In honour of Star Wars Day, May the Fourth, please enjoy this army showcase from our partner affiliate, Hobbyist First.
I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I saw Return of the Jedi as a kid at the drive-in movies. Since it’s May the 4th and all, it seemed like an appropriate time to reveal the Star Wars Legion proxy army I’ve been working on for the last few months.
The Star Wars Legion game came out in 2018 but I was a little late to the party, getting my first game in 2021. For the most part, the game system has passed Warhammer 40K in my hierarchy of fun and I’ve been part of an active community where I live. Until recently, I’d collected and painted the main factions for the game but the question remained:
Could I build a complete army for this game using Gearguts Mek Shop minis as replacements?
I spent a week going through the web store and taking notes, cross referencing them with the catalog of available units for the official Legion game and taking copious notes.
My eyes kept being drawn to the Tinbots line. After all, these are robots…or droids. Surely, there are uncharted worlds in the Star Wars universe where armies of burly droids stomped into battle.
The faction was chosen. Mercenaries, a rather fringe force for Star Wars Legion, offered a limited roster of units but I felt confident I could source them all (or hopefully ask The Boss to sculpt a few) out of available Gearguts Mek Shop miniatures.
My basic troopers are Tinbot “orks ” and “gobbos ”. The orky build guys represent Black Sun Enforcers while the weedy gits fill in for Pyke Syndicate troopers.
To deliver troopers to the battle zone I’ve chosen a Tinbot Truck and a Lander to represent a pair of A-5 Speeder Trucks. These models are based on laser cut MDF notched bases from Green Stuff World. The smaller truck was upgraded with a Gearguts mini turret.
To represent Swoop Bike Riders I chose a unit of jet bikers from the Prime Broozer line. These armored guys aren’t droids so I selected a dark flesh tone to contrast the silver armor. Many Star Wars characters are aliens so I could’ve picked literally any skin tone, I was only concerned with clashing with the army’s strong red, black, and silver aesthetic.
I needed a few characters and unit leaders and I was delighted to find a set of Gearguts Meks that featured hooded heads and brutal axes. These guys, given skin tones that nod to their Star Wars counterparts, became my choices to represent Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and the Emperor. However, the Mercenary force only utilizes Darth Maul so the latter 2 character will serve as Black Sun Vigos.
The missing pieces were miniatures to properly represent Gar Saxon of Mandalore and his Mandalorian Super Commandos. The official models bear a resemblance to their ruler, Darth Maul, with horned helmets and striking black and red armor. Gearguts graciously offered to create these minis for me in the style of his recent Tinbots. If you were excited to see “Jump Troopas” released in the Tinbot style…you’re welcome! ;)
Not only did The Boss knock it out of the park with the jump pack troopers, but he created a suitable boss to lead them in the brutal form of Jump Boss HobbyistFirst. This mini features a jump pack, running pose, and striking energy shield…a perfect robotic replacement for Gar Saxon.
As a Gearguts Partner Creator, I’ve been honored to provide pictures for most of the painted models you see in the store catalog. I’m grateful to Gearguts and Tanya the Warmistress for accepting me into their little tribe and helping me reach my goals as a content creator in the miniature painting world.
To all of you Star Wars fans out there, I highly recommend Star Wars Legion as a tabletop game, I recommend the Gearguts catalog for alternate minis for just about anything you play on a tabletop, and…May the Fourth be with you!
PS: Star Wars Legion troopers go on 27mm bases and the Gearguts stuff just fits on there, width-wise. The extra height on Broozers makes them almost the exact height of other Star Wars Legion stuff.
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What a great looking force! If you like Rich's work please be sure to check out all of his content by clicking the link here. Thank you for all you do behind the scenes for Geargut's, Hobbyist First!