Rogue Trader - Wolfen

Hello, special post today featuring an unknown miniature to many and a highly sought after Oldhammer miniature to the few, the miniature might as well be made out of unobtainium it's so rare. This miniature has fascinated me for many years, what miniature I hear you cry? The miniature in question is the mysterious 'Wolfen' or my take on the Wolfen, please join me on this journey and you decide.

Wolfen or Faux Wolfen?

Wolfen

Wolfen - front

Little information is known about this mysterious miniature and for the most part all is internet speculation, I have read that it was made as a prototype alien race for Laserburn or Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader.  The miniature appeared on the 2nd Rogue Trader flyer March 1988 that you received for free when buying miniatures from Games Workshop via mail order.

These are the only reference pictures I have of this miniature.

Wolfen joins his solid-based alien brothers

Well where do I start... I badly wanted this miniature and have never seen one for sale or painted and many serious citadel miniature collectors were on the hunt for this miniature, when Wargames Foundry discovered the moulds for the Sci-Fi Fishmen from the 2nd RT flyer and cast them up I had to have them but alas no Wolfen.

Once I had the Fishmen in my possession it got me thinking did the Wolfen come from the same Citadel Fiend Factory range like the Fishmen did and guess what it did, the FF19 Werewolf so it was a no brainer to me to acquire the werewolf and one of the Judge Dredd sculptors aid JD3 Rifle 1 and voila I would have myself a Wolfen.

The JD3 Rifle 1 proved too difficult to source, the project stalled and ended up in the loft until recently when I was having a chat to Curis on twitter about said gun and was inspired to pick this top secret project back up, I channelled the powers of the great miniature convertors out there like Curis, Axiom and other great modellers, I committed a personal act of sacrilege chopping up a perfectly good miniature. Spitgun Suzi was clearly the best candidate for the chop to relieve her of her 'JD3 Rifle 1', I went for it with the snippers and it felt good I may have to do it again sometime.

What you need to build a Wolfen

Now armed with the gun and the werewolf I was in prime position to create the wolfen, I used snippers and bottle nosed pliers to carefully cut and bent the werewolf arms into what I think is the proper position, the werewolf was so old the one arm cracked and white powder spilt out, oxidation? possibly

Build stage 1

Poor Spitgun Suzi, painted up Suzi will be appearing on next blog post

Then I used superglue to tack the rifle in again what I thought is the correct position.  While working on this project the nozzle of the gun broke off, a common problem for the Judge Dredd minatures, some went in the blisters and some disappear altogether on later versions so I had the fiddly task of reattaching it.  I used green stuff to fill the cracked arm, cover up the hacked chest with fur and nozzle join.

Rifle and Nozzle tacked on

A bit of Das Promo to blend in the preslotta base and I had myself a Wolfen, or as close as I could get to one.

Green stuffed and Das Promo based

Paint job was simple, it pretty flat and early sculpt so I had to paint in most detail.

I was that desperate to start I undercoated by hand!!!

Base coat

Nuln Oil wash

A bit more painting and we are done

The Wolfen Complete

Rogue Trader Stats? well you could go for a Abhuman  Beastmen - Homo Sapiens Variatus (page174 RT Rulebook) that might work.

In true Rogue Heresy fashion I will be working on the copy of the original flyer very soon.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post.
Come back more Judge Dredd perps soon.
J

Citadel Judge Dredd Perps Part 11 - Businessman

Hi, just a quick post I recently acquired another of my holy grails from the 2000AD comic citadel Judge Dredd miniatures range the 'businessman', it's another miniature sculpted for the Slaughter Margin campaign pack for the 1985 Judge Dredd role-playing game and if you are a regular follower you will know that the Megahound was another of my holy grail's I completed from this same range.

The 'Businessman' is an interesting miniature, I think it was sculpted by Trish Carden (Morrison) and released in 1987 exclusively on the offer sheet for the Slaughter Margin campaign pack where you got three of this miniatures!!! I wonder how many lucky people purchased this offer?, what excites me the most about this miniature is that he makes a great Max Normal Judge Dredd's faithful informant who was sadly missing from the original citadel JD range.

I had all these ideas for painting him and was going to go for a pin stripped suit but I wimped out of this idea for now and had a go with contrast paints, I think the businessman is supposed to be from the old Nip-Cit as the eyes were tiny and oriental in appearance I widened them a bit with paint, not on purpose just my eyes are getting old, I gave him a grey and white moustache like Max appears in the comic now and complete black attire.  He'll be a useful miniature for all sorts games.  I will definitely be revisiting this miniature in the future.

