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.

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.

Choose Your Own Adventurers - More Machine Than Man

It's been such a long time since I did anything with the Choose Your Own Adventurers paint along with cheetor and Curis, that I'm not sure where we are with it. It probably doesn't help that this post showcases the same three models that cheetor posted about back in January 2019, so these could either be 17a, 18a and 19a in the series, or 20, 21 or 22. Or possibly something else if we're counting Curis' Inquisitor Hargen from June.

Let's Talk About Techs, Baby - Rogue Trader Techpriests

About this time of year, five years ago, I painted up Techpriest Zon from the Adventurers range (aka Telepath from the first 40k releases). He was painted up for a speed painting challenge, and I finished him in an hour. Overall, I was pretty happy with the outcome, but I always regretted painting him in a grey tunic (rather than a white lab coat) and giving him ridiculous yellow footwear.




So, lacking a focus for a particular project, I decided to grab a couple of models I fancied painting up - this time a pair of Rogue Trader Techpriests.

Techpriests attending to some a regular maintenance inspection.

Cosmic Forces Beyond All Comprehension - Buck Rogers in the 41st Millennium

In the year 1987, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes. The payload, perched on the nose cone of the massive rocket, was a one-man exploration vessel - Ranger 3. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut - Captain William "Buck" Rogers - was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. An awesome brush with death: in the blink of an eye, his life support systems were frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. Ranger 3 was blown out of its planned trajectory into an orbit a thousand times more vast, an orbit which was to return the ship full circle to his point of origin - its mother Earth - not in five months, but in 38,000 years. 

I was born in the late 1970s, around about the time that the world got gripped by science fiction. Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers became fixtures of Christmas and Saturday afternoon programming and indelibly etched into my brain.

I don't know what sparked the idea to bring Buck Rogers into the 41st Millenium. I know I chatted about it with cheetor and Curis as part of the 'Choose Your Own Adventurers' project last year. I know I spent several weeks searching on eBay for a Corgi diecast starfighter to adapt. I know I earmarked the pilot from the Rogue Trader adventurers range for the project!

Choose Your Own Adventurers (Bonus Post): Isabelle Vienne, Space Amazon

It's been 6 months or so since my last visit to the Choose Your Own Adventurers project. In theory, I think it might be cheetor's turn, but seeing as he's enthusing about tiny little sailing ships, it might be a while yet before we restart things. Consider this a bonus post linked to the project!

That said, I wanted to include a female figure in with the rest of my Bratts. The space amazon from the RT adventurers range was a good candidate - what with her tremendous hair, love of bows and rather exotic outfit. Curis has of course, already painted his wonderful version of the space amazon for the project, so I figured I could include her as part of the Sutter Dukes with no real issues.

Bratts go hunting for spook amongst weird dome fungus growths.

Isabelle Vienne AKA The Duchess is an integral part of the Sutter Dukes' hierarchy, occupying a place in the inner circle along with the Magpie Dandy and Beau Rouge. Where many Bratts tend towards impulsiveness and impetuosity, Vienne is cool and calculating. Most of the more complex hunts and traps carried out by the Sutter Dukes are by her design. Her luxurious furs mark her out amongst many other Bratts who prefer silks, lace and expensive fabrics - they owe much to the exotic fashions of House Escher, even if the fighters of Escher wouldn't recognise the upper-Spire translations of their characteristic trappings. 

Choose Your Own Adventurers #16: Judda, Space Eunuch

Sometimes models take on a life of their own. They become personalities through the games they're used in and the experiences they have. Add the character of the sculpt into the mix, and you end up with a firm favourite.

"No, Mister Fisk will NOT see you now!"

Judda was painted over a year ago, but I am choosing to use him as the next instalment of Choose Your Own Adventurers because I didn't blog about him at the time, and also he has become (through his highs and lows), one of my favourite characters.

Choose Your Own Adventurers #13: The Navigator

Following on from cheetor's lovely Squat miner, it's my turn in the 'Choose Your Own Adventurers' series.

According to Wikipedia (on the subject of Theosophical beliefs) "humans had in far ancient times an actual third eye in the back of the head with a physical and spiritual function. Over time, as humans evolved, this eye atrophied and sunk into what today is known as the pineal gland...by extending an "etheric tube" from the third eye, it is possible to develop microscopic and telescopic vision."

I suspect on the basis of this, and other spiritual beliefs, the concept of the Imperium's Navigators was born - after all, they have a third eye and can see weird stuff!

Choose Your Own Adventurers #10: Rico "Snakey" Vitovitch, Pilot for Hire

Last time on the Choose Your Own Adventurers project, cheetor presented us with another golden-clad 1980s musikkie lookalike. My latest contribution is a rather concerned looking pilot (named Lorgar in the catalogue pages).

Choose Your Own Adventurers #7: Cinereal Jeannie, Inquisitional Psyker

Cheetor excelled with the selection of his Grace Jones lookalike in the last instalment of Choose Your Own Adventurers. My next selection, also part of Inquisitor Clousseau's retinue, is a rather beautiful and delicately sculpted figure from the Adventurers range: the Psyker.

Choose Your Own Adventurers #4: Short Jern Silvo, Ratling Cook

What a fine mix of reprobates we've seen to date in the 'Choose Your Own Adventurers' project. I urge you to check out Captain Paradox Zeeman by Curis, and Garnier Wangst, Eldar trader by cheetor.

My second contribution is a shorter, nastier piece of work. And that pretty much sums up a ratling cook - a greasy low-life responsible for acquiring supplies needed to feed his crew. I suspect those supplies may not always be of the highest quality!

 

Choose Your Own Adventurers - Episode 1: Inquisitor Clousseau

"Do you fancy painting a specific set of the weird spacemen that we have been drooling over for quarter of a century?" Cheetor said to Curis and myself. "As a group paint along?"

But which weird spacemen? Why the late 1980s Citadel Rogue Trader Adventurers range of course.

The iconic full-colour advert for the RT Adventurers range.