Waaagh Rogue Trader!

Something I did manage in 2019 was to add a pile of new painted models to my Rogue Trader era collection...

These models are original, purchased in brick and mortar stores decades ago. They've been biding their time in various boxes and cupboards, moved from home to home, waiting to release the Waaagh!

I think I'm going to add a base to the buggy. Even though that's not how it was done back in the day, it makes sense to protect the model and make it blend in with the rest of the collection.

I still have another 20-30 Orks, another buggy, and an Ork Dreadnought tucked away. I'd like to get another Dreadnought to be able to build the second variant. Hopefully I can get around to adding them to the painted pile this year.

So far, I've been avoiding anything after the Book of the Astronomicon (1988). Apart from an Oldhammer Orc Shaman (Ork Psyker) and the prospect of converting some 'captured' Bullock Jet-Cycles, Landspeeders, or Vincent Blackshadow Bikes, there aren't a lot of options. It might be time to hunt for one of the old Battlewagon kits for a centerpiece and venture into the 1990-91 era of plastic arms for things like Madboyz and Stormboyz... hmm... I think have some of those original metal Ork jump packs around here somewhere. I still feel like the three Ork books fit into the Rogue Trader era, but the aesthetic of the models changed. There's a lot of variety in the originals so it will probably be fine, but I'll have to actually paint up a few to see (yes, I have a pile of those too).

Stay tuned...

Happy 2020

I'm not doing a retrospective for last year - my post count was dismal even though I managed to paint quite a bit. I just haven't been taking photos. I mean to set up a game table in the near future and just throw my entire Rogue Trader collection on the table in a massive scrum.

In the meantime, I've had this model on my desk for a while now - the BOYL 2018 Null Steersman, sculpted by John Pickford. No, sadly, I wasn't able to attend, but I know people.. IMPORTANT people. Ahem.. anyway, something moved me to make the model the first addition to my collection for the new year.

For those who don't know, this model was inspired from sketches developed for Space Fleet by Jes Goodwin. Will Beck was commissioned to create a new concept sketch for the model based on those.

When I first got my hands on the model, I sat down and made my own drawing to work out the color scheme, based on Will's original art.

I just new hazard stripes had to come into somewhere! In my Rogue Trader universe, this lad will join the crew of the Rogue Trader, Marco Steelknife. If he's good, he might be able to get in on the away team aboard Natasha's Luck..

I hope to post a little more often in 2020, but I maintain three other blogs and my mood isn't always the determining factor in deciding which one gets the most attention!

ORKTOBER!

I've painted a pile of these old ork models recently, but only had a few minutes to take photos. I want to try and set up some proper scenery and lights to get some action shots, but there's no guarantee it will happen in Orktober, so 'ere we go...

Hopefully more soon! Maybe I'll even be able to get in a game...

Space Ork Raiders

The Space Ork Raiders set is quite possibly the first 40k models I ever purchased. Thrugg Bullneck and Hhruk featured in many of my early games.

The box featured four unique models (Thrugg, Hhruk, a squad leader, and heavy bolt gun) and 13 Ork Boyz with bolt guns. I've made attempts to paint a few in the past, but the results were poor. I'm setting out to not only paint this set, but the thirty or forty others I have in my collection. I also have an RT era buggy still in it's original hard plastic package. If I can manage to paint these, I'll start hunting eBay for the RT era grots, buggies, wartraks and dreadnoughts to add some variety to the force.

Here's my test model. I'm painting these guys pre-clan books, so no Goffs, Bad Moons, etc. I'll be painting them similar to the original adverts as is usual for my Rogue Trader collection.

Hopefully many more to come..

8-Ball

I ordered this model the day Wargames Foundry released the pack and have just now got around to painting him!

I'm really on a RT kick at the moment and I have a whole pile of models on the way. Stay tuned..

Rogue Trader Adventurers

Finally...

Ever since first seeing the ad in White Dwarf, it was a dream to own the entire collection of Rogue Trader Adventurers. It was back in the dark days before the internet (the horror) and mail order overseas was a pain. The closest store to carry Games Workshop models was nearly two hours away from my home and it was difficult for them to maintain a full selection. It was often hit or miss when I had the chance to make the trek. Add to that the limited disposable income of a student (oh, how I wish they were still 5 for £2.50) and you will see the challenge. Even with all this, more than half of these models were purchased during those years. Few were actually painted and even fewer found their way to the game table. They were packed away and shuffled from home to home, until I rediscovered the treasure horde a few years ago. With the magic of eBay, at long last I was able to complete this set - and possibly more surprising, I managed to paint them all!

