Crimson Fist "Beakie" Tactical Squad and Rhino

Crimson Fist tactical squad and a new ride

 More Crimson Fists from the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This is a squad of "beakie" style Rogue Trader era Space Marines.  It is a 10-man tactical squad, led by a kick-ass sergeant and featuring some hard hitting support in the form of a melta gun and, for those enemies of the Emperor that really need a good cooking, a multi-melta. They also have a Rhino to drive around in.

Mix of RT-era metals and RTB-01 plastics

The squad is a mix of metal RT-era sculpts and good old, classic, RTB-01 plastics.  It was really, really fun to build them and paint them. A great nostalgia exercise. Boy I wish I had another few boxes of those things.  When I think of all the plastic ones I ruined when I first started out...

That melta gunner looks serious

The Chapter symbols are all freehand painting, which is why they look a little all over the place.  The decals do not work at all on these old figures - they are too big, and too fiddly to cut.  So freehand scratching it is!

Who would mess with that Sergeant?

The officer has "Terminator Honours", a power fist and a bolt pistol.  I generally dislike Space Marine figures without helmets (you have power armour - WEAR IT), but it's a cool figure, and he has his helmet handy - I like that they at least thought to sculpt it on to the model's gear.

Multi-melta gunner is second from the right - love that figure

The special weapon figures are two more RT-era favourites.  Both the melta and multi-melta gunners look like they mean business.

These guys would actually fit in the newer Rhino!

I have been using plastic vehicle kits from the contemporary GW range for both the Crimson Fists (as well as my Rogue Trader guardsmen).  The old models are expensive and hard to find, but I have to admit I really prefer the newer models - they are really, really sharp.  Plus they look more in scale!

Rhino has a bit of weathering to show some time in the field

The newer Rhino kits are bigger than the old ones. Of course the Space Marine sculpts themselves grew in size thanks to scale creep, but when you put a new Rhino next to a unit of RT-era figures, the Rhino looks like it might actually carry 10 troops!

Helpful symbol adorns the top access hatches

Pedro Cantor's original command of 15 survivors has now expanded to a 40-man detachment - three tactical squads and one devastator squad, as well as some affiliated command models, a Predator and even a fancy company commander. Sadly this squad represents the final reserves of my hoard of Rogue Trader era marines, originally acquired for the Rogue Trader Anniversary Project. 

Techmarine near the beginnings of a Crimson Fist armoured column

The original plastic "beakies" are getting harder and harder to come by on eBay, and the metal ones are not much more common.  I hopeful of finding one or two final "scores", and in the interim I will continue to add things like more vehicles, a dreadnought, and maybe even some Terminators for support. Stay tuned!

Crimson Fist Command Elements - Rogue Trader

Continuing with the Rogue Trader-themed entries to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge here are some Crimson Fist command elements.  There is a Chaplain, a Medic, a Librarian, some comms guys, at Techmarine and an Astropath. These guys will help the Crimson Fist Commander run his Company.

The Chaplain encourages you to have faith, or get a smack in the head

Up first is the Chaplain - back in the time when GW was much more selective with skulls (now found on every surface), the Chaplain was the exception.  Chaplains are meant to bring spiritual comfort and guidance to the soldiers. A Space Marine chaplain, on the other hand, is a grim spectre of death, with skull everything - helmet, shoulder plates, etc. If this is what gives comfort to Space Marines, no wonder they are stuck in so many pointless last stands.  And of course the Chaplain is a kick-ass fighter, hammering the Emperor's enemies with his arcane weapons and motivating the battle brothers around him.

 

Obamacare in the 41st millennium is mostly the "Emperor's Mercy"...

Up next, the Medic, another role distorted in the grim darkness of the far future.  Although the Marine Medic can sometimes treat wounded battle brothers, mostly he goes around the battlefield putting the wounded ones out of their misery with an "Emperor's Mercy" - essentially a bolt to the head!  He then recovers genetic material so a new Marine can be created.  Ah - the Emperor's circle of life…

 

I like the bling on the old RT Librarian - note the "Force Sword", ready to smite those who are asking for it...

