[This post was originally posted to Otherverse Games & Hobbies as part of a series called Plastic to Painted, or P2P. You may see logos or references to this site and series]
As soon as we saw Giancarlo Esposito, we knew we were getting a good bad guy
Star Wars has been around for decades now and has permeated pop culture so thoroughly that Yoda is as recognizable across the planet as Mickey Mouse. We find the themes that permeate the Star Wars movies compelling and relatable on an intrinsic level: themes of growing up and finding ourselves, of the underdog winning against the bully, of good versus evil and above all the rest, the classic Heroes Journey.
The Star Wars stories are filled with good guys, bad guys and many individuals that live in that gray area in-between. In today’s Plastic to Painted we are going to take a look at someone that gleefully swings nearly to the dark side of the spectrum.
Purge The Mandalorian(s)
Moff Gideon is kind of a monster, maybe not an Emperor Palpatine or Darth Vader level monster, but monstrous nonetheless. He help purge Mandalor, destroying the Mandalorian culture and casting the few survivors out into the galaxy to fend for themselves.
A civil war had erupted on Mandalor during the Imperial occupation; Kryze and her allies fought against the Saxon family that was put in control by the Empire. I guess when the republic fell, the old captives became the new governors or some shit. Way to go, Empire. Independent Mandalorians fought Empire-aligned and backed Mandalorians. The Empire, hot-headed as always, deciced to punish Mandalor and it’s people. They would destroy their culture and make an example of them.
Enter Moff Gideon.
The event is known as the Night of a Thousand Tears: sounds like a good ol’ time to me. The Kryze clan was defeated, their allies all but destroyed and Gideon stood laughing over the ashes. He even went so far as to accept the Darksaber from Bo-Katan Kryze as a sign of surrender, and then went on to continue his murder-spree anyway, nearly wiping the Mandalorian people out. What a douche.
Then he appeared on The Mandalorian show and got his ass whooped by a glorified babysitter in shiny beskar armor. D’oh.
Then he, oh, wait, shit, I will hold back the Spoilers, for now…
The Model(s)
When I set out to paint Moff Gideon, I wanted to use the two finishes of black like I did with Daimyo Boba Fett in the last article. I painted Scale 75 Black for the fabric, and Abaddon Black for the armor, gloves and boots. I drybrushed his armor panels with Iron Warriors and then layered it up along the edges first with Leadbelcher and then with Iron Hands steel. I touched up the middles of the armor panels with Abaddon to keep the shine I wanted.
The fabric was layered with a 50/50 mix of Black and Abyssal Blue from Scale 75 to hold onto the matte finish, followed by a pure Abyssal Blue. Then i used a 50/50 of Abyssal Blue and Caspian Blue, culminating with a pure Caspian Blue highlight on the highest recesses. The color was subtle and far more effort than I would usually put into one of these quick Legion models, but, he seemed to deserve the extra time and attention. I have no regrets.
I had a picture of Giancarlo that I was working from. I based his skin first with Bloodreaver Flesh, washed with Agrax Earthshade, Layered back up with Bloodreaver and then did a 50/50 mix of Bloodreaver and Gorthor Brown highlight, followed by a further highlight of pure Gorthor Brown. I greyed up his hairline a little and then highlighted his boots and holster with the same grey. I painted in eyebrows, a moustache and eyes, which looked great while doing so but once I took pictures I realized were not as nicely aligned as I initially thought. Hopefully, no one will notice in person. Pretend like you didn’t see anything.
Once that was complete, I painted the cloak black just like the fabric of his suit, and the inside I did with Mephiston Red, washed with Carroburg Crimson and then layered back up with Mephiston followed by Scarlett from Vallejo. Finally, the Darksaber was painted in Abaddon, then the outside edge of the blade was coated with Dragon White by Reaper, with a few scratch marks from the inside out to give a lil energy feel and quite frankly I was super happy with how easily it came together.
When Moff Gideon purged Mandalor he surely brought some Death Troopers as both a bodyguard and elite murder squad. When he appeared in the Mandalorian he was sporting fancy new android warriors. These Dark Troopers as they are known, were beyond easy to paint. I primed them black. I painted them Pure Black afterwards, just in case I fucked something up and had to do a touch-up later. Once the black was blacker, I moved on to drybrushing the robot bodies with Iron Warriors and the guns with Skavenblight Dinge. When that didn’t show at all I went and applied some Mechanicus Standard Grey in the same manner, which showed just fine.
I slapped some Khorne Red into their eye sockets and the targeting sights of the Dark Trooper guns, followed by Mephiston Red glowing eyes in the center. I used the same colors for the flames, starting with the darker tone and then highlighting it with Mephiston, but I wasn’t happy with that, so I layered more Mephiston on and applied Vallejo Scarlet and then Flash Gitz Yellow. After that I painted the flames white and used a light blue at the top of the flame and into the recessed area; I forget which.
The bases were one just like ones in the Din and Grogu Plastic to Painted article. So I won’t repeat myself here.
What’s Next?
There are defiantely some more Legion models finished or in the works; you won’t have to wait long to see them. There is defianately some models for the best movie Disney has made. There may be some large fury humanoids known for pulling limbs out of their sockets. There may even be some elite units ready to show off…
Check back here later in the month to see what painted miniatures materialize.
At this point I find myself running out of Legion models to collect. First off, I am almost entirely uninterested in the Clone Wars era armies. Additionally, there are models left for the Empire and Rebels, but, I have decided to place my armies on Tatooine, or similar, so models like Tauntauns and veterans in winter coats just don’t work, same with Shore Troopers and Snow Troopers. I have thought about painting Snow Troopers up in desert colors and calling them Sand Troopers, but I am not sold on the idea.
What I would really like is more personalities from the Galaxy Far, Far away. First, I want a version of the Live-action Ahsoka, and maybe the rest of the crew from Rebels. Will I get them? Probably not, but I really wanna paint them. What I will likely do is buy the various criminal syndicates and so-called Mandalorian Super commandos. These elements can be used as a stand alone army together led by the humpty-dumpty version of Darth Maul, or hired by and run alongside either the Empire or Rebel forces that I already own. If and when I paint them, well, you’ll likely have to wait until this time next year to see them.
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Tyson
Obsessive and neurotic collector of little plastic men, novels about the same little plastic men and paints to make the little plastic men pretty. Married to Kera, who puts up with him and pretends that she doesn’t hear him speaking to the little plastic men in between making pew pew noises in the hobby room. Requires adult supervision. A menace to himself but rarely to others. More beard than man
