Friday 30 November 2018

Rogue Trader - RT01 Space Marines - Flesh Tearers Part 1

Hello again, today's post is featuring a few Oldhammer 40K miniatures from my slow burner project the 'Flesh Tearers', one of the original Adeptus Astartes chapters from the Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader rulebook page 168.  The Flesh Tearers chapter started off all adorned in black in 1987 rulebook then later around 3rd edition (I think) the Flesh Tearers became successors to the Blood Angels crimson bodied with black shoulder pads and helmets which is a colour scheme that appeals to me so I decided to go with that, a mistake on my part was painting the helmets crimson but in the end I liked how these turned out but I will be going back to black.

Flesh Tearer Space Marines

Flesh Tearers chapter page 168 Rogue Trader rulebook 

Flesh Tearers nowadays

I am still working on my technique for flesh tearer icons so I may revisit them when I get it down to an art, they are a bit rough at the moment and a mix of the original style which had 8 spokes and the modern style which had 16 spokes, I think I am getting to the stage where I may have to order some decal paper and create my own 😭.  I did find a great chapter symbol painting tutorial here.

First up we have RT01 Space Marine 'Captain Dozier' who first appeared in the White Dwarf 99 advert , armed with a Chainsword, a bionic arm which mounts a surprised discovery a buzzsaw blade which I felt was very fitting of a Flesh Tearers marine and a bionic eye, like a lot of marines from this era this marine is a veteran and really been through the meat grinder.  Sculpting is credited to Michael and Alan Perry and was released in 1988.  The name Dozier is a pop culture reference to Batman TV show producer William Dozier, this range took many names from the Batman TV show which was still popular on the UK's morning children's TV and the Batman 1966 movie had just been remastered and released on VHS video. 

Space Marine 'Captain Dozier' - front


Space Marine 'Captain Dozier' - side

Space Marine 'Captain Dozier' - back

My Batman VHS was played till it died by my 2 year old brother

Following on we have RT01 Space Marine 'Brother Ward' again from the White Dwarf 99 Advert , armed with a Power Sword and equipped with a sensor that looks very much like the plastic 'ammo pack' on the RTB01 plastic Space Marine sprues, again the sculpting is credited to Michael and Alan Perry. The name Ward is a pop culture reference to Robin in the Batman TV show actor Burt Ward.

I experimented with a Pebeo iridescent blue green Dyna 357 acrylic paint for his power sword which I purchased from Cassart, it achieves a nice effect for little work, get yourself down to a Cassart shop there are lots of art supplies that translate to our hobby and their cheap ProArte Masterstroke series 60 brushes are excellent.
Space Marine 'Brother Ward' - front


Space Marine 'Brother Ward' - back


Space Marine 'Brother Ward' - side

Next we have RT01 - Communication Officer Orinoco (also named Kendall on some W40K flyers) from the 1987 White Dwarf 93 advert, he is well equipped with all sorts of gadgets including his strange looking comms helmet.  Much is the love for this miniature that Forgeworld have made a modern version of him called the Master of Signal, this one is a Bob Naismith sculpt.

I mounted a 1989 decal transfer of the imperial two headed eagle on his shoulder pad, these were the first Warhammer 40,000 infantry transfers.
Space Marine Communication Officer Orinoco - front
Space Marine Communication Officer Orinoco - back
Space Marine Communication Officer Orinoco - side

Space Marine Communication Officer Orinoco suffering a Haywire grenade hit on page 92 of the Rogue Trader rulebook

Next up we have RT01 - Brother Craven armed with a bolter and apparently a knife which was quickly painted up as a power sword and again I added the iridescent paint. First appearing in the 1988 White Dwarf 100 advert part 1White Dwarf 100 advert part 2, sculpting for this range accredited to Mark Copplestone & Aly Morrison.  I aim to give all my marines original metal backpacks or jump packs as I find them crude, archaic and a delight to paint.

Space Marine Brother Craven - front

Space Marine Brother Craven - front


1990 Sega Genesis Strider game features Brother Craven on the front cover, no care for I.P. back then :D

Lastly we another 1988 White Dwarf 100 advert part 1 marine, RT01 - Brother Potter who I have already talked about in the past here, armed with a bolter, equipped with bionics and a tape machine??, this Potter was sporting round specs years before his later juvenile imposter.  I painted this one some  time ago so the crimson is a bit brighter, a few touch ups and he was good to go.  Although I am going to swap out his plastic backpack.