I created this poster to pay homage to the ad that fired my imagination and celebrate the completion of a project which has taken thirty one years to realize...

 

That's mine on the left (click on the pics to see the full size) and I've add the original so you can compare them. There are a few conversions in my collection. Many of the paint schemes were taken directly from the ad, though a handful are my own. Since the photos were taken at different times the angles vary so my poster doesn't have the more regimented look of the original. There are also some variations in color balance and lighting (the bases should all be the same color). Ah, well - I'm not going to let these minor things spoil the contentment of completing this collection.

All but a few have already been featured on this blog, but here are the final seven models...

It's been too long since I've painted anything from this era (or painted much of anything really), but finishing this group has me digging through my piles of old lead. Hopefully things will be a bit more active around here going forward.

Abdul Goldberg

Every Rogue Trader collection needs an Abdul Goldberg...

For some reason, this model has always been that smarmy character to me - the bare chest, furry pimp vest, and gold chains. I painted this model last year, but he never made it to the blog...

Happy New Year

So here is the first Rogue Trader model of 2018...

NEVER been a fan of these style britches and I almost took clippers and file to them, but decided against it. I think I'm going to go back in and repaint the coat into a dark bomber jacket with a cream colored collar because sitting here looking at the pic I don't like it at all. I only need to paint seven more adventurers to finally finish this collection...

Psyker
Squat Engineer
Squat Miner
Test-bed Slave
Scum
Astropath Korm
Eldar Trader

I could paint these in a few days if I get myself motivated.

2017 was a dismal year for me as far as Oldhammer and Rogue Trader were concerned. I only painted around thirty models in these collections and over half of those were part of the Old World Army Challenge in November and December. I have around fifty models to go for that project so I should easily eclipse that total this year and I AM going to finish the adventurers range. Hopefully 2018 will be a better year of old school goodness...

Happy New Year!

Rogue Trader Female Warriors

Two more models for the collection - Jayne and Gabs!

Female Warrior Jayne

Female Warrior Gabs

I haven't decided if these are Daughters of the Emperor or renegades who acquired power armor. In Rogue Trader, renegades were not necessarily spawns of chaos, nor was power armor the sole property of the Adeptus Astartes.

I'm not thrilled with how the checks turned out which is why I didn't bother painting them on the top of the thigh plates too as in the originals. I'm pretty good at such patterns, but trying to paint checkerboard freehand along a curve is a nightmare. I may just black these out and paint a simple single pattern of gold and white or something. but they are done for now.

Eight models to go...

Rogue Trader Imperial Scout

This is a model I actually started over two years ago. It was suppose to be part of an Oldhammer Legacy Warband project I was taking part in. I could have painted this in a couple of days, but because the deadline for the project was so far away, I kept putting off finishing it.

Then my wife passed away on June 27th, 2015. Of course, I kinda stopped everything related to the hobby for a while. Even when I returned to painting, the model just sat on the desk. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to finish the damn thing.

Well, that came to an end yesterday. Pretty much all it needed were the metallics and a couple of highlights and I decided it was time to finish this.

Obviously this is one of the instances where I chose to deviate from the original model color scheme. I also did some minor conversion work, replacing the left hand which held a flamer pistol with a sword taken from a plastic eldar (a harlequin I think) which reinforced the fact that this guy was sporting a shuriken pistol and obviously hanging out with treacherous aliens (or maybe at least killing them).

More minis on the way - I primed the rest of the set this afternoon and hope to get a couple more finished by the weekend.

Rogue Trader Space Amazon

It's been a stupid long time since I've actually painted any Rogue Trader stuff (or much of anything really). I've been busy with real life (for some reason I keep getting bills in the mail and I have to have a real job to keep up with them) and working on another book, Beneath the Lily Banners: The War of Three Kings (due out this fall). This weekend I walked into my studio and looked at the mess on the painting table and spotted one of the RT Adventurers sitting there already primed...

Governess Celene

For me this is one of the iconic models from the era. All it took was a few hours work. Hopefully this gives me the incentive to get back on this project. There's another model from this set on my desk that's been half finished for two years - maybe I'll paint that today.

My foray through the Rogue Trader Adventurers set has alternated between my own color schemes and trying to duplicate the studio collection from the 80's. In this case, I decided to try and capture the scheme from the original painting by John Blanche (of course).

