Skip to toolbar
‘Begun, this Clone Force has’ – starting out on Star Wars Legion

‘Begun, this Clone Force has’ – starting out on Star Wars Legion

Supported by (Turn Off)

Project Blog by draconis

Recommendations: 325

About the Project

Last May (2022) I, like many other people, picked up some Star Wars Legion starter bundles in the ‘May the 4th’ sale that Asmodee had. At that time I wasn’t getting very much done, but as a big Star Wars fan I felt the time was right to jump in. I didn’t make any progress on them apart from checking through the boxes. However, my hobby attitude and general mojo did change come the summer with the commencement of my first project here. Now, almost a year later, its time to dust off the boxes and start into one of the factions. As you no doubt guessed from the project title I have chosen the clone forces of the Grand Army of the Republic.

This Project is Completed

Group shot for the end of the project

Tutoring 2
Skill 3
Idea 3
No Comments

7th August 2023

I think this will be the end point for this project.

I would like to get in some more games, so that I can get a better handle on how a lot of the interactions work – but I’m not sure when that will be.

In the interim I plan to pick up Anakin and probably some Wookies (they will be usable for Republic and Rebels). Perhaps I may look to pick up a tank in the future, but I think that I will definitely want to have some more play before focusing on the Clones as my main faction. I will probably need to get some Phase two clones as well, the extra that they get for just a few points seems very tempting….

But, in conclusion – The Clones have come out looking like a coherent force, and I’m reasonably happy with the paint jobs that I have produced on the character models and with the weathering on the speeders.

I did have to add some more magnets to the base of the AT-RT as it did come off in transit, and go on a rampage through the rest of the clones…

Up next for Legion will be the Droids, but I may work on a smaller project before going into those.

Thanks for joining me on this 😊

Group shot for the end of the project

Some introductory gameplay....

Tutoring 2
Skill 3
Idea 3
No Comments

5th August 2023

Last evening I visited a friend who ran me through the basics for a introductory game.

We played 500 pts on a smaller play area.

He was using rebels with Andor, K2SO,  wookies, snipers, fleet Troopers, veterans and an emplacement trooper.

I had a commander,  padme, arcs, two squads of phase 1 and a barc speeder.

Initial setupInitial setup

Having read the rules I had a core grasp of the game,  but there is so much more you can learn by actually playing and asking questions  😀

For Star Wars Legion a lot of the ‘game’ seems to be around tailoring your mission, conditions and setup cards to best suit your army list – and the game starts off by players in turn choosing to eliminate some of these.

We ended up with quite a close deployment,  vp’s for crossing through board and not being able to shoot past range 2 on the first turn.

My 1 pip card gave me the first turn, using Padme to move the order from her to Fives, which allowed me to put an order on the nearby clones as well.

We forgot about my commanders ability to also have a free order out….

I used fire support (using two units activations) to wipe out the veterans.

His fleet troops then moved up and with fire support from the emplacement gun inflicted some damage to my vanguard.

Next up I had the barc speeder shoot at the wookies, with fire support from the second clone squad.  Some good dice saw three of the 3 wound wookies go down, with the last one being injured.

The rest was more small exchanges.

The rebel snipers, and Andor have nasty abilities that pretty much negate cover, dodge and armour, so picked off a few more clones.

And K2SO dished out a few hits.

His remaining wookie charged up, but the arcs managed to survive.

 

Some introductory gameplay....

The second turn saw shenanigans from Andor allowing him to shoot twice, taking out a few more clones, and go on standby.

The arcs failed two armour saves and couldn’t use dodge, so went down to the wookie.

On the Clone side, they wiped out the fleet troops and the emplacement gun, and also put some wounds on Andor – but more importantly taking away his standby token.

End of turn twoEnd of turn two

Due to time we called it at that point.

The clones were planning to use air strike next turn…

The rebels had an uninjured K2SO and sniper team, plus an injured wookie and injured Andor.

The clones had an uninjured commander, padme and barc speeder, plus 4 clones Inc big gun.

Definitely a lot more for me to learn, bit I think it went OK for a first outing.

The clones have some interesting abilities around passing their green tokens around, and fire support.

And the different upgrades and unit specific rules for each faction can certainly swing something from ok to pretty nasty…

 

The last vehicle - the AT-RT

Tutoring 6
Skill 7
Idea 7
2 Comments

22nd July 2023

So, the end is almost here…

I used the same mix of thinned Contrast over the AT-RT as I used for the Barc speeders. I then applied a second coat over the frontal armour panel. And based the model in the same fashion as the rest of the force – including another twig from the garden.

Yellow accents were added to some panel sections, in keeping with the army scheme.

It still looked too plain though, so I added some chipping and scratches at first, and then added some grey sections on the legs, a few more yellow accents, and then picked out some more small details.

