A Hobby Review of 2015

This is now the 3rd complete year of blogging about my hobby output. Without wanting to sound too self-congratulatory, it feels like the most rounded year I've had since I first picked up the hobby. I'm enjoying painting and modelling more than ever. I've managed to play some excellent games. I'm still collecting fun ranges and cool pieces of artwork.

A choir of Astropaths.

At the end of 2014, I set myself 3 ambitions relating to painting/modelling, collecting and gaming. To summarise, I wanted to:

- Round out my figure collection for RT/Confrontation, in particular civilians.
- Paint at least 40 varied and interesting figures.
- Play as many quality games as possible.

Rogue Quest Expansion: The Ranger - Algaarg, Xenos Tracker for Hire

OK, this really is the last figure of 2015! I don't have any more spare evenings between now and the New Year, but I did manage to paint up this guy on Friday evening while my wife was out at her Christmas work do.

 

This last figure for the year also rounds out the Rogue Quest adventuring party, with all the original classic archetypes represented. Ironically, I've always identified with Rangers more than any of the other classes. The only real reason for leaving the Ranger to last was because I hadn't got round to finishing the conversion!



 

The model I selected for my Ranger isn't really of the same vintage as the rest of the warband, having been assembled from the torso of a Mutie raider (produced for the Gorkamorka expansion, Digganob, in 1998). The legs are somewhat more modern, coming from the plastic Skitarii kit, while the armour and satchel om his hips are again from Victoria Miniatures. I added a backpack from Denizen miniatures, then covered all the joins with greenstuff. He also got a spacer of plasticard to elongate the torso.

Dodgy phone pics of the unpainted conversion.

And the rear, with some filler sculpting on the satchel.

Rogue Quest Level 12 and a half: The Fighter - Vitifer Vostro Goedes

Although the Rogue Quest project came to an end last week, after 12 weeks of alternately working on models with Asslessman over at Leadplague, I see no reason to stop adding to the adventuring party. I didn't do a Ranger or a Fighter after all!

 

And then I acquired this rather sad looking figure:

 

 

Yes - the figure above is a Maniac ganger from the Citadel Confrontation range. He should have a head and was designed to be completed with plastic arms. Sometimes a figure in a partially adapted state can prove pretty inspiring, and almost immediately after receiving the figure, I started delving in my bits boxes for suitable heads and arms. After some careful selection and assembly, I ended up with the figure below:

 

 

Rogue Quest Level 12: The Paladin - Gondamer Rossal

 

All good things must come to an end, and this update represents both the end of my painting for 2015 (probably), and the end of the collaborative 'Rogue Quest' project I've been working on over the last 12 weeks with Asslessman over at Leadplague.

 

 

Over that 12 week period we have mutually encouraged and supported each other in the creation of a new group of futuristic adventurers - figures which most likely would not have otherwise been painted - themed along the lines of traditional RPG character archetypes. My final figure for my 6-strong band is Gondamer Rossal, my Paladin, based on the Citadel LE10 Limited Edition Power Armour Marine, sculpted by Bob Naismith.

 

At first glance, Gondamer Rossal might appear to be a typical deep-space mercenary, with his worn and battered power armour. But those who have opportunity to consider the man further might determine that battered appearance of his armour comes from constant combat, not from neglect. They might note the powerful multi-laser and remark on its unusual configuration. They might wonder at the mysterious 'P' and 'A' emblazoned on his jump pack. They might even note the zealous light, blazing in Rossal's eyes.

 

For Rossal is a warrior of faith. A warrior sworn to unceasing staunch defence of his race. A learned man might know of the Praetego Antiqua - an order devoted to the protection of mankind. A learned man might know too much...  

 

Prepare for boarding action - Imperial Navy Armsmen Priestman and Stilley

There are many occasions when a naval officer would need a pair of henchmen. Hired muscle, guards to a vital control centre, jailors, sentries...the list goes on. After painting up my Fleet Officers a few weeks ago, the logical next step was to make some goons for the officers to order around.

 

 

Bubbling to the surface of my mind were the two soldierly chaps standing to attention in the Martin McKenna illustration below.

 

The base models for my Armsmen were the PR11 Imperial Guardsmen (commonly known as 'Cadian at Ease') - these were promotional figures available at several Games Workshop events in the early 2000s.

PR11 Imperial Guardsmen (image from Stuff of Legends).

