Legends of the Force: A Star wars wargaming project of epic proportions...

[Commander Vyper]

Legends of the Force: A Star Wars wargaming project of Galactic proportions.

My love of Star Wars has been well waxed on this forum over the years so it’s hardly surprising that in the company of an equally fanatic fanboy, (aka Col Bagshot) that in the words of a certain protocol droid….. ‘here we go again’.

Now I’m not a fan of bendy pre-paints and believe me if there were other options available I would head there in a heartbeat, (please Disney: multi-part clones for table top wargaming PLEASE) but as there isn’t currently and I didn’t want to use proxies, WOTC bendy pre-paints was the way I had to head.

This is all actually Col Bagshot’s fault,   which began with a phone call back to Devon when I was visiting my mum’s in Kent and stumbled across a little independent gaming store with a whole shelf of WOTC minis. I enquired as to what the shop keep was planning to do with said minis, and the answer, make me an offer, but I’m a crap poker player so you’ll probably get them for what you offer came the reply.

So £40 later 102 minis left with me bound for Devon. At this time these were heading to the Colonel, but he ‘persuaded’ me to join him in this galaxy far, far away. As I result I started collecting clones and rebels to match Baggy’s Separatists and Imperials.

We’ve done a few big USA orders and hovered up a few little ebay items here and there, even some LAF collections and we’re almost there, almost there, ().

A little background…

The Grand Army of the Republic:  (GAR).




'Darasum Kote’:  Eternal Glory.

The Grand Army was split into two separate Orders of Battle, (ORBATs) – Regular Forces and Special Forces. Although the GAR underwent many changes in the three Years of the Clone Wars, the structure of the regular army remained relatively unchanged and even continued into the Imperial era.

Regular Forces: Strength and Command Structure:

Squad:                                 9 troopers led by a sergeant.
Platoon:                               4 squads led (36 troops) led by a captain.
Company:                            4 Platoons: (144 troops)led by a major.
Battalion:                             4 Companies (576 troops) led by a Major
Regiment:                            4 Battalions (2304)Jedi Padawan Commander.
Legion/Brigade:                 4 Regiments (9216 troops) led by a Senior Clone Commander and a Jedi General.            
Corps:                                   4 Legions (36,864 troops) led by a Clone Marshal Commander and a Jedi General.
Sector Army:                      4 Corps (147,456 troops) led by a Senior Jedi General (Jedi Master).
System Army:                    2 Sector Armies (294,912 troops) led by a High Jedi General, (Council Member).
Grand Army:                      10 System Armies + additional (3,000,000 clones) with the Supreme Chancellor and Commander in Chief.

Special Forces:

The highly independent Republic Commandos required almost no direction from Jedi command and were largely self-directing when given broad  objectives. This greatly increased their ‘clout per credit’ by freeing up many Jedi for duty with the regular army.

Special Forces: Strength and Command Structure:

Squad:                                  4 clones.
Troop:                                   20 clones or 4 squads.
Company:                           100 clones or 5 troops.
Commando Group:          500 clones or 5 companies, (the equivalent of a regular army battalion) commanded  by    junior General, Bardan Jusik, (Jedi Knight).

Special Operations Brigade:                              
10 Battalions, or 5000 men, commanded by Jedi General Arligan Zey, made up of 10 commando groups by one year after the Battle of Geonosis.

Bringing it down to gaming levels:

Although each Legion had only one Senior Clone Commander, smaller regiments and battalions were sometimes led by Clone Commanders as well. Commander Cody for example often led the 212th Attack Battalion. When a Jedi needed a detachment of clone troopers – no matter how small – a clone commander usually accompanied him or her. This tradition of personal escort turned efficiently deadly when Order 66 was given.

With this in mind I started to build my Clone forces, Season Four The Clone Wars is a great inspiration for my GAR, with detachments from both Commander Skywalker’s  501st and General Kenobi’s 212th, led by Commanders Rex and Cody respectively. I’ll also be fielding a platoon of the Outer Rim Sector Army the 21st Nova, under Clone Commander Bacara and the 41st Elite under Commander Gree. (So basically a good mix of troops for a variety of combat situations). Add to that Special Forces Republic Commandos, AT-RT’s, support LAAT Gunships and a few other toys, oh and of course…. Jedi!

Next up: send in the clones, my take on the GAR, but before that I hope/expect that the good Col will add something from his perspective.

Over to you Baggy old boy.

 

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

As first posts go, it says everything you could ever say...
You see the thing about Star Wars is, we ALL grew up with it.
ALL of us. It dosen't really matter how old we were, what continent we are on, which film we say first, which toys we bought first or even which breakfast cereal we ate just because it had a small piece of star wars plastic inside the box: every single one of us on this forum has some sort of personal relationship with the Star Wars Universe.

And thats the thing for me.
It is a universe....

Pick a period from Republic through clone wars to rebellion and Dark Empire...

It all exists.

Now as gamers we are used to having to make a lot of this stuff up, or at least let other companies make this stuff up, and THEN buy the nodels and play the systems.

But Star Wars is different.
THE most all pervasive and complete "universe" of the last 50 years, and hardly any impact on the gaming world.

Licenses came and went, from WEG - WotC- from RPG - LCG, but no one company, no one system has prevailed.

What would have happened if GW had chosen Star Wars over LotR? Perhaps we would all have been playing with multi-part hard plastic stormtroopers for the past thirty years?

