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

Rogue Trader - Mercenaries Part 2

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my last blog post featuring some of the RT502 - Mercenaries, I am trying to keep the momentum going between this project and my quest to paint all of the Citadel miniatures Judge Dredd Perps which is going well but is going to take another 2 years or so with the interruptions I have planned like completing the Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader 1st Flyer March 1987 miniatures and a personal favourite of mine the Slocombes Warbots and SFD Robots which are still sitting in their blisters waiting to be opened for your enjoyment (photos will be taken to upset the collectors, is that a form of trolling?  😆) so bear with me.

You can see how some of the projects are getting on in my Gallery.

Anyway first up today is 'No-Face Fargo' from the RT502 - Mercenaries code who started life as a Imperial Light Trooper on the Warhammer 40,000 (Rogue Trader) 1st Flyer March 1987 and another miniature depicted in the rulebook, a variant of the 'Imperial Garrison Trooper/Kylla Condotti' 1st Flyer/RT502 -Mercenaries miniature who's tab says 'Low Tek Trooper' in the case of 'No-Face Fargo' he has a blank tag label so I reckon he is the later sculpt of the two, the infamous Imperial Assault trooper/Judge Dredd Mek shares the same head.  
The major appeal to a lot of Rogue Trader fans is the sculpted on back pack which was the norm in the first releases and many fans would love to see this done again. I went for a palette of blues for this miniature designing my own Imperial navy uniform and imagine him with his mask in a low gravity/oxygen boarding action.

No-face Fargo - front

No-face Fargo - back

Imperial Garrison Trooper - Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader Rulebook page 67

and it's time for some Abhumans

Secondly we have 'Shorty' the Halfling eventually the nickname Ratling became the norm for these guys, another one of the RT502 - Mercenaries usually for this code not sculpted by Bob Naismith I believe but I don't know who yet.  Complete with Judge Dredd style boots, elbow/knee pads, mithril/mesh shirt and a bolt pistol that is the size of a bolter for this character, his helmet is an excellent sculpt and was a joy to paint, I need to mention the cooking pot and spoon on his backpack too even Space Halflings need breakfast, elevenses, and brunch before tossing 'the one nut to rule them all' into the fire.

Shorty the Halfling - front

Shorty the Halfling - back

Lastly we have the infamous 'Beastman Trooper Gaxt' from the 1987 first Rogue Trader Imperial Army code, semi dressed in army uniform maybe because his beastman side cannot be tamed as he goes topless with studded armbands, carrying an autogun, a really cute chain knife or short sword and has a weirdstone dangling from his belt.  Many W40K gamers have created some really amazing Imperial Guard Beastmen units over the years and it all started with this guy.

Beastman Trooper Gaxt - front

Beastman Trooper Gaxt - back

It appears that the games/miniature designers at Games Workshop know how dear we still hold 'Gaxt' to our hearts and there may be money in it (cynical?) so have churned out a Necromunda Beastman Bounty Hunter for all you fans out there. (p.s. I am loving their new direction, I even purchased Silver Tower, is there a new golden age coming?)

Thanks for looking I hope you enjoyed, now get following 😈

J