Go Hard or Go Home - RT Terminators and Dreadnought on the horizon

Latest gatherings for the Rogue Trader or early 40,000 force are here and despite one slight issue, I appear to have lost a thunder hammer and can't find a replacement, the elites are in the house.

The large collection of terminators and a second Dreadnought now give me some flexibility in what I can field and they hopefully add some punch to the force

I know there are more than a squad of five but there are some extras to add some more options in

cyclone missile launcher for some long range fun and games

storm bolter and chain fist, because you cant go wrong with them.

Sergeant armed with a power sword, because classic load outs are the way forward

basic trooper again with power fist and storm bolter

Heavy flamer and chain fist, used to be one of my favourite loads

Assault cannon, because your really have to get some spinning barrels of death

Thunder hammer and storm shield for either a sergeant or just fun, shame I lost the hammer and can't find another one.

This one I am very please with, this is my Terminator Captain complete with his digital weapons power fist, this is likely to be the only bare headed model in my force!

Finally a second dreadnought to add to the list, weirdly lots of stuff seems to be coming along in twos as you should see later in the week with what should be the last reveal post

so those are my elites choices, I'm still stumped as to what to use or how to do an assault squad but that can wait.

More commandments - RT era Command Figures

Following on from the command squad posted last week this week I took delivery of several command figures to act as leaders and centres to my force.

again possibly not all RT but all certainly pre-2nd edition from what i can tell

 there might only be three of them but they will certainly pack a punch when it comes to finally getting a colour on them!

always liked chaplains and this one is the best of the bunch when it comes to the older models and has extra detail that others lacked.

Picked the Lt up as i think he fits with the RTB plastics well and i like the pose. The extra detail inc the specialised markings make it a perfect mini for a commander

my librarian again is picked as the best of the bunch and when and if i get an assault squad i think the jump pack will work really well.

Now i have finally picked a scheme for them, and yes i know some of you will think boring, but i really fancy the Crimson Fists scheme, they are the oldest chapter in the magazines (but obviously not in the fluff) and the poster boys of RT and i like them. There will be some extra stuff in there as well so don't just think it will all be red and blue there will be something to keep things interesting.

A Commanding View - RT Era Command squad arrives

Following on from yesterdays post the models for my command squad arrived, whilst these are RT era models (i know some are a tad newer but still pre 1995) I will be running them using the latest codex rules hence this unit.

So here are the models picked up for my command Squad:

An interesting little mix of models spanning the whole range of early GW metal marines, there's no real rhyme or reason to the mix but i just like the models.

First up us this model with Terminator honours for use as a veteran sergeant for the squad, basic weaponry but a nice model.

This medic will obviously be used as the squad apothecary, they are not going to get the over the top white treatment but they will get something special.

whilst not a current command squad choice this Techmarine will end up as a member of the squad but will get some appropriate Ad Mech markings and looks. Again another model i like and needed :)

This advancing marine will be a basic squad member but might be getting a unique paint scheme to add some flavour to the squad and use him to tie in to another unit.

The comms marine was bought just for fun and again will just fill out the squad and get some nice paintwork on him - though that's dependent on my skills!

Time for some support - RT Devastators on the horizon

Well after a quiet few days waiting for various packages and parcels the core of the force has finally turned up and now to start showing off some of the units pre-paint.

Today is the turn of the devastator squad, this is mainly made up of a core of metal models and 5 of the plastic RTB01s from the third squad in my first RTB post here. That squad has some in useful as with a few extra trades they have now filled out this unit and put together some donor models for a random squad of five (more on them later in the blog).

Here are the models that are forming the base of my heavy weapons teams.

that core unit is lead by a sergeant using the old calgar bodyguard figure which i think makes a nice cold and calculating director of fire

It is bolstered by two very odd looking heavy bolter wielding marines, the old heavy bolters don't really seem much bigger than the current edition standard bolters.

Backing these guys up are two marines with either graviton weapons, conversion beamers or plasma cannons depending on what version of them you look up.

Finally we have a chap armed with the weirdest lascannon of all time, though i do love the fact the long range weapon appears to have a close combat blade!

so that's the next unit for the force, so coming soon more pics of my odds and sods and hopefully soon some point on them!

Keepers of the Lore - More Rogue Trader adventures

So today opens with the latest arrivals for the Rogue Trader force and looking at the classics in detail. Today saw the arrival of two units I have been looking forward to receiving, and for me the favourite units in any incarnation of the Space Marines.

I fought the Lore - but the Lore won!

These guys and their variations in later incarnations are for me the endearing roles within any Marine army, the are the Lore Keepers. In one case a true historical link to the past and in the other the keeper the documents and records of the chapter, and what better units to add to an old school force then with units that represent a chapters ties to the past.

