Dooku was one of the initial squad pack releases, so arguably formed a core of the Separatists. But I wasn’t playing the game yet, and it wasn’t new and shiny any more. With the drought of new Shatterpoint models around the new year, I finally caught up.

There are two arms in the kit. But why woudn’t you choose lightning when lightning is on offer?

Keep your head on straight, Jango

And of course, the Magnaguard. Super tanky and annoying.

This Darth Vader comes with Obi-Wan and some diorama in a duel pack at a questionably high price. But I was able to score it at a major discount, so got some friends for the other Jedi Hunters.

The major challenge for Darth Vader is that he’s wearing all black, so how do you make him look good? My attempt at an answer was to use no blacks, just grays and dark blues. I was also sure to highlight the different textures differently (the shiny armor pieces to a white, the fabric to a blue. And then some fake-OSL drybrushing to help sell the lightsaber.

I also kept the head and cloak separate from the body while painting. That let me get in behind the skirt and the underside of the cloak.

Time for some non-Separatist bad guys!

I’ve tried to get a couple of different black textures: the shiny hard armor pieces, the softer fabric pants, the dark leather boots. It helps give some variety on what is otherwise a mostly monochromatic model.

These double-sided lightsabers seem like they’d be a hazard.

Oh yeah, definitely a hazard.

Time for some more Shatterpoint.

Both the cloaks and smoke use one of my new favorite paint techniques. I put two GW contrast paints next to each other on a wet palette (say red and yellow). Then I alternate between them when loading the brush for painting. The goal is to let them loosely mix in the brush or on the model, giving interesting variations.

After its dry, more washes and highlights give more depth.

The contrast paints can also be used as a wash on the base, to give a quick-and-dirty OSL effect.