Star Wars The Clone Wars season 5

 As I wanted to complete or at least reduce all the Star Wars and superheroes series and movies still on my To Watch list (some for years if not nearly a decade), I sat down for the fifth season of Clone Wars.

 

These animated series is pretty fun viewing for sure, and tie in a lot of stories from the movies of the prequel as well.

 

And this season seems to focus mostly on the rise of the crime syndicates and underground resistances, on the one hand the return of Darth Maul who gains more and more influence and takes over Mandalore, and on the other hand Hondo's pirate band as the often go to solution.  And a fun droids only adventure arc, which broke the pace nicely. 

 

But the heaviest arcs lie at the end of the season, first with how Maul is being overcome and recruited by Palpantine to serve him again, though not as an apprentice, and at the cost of his brother's, Savage Opress's, life.  And then we get the big finale arc, where Ahsoka is falsely accused and set-up for a bombing inside the Jedi temple, and how it leads to her leaving the Order as a result.

 

Definitly a very intresting season, with some very strong arcs having been set up.  Now to one day see those final two seasons and complete it all for this animated series. 

 

Ahsoka

 One of the things I'm trying to do this year is finally catch up on all the Marvel and Star Wars series I skipped the past years, in no particular order.

 

And as such, the first journey to a galaxy far, far away brings me to Ahsoka, a series based on Anakin Skywalker's padawan from the Rebels series (of which I only got to season 2 btw, so guess I'll need to catch up on those as well).

 

Now, that is one of the issues I want to adress immediately for this series.  If you rolled into it after seeing her appear in The Mandalorian, you might want to know more about her.  But the series draws heavily on the Clone Wars series, as it is an actual continuation on that storyline.

 

What I can say though, the thread of Grand Admiral Thrawn returning is one that has been a long time in the Star Wars now "extended" canon of pre-Disney novels.  If you haven't, go read the Heir to the Empire series, and you will see a figure even more intimidating then the one depicted in this series.  

 

Central to the series is on the one hand the rumoured return of the admiral, as well as finding back Ezra Bridger, the padawan turned Jedi from the above named animated series.  Sabine Wren still isn't over his disappearance, and goes out to search for him, together with Ahsoka who wants to prevent Morgan Elsbeth, assisted by Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati.  Old Imperial agents are trying to adapt to the new Galactic Republic, but not all agree and want to bring back Thrawn.

 

What follows is first a journey to discover where the grand admiral, and by extension Ezra, went, and once they reached that destination by spacewhale taxi services, the story to try and stop Thrawn returning to the galaxy.  Needless to say, they fail on both accounts, the series ending with Thrawn on the way back and Ahsoka and her friends stranded on a far away planet.

 

It was an enjoyable series, with some nice lightsaber duelling, which is after all what Star Wars is all about.  The arcs for the characters have started to bloom, both from the "light" and the "dark" side, but it will be needed to see the second season come to fruition on how those pan out.  Though sadly, that will be with a recasted Baylan, as Ray Stevenson left us in 2023 unfortunatly.

 

But surely worth the watch, even though some episodes are really on the short side (like more Marvel and Star Wars shows tend to have, not having the fixed runtime of most series of around 45 minutes), so a nice calm weekend day should be enough to binge through the series as such. 

Star Wars Andor: season 2

 After the excellent first season of Andor, the prequel series to the fantastic Rogue One movie (a highlight of modern Star Wars), I started with joy on the second season.

 

And it didn't disappoint in the slightest...

 

Starting one year after the uprising on Ferrix, Cassian, now recruited a a rebel agent, impersonates an Imperial testpilot to steal the prototype of the TIE Avenger.  And enjoy the lack of skill in piloting this ship, it makes it all the more "real" in my opinion.  He delivers it to a jungle planet, where the Maya Pei Brigade, a bunch of squabbling guerillas, have taken down his contact and bring him in their custody.  Krennic oversees a secret Imperial meeting, laying out a plan to mass-mine rare minerals from the planet Ghorman.  While Cassian's friends are undercover on the agricultural planet of Mina-Rau, Mon Mothma discusses with Luthen the risks of the Rebellion being uncovered.

