Micro Machines Jet Bikes

 I had actually thought that I had posted this already, so if I have please let me know!  The recent (as in within the last 12 months or so!) release of Micro Machine Star Wars toys prompted me to grab some to add to my various Star Wars armies. Given that I am a big fan of speeder/jet bikes in Sci-Fi settings, grabbing some more was a no brainer!

From top to bottom: Old MM Rebel speeder bike , New Rebel speeder bike, Old Imperial speeder bike, New Imperial speeder bike.

The new bikes are quite nice, and are clearly a new sculpt rather than a re-release of the older models. Does this mean that the molds for the older models have been lost or destroyed? Or could it be that it was simply cheaper to make new ones?

Left to Right: New bike, Old bike, New bike, Old bike.

My plan is either put the new bikes into separate units, as both the rider and bike are sculpted in a quite different style to the originals (at least in my eyes). Still they are quite useable and it is nice to see Micro Machines back on the shelves.

Left to Right: Old bike, New bike, Old bike, New bike.

I have picked up some of the other figures in the new range, but the pricing in New Zealand has meant that without major discounting I am unlikely to buy more as they can be nearly twice the price (even allowing for a generous rate of exchange) of what I had seen them on the shelf at Wal-Mart or Target. This makes taking a punt on the mystery blind bags a little less attractive than it could be.

The new bikes will fit on the old stands.

Another factor has been that there have been no 'army builder' style packs released. Being able to buy a number of basic troopers at once is always quite useful. My hope is that enough people do buy the range that making packs of of the various troop types from the various seven movies is viewed as being profitable by Hasbro.

The new bike is more streamlined, but the paint job on the rider seems a little unfinished.

Of course, I am not the target demographic - so it is rather unlikely that this will happen! Fortunately I have enough figures to run the odd game, and to keep myself amused!

Imperial Scout Troopers

Just a quick update to prove that this blog is still active! Recently I acquired a set of the Micro Machines Star Wars Scout Troopers collection. This has been a set that I have been hunting for some time.

Worth lots in the box.

 I have seen boxes sets of these on E-Bay go for US$80. Thankfully, I didn't play that much for these, but I did spend more than I would normally on a  Micro Machine figure set. The two main reasons were - A) I hadn't seen the set available for some time (no doubt the market will now be flooded with sets at a cheaper price), and B) The price was reasonable (Although not as reasonable as the sticker price!).

But difficult to use in gaming unless opened!

 Of course I need to open the set to use the miniatures, which will of course lower the value of the  set, but toys are made to be played with. That, and even the loose unboxed figures can go for around $US8 dollars each!

And added to the collection - now I just need some more Jet Bikes!

To the collectors who see this, and are unhappy with my actions in opening a MIB set, I would point out that I have added value to the remaining  MIB sets by opening one, and that by reducing the pool of  unopened sets I am increasing the challenge factor - and thus the enjoyment factor - in finding a MIB set.

Much of the material I use for my gaming could be considered collectors' items, but given the sheer scale of production of these plastic toys, how rare are they?

Hugh Walter, author of the blog "Small Scale World" addresses the subject numerous times in his blog, and raises many interesting points in a manner far better than I could, and with the benefit of considerable knowledge of collecting across several fields. His most recent musing (at the time of writing) is here and can be found part way down the post under the heading "Prices"

Largely I agree with Hugh on this, but would like to add that hobbies should be fun, and not "All about the Rutherfords!"

Mark III Bantha.

It's been a while since I made a Bantha, so I thought I would have another crack at it. This time, rather than using a toy hippo or rhino as the basis of my model, I used a toy elephant.

The toy elephant pictured next to the rhino used in the construction of the MK II Bantha.

I also decided to add a rider to this one, as I had acquired a loose Micro Machines Action Fleet Tusken Raider figure. As the figure came without the Bantha he was originally paired with, it seemed only proper that I put him on one.

And then add on the Green Stuff!

I also decided on using the elephant as I had been worried that I was making my Banthas too small. I also remembered that Mr Lucas made his Bantha by putting an elephant in a Bantha suit. So I figured that I would give it a go!

Front 3/4 view.

 Of course I had to chop off the trunk and tusks of mine, glue on the rider, and then smother on the Green Stuff!

Rear 3/4 view.

 I went for a more cartoony look with this Bantha, as I wanted something to bridge the gap between my two previous efforts.

A view without my workbench clutter.

Marks I thru III gathered together.

 However I am going to redo the 'Princess Leia' style horns of the MK I, as I am not happy with them. Still, the MK I did prove proof of concept.

Sepia! Classy!

 Painting the Bantha was straight forward, undercoat, then block in colours, and finally wash with brown.

Painted and washed, but not in focus!

Another view of same.

Right, now back to painting up some more stuff!

