A very Star Wars Christmas

It's been a very Star Wars themed holiday, the last couple of weeks. As well as the new film (more on that in a moment), there's been lots of Star Wars gaming of one sort or other in our house.

First up, Beth and I have been playing through the campaign of Imperial Assault. It's a really fun game, with good production values, as per usual with Fantasy Flight Games. If you've played The Descent, you'd find it very familiar, as it uses the same mechanics, though they've been improved in a few ways to make the game run a bit smoother. The campaign literally came down to the final dice roll, with the rebels just managing to win the day.

Grey, unpainted miniatures are bad, m'kay?

Grey, unpainted miniatures are bad, m'kay?

Next up - Star Wars Armada. Beth got me this for Christmas, and man... I love it. As a big fan of X-Wing, I wasn't 100% sure if this game was going to feel sufficiently different to warrant starting to collect some of the (more expensive) Armada ships, but to be honest, I think I like Armada more. Maybe that's just because it's shiny and new, but the epic feel of it, and the less frantic movement makes it feel a bit more stately, strategic and grand in scope. Definitely worth a look.

While the big ships in Armada come pre-painted, like the ships in X-Wing, the little squadrons (Tie Fighters, X-Wings, etc) come either plain grey (Imperial) or bone colour (Rebels). That just wasn't gonna work, so out came the brushes and paints once again. Here are some of the results:

Then, of course there was The Force Awakens, which we saw on Christmas Day. I hadn't seen it yet (and had been studiously avoiding spoilers, of which there are none here, BTW), so was super excited to go see it, and... I loved it. This was a really fun movie, both for fans and newcomers to the Star Wars universe, with characters you can love and plenty of heart (something the prequels distinctly lacked). I utterly loved the look and feel of the movie - what a difference practical effects make. After the prequels, the story was refreshingly simple, and the casting brilliant. It's a great kick-off to a new era of Star Wars films.

Added into the mix quite a bit of Star Wars Battlefront, and it's been very Star Wars themed all round! 

Now to go plot the next additions to the Imperial and Rebel fleets for Armada...