Space Marine Brother Potter - front

Space Marine Brother Potter - back

I am not entirely happy with the photos UK winter light and all that and will be going back to these soon.
Thanks for stopping by, many more drafts to compete and many more half painted miniatures to finish so stay tuned.

Signing off
J

Thursday 20 September 2018

Rogue Heresy - New Logo

Hello,  it's an exciting day for me here as I get the pleasure of unveiling the new Rogue Heresy blog logo.

How did this come about, well for a long time I have felt that my tired old blog banner which I cut from the Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition codex Witch Hunters page border didn't reflect the content of my blog which is very much Warhammer 40,000 Rogue trader era blog, some of you might remember my blog started off back in January 2013 and focussed on using Rogue Trader Citadel Miniatures for the Dark Heresy roleplaying game but as I got more engrossed in the Oldhammer community the blog evolved into painting and sometimes gaming with Classic Citadel Miniatures from the golden era.

Now I am pretty poor at graphic design, photography and photoshop type activities or maybe just being a busy working parent I value my hobby time of 45 minutes a day and this is ring fenced mainly for painting over all other endeavours. I have been thinking for a long time I needed my blog logo banner updated and when I want a job done to a high standard at home I bring in a tradesman and this thought stayed in my mind for over a year, so out of the blue I contacted Zhu Bajiee of Zhu Industries and author of the wonderful and insightful Realm of Zhu as I have always admired his graphic design for years and his knowledge of typography of the classic gaming products that can't be surpassed.  I asked Zhu if he could do a commission and although he was very busy with other projects that I am sure you will see, he came back with some great concepts really quickly, we discussed these designs and this lead to Zhu designing the great work I am proud to unveil on the blog today.

The following images were designed by Zhu Bajiee for this blog.

Concept design phase.

I explained my requirements to Zhu and was excited when he send me his preparatory rough sketches done in pencil to get some feedback on his ideas, there are many influences from Rogue Trader publications and super ideas like the word 'Heresy' stamped over the word 'Rogue' on number 4 but what got us both really excited was number 2, now I had always wanted to incorporate the Chapter Approved skull design into my blog banner but my personal attempts had been amateur at best so when I first saw Zhu's concept number 2 I was blown away. 


Enjoy the Concepts below.
Rogue Heresy Logo Concepts
Rogue Heresy Logo Concepts

Logo Design Phase.

After the Zhu's showcasing of the concepts we agreed Zhu should run with concept 2 and produced these amazing designs for this blog.

Rogue Heresy Logo Design
Rogue Heresy Logo Design


I really fell in love this the design above the fonts, style, background which is definitely homage to the styles in Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader The Book of Astronomican.

Snippet from The Book of Astronomican

Rogue Heresy Logo Design

Rogue Heresy Logo Design variants

 Final Banner Design for Rogue Heresy blog produced by Zhu.

Final Rogue Heresy Blog Banner

I hope you enjoyed this post, a big thanks to Zhu for all his hard work in making this possible, get over to his blog Realm of Zhu if you want to see more.

J

Saturday 8 September 2018

Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader - Minotaur

Hello, a rare treat for you today, a classic Oldhammer miniature, a Warhammer 40000 Minotaur, sculpted by Nick Bibby and released for a brief period via a mail order flyer
in 1987.
I recently spotted that the base miniature for this minotaur sculpt is the C Series - C25 Minotaur - 'Big Mac Gore Blade' (see image below).

He is equipped with a Cyborg head with targeter and sensory array eye, mounted Imperial Army Autogun and a human sized Bolter with a massive grip, probably left over from the original axe Big Mac held, he also appears to wearing flak/mesh armour.

As usual lots of photos from all angles to show you parts of the miniature you never get to see.


Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - front
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - back
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - side
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - front
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - front
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur - front
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur
Warhammer 40000 Minotaur (last one)

Big Mac Gore Blade - first Minotaur on the left


I bet you are thinking of his stats in Warhammer 40000, I would go with a Beastman Minor Hero or a Ogryn Champion, see stats below.

Beastmen - Page 174 Rogue Trader Rulebook

Ogryns - Page 175 Rogue Trader Rulebook


Those who took part in the Space Raiders kickstarter might remember the Space Minotaur I painted up when I received my miniatures, you can read the post here

There are 3 Space Minotaurs available at Knightmare miniatures here.

