SW:ED - Tusken Raiders

The first two sets of cards I printed off for playing Epic Duels were for team Ahsoka/Rex and for Tusken Raiders. I've got minis for Ahsoka and Captain Rex done. But at roughly the same time that I was finishing Ahsoka, I was starting on some Tusken Raiders. They've been a work in progress for this long. And since I seem to have misplaced one of the sculpts I had going, I guess they still are!

The Heroclix Candidates

So, the team consists of two raiders on foot and one riding a bantha. I chose three minis to convert: two Nova Corps Centurions and a really ugly looking Cyclops, as follows.

Nova Corps Centurion (hcrealms.com)

Cyclops (hcrealms.com)

I started with removing the arms from all three models. Cyclops' arms were attached to one of the Nova Corps Centurion in order to create the iconic "sandperson holding a gaffi stick over his head" pose made famous by our first introduction to sand people in A New Hope. Two arms were modified and reattached to the second Centurion to give the look of holding a rifle, which I assembled from a paper clip and a piece carved from a popsicle stick. I also took off and reattached #2's head to be looking at where he is aiming.

This is probably the most green stuff I've ever used on a single figure modification. It's the sniper on the left that, along with being a WIP, is now MIA.

The bantha was part of the issue that kept these guys in limbo for so long. I just didn't know what I wanted to do to create one. I didn't want to make it entirely out of green stuff, too many $$$. I kept my eyes open for a toy hippo or elephant I might modify, but they were always too small, with a couple of exceptions, which were too big. At one point I even searched the Interwebs for a bantha I could just buy.

One day I was playing with our three year old and she got out some playdough. It only took about five minutes of playing with her for the light bulb in my head to turn on. Could I make a somewhat reasonably convincing sculpt of a bantha out of playdough? Challenge accepted!

There was a bit of reasoning to go through first.

1) I wanted a convincing sculpt, but I had chosen playdough as my medium. Could I make something that looked hairy despite the limitations of playdough? How much would it shrink as it dries? Would it be crumbly when dry? All these questions! Well, you won't know until you try...

2) I wanted a playable sculpt. When compared to the sand people, a bantha is rather large. I learned that Ol' George cast elephants as the banthas, so we're looking at that kind of scale. So while the scale might be good for other miniatures rules, I felt like that was too big for Epic Duels, my primary motive for all of this. I decided to forgo proper scaling for the sake of playability.

Then I dug in, sculpted a bantha and planted a rider.

Then I put it up to dry. After three weeks, I checked on it, and it still seemed soft. Maybe my imagination, but I put it back up for a while longer just in case. A few weeks later, it looked ready! I glued some arms to the rider and added a cloak, head covering, and rifle with green stuff and other items. That was two, maybe three months ago.

Yesterday, our oldest daughter wanted to try repainting a miniature, so I decided to paint the two Tusken Raiders alongside her. So here they are!

Here comes the rider!

No licking the camera please!

Good day, all!