Republic Outpost/Colony

By Alpha17, in Terrain Building

A new table for your consideration, a Clone Wars-era Republic Outpost/Colony:

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The idea behind this one is a Republic base during the Clone Wars, either as a small listening post on some backwater planet, or as a small military colony. The buildings are thematically prefab ones, so while they'll look a little worn, they will stand out from the environment. This has the added benefit of allowing the table to work with a variety of mats. I've got it on my FLG "Fieldbase" one right now, and it works quite well, but I think it could work just as well on the Fifth Trooper "Beach Planet" mat, or a grassland/snow mat just as well. Tempted to get a snow mat just to make this one of the Republic bases on Rhen Var from the original, 2002 The Clone Wars game just to get my EU nerd on, but we'll see.

As a colony or base, I also wanted to include a supply depot or something along with this, but I haven't really decided how I want to do that yet. The landing pad works fine as both an empty terrain piece, or as a bigger, more imposing piece if I place a landed ship on it. I'm looking at various CW era vessels right now, but sadly the ones in Legion scale are very limited. Stay tuned to see what actually ends up on the pad. I'm undecided on what else, if anything the table needs, or what layout I'll generally go with. The crashed gunship, for instance, is likely temporary, and just me wanting to show off another new terrain piece. I've considered vegetation, but that would tie the table to a specific mat. I've considered another tower, with them being place opposite of each other on the edges of the mat, but I like it as a big LOS blocker in the middle as well. Also considered getting some sort of turbolaster tower or barracks building, though I'm limited by what is available in MDF. I'll happily accept advice, ideas, or opinions of what to add/delete/change.

This table has been in the works for quite some time. The first building, the L-shaped one that's actually painted, was picked up early in the summer as a painting project, and helped to spawn the idea, though it wasn't always going to be a Republic outpost. For a while, I considered an Imperial base, or one completely faction neutral. I ended up settling on the Republic because the color scheme is iconic, and looks good regardless of the terrain, and as a Clone Wars-era base, it actually fits fine for either era. As you can tell by the unpainted buildings, this is very much a work in progress, and I'll upload pictures as more of it gets finished.

Pretty dank. Why does it look like units would be able to move into the buildings? I see a bunch of little doors...

6 minutes ago, ImperialYeet said:

Pretty dank. Why does it look like units would be able to move into the buildings? I see a bunch of little doors...

Some of the buildings have doors, others do not. The way we played it last night was the doors were just there to be LOS blockers, and a unit could freely move through them. (think Trek -style automatically opening doors) The tower also could be accessed by a risk free clamber action if you were in base-to-base contact with the front door, and the painted, L-shaped building actually has an elevator printed/painted on it. Ended up keeping two squads on the roof for most of the game.

Edited by Alpha17

Cool, but why do I see a kriffing 3-D printed Turret unit thingy......argh, nvm. ;)

Hey Alpha, as always your terrain looks awesome. If you are going to make it Rhen Var, you should add some Jedi Ruins. If you want to keep the terrain not tied to a specific board, try adding a Delta-7 Aethersprite or an Eta-2 Actis Class Interceptor on the landing pad. try adding a storehouse or control building around the center of the board to act as an objective holder.

-Arctic

19 hours ago, ArcticJedi said:

Hey Alpha, as always your terrain looks awesome. If you are going to make it Rhen Var, you should add some Jedi Ruins. If you want to keep the terrain not tied to a specific board, try adding a Delta-7 Aethersprite or an Eta-2 Actis Class Interceptor on the landing pad. try adding a storehouse or control building around the center of the board to act as an objective holder.

-Arctic

If I decided to go down the Rhen Var route, I'd do Bravo base, or the smaller outpost scene in the Evacuation of Rhen Var mission of The Clone Wars. The ruins that we usually think with the planet weren't really in the bases.


I've got a Delta-7b model ordered, but the problem is finding one in an appropriate scale. We'll see if the one I ordered will work or not. Also considering a Nu-Class shuttle, but that's still iffy, and more expensive. I'm looking into the storehouse idea, or a bigger barracks-type building, but haven't settled on anything yet.

22 hours ago, ImperialYeet said:

Cool, but why do I see a kriffing 3-D printed Turret unit thingy......argh, nvm. ;)

Not sure what you're referring to. The only 3-D printed item on the table is a crashed gunship. The unpainted 1.4FD turrets in the back were my opponents, and I took care of one of them during our game.

Srry, the 1.4FD looked 3-D printed

I really like the generators. Did you make those or are they purchased? They look like MDF models.

23 hours ago, Darth 2Face said:

I really like the generators. Did you make those or are they purchased? They look like MDF models.

They are MDF models. The larger, painted piece is from Laser Craft Workshop while the separate, unpainted pieces are from TTCombat.

I think I've found my first candidate for deployment to this outpost, a Delta-7b model.

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It looks a bit big, but it's close enough that I think it will work fine for table use. Just gotta mock up some landing gear, since this one didn't come with any.