 

Cassian makes good his escape as his captors squabble, while Dedra and Syril, now living as a couple, must face the terror of a mother-in-law.  On Mina-Rau, Cassian's friends are about to be discovered when he arrives in the TIE Avenger and brings them to safety, while Luthen arranges for Tay to be silenced during the arranged wedding of Mon Mothma's daughter Leida.  

 

The series jumps a year forward, with Cassian and Bix now active agents in Luthen's network of rebels.  On Ghorman, the Empire has began building an armoury, with Syril appointed to the capital and infiltrates the local resistance.  Cassian learns the Ghorman resistance wants to intercept a weapon shipment, but deems them to be to inexperienced, but Luthen goes over his judgement, sending Vel and Cinta to help the resistance in the heist.  The heist succeeds, but an accident kills Cinta as one of the resistance members had brought a blaster.  Mothma and Krennic discuss the ethics of war.

 

Moving on again for a year, the rebels have build a base on Yavin IV, to better plan their actions.  Cassian agrees to travel to Ghorman in a plan to assassinate Dedra together with Wilmon, as Bix is told by a Force healer that Cassian is vital for the Rebellion.  Dedra and Syril have a fall-out after he realises how he is being used, and Dedra reluctantly orders the start of a staged riot.  The protestors are massacred as Syril comes by Cassian, but the Ghorman rebel leader shoots him through the head before he can take out Cassian.  Cassian escapes with a captured KX enforcer droid while Wilmon stays behind to aid the resistance in broadcasting what really happened to the galaxy.

 

Mothma writes up a senate speech in the aftermath of the massacre, making preparations to flee to Yavin IV herself, while Bail Organa opts to stay behind and work from the inside out to help the rebels.  Luthen learns Organa's security team is compromised, sending Cassian to extract her instead.  After her speech, Cassian extracts her as she publically sides herself with the Rebellion.  The events want Cassian to stop his activities and retreat with Bix to a quiet life, but Bix decides to leave so he can continue his work, vowing to return when all is over.

 

Another jump, and we are a year after the events of Ghorman, Luthen learns the Empire is building a superweapon, and that Dedra has likely uncovered their identities.  Luthen starts covering up his tracks, as dedra confronts him, resulting in Luthen gravely wounded.  He is brought to an imperial hospital,  and in flashbacks we learn he is actually a defected officer, who adopted Kleya after they where forced to massacre her hometown as an example.  Kleya infiltrates the hospital, disconnecting her adoptive father's life support system while Dedra is arrested for overreaching her authority.

 

She is interrogated by Krennic who blames her for allowing the Death Star plans to be leaked and confronting Luthen unsupported, cutting their chance to get to the Rebellion.  Cassian and his team break Kleya out from a Coruscant safe house, and although wounded bring her to Yavin IV.  While Dedra is imprisoned, Cassian and K-2SO set out to meet with an informant about the rumoured Death Star, which the rebels realise is to big to be a simple trap.  On Mina-Rau, Bix cradles a baby and looks to the horizon...

 

And so the series ends, and what a journey it was.  Now I'm going to watch Rogue One again, with the newer, deeper knowledge this series gave about what drives Cassian... 

 

Highly recommended series, and that is coming from a Trekkie ;-) 

Star Wars Andor

 Face it, off all the latest generation Star Wars movies, only Rogue One was actually a great movie.

 

 

And one of the main characters of that ill-fated group of rebels was Cassian Andor, around whom this whole series is based.

 

Taking place five years before the events of Rogue One, the series follows how Cassian came to be a firm opposer of the Galactic Empire and one of the Rebels most fanatical leaders, even though at first he was cynic of a possible rebellion against the powers that are.

 

It starts when he is looking for his missing sister on the industrial world of Morlana One, but in his search agonized two local officers.  This leads to him accidentally killing one of them, then murdering the other one to cover his trail.  Back on Ferrix, he attempts to convince his droid B2EMO, his friend Brasso and his adoptive mother Maarva to cover for him.  While the local security chief wants to cover the murders up to prevent imperial involvement, his deputy, Syril Karn, is determined to solve the case.

