The Festival of Saint Christophorus

Excerpt from Esoteric Pilgrimage Destinations of the Gothic Sector, Volume 7, by Adept Matthias Laetorius.

"The rituals and observances associated with Saint Christophorus last twelve days, at least officially. However, centuries ago, the Ophatran Synod decreed that no relics may be sold, transferred, or bartered within the twelve day period honoring the patron Saint of the planet. As a result, the day preceding has become a boisterous market day in which hundreds of relics, books, and religious artifacts change hands. The multitudes of merchants and peddlers hawking their wares, many of dubious provenance, is a sight to behold- preferably from a balcony.”

 

Servo-Skulls on Ophatran Secundus

Excerpt from Esoteric Pilgrimage Destinations of the Gothic Sector, Volume 7, by Adept Matthias Laetorius.

“As Saint Christophorus’s Day approaches, the children of Ophatran Secundus begin making their ersatz servo skulls. There is a commonly held (and erroneous) belief that Saint Christophorus created the first servo skull. The children’s versions are fashioned from paper strips and a starch glue, painted, and attached to sticks so that the children may simulate the hovering of the omnipresent skulls, which can be seen flitting about any imperial planet”.

Harrow'e'en on Ophatran Secundus

 

Excerpt from Esoteric Pilgrimage Destinations of the Gothic Sector, Volume 7, by Adept Matthias Laetorius.

"The Harrow'e'en celebration on Ophatran Secundus coincides with the traditional yearly arrival of the Emperor's Tithe Fleet. Although major functions begin a day before the first voidship docks with the orbital stations above the planet, there are several preparatory stages. The most important ritual observance, which sets the date of Harrow'e'en, is a confluence of officials from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and the Navis Nobilite. The assembled adepts consult the planet's ancient orrery, and contact the fleet's chief astropath to pinpoint the imminent arrival.

Once the arrival date has been formally announced by the Imperial Governor, the citizens of the capitol throng to the shrine district. The multitudes pass through the Crusader Gates and into the Ecclesiastic precinct. Crusaders stand in watchful vigil and priests find positions that carry their voices to the crowds. The people of Ophatran believe that vengeful and malignant warp entities cling to the voidships, and that the veil between the Empyrean and reality are thin on Harrow'e'en. The priests recite horrifying tales of these creatures of the Immaterium, and the prayers to combat them.

 The most exciting event, certainly from the perspective of the children, is the day preceding the docking of the first voidship. On this day, most of the citizens stay indoors, and those that venture out are likely to meet with a procession led by a ‘Spirit of the Warp’. Children that are able to recite their hymns are allowed to wear outlandish costumes, and roam the streets seeking citizens for the procession to test. Anyone stopped by these roaming waifs must stop and recite the proper prayers of protection, or suffer admonishment from the Adepta Sororitas that accompany the procession.”

 

Oldhammer Style Squat Mining Survey Expedition

I've had some squats prepped and ready for priming for a couple of months, and decided I had better get to them. As usual, it takes so long for me to do a thing, GW goes ahead and re-releases the faction. The latest batch is a mix of Black Tree, a Kromlech medic, an old GW squat from the Rogue Trader era, and a new squat on a powerboard from Satyr Art Studio.

They are joining my existing group which is mostly Rogue Trader era miniatures, with two from Astropolis, some dome robots from a Facebook group, a big warbot from Satyr Art Studio, and a pilot from Simtac.

40k Adventurers - Ventolin Pirates

My penultimate entry for the 40K Adventurers project (my 2020 resolution) is the Ventolin Pirate. The Ventolin miniature has long been one of my favorites. I recall seeking him out in the early 90s, and managed to acquire a few more over the years. I decided to go all-out for this one- which meant chopping into some old lead.

