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| 6 Sci-Fi civilians assembled from the plastic Stargrave kits using various arms, heads, & equipment |
One thing that I am a little short of for my
Star Wars skirmishes is figures I can use as civilians. Most of the 28mm miniatures I've painted up are carrying some sort of weapon. I heard on the Lead Adventure Forum about folks using the various
Stargrave plastic figure sets to kitbash unarmed figures. So, I gave it a whirl. I'm not the greatest at converting figures, and believe these six miniatures show mixed results.
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| The Fishman alien on the left was probably my favorite, even though he has nothing in his hands |
The biggest problem was finding suitable arms. There are enough carrying briefcases or tablets or whatever to shove into empty hands. It is the other arm/hand that tended to look a little odd. The lengths of the arms are usually sized to be a supporting hand for a weapon. Sometimes, they empty handed-arm ended up looking too long, I felt, and other times too short. All six of these will do in a pinch, of course, but I wouldn't pronounce myself thrilled with how they came out.
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| Also in the running for my favorites of this batch are the Caucasian man and the ape alien |
I do love the various heads the Stargrave boxes give you to customize the figures. I decided to go half and half, with three alien heads and three human ones. Not surprisingly, I like the alien ones the best! My favorite is probably the "Fishman" looking one with green skin and darker green "freckles" on his head. His big beady black eyes give him a lot of character, and the breathing apparatus over his mouth makes it obvious he's from an alien culture. I tried to match the blue one's skin to the
Anadorans that I painted up for both my skirmishes and my
Xenos Rampant! games. I know it isn't exactly the same alien head that I am using for Joel's Corporate Security faction. Still, it evokes their look a bit. And if there are enough to be Corporate Security on my Tatooine, then there should be enough wandering the streets as civilians.
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| The dark-skinned lady & blue alien prove that, in the future, we will still be attached to our devices! |
The humans I did in various skin tones -- a Caucasian style one, Asian, and darker skinned. They came out okay, but I've noticed some Stargrave faces look cartoony with their softer, plastic detail. Otherwise, I thought the detail on the clothes turned out okay. I did my usual 28mm painting style -- base coat and dry brush for highlight on virtually every color I put on them. Their clothes I painted in a wide variety of colors. Even though most of the torsos are meant to be wearing uniforms (I have two of the Stargrave Crew boxes and one of the Mercenary ones, in addition to the Troopers). I like how they came out not screaming "uniform!"
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| The civilians wander the streets of Tatooine, which are also populated by some of my droids |
The various tablets and electronic devices in the figure's hands turned out okay. I painted them different metallic colors, using the Curacao Blue from TurboDork for the screens and the ape alien's briefcase. I will need at least three of these for my upcoming Star Wars skirmish using
Space Weirdos rules at the end of the month, maybe more. Otherwise, you will likely seem them on the streets of Tatooine in various games. I keep meaning to buy some figure packs of Sci-Fi civilians, but since I have so many of the unassembled torsos from Stargrave, I figured why not try them first?
So, what else is on my painting desk? Currently, it is overrun with resin pieces from Miniature Building Authority that I picked up at Historicon. I bought two former Acheson Creations bunkers for Vietnam, as well as a couple of sniper positions. Unlike most Acheson pieces, these are a bit more time consuming to paint up. They should be done in the next few days, though, as I'm making good progress. I also have the base coat done on my last five Fantasy "Fishmen" from Beldolor Studios and Reaper Miniatures. After that, I'm not sure what I will be working on!
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
- Miniatures painted in 2025: 167
TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Terrain acquired in 2025: 36
- Terrain painted in 2025: 57
SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025
- Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
- Scatter painted in 2025: 150
They have turned out really well Mike, I am pretty useless at kitbashing but really admire how others can see the potential in a pile of plastic bits! They look good in the town setting and will be useful in your games, nice work.
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