Rogue Trader - Mercenaries Part 3

Greetings, an end is in sight for one of my current Oldhammer projects the RT502 - Mercenaries featured in White Dwarf 95. (I must confess this project is finished I am just publishing another of the ten drafts queued up 😳)

Not the greatest week for photography it was the 'Beast from the East part 1' here in the UK and I think the pictures reflect that.

Another two done, two more to go

Here are my latest offerings.

First we have Breakout Con a cool dynamic looking miniature, storming forward with his modified Bolter, I like this sculpt especially his heavily augmented head, that appears to have eyes, ears, nose and brain modifications. 

Breakout Con - front 

Breakout Con - back

Breakout Con

This miniatures variants include Hacker Harris and Catachan Luke and his head is also used on RT01 Space Marine Brother Dimshade, all Bob Naismith sculpts, it was common for him to reuse base miniatures and parts, it would be interesting to know if he precast certain parts like they did with weapons or did he simply hack the part of a pre existing cast miniature.


I think you will agree that the image the Necromunda Orlock below bears a striking resemblance to Breakout Con and it's nice to see he was rocking the slotted shade look long before this Orlock (and Lady Gaga).

I also remember that the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook featured a squad of these Breakout Con's, is that Communication Officer Orinoco administering Frezon to penal troops? I am sure it is.

Breakout Con unit - Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook Page 161

East/Fast-Star John another 1987 1st Flyer miniature sculpted by Bob Nasmith, originally he was listed as Imperial Heavy Trooper but like many other seen on previous posted recoded into the RT602 - Mercenaries and as his tab suggests, he eventually turned up in Imperial Army blisters too. 

Fast-Star John - front

Fast-Star John - back

Fast-Star John

A variant of Imperial Heavy Infantry/Space-Dout Sam but this time he has a sculpted on backpack instead of a flightpack.  I own loads of copies of this miniature and have painted him multiple times over the years but this time I went for an Imperial Army appearance, I was tempted to paint the backpack as a medipack but resisted as I have plenty of Imperial Army medics.

Only 2 more Mercenaries to go which are painted now just not photographed and then project complete.

Thanks for reading.
J

Slocombe's Warbots - Part 1 - Sam

Hello, today I have a classic Oldhammer miniature that I hardly know anything about! 

This is my first post on Slocombe's Warbot's the 'Sam' Type Light Wardroid, released on the Citadel Miniatures October 1987 Flyer and sculpted by Tony Slocombe.  I am lucky enough to own all 3 miniatures from this range and I am enjoying breaking open those 'Limited Edition' TSF15 WARBOTS blisters open to give them a lick of paint like they should have, 2 other warbots accompany it in the range the MkII 'Sprinter' Assault Droid and 'Deathblow' Class Heavy Droid which will also be receiving a paint job before the year is out.

Now we get to the controversial bit, I have always been a Battletech fan and played it 1988-92 and I found all these warbots reminiscent of the Battletech mechs so when I posted a work in progress photo on Twitter, a friendly follower @Leaky_cheese replied with a Battletech image by  Duane Loose that was almost identical and other followers pointed out a likeness to the Battletech Vindicator mech, yeah, yeah I here say so what, continue reading...

Well this train of thought lead to me having an idea on the origins of this range and I am happy to hear your thoughts. Like the other obscure Rogue Trader robot range released in October 1987, the 'Limited Edition' SFD Giant Robots, well while I was painting some of these lovely Bob Naismith sculpts I noticed they had GW 1984 date stamps on the bottom which harks back to a time when Games Workshop were still producing miniatures for licensed games i.e. Judge Dredd, Eternal Champion, Dr Who, etc, 3 years before the decline of the licensed games so my idea is were the Slocombes Warbots and maybe the SFD Giant Robots created for an early attempt of 1984 Games Workshop acquiring the Battletech license and failing to do so is why we see these Robots incorporated into the Rogue Trader universe and released 'Limited Edition' maybe trying to claw some money back from this endeavour?

