Re: All things Rogue Trader and Warhammer 40K (May 2022: SPACE DWARFS!)

[steders]

The paintjob is awesome as usual, but I'm particularly in love with the whole concept of the conversion beamer on the land raider

Me too, I used a land raider for a servitor conversion. Really handy set of tracks
Love your Crimson fists, great painting.
 I painrted up some plastic beakies to play battle of the farm, lets just say they aren't quite up to your standard!!

[Simlasa]

I'm the same, not quite sure why. The beakie look was the standard for a short time, only about four years- before MK VII came out in the 'Strike Force' box.

I like just about everything from the Rogue Trader era better than current incarnations of 40K. There was a good bit of humorous character in the original stuff, it felt wilder and less po-faced. Silly, but fun.
The new stuff generally seems to be designed by people who weren't around to be in on the joke. I know there's still some humor to it... but it doesn't wear it on its sleeve the way it used to.
Like some good old British comedy that's been remade by Hollywood.

[Curis]

Thanks Griefbringer.  I'll have to check out that reference on the self-propelled chassis – I've got a 2E Ultramarines project that I'd like to revisit the concept with.

It’s Bob Naismith Challenge Time on the Oldhammer Community. Painters the world over are working on pieces from the grandmaster’s extensive back catalogue of gems, to be judged by the Lord Bob Almighty himself. Bob was so prolific in the 1980s (and still is today) that my shortlist of entries was 38 ideas, and one mini that bubbled to the surface was the Traitor General.

Citadel 2000AD Rogue Trooper Traitor General

The Traitor General is the central antagonist in 2000AD’s Rogue Trooper strip – a treacherous military commander being hunted by the eponymous Rogue Trooper.

“Natseon natseon yeojaui natseon hyannggue! Yes I want some new face!”

The Citadel Miniature is a great likeness of the comic art, burnt face and all. Bob’s sculpted him with a blinded swollen eye, permanent snarl from soft tissue damage to the lips, and the ultimate signaller of evil – a bald head.

I have modified the miniature – filing away the original scupted detail of the burnt scalp, which I feared would look like a hairpiece rather than damaged skin.

I added a little Souther symbol to the air tank.

The miniature came courtesy of Jason Fulford, who’s already painted a copy and has been a great help pointing me at reference material and inspiration for the colours. A lot of Citadel’s 2000AD range never appeared painted in the official publications, and the comics were in black and white so colour choices took some research. Thanks, Jason!

All the 2000AD miniatures I’ve painted as an adult. More on Johnny Alpha and friends here.

There’s still loads of time to get your own entry into the competition, just head over to the Oldhammer Community for full details.

The Traitor General in the Quartz Zone.

But this one miniature isn’t my complete entry to the competition. Coming soon… more Naismithery!

More of my miniatures at: https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/
Painting tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread

[Ockman]

That was an awesome miniature with a lovely paintjob!

Great work, mate!

[Bearwoodman]

Fantastic painting - like everything on this thread! His facial expression really says "evil schemer"!

[Curis]

This March I am proud to present an Ultramarines combat squad deliberately contrived to conjure up a very particular point in time – November 1990. It’s March for Macragge.

Tactical Squad Rhenus. Their presence remakes the past.

In November 1990 Space Marine design saw a step change with the release of the RTB15 Strike Force boxed set. The new age of Warhammer 40,000 was ushered in with these brand new metal-plastic hybrid Marines.

Sergeant Rhenus’s left shoulder pad omits the red skull marking of the Sergeant, as it wasn’t established until circa 1994.

It was the transition point from mk6 power armour to mk7 power armour. It was the transition from one-piece metal castings to metal torsos with plastic arms and accessories. It was the transition from Bob Naismith, Aly Morrison and Mark Copplestone designing Space Marines to Jes Goodwin.

A lot of people assume the bare-headed Sergeant is a conversion. But he’s actually an obscure variant of the Strike Force torso that didn’t appear in the original boxed set or any of the catalogues at time of release, though he was available in some blisters.

There are two versions of each of the Strike Force torsos – the earlier verion had rounded shoulders which made them backwards compatible with the RTB01 plastic arms, and the later version had the shoulders flattened off to fit with the 1991 redesigned arm sprue. The 1990 arm sprue from the Strike Force box was curiously discontinued – if you know why, please enlighten me in the comments.

Original torso designs with the RTB01 arms on the left, and the later redesign with the 1991 redesigned arms on the right.

The 1990s would go on to see the mk7 range fully rounded out with more torso designs, special and heavy weapons, jump packs, and all new accessory sprues. But in November 1990 if you wanted any of that for your mk7 marines you had to use the old mk6 pieces – which is what I’ve done on this squad. The Sergeant’s powerfist and weeny bolt pistol, the rocket launcher, various ammo packs and binox are all pilfered from the RTB01 kit.

