From Curt: Darth Vader and Stormtroopers for 'Imperial Assault' (55 Points)

I know, I know, there's been a bit of a boardgame theme running through my entries to date. I have no clue whats driving it. I can assure you it's not out of any grand design on my part. As Robbie Robertson once sang, 'I don't know, the wind just sort of pushed me this way.' 

'Imperial Assault' is a newly discovered game for me, so I was pretty stoked to try painting some of the figures. I know the game is old news for many as it's been out for several years, but my interest was piqued when I heard that, like 'Mansions of Madness', an app was being released to run the game's core mechanics allowing it to become fully cooperative. 

The new Imperial Assault app.

The announcement of the app coincided with the news that one of our local game stores was shutting down. The silver lining to this sad news was that in and among all the stock they were blowing out was a heap of 'Imperial Assault' stuff. So being a big Star Wars geek, I jumped in with both feet and snapped it up.

So here are my beginning efforts of the core box.  I thought I'd start with a good big whack of bad guys as, well, you always need lots of bad guys for the heroes to ventilate and/or foil their nefarious plans. 

This is a detachment of nine Stormtroopers, their captain Kayn Somos and my favourite Sith Lord, Darth Vader. 

I thought the Stormtroopers would be an easy win being all white, but of course their armour was quite fiddly to get close to what I was wanting. I'm still not entirely happy with them, but they'll die in droves, just like unpainted ones, so they'll make do.

The plastic on these figures was not too bad to work on, but still a bit too bendy for my tastes. I removed Vader's slightly warped light saber and replaced it with brass rod, and for a bit of fun, I used some thin plastic rod to simulate him deflecting an incoming laser blast.

Photographing these guys was a bit of a challenge as Vader sort of disappears into the black background and I was too lazy to swap it out with something else.

Again, I replaced the stock bases with clear acrylic to allow the playing-tile surfaces to show through. Following my standard skirmish trope, I also gave Vader and Somos different shaped bases to aid in their rank identification, though this is pretty silly as it's blazingly obvious when you look at the figures! Apparently it's hard to stop a creature of habit. ;)

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you for the upcoming 'Flight' bonus round.

Artist: Robbie Robertson

Song: 'Somewhere Down the Crazy River' (1987)

And what a way to end my minion day!  I've always been a huge fan of stormtroopers, ever since one showed up the the cinema screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" that I went to when it was released. I think you've done a sterling job on all that white and they look almost dangerous all together.

The swap out of the lightsaber and the deflected bolt is a stroke of absolute genius!  It works so well with Darth being all monochrome and all, it's another area of colour that pings and accentuates his dark clothing.

I was certainly tempted by this game when I heard of the app and with you and Barks painting all this stuff my resolution to NOT buy anything showcased by others in the challenge is going to be sorely tested....!  A mighty 55 points headed your way, once I wrestle the spreadsheet of ultimate power into submission.