Servants of Mars

It's been a long time since I've been able to turn my attention to Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV. I'm RT mode right now, so I'm going to run with it as long as I have the urge. Part of the defenders in the scenario come from the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus...

The servitor looks positively demented. I have another servitor stewing in a stripper tub (man, that sounds like more fun than it actually is) and a squad of five Confrontation Tech Gangers that will serve as Skitarii. As the Tech Priest appear to be unarmed, I'm going to equip his staff with a shield generator of some sort to lend protection to all models within 6".

Psycho Sam

Ok, so not looking like a Goliath didn't go so well...

My original plan was to paint his skin in some sort of color pattern, but with all of the belts and straps the pattern I had in mind wasn't reading well. In the end I settled on a normal skin and concentrated on picking out the wealth of detail on the model.

Psycho Sam was fun to paint and I have no doubt he will be lending his shotgun in support on one side or the other of an upcoming Rogue Trader game.

Psycho Sam

At Historicon I had a chance to meet Airbornegrove and Bulldoglopez (pseudonyms used to protect the innocent or not as may be). They played some great looking Oldhammer games and you can see them all over at Give 'em Lead!

Mr. Grove kindly gave me one of the very rare Psycho Sam models and I am happy to say he is on the painting table. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with him which is exciting as I am often following a guide for much of my Rogue Trader collection. I want to avoid the Necromunda Goliath look so expect something... well, different.

Thanks, Thomas - finished model soon!

Historicon 2016

Ok, not Oldhammer or Rogue Trader, but I will be running a game set around a sally during the Siege of Derry in 1689 known as the Battle of Pennyburn Mill. The rules will be Beneath the Lily Banners and for those who don't know, I am half of the creative team for that ruleset (along with Republic to Empire and Donnybrook). My partner in these endeavors, Barry Hilton (if you ever read Wargames Illustrated you know who he is) is making the journey from Scotland to join me. A good thing too as I am TERRIBLE at remembering rules! I'm liable to just tell you to throw some dice, pretend to figure in modifiers, and judge the results by the number of 1's and 6's I see (just kidding... well, mostly).

The shot above shows about half of the 4x8' table I built specifically for the event. The trees in the upper right corner don't go there. There is a low wall and a camp near that spot, but I was too lazy to dig those bits out and the trees looked good for the photo. If this is the first you are hearing of this, there are months of posts, WiP shots of the table, features on the unit and more at the League of Augsburg blog (of which I am also partially in charge of). There's a 'Historicon 2016' tag is you scroll down to labels - currently at 22 posts and maybe a few more over the next couple of weeks...

The game is small for BLB with 87 models for the attackers (plus a small ship with two guns on the side of the board you can't see here) and 113 models for the defenders (coming on in waves - they are terribly outnumbered initially). Most of the models are painted my me, though we have some detachments of single models that Barry commissioned as neither of us had the time to paint the additional models needed. I'm in the process of basing them all know so they will fit in well with the rest of the collection. I kept the scenario small to allow for a conclusion to be reached during the four hour session which will also include time for teaching the basics of the rules). The game is designed for three players per side, but if all of the games are full and extra people show up and want to get in on the action, we'll figure out what to do with them!

I know from Facebook and several other forums and blogs that several Oldhammerers (?) and Rogue Traders will be there and trying to get in some games. I regret that I don't think I'll be up for more games after eight hours plus set up and take down every day (don't think it will be safe to leave everything in the venue for long), but I'll try to stop by a game or two and bring some models to show off. I guess we'll figure out how to meet up somehow - maybe on the Oldhammer in the New World Facebook page? Certainly I hope everyone gets the change to come by the League of Augsburg/Quindia Studios game. I'll be the guy with the ponytail. If you introduce yourself and I look at you funny, try your blogger name - then I'll know who you are!

I am seriously looking forward to this! I'll be back to some proper wargame projects after Historicon...

Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team

More models for Last Stand at Brandons Star IV!

My initial intention was to use Citadel's old Judge Dredd line for my Adeptus Arbites. However, when I dug them out of the cave they have languished in for decades, I discovered they were waaaay to small to go with the rest of the models. They are nearer true 25mm and while I'm not completely hung up on small differences in scale, these models were a head shorter than most of the others - not something to inspire fear among the citizenry!

Undeterred, I dug through my collection and found these Citadel Paranoia Security Guards and decided they would do nicely. I wish they made more of these. I may get a second set and try a little more drastic conversion work to build them from a 'team' to a 'squad'. I might also look at Warlord's Judge Dredd line - the sculpting seems to have a certain Rogue Trader charm, but again I'd have to see about how they fit in scalewise (anyone have some of these?). I managed a few quick weapon swaps with Bolt Pistols and a Plasma Gun to seat them more firmly in the Rogue Trader universe.

I chose to paint them in a scheme inspired by Judge Dredd rather than the more modern black and white. To tone down the garish combination a bit, I chose a green that had more of a blue tone and substituted a more earthy terracotta for the red. I am well pleased with the results and they should look great on the table! Their armour should give them a little more staying power than the average rebel model...

The Imperial force is taking shape. The models I've collected so far...

1 Astropath

1 Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team (3 models)

1 Adeptus Mechanicus
1 Tech Priest
2 Servitors
1 Skitarri Security Squad (5 models)
1 Robot

The Imperials will also have several scribes and administrators that will probably be of little use in combat, but may serve as shields for the Astropath! I intend to work out a rough point total and then work out the rebels. They outnumber the Imperials three to one, but are mostly standard humans. If I need to add models to the Imperials, I can always pull Marko Steelknife and his crew out for reinforcements!

Astropath Malconius Bell

I finally got around to painting a few models for my next Rogue Trader Scenario, Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV.

First up is the Astropath around whom the game centers, Malconius Bell...

I think I spent all of an hour painting this guy, I used Wargames Foundry Boneyard for his skin with a wash of GW Carroburg Crimson under the eyes to give him an unhealthy pallor. Originally I painted the eyes as normal, but he looked much more haunted and haunting with black pools of the warp staring out from his face so I went back and painted out the whites. The sculpted eye sockets are so deep it was hard to get them to look right anyway so I think was better.

I chose to make him a minor hero so he wasn't too much of a badass. I mainly need him sending the alarm through the warp, but his psychic abilities may be necessary for defense as well.

More Imperials soon!

Frostgrave

Like many among the Oldhammer community, I've taken a liking to Frostgrave which has a very retro D&D feel to me. I posted these oldschool style roster sheets a while back on my Quindia Studios blog, but thought I might post them here for those who may not frequent my other site...

They are designed to be printed double sided and folded in half. There is also a version in French...

My current warband led by his most awful majesty Madcap Toddlekin and is made from a mix of Reaper, Wargames Foundry, and Frostgrave models. I started with an apprentice named Kip, a barbarian called Urich, a thief named Raker, two crossbowmen, and four thugs. My first game saw Madcap rise to second level, earned the moniker 'Nine-Toes' for Kip, saw one of my crossbowmen taken out of action for the next game, and buried one of my thugs. I earned enough coin to replace the goon with a dead hard Captain named Bornad the Archer. So far I've only played one game as part of a campaign, but it was a lot of fun and we have the next round planned soon. I am also collecting a proper Oldhammer warband from vintage Citadel models as well. More on that in the future...