Rogue Quest Level 10: The Cleric - Mama Gijón

I've gone on record as saying that the Astropath archetype is my favourite element from the Warhammer 40,000 universe - the whole concept of blind psykers, holding the Imperium together rather presses my buttons. If you're a long time reader of the blog, it's probably apparent that I do like Astropaths - I've painted a few to date!

It was therefore inconceivable to me that I should build my Rogue Quest party without its own Astropath. Astropaths share some similarities to Clerics (monastic clothing, staffs topped with the icons of their faith/order), so it followed suit that my Astropath would represent the Cleric archetype.

Mama Gijón became an Astropath as a young woman. Her particular skill lies in the comprehension and sifting of layers of meaning, often hidden in complex astropathic communications. Now, as a bent old woman, Mama Gijón finds herself accompanying strangers on a quest through strange places. Her homeworld has been destroyed, yet her exotic blue-furred pet, Beyni provides a comforting reminder of home.

Mama Gijón is loosely based on the morally-suspect Moma Parsheen character from Ian Watson's Inquisition War trilogy:

"The Prime Astropath of Stalinvast was a small, thin, dark-skinned woman. And she was old, antique. Deep lines grooved her prune of a face. Her hair which shone so brightly red, must really be purest white...Glowing eyes opened. Sharp small claws flexed. She toyed with an animal, which must be her companion. The creature looked both voluptuous and savage. Would it defend its mistress fiercely? 'What is that?' whispered Jaq. 'It's called a cat,' Meh'Lindi told him." (Draco, Ian Watson)

In the navy - Fleet officers of the Imperium

I find variety helps with keeping up the pace of painting figures. Sometimes this means pulling out some figures to paint for no rhyme or reason other than because I like them. And that's why I painted my most recent pair of figures - because I fancied it!

The Imperial Navy has long an integral part of the 40k universe, particularly relating to the ship-to-ship space battle games of Spacefleet and Battlefleet Gothic. Unfortunately, Imperial Navy figures have been sadly underrepresented in 28mm figure form, with the singular exception of the Officer of the Fleet from the Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors set.

Imperial Naval Officer concepts by Jes Goodwin for the Spacefleet game.

Rogue Quest Level 8: The Magic User - Dwight Jelton

 

Last week in our ongoing 'Rogue Quest' project, JB posted a very nice looking barbarian. His interpretation played up to the archetype really nicely. For my fourth member of my adventuring party, I wanted to get my magic user sorted. JB has already visited the magic user archetype with his creepy blue-eyed psyker, and I confess I've ploughed the same furrow by selecting a 40k psyker figure.

 

It was about time that I painted up one of the Marauder Confrontation Psyker gangers, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity. I selected my favourite of the four (third from left in the image below).

 

Marauder Confrontation Psyker gangers. Pic from Stuff of Legends.

Sometimes girls go for the short guy - ratling genestealer hybrid

Back at the end of October, a painting and modelling competition was launched over at the Father's Hall Facebook group (home to all things relating to genestealers and their romantic associations with the human race). Between now and the end of November, participants are being invited to make and paint a new genestealer hybrid. The rules of the competition are:

 

1. Submit a finished hybrid, any generation, any race.
2. Post images of the model prior to priming and once finished. All models must be new work from the start of the competition.

I've been slowly collecting enough genestealer hybrids to make a small force at some point in the future, and the competition seemed like good motivation to make and paint a hybrid in a test colour scheme for the future force. And then I read the rules again: "any generation, any race."

 

I thought, 'I wonder if I could make a ratling genestealer hybrid....?'

 

Holding that thought, I hit ebay and snaffled this cool little fella - a weird pre-slotta halfing oni demon (he later had his horns removed and a slotta-tag added, becoming an Oriental Halfling):



 

 

Rogue Quest Level 6: The Bard

 

Recruitment continues for my sci-fi adventuring party, based on the concept of classic dungeoneering archetypes. After JB's crisp and clean Paladin, this week it's my turn yet again. And I've turned to my favourite 40k races and one of my very favourite models to represent the next addition - a bard.

 

I knew from the outset that a) I wanted a bard and b) I was going to make my bard of an elven bent. In a slight fit of concern, I watched closely as Alex over at Leadballoony revealed his very similar take on the bard archetype, but happily he chose a different model, leaving me free to continue as planned.