Or it could be just wild ramblings of a mad robot fan.

I went for an Imperial Army type colour scheme with lots of rust and battle damage it seemed fitting, added a few old transfers from various kits and distressed them, added a bit of colour to the power source and visor.

Anyway enough nonsense here's the picts.

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

'Sam' Type Light Wardroid

TSF15 Warbot blister about to broken open

TSF15 Warbot open and ready to assemble

Twitter followers asked for a size comparison so here you go, a very tall miniature that would make an excellent robot for Inquisitor as it is slightly over 54mm high.

Size comparison

Thanks for visiting,
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

Citadel Judge Dredd Perps Part 8

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.

These miniatures are again all from the JD3 Perps and Muties range with a Slaughter Margin character thrown in for good measure.

First up we have the incorrectly named 'Lorien Speck' whose name tag says 'Frank Zit', Judge Dredd fans may well remember him from as 'Big Frank Zit' the leader of the Zits gang and the Judge Dredd story 'West Side Rumble' 2000AD Prog 434 1985 who battled it out with the Sharks gang before Justice Department broke up their juve rumble.  It's nice to see another miniature who is a carbon copy of the comic illustration, it makes it much easier to spot any irregularities. Oh yeah it true 1980's fashion he is armed with Nunchaku which 1980's boy didn't make his own?

For those of you are thinking who was 'Lorien Speck then? He was a Tom Selleck look-alike featured in the Blockmania story 2000AD Progs 236-244 1981 in the lead up to the Apocalypse War epic.

Big Frank Zit (Lorien Speck) - front

Big Frank Zit (Lorien Speck) - back

2000AD Prog 434 Judge Dredd: West Side Rumble

Next up we have 'Zuggy Spotz' another incorrectly named miniature and again his tag reveals the true name, he is 'Crazy Joseph' another member of Big Frank's gang the Zits appearing in 'West Side Rumble' 2000AD Prog 434 1985, check out the comic image above.  At first I thought he was a Red Indian when I found him in my Judge Dredd miniatures box as looked like he fitted in with my Slaughter Margin Red Indians.

I think Zuggy Spotz was a Mega Block name in a Judge Dredd story somewhere but I haven't the time at the moment to trawl through every issue to find it, well not today anyway.

Crazy Joseph (Zuggy Spotz) - front

Crazy Joseph (Zuggy Spotz) - back

Next up we have 'Vid Crew Sound' a miniature from the Judge Dredd Slaughter Margin campaign set, at first I thought this miniature was another of those rare unique miniatures for this range (no variants) as I had trouble identifying his makeup but eventually I found one while prepping a variant it jumped out.  Unlike most of the Slaughter Margin set he looks nothing like his cardboard token (see below) and the sculptor has fashioned a Japanese/Nippon head on him, I suspect Naismith.  It was pointed out by @nergling on twitter that he was holding a 'nice corn on the cob', it is supposed to be a boom mic for anyone confused :D

Vid Crew Sound - front

Vid Crew Sound - back

Judge Dredd Slaugther Margin Campaign tokens

Lastly we have 'Brother Obee' of the 'Mutie Brotherhood' in the Cursed Earth saga progs 65-66.  Also Kelv is a variant of this miniature. I have already painted all the members of his gang, Morgar, Brother Jobee, Brother Gomorrah, Mutie with Bazooka, Mutie in Dress and Squid Face.

This completes the JD3 Muties code for me.

Brother Obee - front

Brother Obee - back

And finally I finished off a Ground Zero Games SL-09 COLLATERAL DAMAGE PACK Child as every Judge Dredd scenario is going to need some collateral damage (don't tell the wife I am painting these). I have loads of these from 15+ years ago almost finished and size they fit beautifully with the Oldhammer Citadel Miniatures before the scale creep.

GZG Child holding teddy bear

Splundig vur Thrigg
Hope you enjoyed another visit
J