 

 

He is reported to the securities by Timm, the boyfriend of his friend Bix as a meeting is set up with a blackmarket buyer, Luthen Rael, who comes to Bix to buy the Starpath Unit Cassian has, a relic from a crashed ship in his youth.  Syril's security officers barge in on the transaction, killing Timm in the ensuing skirmish while capturing Bix.  Luthen and Cassian escape the planet though, and he takes him to the planet Aldhani to join a robbery mission there.  He eventually agrees, and and he is introduced to a Rebel cell who is setting up to steal the payroll of the sector's forces.

 

Luthen in the meantime meets with senator Mot Mothma, discussing the challenges of keeping their endeavours a secret.  Cassian trains with the others to perform the heist, and aided by a double agent they enter the Imperial Base.  In the ISB offices, Dedra Meero, a young and ambitious security lieutenant, is starting to look in at the Ferrix incident, and deduces that all the seperate incidents are actually connected and an underground rebellion seems to be forming.

 

The heist is eventually succesfull, though at great cost of life of the rebels involved, only the cell leader and Cassian in the end making it out alive.  Dedra starts getting more access in the meantime, and gets Ferrix in her juristiction as Cassian returns to the planet to visit his mother.  He wants her to leave with her now that Imperial presence has rissen on the planet, but she refuses, claiming she shall oppose the oppressors.  Cassian goes to a vacation world, but is unjustly arrested and sentenced to six years of prison on Narkina 5.  Here he discovers a labour camp, with thousands of prisoners, and while he joins the work they need to do, he also starts planning his escape.  Dedra, by torturing Bix, learns Cassian might have been involved in the payroll heist, and from a rebel pilot the ISB learns about their plan to raid a powerstation on Spellhaus.

 

 

When Cassian realises prisoners are never set free, but rather are either transferred and others killed off as a cover-up, he convinces his floor to aid in his break-out, and soon rebellion sweeps through the whole prison, allowing them almost all to escape.  Maarva, having fallen ill, dies of her disease, resulting in Ferrix planning a great funeral.  Cassian secretly attents, but Maarva had recorded a message spurring the planet into rebellion against the Empire, and Cassian is afterwards taken into the Rebel workings by Luthen.

 

A great series for sure, and Cassian Andor remains one of the most intriguing anti-heroes of the recent movies, this series only adding more layers to his already complex personality.  We all know what will become of him due to Rogue One, but it surely is worth watching the series.

 

Highly recommended for certain! And I for one look forward watching the second season as well, this is Star Wars as it was meant to be in serialised format.

 

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi

 Time to work away some more on that backlog, and this time it is the 6 episode long series around Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Taking place after Revenge of the Sith, it follows Obi-Wan as he exiled himself to Tattooine to oversee the safety of Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker.

 

It has been ten years since Order 66 and the near extinction of the Jedi, as Obi-Wan, now going by the name of Ben, is living on Tattooine to watch over and protect one of the children of his former padawan.  Obi-Wan has lost his connection with the The Force,  and Owen, Luke's uncle, doesn't like him, thinking his presence is a danger for the boy.  Inquisitors, led by the Grand Inquisitor, arrive to hunt down a Jedi named Nari, but one of them, the Third Sister, is obsessed with finding Kenobi instead.

She even goes so far to have bounty hunters kidnap Leia from Alderaan, in an effort to lure out the ageing Jedi master.  Nari looks for help with Kenobi, but he refuses and tells the man to go hide instead.  But he is flushed out and hanged from a bridge in the city, and when Bail Organa visits Obi-Wan, he reluctantly agrees to go out and look for Leia.  He tracks her kidnappers to the planet Daiyu, but with the help of a con-man he manages to rescue her.

However, as the Grand Inquisitor learns of this, he puts the city in lockdown, but they escape with the help of the con-man Haja as the Grand Inquisitor is stabbed by the Third Sister, who doesn't want her leader to get all the glory for her hard work, but causing as such their quarry to get away, but not before she reveals to Obi-Wan that Anakin is still alive and is actually Darth Vader.

