An Imperial Repeater....

...repeats the losses of two weeks ago...

So it wasn't an especially successful day of Legion as I lost three from three although one was super close (Han Solo fleeing from Iden Versio and running CLOSER to the objective...) but the other two games I kind of got my butt handed to me. 

It's just game one of three for the battle report though - once again, distracted by gaming instead of taking photos....

The mission was Breach - so get to the opponent's board edge - against a Rebel force commanded by Han Solo and including 2 units of Wookiees!!

Turn one was pretty quiet as my opponent was very cagey about getting shot to bits by my entrenched Shores and ISF, especially with the ISF in this commanding overwatch position:

That pile of boxes served them very well later in the game. 

I threw my Speeder bikes out to bait a reaction from my opponent (during which time I also learned the speeder rules have changed for the better and I'm most pleased with the outcome) and they tried pew pewing the Rebel Speeder.

ZOOM!

In response, it came out, dropped off Han and between them, dished out an absolute torrent of fire on the Speeder Bikes. That Rebel speeder is armed to the teeth with a blaster, a cannon and a missile launcher. My poor old bikes didn't stand a chance!

The bikes went down in a hail of fire (also Han and his blasted Pierce 2) and off camera, some Fleet Troopers evaporated under a hail of fire from the ISF.

By Turn 3 on my right flank, these Wookies had overrun my Shore Troopers who lasted long enough to make sure those Wookies didn't do anything else. Having said that, my Shores on this flank did literal, actual nothing other than do a couple of wounds to a Wookiee.

In the centre of the table, the Rebel speeder tried a hit and run on Iden before she was charged by a group of walking carpets.

Hilariously, Iden's armour held up under the Wookie's giant fists and by Turn 5, she had dispatched the whole unit by herself. Not a bad effort I thought. With ID-10 and her Quick Thinking ability,  she's surprisingly effective in melee with 2 Red and 3 White attack dice.

There's a bit of a gap in the photos here (although I'd been basically tabled and my opponent only had one unit of Rebel troopers left other than his Wookiees!), but below you see the end state of the game. The Speeder did ANOTHER hit and run on my Shores (Rebel drivers what?!) and was, in the end, destroyed by a cheeky Droid Popper off the roof from the ISF sergeant. Turns out one dude, with an aim token, Marksman and a droid popper can pretty reliably get crits on a vehicle!

Of course Han turned up and shot the offending Sergeant and the remnant Shores who escaped being run down by the Speeder with his very effective move and shoot twice for no penalty blaster pistol! It was a good game and I think only losing 2-0 wasn't bad in a game where my opponents plan and the mission came together in a way that meant I was kind of on the back foot from the get go.

Overall, I learned that Iden is pretty cool - I think she's staggeringly effective at a lot of things and that little droid is super neat. Having the suppressive zap gun is really useful. I learned a lot about what her orders are supposed to do and I can definitely see why the interwebs thinks that Iden333 is the list to play. I, however, refuse because that is not entertaining. I am however keen to try out some 800 point lists, probably bulked out with some Storm Troopers for a few more activations. 

And done...

MOAR STOMPY!

 One Warmaster Iconoclast with Plasma Blastguns as they look the coolest. The splash of blue against the red and metal looks great. They're probably not the in-game choice which might be Inferno Guns...

I went maybe heavier with my icons than I did on most of my other titans but I'm still pretty light on markings. If the Vulpa transfer sheet gets reprinted, I think I might go through and change that but I've always been pretty reluctant to go nuts with a limited resource.

And a closeup of the Krius Grav Imploder. Look at all that trim!! I had this lovely moment during the week where I thought it was done and then I discovered the little armour panels on the backs of the claws. Oh boy did I groan. But it's a cool weapon and it looks great so not complaining now it's done!  

Next Time

The last of the platoon a month stuff for February and the start of March's effort on that score as well as a couple of other fun projects that have appeared on the table for fun. 

Some white, some yellow, some red

 So this week we present some completed projects and one not-quite-completed project in advance of next week, when I intend to do a bit of a play-by-play game report of my three games of Star Wars Legion skirmish!  

 Platoon a Month

 So I got the vehicles done, and I figured that's worth throwing out a week early. 

T34/76

T34/85

The two versions of the captured T34 are here, both a 76mm and 85mm. I'll probably not use the 76mm all that often but there wasn't a good reason not to do it. Also, thanks to Blogger Tank who had an old DAK transfer sheet with the massive Balkenkreuz that are there for the side of Rommel's Dorcherster. They were perfect for this. 

And then the CO of my nascent Puma company. How is it the CO you ask? Well, I have resorted to that oldest of FoW stand-bys and put an aerial on it. Makes sense right? So that's five Pumas done. I reckon I need another 8 for the company to really be on, plus 4 with PaK 40s (or 8??) and then I'll be able to get this on the park. Maybe for a Flames event later in the year?