 

My selected model is Taal Spellsinger, a musician from the original 40k Space Elf / Eldar command group selection. Taal not only carries a rather exotic set of weaponry (hand flamer, katana), but also sports an even more exotic musical instrument in the form of a voice amplifier. 

Wrench and rivet gun - the maintenance crew

Reg 'Pops' Dwight is clearly a man who needs a crew - some willing (but not necessarily bright) chaps to order around and do all the awkward or dirty jobs.

 

With that in mind, I procured a set of 'Jim and the Fix It Crew' by Four A Miniatures. In due course I'll paint the third member of the crew, but for now I've got a nice pair of dockers / engineers / spaceship crewmen for Pops to take charge of.

 

 

Rogue Quest Level 4: The Rogue

It's level up time in Rogue Quest - the collaborative painting / modelling / gaming project I'm working on in partnership with JB/Asslessman over at Leadplague. My first character was my female Barbarian, Dy-ana.

After JB's very nice wizard from last week, I've taken up the baton yet again with my next adventurer. I was very keen from the outset that I would reflect some of the species diversity common to dungeoneering parties. Although human adventurers are typically well represented, dwarf fighters, elf rangers and even half-orc barbarians add real spice to the mix.

I knew that I wanted to include a squat in my party. Rather than make my squat a traditional barbarian or fighter character, I decided my short-beardy fellow would be a more subtle individual, playing the part of a rogue / thief.

Dwarf Rogue

Genetically engineered super trooper - the Afriel strain

Over the last 4 months or so I've been involved in a very entertaining Inquisimunda campaign (28mm scale Inquisitorial warbands played with the Necromunda rules). My warband, led by radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Dirske, is comprised of bizarre mutants and daemonic entities.

Dirske has proven himself to be a) cowardly and b) a pretty poor fighter. He now tends to take a strategic view of most engagements (i.e. hanging at the back and watching the others do the fighting!). One minor fly in the ointment, is that members of the warband keep on getting themselves killed. And I don't mean through bad rolls on the serious injury table either; I mean being eaten or obliterated in-game. Thoroughly, irreversibly, dead.

This didn't end well for Scrat!

Scrat, my first ratling assassin, was eaten by a draconid Hex Wyrm in dense jungles (whilst trying to steal one of its eggs) - see above. His replacement, Sneek, was eaten by an unknown monster which snatched him from the shadows. HIS replacement (Sculk), was killed by a haywire robot on a space station. Thankfully, ratling assassin #4 - Snak (note the name) is still fighting fit. Unfortunately, my poor, stupid, two-headed mutie Gron-Slom died in my most recent game. He was eaten by the same (or possibly related) monster that snacked on Sneek.

Interstellar goods inbound - Spacelords starship crewman

Reg 'Pops' Dwight has worked as ground crew for the Orange Star Line for 36 years. He started his career as a lowly baggage monkey, before launching on a steep trajectory that now sees him employed as Senior Steward (Stowage). 'Pops' Dwight is responsible for all incoming small goods from Orange Star Line vessels - it is his role to check and track, liaise with onwards hauliers or end customers, and, most importantly, ensure that local import taxation is applied at least accurately, preferably inaccurately - in the Orange Star Line's favour.

 

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.

Techno techno techno - Meching up Aenur

There's a fun little competition been running on one of the Facebook groups I'm a member of. The basic premise was to take the model of Aenur, the Mordheim Elf Hired Sword, and convert it to sci-fi. Entries are starting to roll in before the 30th September deadline, and seeing as I've just posted my resulting figure, I thought I'd share it here too.

Evo over at Port Imperiale very kindly donated an Aenur for my attention. If you're not familiar with the figure, this is what Aenur looks like unaltered:

My initial reaction was to do something Eldar-y, but then I decided I wanted to try and push things a little further from the original figure. After some thinking, I put together a little visual mock-up of what I wanted to try and do, in the form of an Adeptus Mechanicus tech priest:

The terrifying power of the administration



I have always loved the character of the Rogue Trader adventurers range, and I really enjoy looking for suitable non-comms and civilians to populate my collection.

 

I was very much excited when it emerged at BOYL'15 that Foundry had put a set of old unreleased Citadel Rogue Trader figures into production. I immediately snaffled some on the day. If you want to get hold of a set yourself, you need look no further than the Foundry website!