Okay, I admit the back banner is an anachronism, coming from the 1999 Veterans blister, topped off with an icon from a spare Marneus Calgar. But I like sculpted banners more than paper affairs.

The RTB01 rocket launcher (below left) requires a bit of fiddly modelling to get it to work on a Strike Force torso – the arm toting it is a combination of the original RTB01 arm with a Strike Force shoulder pad, and some putty for the wrist armour.

“Ahhhh, so that’s why I’ve been stuck with the snidey Space Crusade affair.”

The Ultramarines project means I’m painting three blue Space Marine armies concurrently. I’d be nice to have the three projects more visually distinct, but I’ve got strong emotional reasons for each scheme individually so I will just have to live with a big jumble of blue in the display cabinet. It’s like that Eiffel 65 song. Da Ba Dee. Da Ba Daa.

Left to right: Crimson Fist, Ultramarine, Nemesis Chapter

I’m bursting with ideas for other Ultramarines squads, and while I’m not going to collect the entire Chapter there are 99 other squads to explore with 1990s-themed collecting and modelling ideas.

Squad Rhenus looking as cowabungily rad as my collection of POGS.

This squad makes me feel as nostalgically 1990s my other hobby – standing outside derelict Global Video stores.

I beat on the windows and tearily demand “True Lies” on VHS.

I’m putting together a full tutorial for Ultramarines power armour which will publish soon. If you head over to the Patreon, there’s already a wealth of tutorials for how to paint Blood Angels, Crimson Fists, Nemesis Chapter, an Apothecary, Deathwatch, gold power armour and battered yellow armour, as well as lots of skin recipes and special freehand walkthroughs.

Coming soon, more blue Space Marines. Ninjabread out!

More miniatures at:https://www.ninjabread.co.uk
Painting tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread

[Dr Mathias]

Great post, that brings back the memories. Awesome painting.

I recall furiously painting a squad of the new Strike Force for a game, putting them in my Land Raider, and hauling ass up the side of my friends 8'x16' table.

Lucky shot from a lascannon, bypassing the power field and a massive explosion ripping through the passenger compartment... sad day for the Grim Reapers chapter!

[Daeothar]

Awesome painting on a greatly nostalgic squad.

I recall cutting up one of those bareheaded RTB15 marines, so his torso could become that of a Landspeeder (1st iteration; the 'flying lawnchair')crewman. I still have that conversion... 

Lucky shot from a lascannon, bypassing the power field and a massive explosion ripping through the passenger compartment... sad day for the Grim Reapers chapter!

New model syndrome; it's a well known fact that the prouder you are of a model, the faster it gets killed. Usually in the most inglorious way possible too. Think tankshocked, plasma overheat, scatterd template (most likely friendly fire), ran off the table due to failed leadership tests, etc...

[OSHIROmodels]

They are superb 

[Ockman]

What a lovely set of miniatures!

Great work on them, Curis!

[3 fingers]

Awesome stuff, loving the rogue general, ways wanted to do rogue trooper style 40k army.

[syrinx0]

What an excellent and well painted collection of space marines.  I never was a marine player (IG all the way)  but this is a fantastic collection of miniatures from their various releases.

[Bloggard]

love the 2000 AD stuff.

[hubbabubba]

It was the transition point from mk6 power armour to mk7 power armour. It was the transition from one-piece metal castings to metal torsos with plastic arms and accessories. It was the transition from Bob Naismith, Aly Morrison and Mark Copplestone designing Space Marines to Jes Goodwin.

It was where it all started to go down the toilet.  It was the beginning of GWs slow slide into the money making machine it became. It was when I stopped playing Rt.

Lovely technique, not fond of the style though. I don't have particularly fond memories of yhe transition period as you may have noticed

[Tauntaun Scout]

Wow. I will never be as good at painting as you are! So I am going for quantity over quality during the Plague of 2020! I am painting a ton of 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer 40k minis, and 3rd-5th edition WFB figures. I recently painted a core set's worth of old 40k, using a lead RT dreadnought instead of the cardstock one. Then I painted a second iteration (yes, I painted 80 grots in two weeks!) again using a lead RT dread, but also a lead RT tactical squad that includes the very first space marine. Instead of a 4th tactical squad in a row, I made a 5 man devastator squad out of spare plastics. Still 5 marines short of two 2e starters, I am painting up 5 (modern sculpt) Death Company to make up the numbers. I already own small armies of Orks and Blood Angels (among others) so these armies are getting rather big now.



For some reason I miscounted and painted 41 grots this time. Included here are some metal gretchin, including one genuine "space goblin" model!  There's a RT ork with power fist to lead each mob of orks this round, and a RT plastic ork to bring the numbers up to 20. Included is a plasma gun conversion I made sometime in high school... since I graduated in 1999 that poor guy has been waiting a long time for his paint!




Closeup of lead marines: