Monday 28 September 2015

Rogue Quest Level Two: The Barbarian


If you're not a reader of JB/Asslessman's Leadplague (and why not?!), you're probably asking yourself right about now:

"What on earth is Rogue Quest?"

A good question indeed! Rogue Quest is a little project that JB and I are jointly working on, to port the a classic Dungeon Adventuring party into a sci-fi setting, using Rogue Trader and Confrontation influences.

Confrontation artwork by Tony Ackland


Between now and Christmas, we have both taken it upon ourselves to steadily build 6 person-strong adventuring parties, set around the classic adventurer archetypes:

  • Barbarian
  • Bard
  • Cleric
  • Fighter
  • Magic User
  • Paladin
  • Ranger
  • Rogue / Thief
JB kicked the project off in style with his gritty fighter with custom-sculpted head by Kev Adams. This week, it's my turn to share the first member of my Rogue Quest party.


One of my aims for the project is to figures that are not only suitable for the archetype, but which might not otherwise get painted. My first figure is an old pre-slotta Amazon that I've had sitting around for a while, with the vague idea that she would eventually become part of a gang of feral spacers.


I selected Koka-Kalim for my Barbarian (catalogue page from Stuff of Legends).

Dy-ana totes a sleek pistol, which is perfect for the setting, but also has a very tribal outfit, with exotic hair, feathers and trim to her skirt.


Barbarians in the Dungeons and Dragons setting are characterised by raw fury and feral alertness, speed and endurance. Dy-ana lacks obvious physical strength, which is one of the other key barbarian characteristics, but I figure the feral / tribal elements are obvious nonetheless.


I'll be honest here - this is only the second or third pre-slotta figure that I can recall ever painting, and the sculpt is a jumble of lovely details (dress, face), mixed up with some rather dodgy elements (arms in particular). Overall though, I'd say that the character shines through, and allows you to overlook the less well-defined parts!


Dy-ana's eye make-up/warpaint was directly copied from the delicious Amazons painted up by Thantsants over at Somewhere the tea's getting cold. I liked the design a lot, so replicated it.


I had fun with the paint scheme, which is a translation of the artwork from the cover of the Second Citadel Compendium. The bright colours seem to work really well with the figure, giving her a lot more pop than if I'd painted her in neutral tans and browns.

Cover of the Second Citadel Compendium, from Stuff of Legends.
 
I've now got a fortnight to work on the next member of my adventuring party. You can check out Rogue Quest Level Three over at Leadplague at some point next week. But what I would do, if I was you, would be to rummage in the leadpile and see what suitable figures I had for an adventuring party of my own!
 
See also:
 

18 comments:

  1. This is an exciting project, and one I will follow with much anticipation :D

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    1. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun to work in a structure yet unconstrained fashion. I usually to the latter, but the former escapes me ;)

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  2. She is wonderful ! It' strue the left arm looks rather peculiar now that you mention it but the overall lok is splendidly heroic and therefore perfect for the goal.
    That means I've got to paint my next entry doesn't it ?
    Inviting peopl eto build their own party is clearly th ebest move here, it's only a small party of diverse models so you can't really go wring here !

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    1. It's probably best not to look at her arms. She might take offense!

      Yes - you've got to build and paint your next one now, but I guess you've got plenty of time and the next figure is lined up, ready to go :)

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  3. Nice painting Jon, and certainly a different approach to the "Barbarian" trope than I would have taken.

    This is a great idea for a project, and who doesnt love a dungeoncrawl, or better, a sci-fi dungeoncrawl.

    Is this a weekly thing now, one a week, two a week, what? Or is there simply a single deadline for the entire project?

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    1. Thanks Paul. I could have happily gone with something like a Necromunda Goliath ganger or similar male beefcake, but this figure just caught my eye among the various options.

      This is weekly project, with JB and I taking alternate updates, so individually we are doing one every other week. At least, that's the plan!

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  4. Lovely figure, and what a neat idea! Would you guys mind if I jumped on the band wagon? This looks like fun!

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    1. Jump on board by all means - I'd love to see what other figures can be generated :)

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  5. Very cool Jon,

    I like the homage to the Compendium.... she sure is a terrible aim isn't she? :D

    I didn't realise that the old Amazon's came with one of them equipped with a las pistol.

    I'm keen to see where you two end up with this project :)

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    1. I think two of the Amazons have pistols actually - there's another pointing and aiming, although the sculpt isn't quite as nice.

      She's a shocking aim, but then that's what you get trying to use advanced tech when you're from a feral world ;)

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  6. This looks exciting. I heartily approve of the colour scheme on Dy-ana.

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    1. Thanks David. Your Judgement Day project with Paul has been very inspirational. Hopefully we can do something in similar vein.

      Glad the colour scheme meets with approval!

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  7. Great work, and a very interesting project. Techno-barbarian is particularly apt, since both the GW Amazons and the original D&D setting are post apocalyptic, with barbarous survivors picking up technology they do not understand.

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    1. I really enjoy that concept of feral folk using technology beyond their understanding...it makes for an interesting idea. GW have visited it numerous times, with the Orks, Gorkamorka Muties, and fantasy Slann. You could argue that the concept also applies to the 40k Imperium to a degree :)

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  8. Nice work. So when are we playing this? ;-)

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    1. Excellent point! Calendars need to be checked :)

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  9. Just caught up the project and checked JB's blog. Sirs, you are delightfully insane! You totally got my full attention for what you are doing here. I need more! More of this!!

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    1. It's all about the fun! Making it a collaborative, jointly motivating project seemed like a great idea :)

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