False Omnissiah - Ironsleet III - Primogenitor Project

Somehow I managed to neglect posting my False Omnissiah build to the blog, which is insane because I spent a lot of time on it. Pretend this was posted in March or April 2020.

I created this for the "Ironsleet Invitational III - The Primogenitor". The setting for this event was a colossal Space Hulk. I imagined a rogue Mechanicus Magos, looking for lost tech to allow him to continue his megalomaniacal pursuit for the throne of Terra.

The base structure is the legs from an Admech Dunecrawler and a shot-off firework I had saved from the 4th, called the "Millenial Falcon"... too funny! The inhabitant is a GW zombie.

This build really started getting wacky once I decided to add an LED light. I ended up designing and printing some custom battery and switch holders.

This was my fluff:

*Behold the Omnissiah!*
------------------------
In the dark days of the Age of Apostasy, a magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus was charged with techno-heresy and sentenced to interment as a servitor. The process was a failure- the interred magos retained consciousness and a latent psy ability was sparked. He believed he was the true Emperor of Mankind, made manifest as a pysker and the Omnissiah both. After gathering a sizable group of followers with the intention of deposing the false emperor on the Throne on Terra, the would-be "Omnissiah" attracted Imperial attention and was driven into the dark edges of galaxy- where Imperial forces could no longer follow. Driven to desperation, in a state of increasing disrepair, the Omnissiah seeks to plunder or commandeer #theprimogenitor and make a triumphal return to Terra.

Hoping to get this guy some zealous followers this year.

Final RT601 40k Adventurers Set - End of Year Randomness - 2020 Edition

My 2020 resolution was to paint a full set of 1988 "40K Adventurers", which I have been collecting on-and-off since 1990. I had about half painted at one point- but sold most of them off on eBay many years ago when I needed some money.

I made a final push to collect them all again about ten years ago, and they've been sitting in a box waiting for me to take them on. Luckily, I manged to re-acquire these before the "Oldhammer" nostalgia hit full speed and prices rose significantly. I have been steadily working on them, along with related old-school 40K miniatures, all year.

Here's the result. I am reminded of one of my favorite sayings- "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". 

The White Dwarf #99 ad that began my quest...

As usual, I have lingering miniatures  that were perhaps intended on being finished along with another project, or were loners to start with and were primed but not finished until now. 

A small miniature I picked up at GenCon many years ago. Soft on detail, so she became a test model for simulating bronze.

Two bookshelves I found on Thingiverse and 3D printed. One was filled with GW skulls, another with Hirst Arts books. 

Furniture I purchased from Shapeways a couple years ago.

GW communication relay objective, two random scatter items from Armorcast and IronWind, and a relic objective.

Another small ruin piece, again to test some bronze effects.

Blind Beggar Outlander. 

A brute from Knightmare Miniatures and a Gretchin "Child" from Wargames Exclusive.

 

Space Fimir, also from Knightmare Miniatures. 

 

TARDIS console. 

 

A soldier of the 7th Parsnips for the oddball "Turnip 28" movement.

Sadly I don't have a super accurate count of what I got done this year, because I made some terrain and scatter items for Rangers of Shadow Deep that didn't get photographed because they went straight to the game table.

A reasonable estimate though, based off my blog posts:

93 miniatures for Wargames Atlantic (they worked on a lot of releases this year!)
230+ miniatures for myself
30+ small scatter items/objectives etc.
11 vehicles
15+ buildings and large terrain items

It also appears that I totally forgot to post my "False Omnissiah" build, which is crazy as it was my favorite thing from the entire year!!!

TARDIS

I painted up a TARDIS for my 4th Doctor. Not a great casting, the Harlequin/Black Tree molds must have been getting on in years :)

The Call Box sign was printed out- I didn't feel like fiddling with that. I also painted a console but I don't have a nice background for it yet...

40K Adventurers - Astropaths - Astropath Choir - Orrery

Here's my final entry for the Rogue Trader '40k Adventurers' project I have been working towards all year- the Astropath Choir. I wanted to end on a high note and along with the Astropaths I produced an orrery to help them focus their prodigious psychic might.

The most important Astropaths to get done were the three old school ones- two from the Adventurers advert. I had previously painted the Talisman Timescape Astropath. I painted two many years ago, sometime in the 90s by the looks of the flocked bases. I didn't feel like paying out for unpainted ones so I ended up stripping the old paint. Here's what they used to look like:

 All of the official Games Workshop Astropaths. Talisman Timescape (1988), First 40k Flyer (1987), 40k Adventurers (1988), Forge World Hector Rex retinue (2009), Inquisitorial Acolyte (2002ish), 'Regimental Advisors' pack (2014ish).