Space Minotaur by Knightmare Miniatures


I hope you enjoyed, follow if you want to see more.
J

Rogue Trader - Space Goblin and Space Orc with Blaster

Hello, todays classic Oldhammer miniatures are another recent paint job that completed my first March 1987 Warhammer 40K mail order flyer project, the Space Orc with Blaster and the Space Goblin

First up we have Space Orc with Blaster, the first official Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader Orc before the Orcs got renamed Space Orks, scupted by Kev Adams there are a few later variants of this miniature that apear in the RT102 Space Orks range.  The blaster is obviously a Bolter, I went for a military dull palette for this miniature as I am not too keen on bright colourful orks I try to capture feel from the back and white illustrations in the Rogue Trader rulebook.



Space Orc with Blaster - front
Space Orc with Blaster - back
Space Orc with Blaster - front
Space Orc with Blaster - back
Secondly we have the Space Goblin, the first official Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader Goblin, when the rulebook followed the space Goblins were now know as Gretchin a name that I love and still refer to them as now, sure they became grotz or something naff sounding.

Sporting German helmet, sawn-off double barrelled shogun, a big knife, pistol and a bandollier of grenades this Gretchin means business, it also looks like he has a bomb harness strapped on his back.


Space Goblin - front
Space Goblin - back

Space Goblin - front
Space Goblin - back

 Thanks for stopping by.
J

Rogue Trader - Piscean Warrior aka Saharduin

Hi Folks, todays Oldhammer miniature is a recent paint job that helped to complete my first March 1987 Warhammer 40K mail order flyer project, the legendary Piscean Warrior.

The minature is labelled as Saharduin on his slotta tab.  Sadly I do not know who this one was scultped by but I have my suspicions.  I painted this Piscean to match my Knightmare Miniatures Piscean Warrior which I painted back in 2014 you can see that miniature in this previous post here, I have the other Knightmare Miniatures Piscean Warrior lined up for a paint job soon.  This Piscean Warrior is armed with a Bolter with a stock, scope and a power sword.



Piscean Warrior - side
Piscean Warrior - front (I love this profile)
Piscean Warrior - side
Piscean Warrior - back (for completeness)
Piscean Warrior - side
Piscean Warrior - front
Piscean Warrior - side


Thanks for visiting
J

Wednesday 22 August 2018

IC301 - Iron Claw Pirates - Part 1


Hello, today's post is on a Oldhammer project I have had simmering for a long time, the IC301 Iron Claw Space Pirates, they were released in 1987 and appeared in the fabled Rogue Trader Book of the Astronomican in 1988.  
They were sculpted by Bob Olley, to some Bob Olley is a bit of a marmite sculptor some love his sculpts and some not so much, I love these Space Pirates but was never the biggest fan of his Realm of Chaos Beastmen although I did paint one up, example here, I also have the Bob Olley Limited Edition Bolt Thrower Miniatures Space Viking to paint one day.

Now what I love about the Iron Claw Space Pirates is that they ooze character in a similar way to how the Rogue Trader Adventurers do, have you checked out the characters up close up you have a female cyborg, a sentient robot, a handful of aliens, a space seer, lots of strange and identifiable weapons and unlike the slightly later range of Rogue Trader Pirates not a pirate cliche in there. Some superb naming character in this range too.




Two down 15 more to go.

First up we have 'Banzai Jones' a rugged looking human, he is wearing a flying jacket and helmet adorned with strange markings that appear like a bat or insect, could this be his pirate gang insignia who knows?  Armed with what looks like a classic shotgun. He appears on the classic White Dwarf 100 poster painted by I think John Blanche.

IC301 - Iron Claw Pirates - Banzai Jones - front

IC301 - Iron Claw Pirates - Banzai Jones - back

Next we have 'Loritta' aka Cyber Girl as the miniature tab reads, sporting a little dress, big boots, a cybernetic face, a massive machine gun slung over her shoulder and brawling gloves with mounted claws I pity anyone on a starship when she is on the boarding party.

IC301 - Iron Claw Pirates - Loritta - front

IC301 - Iron Claw Pirates - Loritta - back

IC301 Iron Claw Space Pirates

Bob Olley Space Viking coming soon


Thanks for popping in, lots more blog posts queued up
Stay tuned
J