Monday, June 30, 2014

BOSS SHOP: X-WING CHARACTERS & DROIDS: JOE BOSS & B6-R7 - SITHRA WROTH & R6-S6 - IBTISAM PART 1

I have added a few more figures to the first set of my special characters. I started to do some sculpting this week, and decided that the cool little X-Wing Pilot I was going to use to make my Joe Boss figure was to lanky to work as well as I wanted it too.
I am a large man, and this miniatures is just to small, I would have to cover the thing up for the most part and that is just wasteful. I thought about it and decided to add a third character that the X-Wing figure would work very well for, thus I started on little Miss Ibtisam.
There is not much to say about her, because we all know her story. I always intended to use her in my games, so she is going to get a the full treatment and become a nice figure in my collection.
Now on to the characters that are unique to my X-Wing Universe.

I am going to make six Sith Character Pilots, and the first one, perhaps in her own way the baddest one, is Sithra Wroth.

This is a work in progress preview of Miss Wroth...

Sithra Wroth 

The granddaughter of Darth Maul's favored concubine. Sithra followed her own path as an adolescent and traced the history of her deceased grandfather, who never knew her. She met Jango Fett in his youth and they became friendly competitors and eventual partners for a few years. When Sithra choose to focus on her Force Abilities she went into seclusion and was not seen for many years by any of her scant relatives or former Pirate and Mercenary associates.
Not much is know of Wroth's time in seclusion, but eventually she aligned herself with The Empire and had a small part to play in hunting for Skywalker when he was lost to his own secluded Jedi training. After the Imperial defeat at Endor Sithra took up her holdings at remote haunts in the Outer Rim.

Today Grand Mistress Wroth operates a small but powerful organization from the shadows. Occasionally She or one of her Ranking Darkside Apprentices will assist The Imperial Remnant.

"Stealth is the greatest tool of the Sith."
Darth Sidious


Sithra's Intimidator One

This is a ship I have had in mind for about six months now. I figure since I am working on my cute little Character Pilot Miniatures I may as well work on their special ships too. I intend to have both done at the same time, with their cards and other goodies, such as special Droids and Tokens.


The Intimidator is a highly modified Infiltrator class medium insurgency attack vessel. In X-Wing both of these ships will count as being Large.
I am still working on the rules for Infiltrators and The Intimidator. I am going to use the Interceptor Movement Dial for both.


The ship ID icon was fun to make as well as that crazy eye icon which is my Force Power, I.E. Force Focus icon for Force Sensitive Pilots, Jedi, and Sith Characters. Force Focus works just like a standard Focus and allows these special pilots access to additional Force Powers.
I am probably going to just have this icon in the appropriate ships action bar rather than both types of Focus. The card is a WIP and I can change things as I go. I just decided to do this, looking at the images I have uploaded as I prepare to publish this article. It is neat how things get made and you see details that could be better as you go along towards your goals.

I am working on a set of Force Powers and Talents, which benefit my own unique characters as well as the FFG releases, particularly the original Jedi Pilots, who are in need of some more oomph now IMO as the game has evolved.


Joe Boss & Ibtisam

I had a handful of the old GW plastics in my closet from my RPG days and decided to use some of them for bulkier characters. I have Ibtisam going along more than my own Joe Boss Character because, well...ladies first. I am going to repaint an X-Wing and a Droid to go with Boss' gear. As far as I know Ibtisam's B-Wing was painted just like the rest of her squadron.


This project is proving to be a lot of fun!

PROJECT PREVIEW

Boss out.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

COLLECTION DIARY: JUNE 2014

This month X-WING has gone up a few notches on the cool-scale for me!

I always wanted this wonderful game to become what EPIC is. Fantasy Flight Games is certainly the right company to make STAR WARS the way it should be made.

Now we have not only the fast and fun Dogfights of X-WING but the longer running and even more dramatic clashes of glorious EPIC battles! I love EPIC! This game allows us to play out a campaign series for hours if we so choose.


I have been waiting for FFG to get EPIC going and now that they have, I need to get caught up on my squads.
I will have from three to six of each small ship, and a few will go up to twelve so to conduct large battles with good fleet diversity. To this end I got a a trio of beloved Y-Wings and I started my FFG HUGE ships with a pair of the beautiful new GR-75 Transports. The Empire got it's first set of fancy Imperial Aces this month too. I will end up getting two more of this expansion later.


I nearly doubled my 30MM miniatures collection this month. As I stated in my STAR WARS X-WING Miniatures Articles, I am getting a serious collection of Character & Droid Miniatures to use for EPIC games.
I want to add more eye-candy to the look of my game layouts... because!


Now that Glorious STAR WARS EPIC is here for real I need to up my gaming supplies! This month I got some things to start making appropriate terrain such as a reflective star field and some planets for my Backdrop. I am also getting ready to start some other special new terrain projects that I will cover in a later posting.