Two females that sure look like Astropaths to me, one from Victoria Miniatures and the other from the 'Colony 87' range from Crooked Dice. The Victoria 'Astro Witch' has a prominent cog motif, so I decided she has some training in the ways of the Machine God. Certain mechanical devices that operate on a psychic level would require a psyker that also understands the machine spirit to some extent, so it seems logical to me that there would be some rare examples of cross-training beyond Techmarines. I painted a hem of gear teeth and a red eyewrap to symbolize her training in the mysterious ways of Mars.

The Colony 87 girl seems less orthodox- she doesn't have the traditional white staff and has somehow acquired a baby gyrinx.

The full choir.

I've been wanting to make a 40K orrery for a while now. I bought a Celestial Hurricanum several months ago and I have been ruminating on how to utilize it. About six weeks ago I chanced across an interesting articulated 3D printable orrery from Dragon's Rest and decided that was the way to go.

It took a few days to print all the parts, using a combination of copper filament and brown filament, with the idea that any handling would wear the edges and expose the copper. The copper filament is quite finicky to print and I had a lot of failures, but it seems to have worked out. I increased the diameter of two gears by .75mm (B and C) and the Z height on one (the Column D arm gear) to get better action. The orrery action is still slightly rickety (probably due to differing shrinkage rates on the PLA) but well within my acceptable range and I have to say this a sweet, sweet model. The plan is to motorize it once I can find a good 1 rpm low voltage motor.

I  replaced the original sun sphere with a dimensional Earth I found on Thingiverse. I also added two cherubs (old plastic Christmas ornaments) and a micro battleship I made, to represent the guardian role of the Imperial Navy and help 'grimdark' the orrery.

All in all I'm happy with the outcome of this sub-project, and the the 40K Adventurers overall. I ended up producing and painting a lot of related miniatures, maybe even more than the Adventurers themselves.

Lastly, a crappy video. Editing is a clearly a weak point of mine :)

Thanks for looking!

Imperial Citizenry - Alltag40k - Black Crab - Reliquary Holders - Grimdark AV

I've been working on more non-combatant Imperial citizens to populate my hive cityscape. There was an Instagram post detailing an event titled "Alltag40k" which had a work-play-pray theme. Essentially, everyday life in the 41st millennium. I was already planning on doing all of these anyway, so the event prompted me to bring them up in the queue.

 The first Relic holder uses a Strange Aeons witch as the base model. I gave her a piece from an old Bretonnian kit and greenstuff hands and chain.

The next relic enthusiast was provided a small reliquary from the Grey Knights kit with a little greenstuff for a cord. Pretty straightforward conversion here :)

The AV cart was based on a little scene from the Animatrix. The cart monitor is a Brother Vinni monk, modified slightly to give him some forward movement. I think the TV is from Pardulon, and the power source is a box from the old Rhino kit. Everything else is plasticard and greenstuff. Decals by Forgotten Chapters.

 

The full group so far- a mix of Black Crab, Brother Vinni, Anvil Industries, and Strange Aeons.

Inquisitor Gideon Lorr - Rogue Trader Inquisitors - Shuttlecraft

In addition to my 40K Adventurers resolution, I also tasked myself with painting one Inquisitor per month until I paint them all. This month there are two because I mistakenly primed another and I never go into the New Year with primed minis :)

First up, "Gideon Lorr" from around 2004. He was a named character with a unique profile found in a UK edition of White Dwarf. I think he was somewhat limited in release and I was lucky to have sought him out several years back before prices got crazy.

I also painted up the third Inquisitor from the Rogue Trader 3-pack. This guy might just be my least favorite Inquisitor ever, although I am not a fan of the 2000s Daemonhunters either.

 

Lastly, I wanted an Inquisitor's shuttle. I had made a conversion using a GI Joe "SHARC" many years ago, and decided to do another. I picked up a very cheap one on eBay, as it was missing the canopy and pretty much everything else. I added some plasticard, underslung multi-lasers and a sensor pod. Then I painted it up to look threatening. I'm still waiting on some decals to arrive- there are not many white Aquila decals out there!  

Funny enough I managed to find the picture I used to sell the original one I made over 20 years ago! I still haven't fully finished that marine :(