Rogue Quest Level 2 - Wyrd Beastmaster Druid

Hi everybody! Meet Doktor Boris Krackpotnik - Wyrd Beastmaster Druid, and his two pet Maw Beasts.

There is no StuntCat - only Zhuul!

Boris and his mutts are the second entry to my Rogue Quest project. What is Rogue Quest you ask? The idea is to produce a band of 6 Adventurers that match the classic D&D/Warhammer Quest character classes, but for the Rogue Trader universe!

I hasten to add this is not my brilliant idea! Check out my first post here for some more background, and be sure to follow the links to the three other blogs that inspired me to embark on this project:

LeadPlague
Magpie and Old Lead
Leadballoony

Although the Wyrd Beastmaster is a Necromunda model I felt the low-tech elements of the model fit well with the RT universe, and there was something that really appealed to me about the face in particular.

Strangely, in this picture (not my own) the white undercoat makes him look quite endearing, almost Santa Clause like...
This is not what the model conjured up in my mind!

As I sat looking at the model deciding on how I was going to tackle it, two characters were brought to mind. Firstly, Boris the Animal from Men in Black 3. A cracking villain for a family film, with a strong vibe of alien animal life running through him. Yes, Boris would be a good source of inspiration for my Druid, who I definitley didn't see as the benign tree huggng type.

Boris the Animal from Men in Black 3 - no spoliers in case you haven't seen it, but don't shake his hand.

The second figure the model reminded me of was Dr Robotnik from the Sonic the Hedgehog games. It's the hair and glasses again, but also the non-traditional approach to animal welfare that would bring a different slant on the Druid character class.

Dr Robotnik (aka Dr Eggman if you are Japanese, apparently)

So, with those two sources of inspiration Doktor Boris Krackpotnik was born.

One of the big attractions with choosing a Druid, along with it being quite outside the traditional character or troop types seen in RT/WH40K, was the chance to add some alien animal companions to the party. One of the things that really sets Rogue Trader apart from later versions of the game were the alien flora and fauna included in the rules for the enterprising games master to spice up his encounters. Now I could have sourced myself a Gyrinx, or found something suitable to use as a Catachan Devil, but I stumbled accross some Dungeon Saga Maw Beasts, which seemed to match what I had in mind for Boris.

Maw Beast WIP

I went for a contrasting Purple/Green colour scheme as the beasts are essentially canine I wanted to emphasise their natures by having an alien colour skin/hair tone. I've probably been too conservative with the purple higlights again though.

The plastic was more flexible than I'm used to, though not as wobbly as reaper bones, and the mini was pre attached to the base, a bit fiddly to paint because of those two issues, but once the undercoat was on the paint seemed to behave fairly well.

Cracked paving bases were part of the the model. In the end I've just chosen to keep the brown colour to tie them in to the rest of the group, but not try and flock them as that risked loosing detail around the feet.

Boris is going to have a hell of a time getting him off that roof now that he has got up there. Stupid Maw Beats...

For Boris himself I took the first prompt from the colour scheme I used on Sven Spielboard my Squat Bard, using the sea green and uniform grey on the overalls and webbing, and brown-red ink blend on the skin for that ruddy look. I also knew I was going to be using bright red as the spot colour, so wanted to make sure that would stand out on the final piece. One of the main features with this model is the patchwork animal hide coat, and again I wanted to emphasise some of the alien animals that might be included, so chose a dark red and a vibrant green to pick out those patches made of scales or lizard hide, the rest was kept fairly natural and muted, with plenty of inking to keep it looking dirty and lived in. I reckon Boris sleeps in that coat.

Doktor Boris Krackpotnik - not your average Druid

The oversized stub gun and shot gun shells provide a nice visual tie in accross the model, the shells in the webbing at the front gave a chance to use the bright red spot coour, as did the empty shells woven into his hair at the back, Edward Teach style. His hair is supposed to be black, with a few grey hairs showing through, but as we all know flat black looks terrible on most finished models, so I went with a very dark blue in the mix and worked up with blue-grey highlights. I'm really happy with the finished effect as it looks dark and oily, but not unnatural. A final flurry of bright red on the sash on his staff and he was ready.

