Astra Militraum, Inquisition Cronies & Others.

 So following several months of inactivity, and a repeat of the Daemon Semen episode, I have completed some more models for my fantasy world of toy soldiers. These were actually finished last December but my impatience coupled with a bout of very cold weather that coincided with spray varnishing delayed that somewhat.

Demo Charge Cultist

Here's another member of the Assembly of D'Keddes, my ever increasing genestealer cult. This one represents a demo charge in the form of a barrel, parts of a Sentenel heavy flamer and some extensive arm repositioning. He's also holding the remains of an old beaky marine helmet to prove how committed to the cause he is.

Mucho Plosive demo charge operator extrordinaire.

Unconventional Inquisitorial Henchmen

A while back I was rooting around in my pile of shame and found several models that I had intended to use for some game/army/scenario and then the creative urge scarpered and landed on some other pretty. Well here are some of them finished and shoehorned into a fluff reason for their inclusion into this post.

Old Citadel Zombie

This lad was originally going to be a baddy for my Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay days. Him and two or three other undead medievil style chaps. Back then, there was no such thing as contrast paints so the flayed skin and general complicatedness of this model always put me off. I then thought that this model could be the henchman of a some heretic that my inventive Inquisitor has managed to skin and still keep alive while at the same time using his considerable psychic skills to ensure he is an expendable pawn and at the same time a horrific warning to others.That's my backstory and I'm sticking to it.

  

Lord Gorgol Rackmurder, former planetary governor of Strass IX insignificant moon of Strass VIII.

Primitive Feral Operatives

Here are two old citadel chaos warriors or possibly thugs, that were originally for my chaos fantasy army (back in the 1990's I think most people started collecting them), but as is a very common theme in my stories, I got bored and never finished it. These were before all chaos warriors wore exactly the same armour and used the same weaponry, very unchaotic! These lads have been through dechoasifier before they were allowed into the IAHGWU (Inquisition Acolyte Henchmen General Workers Union) and are now fully paid up members. The one on the left has an heretic's head for the lols and the one on the right bears a rather heavy blunt sword for close up Inquisitorial activities.

Hockey McSever and Grinny O'Headblatter.

Ex-Mordian Lieutenant.

This model is an old metal Mordian that was the last survivor of a half assed attempt to go for a Mordian army. I realised I didn't like painting them and Ebayed the lot. Contrast paints were then invented and I gave him the green light to join the Ordo Hereticus or some such to delivered hot bullet pain to the enemies of his Inquisitor master. If he had a back story I'm sure he was the last of his battalion to remain after some 40,000 heretics attacked and was scooped up by an amiable Witch Hunter, giving some vermillion pants and told to go get some.

Lieutenant Bluto the Reasonably Unkillable.

Necromundan Thugs

Inquisitor Jao (the guy who controls this unit of acolytes) summered on Hive Primus and fell in love with the place, the cramped, hazardous conditions, toxic air and highly fractious inhabitants made him enjoy his time there. That, and three cults and a minor rebellion to quell. So whilst he was there he picked up some of the locals as scouts and bullet catchers. Two of these remain in the form of  a Van Saar and Orlock by the names of Chipsh Clintmeir and Bolly 'sideburns' Zamgel. Both are fiercely loyal to the Inquisitor and have so far survived many of the horrors of the 41st millennium.

 

Chips & Sideburns

Necromundan Young Scuts

Also collected from Necromunda were two waifs picked up during some of the many gang fights Jao witnessed. Both were against the aforementioned cults and both showed great bravery and an equal amount of savagery. Little Nutski (Goliath) and Stabgelina (Esher) were initially constantly trying to kill each other, but an hour in the pain glove soon redirected there aggression into more constructive channels.

Little Nutski and Stabgelina

Archaic Astra Militarum Device

Rarely seen on the 'modern' battlefields is the multimelta weapons team. Seen here without the operatives, the multimelta weapons team was thing during the Rogue Trader era. As it now, due to the vagaries of  progress it now has a range shorter than most basic weapons meaning any engagement the weapons teams are picked off before they can contribute to the battle. Hence multimeltas are generally mounted on vehicles that can stand up to massed lasgun fire.

