#snowtrooper

Wait... these aren't the miniatures we were looking for!

For whatever reason, I decided to paint some Biker Scouts for Star Wars legion instead of the Eldar miniatures I've been painting for a quarter of a year. I guess for the simple reason of wanting to reassure you that I do, in fact, paint things other than Warhammer. I only really painted the black bits of the Scout Troopers' bikes. And on the topic of the bikes!

"What's the last thing to go through an Imperial scout trooper's head when he hits a tree? His afterburner."

The Aratech 74-Z speeder bike was a small and nimble repulsor speeder made by Aratech Repulsor Company. A militarized version of the popular 74-Y speeder bike, the 74-Z saw use from the Clone Wars all the way through the Galactic Civil War, used by both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Galactic Empire, and was first put to use in combat in the very beginning, at the first Battle of Geonosis. While the 74-Z was designed as a predecessor to Aratech's own BARC speeder, the BARC was seen used by the clones much more than the 74-Z, after it's use was championed by Clone Commanders Bacara of the 21st Nova Corps and Neyo of the 91st Mobile Reconnaissence Corps. Still, the 74-Z saw use all the way through the Clone Wars, and at the dawn of the Empire, the new Galactic government phased out the BARC speeder in favor of the 74-Z. The 74-Z was built for speed above all else. Survivability was secondary, and with the Empire's preferance for swarm and shock tactics, this suited them fine. The 74-Z speeders were commonly used by Imperial Scout Troopers for reconnaissence, harrassment, and lightning fast first strikes. Unfortunately, due to the extreme speed of the 74-Z, the Biker Scouts often found themselves in problem in more dense terrain, such as forests, as evidenced during the Battle of Endor. However, in comparison, in places such as the open ice fields of Hoth, the 74-Z excelled. While they weren't seen during the film, Biker Scouts were deployed during the Battle of Hoth, disembarking from the rear hatches of the menacing AT-ATs to harrass Rebel positions, and give supporting fire to the AT-ST walkers, which themselves were providing support to the terrifying AT-ATs.

Imperial Cold Assault Stormtrooper ("Snowtrooper") Armor