Legends of the Force is a simple idea: Use GW's excellent skirmish game mechanic, LotR/Legends, and apply it to the already existing Star Wars universe.

Games could vary from a dozen models, to maybe 200+ as the rules are there to allow for that sort of scope.

The real chalange is to keep the spirit of what we ALL know oh so well.
To bring to life on a gaming table the films, books and TV series that mean so much to so many of us.

One thing's for sure, if we get something wrong, there should be enough of you out there to tell us....

[OSHIROmodels]

Do it! Do it! Do it! 

cheers

James

[Commander Vyper]

We are Jim, have no doubt.

I'll get my wip's up on photobucket tomorrow then post up my progress on my Episode I - III army. Suffice to say, I think people will see those plastic bendies in a whole new light with a few choice changes.

More later today.

The Commander.

[OSHIROmodels]

I must admit I'm an original trilogy man myself and don't really count anything before A New Hope but I am looking forward to seeing what you're doing 

Anything special terrain wise?

cheers

James

[Commander Vyper]

Do take a look at the clone wars animated series, excellent reference and although a child of the 70's myself. TCW really gives that period a sense of belonging that I do agreed is sometimes lost in the live action prequels.

[Elbows]

The Clone Wars animated movie/series is 10x better than the prequel films, I agree.  That being said, I still strongly prefer the original trilogy.  The design language was infinitely cooler.

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

The Clone Wars animated series is interesting because as with many "childrens" series, not all of the episode are really for children...

As children of the 70's anybody else remember fondly the Tomorrows People or The Children of the Stones?

Some, and it is only some, of the Clone Wars story arcs are dark, very dark,  and deal with issues like genocide, traitors, hatred, prejudice and revenge.

As an overall body of work, its not really dumbed down very much, filling in the whole backstory to the Clone Wars and most of the leading characters. It also fills in Obi-Wan life and even hints at a full blown romance and the women the gave up to take his knightly vows...

Both Vyper and I have been watching all 5 series over the past few weeks, and i think both agree that these are recomeded veiwing and also may have been overlooked by most people as childish disney style rubbish...

Worth a watch, and arguably better than film episodes 1 - 3.

[Daeothar]

I will be watching this with much, much interest and I applaud you both for the effort!

Some time ago, I acquired a mint ERTL Millennium Falcon kit, and since then, I've been gathering WOTC bendies for use with it. Admittedly, at approximately 1/60 (although judging by the figures included, the scale leans more towards 1/100), it is on the small side, but that means it will be that much more handleable on the table. WEG minis might have been smarter, but availablility and costs (plus IMHO nicer sculpts, if not material) got me on the WOTC track.

And yes; I mean to model it with a removable roof and gameable interior. oh, the madness of it all...

That said, I now have the entire hero cast of A New Hope complete, with some Tantive IV Rebel troopers and a smallish bucket of Stormtroopers and some AT-STs as well. I now have my sights set on enough speeders, Jawas, Sandpeople and assorted Scum and Villains to populate a wretched hive. So in the end, I might be able to get a full Tattooine / Moss Eisley table going.

I've never been  much enthralled by the prequel trilogy, even though the eye candy is certainly there. Like most here, I'm a product of the early seventies, which explains my preference I suppose.

Funny thing though, I watched the entire film series (one every Saturday) with my, at the time, 8 year old nephew a couple of years back, and his obvious preference was for the parts 1, 2 and 3. Mostly through his devotion to his Lego Star Wars toys and Lego Star Wars console games. But to my utter dismay, his reaction to the parts 4, 5, and 6 was rather 'meh', even if it were the polished and CGI enhanced versions! 

So it probably is down to your own age and context, when it comes to where your preferences lie. I'll get him to see reason though; just give me some time...

The Clone Wars series is only broadcast here in the Netherlands in a dubbed version, which made me give up on watching from the start. Maybe I should look into getting the series on DVD then, since you guys seem to like it (at least better than parts 1, 2 and 3, and I got those too after all... )

But it seems like it will be time to start repainting the prepaints now!

[Mason]

I have been waiting expectantly for you fellas to start this.
Oh, yes!

To be honest I am much more interested in the Original Trilogy aspects, as I found Eps 1-3 disappointing (to be polite!) and have never liked the 'look' of them.

Maybe you chaps can change my mind and make me look at them with a fresh outlook.
 

I now have my sights set on enough speeders, Jawas, Sandpeople and assorted Scum and Villains to populate a wretched hive. So in the end, I might be able to get a full Tattooine / Moss Eisley table going.

Ditto!
I have the rest, I just need a few more Sandtroopers (which may be sorted...fingers crossed).

Oh, and the scenery needs to be built, but that is not a problem as I am really looking forward to that part!
 

Looking forward to the updates, fellas, coz I am gonna steal all your best ideas and learn from your mistakes and, hopefully, avoid some of the pitfalls.

CHEERS!
 

Now get on with it....

[Michi]

You might be interested in the fact that the current Revell Gunship looks very close to scale for those minis...

I admire your ambitions.

[Commander Vyper]

You might be interested in the fact that the current Revell Gunship looks very close to scale for those minis...

I admire your ambitions.

After seeing Agis's rendition Michi.....


I have four. But will need another three at least. 

[aliensurfer]

looking forward to the rules and how it all comes together.

[Inso]

After seeing Agis's rendition Michi.....


I have four. But will need another three at least. 

I have one going spare... for a twelve quid (inc P&P) ... PM me if you want it.

[Commander Vyper]

Done.