Welcome back to Planet of the Week! This week, we will be focusing on the home world of the Stormtrooper-eating monsters known as the Ewoks! Now I know what you are thinking, yes Endor is technically a moon but “Moon of the Week” doesn’t really have the same ring to it as planet does.

Endor was an Imperial occupied moon that was home to the shield generator for the Death Star II. It was also a forest moon, meaning that there were trees everywhere. In this article, we will be going over the terrain, the types of trees, the Ewok tree houses, and the Imperial structures.

Terrain

Since Endor has a mostly forest biome, the ground will be mostly green. In this case, you would want to use a green tablecloth or purchase a grassy mat. For the mats, I would recommend Hiddenforest, Grass Gaming Mat by Deepcut Studios, Muddy Field by Deepcut Studios, Grassy Battlefield by Gamematz and Green Meadow by Mats by Mars. As previously mentioned in Planet of the Week I: Tatooine, you can also use the table cloth and texture it to look like a grassy and muddy earth.

For the grass and textures, I would recommend using one or multiple of the following from Amazon (You can also purchase these at your local game shop but the name and brands will be different):

https://www.amazon.com/Woodland-Scenics-Blended-Turf/dp/B0006NARQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520564652&sr=8-1&keywords=woodland+scenics+turf

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Coarse-Shaker-Woodland-Scenics/dp/B0006NARP4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520564652&sr=8-2&keywords=woodland+scenics+turf

https://www.amazon.com/Conifer-Coarse-Shaker-Woodland-Scenics/dp/B0000WS7GC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1520564652&sr=8-4&keywords=woodland+scenics+turf

https://www.amazon.com/Dollhouse-Miniature-Blended-Woodland-Scenics/dp/B01BKTCPNY/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1520564652&sr=8-13&keywords=woodland+scenics+turf

https://www.amazon.com/Turf-25-2-Cubic-Inches-Green-Grass/dp/B0006N71FS/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1520564652&sr=8-12&keywords=woodland+scenics+turf

For additional information in regards to using these materials, I would recommend checking out Luke Towan on YouTube. Although he focuses mostly on model railroads, he does have many good tips and tricks for miniature and model making! They can easily be applied to this project!

Obstacles and Props

The main obstacles that your ships would have to avoid would be trees. Return of the Jedi was filmed in Redwood National Park, this means that the trees seen in Endor are redwood trees or “Sequoioideae”. Essentially, they are long, thin trees with foliage that is mostly concentrated at the top of it.

Whats great about miniature trees is that they can easily be found on Amazon or you can make them yourselves! Now, you can use pretty much any green tree but if you want to stay within the theme, you need to use those that look like tall redwoods. Your best height for the trees would be to range from 4 inches tall.

Next we have the Ewok Tree Houses. The treehouses are usually connected together with wooden bridges and are made surrounding thicker tree. They are’t obligatory but they really do help create an Endor like atmosphere.

The following tutorials will be out of scale for X-Wing but it is all a matter of getting a basic idea and adjusting accordingly.

Imperial Structures

As previously mentioned and seen in Return of the Jedi, Endor was home of the Second Death Star’s Shield Generator. The shield generator was composed of a large satellite with multiple miniature ones on the rim and multiple antennae in the middle. In stood upon a base similar to a Turbo Laser Tower or a kind of neck like structure. You want the Tower to be taller than the trees so depending on how tall your trees are, you will want to build accordingly.

To build one, you want to have the Tower or “Neck” standing at approximately 5-5.5 inches tall. The Tower would usually be the taller option while the neck would be shorter.

For the Satellite Dish, I estimated it to be 5.5 inches long in Diameter. The miniature ones would be 0.5 inches long in diameter. The antennae would range from 2-3.75 inches long. You would want around 8-10 of them.

Finally we have the Imperial Landing Pad. The Landing Pad is usually quite simple, built by two cylinders with a large rectangular base on top. Our contributor, Tabletopgun has a great 3D model of a Landing Pad on his Shapeways store! It comes in two parts, the base supports and the pad itself! There is even a smaller version for those on a budget, it also comes in the form of the base supports and the pad.

These are the basics for making your very own Endor for X-Wing! If you are looking for more inspiration, looking up the Beasts of War playing X-Wing on Endor is a great start!

In the end, it is completely up to you, and how you may want it to look does not have to fall in line with what I have said or what we see in the films! If you decide to build this, make sure to send some pictures our way and we will post them on the article or even showcase them in their own special post! Make sure to leave a comment down below with your suggestions for the next planet we should tackle!