3 Businessmen came in the Slaughter Margin Deal

5 Businessman tokens in Slaughter Margin pack

Well that's almost another range complete and a few more Dredd posts coming up while I am on a roll.
J

Citadel Judge Dredd Perps Part 10

Borag Thungg Earthlet,
Wow two years I have been working on this Judge Dredd Perps project doing one on one off, each time I finish a batch of these start work on something else just to clear the air then come back to these and I feel am making good progress.  Today I have my latest batch of eleven miniatures completed to show you.

A motley crew

Again all are from the Citadel Miniatures 1985-87 JD3 - Perps & Muties code.

1. 'Bonehead Mcgraw' is a character that I am sure I know from world of Dredd but I couldn't remember her in any prog so she might be a daily star strip character, she did appear on Cliff Robinson 'Justice Is Just Around the Corner' poster in prog 407, I kind wish I had found the poster out before I painted the miniature as I would of tried to match up the colours, she is armed with a shotgun and wears a horned helmet adorned with a skull.

Bonehead Mcgraw

Justice Is Just Around the Corner

2. 'Dib' this one would fit in nicely with the Angel gang or any band of cursed earth deparados, I went for basic colours for this one blue denim and butternut to try and give him that deep south confederate feel, he is a variant of the mutie 'Skink'.

Dib

3. 'Spug Splatt' I painted this unfortunately named miniature (Spug is a profanity in Judge Dredd universe) as rastafarian citizen I think his braided hair made the decision easy, I have seen many 'dreads' over the years in JD strips, some in wally squads, I can imagine him now screaming "ahhh! babylon as Dredd nails him with a ricochet bullet", this one is a variant of Citizen Hetfield.

Spug Splatt

4. Here we have a rare Slaughter Margin scenario miniature 'Hoshiwara/Shomenko' or 'Yakusa', I know little about this miniature, don't think I own any variants across my citadel collection but it might still be waiting to be discovered, armed with Katana, swanky suit and tie, he has the obligatory samurai sideburns.

Slaughter Margin - Hoshiwara/Shomenko/Yakusa

5. Next is 'Theobald Wen', it appears he is holding his diary, I tried painting the word in to the sculpting but it was so old and rough it was a struggle. His story is yet to be told, also variant of mutie Brother Gomorrah.

Theobald Wen

6. This one is a 'Scrawler' a Mega City graffiti artist, I like this one as he actually leans forward so would be great perched against walls, I did paint another scrawler 'Bel' so I think I am going to pair them up.

Scrawler

7. Next is 'Solo' who is a variant of 'Security' with the head of 'Citi-Def Attacking' miniature and the Paranoia range 'Guard Officer'.

Solo

8. We have here 'Chapman Pincher' not a character name from Judge Dredd but again like many others named after a Mega Block (See Block Mania - Prog 238), I believe he is based on the character 'Faceache' or 'The Ghool' of the Zits gang in the story 'West Side Rumble' see 2000AD prog 434. I love this guy he is so fugly and beat up I will be adding him to mob of unarmed perps.

Chapman Pincher

9. Next up is 'Lambreta' there have been other characters named Lambreta with wide gangster hats in progs later than when this miniature was sculpted so I have nothing to tell except he is a Ape gang variant.

Lambreta

10. Perpolito/Unlisted Perp, this miniature is a bit of an enigma as it does not appear on any of the Citadel Miniatures advert pages, Jason Basin is pictured twice under the name Perpolito, as this one is the only unnamed perp I think it is obvious as Jason wears a basin helmet.  The miniature could be a attempt at  Filmore Faro as he has that strange hook or riding crop weapon and the outfit matches so we are only missing the pan on head, the hair could of been a pan that was cast badly? (for more of Filmore see 'The Judge Child' story).

Perpolito

11. Lastly we have 'Flinn Shaver' appears to another member of the Cosmic Punks from Prog 110 'Punks Rule' story, you can see their gang leader Gestapo Bob Harris here. I wish I had gone with the leopard print top in the colour image here.

Flinn Shaver

If you know something I don't about any of these characters please tell me I would love to know more, sculptors, JD stories and especially Daily Star strips.

Here is a progress report, still lots to do

Follow me on Twitter @fuljason for some live action from the paint station, lots going on.

Thanks for stopping by, Florix Grabundae

J

Citadel Judge Dredd Perps Part 9

Borag Thungg Earthlets,

Here are my latest offerings from my quest to paint all the Perps from the 1985-87 citadel Judge Dredd miniatures range.

