These four 40mm tall hard plastic protectors of Darth Sidious are produced by “Fantasy Flight Games” and can be found inside the company's Imperial Royal Guards Unit Expansion for "Star Wars: Legion". "An elite unit whose members served as personal bodyguards to the Galactic Emperor", the Red Guard made their first 'Silver Screen' appearance in Richard Marquand's 1983 American epic space opera film "Return Of The Jedi".
Despite initially priming this quartet with a double coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, and subsequently shading them using a healthy dose of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, I actually found myself having to repeatedly return to this multi-part miniatures to 'plug up' some frustrating gaps which I kept discovering during the painting process. Admittedly, I had somewhat quickly assembled and super-glued "the most skilled warriors in the forces of the Galactic Empire" in my eagerness to get them on the tabletop, but even so I was rather surprised by just how ill-fitting some of their limbs were, especially when they were presumably supposed to blend in with the swirl of their famous flowing robes.
Fortunately, once the odd application of 'Grey Stuff' had both cured and been pigmented, an enthusiastic dry-brushing with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red seemed to work wonders on the figures' overall appearance, and momentarily I was actually tempted to leave the soldiers' uniforms as was. Certainly I wasn't planning on following the "Fantasy Flight Games" official paint-job palette, which portrayed the Imperial Royal Guards with purple-hued undergarments and blackish gloves.
In the end I therefore decided to simply 'pick out' each bodyguard's armoured helmet with a combination of "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion and a generous splash of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. This seemed to break up the monotonous nature of the miniatures' colour scheme reasonably well, especially when mixed with the "Vallejo" Black, "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil used upon their hand-weapons.
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I always thought the name 'Imperial Royal Guards' was a tad oxymoronic - are they Imperial or Royal? Are they guarding an Emperor or a King? Or are they an elite unit of monarchs appointed to guard the Emperor? Who can say?
Simon, that's 20 points for these suitably imperious and Imperial Guards!
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Nice work Simon :)
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Tamsin :-)
DeleteNice bunch of Imperial Guard!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain. Pity I only need four as they were great fun to paint.
DeleteNice work, love the shades of red.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter. Glad I went with the different red on the helmet.
Deletevery cool
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin.
DeleteNice work, the different shades of red work well together.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stuart. I think to add a third red in I would have to have painted them in sub-assemblies.
DeleteVery nice Simon!
ReplyDeleteCheers Fran :-)
DeleteThese look grand, excellent work.
ReplyDeleteThanks JamieM. Much appreciated :-)
DeleteWell done!
ReplyDeleteCheers Moiterei_1984.
DeleteGreat brushwork Simon. These ' most skilled warriors in the forces of the Galactic Empire' look ready to be cut down like wheat (or be away on a coffee break when they are actually needed).
ReplyDeleteThanks Curt. They don't seem to ever be around when the Emperor needs them, do they? LOL!!
DeleteNice brushwork Simon.
ReplyDeleteCheers Ray :-)
DeleteNice work, Simon!
ReplyDeleteI've been snatching up the FFG star wars stuff as fast as I can. Even though the quality isn't there, it does hit the nostalgia square! ;)
I'll be definitely taking your route with the red and be reminded of the gaps you found.
They look very good!
Thanks David. The minis are excellent for "Star Wars: Legion", imho, and these are the first I've struggled to assemble without having gaps.
DeleteRed is a challenging colour, but looks great on the table!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is, Barks :-)
DeleteImpressive, most impressive...
ReplyDeleteLOL Sander ;-)
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