 

 

I decided to modify four of the pirates, ranging from a difficult headswap (courtesy of a Confrontation Tech Ganger), weapon swaps, and an easy bionic eye. Grinding these guys with a Dremel produced a lot of metal shavings- here's hoping I didn't poison myself! The ones I modified the most are possibly recasts, so old-school metal purists can rest easy. The flamer is of course the one from the plastic Space Marines, and I'm not sure where the melta gun came from. I have to confess that it is likely 2nd or 3rd edition :)

As I was working on these I thought about Ventolin boarding tactics, and when rummaging through the bits box I came across some large shields that came as a freebie with a Kromlech order. I decided to make some breaching servitors that could withstand a lot of incoming firepower, but are also jury-rigged and expendable. The shields appear to be primaris-sized, so I removed about 5mm from the height to fit the servitors. I also added a heavy flamer and fuel tank. The bodies are the still excellent Jes Goodwin servitors.

I also had a mulit-legged RAFM weapon platform from the 'Reaction Marines' range. This thing was missing a leg, and as a result has been in the bits box for about 30 years. It has been on the slate to become a mining laser, but I thought these guys could use it. Not the best facsimile of the legs, but it works at first glance.

I wanted to paint them the dingy brown murky color used on the Ventolin in the advertisement. The leader received a blue helmet.

 

 Servitor shields have an old-school "KIL" painted on, along with the stylized Meobius pirate symbol.

 

  

 

Last but not least, these guys needed a boarding torpedo. I'd been wanting to make one for quite a while (since they showed up in the newer edition of Space Hulk), and Dragon's Rest released a brutal looking boarding craft 3D STL a couple months ago. It took a few days to print (I sized it up 135%) and the painting is fairly simple, but it does the trick.

That's it for the Ventolins!

 

 

 

Hive City Tabletop Scenics - Kromlech- 40K Imperial Terrain

This is a long overdue post to show the Imperial hive city terrain by Kromlech that I completed a few months ago, and have been using in backgrounds. It seems to me that 3D printed terrain is slowly but surely overtaking MDF lasercut stuff in popularity, but I have to say I really like the Tabletop Scenics range by Kromlech.

First up, the "Arbitratorum". I love Arbites, so this was a must buy.

I left off a landing pad that came with the original, which didn't seem to me to make sense with the scale. The Imperial Eagle on top was 3D printed by me and added on. This one took a while to build.

Grimdark guillotine. Gruesome theme and one I wasn't sure I was going to get, but it came with a bundle deal I bought and its actually a neat kit. If you are careful you can use small dowels or toothpicks and get the gear system to function! 

 Officials inspecting the guillotine

Propaganda Post.

Penitent cages. There are single versions and a double version.

Clock. Imperial citizens need to be on time to their destination or they may end up in the aforementioned cages. I added a base to this using Hirst Arts blocks. It seemed out of proportion to be on the ground the way it is designed.

Scenic shot with some penitents in the cages- "Strukov's Experiments" by Statuesque Miniatures.

Crusaders protecting the penitents from an angry mob, so they can be properly executed later.

Rogue Trader Inquisitor

The latest entry on my back-and-forth Inquisition project (painting the oldest, then the most recent, working toward the center) is a Rogue Trader era generic Inquisitor. He came in a pack of three. I was not a huge fan of this guy back in the olden days, but he grew on me as I was painting him.

He is pictured in front of some Penitent cages (MDF kits from Kromlech).

Next up, Solomon Lok and retinue from ForgeWorld.

Saint Celestine - Lead Adventure League - Round 8

This is my Lead Adventure League round 8 entry, "Saint Celestine".

This entry includes the 'classic' metal version of the Celestine character, which took me about nine years to get around to painting for some reason. I really enjoyed painting her.

Near her is a converted miniature from the Cobalt game- he has a headswap and backpack from MaxMini, a chainsword from Kromlech, a GW bolt pistol, plus a little greenstuff. He's my take on Witchhunter Arnaut Tantalid from the Eisenhorn books.

In addition to those two are a Repentia Mistress (one of my all-time least favorite miniatures), and a couple more Repentia which finish up the unit.