Showing posts with label Star Wars Miniatures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars Miniatures. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Star Wars: Legion Officially Released

Earlier this week, Star Wars: Legion was officially released by Fantasy Flight Games.  Many have been anxiously awaiting its release since it was first announced back in August at GenCon.


First reviews have been very positive around the rules, but there has been some criticism about the each model's lack of customization.  Nine products are now released for the game:
  • Star Wars: Legion Core Set
  • Star Wars: Legion Dice Pack
  • Star Wars: Legion Movement Tools & Range Ruler Pack
  • AT-RT Unit Expansion
  • Rebel Troopers Unit Expansion
  • 74-Z Speeder Bikes Unit Expansion
  • Stormtroopers Unit Expansion
  • AT-ST Unit Expansion
  • T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion
More unit expansions are to be released over the next few weeks and months. The Han Solo Commander Expansion and Rebel Commandos Unit Expansion have just been announced.  However, the previewed model for Han has been universally panned as not being representative of the character it portrays, and many of the Rebel Commando models appear to be simple modifications of the existing Rebel Trooper models.

The question now becomes how well will the game sell and how successful will it be at getting adoption by the community.

Friday, January 19, 2018

Star Wars: Legion - Leak of (Commander) Leia Organa and Rebel Fleet Troopers!

Over in Europe, it appears that an employee of a French games distributor for Fantasy Flight Games took and posted a photo of two unannounced expansions for Star Wars: Legion on Instagram.

We knew that Leia would be one of the upcoming Rebel releases, but the surprise is that this release of Leia is her wearing her Endor combat gear -- most bets had been on her sporting her Hoth outfit.

Additionally, while most were expecting that Rebel Hoth Troopers would be announced as an upcoming expansion, it now appears that the next Rebel expansion will be Rebel Fleet Troopers, (the Rebel Troopers as seen in A New Hope).

I'm very excited for this news, as the vanilla Rebel Troopers have always been my favorite!

Friday, January 12, 2018

Star Wars: Legion - Comparison of Legion's AT-ST to Imperial Assault's AT-ST

Fantasy Flight Games just released a photo showing the differences in size between the Star Wars: Legion's AT-ST and Imperial Assault's AT-ST - the results are quite telling.

Legion's Scout Walker is almost twice the size and one can easily pick more exact detailing in Legion's tabletop model when compared to Imperial Assault's boardgame miniature.


There were many wanting to use their Imperial Assault Scout Walker miniature as a proxy, but this picture puts a dagger into that idea for those who would like representative scaling in their wargaming sessions.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Star Wars: Legion - Snowtroopers and General Veers

Fantasy Flight Games has announced two new Unit Expansions for the upcoming Star Wars: Legion miniature game:
These announcements bring additional cards and abilities to some of the units available in the Starter Set, but the biggest revelations is the price for the Veers Commander expansion, which helps give a view into upcoming costs of future Commander expansions, (like Leia - the likely next previewed Commander).

Imperials:
  • Snowtroopers Unit Expansion $24.95
  • General Veers Commander Expansion $12.95
I'm looking forward to additional Unit Expansion previews over the next few weeks as we approach the launch of the game in early 2018.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Star Wars: Legion - Next Two Commanders Announced!

We all know that Luke and Vader will be the initial commanders released in the Core Set, but the December issue of Tabletop Gaming (Issue 13) has spoiled who the two new commanders will be in the game. 

It will be no other than Leia Organa and General Veers joining Luke and Vader as options in the next few months.  No further details have been released yet, but I'm expecting more information in the near future.

Tabletop Gaming Magazine is only available for purchase in the UK, but you can buy a digital version of the issue here:
https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/board-games/store/back-issues/tabletop-gaming/tabletop-gaming-issue-13

In our first monthly issue (December) of Tabletop Gaming we have an exciting first look at massive miniatures game Star Wars: Legion, as its designers tell us about recreating the battles of the original trilogy on the tabletop and following up X-Wing.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Star Wars: Legion - Core Set Miniatures

The core set of Star Wars: Legion was announced a few moths ago, but a number of recent images help provide a view into the quality and variety of the miniatures:


The Rebel contents contains two unique miniatures - Luke and the AT-RT.  The rest of the models contain duplicates, leading to seven miniatures that are included twice.


The Imperial side is much the same, with two unique Speeder Bikes, and one Vader miniature.  The remaining models contain duplicates, meaning there are six miniatures that are included twice.

It is too early to tell how much customization these miniatures will allow for, but once we see the sprues it will be easier to determine how easy it will be to slightly modify the non-unique miniatures.  It would be really nice to have a separate bits sprue to allow some customization between similar miniatures, but I'm guessing an official accessories sprue is not likely to be released anytime soon.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Star Wars: Legion - A Matter of (T-47) Scale

The recent news about the Star Wars: Legion expansions has generated much discussion and questions around what scale the T-47 is in, (and the absurdity of having a fast-flying air-support vehicle as a on-table unit in a skirmish game).

The scale question arose after the following photo was posted from Essen, showing the T-47 Airspeeder to appear on the smallish-side -- even when considering the implications of perspective and distance:


Now that the Spanish Fantasy Flight Games website has posted the unpainted models, it is easier to see that the T-47 isn't as off-scale as it first appeared.  The other point is that, based on the "official" specifications, the Airspeeder is much smaller than most people realize.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Star Wars: Legion - Unit Expansions Announced!

