The Star Wars Dewback is one the many reasons I’ve always loved the Star Wars franchise. In so many scifi franchises, “futuristic” stuff (despite being long ago in a galaxy far, far away…) is shiny and new. Yet George Lucas chose a different route for Star Wars.
Sure, there are starships jumping around at lightspeed between planets. Space fighters shooting lasers. Vehicles that float off the ground.
And yet there are also Stormtroopers riding lizards. Big lizards, of course. But lizards nonetheless. There are so many elements to Star Wars that are totally not futuristic and advanced, but completely mundane and relatable. It all adds up to a universe we can imagine ourselves being part of.
The Star Wars Dewback
Fantasy Flight Games Dewback Expansion is a wonderful addition to the Star Wars Legion tabletop game. It is a wonderful sculpt, and captures the look of the Dewback and associated Stormtrooper wonderfully.
The kit provides parts to build four different variants of the Stormtrooper, differentiated by pose and weapon. Two can built, and because it’s easy to slide the upper torso on to the legs built into the saddle, the builder can opt for different looks for display and gaming.
In researching the Dewback’s colors, I found that the coloring in the original movie – back when it was just called Star Wars – showed a mostly green beast with some splotches of brown on the skin. The CGI “enhanced” versions released later show a distinctly gray Dewback with green patterns. The 10 year old in me who sat awestruck in a theater in 1977 insisted on the traditional finish, and my old, bald, overweight self concurred in full.
The sculpt makes the painting process very easy and pleasant, and if using acrylic paints I believe could be done in just a few hours. There are no vices with this kit at all, so even if you’re not playing the game (I don’t), it is simply a great model from an iconic franchise.
You can see all of my Star Wars work here on the website, or on my YouTube channel.
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