For Nick: Fausto Rodriguez - Rogue Trader

For quite some time now, Nick and I have enjoyed exchanging painted figures to add to each other's collection. For those familiar with Nick's skills with the brush, you will know that I am definitely the greater beneficiary with this arrangement. :)  Anyway, I muddle along and try do something for him that I think he'll like.

This year, Nick had mentioned that he'd like something Warhammer Fantasy themed, so I dug up several items from my stores that I thought might fit the bill. The thing is, I just couldn't find the mojo to get them done (I know, I'm such a princess). 

While all this was (not) happening, I found that this 40K Rogue Trader kept drifting across my desk during the Challenge, slowly getting worked on in fits and starts. It's the classic story: While beavering away on other projects I would put down a colour here, and then add another a week or so down the line. Slowly he came to life. 

The figure is from the excellent Artel W. I have tons of their (his?) stuff for my Dark Heresy collection and always love working on their models.

We'll call him Fausto Rodriguez.

I asked Nick if he would be okay with a 40K figure instead of something from WH Fantasy and his response was typically accommodating, saying, 'ScFi is just Fantasy in Space, isn't it?' 

Well Nick, here you go. A burly Rogue Trader for your 'space fantasy' collection. Cheers mate, I hope you like him.

- Curt

Gregor Eisenhorn and Cherubael

I'm a big fan of Dan Abnett's writing. I find that his treatment of the 40K universe being the best aligned to that of Priestly and Blanche's original dystopian vision. 

Of Abnett's many characters, my favourite is Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. (Spoiler alert: The next few paragraphs give away some of the core bits of the novels, so you've been forewarned!)

Over the arc of the Eisenhorn books, the nature of Gregor's character, with his no-holds barred struggle with the enemies of Mankind, becomes irrevocably compromised as he slowly shifts from being a puritanical and dogmatic posterboy of the Inquisition, to something that is far more dark, ruthless and morally questionable.

Probably one of the most damning things that Eisenhorn does is his binding of the powerful daemon 'Cherubael' to an unwilling human host. He rationalises this act as a foul means to an end, a repugnant-but-necessary tool to assist him in his fight against the forces of Chaos. 

This decision ultimately results in him being excommunicated by the Inquisition, hunted as a fugitive by his former colleagues and forever haunted by his uncompromising decisions. 

Eisenhorn is a wonderfully complex, compelling antihero - a breath of fresh air in a setting which is often portrayed as a simplistic, binary struggle between good and evil. A rollicking good read, I recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest with things GrimDark.

The middle-aged Eisenhorn I have here is a 'Finecast' miniature from Games Workshop. While the Finecast 'recipe' has greatly improved over the years, it still has a hard time standing up to some of the resin offerings you can get from other manufacturers. Case in point is the model of the Daemonhost, 'Cherubael', which is from Artel W Miniatures. This model, essentially a 10-part minikit, is absolutely exquisite, with the resin needing virtually no preparation before assembly. While I typically prefer working on metal figures, I can see how the complex posing and intricate detail of this figure necessitates it being done in lightweight resin - like Eisenhorn's decision, it was a necessary evil. :)

Thanks for dropping in to take a peek!

Curt