Inq et nunc - 54mm Castellan Robot

The robots that Citadel released for Rogue Trader are some of my favourite 40k miniatures. They are big (for 28mm scale), fun and interesting sculpts that really do draw on the sci-fi artwork of the era. A few years ago I picked up an upscaled resin version of the one of the RT robot designs (the Castellan) that was available from the short-lived Troll Soup Miniatures. I'm not entirely sure what the rationale was behind the enlargement, but to all intents and purposes the sculpts were carbon copies of the originals, but bigger. Much bigger! In the event, I decided the larger Castellan was too big for 28mm gaming, but I put it aside with my 54mm Inquisitor figures for a rainy day!

Dick Slevlan suddenly looks pretty brave with his tough-guy associates!

Five Parsecs From Home Crew #2 - Robot

 

I was 100% certain that I wanted to include a robot in my Five Parsecs crew. The crew build system allows you to include up to 1 bot, so I rooted around in my boxes and turned up the fabulous Spacefarers S42 security robot.

Programmed for Maximum Boom - Bombots

When Curis showed off his DTN8 Remote Mine Droids the other week, I knew I had to persuade him to send me some. He duly sent me a set of three, and I happily added them to my paint queue (disclaimer: mine will never, ever look as good as Curis' paintjobs. Make sure you check out his if you want to see some beautiful brushwork on cute exploding robots!).

Stargrave Bestiary: Warbot / Rogue Trader Robot

Rogue Trader robots are such brilliantly fun models, with their eccentric configurations and wide variety of styles. The bubble-bodied Castellan with its 'Lost in Space' vibes is my favourite, and I've wanted to include one in my deep space salvage crew for a while. It matches the aesthetic of the LE01 power armour troopers brilliantly, with the rounded shapes and big 'R' (for robot?) that mimics the 'P' and 'A' on the troopers.

As the Stargrave bestiary necessitates a warbot (a large robot with multiple shooting attacks), I decided to kill two birds with one stone and paint up a RT robot for the salvage crew and act as a warbot should I roll one up on the Stargrave encounter chart.

The Castellan is a reassuring addition to the crew!

An Epic Lockdown Project - Imperial Knights

There are some fantastic people in the miniatures hobby, and over at the Oldhammer Community Facebook group, Aaron Thompson has run a couple of giveaways. The only rules - "stay home, stay safe and start painting!"

Aaron has kindly gifted and sent a selection of figures out to other hobbyists with the only intention that the recipients will get a few hours of fun from painting them up. I stuck my hand up for an Epic Imperial Knight Castellan and did indeed get a few hours of fun painting it up once it arrived. I painted up a Knight Warden in the same sitting and am now the happy owner of a slightly under-strength and mis-matched Knight detachment!

Droning On and On and On and....

I'll be running a game for a few friends in a few weeks. As part of the set-up, I needed some drones (the purpose is secret for now, for fear of giving anything away).

I came across the very nice Dweorg Scout Drones by Gydran Miniatures and ordered three sets. I spent no more than 2 hours painting them up in the same colour scheme as my Engineering crew and the job was done!

A single squadron of three drones.

 

"Engineering team to level 17 - we have a problem with waste disposal"



The Ogryns Security detachment had broken the latrine system yet again! What in the name of the Emperor did they try to flush away?! Sub-Engineer Grungi, Menial Holst and mobile diagnostic unit BM-B02 were despatched to investigate...

 



 

I put together this small engineering team after a mate recently gave me the cute little robot. He's made half a dozen or so of these robots to represent bombots for use in his Rogue Trader squat force. If you're not familiar with bombots, then head off to p121 of the Rogue Trader rulebook:

 

Bombots, p121 Rogue Trader