The Gretch Who Stole Christophorus

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

"One of the more charming traditions enjoyed by citizens of Ophatran Secundus is associated with Saint Christophorus. On the eve of his feast day, sacred relics of Christophorus are taken from their shrines and given over to a masked actor known as the "Gretch". The honor of portraying the Gretch in each neighborhood is given to a discharged war hero of the Imperial Guard, and they are afforded special indulgences for taking on the role."

 

"As the sun sets, members of the Ministrorum provide the children of the neighborhood fruits, and they set out to find the 'Gretch who stole Christophorus'. They roam their district hunting for the hidden cache, and upon finding the Gretch, drive it away from the relics in a ferocious mock battle. It is interesting to see the citizenry being taught proper reviling of xenoforms through a whimsical allegory. The children are awarded special confections and printed tracts detailing the lives of Imperial Saints for their enthusiasm in recovering the relics." 

 

"Although some claim that the Gretch tradition hails from ancient Terra, I have found through rigorous research that many millennia ago Ophatran Secundus was on the periphery of a large Orkish invasion, and it is my belief that the Gretch lives on as a cultural memory from that trying time. Most citizens politely refuse to dig too deep into the tradition... otherwise they would need to confront the uncomfortable fact that if all the relics of Saint Christophorus were assembled, they would provide enough bones to represent two Astra Militarum regiments." 

 

 

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.

40K Adventurers - Scum - Space Eunuch - Scout - Official - Colony 87 Governor

Introducing Imperial Governor Aegidius Ophatran and family.

When I selected the 'Space Eunuch' as my next 40K Adventurer, I started to think about who he would be grouped with. Although he's listed as 'Scum' on the advertisement, his base tab is labeled 'Space Eunuch', which raised a lot of question for me. Who would a space eunuch be guarding? Who is his master or employer? 

I decided to go with the Colony 87 governor and his wife, who I needed to paint again. I had painted a full set of Colony 87 about two years ago, and photographed it for Crooked Dice. They ended up wanting a set for themselves, so I sent the one I had painted and acquired a second one. Not a fan of painting the same mini twice, and I was a bit concerned I would be more sloppy the second time around. They're about the same, with a few minor changes here and there.

It is common for nobles of Ophatran Secundus to use exotic off-world barbarians and death-worlders for their bodyguards, the more distant the more prestigous. Aegidius has acquired two fearsome gladiators from the other side of the galaxy. I felt that the Space Eunuch needed a companion, and I found a tough-looking warrior woman (I think by the same sculptor!) in my pile of Cobalt-1 miniatures. Cobalt-1 miniatures are the spiritual descendants of the weird stuff found in the early Rogue Trader ranges and she fits in superbly. I gave them some tribal tattoos, and stuck to the red scheme found in the advert. I always loved that guy!!!

Aegidius's daughter is from White Knight miniatures. I picked her up several years ago with no purpose in mind.

Using the opportunity to paint up some of the other important personages that might be hanging around, I took on the 'Official' from the Adventurers range, and two more Colony 87 miniatures. I imagine them to be a high level Administratum liason and a member of the Adeptus Munitorum.

The Official has never been my favorite, mostly because I could never come up with a good color scheme. He reminded me of Carter Burke from Aliens, so I'll be using him as an influential representative of a shady mining concern. I decided to base his colors off the character, to what exent I could anyway.

Lastly, I knocked out the Scout. He's in the employ of Aegidius... for what, remains to be seen.

Getting closer...

Tau Pathfinders Additions - Wargames Atlantic Spider - Hasslefree Maxine

When I was painting the Giant Spider prototypes for Wargame Atlantic I was already envisioning adding one to my Tau 40K Kill Team. I was a big fan of the old Alien Legion comics back in the day (essentially a sci-fi Foreign Legion mishmash of aliens of all sorts) and I like the concept of Tau auxiliaries.

The base of the conversion is of course a Wargames Atlantic giant spider. The kit includes sci-fi faceplates, bionic legs, and a weapon arm. I swapped in a Tau pulse rifle and aerial, some greenstuff (I wanted him to have a second grasping claw, which the kit lacks), milliput for the cephalothorax armor, and some plasticard. 

I also dug through my backlog and pulled out Hasslefree's Maxine- who I never believed was human and has a suspiciously Tau-like gun. 

The entire Tau kill team so far:

The Giant Spiders kit is pretty sweet, I was really happy to get my hands on the plastics! Here's the sci-fi version I painted for Wargames Atlantic for comparison:

Rogue Trader Inquisitor with Banner - Inq28th

My Inquisitor for the month is Rogue Trader era miniature- one of the ones with the peculiar armor. As I may have stated in an earlier post,  I did not care for this pack of Inquisitors back in the day. I find myself changing my opinion as I paint them again though!

I decided to up the ante a bit on this guy and included one of the oldschool banner poles, using thin foil for the fabric. The image is based on a Byzantine icon. There is a purity seal on the back, with a decal from Forgotten Chapters.

The grimdark guillotine is made by Kromlech. I'll do a future post on the Kromlech terrain- I think it is pretty great for a dismal Imperial city :)

Thanks for looking!

Eldar Light Spacecraft Build

I've been working on this project for quite some time. I first conceived using an Imaginext toy I commandeered from my child for a spacecraft several years ago. I originally intended to use it as a Retro-Raygun Valkeeri craft, but I changed my mind several months ago when working on some Rogue Trader Eldar. Acquiring a 3D printer had also opened up some possibilities and jumpstarted the process. 

The base model was an Imaginext "Freeco Bike".

I liked the way it looked rotated 180 degrees, and planned to add some fins and stuff in order to '1950' it up a bit. While working on the Rogue Trader Eldar I thought I wanted a flyer for them, and revisted the Imaginext toy. Once I committed to it I enlarged and printed off a sail from a Battlefleet Gothic Eldar model I found online. I applied some filler to hide print lines a bit, messed that up,pulled it off the model, and printed a second one. 

My son, who plays Eldar, hooked me up with some vehicle bits and some Scatter lasers. I added some more small organic shaped egg 'pods' to the ship to tie the look together. Milliput, combined with a lot of sanding, blends the sail into the fuselage.

I used an airbrush to get the base tones down and to apply the distinctive stripes found on Rogue Trader Eldar.

It stayed in this stage for about three months until I had time to apply the finishing touches.

 Thanks for looking!