First up with have the Librarian in Terminator armour, This model (dated 1989) is one of may favourite early plastics and one for me that solidified my appreciation of both terminators and most importantly Librarians that still holds strong today (all my librarian conversions in the past show this) and I felt a good solid HQ choice to start with.

Now on to the true Ancient of the 40k universe and one that just screams history and veteran to me.

The Dreadnought was the next obvious choice both to tie in the older feel of the force but also the nods to the fact these guys are meant to be ancient heroes and tie that in to the nature of the old school models. This guy is cute! I cant describe him as anything else as there isn't much scary about him but armed with Power Fist and Plasma Cannon there is enough scary about him on the table top to annoy a few people :)

So there are the latest editions to the force and there will be more to come soon with more models being organised at home and sourced from that there internets! Check back for more soon.

2015 - Let's Party (or at least model) like it's 1989!

Hi folks, so the new year has been here for a while and now its time to start with some hobby fun. Since December and life changing for the better I have been on a bit of a retro funk and have indulged in many culinary delights, music marvels and video failures from my youth. Until recently however one thing has always eluded me due to time and costs, that slippery weasel is the joy of the hobby days of my youth!

So trawling through facebook I discovered I wasn't the only one pining for the modelling days of yore. In my travels of the book of face I came across the Oldhammer Community who are a group who share my interest in older models from both 40k and WHFB. So on joining the group and spending some time mooching around I rediscovered this art work and fell in love all over again.

 possibly the most iconic page from the old red book this page is to blame for me starting the hobby and has always been a favourite.

 These two images are new to me and I believe that they may have come from one of the later RT compendiums. I do like the interesting and unified styling of the marines on the first image but also love the variation that has started to crap in by the time of the second image. All in all I am glad I found these and it has really sparked my retro fuelled journey in to my hobby past.

I origionally had a few RT marines in my younger days but these were second hand even then as we had no really hobby shops in my old home town so these came to me by way of a car boot sale and had already been painted a good few times. Even with that I had fun painting them and dreamt of the days of owning my own army and having a proper hobby.
Eventually by the time I really got the pocket money and understanding to get in to things like warhammer the new 2nd/3rd edition marines (cant remember which) were coming out and things were moving on, in other words White Dwarf was out and Mail order ruled, that and occasionally I got to a bigger town where there was a GW. To this day I still dont know where my origional RTs we but I have always missed them and have always dreamt of replacing them.

So after joining the Oldhammer page it didn't take much looking before I found their trading page and now I'm a little older and more able to get these rarer things (ie I have a wage) I decided to take the plunge and start seeing what a new old gamer could find, eventually as a result ended up being the proud owner of this little lot:

Plastic that's older than your average gamer!

 so what started out as a bit of a trip down memory lane turned in to me looking for a single combat squad of RTB01 marines but eventually became a larger project and in the end so far I have enough RTBs for 3 squads and various sprues to replace damaged parts and to put any damaged modes right. If I am honest its unlikely I will keep all of these as there are some other units I would like.

this first squad is in great condition and should just need a bit of tidying up and some random weapons swapping out.

second squad needs a touch more work, there are some nasty glue and mould lines on this unit and also a head swap or two might be needed to remove the bare heads.

finally we have the third squad, this is the unit I am least impressed with and is made up of the spares from other units and is the one most likely to be used to fill out other units and if any are left to be traded/sold to fund other projects.

Whatever units get kept will all be rebased on to some senic bases I have to replace the older plain ones and also to give the models a bit of height and presence on the table.

I still have a few other bits to come in the post and once they arrive I will be sharing them with you, I have a few plans for the force including some modelling/painting options for a few characters but the one thing that is alluding me is what chapter to paint these guys as!
Any suggestions or thoughts on the chapter that will get some ancients join there ranks would be great so once organised I can start assembling the RT force of my young dreams

Field Police - A Rogue Trader Fluff Query

Bit of an ask now folks but who is good with rogue trader era fluff?
I have found an image I remember seeing some time ago and was wondering if anyone can identify the chapter of the marine labelled "field police" in this image below or is it like a remember a specific badge for field police and they have no chapter as such in the old RT fluff:

Field police image

 

I dont remember a chapter in the old RT era with that symbol so I was working on the theory they are like DW ie they are a mix from all chapters and use that symbol as thier badge.
I am looking for an excuse to paint some to accompany my inquisitor. Thinking about how to incorperate them in to a force and the other way I might get round it is do them all like that and then just pick out a chapter symbol on their knee pads. its an old odd bit of fluff but I like the idea that on campaigns a small number of marines get seconded to the police to assist with control etc.
Any info on the badge or thoughts on the idea would be great.
cheers