Rebel Scum!

And proud of it!

Some figures almost paint themselves. Others are a real trial of patience. These guys fall into the latter category. Truth be told, they were a real b✽✽✽✽r to paint, but they turned out right in the end.

These are the Rebel Troopers from FFG's Star Wars: Legion core set. They've been sitting on my painting desk in various stages of completion for months now. They are nice figures and I was looking forward to painting them, but first I had to make some decisions about the kind of scenery I intend to use and some appropriate colour schemes. I know there are people who happily mix Snowtroopers with Shoretroopers, or forest-camo clad Rebel Commandos with Tauntauns - but I am not one of them.

Early on I decided that my Star Wars: Legion forces would be operating in arid to semi-arid environments. At a stretch they would also have to look okay in more tropical or temperate settings, but they would not be seen (dead or alive) on Hoth.

With that in mind I decided to go with lots of pale sandy and earthy tones suitable for arid settings, with some green shades and a three-tone camo pattern to fit in better with more vegetation-rich scenery. It was a bit of a compromise, intended to get the most utility out of the figures, but I was happy with it.

I had expected the camo pattern to be the most difficult part of the painting process. Certainly it was time-consuming but it went fairly smoothly. Perversely,  some of the 'simpler' areas turned out to be the most difficult and frustrating. This was mainly because I struggled to achieve the blend of colours and tones that I wanted. As soon as I got one part right, it made another look 'off'. In my head I knew exactly the look I was after, but achieving it meant a seemingly endless round of trial and error that I had not anticipated. There were moments when I came close to chucking it in, or stripping everything back to the bare plastic. 

The whole process took so long that by the time I finally finished them I was really fed-up with the project and they were quickly packed away out of sight. There they stayed while I moved on to other things. Several weeks later I remembered them, dug them out and with the benefit of fresh eyes,  I looked at them again and thought "hang on - they look rather good!" 

Here they are, so you can judge for yourselves.