Rogue Trader Warband - Complete

 So here it is; I've pushed on to get the remaining members of the warband done - a hive worlder, an alien mercenary, a ventolin pirate and a conqueror class robot.

  I wanted the group to be as diverse as possible but still all tying in together (if that makes sense). I had intended to write up some fluff for them all and I will at some point (probably) but that sort of crap takes me ages and I haven't got the time at present as I'm keen to take on the next project.

 The Hive Worlder is one of my favourites from the 40k adventurers range with some really nice touches and detail. The alien is a conversion using a the head of a C48 gargoyle with the body of a 2000ad Klegg and the ventolin pirate is another nice sculpt but a tad rough in places. However, there is plenty of nice detail to him. Finally the conqueror robot who was the last I painted; I found him a bit of a chore actually and was a relief when he was eventually finished. I found the highlighting of the legs quite awkward where there are so many angles to them.

Hive Worlder

Alien Mercenary 

Ventolin Pirate 

Conqueror Robot

 So having managed to chalk a rogue trader warband off my list, I'm now focusing on what will be my 100th blog post which has been an idea for about 10 years or more now. It may take me some time and to be honest there has been some teething problems in its planning stage.

Rogue Trader Warband - Space Amazon & Space Pirate

 Funny how you can suddenly get on a roll....
 I've managed to bang out the first of the two followers of my converted rogue trader in reasonably quick time. Up first are two of my favourites from the 40k adventurers range - well actually all the members of this party are among my favourites from the range.

 So here we have the Space Amazon and Space Pirate.

 Like the rogue trader there'll be names and background to come; probably once all seven members are finished and I do a group post.

 The Space Amazon appears to be one of the more sought after models from this range. I'm not even sure who was responsible for sculpting her. I'm sure someone will help me out on that one.

 The Space Pirate is a variant of the Talisman counterpart (not sure who came first). I like the funny beaded necklace he's carrying; I'll probably give this some significance in his background when I get onto it.

The party begins to take shape

 The plan is to post the four remaining members of the gang in one hit which will be my 99th blog post so I can work on something special for the century.

Rogue Trader and Retinue Project - Underway

 I wouldn't call it a lost mojo exactly, more the case of trying out a few ideas and them not working. Over the last few weeks I haven't quite managed to get going with anything.

 The I decided to tackle something that has been sat on my desk in a resealable bag for about six months.

 For some time now I'd been keen on creating my own rogue trader and then his retinue. So here he is.

 I always found it odd that there was never an actual specific model made to represent one (stop me if I'm totally wrong here). There were one or two that could be used as ones of course but I wanted my own take on one.

 After a degree of trial and error I decided on using Erekose from the Eternal Champion range as a base model. The legs are from an Elf warrior. The right hand is from an Adeptus Arbites fig. His pet is of course one from the Chaos familiars range.

 As you can see from the WIP pics below I took quite a lot of lead off Erekose then it was a case of using my moderate modelling skills to sculpt the hair, greatcoat etc. The skulls on the boots are a mold press from the cap badge of a commissar.

The original Erekose figure

 Then with all the hard work done he was chucked in a bag and forgotten about, until now. I haven't decided on name or background yet but I'll get on with that as I work on his followers.

Mordheim Marienburg Captain

  With work full on at the moment and taking up seven days a week I've been struggling to find time to get any painting done. And here we have the start of yet another warband, this time from Marienburg.

 The plan is to have several on the go at one time. I've been planning a Marienburg warband for some time now and apart from trying to carefully select the figures to represent the group I've been obsessing over who to choose as its captain.

 Of course there are plenty to choose from in the citadel fighters, Dogs of War and Empire ranges but none of them seemed to stand out. It felt as if I was searching for something that didn't actually exist.

 I decided to delve into some of the more obscure ranges and there I spotted the merchant/gentleman figure from the vast selection of townsfolk. After missing out on him on ebay, I eventually managed to secure the next one that came along.

 Of course he needed a weapon to replace the scroll and to make matters trickier, he's left handed. Then began the long search for a left sword arm which proved to be a right pain in the arse; there aren't as many as you'd expect - plus it would need to cohere with his empire costume.
                   
                         
 Eventually I found a suitable donor in Adolf from the dogs of war range and trimmed his sleeve down a bit. I also had to re sculpt some of his left trouser where the scroll had been.

 I also had to try and overcome my hang up for painting yellow; many's the time I've abandoned a figure after being disappointed with my yellow efforts but this time I was happy with the outcome.

 So with the captain out of the way, I can relax a bit knowing that ghost has been laid to rest and get on with the rest of the group. I'll probably knock out another two or three before resuming with one of the other warband projects.

Chaos Warrior riding (Wingless) Toad Dragon

 This has been one of those pieces that has been cluttering up the desk for a few months now and I'd decided that nothing else will get my attention until it's sorted.
 The Citadel toad dragon has sat in my Chaos box for about 20 years since grabbing him in the GW trolley dash and had always foreseen it to carry some kind of rider.

 I think my main problem was finding a suitable rider as the dragon itself has been the best part of painted for a few weeks. I'd shortlisted a number of the Jes Goodwin Khorne champions to play the role and had even got half way through painting one I'd converted up but I ended up abandoning it.

 I decided to search elsewhere for the right candidate and as so often before, the AD&D range came to the rescue!

 It's probably because the bulk of the AD&D figs never made it to the later catalogues that I've often overlooked them as ideas for projects. So with a little careful bending and twisting this AD&D stage 2 Evil Fighter was just the job.

 There's no specific purpose to this fella really but he is versatile enough to fit into a future chaos warband or part of the ever growing horde of chaos. Plus he makes the desk just ever so slightly clearer.

Possessed Warband Update - The Possessed themselves!

 Okay, so possessed aren't renowned to have wings but hey, who gives a shit? This pair fit the aesthetics of my growing possessed warband.

 Both are Nick Bibby sculpts and from the C34 Elementals and Demons range; a Deamon (sic) and Pit Fiend respectively. I don't recall ever seeing either of these models painted before.

The warband grows

 The Deamon has a bit of a grim mould line across the wings but I can't really be arsed to do anything with it now.

 The Pit Fiend's skin was looking at little chalky (Rakarth Flesh/Pallid Wych Flesh) so I had to calm it down a bit with a very thin layer of Druchi Violet.

 So here I take a break from the possessed; roughly half way through. There are a few half finished projects beginning to clutter up the desk so it's time to sort that out.