Back in 2014 my mind was blown when Steve Casey showcased the unreleased Rogue Trader Adeptus Mechanicus figure on his Eldritch Epistles blog. The figure was from the collection of Bryan Ansell and I instantly both desired it and resigned myself to never owning it.
Happily I was recently able to acquire my own copy of the figure and wasted no time in painting it up!
The unreleased figure has a disturbingly bio-mechanical look with its alien skull face and odd robe decoration. I figure it must be a xenobiologist - one of those peculiar members of the Adeptus Mechanicus who is obsessed with alien genetics. That will explain the wyrd-wood staff and those peculiar organic features.
I kept to a traditional Mechanicus colour palette with the red robes, pale flesh and cog hood decoration.
All the odd details were actually quite tricky to paint and work out. I wonder whether the spiky organic apron would have been better painted as a cured alien hide rather than matching the red robes, but I was concerned that it would have made the figure too busy and hard to read. I may yet go back and repaint those parts.
In spite of that. I'm delighted to have the figure in my collection!
He's an odd one! He reminds me of a picture in Rogue Trader, of what I assume are tech-priests with heads like animal skulls. It's very Giger-esque. I'm unsure on the miniature but he's well painted. I especially like the cog symbol on the robe.
ReplyDeleteHe's definitely got that bio-mechanical vibe that a couple of the RT illustrations have. I like the vibe, but it's quite a different feel to how tech priests are typically portrayed. Glad you like the paintjob!
DeleteWasn't this miniature based on a piece of John Blanche artwork? I'm almost certain of it! I'll have a gadders through my collection and see if I can find it.
ReplyDeleteSterling painting as always! Pretty spooky figure; especially the weird ribbing effect on the robes!
It may well be Blanche, but I think there was also a Stephen Tappin illustration that was very close. Glad you like this one 🙂
DeleteKinda reminds me of a Mari Lwyd! That's why I find it reminiscently spooky! :3
DeleteI don't recall Stephen Tappin's work, so I shall check them out! :3
I can see why you wanted this for the collection. It's such a cool concept to have an Adeptus Mechanicus focused on xenos. A very cool model, and a wonderful paintjob. The skin and the hoses make a great contrast to the robes. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks Hobbs! I think I need to get some nice beasties in containment tanks for him to do sine research on 🙂
DeleteOh, my, I didn't know of this mini and now I do *need* it. You really nailed the character, I love how it turned out!
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck in satisfying that need! Thanks Suber 🙂
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