Vader instructs her to find Kenobi, promising her the rank of Grand Inquisitor is she succeeds in doing so.  About to be captured at the relay point, they are helped by a woman named Tala, who is a member of an underground movement to smuggle dissidents out of Imperial reach.  Vader arrives and orders the execution of innocents, drawing out Kenobi as such to confront him.  He is saved by Tala, but the Third Sister captures Leia and brings her to the Inquisitorial fortress.

Kenobi and Tala set out after her, and inside he finds a trophy vault of dead Jedi, including one of the younglings from the Revenge of the Sith.  They escape and Vader takes out his anger on the Third Sister, only sparing her as she revealed she had a tracker put on their ship.  They follow them and lay siege to the base of the underground movement, as Kenobi learn the Third Sisters name, Reva, who was a youngling in the Jedi temple during the massacre, and she wants his favor to come close to him and kill him for revenge.  Tala is killed in helping with the retreat, as Reva tries to take down Vader when he is not paying attention, but is quickly defeated by him.  Left for the dead, the original Grand Inquisitor arrives, reaffirming his status and telling how she was tricked.  

But she survives and learns of Luke's presence of Tattooine, setting course there.  Kenobi confronts Vader in an epic duel, and during the battle his true powers and connection with the Force reawaken, as he realizes Anakin is truly gone and taken over by the Vader personae.  He defeats Vader, but leaves him alive (why Obi-Wan, you could have ended a lot of misery... twice), as he sets course after Reva as he learns Luke is in danger.  Reva had managed to overpower Owen and Beru and take Luke, but can't bring herself to kill him.  She brings him back, throwing off the yokes of the Empire as she leaves.

Obi-Wan settles things with Owen and gets to meet Luke for the first time "really", before heading into the Sand Dunes to retake his watch, and reconnecting with the Force spirit of his master Qui-Gon...

So this was a fun adventure series, with an excellent Ewan McGregor giving a closure to his character, and some nice plot hole fillings.  Definitly one of the better Star Wars series released, and just good fun to watch for some space opera action.

Star Wars: The Acolyte

 So, reviews are BAD on this latest show set in the Star Wars franchise, going as far as it kills off the series.

But I just read the line about "lesbian space witches" so yep, this is something I must watch!

 

Taking place roughly 100 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order maintain a centuries long peace.  When Jedi Master Indara is attacked and killed by a throwing knife wielding woman, Osha Aniseya, a former padawan, is identified as the killer.  But while arrested, she denies any involvement in the matter.  She escapes with her fellow inmates and crashlands on the planet Carlac, where she experiences a Force vision showing her twin sister Mae, whom she believed dead.  Deducting Mae is still alive, and the real cullprit, she encounters her former master Sol and he believes her theory.

 

Mae tries to kill Master Torbin, but is forced by his field erected by the Force.  Meeting with her supplier Qimir, she obtains a poison to help in her mission: kill the four Jedi who where stationed on her home planet.  Sol, Osha and the others are send to investigate the attack, but arrive to late as Torbin takes the poison in redemption.  This turns out to be for events that transpired 16 years ago on the planet Brendok, where they where part of a witches coven.  But the Jedi arrived, and tried to interfere in their ritual of binding and test the girls, Osha passing even after agreeing to mae to fail on purpose.  Mae enrages and blows up the withces camp, Sol taking sole survivor Osha to Coruscant to train.

 

 

Mae and Qimir start their search for the third Jedi, the wookie Kelnacca.  But when the others arrive, they manage to stop Mae in her tracks.   Kelnacca is found dead though by Mae, and she realises her Master has arrived.  He comes to confront the Jedi, slaying them all except Sol, but not after his padawan in her final moments knocked his helmet off, revealing Qimir.  He reveals he is a Sith, as mae and Osha confront each other and Mae tells her Sol has been lying to her all that time.

