Bombots

 Today the title is as accurate as obscure, I guess.

A pic might be of use?

Not really? Well, maybe I'll have to tell you the whole story then. Once upon a time...

Last summer mighty Curis from Ninjabread managed to produce these beauties:

Follow this link to the post

These are Bombots, as described on the Rogue Trader Manual:

Cute and cool, aren't they? The thing is that Curis said that he had to cast a few sets, so he most likely had a few spare copies. Some other fellow Bloggers had already shown more initiative than me, and in fact got some of them. I can recall Axiom from Magpie and Old Lead and Jason Fulford from Rogue Heresy, but if I'm missing anyone just let me know!

Well, long story short, Curis is quite a nice, generous bloke, some emails were written, a parcel was sent, fucking Brexit delayed it and involved some harmful extra payments and finally it all takes us to the first pic on this post. So let's move on!

My own!

 

Even if they can be used by quite a number of different factions in a RT setting (Mechanicus, a Rogue Trader, mercenaries and bounty hunters, Space Marines...) they had quite a military grade vibe to me. I decided to paint them mainly grey, so they have an Imperial Guard looking, yet would be still neutral enough to be used by anybody else (even Orks? Hmm, that would be something to see)

Recklessly painted in grey

Still grey!

"Ex-ter-minate". Ehm, no, sorry, those were those other guys

 Grey and black, so a true classic Imperial Guard pattern. I thought they needed a touch of colour, and of course they needed checkers...

It's not Rogue Trader without checkers!

The bar codes on the back are decals from some Imperial Guard box

This is how they look next to stardard 28mm minis:

The commander is supervising the Bombots with the assistance of the Enginseer

Now I have to confess a thing. Curis was kind enough to offer me more than a set, so he could get rid of all his remnant bits (Oh  please, where do I have to sign).

So I've painted a second set, for a pal who was also interested in these

Bad news is that I'm afraid I took the last copies :(

They've been extremely nice to paint. I love when someone takes the time and effort to get those old RT illustrations and turn them into real minis. I bet there's a market niche for that!

Not-Adeptus Mechanicus adepts

 Another couple of Astropolis minis today. Oficially named "Spaceship Engineers", they have a strong Adeptus Mechanicus vibe, I really couldn't see anything else. They had to be dressed in red, of course, which meant that in fact there were few decisions left to make this time.

Trust me, I'm an engineer

This is my precission tech-calliper

 

I think that if I changed that tool with some kind of tech-spear/axe/weapon of your choice, it would made a decent Skitarius or a bodyguard for a Techpriest, something like that. However I liked the mini as it was. He doesn't look flamboyant as a real high rank Techpriest, he looks more like a simple adept. I guess I could use this guy as an Enginseer serving in the Imperial Guard, but for the moment I'm leaving it open.

Let's have a look at the other one:

You do prefer that mask to may true face, trust me

This is my travel cloak. The other one is on the laundry

 

This one has quite a strong post-apoc looking to my eye, but I think he totally fits in my RT-aesthetic stuff. If you think of it, there are not only Techpriests all over the Imperium to perform each and every function. Their temples are served by lower adepts, who also serve the Omnissiah wherever they are required. I think these two will fit in my long forgotten ongoing mining town board, a small fringe settlement40 where the words of Terra and Mars are but mere whispers.

40K AdMech Daft Punk

 

Just a size comparison pic. Well, I see I have some work to do to give any coherence to bases. But you get an idea:

Statuesque, Astropolis, Colony87, Astropolis, Hasslefree

 

And a final shot of the Astropolitans so far:

With ten minis more I could make the cover for a Codex

I'm getting comfortable with this updating rate, making progress little by little but having minis actually finished. I don't know what will I bring next, so stay tuned!

Not-Imperial Guard new Leadership

 I understand today's title is confusing and misleading. Well, as it is the whole blog, so you should be used to by now.

I backed the first Astropolis Kickstarter campaign (man, it really was in 2016?? Oh my) and apparently I've neglected my duties for some time...

OK, better late than never, I'm starting this batch right now. I'll be painting packs of more or less similar minis, little by little. I guess in pairs or small groups. First two will be the Captain of the Astropolis and the First Officer. Though those are the official names of the minis, I got quite particular vibes from both of them...

When I saw the Captain I didn't envision a naval officer in charge of a space ship. On the contrary, the pose, the uniform, the riding whip... I only could see an early 20th Century Cavalry officer! With that idea in mind, I went that way:

Quite awful pic. Why are the boots focused and the face blurry?

This is absurd. The rear view looks better than the other one. Sigh

 

I guess I can use the mini as an Officer of the Imperial Guard, but of course he's in need of either a cyber-horse (or a masked horse like the Krieg ones) or a command tank. Wow. That will be a decision for another day.

 

Let's move on the other mini, the First Officer. Come on, face it, it's plainly a Commissar of the Imperial Guard!

Again, my phone camera thinks the boots are more important than the face

It is a Commissar, there's no point in saying otherwise

 

Not that I'm really in need of any more Commissars, you know...

My own army of Commissars

 

Well, let's just see the two minis along:

I hate to ask this, but... do we even have an Imperial Guard army to lead?

 

Ahem. In fact I currently don't. I used to have one, but I sold it ages ago.

Maybe is it time to start a new one?

 

Oh, crap.

Lich Sorcerer

 Another single mini today, but a totally different one!

I got this Lich Lord from a kickstarter campaign by DieHard Miniatures (please go check their web in case you haven't. They have some awesome oldschool-looking miniatures!)

Like this one, for exaple

At first I was unsure of how to paint it. I made a few failed experiments, in fact, but I didn't find what I was looking for. Essentially because I didn't even know what was I looking for!!

All my attempts were mildly old school looking, but it took me some time to realise that I simply wasn't comfortable with the palette I was using. It was too colourful, there were too many colours and they were all too bright. I was making the mistake of confusing old school with colour explosion.

When I came to terms with myself I took a deep breath and simply painted by instinct. I was subconsciously expecting this Lich to look dark, so dark it was. But that doesn't mean grimdark. Well, let me explain with pics:

If I left it this way it would be grimdark

But different variations of the same colour made me feel better

I felt more comfortable this way, using only green. I had been using green, red and blue, and there was not a single combination that worked for me. Once I finally had an idea of where to take the mini, it all was pretty easier.

As an obvious powerful sorcerer of old, his ragged clothes had to look somehow rich, so I improvised some embroidery here and there.

Not too original, but worked for me

I finally thought this was taking me somewhere

I think he's even smiling, feeling fashionable

I think you should see more hues of green than the ones appearing in the pic!

The green lich sorcerer finally looked like this:

Boo!

How on Earth I made the camera focus on the feet but made the face blurry remains a mystery to me. I'm just noticing as I write this post.

Not spectacular, but enough for my skills

 

So let me show him alongside the other Undead character I have:

Undead leadership

Maybe I should start an Undead army?

 

Well, I don't think I'll start a new army anytime soon, but... what is time to such eternal creatures?

 

 

PS: I'm editing the post to provide a scale comparison shot. I'm afraid I'm just using what I have at hand, i.e. a HeroQuest mini, a Bretonnian (so you can see how the Lich stands beside a cavalry unit) and a Space Marine (i.e., the scale of all things warhammer):

Confusing and incoherent pic

It's maybe slightly taller than classic minis, but fits in perfectly, so I'm totally recommending it!