Often deployed with 30 or 40 operatives to maintain firing rates during skirmishes the Multimelta weapon team is now rarely seen on the battlefield.

Promoted Astra Militarum Troopers

Coming with extra corpse starch rations, the AM special weapons troops are a sought after position. Considered slightly more dangerous than Heavy Weapons duty, but less so than mine field clearing and penal assault troops. Many soldiers with average shooting skills and a resistance to plasma burns are assigned the double edged sword that is plasma gun operation. Often the hero (posthumously), of a battle, these brave souls can punch holes in ceramite (heretic and otherwise) and oftentimes provide the coup de gras for a reeling commander once his infantry bodyguard is brought down by the emperor's flashlights. The two below will be joining Cadians or Krieg squads and the poor old Catachans are trusted with plasma weapons apparently.

Troopers Bunko and Sharlatan

Grenadiers

Next are some Valhallan grenade launchers who will almost constantly over dressed in the balmy jungles and sweaty urban battlefields that I generally play on. Hopefully one of my opponents may create an artic table so they can really appreciate their extra tog duffle coats.

Troopers Fluey, Shuey & Pooey.

Nork Deddog Stand In

An old metal Ogryn has been finished to a) enable me to field a unit of six, and b) use Nork Deddog for a close combat oriented Catachan force that will be using plenty of legends unless the Adepticon models preview has loads of shiny new Stracken and Harker models. Not much to say other thab he may also find employment and an augmented Bone'ead from the new Crucible of champions supplement.

Ready to Smash for the Emp!

The Whole Gang.

So that's all folks. Hopefully some of these models brought a warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia to the gamers of my vintage and for those who haven't seen this sort of thing, maybe a bit of wonderment, and yes, these models do hurt when used as weapons. So until next time, happy hobbying and be excellent to each other.

Thanks for reading.

Regimental Standard and Warp Spiders

 Greetings all. Here's another one of those updates that may waste approximately 4 minutes of your time or slightly more if you read slowly. So on we go with the time wasting;

Current bearer of the banner is unlucky Chav Marbles. What he lacks in arm mobility he makes up for in enthusiasm.

Faux Solar Leontus and Some Fodder

Greetings, it's been a while since my last update, but for some reason I wait until there are loads of nearly finished models then I procrastinate for weeks until I finally take the plunge and actually complete models. According to Instagram, I may have undiagnosed ADHD. Or, I'm just a bit on the lazy side.

Lord Solar Leontus Knock Off 

As I'm trying to actually finish my models rather than continually buy more, I decided  (some time ago) to knock up a Lord Solar to dish orders out to tank commanders. With the new munitorum field manual* that seems a bit redundant, but I don't call this blog Continental Drift Painting for nowt! So I dug around in my bits box and found an old Elector Count of Ostland who looks quite Attilan so I can make him my commander. Of course he is armed with a bow so some grinding and cutting later he has been given a shotgun. The runefang he holds in his other hand passes for the sort of fancy master crafted power sword that the aristocratic types are always getting handed to them, so no converting there. The horse is a standard armoured warhorse from back in the day, and to give it a more 40K look I used bits of a Chinaforge Wraithknight on the base as I really can't be arsed trying to put it together.He now represents any historical** Astra Militarum commander from any time in the 41st (or other) Millennium. 

Lord Solar Leontusish

Cadian Heavy Weapons Teams

Here's a couple of old metal heavy weapons teams. Rocket Launcher and Autocannon. In my experience weapons teams don't last pissing time in games, I wonder how much they will be used. These are the first models I've actually put on the 60mm base but I do like how you can make mini dioramas on them.

"Right lads, draw the enemies attention with your ever-so-slightly effective weapons!". 

