Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game - Capital Ships

The corvette 'Silent Vigil' escorts Imperial dignitaries on route to Coruscant... 

Like many of you currently playing X-Wing, I've had a real urge to bring some large scale ships to the table. Whether operating within a home brew rules set or simply acting as large scale scenery, the cinematic presence these ships provide can really help make for a memorable spectacle.

Scale wise, Frigate and Corvette class ships are the order of the day and in this regard Rebel players have the option of going for the Kenner Toys 'Collector Fleet' Blockade Runner. More on her in a future post...

The Empire player needs to think outside the box a little but has a great option available to them in the form of the Republic Star Destroyer kit from Revell. I picked mine up from eBay for about 30 quid. Let's take a look at what comes in the box...

The kit was straightforward to put together, taking around an hour including time for clean up and prep. Once the kit was built I needed to think about basing it and in this regard, the GW large flying stand presented itself as a good solution.

Once a balanced 'center' of the model had been determined, I marked out the outline of the stand and drilled holes along each length of the cross to bore out the required space, sharpened up the remaining edges with the ol' hobby knife and finally neatened it all off with a bit of sanding using a needle file. The end result means the ship simply slides onto the stand for gaming and can be removed for ease of transport and storage. I'm still weighing up the options for the stand's base itself - Ideally incorporating some play-tested ship stats / firing arcs etc.

Paint wise, the model was undercoated with Army Painter 'Uniform Grey', airbrushed up with a couple of lighter coats and then given a final dry-brush of pure white. I wanted to keep any detailing fairly simple and so picked out a few white lights down the flanks with red lights next to the docking bay doors. I also wanted some sort of scale reference, so I picked out windows and viewing ports down the main turret and bridge, painting them in black and varnishing them with ard' coat...

Can anyone else see Jar Jar Binks in this picture...?

So what do we know about Imperial Corvette and Frigate class ships within the Star Wars universe and how can they inspire some narrative and mission ideas within our games of X-Wing? 

‘The Vigil-class Corvette is a heavy corvette for escort, reconnaissance, and utility duties of the Galactic Empire. Often classified as a frigate, the Vigil-class is designed for patrol and escort duty.’

‘An extensive radar array is used to intercept signals and triangulate enemy positions. Double laser turrets with fast track targeting are installed on both the dorsal and ventral hulls. A small hanger on the ventral hull could house up to sixteen starfighters. Normal deployment was a mixed squadron of recon, light bomber, and Interceptor fighters. Two tractor beam projectors are used to capture smaller ships for boarding. A small company of stormtroopers act as both security for the Vigil-class Corvette and assault troops when boarding captured vessels.’

‘Many of these Vigil-class Corvettes were used by the Imperial Security Bureau as heavy transports for ISB Officers. These ships also served as command vessels for Sector Police and assisted in operations with customs enforcement.’

All sounds very inspiring :)

'Run Rebel, run Rebel, run, run, run...'

Well, I hope you enjoyed our look at the 'Silent Vigil' and felt inspired to bring some large scale ships to your games of X-Wing. Next time we'll take a look at the first ship to make an appearance in a Star Wars movie - The 'Tantive IV' :)