Finished painting everything, and got it on the table for a game, so time for more pictures:

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Still working on the table layout. I'm not sure what its missing, but I still think its a building short, especially if I remove the crashed gunship. Definitely need to pick up a ramp/ladder set as well, because a lot of these buildings have no real means of being climbed other than clambering. Still open for suggestions on what could be added to the table, or changed in general.

It looks great!

I would say the only thing its missing is a bit more scatter terrain to make it look 'lived in' and add more opportunities for varying degrees of cover instead of LoS blocking.

Agreed. The pallets of supplies are good, but barricades/K-rail or a fence around that area would add some cover. Similarly, a fighting position or bunker/bastion would serve as a defensive hardpoint and offer both difficult terrain to move over and cover for any unit occupying it.

After taking these pictures, I put out a few Republic-painted barricades, so I've already started going that route. I've considered a trench/bunker, but I don't want too much over lap between this table and my Trenches table. I'll keep looking into scatter terrain.

Maybe try adding an AA gun of some sort, than you have more than enough of an excuse to use some crashed vulture droids, without adding any crashed republic fighters or anything. You could also add a river and a bridge or two running through the area for some difficult terrain and such.

I like the paint job on the terrain. That red really pops!

I'll echo the suggestions regarding scatter terrain. That really makes a place feel like a real location. Otherwise a table ends up feeling like a staged 'arena-like' battlefield, and I think you lose some immersion with that. Sounds like you are already addressing that though, so that's good.

If I could make one further comment - and this is something I've noticed with a several tables - I have to point out the apparent contradiction of a) a well ordered Republic base and b) a crashed Republic ship, sharing the same location.

The base seems to be in good working order, giving the impression that it is occupied and in use. And then you have this crashed ship, just like, sitting there in the middle of the base or just outside it. I mean like, wouldn't those guys, um, clean that up?

"Sir one of our ships has crashed in the middle of zone 4, next to the generator."

"That's ok, leave it be."

"Sir, you want us to leave this crashed ship with our comrades' bodies inside it, sitting in the middle of our base?!"

"I said leave it there! I like how it catches the sun in the morning. You have your orders soldier!"

22 hours ago, Proton Torpedo said:

If I could make one further comment - and this is something I've noticed with a several tables - I have to point out the apparent contradiction of a) a well ordered Republic base and b) a crashed Republic ship, sharing the same location.

The base seems to be in good working order, giving the impression that it is occupied and in use. And then you have this crashed ship, just like, sitting there in the middle of the base or just outside it. I mean like, wouldn't those guys, um, clean that up?

Must have missed this line, because I completely agree with you on it.

On 10/9/2019 at 8:54 AM, Alpha17 said:

The crashed gunship, for instance, is likely temporary, and just me wanting to show off another new terrain piece.

Got a practice game for Warfaire Weekend yesterday (my dice suck) but also tried out a new layout for the outpost. I really think I like how the table is turning out.

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The Republic Attack Shuttle really looks good with the wash/matte coat/dry brush.

On 11/3/2019 at 9:53 AM, Alpha17 said:

Got a practice game for Warfaire Weekend yesterday (my dice suck) but also tried out a new layout for the outpost. I really think I like how the table is turning out.

IMG_20191102_162251342 IMG_20191102_162255394

The Republic Attack Shuttle really looks good with the wash/matte coat/dry brush.

I like the old BF2 Command post style thing in front of the Attack shuttle. Also, the shuttle itself looks good

22 hours ago, ArcticJedi said:

I like the old BF2 Command post style thing in front of the Attack shuttle. Also, the shuttle itself looks good

Thanks. The command posts were an Etsy find. I try to use those for Intercept the Transmissions and Key Positions whenever possible. I actually prefer them to the actual ItT comm stations they sold in the priority supplies pack.

Edited by Alpha17

No real change to the base itself, but it does seem to have found itself on a different planet:

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Overall, I like the new mat . I'm actually debating splitting the terrain into two tables though, with some staying on the other mat until I get a snow mat (I want a Rhen Var outpost) and leaving some on this one. I'd need to add a barracks building or two, and maybe a few trenches/bunkers to this, along with some vegetation. We'll see. If I do go for it, it'll be an after Worlds project.

I think the new layout maybe looks a little strange. I'd suggest really focusing on having multiple tiers of elevation for the eventual Rhen Var map, both in terrain and actual buildings. I remember it being really hilly in the game.

18 hours ago, Ilostmycactus said:

I think the new layout maybe looks a little strange. I'd suggest really focusing on having multiple tiers of elevation for the eventual Rhen Var map, both in terrain and actual buildings. I remember it being really hilly in the game.

The layout for the table changes every game. Always trying different ways of doing things.

As for Rhen Var, most depictions show case it as a hilly/mountainous frozen wasteland. Most infantry combat appears to take place in the frozen rivers/canyons, and not in the hills. For the couple bases we see, they are mostly on the low ground. If I do get serious about a Rhen Var table, I'll probably do a mix of outpost buildings, and a hill or two with ruins on them. Hard not to overdo it with the small size of Legion tables.