Some Oldschool Guardsmen

Here are some early nineties metal guardsmen. I gave them some AdMech bits to denote a medic and vox unit. The rather bulbous plasma gun is from the Space Ork sprue from around the same time, I have a regimental standard to make me a second platoon command squad.

Spatz for the EMPEROR!

Below are some Cadians to form a blob with the command squad above. One of the main reasons is the command squad's special rule, the one that ignores negative modifiers to profiles (except ap) and as I regularly play against  Death guard, there is a built in gotcha in the army.

"VENGENCE FOR CADIA!".

"MORE VENGENCE FOR CADIA!"

Below is the old overweight Cadian lieutenant aided and abetted by two sergeants and a couple of expendables. Not like the ones in the Sly Stallone movies, the ones that have to put their soft bodies onto objectives a millisecond or two before enemy close combat troops gobble them up.

"Stand here men so's I don't get killed!".

Death Korp of Krieg

Next is some Death Korp of Krieg. Everyone's favourite cult of sacrifice fodder. I'm toying with the idea of using a 20 man blob but then I have to spend money. These ones are an exchange for some chaos marines I didn't want but since I got them I have a hankering for some more. As they have been strongly teased for the new book, they may well come with some ever more fun rules. Hopefully Santa will see fit to get me some more. These are absolutely great models but the only downside was they were put together before I got them some I think I'd have put a plasma gun in the unit rather than a flamer (I have loads of flamers already).

Meltagun, club, map, sniper rifle and imperial primer armed infantry.

Lasgun with bayonet, sergeant, medic, bionic arm flamer.

The whole gang.

So there you have it. My Astra Militarum have been enlarged by 29 or so models which is great for me, and not so great for the enemies of the Imperium.

Thanks for reading.

 * They gained the SQUADRON keyword so they can tell themselves to shoot better.

**Or more accurately futuristic.

Ascension Day Reinforcements

Greetings humans, after a long interlude, I have wares to show! What seems like an eternity of not actually finishing anything, I have managed to get some shit done. So without boring anyone with the whys and wherefores of the hiatus here are some old models with a few newer bits added to them.

GSC Cultist and Mr Boneshirt

Before genestealer neophytes got sexy they were generally sculpted by Bob Olley way back in the dawn of time (1990s) back when they were £2.99 for 5, I didn't actually buy them then, I played the long game and bought them on eBay when they were considerably more expensive. The model on the right is one of those cultist, whereas the guy on the left is an old Confrontation ganger from that era too. The Cultist has some Attalan Jackal arms and the guy with shades has an ole conversion beamer from Rogue Trader times that will proxy as a seismic cannon. What I think is particularly worth noting is the guy on the left has a shirt with many bones set upon it, like some Grimdark Lady Gaga!

Boney  Badromancy & Wrecker Maghee

Delaque Gangers and/or Cultists

Quite some time ago, an article in white dwarf had some scenario ideas for Necromunda models, one of these ideas was painting up Delaques as scientists with lab coats. I loved this idea and went with it,and a mere 20 years later finally finished up 20 Delaques for said scenario, Now I have been painting these on and off for quite a while but now I think they're *done. What had given me the final push was 40k 10th edition where I could fit 4 heavy weapons into a Neophyte hybrid squad. I made a couple more conversion beamer/seismic cannon hybrids to give myself a unit of baldies for my GSC army that could be a) members of the guild of dental assistants, b) a squad of militant painters and decorators or c) sperm bank employees on a field trip to give out free samples of Genestealer DNA. These and many more backgrounds can make my games more narrative.

Two basic grunts, one with a shotgun/hybrid firearm depending on what he's up to and a lasgun operator with a chainsword with hazard markings due to Adeptus Administratum health & safety legislation.

Two more grunts to catch bullets for their betters.

Two Juves (l to r) Three Fingered Jarlaff & Cobb Bluearm. One is the unit's icon bearer while the other is struggling to hide his Neophyteness.

The two heavies, Shy Malcolmtent & Burk Clawmeister. Both are metal Delaque heavies with hybrid claw arms at the back to hold their massive weapons (ooer).