 

My favourite conceptually from the set is the scribe / member of the Adeptus Administratum. If you follow the Eldritch Epistles blog, you'll be aware that the figure is a very close match to one of the illustrations from the Rogue Trader blog.

 

The original slotta casting. Pic from Eldritch Epistles.

 

Unfortunately, the pose on the sculpt is rather oddly disco, with its pointing finger and toe-tapping lead foot. That's not to say you can't make a very nice job of the paint and end up with a good looking figure (see Sho3box and Leadplague). I just wanted to make mine a little less obtrusive:

 

 

 

Easing Back Into Things - Spacelords Pilot

After 3 weeks with practically zero hobby time, you'd think that I'd be eager to get back to painting. In fact, the reverse has been true - I've struggled to motivate myself to sit down and paint something. In order to try and get myself back into the groove, I decided to get a couple of relatively simple projects off the WIP shelf.

First up is a Spacelords starship pilot - a rather nice sculpt that I've had undercoated and ready for paint for over 12 months. After sitting so patiently on the shelf, I decided she deserved some attention.

2D to 3D: Creating an Eldar Adventurer

This is probably the last post for a few weeks as I'm heading off on holiday later in the week. I've managed to squeeze in one last project before I go however. This time it's a rather self-indulgent recreation of a character from the Rogue Trader rulebook, specifically the un-named Eldar Adventurer on p188:

Enter House Ulanti

Earlier, I took the opportunity to take some better photos of my winning entry into the BOYL 15 painting competition from the weekend.

I've showcased all the figures previously - they comprise Lord Greiss, Lady Greiss, bodyuard Eduardo Murat, Professor Barossus and Lope, the household huntsman. Although the models were linked through a common colour scheme, I wanted to tie them together with a display base. I decided on a very simple narrative of Lord and Lady Greiss leaving a doorway, accompanied by retainers.

Enter House Ulanti.

Anarchy Reigns - My BOYL 2015 Experience

I spent most of my Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the weekend just gone attending events linked to the Oldhammer community’s ‘Bring Out Your Lead 2015’ event, hosted by Foundry in Newark.

The year’s event was the 3^rd year it has run, evolving from a small and informal gathering of folks, playing a handful of games in 2013, to a much larger informal gathering! The main thrust of the event is the playing and mutual admiration of Games Workshop’s games from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with figures from the same era or ethos. A dozen participation games were planned across the weekend, using rules as diverse as Warhammer 3^rd edition, Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Mordheim and Blood Bowl, not to mention fantastic large-scale games using custom rules, such as Warhammer Ahoy and the Deathrace. There also seemed to be plenty of pick-up games taking place over the course of the weekend, including Space Crusade, Heroquest and Necromunda.

Friday

My weekend started pretty early on Friday morning when I collected Irish Oldhammerers Paul S (cheetor) and John (Just John) from East Midlands airport. We made the run up to Newark to drop off cases at hotels, before heading back down to Warhammer World for a pre-BOYL meet up and game of Inquisimunda. After food and a good natter with Aussie traveller James (Captain Crooks), we ended up playing an entertaining 9-player game with two factions (radical and slightly less radical) competing to activate / destroy a teleport homer device. My Ordo Malleus crew teamed up with Graham (Greater Harlequin) and his genestealer cult, John with Space Santa plus little helpers and Chris (antipixi) with his ash waste nomads. Facing us down were Gadge with his rogue trader, Colin (Whiskey Priest) with an inquisitor, Paul (cheetor) with another inquisitor and JB (Asslessman) with his Sensei.

 

The lay of the land. Teleport homer located at the top of the tower.

Mahzun Cenk, Cultist

Mahzun Cenk is an avid adherent to the gospel of pleasure as preached by the Cult of the Silken Veil. Formerly a bosun on a spice freighter, Cenk was drawn into the Cult during shore leave. His bloated neck and face are sure signs of participation in pleasure sessions at the Cult temple. 

The Wolf of House Ulanti

Every noble house needs a master of the hunt. A grizzled and deadly huntsman who can assist his Lord in the finer arts of stalking prey, selecting a suitable trophy beast, making the killing shot.

Lope is Huntsman to Lord Greiss of House Ulanti. He is lethal - a deadeye shot, as well as a patient and loyal servant. It is rumoured that he was once an off-world bounty hunter of some renown. His scarred and patched body reinforces that rumour, but none know for certain.

A Mixed Bag - Small, Dangerous and Italian!