Then I did some light drybrushing on the weapons, some highlights on the driver and glued him in place. The guns are just push fit, so I can change the load out.

I also added a few more scratches, this time adding them with a pencil – which actually came out quite well.

The last vehicle - the AT-RT
The last vehicle - the AT-RT
The last vehicle - the AT-RT
The last vehicle - the AT-RT

With that finished, that’s all of the Clone forces I picked up from the May 4th army Deal of 2022.

I will try to set up an army shot, and hopefully I can get some sort of battle report posted – once I find an opponent and learn the game 😀

Second Barc Speeder

Tutoring 4
Skill 5
Idea 5
No Comments

20th July 2023

Over the last few days I have worked on the second Barc Speeder.  I gave it a similar treatment to the first one that I painted, but applied the yellow panel areas in slightly different locations.

I was going to do it in an identical way (as uniform equipment) but then I decided its my mini, and I can paint it in a way that is easier for me to identify – and still retain the army look.

Second Barc Speeder

I added weathering on this one too, but I think it went a bit heavy (or possibly too uniform) on the front of the sidecar. So I reworked it, and it came out better.

Basing and a few detailing bits and the second Barc Speeder was done.

Second Barc Speeder
Second Barc Speeder
Second Barc Speeder

I have started on the AT-RT, but will post that on my next update.

Then, if I can find a game I will aim to have a short battle report to finish things off.

Painted progress so farPainted progress so far

Second Barc Speeder

Tutoring 0
Skill 0
Idea 0
No Comments

Can you delete entries?

First upload failed, then it popped up later…..

Barc Speeder

Tutoring 4
Skill 4
Idea 4
No Comments

17th July 2023

As the title suggests I have been working on the barc speeders and crew.

I made up a mix of apothecary white and contrast medium in order to add a grey tint to the vehicles, and add some definition to the panel lines.

Wash mix on just the sidecarWash mix on just the sidecar

While the wash was drying it was onto the crew. They were painted in the same way as the rest of the clones.

Armour wash, tidy up, black bodysuit work, tidy up, yellow accents and a tidy up again  😀

Obviously though I didn’t finish them all while the Speeder was drying, but I alternated between tasks.

Back to the Speeder I again used the yellow to pick out panels and sections so that it had the army colour scheme.

It was however seemingly a little too clean, so I decided to try adding some weathering.  I was a little nervous of doing this to the freshly painted Speeder, but the work I did weathering my Deadzone terrain gave me some confidence to give it a go.

I started off with some white streaks, then added further streaks with greys, browns and thinned black to build it up. Concentrating on the front of the Speeder with a little less on the front of the sidecar.

Added further scratches to various places along the edges of the Speeder and side car, and overall I was pretty happy with how it came out.

For the base I used some twigs from the garden and some basing tufts.

Barc Speeder
Barc Speeder
Barc Speeder

Padme joins the clones

Tutoring 4
Skill 4
Idea 4
No Comments

10th July 2023

After finishing off Obi Wan it was onto Padme.

Unlike a friend of mine I don’t have a lot of beige paints, so had to think a bit on how to progress.

Images I have seen have her main clothing ranging from whites to off-whites, so i went with a thinned wash of Ivory over the white prime.

I then mixed up a wash from equal parts contrast medium and Soulblight Grey shade, with just a touch of Skeleton Horde contrast to give it warmth.

Actually pretty happy with how that came out.

I then went for Ushabti bone for the cloak, belt and boots. Followed by an ivory highlight on the upper parts of the cloak to emphasise things. After that I applied the same wash as above, with just a touch more of the Skeleton Horde Contrast. I thought that using the same basic shade would help tie the parts together.

Then It was just a case of picking out the weapons, and painting the flesh and hair. With the face, after painting the flesh tone I also added a thinned wash of Carroburg crimson to the lips and just under the eyes, to try to add a bit of ‘life’ to the features.

Padme joins the clones

Just the vehicles and their crew to go for this May 4th Deal Clone army…..

'Hello there'

Tutoring 3
Skill 4
Idea 4
No Comments

8th July 2023

Title is a give away….. its time for Mr Kenobi.

The armour was done in the same way as the rest of the clones.  There was the addition of some highlights on his dark trousers.

Then it was on to the robes.

'Hello there'

I spent extra time on these, layering up and then doing a couple of highlight stages.

However, instead of my usual highlighting I went a bit brighter and also instead of highlighting the whole ridge of cloth etc I just picked out top and bottom of the folds – and it seemed to work well.

Guess I’ve been highlighting too simply  in the past  🙂

Flesh and hairFlesh and hair

Then onto the face.

Not completely happy with how the skin came out, but don’t want to attempt to modify it and potentially make it worse.

I highlighted the beard and the top of the hair in a couple of stages, and that then helped the overall look of the head.

