Stormtroopers

Last year I spent some time playing in a Star Wars RPG last year and I was surprised to say that I really enjoyed it. For some reason I felt the urge to paint some suitable figures. This led to a lot of internet searches which is pretty much how I waste all my time.

To save you going through what I found out I shall summarize. We were playing with the old Wizards Of The Coast figures which don't really interest me. They are pre-painted and a to be honest they are not the best models ever made. Most are a bit scrawny and they don't really fit in with the sizing of other figures. The Imperial Assault figures are very nice but they are not the cheapest and don't have a lot of poses. The detailing is great and they are 28mm which means that they fit in with a lot of other ranges. On the downside the range isn't great either. I have about thirty of the old metal Stormtrooper figures from West End Games. These are lovely figures and if I recall there were about ten sets of them. Nice as the range was it wasn't that great and there are a lot huge range and given that it is old school a lot of the races aren't there. Finding bits for conversion was also going to be a problem. On the plus side they are 25mm which is not that much of a plus. I have a load of 25mm figures from back in the day and some old Traveller figures which I used to love. Sadly the figures are long out of stock and to buy them second hand was looking like a lot of money.

This kind of leaves me with Star Wars Legion. When I first started looking at this game my opinion was a bit negative. They are big figures which don't really fit in with the figures that I have. There is very little available commercially that would fit in with them. Initially there wasn't much of a range.

When I thought about it though they quickly became my first choice There are now about fifty plus non-character figures out there and the range seems to be expanding. Basic units are relatively cheap compared to the old WEG and Imperial Assault figures. The non basic units are a bit more pricey but still cheaper especially if you can find a deal of which there are plenty out there. The characters are way more expensive though but I guess there are ways around this.

My plan is basically to do a lot of conversions. Star Wars has a lot of alien races but nearly all of them are men in suits. This means that a head swap is most of what is needed. Looking at the Rebel figures I don't see the need for a lot of miniguns so these were going to be ripe for conversion. hen I thought a lot about conversions. There are a few 3d printed options as well as the ability to convert yourself. I think it was the ability to use 3d bits that appealed the most. The construction, in the main calls for the arms to be stretched to fit in the sockets, the figures are relatively elastic. This means that they would take a lot of punishment before falling off.

So we get to the Stormtroopers. My aim is to have figures for an RPG. I have forteen Stormtroopers, two of which are armed with missile launchers. In my head a dozen stormtroopers is enough. That said, if I have them I might as well paint them. The exception is that I am going to scrap one of the missile launcher figures. The Rebels don't have a missile launcher so I might use this for a conversion option.

Now they are glued and have a base texture. My next step is to prime them. I can't spray prime indoors and outdoors is looking like it is out of the question for a bit. So I guess they are going to end up in a draw for a while.