Wednesday 8 April 2020

Let's Talk About Techs, Baby - Rogue Trader Techpriests

About this time of year, five years ago, I painted up Techpriest Zon from the Adventurers range (aka Telepath from the first 40k releases). He was painted up for a speed painting challenge, and I finished him in an hour. Overall, I was pretty happy with the outcome, but I always regretted painting him in a grey tunic (rather than a white lab coat) and giving him ridiculous yellow footwear.




So, lacking a focus for a particular project, I decided to grab a couple of models I fancied painting up - this time a pair of Rogue Trader Techpriests.



Techpriests attending to some a regular maintenance inspection.



Zon is a great model. I really enjoy the classic scientist look with his calf-length lab coat and bald head. He has a nice set of Lobot-esque cranial implants, and a selection of scientific gadgets. Even his sidearm has the look of some sort of experimental raygun or injector.



Zon x2. Most recent paint on the left, whacky duck-feet on the right.



I painted up Zon to rectify my colour selection errors from five years ago. He got a white coat, black footwear and I look forward to using him as a crazed scientist in some future scenario!



Techpriests Zon and Schlan from the RT adventurers range.


Schlan seems higher ranking, but possibly Zon is a more technically proficient?



Schlan is pretty much the genesis for the Adeptus Mechanicus look we know and love, with his tattered robes and disturbing bionic implants. Like Zon, he's a very simple figure, but fun to paint. I tried to evoke Schlan with my conversion of Aenur (the Mordheim Elven hired sword), also back in 2015. There's something really fun about a machine-god priest who walks around bare foot!



My Aenur Techpriest conversion alongside the model which inspired him.


Schlan got a classic Techpriest colour scheme with his deep red robes. In hindsight, I wish I'd gone a bit lighter on the highlights to add more definition and contrast, but done is done. I added the little white border to his robe as it felt a bit flat with nothing there. Hopefully it evokes the cog motif of the Adeptus Mechanicus a little.


Another classic model ticked off the list - plenty more to go though!

8 comments:

  1. I love Techpriest Patrick Stewart, and techpriest elephant man as well, both iconic but still undoubtedly yours. Godd job .

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    1. Yes, the likenesses are pretty striking! Although I think Patrick Stewart might have copied Zon's look ;)

      Glad you like them!

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  2. Great revision PJ there Jon. To be honest, I much prefer the white over the grey too. He's a really great mini. I keep meaning to pick one up.....and that other Techpriest as well 😆

    I just realised something too! I've never seen the back of Zon minis before. And because you mentioned that cranial implant it all makes sense to me now. He must have been based off of Lobot from The Empire Strikes Back! I always just assumed that that was hair on the sides of his head. Mind blown!

    Here's a link incase you're not familiar with the guy I'm talking about:

    https://www.starwars.com/databank/lobot

    Oh, and lastly, love the title of your post. Gave me a chuckle imagining you singing along to it 🤣🤣🤣

    Cheers mate.

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    1. Cheers Shane! I think the white coated version is probably a more coherent paint job than the grey one, although I don't mind having them both! Like you, I always thought he had hair until I actually painted him up. It seems to happen a lot with miniatures you only see in the catalogues.

      Cheers!

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  3. The white lab coat looks more familiar to all of us because of how we perceive it, so it looks more... 'natural'. I think you made a nice work on both, and also think it's intriguing that you have the barefoot guy messing around your tech stuff. That calls for an explanation in a scenario!

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    1. Ingrained societal expectation that scientists must wear white. Interesting thought!

      As for the lack of shoes - perhaps the cyberhound has run off with them?!

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  4. Really nicely done axiom. I must admit that for me the Zon looks a lot like Grand Moff Tarkin as played by the legendary Peter Cushing.

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    1. Thanks! There's definitely more than a passing resemblance to Grand Moff Tarkin isn't there?!

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