Pushing myself a little

After painting the lightsaber (by picking a viewpoint and then highlighting up through blues to a white line) I asked some friends if I should try to paint the red symbol on Obi’s shoulder pad.

The first response was a yes, so I decided to go for it  😀

Came out ok(ish)Came out ok(ish)

Captain Rex

Tutoring 4
Skill 4
Idea 4
No Comments

6th July 2023

I had Captain Rex’s basic armour painted and was going to paint him alongside Echo and Fives,  but ended up not doing so.

Hence finishing him off now.

Added the usual black body suit as above, and also chose to paint the bare head and the phase 2 helmeted head.

I found images online and painted his blue armour detailing.

Then I decided to paint some battle damage on the blue by painting white chipping on it.  It looked pretty tidy with the intact blue stripes and I was a little nervous about doing this stage. At first it looked rubbish, but as I did more it began to work for me – fortunately  😄

I also added some kill markings on the side of his helm, on both forearms and one leg.

Actually pretty happy with how it looks in person.

Captain Rex
Captain Rex

Echo and Fives join the clones

Tutoring 2
Skill 4
Idea 4
No Comments

4th July 2023

Limited hobby time of late, but I returned to this and got Echo and Fives ready for duty.

I decided to paint them in their traditional blue colour accents.

Ready for colourReady for colour

I researched online for images of the two characters and tried to replicate armour details, markings and such like.

The basics were as per the other clones. But I did enjoy adding more detail to their armoured skirt things and suchlike.

Echo and Fives join the clones

I even  tried to replicate Fives’ tattoo…

Echo and Fives join the clones

Then I picked out some more details like the buttons on the forearms, and a few other bits. And they were done.

Echo and Fives join the clones
Echo and Fives join the clones
Echo and Fives join the clones

Progress update

Tutoring 3
Skill 4
Idea 3
No Comments

25th June 2023

With the end of June approaching I thought I would just take stock quickly.

I have got through:

28 Phase 1 clones

4 Phase 1 clone upgrades

4 Clone Specialists

5 Arc Troopers

One Arc Trooper lives on the side, as the stand is too tallOne Arc Trooper lives on the side, as the stand is too tall

Still to complete are:

The characters Rex, Obi Wan and Padme.

Echo and Fives from the Arc Troopers

2 x Barc Speeder and crew

AT-RT and driver

Not sure how I’m going to tackle the vehicles yet.

Progress update

Arc Troopers deploying

Tutoring 3
Skill 6
Idea 5
No Comments

24th June 2023

This week it has been the turn of the Arc Troopers.

For the armour stage I included Echo and Fives, the two named characters.

But after that stage I concentrated on the core five.

Same process as for the rest of the clones.

Tidy up the armour, run through the dreaded body suit stage, tidy up mistakes again, lay down the yellow, tidy up…. again.

Then onto highlighting the yellow and painting in the coloured buttons on their left arms.

 

Arc Troopers deploying
Arc Troopers deploying

Then the rest of the core Arc Troopers, and I have a five clone squad complete.

Arc Troopers deploying
Arc Troopers deploying

Another four down

Tutoring 4
Skill 5
Idea 5
No Comments

18th June 2023

another one where my first upload vanished….

This week, for various reasons, I didn’t have very much hobby time, but I did manage to complete four more clones.

This time it was the Phase 1 Clone Specialists.  These are the first of the clones that are in hard plastic…..  and some of the mold lines snuck through the clean up step.

Another four down
Going back over mold linesGoing back over mold lines

I’m sure that I will still have missed some though  😀

They all received the same treatment of wash, drybrush, highlight, body suit and gun black, spot colours.

For these there were a few extra steps such as the attempt at a red Cross on the medics shoulder, the hologram in the commanders hand etc.

I also gave the comm specialist the bare head from the medic, as I liked the haircut but didn’t want it for the medic.

Another four down
Another four down

Up next I think it will be the Arc Troopers unit.

Four more down

Tutoring 5
Skill 5
Idea 5
No Comments

11th June 2023

Slow but steady, as always with me.

This time it was the Phase 1 Clone Trooper Upgrade pack.

For the majority I painted them as per the base clones really.

I debated a bit on the cloth on top of the backpack. It started off yellow, then grey, then I finished on beige. Although I think the wash was a little heavy – I painted three layers of different beige, but the wash seems to kill most of that.

Four more down
Four more down

Colour arrives....

Tutoring 5
Skill 5
Idea 5
No Comments

7th June 2023

While dithering about colours I did some work on the phase 1 Clone trooper expansion pack.

Stopped at the bodysuit stage, of courseStopped at the bodysuit stage, of course

But then I had some thoughts about how to differentiate the squads of troopers while maintaining an overall uniform feel.

I plumped for painting one shoulder pad in a different colour for each squad.