Here you can see the ful range of animals that died so that Boris could have such an impressive jacket. If I was a Maw Beast I'd watch out.

So just who is Doktor Boris Krackpotnik? Well that remains something of a mystery. Known but also feared in the hunting and farming communities of the small frontier world where he made his home, as a man who could help as easily in the birthing or healing of a beast as he could in it's tracking and killing, he was accepted by the local population even though he was not one of them. His true place of origin remains unknown.

Perhaps he brought his two fearsome Maw Beasts with him? For they were not native to the frontier world where he was recruited by 'the Unit.' however, they cetainly proved useful in capturing the dangerous xenomorph which had escaped a secure shipment, which the Unit had been sent ot 'neutralise.'

Boris made himself invaluable to the team on that mission, proving his worth in combat as well as his extensive knowledge of xenobiology and practical survival skills. More than this, his potentially psychic link to his pet beasts, and with other animals, was not unnoticed by the Unit's tactiturn but enigmatic leader.

When the offer to join them on further missions involving the hunting and capture of dangerous alien creatures was put to him, Boris accepted, pocketing the considerable fee with a toothy smile, but keeping his true motivations to himself...

Boris and his beasts are on the hunt for some elusive alien quarry - stay tuned for Rogue Quest Level 3 to find out what they are hunting!

The next two models for this project are already based and undercoated on my painting table, but the next installment might also feature some of 'the Unit's' elusive alien quarry! I feel like these guys need something to chase after...

So, thanks for reading and look out for Rogue Quest Level Three coming soon!

Mayday! Mayday! - Goblin Wolf Riders

Hi all! By the skin of my teeth I've made it to the end of my project for the Middlehammer group's Mayday! Mayday! monthly painting them challenge. My Goblin Wolf Riders have been restored from the botched and broken state they were in when I bought them cheap from ebay to a reasonable tabletop standard (which is what I was aiming for with this project).

The initial stages of this project can be seen in my previous post. One of the things this project has pushed me to do is try a new modelling technique - press moulding.

There were a couple of missing tails and I din't have anything similar in my bits box so press moulding was the obvious answer. I'm using 'blue stuff' from Green Stuff World, and their Youtube channel has some useful tutorials.

One stick of blue stuff was enough for two small moulds, one for each 'half' of the tail.

This was the first attempt. I wasn't confident enough in my trimming and filing - but proof of concept had been achieved!

This was the second attempt and much crisper. If I hadn't been workign to a deadline I'd have made a few more and only used the best ones.

Another technique this project required was drilling and pinning. I've only done this once before so am very much a novice, but it was clear that a simple glue repair would not last very long on the broken banner pole so I clipped off a tiny bit of paperclip and got to work.

I realise now that I should have accepted a slight reduction in height of the banner pole and cut the two ends completely flat. They were slanted in a way that they still fit together pretty wel, so I thought it best to leave them as they were, but trying to drill into and angled service was more trouble than it was worth and I nearly went throug hand out the side of the gobbos hand. Lesson learned for next time.

You can just see the tiny nub of metal sticking out of the bottom half of the pole.

The join was pretty flush, so despite the near disater with the drilling I was happy with the end result, which didn't require any putty.

It turns out there was a missing arm too. A random stump had been included, but on closer inspection this was a right shoulder stump, so initial plans for some form of dubious goblin-made prosthetic using rusty metal work were scrapped.

I went back to one of the other models and snipped off an arm to be moulded. This was a very ropey bit of work, with only one half of teh arm press moulded and the other built up with some extra bits of putty once the cast had set. I knew that it was largely going ot be covered by a shield and wouldn't be very vsible once teh model was complete, so speed was the order of the day here, and the final result is passable enough.