Trading places after knocking Osha out, Mae boards the ship with Sol to find out the exact truth, while Osha is taken by Qimir to an abandoned planet.  Sol tells Mae the entire truth out of guilt, and he had been thinking for 16 years to how to reveal it as they return to Brendok.  The whole plan of the Jedi, who stumbled by accident on the coven, backfired due to circumstances, forcing Sol to kill the girl's mother.  The girls aren't twins, but one person born out of the force, split in two by the witches.  But Osha, despite her willingness is actually to old to start training.  However, Sol's emotional attachment to the girls clouds their judgement and an enraged Mae accidentally started the fire.  Indara decides to cover up the whole affair by blaming the fire Mae started and that story took a life of it's own.  

On Brendok the sisters meet again and the truth is revealed, resulting in an enraged Osha forcechoking Sol.  They escape before the Jedi council forces send to apprehend them arrive, and Mae her memory is wiped back to the day of the accident, as Osha joins Qimir and begins her path as his Sith acolyte.  To the outside world, the whole incident is put on Sol's shoulders, claiming he went rogue to protect the image of the Jedi to the Senate.  

So, this wasn't actually as bad as critics claimed in my opinion.  It won't be renewed, so the two main force users that made a brief cameo, being Darth Plagueis on Qimir's island and master Yoda at the end on Coruscant, won't be joining the series unfortunatly, nor will we know how Osha's story goes on (and the rule of two...).  But I can imagine that some die-hards didn't like it that much, it's just some fun generic sci-fi in my opinion.

So I got witches, I got to see space, but no lesbians though...

 

 

The Mandalorian season 3

 Mando and Grogu are back, in a quest for Din to redeem himself of being forced to take of his helmet.

And so Noshi and me sat behind our Disney+ and decided to have a look for more baby Yoda adventures...

 

But do note, in order to follow the story adn why Grogu is back with mando after leaving with Luke Skywalker in the previous season's finale, you must watch The Book of Boba Fett first before starting season 3!

A journey that will require Din and his little friend to travel to the destroyed planet of Mandalore, uninhabitable according to one, but Bo-Katan claims the world still has some kind of liveable conditions. He seeks out the help of old friends and acquintances, but instead of getting IG-11 restored, he is sold an astromech, R5-D4, with whom he travels to his ancestral planet.  

Here, he is attacked and captured by a cyborg, but Grogu goes to Bo-Katan who goes to his rescue.  He finds the Living Waters, but as he drops in a sinkhole, Bo-Katan going after him.  On their way back up, No-Katan sees a Mythosaurus, a beast of legend that is the model for the Mandalorian crest.  But Bo-Katan withholds this sighting from the then unconcious Djarin.  As they return, Bo-Katan's castle is bombed by TIE fighters, and they are forced to retreat.

On Coruscant, Dr Pershing has become a part of a reintegration program, but also finds Elia Kane there, the former communications officer of Moff Gideon.  She agrees to help him in his cloning work, outlawed by the Republic, and go to an old star destroyer for a lab.  She betrays him though to the authorities and sabotages his mind wipe procedure to make him forget everything.  Meanwhile, Djarin and Bo-Katan arrive at the secret Mandalorian hide-out, where she is welcomed because like Djarin, she also bathed in the Living Waters of Mandalore.

When one of the younglings is captured by a Raptor bird at the enclave, Bo-Katan leads the rescue and earns the clan's respect.  On Nevarro, a pirate captain is reigning terror, but Mano and Bo-Katan come to the rescue together with the other Mandalorians, and earn a piece of land for themselves as thanks.  After travelling to Plazir-15 (in a famous people and easter egg filled episode) they also bring Bo-Katan's former troops back in her fold, and the Armourer appoints her as the uniter of the clans, as Djarin returns the Darksaber back to her.

Deciding to reclaim Mandalore, the Mandalorians find resistance there in the form of a returned Moff Gideon and his upgraded, Beskar armoured troops.  He will destroy the remnants of the Mandalore people, as such claiming the Great Purge completed and (easter eggs again) pave the way for both Grand Admiral Thrawn, but also for General Hux's (yep, that guy from the sequel series) project Necromancer.  Which we know is the return of a cloned Emperor, but funnily enough Hux is also the New Republic spy, so why would he want to bring Palpatine back???

