The Iron Fist II - Inquisitional Commando Reinforcements

A squad of five Inquisitional commandos is nice, but two squads is much better. Especially when you get some fancy weapons and a doctrine-spouting officer to boot.

Masters of the Hunt - Venator Leader & Champion

Much in the same way with my Brat gang at the end of last year, this post is something of a full stop to my Venator gang, a project that has spanned two years. I have rounded out the original 6-strong plastic group to include the 4 Marauder Venators and a bunch of other converted figures. I was however missing a dedicated leader and heavy weapon for the group, something I've now rectified.

Gamma World 'Woman Adventurer'

Every so often I spy a random figure on ebay that really appeals. Most recently it was a female figure in an asymmetric dress with a blaster pistol. I checked with the seller who assured me that it was 28mm scale, so I risked a couple of quid and bought it.

When it arrived, I was a little disappointed as the figure was closer to 25mm in scale. Some research revealed that she was a 'Woman Adventurer' from the Grenadier Gamma World range. Although a tad too small for an adult female, she could, with her round face, represent a young girl. So I painted her anyway!

Those space amazons are becoming quite a menace in many fringe settlements.

Proofs of Concept - How I Plan a Conversion

My approach to converting is twofold - some conversions I make up on the fly, using pieces from my bitzbox that look good together. Others I plan meticulously, especially when I'm looking to match something stylistically to an existing figure.

In my last blogpost I mentioned that I often create some very rough proofs of concept for conversions to help me decide what components I want to use. This is a very simple process, primarily using images from old catalogues (try Stuff of Legends for catalogue images) and roughly manipulating them in MS Paint before I start any cutting, or in some cases, before I've bought the models I intend to convert.

To illustrate how the process works, below are some rough concepts for my Adeptus Arbites captain.

You can see that I was experimenting with a number of different looks using components from a variety of different figures (in this case I think it was Imperial Psykers, Arbites and Space Marines. I decided that the bare-headed #3 was the direction I wanted to go, which resulted in a pretty intimidating hard-as-nails captain:

You can see I altered his equipment for in-game functionality on the final model.

The Hunter in the Shadows - Venator Sniper

With a new Necromunda campaign due to start in about 2 weeks, I've had to acknowledge that I won't have time to get the Helmawr gang finished in time. They'll just have to sit on ice for a while, and instead I can add a handful of new figures to the Venators. I've worked out that with the Venator ogryn, I only really need another 3 figures to have a viable gang with plenty of options.

One of my favourite specialists in any gang is the long ranged shooter - that guy armed with the high powered rifle and a selection of scopes who can pick of opposing fighters at range.

The Biggest Axe - Venator Ogryn Brute

Most Necromunda gangs have access to one or more brutes - big muscular fighters that can be added to their crew. Venators don't have a gang-specific brute, but can field either of two universal brutes: an ambot or a servitor ogryn.

I quite fancied giving my Venators the option of having a big guy for the fun element (and the extra muscle of course). Given that I'm pretty far down the road of masked and hooded Venators, it seemed only fitting to follow the theme for their ogryn.

A strong hunting party of Venators enters the settlement, accompanied by a hulking ogryn.

The Iron Fist - Inquisitional Commandos

I know that the Inquisition hangs around with the Deathwatch or the Adepta Sororitas a bit, but they're overkill when it comes to an every-day world of the Imperium setting. Storm Troopers and Tempestus Scions are a little bit militaristic. So I'd put aside a few Imperial Light Troopers (AKA No Face Fargo) and Garrison Troopers (AKA Kylla Conditti) with the intention of using them as a tools of the oppressive Imperial regime in a mundane, non-battlefield setting.

And so, along comes January and a new painting challenge on the Oldhammer Facebook group. The rules of 'Naismithery' are simple - pick one or more models sculpted by Bob Naismith and paint it within the month of January. It just so happens that Bob sculpted both No Face and Kylla...

Inquisitional Commandos conduct door to door searches on the trail of a notorious space pirate.