Goodbye 2011, you will not be missed in the slightest

This year in the personal realm has been an absolute nightmare; so much so that I will happily forget it even existed and that will be all I'll say on that.

Bring on 2012 and the silly made-up Mayan rubbish that won't happen.

(My lil sis btw.)

In hobby news, I've been gifted over Christmas with some lovely models by me and my family. I'm hoping that I'll paint/convert each of them before 2013 comes around. (Hope-ing, not promising. Deep breath now.)

I only offer one promise for the coming year - I will post more than one update a week - most likely two. THIS will be the year of action!

Now sod off and do something far more drunkenly fun than reading blogs - it's NEW YEAR's EVE for elfin's sake!

- Dai

Christmas

No pics no progress reports. (Well, there has been painting done, but I've had family here for the holidays so kind of hard to get time to get on with it right now.)

Just a quick entry to wish any readers a Merry Xmas. I hope it treats you well and you get the hobby stuff you were hoping for.

Ciao,

- Dai

Frothing at the Gills

Sholuss Fax is ship’s Navigator. He’s also as crazy as a coot with the bearing of a hill tribesman from the plains of Raddek VII and (complete lack of) table manners to go with it. When he’s not frothing at the gills attempting to bite some unlucky sod’s face off for some undisclosed slight, he’s hiking his robes up and pulling out his manhood to masturbate at the most inopportune (And all too public) moments.

Pedophile, narcotics addled, kleptomaniac and highly pungent at the best of times, this being somehow manages to remain aboard the Trader Prince’s great vessel as it’s navigator and seems to be very good at what he does. As long as his lunatic outbursts remain confined to what the Captain describes as tolerable, he’s a much needed part of the Crew.



I painted this mini in two 2-hour sessions. Even added my first bit of freehand that I’ve attempted in years (the eye upon his scarf.). The red upon his face is ladies "rouge" that Fax had somehow convinced the Trader Prince to give him - as you can tell, his appllication of the stuff is less than typical. The handle upon his back was a little something that K'Kulluk devised so that Fax could be contained during one of his rabid "bitey" sessions.

The 1st pic is a little lighter to try to show details better.

Wayward Son

Hersus Vorden – 3-armed mutant and illegitimate son of the Trader Prince himself. The galaxy is an unfair place; one minute a man is elated his chance coupling with a favoured scribe resulted in his first offspring, the next it would seem the cruel Fates would conspire to corrupt this new life in the foulest fashion. Yet, loyalty still exists and said offspring has proven time and again that he is loyal to both the Imperium and more importantly to the ship and it’s crew.




I enjoyed painting this mini, and it was my first proper try at attempting a Latin American/India/Pakistani type skin tone. I think I pulled it off okay? With Hersus done I’m left with only two team members of the Rogue Trader crew to paint up, then on to the Chaos Coven.



(Apologies for the dark pictures – they were taken this morning in my kitchen.)

Tastes Like Chicken

Spent the past couple of painting sessions working on the Kroot Void Master of the Rogue Trader crew, K’Kulluk.




This fig was a pain in the rear parts to paint, but I like the finished result.



I’m now on to the next of the Crew, 3-armed Hersus Vorden who has pretty much all of his base colours applied and is now waiting shading, highlighting and the like. On top of that, all of the rest of the teams are now primed and sat ready for their individual turns on the painting mill.



Enjoy.

Paint Progress

These past few days have seen a spike in painting creative juice levels or something. So I've been working on a couple of the team members from the Rogue Trader Crew and can now happily say they are done.

Because it's 12:30am I'll keep this short, so here are the pics - 1st, Castro the Squat Arch Militant:

Bit colourful isn't he? I like it. You might also see in the first pic that I even coloured the iris in his open eye brown. Or not - my camera is a point and click and only offers average macro function at the best of times. I like him regardless.

Next I offer Marco Gariboldi, the Bounty Hunter Hired Gun:

Mr Gariboldi (Bab' 5 anyone?) was dead fun to paint, more so than I was expecting. I wanted a drab scheme for the chap to offer his supposed "neutral" status among the crew.

Lastly I offer Gunter who isn't of the Rogue Trader Crew, but of the Nurgle Chaos Coven. He is about the most extensively I've converted out of any of the figs in my =][=munda campaign. He was painted some time ago, but I have stuck a few new washes on him and he looks a little better now.

*Edit* Please forgive the mold lines on Gunter's Weapon..... I didn't even notice them until now. But 12:50am and work tomorrow and all that...... yeah.

