Champions of the Star Child - Rogue Trader Sensei

The Sensei as described in the Slaves to Darkness and Lost & the Damned books are immortal, infertile psychically blank offspring of the Emperor himself with a variety of powers and abilities. They are a hidden brotherhood of warriors against chaos, who believe that they will fight in the final battle against chaos. The Lost & the Damned writes that the Sensei are champions of the Star Child - the soul of the Emperor - and are fighting for his return. Slaves to Darkness suggests that the unaware Sensei will in fact be sacrificed in order to resurrect the Emperor, and will be consumed by him. Either way, these ageless paladins are feared and shunned by both humanity and its enemies. Check out the excellent detailed discussion on Sensei over at Leadplague if you want to know more.

Horns and Wheels - Finished Sensei Companion & Brat Car

Sadly due to a scheduling clash, it looks like I am no long participating in the Rogue Trader - 'The Quickening' game in a couple of weeks time at the Oldhammer Bring Out Your Lead weekend at Foundry. But not being able to join in the game, doesn't mean the Sensei I painted a week or so back doesn't need any companions. With my wife out last night, I broke out the paints and selected one of my top 10 miniatures of all time as my Sensei's first companion - Beast Trooper Gaxt.

 

Back in Rogue Trader, Beastmen were simply abhumans which could be used alongside human Imperial Guard, in the same way as Ogryns and Ratlings. Beast Trooper Gaxt was just one of the Imperial Guard range, armed with his autogun. My version of him is painted to match my Sensei, with a primarily dark grey scheme:

 

A subdued colour scheme with flashes of colour on the gaiters and wristband

 

Enter the Sensei - Ekros the Eternal

For me, the best motivation for painting some figures is the probability of joining in a pre-organised event. The Oldhammer Bring Out Your Lead event in August at Foundry is proving to be a fruitful motivator for me - so far I've painted a Brat gang, a Brat biker, converted a Brat car, and am half-way through repurposing a toy crane.

I also got very excited when I read about JB's plans for a Combat Cards based mash-up game; The Rogue Trader Quickening. This game is a bit of a blend of concepts; namely the idea of Sensei from Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (immortal, secretive children of the Emperor) and the 1980s Highlander films starring Christopher Lambert (immortals who chop each others' heads off because "there can be only one!"). Although The Quickening is planned for Saturday and I can only attend on Sunday, there's an outside chance of a re-run on Sunday...and if that happens I want in! And if I want in, I need to make a Sensei.

So that's what I've done:

Ekros the Eternal; Sensei