Sorry for the crap photo, this was the only shot I had of the arm being moulded.

The whole unit had been initally been constructed in a way that annoyed me. There were 5 archers, which included a musician and bannerbearer, 3 spearmen, two with a shield, one holding a severed head. And two sword armed leader types, both riding armoured wolves. One had a shield and one had the same arm holding a severed head. For me they are neither one complete unit, nor two smaller ones. In the end I have gone for a unit of 5 archers, which includes the standard bearer and musician, and a unit of 5 armed with melee weapons which includes both leader types, but I've added a couple of shields (one of which I press moulded as it was going on the back of the model so didn't have to be perfect, adn I was getting carried awy with the milliput by then - the next scenic base I do is going to be covered in tiny putty mushrooms) from an earlier WFB orc and gobbo set, so at least all 5 have a shield. I also thought that one severed head was enough. Others may disagree.

 

The 5 Archers. No obvious bend in the repaired banner pole so I'm happy enough with that.

Only the banner bearer has a replacement tail. You can tell, but not so much that it is a problem.

The 5 with melee weapons. One thing that is alwasy going to annoy me about these is that they just don't rank up well

From behind you can tell which have the reaplacement tails (apologies for the wonky photo)

In an aerial shot you can really tell the difference between the earlier moulded tail (far left) and the last version (dead center).

Close up of the press moulded shield. a little ropey, but good enough for a first try at shields.

Again, I've really enjoyed the challenge of the monthly painting theme - this one has pushed me to try new techniques that should be the staple fair of any accomplished modeller, so I feel like I've got some important practice in re: press moulding and drilling and pinning. It has been quite time consuming though, I've not really got much else done this month, miniatures wise (although I have been very busy painting and reparing scenery). I'm looking forward to the next painting theme. There was a suggestion on the Middlehammer fb page it should be sports themed, given it is a Summer of Sport yet again this year, if that does get chosen then I've already got something in mind, but it will be a lot more straight forward and less time consuming than this bunch!

Before you leave, let's take one last look at the whole rabble enjoying a bank holiday ride in the Elven countryside. They've been busy scouting for the Forces of Evil (TM) in our ongoing WHFB4 campaign Crisis in Caledor! Hopefully you'll pop back for the next battle report in the series.

Thanks for stopping by!

Here they are all together, racing down the road looking forward to a trough full of Pedigree Chum.

These Gobbos have been scouting the area around this Elven watchtower. Luckily for them the Elves were all watching the tennis and not the road.

Mayday! Mayday! - Middlehammer monthly painting theme

Hi all,

In a perfect follow up to my last entry this post is about the Middlehammer group's monthly painting theme for May 2016, and it is a cracker!

The trick with a theme like this is for it to be focussed enough to give it meaning but also broad enough to allow enough people to get involved. Mark Evans has been fiendishly clever in hitting that balance perfectly, whilst combining all the things I love about painting themes (see my last post if you're interested) with this months' theme of Mayday! Mayday!

The idea is to rescue a long forgotten (neglected) project or maybe a previous botched paint job - something that is badly in need of some TLC - blow off the dust and cob webs (this can literally be true in the case of some things in my lead pile, I was picking wood lice husks out of a box of random pre-slottas earlier on today... yuck) and get it finished by the end of the month.

There have already been some early starters, with Mark himself embarking on a project to finish some Shining Spear Eldar Aspect Warriors, fellow Middlehammerer Grant resurrecting a 15 year old paint job on a fearsome looking Ork Boss, and Craig from Sinders Miniature Painters posting some pics of a beautifuly painted Squat in Exo Armour with aims of completing the rest of the accompanying squad - can't wait for more of those Craig!

