In The Grim Darkness of the Future, I Do Whatever I Want (Eldar!)

[ZeroTwentythree]

Lovely work on this project. I like 'mix and match' projects not tied to a particular games system's figures or rules.

On this basis I'm repainting old figures and painting bare lead that's been far too long in the 'to do' pile, with the intention of doing something along the lines of Rogue Trader, but a different background/races and in a more pulpy style. I'm aiming to use the Galactic Heroes rules from Wiley Games, as they are easy to use and very adaptable.

Thanks. That's pretty much my aim as well. I'm going to experiment with a variety of rules. I've already started a small collection of rules to sort through. 


I forgot to post my January entry in the Old World Army Challenge a few weeks ago! 

I painted my first two squads of Eldar pirates. A bit of background and some teaser pics of what's still to come on the OWAC blog: http://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/zerotwentythrees-january-eldar-pirates.html




I'm also continuing to paint more robots. Such as Eye, Robot. A scratch built light hoverbot.




And more miscellaneous sci-fi adventurers, mercenaries, and ne'er-do-wells, like Mssrs. Scum & Villainy.




The next space adventurer is a little more suave...

[mweaver]

I am loving the miniatures... and I have to add, great title for the thread.

-Michael Weaver

[Genghis]

Nice work.  I especially like the Eldar, that's a very vibrant colour scheme.  I'm contemplating my own small corsair force at some point, and am torn between using the old 2nd ed Guardians and the new not so old plastic guardians as the main figures.  Seeing your figures, I'm minded to go with the old school ones.

[Bloggard]

wonderful stuff.

and yes, wouldn't have thought it was humanly possible to paint those checked stockings as exactly as you have ... superb.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I am loving the miniatures... and I have to add, great title for the thread.

Thanks. I'm inspired by Rogue Trader, but not strictly beholden to it. Probably obvious by now... 

Nice work.  I especially like the Eldar, that's a very vibrant colour scheme.  I'm contemplating my own small corsair force at some point, and am torn between using the old 2nd ed Guardians and the new not so old plastic guardians as the main figures.  Seeing your figures, I'm minded to go with the old school ones.

Do it! The Eldar haven't evolved too far off the original concepts and have always been a good range of figures (in my opinion.) But I've still got a soft spot for the RT era figures, which are a little quirky, but are also the first 40k figures I bought (before even getting the book). So I'm indulging in nostalgia with that part of this project.

wonderful stuff.

and yes, wouldn't have thought it was humanly possible to paint those checked stockings as exactly as you have ... superb.

Thank you. I've had some practice with checks & tartans before. But this one was a challenge because of the curved surfaces, such as trying to keep consistent while reducing from the calf area to the ankle.

[ZeroTwentythree]

Discordant engines struggled to keep the awkward vessel on a smooth trajectory. The coffin-like slab of reinforced plasteel eventually settled among the smouldering corpses that it's multi-laser had annihilated moments before.

The lone bio-meat crewman jumped out of the hatch and surveyed his surroundings. "Mrs.! Up on the ridge, 70 degrees." A fusillade of red laserfire lit the dim haze and the pieces of three more guards fell to the ground. He sat down on the hull of the GOTHMOWER and waited for the rest of the raiding party to catch up.



GOTHMOWER is the fusion of several  sources of inspiration. Rather than recount the initial brainstorm here, I will just direct you to the story I posted on my personal blog. When I received a mystery package from Shadespyre that included the plastic housing from some sort of remote-control, I knew I had the chassis. After the model was put together and primed, I decided to stick with a good & gothy black, black, dark grey, more black, and little bit of red color scheme.



I had initially planned to paint another ten infantry for February, but that didn't work out for various reasons. During one of the brief painting sessions in which I tried to paint some infantry, one final reference for inspiration hit me.



While not part of the original plan -- at least not on a conscious level -- I was already 90% of the way there. So I painted a face and glued decapitated statue head (from a more suitable subject matter). After far too much whiskey, I painted a checkered band on the ass-end of it as one final nod to the Deathmobile. I had previously been planning to paint the "GOTHMOWER" name on it in similar lettering, but decided that would detract too much from the Eldar-ness of it.





The grav attack technically doesn't need a crew. It's equipped with auto-drive & auto-aim. But if I stick with the minimum requirements of the army list, I've got more heroes than I know what to do with. The list gives the option to make heroes crew for the grav attack, and it inspired me to convert a figure as such.
 
Nik is a former cargo pilot who worked the most dangerous sectors of the galaxy before joining the crew of the Cold September. More comfortable in a pilot seat than on his feet, he saw an opportunity on one of his first raids with the pirate crew and captured an imperial PDF grav attack. Space being confined on the September, the crew were initially reluctant to bring the captured machine on board. Since then, they have come to appreciate the additional quickly deployed fire support it offers.



GOTHMOWER has been modified from its original imperial configuration, shuriken catapults and a multi-laser replacing the original bolt-weapons, and new auto-drive & auto-fire system installed -- an infinity circuit Nik refers to as "The Mrs."

[Pattus Magnus]

Now that is just too cool for words!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!

I started working on a new photo board and some small scatter terrain for my Space Elves and other sci-fi junk. Still working on some background stuff for pics.





I recently read about a species of snail that forms a shell of iron, and thought it would be a cool idea to scale that up and use some discarded alien mega-snail shells as terrain.

[Sinewgrab]

Can I just tell you I love this in all its wacky return to Rogue Trader ideals?

[ZeroTwentythree]

Can I just tell you I love this in all its wacky return to Rogue Trader ideals?

Thank you! I'm trying to have fun and not get too serious about it -- so I appreciate that complement!


I'm hard at work on my March entry for the Old World Army Challenge. And halfway through the month I'm almost halfway there. I have two squads of five to paint, and have finished the first four... I just need to stay focused and finish painting at least the first squad of Eldar this weekend.

You know what the Eldar need? Some entertainment. Yeah, that's it. They want to watch a space-half-orc battling a space-purple worm. Better get on that right away....



... yeah, they like that.

Oh... it's Sunday night and I haven't finished the fifth squad member nor started the rest of this month's goal. 

Also made some small terrain bits for the photo backgrounds (and hopefully gamin soon.)

[Thunderboy]

Very inspritional. You seem to be having a lot of fun!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks!


John Cartorc has met a Martian friend...




Here they are with the growing pool of "supporting cast."




I mentioned previously that I painted some discarded mega-fauna shells as terrain inspired by real world snails that produce shells of iron. This Eldar has stumbled across a live specimen!

[Onebigriver]

Absolutely cracking stuff. Love the Burroughsian addition!

[iDreamofMinis]

This is really great stuff!  Some minis that I really like and remind me of the quirky Rogue-Trader stuff are actually newer models: the Ghar from Beyond the Gates of Antares, especially the Ghar Outcasts and Rebels.  They are sort of a spin on Space Orks, but weak in the limbs! 

Love the old minis!

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks! I'm enjoying mixing things up quite a bit! 

Back to the Old World Army Challenge, and my March entry -- the next batch of Eldar pirates. More info at the OWAC entry.