Perps

A favourite of mine 'Fuzz Gun' perp I think featured in a Daily Star strip where Dredd shoots the can attached to the gun covering the perp in hair but memory is hazy on this one so If you recall the story please let me know. I used to hang around with a punk rocker who used a similar thing and always left a black patch of hair on peoples sofa's :D Variants include Slaugther Margins 'Bel'.

Fuzz Gun - front

Fuzz Gun - back

Next up we have one the rarer  and lesser seen of the Mega City Defence miniatures of the range 'Citi-Def with Spug Gun'.  This miniatures completes my set of all the Citi-Def from the range, I painted him in the same scheme as the others so the tie in nicely while defending Rowdy Yates block.

Citi-Def with Spug Gun - front

Citi-Def with Spug Gun - back

Next is 'One Eye Schumaen' on the tab he is labelled 'Organ Legger', I went for a hispanic Banana City (Ciudad Barranquilla) look for this character, he carries a bag with human body parts spilling out and a bizarre pistol. Variants include Slaugther Margins 'Vid Crew Sound'.

One Eye Schumaen - front

One Eye Schumaen - back

Finally we have a JD5 Klegg, featured in the Judge Dredd story 'The Day the Law Died' (Progs 89 to 108).  These carnivorous Alien mercenaries hired by Chief Judge Cal and paid in lawbreaker flesh.  Only two miniatures were made, I first come across them in my favourite ever White Dwarf 78 and the fabulous display game done by the 'Player's Guild' for Games Day 85, I was obsessed with this display and my late friend and I did everything we could to copy it whilst taking over his parents veranda.

Klegg 1 - front

Klegg 1 - side

Klegg 1 - side

Klegg 1 - back

I raved on above about the Judge Dredd display in White Dwarf 78 so in case you have never seen it here it below for your enjoyment.  I remember mutating so many Airifx soldiers with milliput to supplement our small selection of Judge Dredd miniatures at the time.

White Dwarf 78 'Eavy Metal' - page 1

White Dwarf 78 'Eavy Metal' - page 2

White Dwarf 78 'Eavy Metal' - page 3

Florix Grabundae for visiting, enjoy

J

Rogue Trader - Robo-Dog / Judge Dredd - Mega Hound

Welcome back, today I have something really special for you a miniature that has long been a holy grail to me for a long time.

Robo-Dog / Mega Hound - side

Robo-Dog / Mega Hound - side

Robo-Dog / Mega Hound - front

The Robo-Dog is a Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader 2nd Flyer miniature, I have only ever seen it in two places, the original flyer and the Judge Dredd Slaughter Margin offer sheet.  You got 5 Mega Hound miniatures with the offer I really wish I purchased these.

It has the appearance that it was sculpted by Bob Naismith but if you know better let me know and due to lack of info on it's tab it must have been 1986 or before.  I really love the dynamic pose of this miniature, charging forward like a trained attack dog, I would not be surprised if comic art was copied as 2000ad stories often featured robot dogs.

I pondered for a long time on what colours I was going to paint this miniature, would I go blue like my Adeptus Arbites dog, codex grey of the Imperial Army eventually I drew inspiration from the silver spikey armoured ‘Shrike’ character in my favourite sci-fi novel series Hyperion Cantos, read them if you can, I recommend the Audible audiobook while painting you will not regret it.

Last thing about this miniature is that it does have a variant, I positive this miniature is a resculpt of the Slann Warhound from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 2 Edition scenario 'The Magnificent Sven', examing the two it appears the the Slann Warhound's fur was filed off and rigid angles filed in, the mounth was plugged leaving the teeth largely intact and a some plates sculpted on here and there.

Judge Dredd Slaughter Margin Offer Sheet

Slaughter Margin - Paper Character Tokens

What stats could you use for Rogue Trader and Judge Dredd I here you ask, I would go with a small Walker robot from the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue trader rulebook page 119, not too tough and only one wound so a little scary in close combat but killable. (see below)

Walker Robots Page 119

The Mega Hound Stats from the Judge Dredd Slaughter Margin book. (see below)

Mega Hound Stats

It's much better miniature than the accompanying Imperial Assault Trooper / Slaughter Margin 'Mek'.

I have loads of the Mek miniature as it eventually made it's way into the Imperial Army blister packs, here is my current one painted for Judge Dredd, I am hoping to paint one or two more to a better standard for the Imperial Army.

Imperial Assault Trooper / Slaughter Margin 'Mek

thanks for dropping in,
J