Tuesday 11 June 2019

Traversing the Wastes - a Nomadic Rider

After all the pressure to get my chaos warband finished, I turned my attention to something in a different vein. The latest model I've completed is for another game at Bring Out Your Lead at Foundry in August - this time an Ash Wastes rider on his racing steed.




The game calls for a single mounted figure suitable for racing in the Ash Wastes. It was a perfect opportunity to make a figure that I've been planning for a long time now, ever since I bought the bizarre and exotic steed from eBay. I have completely forgotten what the steed is - I think it might be Grenadier (let me know if you know!) [EDIT: Richard Scott over at the Oldhammer FB group has identified the steed as a Crodlu from Ral Partha's AD&D Dark Sun range].


I added an old Citadel C33 Mounted Ranger as the rider, before making a few adaptations so that he'd sit better into a science fiction setting.


The head came from North Star's cultist accessory pack. The rifle is from one of Citadel's Vostroyan Imperial Guard snipers.


I covered the joins with some greenstuff and sculpted arms from wrist to elbow (but forgot to take a picture of the sculpted elements before paint).

The painting of the steed is loosely based on a fan-tailed lizard which is a sandy colour with blue throat and orange underside. I added some subtle markings on the neck and tail as well - hopefully it does enough to make the steed look exotic.



I painted the saddle and strapping in a brown leather, with the saddlecloth in an orangy-brown. There is a subtle border pattern to the saddlecloth too, if you look closely enough!



The rolled blanket at the rear of the rider was painted in some reds and oranges to evoke Middle-Eastern woven rugs. Finally the rider received a turquoise robe and white head wrap, based on the striking outfit of a Tuareg tribesman I pulled up from an image search.



The larger base gave me opportunity to add a few more scenic elements than I usually use in the form of some tufts and rocks. Overall I think he looks the part as a nomadic rider - perfect for adding into my game setting as well as participating in a race across the wastes!


26 comments:

  1. He's brilliant, you know you need to give him friends now though don't you ?

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    1. I know, I know! It's another potential group of figures that's just sitting waiting for ideas and attention ;)

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  2. Oh I like him.
    I'll file this image away for when I begin my Ash Wastes 'Munda gang.

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    1. Thanks very much! I'm fond of bright colours on Ash Wastes Nomads - my gang was bright yellows, blues and reds :)

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  3. Looks like the figure on the cover of Ricardo Pinto's novel The Standing Dead (part of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon series). I've always wanted to build one of these! :3

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    1. I'm not familiar with the books, but I've just checked out the cover - definitely a passing resemblance :)

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  4. Like a future Omar Sharif appearing from the desert sands in Lawrence of Arabia. Really impressive.

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    1. Thanks Phil. It definitely does tap into that Middle-Eastern imagery - he just needs a big group of companions.

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  5. Love that!
    My Scavvies would gladly cannibalize both rider and mount ^^

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    1. I can definitely understand why they'd be keen - lots of meat in those big thigh muscles!

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  6. Looks like you just started up a muties warband for Gorkamorka as well!

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    1. I only need another 4 or 5 muties right? That's feasible :)

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  7. He looks brilliant. Is the race the Saturday or the Sunday of BOYL?

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    1. It's Saturday, ~5.00pm start. I think we can handle up to about 15 racers - folks just need to bring a suitable model.

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  8. Lovely! I particularly like the skin coloring.

    Is that mount currently available? Not that I should add to my lead/plastic pile at all...

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    1. Thanks! I just looked for brightly coloured lizards and that was the one I liked.

      I've had a look for the mount on the Ral Partha Europe webstore but couldn't find it. I'm not sure if it's available through Iron Wind Metals (the US based company).

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  9. I love it. It has some old Metal Hurlant vibe to me, I find this one particularly interesting :)

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    1. Thanks Suber. Another reference I need to do some research on - I'll check it out :)

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  10. Great job on him Jon. I am looking forward to that racing game. Working on my racer at the moment...if you think your steed looks exotic...just you wait and see :P!

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    1. I can barely dare to imagine what mind-scrambling creation you have planned! Cheers Seán.

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  11. All the differently sourced parts come together very nicely once painted.

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    1. Thanks very much. It sometimes takes a paint job to bring it all together, glad it worked out!

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  12. O I do like a good lizard rider and this one is a corker. Love the colour choices on the hide too, adds some really nice spot colour.

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    1. Thanks Dai! I wanted to avoid the trap of a single-colour boring mount. Happily nature provided a suitable colour scheme!!

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