He has some kind of inspirational script on his shoulder pad, and a scroll on the back hip.

The (very spooky) Librarian.  I find it very telling that in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, the gathering, storing and organizing of knowledge (something we take much too for granted these days) is an activity that is regarded as mystic, arcane, dangerous and even grounds for suspicion.  Only the rare trusted psychics - who weren't fed to the Emperor, and were tough enough to become Space Marines - carry out these duties in the Space Marine Chapter.  And, as with the Chaplain, it's no staff function - this fellow can kick ass with his funky "force sword", psychic powers, and guns. 

 

"After I finished blessing the brake pads, we found another problem..."

The Techmarine. Mechanics today are already suspicious and somewhat arcane; in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, who knows how weird they would be? This fellow mends the vehicles of his Company with a mix of prayer and a huge wrench-spanner thingy…these old Rogue Trader-era Techmarines are the best! 

The guy on the left is reviewing orders on his Chapter Approved iPad, while the one on the right bellows orders into his bluetooth headset...

There are two command-type models, one with a communicator and the other with some kind of data slate. I put an antenna in the one fellow, and see these two guys as either crew for an emplaced weapon, or maybe an artillery spotting team. 

Image from "Warhammer 40,000 - Rogue Trader" rule book

"I don't get outside much..."

The Astropath - this figure, "Yerl" from the old Citadel range, is based on an image from the Rogue Trader rulebook.  Astropaths are the 4G-LTE wireless communication devices of the 41st millennium, passing messages back and forth through the warp and allowing the Imperium of Man to (mostly) stay in touch across the vast distances of the galaxy.  The Astropath lives a crummy, weird-genes-and-odd-looks, who-said-you-could-leave-your-chamber life in Warhammer 40,000, so I painted his skin tone to match. This figure will be a good objective marker or model for Rogue Trader games.

Stay tuned for more Crimson Fists - a mix of golden oldies and contemporaries...

WW1 Take the Farm - Display Pictures

One of my major goals when entering Curt's Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was to get my World War 1 German and Canadian forces done.  Even if not "complete", as I have over 100 models for each force, to get enough done to game with.

Well, goal accomplished, at least on a small scale.

Here are some images of a table that I setup to work through the rules and to teach my son's the game "Through the Mud and the Blood".  Since I had it all setup anyway, I figured I would take some pictures to show off the figures all together.

For anyone who has not tried out the TTMATB rules, they are by the same team that did the more recent Chain of Command, and are a great set of rules.  Better yet, unlike GW rule books, they are reasonably priced!

The table I setup depicts the Canadians from the 10th and 16th battalions trying to take two farm houses at a cross-roads.

The Canadians are coming up from the south
and the Germans hold the north edge.

The Canadian 10th battalion sections have crept up along the west flank and are getting ready for a sneak attack through the bocage. The 16th battalion has a section similarly forward in the bocage but they are along the east front of the enemy.  One poor section of Scots from the 16th has been sent down the road as a decoy unit to get the germans to reveal their positions.  My storyline is that they cooked Hagis last night for dinner, and the rest of the battalion did not approve, therefore they got the decoy job.

The Canadian deployment

The 10th battalion draws the long straw
and gets to fully deploy in cover.

The lucky Scots that get to have some
cover along the east edge of the table.

The Germans have setup in the two farm house at the cross roads and have the advantage of defending some sturdy brick and plaster field walls, as well as the cover that the burned out farm houses provide.

The German Rifle section along the west wall.

The German Riflemen added to the
HMG along the east flank.

 

The German HMG has the "decoy" unit sited in.  Ouch!!

Here are some other random pictures of the setup, showing the Canadians getting ready to surprise the Germans from the bocage.

The bocage is all hand made from wood bases, furnace filter, and clump foliage.  The buildings are 4ground buildings and the walls I made on a laser cutter.