Now we can make a day of STAR WARS: EPIC Style... Oh Joy My Babies!

Epic Boss out!

Friday, June 27, 2014

THE SCHDERG AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE THIS WEEK!

The Great Imperial Garmillas Astro Fleet Astro Carriers are now complete with the arrival of The Great and Terrible Schderg! This beast with it's squadrons of torpedo bombers is the heavy duty workhorse of the fleet!


This great ship completes the trio of Astro Carriers Bandai is producing in this class. The Schderg  features the stock Big Blue Meanies of the Garmillas Bombers...Ha, Ha!
I love it!


This is the type of rugged ship you want for Wargaming. I recommend purchasing this beautiful blue beast from Hobby Link Japan.

Boss out!

Monday, June 23, 2014

FFG POST A MORE VERSATILE A-WING ARTICLE THIS WEEK!

FFG gives us an in depth look at the wonderful little A-Wing this week with their new Rebel Aces A-Wing Article.


I have always wanted this little ship to do more, and now it most certainly will...I like that.

Boss out!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

HBID ULTIMATE X-WING HOBBY SHOWCASE

TUZ over at The HBID Blog posted his excellent STAR WARS X-WING Ultimate Showcase Gallery this weekend.


It is worth your time...if you love STAR WARS and X-WING... have a nice long visit. Thanks to TUZ for taking the time to put this together for our community.

Boss out!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

FFG POST THE TIE PHANTOM ECHO ARTICLE THIS WEEK!

Fantasy Flight Games guest writer Neil Amswych offers some great insight into gaming the TIE Phantom in his Echo Article.


A lot of people have been discussing this ship, more so than any other Wave Four release.
I do not have one yet, but I can see that I am going to have so much fun with a trio of Phantoms in my Epic Fleets.. Echo is the new golden boy pilot for the Imperials... and for good reasons.


Love it or hate it The TIE Phantom has changed X-Wing. IMO it is a very fine addition to our awesome game.

Keep up the great work FFG!

Boss out!

TEAM COVENANT'S WAVE FOUR UNBOXING VIDEOS

As many of you know the glory that is Wave Four comes to us next week.

To get over this eternity...Ha, Ha!, I share what our boys at TC have offered we Star Brothers.


Take it away Zack & Steven!





Our TC Brothers talked about everything the new ships have to offer, of course, and most of it is cool. I want to highlight a few of the new pilots and cards that improve the game in ways many of us will appreciate, I think.

Corran Horn:
The double-tap attack this excellent pilot can preform every other turn is exactly how I feel Jedi (and Sith) Pilot Abilities should be represented. I am going to expand upon these FFG ground rules to make a new Force Abilities Deck.

Airen Cracken:
Free actions to friendly pilots at range one...yeah for 19 points that is nice.

Munitions Failsafe:
You know how we have wanted our Y-Wings and Tie Bombers to do more for us in battle, well now we can have them fire off ordnance until it actually hits something. For 1 point this is just a great modification which helps all ships with an ordnance upgrade. Dare I mention a missile-packing Vadar with this little extra!

Wingman: 
It is always nice to be able to mitigate stress and the more options I have to do that the happier I am. This is a good little 2 pointer IMO.

Cloaking & Decloacking:
Interceptors are not as good as they should be?
How about that new Phantom leading a squad of them... huh?!

Headhunters:
Some of you may not like this little ship. I for one am not about to underestimate the usefulness of an Alliance Swarm... and neither should you my friends.

With Waves Four and Five, X-Wing has stepped it up a solid notch or three IMO. The fact that FFG made these non-filmic ships, along with the new Large and Huge ships and X-Wing Epic Play tells me that our wonderful game is going to be around for years to come.

VERY NICE!

Boss out!

Monday, June 16, 2014

BOSS SHOP: X-WING CHARACTER & DROID MINIATURES PREVIEW

Now that I have my Star Wars Miniatures organized I am starting to work on them by factions.


ALLIANCE

The only hope for the free peoples of the galaxy.The Heroes represented include: Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Luke Skywalker, Princess Liea Organa, Captain Han Solo,  Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, Wedge Antilles, Biggs Darklighter, Protocol Droid C3P0 and Astromech R2D2.


EMPIRE

The Galactic Empire is the greatest threat to all peaceful systems. The Villains represented include: Grand Moff Tarkin, Lord Darth Vader, General Veers, Baron Soontir Fel, Mara Jade, Howl Runner, Mualer Mithil, Night Beast, and Back Stabber.


RIM WRAITHS

The Rim is dominated by Pirate Factions. As the power of the Black Sun waned, a new faction arose form the remnants of the old. In time they came to dominate the secrete places like Wraiths. The Pirates Represented include: Lord Barron Thain, Duke Arhn, Captain Jossok, Captain Wrath, Siren Killien, and The Lost Jedi Master Thariss.


