Wednesday 22 January 2020

Rogue Trader - Dominators


Hello, I have a real treat for you today from annals of Warhammer 40000 history, twisted freaks of the Oldhammer era, the massive piles of lead that are the Rogue Trader Dominator's.

'Gorgravel' and 'Hulendar' both listed as armed with Bolter/Flamer, these limited release miniatures featured on the March 1988 Rogue Trader Part 2 Flyer on page2 and were sculpted by Bob Naismith.

Dominators 'Gorgravel & 'Hulendar'

Dominators 'Gorgravel & 'Hulendar'

Assembly was an absolute nightmare these miniatures are not for the faint hearted, none of the parts fit together well, it's even worst than a Realm of Chaos era Keeper of Secrets, I filled massive void of space between join of torso and body with milliput and greenstuff and copious amounts of putty was needed on all joins, one of the miniatures horns were damaged which required reconstruction and the end of it gun and magazine were damaged so I filed the mag and added a Eldar plasma gun barrel which I think looks nice, a round base suited these miniatures well, they didn't sit right on the old 40mm square ones.  The problems listed above are why I think the miniature did not get produced for long, not the fault of the sculptor I'm sure miniatures get chopped up for casting.

Now the sculpting by Bob Naismith is interesting, the Dominator's seem to have some sort of twisted spiky bone harness with flesh strands joining them together with the occasional blister or orb all very organic and biomechanical in places, same goes for the weapons a combi Bolter/Flamer or just flamer and a close combat weapon or bolt pistol, you decide, it all clearly doesn't belong on the host beast who is like some sort of brute proto-Zoat enslaved for the purpose of destruction.

Colour choice I went for the classic red/brown scheme and hopefully did it justice, based with Vallejo Cavalry brown, Bone and others then washed with GW Null Oil, dry brushed  the bone and tidied it all up. I finished the orbs off with glossy 'ard coat.

Dominator 'Hulendar' - front

Dominator 'Hulendar' - front


Dominator 'Hulendar' - side

Dominator 'Hulendar' - back

Dominator 'Hulendar' - side

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - front

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - side

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - back

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - side

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - side

Dominator 'Gorgravel' - front

Warhammer 40,000 profile for Dominator's, there isn't one but if I made one I would use Space Zoat profiles and rules maybe a major hero which can viewed here.

The Dominators remind me of the 'Type 3 Battle-Orgot' from the 2000AD Slaine story Timekiller progs 411-434 that twisted mix of fantasy and technology, the multiple limbs, the brute strength the creature conveys, the Dominator could easy find a home in a fighting pit on some far flung planetary outpost.


Slaine vs Type 3 Battle-Orgot


Dominator 'Hulendar' from the classic 1986 'Heroes for Wargames' book Page 108


Size comparison - Dominators to a Space Zoat


Size comparison 2 - Dominators to a Space Zoat


Dominators advert from the March 1988 Rogue Trader Part 2 Flyer 

A recent addition to Warhammer World Exhibition Hall Dominators (taken by @Leaky_cheese follow him on Twitter)


If you want to see closer photos of the miniatures in lead form go here: http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Tyranids_-_Limited_Release

If you want to see more well painted Dominators go here: http://www.solegends.com/citrt2/undominators/index.htm
http://goblinlee.blogspot.com/2016/06/rogue-trader-era-40k-dominators.html

Thanks for stopping by, lots and lots of drafts queuing up so stay tuned.
J