For detailed pictures of the units you can find them on Curts blog here:

• Canadians:
• 10th Battalion - Section 1
• 10th Battalion - Section 2 (not up yet)
• 16th Battalion - Section 1
• 16th Battalion - Section 2
• Germans:
• HMG Section with Rifle Support
• Rifle Section

More will come I continue to work on the painting challenge.

Overall though, not a bad start to both forces, as I now have roughly 60 more WW1 models painted than I had 6 weeks ago.  At that point it was 2.... a sample fig of each to figure out paint colours.

Now, to get some games in with them.

Sedition Wars Project - Progress Report #2

Ask Conscript Brian, I am plagued by unpainted minis, and I have trouble finishing projects. So, I hope that quasi-regular blogging about this project will keep me honest.

I am, surprisingly, keeping disciplined. The first wave of my Vanguard figures for Sedition Wars are now cleaned up, assembled, and primed. It's my usual zenithal highlighting; primed the figures black with P3 spray primer, then airbrushed highlights with Acryl flat white.

Below, Samaritans and AI drones. They will be green, with orange visors where applicable.



Close-up of special weapons troopers.



The named characters.



Below, I am going to paint Captain Kara Black with red hair, like Alice from the Resident Evil movie franchise.



Akosha Nama will have purple hair and a grey jumpsuit, like Major Matoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell.



The medic, Morgan Vade, was a bitch to get together. Four hours clean-up time, due to the tricky restic material and tiny details.



Heavy weapons dude Barker Zosa was another complicated figure. Another four hours I will never get back. I do like the sculpt. Even with the exo-skelton, it looks like the guy is carrying a lot of weight around.



I am using a Hasslefree Miniatures female sci-fi figure in scout armour to use as "Tech Com Kara Black"; it's mounted on a Studio McVey resin base (note the crisper details on the base). This figure is a lovely, delicate, one-piece sculpt. It's a resin master, so the fig was basically pristine, with no blemishes. Five minutes prep time, tops, before priming.



Next up, lots of layered washes.

Rogue Trader Anniversary Figure - Finally Painted!

Rogue Trader 25th Anniversary figure...painted two years later (ahem)

As I mentioned with this recent submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, time sure flies!. The 25th Anniversary of "Warhammer 40,000 - Rogue Trader" seems relatively recent to me, but it was actually in 2012, just about two years ago.  In keeping with GW's sure-fire tin ear and clueless lack of self-awareness, the company celebrated this significant anniversary with a special White Dwarf featuring Gandalf on the cover. But they also released a special figure to commemorate the occasion - a figure inspired by the Crimson First leading a doomed last stand from the cover of the rulebook.  These were limited edition models issued at the time and I picked a couple up because I am a shameless fanboy, and I love Rogue Trader.

Will always love this cover!

He's pretty close to that dude in the middle...

This has been sitting primed since February 2012…thank goodness for Curt's painting challenges that encourage to get these kind of projects finished!  For whatever reason I have been on a Rogue Trader kick during this painting challenge, and this figure was the latest.

The scenic base has...you guessed it..skulls! Three of them!

You have the option of mounting it directly on the scenic base beside the standard, or mounting the officer on a smaller base separately.  I went with a separate base for the Commander, leaving the banner to be a piece of scenery, and objective or terrain. 

Why use that plasma pistol, when you can chuck an Ork head at the enemies of the Emperor?

It's a really, really nice figure and a nice souvenir. GW, though, it can't take two steps forward without taking one-and-a-half (or three) back.  The problem in this case? The figure was made of "Finecast" instead of proper metal. Finecast is not new anymore, but this is the first Finecast figure I have worked with. "Finecast" combines the issues of resin with the floppiness of soft plastic - all of the price of gold, a combo only GW could master. I was pretty concerned based on what I was reading about Finecast online, but fortunately I was spared many of the more serious problems (holes, deformed casting etc) this crap medium seems to present to many other gamers.  