Next up in the painting mill is the Kroot Void Master K'Kulluck. Pissing irritating figure to paint if you ask me.

Cheers.

Before the Onslaught

Here's a quick update to show where I'm at currently on the teams.

Puritan Ordo Malleus Cell

Next to the Rogue Trader Crew, these guys are my most complete team. 7 miniatures, all ready for primer and paint. My fav of these is the RedBoxGames "Fat Fergus" monk toting the flamer in the back row. He oozes the confidence and arrogance I imagine a fighting man of the cloth to wield. The three greatcoated Acolytes are by Wargames Factory and the short fellow at the front right is the Privateerpress figure, Alten Ashley who is weilding an impressive meltagun with an attatched Exterminator Cartridge in case he gets swamped by multiple foes.

Radical Ordo Malleus Cell

I'm a big fan of the old Imperial Beastmen from Rogue Trader days. The idea of them being seen as mutants trying to atone for their "sin of being" really kicks arse in my mind. This team is small, only 5 members due to the expensive loadouts each team member has. The team leader (Interrogator) is conspicuously absent as he's yet to be purchased, though I have mentioned as much before.
Nurgle Chaos Coven

This team is missing two Squat members from the pic as they are in a little disrepair after a wee fight that ended with them on the floor. (Or they fell off my painting table after the cat jumped unexpectedly up there last night?) Be not affraid tho, because they will be back all too soon in their Nurgley grossness. So as mentioned, there is quite a hodgepodge of figures in this group. The leader is Skaven Warlord Spinetail with a head and weapon swap. He's the leader of this Coven and a powerful Beastman Psyker. The winged... "thing" on the left is a daemonhost, all mutated with tentacle and claw and crazed expression. Built from a Mantic Ghoul - lovely sculpt, full of character. I hope he'll look as cool once painted as he does in my head. Next to him is a Big Mutie with a large Nurgle Greater Daemon hand from 1990 or some such that I had spare to represent as his mutated claw. The other two are old rare GW figs that I've had since I were a wee lad.

Tau Kill Team

One of my friends was so excited to play in this game that he went and spent $$$ on ebay to have his own Tau Team because at the time I did not have any Tau figures. The team tried to take advantage of the rules and be as diverse as a xenos unit could be. Two Fire Warriors, a Stealth Suited Specialist, Vespid, Kroot and the metal leader at front. There's also a Shield Drone that I forgot to include in this pic.

NPC Guards

These mixed bag of RT thru current range Imperial Guard and other fun figs are going to act as my (GM) figs for whatever scenario they fit. They came in all sorts of states from headless through to feetless. The Arab looking bolter chap is intended to be their leader. The old land speeder driver at the front left is actually sat upon a pile of rucksacks.

You might notice a missing team here..... Yes, that's right, in my 1am photo-taking frenzy last night I completely forgot to take pictures of the Rogue Trader Crew. But seeing as it's already been featured below in my eearliest entries it doesn't matter all that much. A few new changes have been  made to the team members, but nothing so much that I need to post them again before they are painted I think.

Any comments and or critiques are welcome at this point, though with these simple snapshots, I know there's not much to go by.

Any Which Way But

How fleeting that moment of creative slowness ended up being.....



Spent the last two days grey-stuffing and glueing and converting and kitbashing to my heart's content. I'm pretty much damn near done with this part and my 5 teams are almost ready for paint!



Quick list of teams and their progress:



1. Rogue Trader Crew (All undercoated and ready for paint.)

2. Puritan Ordo Malleus Cell (A little gravel on their bases and undercoat needed then paint!)

3. Radical Ordo Malleus Cell (Still waiting on the actual fig I intend to use as this team’s leader ((Interrogator)) otherwise at the same stage as the Puritan team.)

4. Nurgle Chaos Coven (A little gravel on their bases and undercoat needed then paint!)

5. Tau Kill Team (As above, tho two models are lacking “Swords”. No Tau have swords aside from a Forge World Crisis Suit commander. What the hell is a tau sword supposed to look like anyway – I didn’t think they used them?!?)



I’ve also assembled a 9 or 10 man unit of troops for a scenario I’m planning involving patrols and guards and something the players’ teams will be looking to get from them. Most all of these figs are old Rogue Trader figs that came to me from a lovely chap back in Blighty. They did need a little TLC though, with some having no heads and one heavy weapons trooper needing brand new feet. (Gosh how my sculpting skills lack….)



So in all, lots of photos need taking, eh? Hopefully have some nice pictures up of primed teams waiting for their licks of colour in my next entry. Now I just have to come up with colour schemes that sit well with me. Hrm….

