Inq et nunc - The Ancient Slann

Back in the early 2000s I planned a space slann army for 40k. The project never got off the ground as I moved towards smaller skirmish games, and most of the slann have long since been passed on. I did however keep the slann leader that I had planned to use - this was a conversion that was done for me by sculptor and Golden Demon winner Jeff Wilhelm. 20 years on, I have finally got round to painting up this long-neglected slann!

Originally intended for 28mm gaming, this slann will also see use in 54mm.

Whistle for the Big Dog - Final Dogskin gangers

A final pair of gangers to bring my Confrontation dogskin gang up to ten members strong. This means that I can field them as a Stargrave crew, and have just about enough members for a short Necromunda campaign.

Staring into the Void - Navigator

I wanted something relatively quick and easy to paint up as my first figure of 2023, so I decided to pick something from my boxes that was long overdue. I'm a firm believer in salvaging all of the off-cut components from my conversion projects as they nearly always get recycled into new projects. This figure is a good example of that, using the torso of the Imperial assassin who donated her legs to a chaos cultist in November 2018, and the body of a fantasy cleric whose head is now sported by a renegade Inquisitor.

The new Navigator flanked by a junior member of the house and her personal servant.

A Stargrave Crew (Expanded from the Five Parsecs From Home Crew) - The Squat

If you've been keeping an eye on the blog over the last month or so, you'll know that I've put together a 6-strong Five Parsecs From Home crew. I've also been using them to spark other sub-projects, with a 10-strong Stargrave crew foremost in my mind. The final addition to this project is my last Stargrave crew member in the form of a classic Bob Olley squat. 

The Cosmic Amphibians - Space Slann

Technically this post is made up of a couple of spin-off projects from a spin-off project. I painted up the unreleased space slann to bulk up my Five Parsecs from Home crew into a Stargrave crew. Then the Colony 87 figure and terrain pieces just followed suit!

Five Parsecs From Home Crew #5 - Mercenary

 

Every crew should have a militaristic heavy. You know, they might be the silent hard-as-nails mercenary with loads of gear from a crack commando unit, or the over-confident arrogant muscle-head with an over-fondness for loud ballistic weapons. Someone who can bring some decent firepower to the party if it all starts to get a bit tasty!

Five Parsecs From Home Crew #4 - Hive Worlder

 

The Rogue Trader Adventurers range is a goldmine of fantastic characters, and I've been wanting to find a purpose for the Hive Worlder for some time. He's a fun mix of primitive and tech with his crossbow pistol and leather jacket rubbing nicely alongside his power armoured legs* and chainsword.

*Asslessman maintains that these have no power source so must result in him walking like he's wearing ski boots.

Five Parsecs From Home Crew #3 - Assassin

 

When I was planning my Five Parsecs crew I was thinking along the lines of a group of Inquisitorial operatives, so an assassin was an obvious inclusion. I'm fond of the diminutive female assassin from the RT adventurers range, so it was a good opportunity to paint her up.

Five Parsecs from Home Crew #1 - Jokaero

A few weeks ago my good friend cheetor mentioned the Modiphius Five Parsecs from Home rules as something we ought to explore for future gaming sessions. The game requires a 6-strong starship crew for narrative solo or co-op skirmish gaming. The crew is mainly humans but with the option to sprinkle in some robots and aliens. Over the next few days my response was pretty much as follows:

1. Grab some miscellaneous miniatures and start playing around with what looked like a fun crew.
2. Buy the Five Parsecs from Home book and do some detailed planning of a crew.
3. Realise I could easily add another 4 models to use the Parsecs crew as a Stargrave crew.
4. Start modelling and painting the 10-strong Parsecs+ crew.
5. Get excited about other linked sub-groups and opportunities to paint other models in my collection.

My initial assemblage of miniatures for Five Parsecs (note, not all of these models made the cut!)

The Xenobiologist - Unreleased Rogue Trader Adeptus Mechanicus

Back in 2014 my mind was blown when Steve Casey showcased the unreleased Rogue Trader Adeptus Mechanicus figure on his Eldritch Epistles blog. The figure was from the collection of Bryan Ansell and I instantly both desired it and resigned myself to never owning it.

Happily I was recently able to acquire my own copy of the figure and wasted no time in painting it up!

Gomez & Schrodo, Private Investigators

Sometimes a syndicate boss might want to discover which of their rivals is having an affair with their closest lieutenant. Sometimes a grieving family might want a cold murder case resolved long after the official authorities have halted their enquiries. Cases such as these require an enquiring mind and delicate touch - they often fall into the hands of a private investigator.

The Crew's All Aboard Cap'n - Final Squat Pirates

I'm bookending my hobby output quite nicely by finishing off the year with the last 3 squat pirates from the crew that I started in January. I'm really pleased to have got this iconic set of 10 squat pirate sculpts painted with a couple of additions (a squat adventurer, the dwarf pirate and of course the big ugly ogryn). I do have some transport planned for the crew, but for now they'll just have to put their boots on the ground!

The last 3 additions are a nice selection. There's a Time Bandit-esque squat in retro pilot gear, a classicly styled crewman with headscarf and eye-patch, and the frankly maxed out fella with the braided beard, hook and horned hat.

Pirate Rule #11 - Every Crew Must Have a Parrot (More Squat Pirates)

Trouble traditionally comes in threes, and this kind of trouble is the shortest, hairiest kind! Latest off the workbench is another trio of squat pirates (leaving just three more to try and finish before the end of the year).

Part of the reason that there's been such a gap between my last squat pirates and these is related to arms. The metal bodies were intended for use with the plastic squat arms, but unfortunately the plastic arms fit poorly, cover nice sculpted details and don't match aesthetically. As a result, I've spent a long time trying to work up the arm right solution for every squat pirate using bits donated from other models.

Olleystronauts Part 2 - Painting the Crew

In my last post I covered the building of my Stargrave crew based nearly entirely on Bob Olley's Iron Claw jump troopers. This post shows off the newly painted crew in their pristine Space Fleet (or possibly Star Trooper?) uniforms.

Olleystronauts Part 1 - Building the Crew

It was back in 2020 when the seed of this project was planted. I had a pair of Bob Olley's Iron Claw Jump Troopers, and I fancied making a third variant. If you're not familiar with the figures, check out the pics below (sourced from the excellent Stuff of Legends):

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!).

Pulling the Crew Together - A Rogue Trader in Stargrave

The best bit about Frostgrave was the way that it allowed players to delve into their collections, dust off old figures and breathe new life into them. Stargrave has that very same appeal for me, and whilst there are some lovely new figures I could use, it's also great to use the rules as a driver to form a new warband around existing figures.

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.

No More Sushi Jokes Please! - Rogue Trader Piscean Warrior

Back in the early 2000s I started to get interested in revisiting some of the oddities and aliens from the 40k universe. I acquired Iron Claw space pirates and ambulls. I built a zoat army and gave one of my Eldar Warlocks a gyrinx companion. I also painted a piscean warrior in around 2004. Ten years later, I bought and painted a piscean warrior homage from the talented hands of then amateur sculptor Diego Serrate Pinilla through the now-defunct Oldhammer forums. At that point in 2014, I put my original RT piscean warrior in the stripping jar and boldly stated that I would paint it up in a "brand new matching paint scheme". 

It is now 7 years later. Diego has since launched a pretty successful miniatures company, Knightmare Games, where you can still buy his fishman sculpt. And I have finally repainted my Rogue Trader piscean warrior!

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!