Warmaster Iconoclast

 Almost there!!

Still 'armless...

Honestly, the trim on this model is killing me. It's insane. I'll take a closeup of the Krius Grav Imploder that's been making me miserable when it's done. But I'm almost there. Basically, I need to finish the two main weapons and paint the rest of the shoulder armaments (since the Turbolasers were easy, so I smashed them out for today) and then put on some transfers. I'm really happy with how it's come out and having used only a smattering of purple on the centrepiece model for my Legio, I love that it's mostly red.  I'm also really stoked with the swing in the groin plate that really helps give a sense of movement to the model.

Next Time

All Star Wars, all the time. Also, I will have finished the Iconoclast. I know it. 

PEW PEW PEW!

The first pics today are from my first practice game of Star Wars Legion with blogger Pel where I tried to learn how to use Iden Versio.

I tried an aggressive infiltration into Pel's board corner (in a game of Breach, where I wanted to be within Range 1 of his board edge)  thinking that I had reasonable odds with Iden and the ISF to take Luke out in a round of shooting. Lets see how that went:

Iden shoots her Imperial Repeater (now, I LOVE how this gun is in Legion. It's super cool.) and does no damage. Luke saves a goodly number of hits. So she summoned her squad of ISF who opened up on Luke as well.

This was the result. 5 hits, 4 saves and a deflection. Pel's saves in the first couple of turns of this game were simply unreal! My shooting was correspondingly poor.

Three turns later and Luke had slaughtered the ISF and then taken out Iden in a couple of rounds of combat. Meanwhile, my Shore Troopers did their usual good work. One squad wiped out Pel's Rebel Veterans and the half squad below....

...took out the Tauntauns, the Rebel Pathfinders and had a damn good crack at the Rebel Blaster Cannon that was the one thing that actually made it to my board edge, giving Pel the game 1 - 0. 

This last photo is the pinnacle of where I finally worked out how to put Iden Versio (in a game with blogger Tank) in a place where she wouldn't just die. Using her order that gives her Sharpshooter 2 she got into a spot to get 5 dice on Master Yoda and, with an aim token, scored 5 hits. Yoda didn't make enough saves and the little green Jedi was done.

It was the result of two games with Pel that taught me a lot about how to get Iden to do some heavy lifting. I'm still not super sure of what I'm doing and, honestly, I played three games and lost the ISF in two of them without firing a shot and one where they got one before Luke cut them down. Still a lot to learn there.

And on the workbench front

Some prep for the platoon a month for February where I'm being a bit lazy because I don't fancy a whole infantry platoon again, despite having another one that needs doing. 

 

 So I've settled on two very different vehicles in what will be the CO for my eventual 2022 project of a Puma Company and a captured T34/85 (and the turret for a T34/76 as well) that'll probably get winterised for my Grenadiers.  Having said that I have done some work on the last two bases for my existing platoon to get it up to 8 Rifle/MG stands and these are pretty close to done too, so aiming to get them done for the end of February.

Next Time

I'm hoping the nearly (if not completely) finished Warmaster Iconoclast.  

Felt appropriate for the weather...

So it's absolutely honking down here at the moment. The kind of weather that makes you want hearty food and red wine which can be a bit of a problem in February!

However, it's in this context that I present my first platoon a month from January: 

 The whole platoon with a pair of panzerschreks. I've just realised I need to go through and whitewash the helmets and possibly put a highlight on the skin but I'll need to check out the existing collection and make that call.

Just quietly, not done at the end of January but this is the next blog data *after* the end of January therefore it's fine. It's fine. I'm falling back on the easy option for February though since it's already the 6th and so will be painting the HQ of my Puma company, the CO of my winter Grenadiers and the last two stands to make the platoon I already have up to a full 8 stands of Rifle/MGs. 

And....

It wouldn't be another week if I didn't post an update on the Iconoclast. Having finally finished off the legs and getting the toe plates fitted during the week I got stuck into the superstructure and I'm really happy with how it's going.

I've got the rest of the Ardex Cannons to go on the top being painted at the moment and I've primed all the shoulder weapons. I've finally worked out how I want those to look so I've started painting the shoulder weapon mounts now and once those are glued in I'll finish the hard job that is posing the arms. There's still a phenomenal amount of trim to paint on the shoulders and some massive Eyes of Horus that I'm still pondering too. 

Clamor Tenebris is watching for when Pooch gets onto his Warmaster...

Next Time

Iden Versio will get her first run, more work on the Iconoclast and probably a start on February's platoon-a-month. Got some 1:1 scale painting to do as well but should be able to find some hobby time in there someplace!