Today Fantasy Flight Games announced the new Unit Expansions for the upcoming Star Wars: Legion miniature game.  This announcement brings additional cards and abilities to some of the units available in the Starter Set, but also includes two brand new units to the game - the trusty Rebel Snowspeeder and the iconic Imperial AT-ST.

One of the biggest revelations is the prices for these new expansions, helping give a view into upcoming costs of future expansions:

Rebels:
  • AT-RT Unit Expansion $24.95
  • Rebel Troopers Unit Expansion $24.95
  • T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion $29.95
Imperials:
  • Stormtroopers Unit Expansion $24.95
  • 74-Z Speeder Bikes Unit Expansion $24.95
  • AT-ST Unit Expansion $49.95
Game Components:
  • Dice Pack $14.95
  • Movement Tools and Range Ruler $14.95

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Star Wars Miniatures (West End Games) - Three Wookies and an Ewok

A long time ago, in the mid-1990s, Juice and I started collecting miniatures for Star Wars Miniatures Battles by West End Games.  My idea was for an army of Wookies with a small contingent of Ewoks. Juice's idea was for an army of Mon Calamari, all riding Tautauns, and lead by Admiral Ackbar. Unfortunately, the limited variety of miniatures available for the game made finishing our ideas difficult, and we soon moved on to other games and projects.

About a decade later, in the late-2000s, I pulled out some of the half-finished models from storage and completed them.

With the new Star Wars: Legion just announced, perhaps my long-ago dream of a Wookie army will finally be realized? Unfortunately for Juice, I'm not sure that Tautaun-riding Mon Calamari will be hitting Fantasy Flight Game's product schedule anytime soon.


Monday, August 21, 2017

Star Wars: Legion Starter Set Contents

Fantasy Flight Game's website in France has some new pictures of the box contents.  I'm slowly coming around to the 35mm scale. 


I believe that the scale change from Imperial Assault may provide higher quality miniatures when all is said and done.


Fantasy Flight Games once again limits the number of needed dice in the starter set, but I'm guessing many will be picking up multiple copies of the starter.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Star Wars: Legion Announcement and Thoughts

Star Wars: Legion is now official -- Fantasy Flight Games just announced it yesterday at GenCon. Miniatures are about 35mm, (way too big in my opinion). It features very card-driven gameplay, but it's Fantasy Flight Games, so no surprise there....


35mm is a head-scratcher because that means an AT-AT would need to be about 3 feet high at that scale. Bummer as I was hoping for 15mm or smaller for larger scale battles.  The worse news is that the miniatures are not compatible with Imperial Assault miniatures. So this goes from an auto pickup, to a wait and see.

Friday, August 18, 2017

GenCon Rumors - Star Wars: Legion

From GenCon, there is a rumor of a new game to be announced soon by Fantasy Flight Games.  The game is Star Wars: Legacy, and it is a new tabletop miniatures game with unpainted figures.
Star Wars: Legion
Epic warfare is an inescapable part of the Star Wars™ universe, and you can lead your troops to victory with Star Wars: Legion™, a two-player miniatures game of thrilling infantry battles in the Star Wars universe! As a miniatures game, Star Wars: Legion invites you to enter the ground battles of the Galactic Civil War as the commander of a unique army filled with troopers, powerful vehicles, and iconic characters. While innovative mechanics for command and control simulate the fog of war and the chaos of battle, the game’s unpainted, easily assembled figures give you a canvas to create any Star Wars army you can imagine.
If true, this may explain the recent parting ways of Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games, as GW is the big player in the realm of two player miniature games, (especially with 8th Edition 40K getting such a good reception).

The two biggest questions at this point are:
1) Is this rumor true, and if so, when will it be announced?
2) What scale will the miniature be?  Too small, and the individual figures will not be interesting (who wants a 6mm Luke?).  Too big (28mm), and the iconic vehicles (AT-AT) that define Star Wars warfare will be hard to incorporate into the game.

I have a number of miniature games, but hoping the rumor is true, because who wouldn't love replaying the iconic Battle of Hoth?

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Star Wars Miniatures (West End Games) - Luke Skywalker

Grenadier produced some great models for West End Games' Star Wars Miniatures Battles back in the day.  The range was produced from 1988 to 1999 and most all the classic models were sculpted by Bob Charrette or Julie Guthrie.  One of my favorites is Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi, complete with the vintage 1990s style green base.



Saturday, July 8, 2017

Star Wars Miniatures (West End Games) - Emperor and Royal Guards

Many years ago I bought some of West End Game's 25mm Star Wars miniatures, from their Star Wars Miniatures Battles game.  When I did, I painted up the Emperor and his Royal Guards first.  It was my first real experiment with painting highlights and with inking (the red on the Royal Guards).  The basing style is vintage 1990s Goblin Green with yellow/white highlights.  I based the figures on coins - nickles in the case of the miniatures below.

These models provided a good opportunity to test out different camera options and lighting, and below are photos using three different lighting methods for the same basic picture angle and composition.