This was challenging because of all of the textures. For the most part I had to be content with just a hint of these details because the areas were so small. The stockings were painted by painting the legs bare, then adding several layers of 2:1 washes of Lhamia Medium and Nuln Oil. These were carefully applied so as not to let them puddle as I didn't really want the recesses any darker - I handled the shading with the skin tones. Then I went back in with black and painted the top of the stocking trim and added a hint of the patterns from the painting. Finally I went back with my flesh tones and tried to portray a few rips in the fabric. The leopard print sleeves, zebra stripped loin cloth, and polka dot kerchief were all painted with a small Citadel Articifer layer brush that I reserve for such work. I'm pretty happy with the results!

I've got the Imperial Scout and pair of Female Warriors (power armored hellions named Jayne and Gabs) lined up next and I hope to find the time (sigh... and motivation) to add them to the completed pile this week. I'm only about a dozen models short of finishing the set and I could have them all done by the end of the month.

Hold my beer...

More Rogue Trader Adventurers

This year I am going to finish my RT Adventurers collection... no, really...

Mugga Hoss, Space Pirate

Natasha, Imperial Assassin

Leonardo, Renegade Cyborg

Lots more of these models on my painting table. Rogue Trader will be the focus of most of my Oldhammer work this year. It's time to roll up a new random scenario from the RT rule book too. No, I never really got around to playing the scenarios I rolled the last two years (story of my hobby life), but they DID form the basis for my collecting, painting, and modeling. I'm only lacking a dozen models from my Adventurer series and I could paint those in a couple of weeks given the right motivation. After that I'll see about the new scenario...

Rogue Trading

My debit card has been deteriorating with growing cracks cutting into the magnetic strip. I still had two years left before I was due to automatically receive a new one so I went online to place an order and stumbled on the ability to request a card with a custom image...

How freakin' cool is that? Like all things of this nature, you have to submit an appropriate image, promise that it's not copyrighted, etc. Your submission has to be approved by a live person so the process takes a few days. With literally hundreds of images I could choose from, I decided to grab something from the last few weeks. The image fit well into the negative space around all of the important business bits. Apparently if decide I want something different, all I have to do is go back to the site and request another card (for a small fee of course).

We live in remarkable times!

Rogue Trader Adventurers

Next up, a couple more models for ship's crew, the Old Pirate and Pilot Rav.

There are lots of scenarios in the Rogue Trader book that include space ports or fights for space craft (yes, more space ship conversions on the way to go with Natasha's Luck).

Rogue Trader Adventurers

Up next, the Mad Punk, destined to be a crewman for one of my space ships...

... and an Imperial Official. This model will be one my Administratum pulled into the defense of the Astropaths in the Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV scenario.

Rogue Trader Adventurers

Next up, is one of my favorite adventurer models, the Hive Ganger.

... and here's another of the half naked guys for the ladies... seriously, dude, the guy above you has a chainsword for Emperor's sake!

More on the way...

Rogue Trader Control Towers

Well that WAS easy and I am well satisfied with the results!

The first coat of paint was dark hammered brass that also contained a subtle texture. After that was dry, I sprayed the towers with a yellow ochre from a 3/4 angle above which left the undersides of details a bit darker for quick shadows. Then I painted in a few details, mostly metallic bits and did one drybrush highlight on the walls - I think it was Foundry Sand 10B, but it will vary depending on the shade of your base coat. I kept these as accents to a minimum as the original buildings I am copying are pretty monotone.

Next up was an oil dot filter... if you're unfamiliar with this technique it's basically what it sounds like. Apply oil paint - in this case I used black, burnt umber, burnt sienna, ochre (this one may seem redundant over this base, but it blends with the other colors to add variety), blue, and white - in small dots scattered across the model. Then use a clean brush and apply mineral spirits to the model, drawing the brush in vertical strokes to mimic runoff. There are lots of tutorials online. You get some wonderful random effects and it's hard to mess this up - if you get too much grime, just add more mineral spirits and a sponge to remove it. The hardest part about using this the first time is getting up the nerve to randomly splatter you model with paint! Finally, I use black weathering powder to accent all of the bullet holes.

That two tone look between sections in the photo above is an illusion - the angled walls catch the light differently, making some look darker...

The windows are just the clear plastic. At first I thought this would look cheesy, but the interior has enough shadow to make the windows appear opaque and they reflect the ambient light of the room for a very realistic appearance. They also lack the texture of the walls and have a slight recessed look to aid in the illusion they are a different substance.

Something I forgot to do was highlight all of the cracks I scored in the plastic. I could do it now, but they might look strange on top of the weathering. Oh, well, one point of this project was quick and dirty and they look great on the tabletop...

Well, now what? This challenge didn't take long, was super easy, and fun... Maybe I'll get the chance to put something else together this month. Anyway, still looking forward to seeing what other people come up with!