Here is the Boffin/Dentist/STD Clinicians gang in their entirety

Tech Ganger and Ratskin

Another two Confrontation models. A Tech Ganger spruced up with Neophyte leader arms and a Rarskin with original weedy arms and a not so recent metal sniper rifle, The Tech ganger can moonlight as some sort of wannabee AdMech or lead some Neophytes into battle. He also has what I assume is some kind of hand flamer on his hip, or is it a sperm gun? The ratskin is just a generic native scout of whatever post apocalyptic world he gets to wander about on.

Now even some bolt pistols need hazard stripes, it's an nanny Imperium gone mad! Meet lawful Jezzup and Two Grox Humping.

Colony 87 Civilians

An ongoing project of mine is occasionally painting up non military types for my amusement. Here are two Colony 87 models from Crooked Dice. A veritable treasure trove of unusual models. The model on the left is I think some kind of psychic who is also playing the circle game with you (please punch yourself in the arm). On the right is the pilgrim a model I had intended to paint many years ago but the end of his staff came off and it was quite a pain to re-pin. 

Garze the Gesticulator & Nondescript Holy Joe.

Suspicious Looking Law Enforcement Commander

One of the best things about the hybrid neophyte boxed set is the multitude of extra heads you get. This allows for many of your loyal citizenry to get heads swapped to become more unsavoury characters with not so pure human genes. This is an old metal Arbites model that can be the law in a small settlement or due to his weird appearance and skin tone the champion of a 'turned' police unit on Ascension Day. The dismembered beaky marine on his base tends to give off an anti-imperial vibe but hopefully not quickly enough to give the game away when the rebel scum are pouring out of the sewers.

Beadiaii Khandle-Wormspag; nemesis of the unlawful (unless you know the secret handshake).

 

The whole group arrayed slightly artistically on the table ready for assignment to various parts of the cabinet of accomplishment.

So there you have it! Fifteen various bad guys that will no doubt be a thorn in the side of the Imperium, or if I ever get traction in my gaming group some fun Rogue Trader games.

Thanks for reading.

*Without the four special weapon troopers, I will have to state for fluff reasons that the Delaque have disguised their flamers/webbers/grenade launchers to look exactly like ordinary hybrid firearms.  

Colony 87, Aeldari Artillery, Sergeant Bloke and Strangler Arris

Greetings people of Earth! It's been a few months since I put some painted models on here but now I'm back! 2018 was shaping up to be one of my most productive years ever as far as painting models was concerned (well it was back in July), then I got caught up playing games and writing batreps so the production line ceased. I played a few games of Killteam which were great craic but as my Stealers weren't painted up I didn't feel the need to report them here. I may do, but not today.

Aeldari Support

First up are my Aeldari. Two support weapon crewelfs, two Aeldari missile launchers and a Distortion Cannon. They were painted up to slide (oo-er) in to my Moonkillers pirate band/guardians/clandestine agents of Ulthwe. So they weren't painted black. Yellow over-armour, green underwear and assorted extraneousness, blue weapons as Space Elfs don't use metal, they use plastic. As a result their meltaguns and flamers must be one shot weapons. I painted black leather (or is that also plastic?) jackets on these models as a nod to their Craftworld of origin.

Two little space elf Fonzsies.

More Deathworld Gribblies & Some Astra Militarum to Wipe Them Out

The Leadpile Receeds!

Finished some more models, mainly due to my renewed interest in 40K. Before I unveil my galaxy defeating forces here are a couple of long termers from my 'get it painted sometime' painted table.

Naked Mutated Fox Chick

This model is so Oldhammer! Back when I had access to loose lead from Games Workshop every now and then I would order a couple of kilos of lead (associated plastics were free), one day I bought this freaky little minx. A werefox of all things. Having never seen one in any of my games, I presume it's a DnD critter. Probably tricky and slightly sexual. Not sure what I will be able to use it as, but some sort of alien menace I'd imagine.