But even though they loose a lot of their number, Grogu, Djarin and Bo-Katan finally defeat Moff Gideon as he perishes in the blast of a crashing cruiser, while Grogu protects the others with a Force shield.  The Great Forge is restarted, as Djarin now adopts Grogu as his true son, moving to the outskirts of Nevarro to make Grogu versed in the ways of the universe.

So this was a good season, and Mandalore is back on the rise as so many times in their long history.  So as the series is starting to connect the dots between about anything Star Wars related on television, I still can`t wait for the next (and supposedly final?) season to come out...

The Book of Boba Fett

 With the third season of the Mandalorian on the horizon, me and Noshi sat down to watch this spin off, following the adventures of the notorious bounty hunter on Tattooine.

He became ruler of the late Jabba the Hutt's domains, and now has to cope with politics instead of sheer power.

And the series details what happened to him as well from the moment he got out of the Sarlacc pit.  He was adopted by a clan of Tusken Raiders, slowly gaining their respect and raising their standings against a conglomerate.  But one day, he returns to the camp to find them all killed, including the children, and sets him out on a path of vengeance that even goes to the current day.

A current day where he is facing a variety of political opponents, from a corrupt major over a couple of Hutt siblings to the conglomerate from before.  Steadily, he builds a group of allies and agents to help him out, and prepare for a war that is coming to his doorstep, and we learn how he came into contact with Fennec and saved her life, harking back to the scene in The Mandalorian where we saw his black clad leg for the first time and theories of him being alive started rising.

Talking Mando, the next episode centres back around him, as he returns to the Coven from the first season, still wielding the Darksaber.  The story has now moved beyond the events of The Mandalorian season 2, and he has the beskar spear reforged into a gift for Grogu who is still training with Luke.  But he must atone himself to become a Mandalorian again, as he has removed his helmet back in second season of The Mandalorian.

Mando gets a fresh ship, a Naboo starfighter that is seriously souped up.  Boba recruits him to help with the Syndicate, but first he must visit a little friend.  Grogu is still training with Luke, remembering his time at the Jedi temple when Order 66 was issued.  In order to not make the little guy end his training, Mando walks away after catching a far away glimspe of the kid.

As Fett looks around for more soldiers with the people of Freetown, Cad Bane appears, working for the Syndicate and gunning down the marshall.  As the bounty hunters are besieged in town, and their allies falling as they are betrayed by the crime lords who had pledged neutrality, a battle ensues.  Grogu arrives as well, as he had to choose between the life of a Jedi and a life with Mando, picking the latter.  The battle goes downhill for Fett and his men, even as unexpected reinforcements trickle in, until he decides to ride his Rancor in battle to take out two big battle droids.

Fennec in the meantime travelled to the Syndicate headquarters, assassinating the Syndicate leader and the betrayers.  With Fett now a respected ruler of the city, it is time for Mando and Grogu to take their leave from Tattooine...

So, the series, essentially in the later part The Mandalorian season 2.5 (which, mind you, is not a bad thing) had some great twists.  Where the Mandalorian was seen as a space western from the pov of the cowboy, this series, especially the first half as Fett redeems homself, seems like the same series from the pov of the native americans.  And if you have Danny Trejo in it, it is always a surplus of course!

Oh, and I want one of these Space Vespa's!

The Mandalorian season 2

 OH MY GAWD IT'S LUKE!!!!!

Okay, cough, sorry.  During the course of the second season it became clear that Grogu (as is Baby Yoda's name) would contact a Jedi, and speculation ran rife on the internet.  My money was on Ezra Bridger...

But Luke wasn`t the top of the lister, because Mark Hamill has aged quite a bit since Return of the Jedi (which is only a few years before the events of the Mandalorian) and the series avoided bringing in the characters of Legendary status.

 

But... after a season that was rife with first time action series appearances from cartoon characters (Ahsoka, Bo-Katan,...) and the return of an ages presumed dead character (well, not in the now no longer canon legends series novels, but in the Disney timeline he still was) Boba Fett and his Slave 1... the unimaginable DID happen.