The banner literally flopped around while painting it, but you can't fault the detail

Although I was lucky, I can see why people think Finecast sucks.  The detail on the figure is really something, but the banner in particular was tricky to paint as Finecast has all of the tensile strength of a wet noodle - even my 8/0 brush caused it to bend! The experience did not pump me up to seek out other Finecast figures, although GW seems to be out of the metal business so more and more of its products are cast in this medium. Let's hope the rumours I have seen online are true, and that Finecast is truly toast.  Resin figures are bad enough - Finecast can just rot.

Bring on the Red Star Orks!

Anyway, for all that nerd rage, the figure was still fun to paint and I'm glad to have it done.  The sculpt is very loyal to the inspiration of the image on the Rogue Trader book cover, right down to the ominous Ork head being waved around in his right hand. As I continue to build up my little collection of Crimson Fist troops this fellow will fit right in.  Dallas and I have been pondering a Rogue Trader game for a while, so who knows? This guy could get capped very soon on the table.  Would be fitting if he went down in style, as the fellows on the old Rogue Trader cover do.

Crimson Fist Reinforcements

More survivors on Rynn's World

 When they last saw action, my collection of Crimson Fists was a pretty small detachment.  They had to be bolstered by some Imperial Guardsmen in their second game. Of course they represented the survivors of the catastrophe on Rynn's World, so of course they were small.  But I want to expand the collection - both to reflect our occasional campaign (Pedro Cantor and his survivors ultimately encountered other members of the Chapter who were not killed in the explosion) and for use in other settings.

New Predator, old marines

 I've been using the motivation of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge to start bulking the force up a little.  This was a submission for the Challenge, and it includes a mix of new and old - a Predator from GW's current model lineup, and a group of RTB01 "Beakie" marines.

The Predator is one of GW's best vehicle kits - love the look of it

I love nearly all things Rogue Trader, but when it comes to vehicles, generally speaking, the newer model line is much, much improved.  The current Space Marine Predator is a beautiful model (and I've used one for my Guardsmen) so I wanted one for the Crimson Fists.  As always with models, I made several assembly mistakes (look closely and try to see which side sponson is mounted with the bracket upside-down!) but overall it turned out great.  The weapon load is configured to match the original Rogue Trader vehicle (an autocannon in the turret and two lascannons on the sides), but this can easily be swapped/ignored for a "current" 40k game.

I also like how the "new" vehicles are actually much closer to the right size in comparison to the older figures

These old marines are a lot of fun to paint, but one part I don't enjoy is trying to bodge the Chapter symbol on to the shoulder plate. For my initial slate of 15 marines I used metal "vanity" shoulder plates with the icon sculpted directly on (a brilliant notion that I wish GW would make a more consistent effort with - anyway).  This took some doing as the plates, sized to fit the newer, larger line of models, were awkward fits with the old Rogue Trader plastics.  Plus, they were pricey - fine for a small project, but not sustainable for an expanded collection. 

RTB01 plastic marines with vaguely shaped red smudges on their should plates

I tried to use the decals that are available (again, a great thing that I wish GW would make a little more of a consistent effort on) but again the size defeated me - they are designed for the larger, current models (obviously!) and won't sit on the old should plates without a huge air bubble.  That left freehand painting as the only option - not something I will be hired to do! So some of the marines look like they are part of the "Crimson Blobs" or "Crimson Paws"...but at least, in a group, their chapter identity is pretty much clear.

I think in RT the Predator could even carry five troops, right? Who needs Razorbacks?

Overall the original Crimson Fist detachment has expanded from the group of 15 survivors to about 30 troops in three squads now - with a vehicle to boot.  Hoping to get these on the table soon.

Rogue Trader Roughriders

So let's hope the Emperor Protects while we charge home...

