Tuesday 25 May 2021

Space Infantry - Rogue Trader Grunts


Back in 2017 I painted up a little display base for the retinue of one of the most infamous Inquisitors in the the 40k canon; Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Clousseau. I gave the Stetson-wearing Inquisitor an ecclectic group of companions, comprising his pilot, navigator, psyker and ratling chef. 


Inquisitor Clousseau and his trusted companions.

Like all projects, I guess they're never completely closed, and I fancied adding a small group of troopers supplement the group. To that end I picked out a quartet of Rogue Trader figures that I hoped might hang together as a relatively coherent set of figures given the right colour scheme.



The four troopers come from a couple of different sources. On the left of the photo is Breakout Con from the Rogue Trader mercenaries range. He's rocking a sleeveless biker jacket, some funky snow-goggles and what looks like some sort of brain modification with the wiring on his cranium! Second from left and far right are a pair of Imperial Guardsmen that as far as I know only appear in the 1991 catalogue. Stylistically they are oddities - they don't match the neat and compact Perry sculpts, the skinny-legged Aly Morrison sculpts, or the crisp and clean Guardsmen from Mark Copplestone. I would bet on them being from the hands of Bob Naismith, but quite why they exist and why there aren't any others in the same style, I don't know. The other figure is one of the hunched Rogue Trader space pirates who seemed to fit rather nicely.



I painted the fatigues on all the troopers in a similar yellow-brown to that which I used on the Inquisitor and his companions. The white armour borrowed from the pilot's white helmet, whilst the blue was used as a spot colour across all the figures. Each of the troopers also has a blue star on their gear somewhere - on this pair it appears on their right shoulder pads (note, the pilot also has a blue star on his right shoulder pad).


Given the slightly less uniform gear of the other pair, I tried to be consistent with colour to tie them in (yellow trousers, black boots, white armour, blue spot colour). The grey is the same grey that I used on Inquisitor Clousseau's hat and gaiters.




A small squad of troopers recces a salvage yard.

Fast forward a week and I was looking at the 4 troopers thinking it would be nice if I could round them out to a squad of 5 by adding a special or heavy weapons trooper. I had a quick look in my boxes and turned up Ox, the heavy weapons trooper from the Last Chancers set. I added a shoulder pad and kneepads with greenstuff to help tie him to the other troopers, then it was a case of another matching paintjob.




Hopefully he's got he right kind of vibe! I think he fits in well enough, and we can claim that any scale difference is down to the fact that he's clearly a massive hulk of a man!



All in all, these five figures are a nice way to round out the Inquisitor's retinue into a more playable faction, and a good way to get another group painted and game-ready.

20 comments:

  1. The white armor with blue highlights really makes them pop. I've always stayed away from white armor, because it looked rather boring. The depth you give it really makes me re-think that stance.

    Love how the squad turned out! They look suitably intimidating to accompany the inquisitor!

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    1. Thanks Hobbs! I used to really dislike painting white armour too, but I found I really like the look of off-white with some scuffs and chipping :)

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  2. Fantastic choice of minis, and an equally fantastic paint job! Seriously how do you get that armour looking so cool? The weathering is top notch.

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    1. Thanks Ross! The armour is pretty quick and easy really - I paint it an off-white (GW's Pallid Wych Flesh), then wash with a thinned brown wash. I do two quick higlights (one with the original off-white, one with a bit of actual white added). Then it's some chipping by lightly dapping a mid-grey on with a bit of foam. It probably takes less time to do than to describe :)

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  3. Those two troopers are a bit of an oddity. The weapons and style are rather Bob Naismithy while the overall look reminds me of some of the sculpts that Mark Copplestone did for Heartbreaker's Warzone range in the mid 90's.

    Whoever sculpted them the whole crew works really well together and the Inquisitor has a decent force of goons to do his bidding!

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    1. Interesting thought about the Warzone figures - I keep meaning to revisit that range!

      Glad you like them :)

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  4. Oh, I do love them all. I like how you tied them in and the tech goon aspect they all share. So great!
    PS: Of course this project is not finished, just like any other!

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    1. Thanks Suber! They're happily waiting to see what might get added next!

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  5. Hey Jon! I also love to dig out projects and complete them with new ideas and/or stuffs. New comers in your team are nicely painted and well introduced.

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    1. Thanks Nico! It's fun to see where a project goes as new gaming opportunities or models dictate :)

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  6. Really good additions. Not sure about the bare chested strappy lads though, a nasty nick to the torso and they'll get an infection!

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    1. Thanks Dai! You're right though - it's not the most practical of combat gear!!

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  7. I love the chipped whites and reflective blues. The last chancers always give me a shock of nostalgia. A very cohesive looking and characterful squad, a difficult balance too pull off!

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    1. Thanks very much! I tried something new with the blue visors (washes over a white basecoat) - glad it came off!

      The irony with the Last Chancers is that I believe my set was the very last set sold by GW! I bought them in WHW after they'd been sold out online and were marked up as 'Last Chance to Buy'. They didn't have a set on the shelves, so I ended up buying the set from the display cabinet!!

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  8. Your comment "The grey is the same grey" above, is one only we painters can understand :) Others would be like ... 'eh? grey is grey innit?' But I digress ... nice work yet again axiom!

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    1. Haha! It's a subtlety that painters instantly understand I reckon!

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  9. Everything you do is an instant classic.

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    1. Thanks very much - high praise indeed!

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