 

Din's quest, which spanned 8 episodes this season, led to Luke coming to them in their hour of darkest need and collect Grogu to train him in the ways of the Force.  

Of course, that overarching arc isn`t the only thing that happened in the season, but the conflict with Moff Gideon was a red line through the whole series.  It was a fantastic year once again, with some hilarious episodes and moments, in what is indeed the saviour of the franchise after the Abrams monstrosities...

 

I am just genuinly amazed there is apparently coming a third season, this would have been the ultimate highpoint to end a great story!

Star Wars The Clone Wars season 4

Better late then never, I`m slowly going through the various animated series of the Star Wars franchise, and just finished the 4th season of Clone Wars.

 

Now, I`m not that much a fan of the drawing style, being an anime lover myself, and that is probably what makes it going so slow...

Counting 22 episodes, there are two major "arcs"for my feel in this season, as the story unfolds the further political struggle between the Republic and the Seperatists.  The first half of the season seems to focus mostly on the development of the Clone Troopers themselves, while the second half focusses more on the bounty hunters and scum of the galaxy.

But it also features heavily on the fate of some fallen Sith apprentices, as there is a whole storyline on how Asajj Ventress turns to become a bounty hunter, while the final two episodes of the season detail the return on none other then Darth Maul!

It does show some good development for the later movies, as I picked up a slow and steady change in Anakin, and mostly his fighting style, from fast and flashy to the more calculated style of Vader, especcially in his duel with Dooku... 

It wasn`t to bad a season at all, but well, Star Wars is just something I find okay for watching now and then, and not a must see at all cost franchise... so it might take a while before I actually get to season 5 I guess.

Moisture Vaporator for Star Wars Legion

A little 3D printed scenery piece in this entry, with a Moisture Vaporator for placement on desert terrain.

These little machines where seen as far back as on the Skywalker farm in A New Hope, and when I found the files on Thingiverse I went round to printing them.

The large one is actually a file, while the three smaller ones are together in another, so a quick search overthere should yield you both.

The base was coloured the same as how I do my Legion units (Iraqi Sand washed over with Strong Tone), while the machines are painted a metallic grey, washed in armour wash first and then rust, and a final drybrush of Leadbelcher.

Simple but effective, they can add some theme to the board, so once Covid is over I hope to actually get some games in of the system...

Project Far Side: Update 3

So july comes to a close, and quit a heap of models have been prepared once more for the Project Far Side terrain craze.

As well as the first sets of trees and forests, made with the cheap chinese trees I reviewed on this blog earlier and a printed plate to put them on using some greenstuff and the likes, as was shown in a post earlier this week.

Okay, so the "focus on one table first" part of Update 2 went quickly out of the window, but quite a lot has been painted up in these past weeks, starting with the generic table, and the one that will probably see tabletop time first...

The epic table was the next batch that received attention, with some Tau bunkers, ruins and regular buildings.

A little bit was added respectively for the cyberpunk, tattoine, naboo and demon world tables as well.

And that means I printed and painted 27 more buildings in this period, for a variety of tables.

Painting Tutorial: Simple Tatooine round house

Well, time for something rather new on this blog, and a direct result from Project Far Side: an actual painting tutorial.

Now, I'm not by far the greatest painter, I`m just a fast painter that can turn out things to an okay level for the tabletop, and that is fine by me.

So for this first time, I`m showing off how I painted (and will be painting a lot more) of small scale round houses in a Tatooine style.  People who follow this page, will have seen the house already made and printed for Star Wars Legion scale during the past AHPC HERE.

The model is a 3d printed file from Thingiverse, and I resliced it to 20%, aka a good downscale ratio for 6mm scenery originating from at first 30mm.

Once printed, I do not use a primer or undercoat on the models, as PLA really absorbs paint well, so I could start out with the first basecolour from the get go.

So without further ado, here is the modest tutorial:

A simple paintjob that does a great job to add terrain to your Star Wars / Science Fiction table for gaming, especially if you print a heap of them to get some fast progress.