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Hobby update - my kitchen bench a wretched hive of scum and villany

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After watching a number of terrain and diorama experts like Kathy Millat. I got inspired to have a go at building some Tatooine style buildings out of offcuts of polystrene. After one former monitor box and some recycled scraps I have enough buildings to make a settlement for a game of Stargrave. Here is what the buildings look like with the bits glued together and attached to a base. I have also applied a coat of poly filler to smooth out some of the joints. I also dug out some of my bits from my Mantic Scifi terrain crate and some resin bits I think I got from TT combat. This will add nice extra detail to the buildings. Here are a selection of the buildings. They have been coated with layers of tile grout. Initially I tried to make a slurry but this alternated between too runny and too thick in the same batch. I got better results applying a layer of glue and then sprinkling the tile grout on and then spritzing with water to soak it in. The buildings have removable roofs to allow the
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Stargrave - what can you do against such reckless dice?

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I got in my first game of Stargrave on 2022 on Saturday. I tried out my Empire crew again. Again we used the modified Bounty Hunters scenario. We increased the number of locations to 5 and the size of the defending warband.  For this mission we needed to defeat a weird alien Pondo Pondo who has mysterious psychic powers. Pondo Pondo and his crew have set up camp in an abandoned quarry to sell arms and information. Pondo is waiting for his clients to arrive when the Empire and the Corporate Alliance arrive to crash the party. Another view of the quarry showing erosion cut rock seams and what you can do with polystyrene. This is my Revel AT AT kit. The model comes like this in the box. Next will be to improve the paint job. The legs are fully articulated and the head can move. Here is part of the team. Unfortunately I positioned my machine gunner badly. Darth Vader leads the rest of the team through the defiles and canyons. Pondo's crew start to respond to the incursion. A barrage of
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Putting the TIE into a toy fighter

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 In Stargrave you need a lot of terrain and at least one of the scenarios is set at a space port. You also get to customise your spaceship so its useful to have one or more spaceship models. One advantage of making a Star Wars themed game is that there are a wide variety of models that can be adapted to terrain. I have bought several of the "Mission Fleet" range of spaceship models. These are designed for 2.5 inch tall action figures but like most toys they are undersized compared to true scale so they are not far away from 1:50 scale which is ideal for wargames.  This is what the toy looks like out of the box. Its painted in the New Order colour scheme  which I deny all knowledge of. I added some details to the cockpit, building a pilot seat and painting the cockpit panels. This is the rear of the fighter, with an Imperial Assault figure for scale. The windows in the back are solid plastic so I painted them black and then applied a coat of Nuln Oil gloss to give them a shine
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Hobby update, making Star Wars themed terrain for Stargrave

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I have finished work for the year so I have been working on some terrain for Stargrave out of a polystyrene packing crate that came with a monitor. I have also been painting some Imperial Assault models. These are nice gaming pieces. They are made in a soft plastic. They remind me of the Airfix model soldiers I used to have as a kid. The soft plastic makes the light sabers a bit bendy but you can straighten them out with some hot water. This week I have painted the Rancor. This is a huge model in 28 mm scale and is easily capable of eating a model whole. I was inspired to paint this model by Sorastros painting video. He used different inks and glazes over different parts of the model. I used a base coat and highlights over the whole model then applied the inks to different parts. I used a mix of Seraphim Sepia and Fire Dragon Orange on the nose. Here is Rudolph the red clawed Rancor. Since this photo I have black edged his base. Sorastro has suggested he needs drool so I will have a go
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Star Wars Grave - The Revenge of Darth Vader

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Revenge might not be a Jedi concept it certainly is appropriate for the Sith. I used my Darth Vader team. Alan and I played a gave of Stargrave. We played a variant of the "Dead or Alive" scenario but as a two player game. Alan and I were both trying to get our hands on a renegade cyborg, maybe its Saul Guerra. It turned out that this mission took place in the annual Long Horn hunt. We managed to roll up "Wooly Rhinoceros" and Bounty Hunter about 3 times each.  Here is my team, I have a gunner, three commandos, a trooper, a chisler droid and two recruits (budget bounty hunters). Here is a view over the table, the mark is over visiting one of the out buildings, perhaps checking the perimeter. Alan's pirate crew including the feared Bishop of Burt-Out-Shells (Burner) Darth leads hit team through some covering smoke. Darth's ship now has a meditation chamber (repurposed closet) which allows him to enter a Mystic Trance and try and cast one of his in game spells
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