Collins Does Yavin IV Table Build

So lets put pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) and come up with a plan.

below is a top down view for what I hope to achieve

on the left hand side of the image you can see a green area, I plan to make use of the previously mentioned swamp mat for this area and then have some trees. The FLGS has some trees but they are very deciduous and not at all jungly so I might have to make some specially. not sure how to achieve this though so some thought might be required.

On the right in yellow you can see a section of the temple. I do not plan to make this full scale (thats mad) as this will be a themed board I think a representation will be more than enough. in other places you can see yellow structures. These are representations of other smaller towers from the massessai culture which have been reclaimed by the jungle etc. the point of them is to keep the theme of old clashing with new running across the table.

In the middle you can see a big grey area. this is the main landing pad area outside the temple. In the pictures and film this appears to be made of Ferrocrete (Star Wars Concrete) slabs or blocks. Im not entirely sure how I will achieve this big blanket area in a way that looks good and is easy to store and change to different tabletops, desert, city, planes etc. Entry on that soon.

Scattered across the landing pad I have drawn ammo boxes, fuel containers, emplacements and other landing pad detritus. Star Wars has very specific requirements for their fuel and ammo boxes so may need to buy or have them made. We shall see. In addition to this scatter I have drawn a couple of Starfighters. A U-Wing and a Y-Wing. I have found some cheapish 1:72 scale child’s toys for this on the internet. I know the scale of legion is 1:48 or 1:52 but after a discussion on facebook which came back with mixed reactions to different scales I have decided that I’ll give them a punt. At the end of the day, they need to LOS blockers rather than 100% sized perfections! Representation is key I feel.

I have also drawn some circular towers, most notably on the temple and boundary of the jungle. These are planned to be defence towers, specifically the a DF.9 Anti Infantry Tower. These appear to be extensively used by the rebellion as base defences, see the cross sectional picture and the historical documentary “The Empire Strikes Back” for the Battle of Hoth scenes. I don’t plan to make these game playable pieces as they will all face one way (away from the temple, obviously) but they can be great cover.

when all this is put together I am convinced that it fits with the terrain challenge. The Battle of Yavin was almost the end of the Rebellion (with one swift stroke). I can imagine the whole base being extremely tense and apprehensive. Arming up starfighters for the upcoming battle or maybe after the battle during the abandonment of the facility. The Empire clearly would not just sit and let the Rebels run away. The loss of the Death Star was a massive embarrassment for the Empire, they would swiftly deploy a fleet to pulverise the base. Perhaps the Rebels are halfway through packing up and refuelling the final starships and freighters when the Imperial ground assault has happened. There is so much appeal to this last ditch rearguard action to get the last ships out the system, the troops are desperate, as their hope, dreams and personal existence’s end is nigh…