 This is a fun Rogue Trader project to share! A squad of ten 28mm Imperial Guard Roughriders from the Rogue Trader era.  Many of us have projects or collections that go on and on for many years, but for me this one is special - I've been working to get this squad together since 2007! This unit was a submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

WIP shot - drying in the base "goop"

It was in 2007 when I first started to acquire some surplus boxes of plastic Rogue Trader-era Imperial Guardsmen - a major nostalgia interest for me.  There were some really great eBay scores for me that year - whole boxes of 36 plastic guardsmen, some unpainted officer figures etc. In the midst of these was a set of three Roughrider torsos. As I worked to assemble and paint my other troops (see here for an example of them in action), I resolved back in 2007 that I would keep my eyes peeled to eBay to try and assemble enough spare parts to put together a Roughrider squad.

These were a little awkward to assemble.  I miss the old Rogue Trader figures, but they were not the easiest models to work with...

Little did I suspect just how long it would take to put together a proper 10-man unit…

 

Sergeant in the middle, and a lascannon gunner (not exactly a "classic" cavalry weapon) beside him

The roughriders were basically an option to mount an Imperial Guard tactical squad on horses.  After all, the horse would surely still be part of many worlds and cultures among the numberless, teeming masses of the Imperium of Man. Some of these horses would be used in the Imperial military.  

 

Good view of the excellent lance arms from Victoria Lamb

The Roughriders were armed identically to a tactical squad - lasguns, one grenade launcher, one lascannon - but with a twist.  They carried lances equipped with exploding tips.  I think an actual exploding lance tip would be daft for a real cavalryman, but it fits well in the 40k dystopia.  In game terms, it gives these troops quite a punch when they charge - for one turn, at least :)

 

You can see a couple of the bush hat dudes here

The Roughriders have carried on in the GW fluff over time, and I think they are still an option for Guard players today, although the models are now OOP. The Roughriders became space huns - the "Roughriders of Atilla".  The Tallarn-style guardsmen (desert themed troops) also got Roughrider models.  Ultimately Forge World took the baton - the grim Death Riders of Krieg are quite marvellous figures (if you can afford them), while the Tallarn troops got alternate Roughriders who essentially rode space camels called "Mukaali".  I don't think many current GW players bother with Roughriders as a selection for the table.

 

Another view of the bush hats...what a crazy combination of themes...very Rogue Trader

When I set out to get a squad of Rogue Trader Roughriders together in 2007, I didn't think it would take too long.  I was wrong! The Roughrider bits - special legs and torsos, including a special dude with a Grenade Launcher, and some guys wearing bush-cap style headgear - did not pop up very often on eBay.  It would be a torso here, a few legs there…and sometime I ended up with the wrong part.  Did you know GW had two separate types of "rider" legs - one for horses, and one for motorcycles? Me neither…found out the hard way after an eBay acution. Anyway it was not until late 2013 that I got enough bits together to do the proper squad - almost seven years after I started collecting the parts. 

I like this guy, about to stick the exploding lance into a target - I'm sure that will work out safely...

The lance arms are courtesy of Victoria Lamb. Thank goodness for her awesome products, as the GW originals did not actually have proper lances (much less cool ones with exploding tips) and I wasn't sure how I was going to swing that. Victoria Lamb's stuff is amazing. Consistent with my other Rogue Trader guardsmen, I slapped a "current" lasgun into the back stowage of the riders.  It would have been cooler to sculpt a strap for the guns - but I'm no sculptor…

 

Another view of the Sergeant - that's supposed to be a "122" on the number plates (122nd Regiment), but due to my freehand painting skills it mostly resembles a scrawl of crud

Even getting the horses together was a challenge, as GW's horse sprues have changed over time. The current plastic horses are too large (and a bit too silly). Again, I had to watch and wait on eBay for the parts to come up.

 

The perfect cavalry weapon - a 40k grenade launcher

Once I had all the bits together, it took a little while to put them all together. I started building them in November last year, and finally painted them for the challenge. Even with the excellent Victoria Lamb bits, these are not particularly glorious figures - they sit awkwardly on the horses, no natural riders among them, that's for sure. A cavalry enthusiast will find these to be just awful! But it is a genuine nostalgia thrill to have these fellows finished.  

 

Hopefully they will pop off some of Dallas' Rogue Trader Orks the next time we play some old school 40k.