I'm going to try and rescue some later edition (not sure which?) plastic Goblin Wolfriders that I bought as a bit of a junk lot from e-bay ages ago. Lots of repairs needed here (broken banner pole, missing tails on a couple of wolves, broken and missing lower arm on one of the goblins etc...) and paint job is more like damage (no undercoat before slapping on paint to thickly in places, and then just brown glaze on naked plastic in other places), but I'm not going to bother stripping them, just try and renovate to basic table top standard. That was always going to be the plan with these. We've already used them in our WHFB4 campaign Crisis in Caledor and they were frankly letting the side down in their current state. This was in keeping with their disappointing performance on field, being some of the only casualties in the greenskins near total victory in Battle #2. So, they need to be given a bit of a make over to restore their morale apart from anything else.

The first task is to try and match the basing material that has been applied to three of the ten models, so I've been out in the garage to start that off. No time to waste!

Here you can see the three that came with weird granules already attached. I'm guessing it's immiation sand/gravel, for people who can't be bothered drying out builders sand in their oven, and having to remind their wives that it is not a batch of garlic breadcrumbs and no she shouldn't put some on the lasagne...

Luckily I had done exactly all of those things earlier today, so I had plenty of sand available to try and match the basing material for the other seven.

And in a really blurry mobile phone picture you can only just about really obviously still tell the difference... never mind. I'll slap some green paint on and that should hide a multitude of sins.

April Fools! - Goblin Doom Diver

So, it turns out I love a good online monthly pun based painting theme...

You know, like the now well established 'Orctober'? Or the very successful 'Deadcember' theme on the Oldhammer Community page (my contribution to Deadcember can be viewed here, I missed 'Vermember' 2015 sadly, but have some old school plastic skaven lined up and waiting for this year), or my less successful Middlehammer entry to 'Slannuary' of 5th Edition Saurus warriors (not too much of a stretch that one, but not quite Oldhammer enough)?

The ever approachable Mark Evans, of Middlehamer and Animosity Wargaming infamy, and I had been having a bit of a chat about possible themes for the Middlehammer group and the role they can play in building the community. Sadly I was unable to join in with the Middlehammer facebook group's March for March theme (where you had to paint a regiment of infantry) because life stuff happened, but I thought it was a great idea to motivate us to get a whole block of troops done! I hope to join in next year if it runs again, although I'd also like to suggest 'Imperial March' as a possible theme. It would allow both Fantasy and Rogue Trader/40k fans to get involved (themes need to be nice and inclusive!), and it tips a nod to a certain much loved Sci Fi franchise ;)

Do you have any ideas for a painting theme? The more terrible the pun the better! If so post them up as suggestions on the Middlehammer fb page and see what the feedback is like. I guess at least a months' notice for everybody is a good idea...

Anyway, this month's Middlehammer painting theme was right up my alley - April Fools!

I have been really enjoying painting fantasy non-combatants recently, and there is plenty one might choose in that vein, but that would really be more in keeping with Oldhammer than Middlehammer I feel (only my opinon - not looking to start that argument here!). No, for something that really said 'MH' it could olnly be the drug crazed lunacy of the Goblin Doom Diver!

Here he is, the loveable little nut job.

These are iconic to me of WHFB 4th edition Goblins, plus I'd recently purchased one for my growing greenskin horde which is being used in our WHFB4 campaign Crisis in Caledor (look out for new Battle Report soon, with greatly improved pictures and scenery), and I like to use the monthly themes to spur me to get things painted that are either directly related to current projects, or stand a very high chance of actually being used in a game in the near future where possible.

I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to work on my basing, which is one of my Hobby Resolutions for 2016, so in keeping with the background of the unit I decided to include some tiny putty mushrooms. It was only the second time I had ever bothered to do this for a base, the first being approx 20 years ago for Orion King of the Woods, who at the time was the most ambitious and successful paint job I'd ever completed.

I now really regret not swapping the base for the goblin with one facing forward, but can't be bothered to go back and change it as I'm keen to keep moving on with other projects.

Here are the two pieces with half their base coats on, and the bases worked up.

