Hobby | Separatist Reinforcements

The Republic has had their time in the sun with a fancy new Star Destroyer, so it was only fair to turn my attention towards their nemesis, the droid filled CIS, the Separatists themselves. I painted all four of the squadron types available to them, as well as some Gozanti-class Cruisers that they gained access to in Rapid Reinforcements I.  

Officially, Star Wars Armada only produced Gozantis of the Imperial variety. Not one to be satisfied taking one of those and painting them blue, I got a pair from a 3D printer, Imperial Star Shop, which actually came with prints of all of the Rapid Reinforcement cards and stickers for the squadron bases. I'd highly recommend them if you want more official looking products for those print & play expansions.  

Anyways, this is my first time working with resin 3D prints. I have to say, the detail is pretty good, but not completely without layer lines. I thought that was something reserved for FDM printers, but live and learn, right? It does seem like there were some issues with the print, as some of the engine cowls weren't completely formed, but it wasn't a big deal, at least to me. They took primer quite well and were easy to paint. Unfortunately, they didn't come with a base (almost no third party sellers include bases), so I had to buy an extra Empire Gozanti to take the base and ship card. Again, not too big a deal, as I can swap out the models if I want and I have a ship that's cross-compatible with two factions. 

From a painting perspective, I tried to match the colors already in use in the fleet. Uniform Grey (AP), Deep Blue (AP) and Ash Grey (AP) got me close to what I needed, and I could adjust as needed with a black wash or a dab of white paint. The engines were the yellow of most of the CIS ships, so I slapped on some Flash Gitz Yellow (GW) and washed with Cassandora Yellow (GW). Simple. 

Next up are the awkwardly named Belbullab starfighters. Bit of a mouthful with the name, and pretty much everyone know's it as General Grievous' ship anyways. A simple paintscheme, but difficult to execute on account of the tiny yellow striping along the side cross-hatched by even tinier orange striping. Luckily for me, this seems to only be associated with General Grievous, so future versions of this squadron can use an easier paint scheme. 

From here on out we have three squadrons that basically use the same colors in different combinations. In my quest for lore accuracy, I ended up with squadrons that are a little difficult to tell apart on a gaming table. That'll be something I take into account for future versions. 

It also doesn't help that the Hyena bomber, above, is just a larger version of the Vulture fighter, below. So now I have to rely on the size difference to tell them apart. So in the end, size does matter, and you should worry about the guy she tells you not to worry about, because that unit you thought was a fighter is now bombing the crap out of your expensive ship. 

To close out the fourth squadron-type available to the Separatists, we have the Trifighter. In my opinion, not the most accurately detailed sculpt of the quartet, but it's workable. At least it's easier to tell apart from the others. 

All of these made extensive use of Wolf Grey (AP) and Blue Tone (AP) to do the heavy lifting colors wise. Some spot colors of Deep Blue (AP), Ash Grey (AP), Pure Red (AP) and Matt White (AP) sorted out the rest. 

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

-The Space Dinosaur