Over the course of the weekend I spent some time queuing up and basecoating figures which needed to be finished to meet some deadlines. My wife went out last night, so I had a free evening to get some of them finished.

First up is Sneek - a new ratling-type abhuman for my Ordo Malleus Inquisitor band.

SME-601 - Surveillance Servitor

Servitors are created for a myriad of menial functions - reptitive labour, heavy lifting, mechanical interface or even as personal guards. Most follow a common pattern, based on vat-grown clones or mind-wiped criminals. A select few are more specialised, and SME-601 is an example of such. Created from the body of a feral child, SME-601 incorporates advanced tracking, recording  and broadcasting equipment in its over-sized skull. Its small size and agile form allows the servitor to conceal itself in shadows and crevices, hang from roof beams and girders, or lurk in pits, wells and sewers; to watch the unwary, unseen.

Colony 87 Lady Greiss

After all the rioters I painted earlier in the week, I wanted to spend a bit more time over a figure last night, so I pulled out another figure from the Colony 87 set - this time Lady Greiss.

I wanted to replicate the pallette used previously on Lord Greiss and Anamuria, although I struggled to work out which colour to paint where initially. In the end I went for cream armour, a white robe, blue cloak and gold details. Creaster got a lovely little canary yellow romper suit, as is traditional for babies!

Burnin' and Lootin' - BOYL Rioters

With Bring Out Your Lead 2015 just around the corner, I needed to make the final push and complete the figures I need for my game 'Anarchy in the UH'. The game is based on Space Hulk, with rioters taking the role of the hordes of genestealers. I'm sure you can imagine that a rampaging mass of Necromundan civilians and underhivers, high on spook, frenzon and whatever else, would be a terrifying sight.

Sadly, there aren't many sci-fi non-combatants, and precisely zero ranges of sci-fi rioters. I figured that for the purposes of my game, modern rioters would suffice - players' focus will be on ensuring their gangs (Terminator squads) survive.

I ended up plumping for the Offensive Miniatures rioting mob. An investment of £50 landed me with 39 rioters, plus a dog (and a pair of wheelie bins). The figures aren't perfect (not sci-fi, a touch small), but they have the major advantage of being cheap. They also perform the required function of looking like a suitable horde of angry civilians.

The mob runs riot through the port, catching an unfortunate squad of law-enforcers!

Colony 87 Lord Greiss

You may be aware that I recently ran a Kickstarter for a small range of sci-fi civilian figures called Colony 87.

I always meant to paint up a set of figures as the Kickstarter was running, but time and events conspired against me, and I didn't manage to paint a set up before the Kickstarter ended. As a treat to myself for finishing all the terrain for the BOYL game, I decided to paint up Lord Greiss from the range. Whiskey Priest over at the The Leadpile had already painted up a gin-soaked version in green and pink. I decided my version was going to be perhaps an older, more severe planetary Governor. Here's the results:

"Robocop" and "K9" - Cybernetic Reinforcements for my Adeptus Arbites

After painting terrain almost exclusively in June, and not really wanting to face up to the task of batch-painting 40 rioters for the game I'm running at BOYL in a few weeks time, I decided to take a break.

As luck would have it, I needed to paint up a pair of figures for the July Yaktribe competition. As I won the previous competition by entering Anamuria and her companions, I got to choose the theme for the current competition: Rise of the Machines. As I'd selected the theme, I figured it was only right that I entered. The rules are very simple: make and / or model an Artificial Construct of any type!

Introducing N.A.T.E. (Necromundan Artificial Tactical Enforcer) and C.U.R.R (Canine Utility Retrieval Robot). Cyber-mastiffs are used by the Adeptus Arbites and Enforcers throughout the Imperium. Some are fully artificial constructs, others are cyborgs, more akin to servitors. C.U.R.R. is the latter - a feral canine enhanced with cybernetic implants and simple tracking/retrieval programming.

C.U.R.R. and N.A.T.E. - Adeptus Arbites Cybernetic Division.

Coming to the BOYL - the Importance of Playtesting

Yesterday, my good friend Graham was kind enough to not only host me at his place for a day of gaming, but also willing to playtest the game I'll be running at 'Bring Out Your Lead' in a few weeks time at Wargames Foundry.