I actually studied some pictures of Fly Agaric mushrooms (Amantia Muscaria the classic red and white toadstools) and noted that the white dots are far from symetrical and certanly not rounded in shape, they are like little irregular flakes in fact, so I tried to capture that but am now worried it looks too much like poor brushmanship. After catching myself obsessing about the accuracy of markings on a tiny putty mushroom less than a centimetre in diameter, I first realised how far I had come in my hobbying since deciding to get back into it properly last year, and then thankfully got over myself and moved on with the painting of the actual models.

A view of the two pieces in progress. Note the naturalistic markings on the Toadstools. NOTE THEM DAMN YOU!

Here you can see the attempts at different finishes on the metal work. The workings of the wheel are deliberatley more grimey whcih I think works. Not sure about the bronze hand in the end as it possible fades into the brown a bit too much.

I decided early on that I wanted the catapult to use fairly muted and realistic colours, so went for a controlled pallette of browns and dark metallics. For example, I used bubonic brown with a flesh wash for the 'elastic' as I imagine this to be made from some monstrous body byproduct, the alchemically treated and stretched pizzle of a manticore perhaps? I used Boltgun metal over black for most of the metal, using more flesh wash (slightly glossier than brown ink) to create a greasy, rusty run off sort of look around the axle and outer wheel fixings, while I tried to create some variation by using a Tin Bitz and Shining Gold to make the hand gripping the arms of the catapult appear a dull bronze, which also ties in to other elements of my existing forces. There IS quite a lot of RED in my greenskin horde, but this is balanced by grubby, muddy tones in many places overall to make feature colours stand out and to add realism. In this case it also serves to allow the Goblin whackjob to take centre stage with a more colourful look to fit the April Fools! theme.

I'm pretty happy with the muted and realistic colour scheme on the catapult, although I might make some changes were I to do it again.

Next time I'd probably go for a naturalistic look on all the skulls to break up the monotony of metal and wood.

I wanted the goblin to really bring home the April Fools! theme so had always intended hm to be wearing some form of Jesters' motley. I decided on simple red and yellow quarters, the red to fit in with the rest of the army, and the dirty yellow being a nice counterpoint but still well within the Greenskin's preferred MH colour spectrum. Any rope and wood was given the same treatment of Snakebite Leather or Bestial Brown followed by dark brown/black ink across both pieces to help tie them in, the dark bronze and iron colours were also repeated on the goblin. The Goblin flesh was a very simple job but one I'm really happy with, Snot green base coat, orc flesh wash, Snot Green hightlights, then mixing in Badmoon Yellow to finish. Worm purple for the tongue, bleached bone for the teeth, and blood red eyes as always.

I'm really happy with how the face turned out in particular.

I wanted to keep the wings dark so the jester's costume would stand out, but not brown or black, so I opted to mix my own very dark blue-purple-black, which was then washed down with blue ink. I should have done more work to highlight this with some of the Liche Purple I used in the mix, but again I didn't want to take away from the jester's garb so kept it muted.

I think this view shows it is lacking a few highlights on the metal and the wings, but I'm fairly happy with the execution of the colour scheme I had planned.

The two finished elements together.

Still need to work on those bases though...

I'm pretty chuffed overall with this piece, and I certainly enjoyed it immensely. I also doubt I'd have even started it let alone finished it during April without idea being spurred by the Middlehammer painting theme. This fool is now ready to make an appearance in our WHFB4 campaign alot earlier than otherwise, so it shows what good motivation a Monthly painting theme can provide!

 
Although sadly I've not seen too many others posting their own contributions, that is part of why more themes would be really good to encourage more community content from the Middlehammerers, so I hope you've enjoyed this post and that we see more themes and more contributions in the future!

Beakie! Beakie! Beakie!

Yes, I know the Robot's name was actually Twiki, but allow me some poetic licence

No this is not a mispronounced exclamation of support for the Robot from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, although if you want I could totally do a blog post on that!? No, oh OK... I'll carry on with this post about the Oldhammer Community's Beakie Week then.