Still crazy after all this time

Somehow I have lost the mojo. Not to say that I've been completely inactice since my last entry, but I've since found it terribly difficult to sit and work on a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g of late. No sooner have I set up my workstation in the living room, than I find myself just sat there wondering why I set it all up in the first place?

What work I have managed, is to start painting a 5-man squad of Raven Guard Sternguard for my burgeoning Space Marine force. Stuck together and de-mold-lined the Tau team members for my upcoming Inquisimunda campaign. Stuck together the remainder of the other teams bar (I think) three characters - the Rogue Trader Crew's navigator, the Nurgle Coven Magos and the yet to be purchased Paridal Ordo Malleus Interrogator. Then it's on to painting.

That is, if I can get my mojo back.

I think it is down to my workspace. Currently, I have no option but to set up in the living room, upon the coffee table with the floor as my chair. Considering my only opportunites to paint so that I won't take time away from family is in the evening whilst my wife and I watch a dvd or some such, it's kind of like sharing time whilst being horribly distracted sotospeak. I really need to get the spare/hobby room up to spec and soon.

Kinda-rant over. Next entry should be better reading.

Rivals Part 1

Within my group, there are two Inquisition Cells, both Ordo Malleus, one Puritan the other Radical. They should prove to make some fun and interesting match-ups in game and for any fluff or writeups during the campaign.

I've been working slowly on miniatures for all of the groups that I plan to have involved in my =][=munda campaign, adding new weapons here and doing head-swaps there. My converting skill is sadly lacking when compared to my ideas and vision, so what modifications the posted miniatures will show are relatively simple and in some cases non-existent as I am happy with the bare sculpt as-is.

Neither of these models is ready for paint, though they are the closest of my Inquisition teams who are. Lugnut is in need of some piping and the Countess will have to have some of her armour detail filed off and an Inquisition symbol or two added instead. And of course they need their bases finished.

Lugnut, Ogryn Recruit (Recruit is base rank in an Ordo team - in Necromunda terms, a "Juve".) from the Radical Ordo Malleus team lead by Interrogator Harding Wyndham. (Fething figure is huge.) This Ogryn is a relatively recent addition to the Interrogator's staff and has proven his usefulness more than once in combat situations due to his massive size, strength and stupidity.

And this will be the Interrogator (leader) of the Puritan Ordo Malleus team, the Radical team's rivals.  Countess Evalambia Triantafilou, a beautiful and seemingly youthful woman (She is actually 68), her thirst for power and respect within her order is no secret and she hopes to attain full Inquisitor status within the decade.

Real bright pic of her (as she was undercoated black from a previous project) so you can see her lovely Werner Klocke detail.

And custom Power Hammer I made for her. (Took a lot of hacking and filing to get rid of her stock sword, I tell ya!)

Rogue Trader Version 1.0

For the =][=munda campaign I'm building for my gaming group I'm selfishly building the Gm's protagonists team that will pop up from time to time, a Rogue Trader Crew built on the inquisimunda rules mentioned in my last post.

I've backgrounds for all these characters, tho they need editing - a lot, so I think I'll wait before I post them until each of these figs is painted and ready for final inspection.

First of all I present the Rogue Trader Prince himself Antolio Etcheverria  de Dios Otero Antormarchi, a man who's scent for profit seriously rivals his love for life - and this man lives on the edge if ever someone could be described as such.

Constant companion and very wookiee-like loyalty offered from this being, K' Kulluk owes Antolio a life debt and has yet to repay it in the Rogue Trader's eyes.

As much detail of his GS bionic eye that my camera will allow.

The Ship's Arch Militant, Castro - a Squat who was far from his home when the Tyranid scourge scythed through his homeworlds with (seriously) unbelievable ease. Dour and only emotional when his true aim vapes a target, this Squat has nothing left except his loyalty to his pay. I love this fig so much I'll leave it alone coversion-wise completely, it's my fav ever RT Squat sculpt.

Ship's Navigator Sholuss Fax is a Mantic Ghoul with a few added extras. I imagine him to be a Psyker from a low tech world.

Hersus Vorden is a Crew Member trusted more than others due to being an unofficial illegitemate offspring of the Rogue Prince. I'll leave it up to you to figure out why he keeps it under wraps.

Lastly I offer forth the Hired Gun, Bounty Hunter and former Arbites Sergeant who as yet has no name. I like that he kept his uniform through to his new profession.

Next up, painted update!