Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 4

Hello and welcome to another Oldhammer project that is at an end, the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates, my previous blog posts on this odd range can be read here:

Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 1
Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 2 
Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 3

This post features the last four miniatures of the original range I had to paint.

Last four advert Pirates complete

I have included the original advert again for reference with my own numbering system.

RT601 Pirates - White Dwarf 103 - July 1988

First up we have Pirate 11, he is sculpted in one of those horrible lurching forward poses which is quite common for the Rogue trader era miniatures, he has a top knot and googles and has an autogun, curved sword and rum flask all very piratelike so I just had to give him a skull and crossbones badge. As always, I take photos of the backs of these miniatures for completeness, but they are pretty dull and awkward.

Pirate 11 - front

Pirate 11 - back

Next, we have Pirate 16 like most the miniatures of this range he shares the body of another, in this instance Pirate 11 above, this time he has been sculpted with a hood and wearing goggles, a cutdown bolter/autogun mash up, he still has the curved sword and rum flask, I painted a pentagram on his badge as I thought he might make a good cultist.

Pirate 16 - front

Pirate 16 - back

Pirate 16 and 11 - comparison 

Following on we have the original advert Pirate 20, simple miniature so got a simple paint job.

Pirate 20 - front

Pirate 20 - back

I've talked before about this guy in the previous Part 2 post where I unveiled Pirate 20v and linked in Pirate 6, my theory was that Pirate 20 face deteriorated with continuous casting, so the cyclops visor was added, I stick with this as Pirate 20 disappeared from the catalogues and Pirate 20v appeared.

Pirate 6, 20 and 20v - comparison

However just the other day a valued member of the Oldhammer community Kev Squebb made a new discovery (I shall call him 'Pirate 20 v2'), this Pirate 20 v2 has goggles, no idea when or why he came along and how many are out there, but it does raise a question in my mind, was he part of the transition to Pirate 2v (cyclops visor).  The completionist in me will be on the lookout for this one.

Pirate 20 v2 (courtesy of Kev)

And finally, Pirate 2, now I didn't originally own this one and it was a real pain to track down, but I got him in the end, he shares the body of Pirate 8 and is quite an awkward sculpt where some of Pirate 8 previous equipment is still visible, checkout the boot knife.  What is cool about this miniature is that I think it is the only Rogue Trader era miniature with his weapon slung over his shoulder which I found surprising as it was a staple pose of the plastic soldier era.  I had a go trying to paint him in tactical black, it helped his big menacing knife stand out.

Pirate 2 - front

Pirate 2 - back

Pirate 2 - side

Pirate 2 and 8 - comparison

thanks for taking a look
J

Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 3

Hello, coming to the end of another Oldhammer project, the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates, my previous blog posts on this odd range can be read here Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 1 and Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 2. This post features some of the gems of this range, still odd miniatures but certainly some of the more desirable miniatures of the range like the beloved 'Sensei'.

Rogue Trader Pirates part 3

I have included advert again for reference

 

First up we have we have Pirate 4 aka the famous Sensei and although the miniatures in the advert are unnamed he is the only one who isn't named Pirate on his tag, it clearly states 'sensei'. The Sensei concept first appears in the 1988 Realm of Chaos Slaves to the Darkness book on page 217 and there are some lovely illustrations that show various Sensei's which I included below, now you can see from the advert above the Pirate 4 paint job is something special compared to his counterparts adorned in gold armour and white robe, it makes me think was this odd bod pirate range which was released a month before the Realm of Chaos book hit the shelves was going to be originally part of something that was going to be a Sensei Warband range maybe before all the miniatures got their variants made up to bulk out the pirate range, at the time I believe Citadel were churning out miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 and needed to keep the momentum up but the Realm of Chaos books still needed work so maybe this Pirate range was down to that. The Sensei warband list appeared in Realm of Chaos Lost and the Damned on page 186 and if you look at the equipment for the followers I think this Pirate range could be an easy fit as a Sensei Warband range.

Now I always try and point out variants, well it could be Pirate 19, I tried really hard to pair him up with Pirate 19 because if you follow the pattern they come in two's (and one 3) and you can usually work out the original miniature and then the variant with all his donors, Pirate 19 below has very similar lower leg plates and leg spacing so the only candidate I am putting forward for now.

Paintjob I went for neutral tones pretty much how I like my home interiors done, he's not interested in looking flash like your archetypal pirate as he has a higher purpose so buff, medium grey, stone grey, khaki was the colours of choice.

Pirate 4 Sensei - front 

Pirate 4 Sensei - back

Sensei as illustrated in RoC SoD page 217

I have painted and modified this miniature before the second I got it back in 1988 and here a shot of him with my 2021 version.

Old vs New paint jobs

Following on we have Pirate 24, he is quite a portly fellow in a boiler/space suit unfortunately accentuating his obesity but hopefully he thinks his flash equipment will draw the beholders eye from his poor space diet, the helmet is an amazing sculpt with an eye augmentation, nice blaster and my favourite bit the power glove which is like an industrial machine, I think he is a later modification of Pirate 1 as some of the lovely detail on from Pirate 1 is obscured but still visible if you take a close look.