For those who didn't know this last week saw the 30th Anniversary of the launch of the iconic Space Marines from GW. Now, love them or loathe them for what they came to represent in terms of the Grimdark takeover and the narrowing of the range of GW games and models, their success and appeal is undeniable, and for me, like many, the Mark VI or 'Beakie' Power Armoured marines of the original releases are the still the best. 'Beakie Week' is a celebration of their 30th Anniversary and all things Beakie!


This is my contribution. The painting is strictly table top standard only, but here are some of my MkVI Fire Angels (veterans of the Badab War, first seen in Rt Compendium).

Glowing LED fire/smoke thing by AVP Shaun

Ruins by my mate Big Dave, the Scenery Savant.

Their 'Manta' class Speeder Gunship has been shot down by enemy fire! Techmarines are trying to affect repairs, while Apothecaries from the 1st and 10th companies scan the surrounding area using auspex and photon search light. With typical discipline and tactical acumen a combat squad of veterans prepares to defend the crash site - but what brought them down?

The pilots are from the Fire Angels 8th company Test Pilot corps. The models are the crew from the RT Land Speeder. Let's not talk about what happened to their legs to fit them into that cockpit, but please don't ask them to stand up.

The Apothecaries are from the 1st Company (on the right, converted with a simple backpack swap with the later Mk VII Apothecary, which I think works really well with the pose of the older sculpt)

The techmarine in this pic is a conversion from RTB01 legs and the body of the techmarine jet bike rider. The Giant drill is from the Orc Battle Wagon set I think?

Veteran marines adopt defensive positions, covering the specialists at work.

Turns out it was some Traitor scum! Squads of Black Legion and Alpha Legion advance, while a seditious Word Bearer lurks in the cover of the nearby ruins...

Traitor Marines spring their ambush, luckily the heavy weapons that downed the Manta are nowhere to be seen (because they are carried by Mk VII marines, who are keeping respectfully out of sight).

Alpha Legion marines move out from behind cover to engage the Fire Angels. The Word Bearer seems less keen, but shouts encouragement from the ruins.

Black Legion/occassional Traitor Flesh Tearers eagerly charge into combat with the hated loyalists

I painted up a number of small squads of traitor marines for use both as part of a larger Chaos Marine Army, and for GMs use as enemy 'crews' in our currently lapsed multi level 40K/Epic/Inquisimunda campaign 'Vortigan V'- many of which are rescue and repair jobs from other half finsihed and terrible paintjobs and conversions either from e-bay job lots, donations from friends over the years, or my own bits box. I've only shown the Mk VI ones here but there are some Mk VII examples too, traitor Blood Angels and Successor chapter marines who have been tempted away from the light of the Emperor by the perniious scheming of the Word Bearer you can see skulking in the background in the pictures. We also have some Alpha Legion tactical marines, and a close combat squad of Black Legion (who sometimes double as Traitor Flesh Tearers). These were converted with a nod towards those early Mk VI conversions from the modelling section of the Rogue Trader book.

A slightly better shot of the Manta Speeder-Gunship (there is a solitary MK VII marine in the turret, but we wont mention him)

The Fire Angels' 'Manta' class Speeder-Gunship, as some of you will no doubt recognise, is a conversion of an old 1980s plastic toy from the Manta Force range.

Manta Force, in all it's 80s glory!

This is what it looked like all neatly packed away, which must have been a very rare sight indeed. I can see why someone's mum marked the occassion with a photo.

A conversation with a fellow Oldhammerer on fb led me down memory lane with Manta Force and reminded me of previous plans to gather more examples from the range to convert for use in RT/40K. Hopefully my ebay bidding does not get out of control!

Thanks for visiting! There will definitely be more posts about my Fire Angels in the future, and hopefully some more Manta Force conversions to show you, so I hope you come back :)