Maps and Stuff

A nine piece foam tile set bought by Kat for me!

As Archduke Piccolo noted in his comment on my last post, the photos were indeed taken on a map of Gettysburg.

It works out at being around a metre square.

I have regretted not getting one since seeing it the Gettysburg visitors center in 2008.  I was worried that it would be too bulky to take back home, given the other stuff I was carrying back.

No scale is given however.

 I plan to run a very simple game of the Battle of Gettysburg on it, using a simplified version of Volley and Bayonet.

The township itself. Unfortunately the location of the best toy soldier shops are not marked.

To continue the theme from my last post of items I purchased and had waiting for me in PA, I purchased some more Star Wars Micro Machines figures, and two Forces of Valor German trucks.

In and out of the packaging.

 The trucks are very sturdy diecast models of German Bussing-Nag 4500As, and make a nice change for my German transport park that consists of a collection of Esci and Airfix Opel Blitzs. From memory these two trucks are rated as being medium trucks under CD.

Side by side. Each truck comes with a canvas tilt and two passengers.

 I also decided to grab some cheap Imperial Naval Troopers to bulk up my Galactic Navy forces.

Imperial Naval Troopers.

More recruits for the Galactic Navy.

The final picture shows some toy soldiers my Mother in law found for me. The big grey cowboy is around 80mm high, and is a hollow cast metal figure. Some time spent researching on the internet revealed that he is a Barclay cowboy - No: 752 Cowboy with Lasso.(This link gives more information, scroll halfway down the page for a picture, and return to the main page for detailed information)

New additions to my figure collection - a Barclay Cowboy and two Bonnie Bilt GIs.

The two semi round GIs appear to be figures from a US company called Bonnie Bilt. I managed to find a blog with some information on them, but apart from that I wasn't able to find much about them. The figures are hard plastic, and are quite visually pleasing. I am sure that they will look good on one of my bookshelves.

X-Wing, or yet another defeat....

The rules: Simple and Elegant.

After Steve and I had played our game of Harpoon, we then moved on to the next event of the day - X-Wing - a rather nice game of Space Fighter combat set in the Star Wars universe and using mechanics very similar to the popular Wings of Glory system.

Five Tie Fighters, the ultimate min/max combo in a 60pt X-Wing game?

We each had 60 points to spend on our forces. Steve played the Galactic Empire, and took five Tie Fighters with pilots fresh out of the Academy. The rebels lack a cheap fighter option, so I gambled that quality, rather than quantity, would win the day. As such I took two fully optioned Y-Wings, and hoped for the best.

Behold my fully tooled up pair  of Y-Wings!

Card and Token bling. Blue tokens are strength points for the Y-Wing shields.

Taking the fully optioned Y-Wings meant that I had lots of cards to add to my basic stat card for each fighter.

Movement is simple, just use the stick that matches the maneuver  you chose.

Photon Torpedoes away!

And another 5 points down the drain!

Photon torpedoes are a quite an expensive item of equipment, which frankly didn't seem to be worth their points cost.

First blood! A Tie Fighter at 12pts is damaged by a 5pt Photon Torpedo.

 After the first few turns it became rapidly clear that quantity had a quality all of its own, and that the Tie Fighter was quite the dog fighter, and that five of them made for quite the challenge.

Note that only one Y-Wing still has any shields...

Tie Fighters closing for the kill.

And again on the other flank.

One Tie Fighter down, but the Y-Wings are taking heavy damage...

And then the first Y-Wing is lost - and soon the other will join it...

Overall X-Wing was a very enjoyable game, but playing my first game against a proven min/maxed points combo was a brutal learning curve. It is a game I would play again, but not using the points system (although I have been told that at 100pts a side the Rebels are able to better match the numbers that the Empire fields).

The Postman cometh.....

and he brings parcels from the US! a number of goodies arrived at my doorstep this morning, without further ado, here are some pictures!

In the box, note that Gungans only come eight in a box, as opposed to the nine  figures in the  sets from the original trilogy.

The Phantom Menace vehicle sets  don't come with stands, unlike the previous sets.  This is a little annoying.

Lindberg 1/72 Phantom - note the low price on the sticker!

A very nice book, with plenty of detail on YT-1300 variants.

I suspect the damage on the packaging was the reason I got this set so cheap! Normally they go for around the US$50 mark, I picked these up on Amazon for around US$15.

Now I just have to hunt down some Scout Troopers! (and a set of Naboo Security)

Endor Strike Team

Endor Strike team. The rebel commandos are quite nice figures.

Another Trade Federation AAT, bring the total up to two.

A speeder from Naboo, and Anakin's pod racer.

Sio Bibble and Anakin Skywalker.

Mo' Gungans!

More recruits for the Grand Army. 

Size comparison photo.

Right, now back to V&B, and Harad stuff...