Pirate 24 - front

Pirate 24 - side

Pirate 24 - back

Next up is Pirate 1, his bloated appearance with roll of fat around his neck, this miniature always made me think of Baron Harkonnen and I'll always wanted to chop up another copy to get my very own 'floating fat man' as he was called in the Dune movie by the original Emperor, this pirate is totally Rogue trader era it's a totally bonkers sculpt, like Pirate 24 he is in his boiler suit and he is has some pretty expensive equipment, consisting of a Chainsword and arm replacement multi missile launcher.  His head also ended up on Pirate 21 but I painted the fatty neck as a scarf on that one.

Pirate 1 - front

Pirate 1 - side

Pirate 1 - back

Following on we have Pirate 8, this is a cool miniature definitely a Pirate leader with his cigar hanging out of his mouth, two guns an Autogun and some sort of taser looking pistol and kitted out with a visor and body armour, I am still looking in the loft for his variant Pirate 2 I may have to trade him in to complete this project.

Pirate 8 - front

Pirate 8 - back

Lastly we have Pirate 19, now this is my long shot for a Sensei variant, it's all about the legs :D I went scruffy biker style with this one with his head scarf, rosy drinkers nose and black leather waist coat, I painted angel wings on the back as a nod to Daryl in The Walking Dead.

Pirate 19 - front

Pirate 19 - back

Only 3 more to do, 2 in the stripping jar and one of them I can't find at the moment but on a plus note I found the original Pirate 20 without the visor the variant was shown in my last post and painted him, he'll be featured in my last post of this range soon Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 4.

I have a ridiculous amount of drafts on the go so stay tuned, they will trickle out.

 

thanks for dropping in, 

J 

Rogue Trader RT601 - Pirates - Part 2

Hello, I am over half way through another Oldhammer project, the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates, some of these guy's are so odd I am surprised they didn't end up in the Citadel Miniatures drawer 101 and never come out to see the light of day, some of them are absolute gems but others have had me bemused, now I am no master of photography (or story telling), I take my photos with an iPhone with a LED lightbox and follow the Warhammer Community guide as it seems the most simple, my macro lens camera is rotting in the loft but I can categorically say some of these pirates have no 'Golden Angle', I usually like to photograph the front and especially the back of a miniature as many people would of never seen it but with these guys it's all over the place and I don't think you are getting the full picture of their oddities.

I've gave a bit background and my thoughts on these Pirates back in my first post: Rogue Trader RT601 Pirates - Part 1 go and have a read if you haven't seen my first batch, this post features most of the last miniatures that I consider the rank and file of the range before I move onto the more characterful sculpts like the much loved 'Sensei'. 

My latest batch of RT601 Pirates

I am continuing to use my own reference number system based on the original advert and again I will use these numbers as their identities in these posts. I have again paired them up with their closest sculpt brother or although some are made up from several pirates.

first four

second four

First up we have pirates 17 and 3.  Pirate 17 I gave a big red drinkers nose, he's a great all-rounder who I could use in any game, pirate 3 is an interesting mish mash sculpt based on pirate 17 with pirate 7's right arm and shoulder pad, he has a really cool flight pack, astronauts helmet with tubes coming out of his mouth and is weirdly bent over kissing his chainsword.

RT601 Pirates 17 and 3

RT601 Pirate 3 - front

RT601 Pirate 3 - back

RT601 Pirate 17 - front

RT601 Pirate 17 - back

Next we have pirates 14 and 7, pirate 14 is part bionic with a claw arm which is very Genestealer like (there's a Hybrid conversion in there for someone brave) and lower leg, he has the head of pirate 12, pirate 7 I cut off the original sword blade as it had gone all soft and wiry and replaced it a plastic Warhammer zombies one, a bit of Typhus Corrosion and I think it's hard to spot.

RT601 Pirates 14 and 7

RT601 Pirate 7 - front

RT601 Pirate 7 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - front

RT601 Pirate 14 - back

RT601 Pirate 14 - side showing bionics

Next we have pirates 9 and 10, nice dynamic poses, both miniatures have that weird half Bolter, half Autogun sculpt with mounted light/scope and strange webbing/bracers that go under their groin, pirate 10 has a breathing apparatus, the pair are decent miniatures to be honest.

RT601 Pirates 9 and 10

RT601 Pirate 9 - front

RT601 Pirate 9 - back

RT601 Pirate 10 - front

RT601 Pirate 10 - back

And finally pirates 20v and 6, not the greatest sculpts, I am going to call this one 'pirate 20v' as I believe he is a uncatalogued variant, the original adverts shows him without a visor and I have seen this visorless miniature about several times and painted by community members, he does have a cool diamond design sculpted into his shoulder pads, pirate 6 has pteruges hanging from his shoulder pads and both have the same weapon a sort of carbine autogun, they have that hunched over pose of the earliest Rogue Trader era miniatures that made them a pain to paint.

RT601 Pirates 20 and 6

RT601 Pirate 6 - front

RT601 Pirate 6 - back

RT601 Pirate 20v - front

RT601 Pirate 20v - back

I managed to get hold of the original Pirate 20 featured in the advert without visor and he'll be getting a paint job soon

Thanks for dropping in, more fan sculpts and RT Pirates on the go so stay tuned, I can't wait for my mate to turn up with all his shining Stargrave miniatures and rulebook for a game and I bring some of these out, I did it with Frostgrave and chaos beastmen, you could see the disgust on his face, he thinks I am only doing it to wind him up :D

cheers

J