BOUNTY HUNTERS & MERCENARIES

The Wretched, The Scum, and The Villainous. The Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries represented include: Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Kath Scarlet, Krassis Trelix, Bossk, IG-88, 4-Lom, Zuckuss, and Greedo.


For comparison sake these are the 39 miniatures I collected from October 2013 until May 2014.
Not a bad start, but as you can see if I wanted to play STAR WARS X-Wing with all of the cool heroes and villains, and my Rim Wraiths Pirate Faction, I needed to buy more.

As of this month I have advanced my collection from 39 miniatures to 74, much better. Now I only need a few more miniatures, mainly to cover Epic battles and to complete my Named Pilots for all three of my factions.
I am going to convert several of these little figures to represent important characters, particularly females such as Kath Scarlet, Howl Runner, and others. I will probably have about 100 X-Wing Personages when I am done.





I am starting work on converting my special X-Wing Characters with a miniature of me as The Alliance Hero: Joe Boss Red Seven...Ha, Ha! I am also making a female Sith Character to go with my cute little Sith Infiltrator.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Miniature Boss out!

Friday, June 13, 2014

FFG PREVIEWS THEIR NEW LARGE SHIPS!!!

FFG posted their Bring Out The Big Guns Article today in which they gave us our first look at the incredibly cool Wave Five Ships, which includes the Rebellion’s YT-2400 and the Imperial’s VT-49 Decimator. Both of these babies are obviously our New LARGE Ships.


What can we say to this my friends?!

OH GREAT GLORY AND GLADNESS...HAIL, HAIL, HAIL!!!

To the naysayers who have complained about FFG in general, or about how they handle their business and how they treat their properties (taking to long to release new products...blah, blah, blah)...you people need to get a life already!

Fantasy Flight Games has shown us again how much they value quality over quantity, and again just how well they know us, because they are of the same kind, and again just exactly how much they love STAR WARS and X-WING!


I Love Fantasy Flight Games...I really do.
And you know what my Star Brothers...Dammit, they love us too!

A VERY Happy Boss out!!!

THE NEW ANALYZER 1/12 SCALE MODEL...HURRAY!

Gundam Planet sent me an email today which caused me to smile:
The New ANALYZER MODEL is coming out soon?
HURRAY!



Analyzer is almost as dear to my heart as R2-D2 and in this new kit he is 1/12 Scale, which means he should be about three inches tall, and that puts him in the same world of the top of the line R2-D2 figures.

I am going to probably have to get this.

Boss out!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

STAR WARS & X-WING SWAGIES

I might be a nerd but for some reason I love this stuff.
FFG Dice Bags FFG just announced these this week.


I need this stuff.


I am going to buy all of this stuff... Ha, Ha!

Boss out!

Friday, June 6, 2014

BOSS SHOP: X-WING CHARACTER & DROID MINIATURES PROJECT OVERVIEW

I love STAR WARS and Star Wars Miniatures. X-WING has both, and we love it don't we. Sure we do.

For me, it is an easy choice to buy everything that works for the X-Wing game within the rules. With that stated, I am certainly going to expand these guidelines to include my own ship, character, and monster designs.

I want to tip my hat to the child I was, who owned so many of the Star Wars Toys. I am not going to even try to collect action figures again, but what I can do, with a reasonable game budget, being a somewhat mature adult, is buy the Star Wars Miniatures and fix them up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZ9kQ1h-ZY&index=6&list=PLDyPKEWpAGxqpUIeVgTweDkJTXcfeP_bZ

There are three good reasons in my view to add these 30MM miniatures of beloved characters and droids to the X-Wing Game, with some additional persona of my own design.

One: It will look awesome on my table.

Two: I want to have a more intense and interesting presentation of the mandatory rules data.

Three: The X-Wing game already has esthetically pleasing cards and tokens. Upgrading these rules components with cool miniatures provides me with even more enjoyment.
I will be able to see character driven ships amidst the myriad cards and tokens, at a glance. This approach will be particularly useful during large EPIC (300 points +) games.

I have been slowly collecting Star Wars Miniatures since I began my X-WING Adventures back in October 2013.

X-WING Miniatures Collection: Oct 2013 - May 2014.

This month I added a great many new figures to my previously meager set. It was a cool idea; having models for the Character Pilots with their Crew, Mercs, and all of the important Droids, but I sort of just dabbled with it as I collected the X-Wing ships.

Now that X-WING has entered the EPIC stage, which is exactly what I wanted the game to be from the start, I am getting setup to do this project right, and for real.

I think I need to make a set of Joe Boss Black Six (Night Beast ?) and Joe Boss Red Seven (Jek Porkins ?) figures, among many others.

PREVIEW Article

Boss out.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

X-WING ALL-IN-ONE MANUVER REFFERANCE CARDS BY MALMER

These excellent cards are ready for print. You can find them posted in Malmer's topic at The FFG X-WING Forums.


For solo gaming and general reference these are a very nice must have item I think.
Thanks to Malmer who was kind enough to make them and to share them with us.

Boss out!