I'm pert and weird.

A Pile of Skulls (But Not For Khorne's Throne)

More Sci Fi Bystanders

In January I decided to try to complete some of my Genestealer Cult Force, consequently I finished some of my Sci Fi civilians and personalities that have nothing to do with Genestealers. Oh well, that's nothing new. So on with the show;

Blinged Up Bloke

Here's the first one, a Moonraker Miniatures civilian from the Space Lords range. He can be used as a bloke going about his law abiding business, or other nefarious stuff. I do like the strut of this model, like he's pretty cocky about his lot in the Grim Darkness Of The 41st Millennium. This is partly why I gave him blue boots, two fingers at the Administratum or Ecclesiarchy, or even Adeptus Sanitorium. 

Give him a floppy hat and it's a futuristic Huggy Bear.

Wyrds, Chuggers & Cross dressers From The 41st Millenium

After reading and rereading the excellent rulesset for Inquisimunda over at Yak Tribe I've decided to drop everything else and start painting up Imperial forces again! Anyone unfamiliar with Inquisimunda it's an updated and expanded version of Necromunda where you play the part of a group of do gooders (if there is such a thing in the grim darkness of the far future) or do badders. The forces are usually around 10 - 15 models and the choice of different gang types is huge. So anyhoo, I painted up the following preciouses over the last couple of weeks and will laboriously go into detail as to what I intend to use them for.

Confused Necron

As an avid collector of White Dwarf magazine I got this metal Necron about 17ish years ago. It was undercoated not long after then spent the following years languishing on my painting table. Finally got him done, ridiculous really as it was all drybrushing. Now as I never intend to purchase another Necron model he will henceforth be utilised as a killer cyborg or a Necron whose had a neural inhibitor connected to his brainhole so he follows his master around like an eager puppy, carrying, fetching and obliterating enemy fighters on command.

P3CO

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future - The Are No Chiropodists!

Shenanigans with a Dremel, Some Glue and Green Stuff

iTunes is playing Queens Of The Stone Age for me and I'm going to show you what I'm neglecting my adult duties with this week. A while ago I purchased a bag of assorted chopped up models that I thought I could salvage and make new preciouses with. The first contender for lead favourite of the month is an escapee from that very bag! An old Necromunda beastmaster had been victim of Sharia Law as his left arm had been removed as well as his stub gun. A pretty harmless bearded geezer. I gave him a plasma pistol, a green stuff forearm and an old plastic beaky marine's hand. Hey Presto! A valued member of the underhive once again. Put a bit of paint on him and he can be any one of a dozen not-so-innocent bystanders

The Town Drunk

Ole Hairy Jeb

 Next up is a skaven slave  with a Max Mini Ash Junker head wearing goggles and two clawed hands,a bit like lobster boy in American Horror Story (Freak Show). I would like to think of him as a Delaque gone all mutanty Of course he could be a Delaque so deep undercover that he doesn't know what side is normal anymore. Going to the trouble of purchasing a robotic tail and heavy metal hands just goes to show how committed the house is to getting information.

Sneaky Fecker

Squirty Silas

 Hairy and Very Mean

Not sure if this picture has been up on here before but here's and old Rat Ogre with a head swap, a Goliath shotgun and a necklace of ears. Hopefully he will kicking the shit out of normals in the not too distant future

Gack Facesmasher

The Three Evil Stooges

 The next three models came into being when Games Workshop decided I couldn't have units of Warpfire Throwers anymore (the facists). Apparently 24 teams is a bit excessive, So I decided to lop some heads off  and make them into human/mutie pack slaves. These heads are from the Max Mini evil heads pack which I think are very characterful. I think giving them some guns strapped to their packs can give the impression of gun bearers or fighters in their own right. They can also be used as Savlar Chem Dogs for my Imperial Guard.

Semi Rotten Faced Guy

Smarmy Bloke

Of course the excessive hairiness of the models may be construed as rampant mutantism which will get them a swift edification from local Redemptionists, but then who cares about religious fundamentalists in the 41st millenium?

