Captain Cassian Andor, Part 1

"Make ten men feel like a hundred."

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been a Star Wars geek since the first movie came out when I was in high school. (Now don't Google that to try and figure out my age!) The second trilogy was okay, the third trilogy had no continuity between movies - what was a man supposed to do?

And then Rogue One came out. OMG. Captain Cassian Andor of Rebel Intelligence is one of the main characters of Rogue One. No spoilers here - but I'm still trying to figure out in my own mind what is the best Star Wars movie: Is it The Empire Strikes Back or Rogue One?  Then the Mandalorian came out - Star Wars was saved! And then - Andor. Andor was the best show of 2023 and details how Cassian got his start in the Rebellion. And not a light saber or Jedi in sight! What a great Season One. Okay, I'm prejudiced.

I've been building a force for Xenos Rampant using figures from Star Wars Legion. The force has a brown uniform pattern to give continuity amongst all of the figures from various movies and shows.

I'm always hesitant to paint a character based on a real person or actor - I'm always afraid of goofing it up or making the figure look goofy. But hey, I need Andor in my force (more on K-2SO later).

The hard plastic figures are easy to put together and this figure came with three different weapon options: the small blaster that he used to murder, I mean eliminate a character in Rogue One, the military blaster pistol and a sniper rifle that is really cool but I already have a sniper figure in my army. The small gaps were easily filled with green stuff.

I've been painting my force using GW's Contrast paints. With the move I haven't bought any spray primer yet as the Contrast paints work with shades of white and gray. So I used Vallejo Flat White and applied it with a brush. Hmmm. That does not look so good.

Okay - second coat of Vallejo Flat White. Much better.

To give the base color for the face, I used GW Contrast Cygor Brown.

While I painted Andor, I kept handy one of the officer/leader figures I had painted earlier. The basic uniform is painted with Contrast Skeleton Hoard and the backpacks, gloves, webbing, belts, etc. are painted with Contrast Snakebite Leather.

The jacket was painted with Contrast Gore Grunta (snicker) Brown. Dang. The highlights of the Snakebite Leather and the Gore Grunta (snicker) Brown make the uniform of Andor look too darn dark. New plan!

When using GW Contrast paints, unlike the normal enamel paints I use, you cannot paint a lighter color over a darker color. I pulled out the Vallejo Flat White and repainted the parts I wanted to make lighter. Also I failed to mention, Contrast paints take about 30 minutes to dry which is a lot slower that the enamels I am use to using.

Now that looks better with a better contrast. I went back and used the Contrast Skeleton Horde and I am pleased with the result.

Just another angle. Next up will be the real challenge - making the figure look like the actor Diego Luna!