The game is designed to use the compact 1st edition Space Hulk rules mechanics, with a shift of setting to Necromunda. 4 'escort' players will attempt to safely usher a VIP to safety and up and out of the Underhive. In the meantime 1-2 players will control rampaging mobs of rioters, high on spook or other nefarious narcotics. Hopefully it's apparent enough that the 'escorts' will play as Space Marine terminator squads, while the 'rioters' will play as genestealers.

So, with my draft modified rules in hand, and the playing area set up, we set about giving the game a throrough run through.

Graham deliberates on the best course of action in the first turn.

Bits and pieces

I've been busy with a few odds and sods over the last fortnight, but unfortunately I've not really finished very much. My main focus has been more terrain, but I still need to add a few finishing touches to that before I take some photos.

Still, I've been merrily snapping away with the camera on my phone and thought I'd share some photos of other stuff with you. First up are some in action shots of my newly completed terrain, being used in an Inquisimunda campaign I'm participating in. The Quest for the Golden Phrogg has around a dozen players and semi-regulars, using the Inquisimunda modification rules to Necromunda. Essentially, instead of using a Hive Gang, you can use an Inquisitor and their retinue, an Adeptus Mechanicus or Rogue Trader warband, or Squats, or Eldar pirates, or pretty much whatever else you fancy!

I've been using a radical Ordo Malleus warband, complete with mutants, beastman and daemonhost. Three games in and I've managed to pick up a host of experience, in spite of losing two out of three games!

Some of the warband advance warily into an abandoned herders' village.

 

Building the Underhive - Part 3 (market day)

It is highly possible that you're fed up of seeing yet more terrain. If I'm honest, I'm got a bit of terrain fatigue myself! But deadlines don't move, and terrain has to be finished for my BOYL game. On the plus side, I'm still making pretty good progress, and last night managed to paint up half of my market.

Building the Underhive - Part 2

My last post was all about the terrain I'm building for a game at 'Bring Out Your Lead' at the start of August. If you liked that, then great, here's more of the same (if you didn't, tough!).

With more to make and paint by the deadline than I've ever attempted previously, I've written myself a little programme, with specific tasks allocated to specific days / evenings. If I stick to my programme, then I should complete everything required for BOYL with two spare contingency evenings. So far, it's going well, and over the last week, I've completed more of the required terrain.

Building the Underhive - Preparing for BOYL '15

In spite of playing wargames since the late 1980s, I've never actually had a decent set of terrain. Most of my gaming hasn't been at home; either at friend's houses, events or wargaming stores; so I've never needed it before.

All that changed when I decided I'd run a game at 'Bring Out Your Lead '15', the third annual Oldhammer event, being run at Wargames Foundry at the end of July / start of August.

Mutants and Tables

I'm sure most of you reading this will be aware of Games Workshop's Necromunda and Inquisitor games. In a few weeks time I'll be starting an Inquisimunda campaign. Inquisimunda is a modification of the Necromunda rules to allow 28mm scale Inquisitor style warbands to be used. I plan to use a radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitorial warband, with my Inquisitor Hennel Dirske front and centre. 

 

 

I already had several suitable henchmen painted, but after drawing up a provisional list, I discovered I needed two additional characters - an inquisitional acolyte with a plasma gun, and a recruit with an autogun.

 

 

Having no suitable figures with plasma guns, the acolyte called for a conversion. I had a root around my boxes and turned up an old Citadel hobgoblin with a missing axe head, and the plasma caliver from the new plastic Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii. After some fiddling around, this was the result:

 

 

Alone and Paranoid

I've tried to maximise some hobby time over the past 6 days. The first opportunity was up in Glasgow where I was working for 3 days at the end of last week. As I was occupying the hotel all by my lonesome, I decided to make the most of it and get in some quality painting time. Two evenings work netted me the following:

 

Not too shabby for a limited selection of paints and (towards the end of the evenings) some pretty poor light!

Professor Barossus, Tutor to the Marcisa of House Ulanti



Professor Barossus has been in the employ of House Ulanti for decades as a retained tutor to the noble sons and daughters of the House. The Professor is an exceptional scholar in ancient Terran history and advanced warp physics, however his primary role is to educate the wealthy and the privileged on mundane topics such as etiquette, Imperial Gothic dialects and trade and commerce.

Currently the Professor is responsible for finishing the education of Anamuria, the petulant Marcisa of House Ulanti. As her personal tutor, he is one of Anamuria's constant attendents, along with her personal bodyguard, Eduardo Murat.