Gunship stowage 15mm

I had an idea recently on how to improve the look of my Republic gunships using crafting mesh.

It's always good to look at the original models whenever possible, this is a nice example of panelling and weathering. This is also a good reference for battle damage and carbon scoring.

This side view clearly shows the stowage racks and hand grips for the troopers. It hangs down far enough to see it and is quite noticeable.
 

Recently I have been watching a guy on YouTube who creates his own space fleets using crafting mesh to create the ships. It took me a while to finally track down what he was actually using. Luckily for me my wife knew exactly what it was and where to get it.

Having managed to get hold of some, I realised it would look great as the stowage and handles in a gunship. So today I cut up some pieces out and glued them in.

At first I put crates and equipment in the racks, but the empty ones looked better, so I emptied them again. Seeing light through the mesh gives a much better impression of the detail, so it was a no brainer.

The troopers look a lot better in the back now too. There was too much space above them before and they looked a little lost. They look much more film accurate now.

I positioned the mesh just low enough so it looked like the figures could reach up and grab it.

My mesh doubles as the hand grips and the stowage racks, it's a cheat but it works.

Once I had worked out the positioning of one, it was time to do all the others. The new ARC troopers gunship got one too.

Finally, the finished gunship got hers too. She really is finished now, complete with cargo storage and racks. The mesh gives just the right amount of detail to do the job at this small scale.

It's nice to keep improving these toys and bringing them closer in to a scale model for gaming.

Homing Spider Droid 15mm

After the test game on the weekend, I was left thinking isn't it a shame I can't get any of the large Spider droids to complete the CIS forces. As the range is made from brittle resin, the idea of a leggy, fragile spider walker is enough to give you a cold sweat.

 However, after trying to find another figure, I stumbled across a line of rubber star wars miniatures. I was delighted to see they made a Homing spider droid so ordered one.

The figures come with cards for the game they were intended for. Some of this information might be useful to me while I'm creating the stats for combat and movement.
 

I was even more delighted when I saw how big the walker is, as it fits perfectly with the scale of the resin figures. Being rubber, it's bulletproof too, so won't snap or break like resin.

The dorsal laser fires a beam over a great range, while the belly gun fires heavy blaster bolts. It's a slow mover so I will give it a 4" movement. Having a beam weapon I will give it a extra attack dice for every 11 and 12 that are rolled. This represents the beam slicing across the terrain, continuing to do damage. It's skill level will be classed as green but it will have six hit points because of it's armour and size. It will also have a weapon range equivalent to that of a tank, so most of the time it won't be getting any penalty for long range.

The long range and the extra attack dice should make this walker a scary sight as it looms over the tree tops.

Finding toys like this makes me realise doing this conflict in 15mm was definitely the right decision. Toys like this and the gunships, also the amount of units on the table, are a strong argument for 15mm. A large spider droid like this would cost a fortune in 28mm...if you could actually get one that is.

As a rule, the large Homing spider droids are normally escorted by their smaller cousins, the Dwarf spider droids. The smaller walkers act as the eyes and ears for the larger, powerful droids. Now I have found a good proxy for these monsters, I can replicate this on the battlefield.

The paint job on the model isn't bad, totally usable as is, but I will give it some washes of green and purple. The hull has a kind of oily sheen which will be nice to do.

To bring it up to spec a bit more with my figures, I've added the tiny antenna that were missing from the rubber toy. These will be painted and blended in.

A very good fit for scale, these things are huge.

The CIS now has some big, heavy walkers to match that of the Republic...well, not quite but almost.

The spider family go to war. I also stuck some bark under one of the feet to make the pose a tiny bit more dynamic. The tiny aerials really give it a bit more detail too and help scale it to the other figures.

Here is a scale shot showing a AAT tank and some B1 droid infantry. I think it's perfect and I can't wait to base it up and get it in the army.

The last nice bonus about the figure, is it comes on a 2mm thick base. This means I can use it as is and it should save me ordering MDF ones. Result!

Update: I'm not very happy with the eyes on this model so I've enhanced them with super glue.

Now that the eye lenses are proud of the face plate, it should be easier to get some paint on them. To make them glow, I will first paint them in white, then use a clear coloured Tamiya paint. This produces a lovely glowing lense look.

A second walker arrived today and was modded like the first one with antenna. I also scored the dishes on the weapons so they are more film accurate. Now I have two I can start to paint them.

Clone Wars Have Begun!

Here are some more pictures of my test game of the Clone Wars.

Both CIS and Republic forces push forward through the jungle.

The supply posts need to be secured and the Clones with their heavy walker advance to secure their objective.

The CIS has many droids units on the planet's surface to halt the Republics advance . Droidekas with their repeating blasters and heavy shields make first contact. Their barrage of laser fire cuts into a the walker's tender underbelly. Despite it's heavy armour plating, the AT-TE takes damage.

Clone platoons move up to try and locate the objectives. The jungle is thick and their progress is slowed by the tangle of toxic plants.

A veteran platoon advances behind the cover of their walking behemoth. The walker was now taking the brunt of the whole of the CIS force. Droid battalions with rocket launchers now started to open up. Slowly but surely the great beast started to rack up damage.

To try and stop the torrent of blaster fire, a team of heavy E-Web repeating blasters were rushed forward and set up. The jungle around them was shredded by the sizzling blaster fire.

 

Heavily armoured Super battle droids trudged forward sending their wrist rockets whining through the air. Dwarf spider droids too, with their powerful blaster cannons added to the hail of death.

 Droidekas rolled forward at lightning speed and took up position at one of the supply posts. Their repeating blasters finally proved too much for the crippled walker and it was destroyed.

Although the Clones lost the walker and a unit of elite troopers, the day ended with them holding the most supply posts, so the game went to them.

The droids had inflicted the most damage but had not been able to maintain a hold on what they had grabbed. 

When the veterans of the 501st Legion finally managed to push the Droidekas back, the droids were so badly damaged they couldn't return. As other droid units started to fall back, the clone victory was secured. They had regained their lost supplies but had paid a very heavy price for doing so.

The droid forces had been badly mauled but had not lost a single unit.