion: Imperial Shoretroopers

The Shoretroopers for Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars Legion were a joy to paint, not least because of the contrast paint used. As usual I start painting with a three-color zenithal prime (a thin coat of black Vallejo surface primer, followed with a 45-degree application of gray, and finished with white from above).

The colors are as follows, unless otherwise noted (all paints are Vallejo model color and shades are Army Painters Quickshades).

Base ColorsDetails
Armor Skeleton Horde
Medium
Basecoated with a 1:1 mix of Skeleton Horde contrast paint and contrast medium
  Pale Sand Thinned and glazed as a highlight
Pants & Shoes USA Olive Drab
German Grey
Buff
Watered down to a wash and applied
Leather Flat Earth Basecoast
  Smoke Thinned to a wash, tinting the leather areas
Details Red
Flat Red
1:1 mix and applied to one arm. washed with red tone and Flat Red used as a highlight
  Azure Blue Used for the blue armor markings
  Flat Yellow Used for the blue armor markings

The base was done in my usual way for the empire. See Darth Vader: A Study in Black or Emperor Palpatine: The Pallid Face of Evil.

Until next time, adventure on! Koliada

Darth Vader: A Study in Black

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Star Wars Legion: Darth Vader with Stormtroppers

When I thought about painting the Imperial units, I feared Vader. It wasn’t the way childhood me feared him (his telekinesis, lightsaber expertise, or force choke), but the fact that I had to paint him black. Aside from the Emperor, he’s the first fully black model I would be painting and there are quite a few shades of black across his different uniform materials (cloth, leather, plastic, metal). With the emperor, I didn’t think that my blacks were well varied, so I wanted to do that better this time. At the same time, I wanted to be true to film and avoid over-highlighting the miniature to prevent a cartoony feel that can occur when painting and highlighting black.

Emperor Palpatine: The Pallid Face of Evil

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Star Wars Legion: Emperor Palpatine with Stormtroppers

Now that I have finally finished painting my wife’s Rebel figures, it is time to start on the Imperial forces -- a lesson in blacks, whites, and chiaroscuro. What better figure to start with than the pallid face of evil itself, the Emperor. While painting this principally monotone model, I set the following goals:

  • I want him to stand out when compared with Vader, which meant he couldn’t be black-black
  • I want his robe dark enough to contrast well with his pale skin, and
  • I want a true black inner robe

Star Wars Legion: Rebel Force

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Star Wars Legion Rebel Forces

It seems like it’s taken forever, but I finally finished* painting my wife’s rebel troops. We started playing Legion just after Valentine’s Day; all in all it has taken roughly four months – mostly due to the fact that I am a slow painter and there are other projects that have required some attention. Of course, it didn’t help that there were three additional releases by FFG in that time: Jyn, the Pathfinders, and the Landspeeder.

Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers

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Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers

Since Christmas I’ve had the Star Wars Legion core set from Fantasy Flight sitting on a shelf collecting dust, mostly because I already had other projects underway, including painting Blood & Plunder miniatures and terrain pieces. But, for Valentine's Day, my wife brought surprised me with three expansion boxes she found at a local gaming store. She also commented that several people the store was going to play Star Wars Legion the next evening. We went to get a taste of the game, and while I was already interested, my wife was excited about playing as well. So, the next day I started painting the rebel faction from the core set for her to play!