Weak Necked Greg

Horror Movie Guy

 I once took the head off an Empire Light Acolyte to create Little Nug a diminutive gangster, and now I've decided to add to GS love to the remains. I intend to make him into a Redemptionist with an Exterminator cartridge on the sword and either another sword (with Exterminator) or an axe. The mask I started happily for me has started looking like a mask from Scream (or more likely Scary Movie) so I'll be adding hair to the back of the head soon.

Brother Cheap Laugh

40K Bunions

 Last two are also Skaven models that I though would make good Scavvys or just generic bare footed bad guys. Again Max Mini heads were grafted on to ratmen It's ok, I still have hundreds of Skaven that won't be getting abused in the 41st millenium.

AK47s in the 41st Millenium don't kick

 This is the other member of one of the Warpfire Thrower teams. The gun itself has quite a nice Archeotech look to it so he should fit right in scrabbling around the hive torching/polluting/irradiating the Bejasus out of other gangers

This weapon squits something out!

So these models are intended for use in either Necromunda or some other small scale Imperial skirmish game I'm toying with the idea of using these guys as the start of a new gang from the Ash Wastes, as I have plenty of vehicles to chop up and 40K up. What I didn't get to display (due to a combination of poor photography and can't be arsed going back out into the garage) is Bessie the two headed sump mule (featured in the Slag Valley Bullet #2). The extra head is attached, now she needs some baggage for Purgative Jessop - her owner - to lug around from settlement to settlement. I'm also thinking another order from Max Mini is on the cards to make a unit of Attilan Roughriders into Ash Waste Desperados.

Desert heads

Biohazard Heads

So now that I've whetted appetites expect a 4 month hiatus then some painted up Wood elves or something! No, I'm joking (hopefully). So expect some sort of update within the next couple of weeks (or sooner if I can get a kettle in my garage).

Some Empire Chavs

Some long term squatters on my to-be-painted table have finally made it off it! So in all their glory, some tiny soldiers to make me swear at dice on a table top. 

Witch Smeller Persuivant

Here is my witch hunter model that was part of a tag team in the old Dogs of War army. I can't recall either name at the minute but his buddy will so be conscripted into the army as a warrior priest. An internet high five if you recognise the name from an old British sitcom.

Witch Smeller Persuivant

Telekinetic Wyrd & Little Nug

My wyrd is now ready to ravage the underhive as is Little Nug, who I think is more of annoyance than an actual thug. Nug is an old plastic Gretchen model with the head of an Empire Light Acolyte squished on it. A greenstuff scarf gives him the look of a guy hiding the fact that someone tried to hang him at some point, but with little success.

.

Wyrd & Little Nug

Pukel, Pokel & Yokel

Three empire archers to go with the dozen or so I have already painted for my ad hoc Empire army. These guys are painting table veterans that have probably spent 18+ years waiting for brush love. now they've got it, they had better not flee at the first sign of a terror causing gribbly! I really like these models as they really give me the impression that they don't know much and say "B'ain't" a lot.

Pikel, Pokel & Yokel

 Gaspode, Gaston, Poulon & Mademoiselle Hot Lead

Finished this Brettonian organ gun some 20 years after they ceased to use gunpowder and moved into Trebuchets. Nothing says backward like Breton peasantry. Nice models these. I have another three artillery pieces to flesh out my Empire. Unfortunately it seems the only Warhammer race that now use organ guns are dwarfs so it will have to be proxied as a Hellblaster volley gun instead. This is actually my most dangerous model as I've been stabbed several times by the cocktail stick stakes! It ranks very highly in the psychotic goblin spearmen danger rating.

What's next on my painting pile is some wood Elf Glade Guard (more veterans of the Long War Against Undercoat), some Warhawk Riders, Wild Riders and Sisters of the Thorn. so hopefully in the next couple of weeks Ican have a very Elfy painting entry. Until then........