Dusk Raiders 3. Transport

As much as i enjoy painting and with the Dusk Raiders i am trying to make a point of painting them individually and get the best out of them, i like to alternate what I do and usually paint a couple and then pick a character or work on some building, be that a conversion or terrain piece.

I want to add some vehicles to the Dusk Raiders force and managed to pick up a couple of cheap battered Rhinos on eBay.

The Space Wolf Rhino did not need to too much work, several of the exhausts needed turning round and i replaced one with a section of copper wire. I also magnetised the front spikes, partly for ease of transport (the barbed wire is held on only by the magnets)

The paintwork was not too thick so rather than try and strip it I settled on just going over it, undercoating in GW Dawnstone  before laying on the new livery

Just need to add another bolter.

As with the rest of the rest of the force painted so far i have not added any icons etc and intend to batch the group with they are all finished

Dusk Raiders 2.

(A little bit of catchup with these posts)

With all the drama around the 2016 Space Marine limited Edition release I thought I would move my original version to the top of the paint pile. Back in the day I was never a huge fan of the first releases, I felt the feet let them down and looked more like armoured socks. The rerelease stays faithful to the original and seems to fix that one gripe, thickening out the ankles and feet perfectly.
Painting the original was a real pleasure will certainly look to getting some more if the opportunity arrises, and once the prices have fallen again as they have shot up on eBay with the renewed interest unsurprisingly!

Dusk Raiders 1.

After several trails on paint scheme i have decided on the far right figure, The original Dusk Raiders are described as unpainted ceramite with red shoulder pads and left arm all red. With the Death Guard the unpainted Ceramite became a off white which I prefer, again blending i old old and new old, I will be using the old RT rank and insignia schemes for the marines.

The middle one was a Plague Marine with all the chaos sigils removed and will look at adding some more as they add a nice variation with their retro masks.
between painting I have also done some repair work on a Techmarine, building I'm a new wrench from Plasticard and painted him up in the new scheme.

Rogue Trader - Sorting a Chapter

The longer I have found myself back in the hobby the more I have found myself drawn back to what started me out in the first place and the figures I first wanted. After finding the Oldhammer Facebook group I was prompted to dig out my old Rogue Trader rulebook and have started to build a RT force.
Initial plans are for a Space Marine detachment with an Inquisitor or Rogue Trader retinue.

For chapter choice I narrowed it down to Space Sharks, Mentor Legion (the original Owl Badge) but it was this image that finally swung it for me and I have settled on the Dusk Raiders, the original name of the Death Guard Legion before Primarch Mortarion was discovered and given them

http://marcodalidingo.deviantart.com/art/Legionnaire-332265543

and a mood board of images gathered from the internet

Dusk Raiders Wikia link

The force will represent both old 'old' in terms of using original RT figures and elements of new 'old' for back story for them. These Dusk Raiders are some of those that survived the betrayal of the Death Guard, the remnants of the Terran recruits who remained loyal to the Emperor and reverted back to calling themselves the Dusk Raiders.





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Finding Abdul Goldberg. Part 2

"They say a man cannot change, I don't think 'They' have ever met the Dark Eldar."
                                                                                                              
                                                                                                        Dusk III Hadith

“You are looking for Abdul Goldberg, are you sure?

The man you describe is dead, at least the man you are looking for doesn’t exist any more.

There is someone who answers to the name of Abdul Goldberg, but he is now a very different man and is not one for unannounced social calls. You better be sure he wants to see you"

  Unnamed trader. 
                                                                                       Bastion City, Sub-sector Capital .Dust IV

Abdul Goldberg was once minor player who skipped between law and the crime cartels of the Ochre Cloud sub sector. Abdul would dabble in anything that would turn him a quick profit and had gained a reputation for fast talking, gambling, card sharking, data-kidnapping, ship jacking as well as trading in rare items both sides of Administratum and Ministorum law.

This all changed when his ship was captured and boarded by Dark Eldar raiders. 

Aboard the torture rooms of the Anticipation of Sorrow, Abdul bore witness to the slow death of each of his crew and though when they turned to him his rage fuelled his freedom and taking advantage of a respite he killed his guard and escaped.

Abdul fled aboard one of his ships shuttles and crash landed on Dusk III
Barely alive from his ordeals and the crash, he was rescued by Shia-Torah colonists who had settled on the planet to revive the old ways
The Dark Eldar were no strangers to Dust III and would use it as a source of slaves and amusement. Abdul saw the threat as a way to repay his benefactors and he used his contacts and what favours and blackmail he had left to supply the colony with arms to defend themselves and prepare for the next raid.
Sure enough the Dark Eldar struck, but this time they were faced with equal fury and were destroyed.
Hailing him as their Mahdi, their saviour, Abdul found himself a cause, their harsh ways finding a perfect blade for his desire for revenge.

Abdul resumed his place in sector society, and now stands as a rising player in his own right, backed by his ever growing base on Dusk III, Abdul has built a strong trading network, dealing in Spice, Weapons as well as hiring out his forces.
Abdul has sworn revenge on all Dark Eldar and has placed a large bounty on the Anticipation of Sorrow and its master.

Abdul wears mesh armour crafted from armour stolen from the Dark Eldar as well as a mask to hide his injuries.

               

Creating Abdul  and the back story has been a great challenge and has inspired me to plan a nomad band for Abdul around some Tallarn Desert Raiders.

                                                                                                                                                   

Finding Abdul Goldberg. Part 1

The more I game the more i have found myself moving back to the games that first drew me to wargaming such as Rogue Trader, less massed battles but more stylish warbands and intense skirmishes that carry with them a narrative beyond win or lose.

Facebook has been a great resource, both in finding other sites to inspire but also FB groups like the Oldhammer, The Emporium of Rogue dreams and the Bazaar of Crooked Wonder.

The Emporium is currently (until the end of the month) a competition to bring life to Abdul Goldberg, a character briefly mentioned in the Rogue Trader plot generator.

The challenge is to fill in the backstory and create a figure to match.

My initial thoughts went to the Dune Universe created by Frank Herbert (an essential read) and found an old chaos marauder which i had earmarked for an Arabian themed war band for Frostgrave. 

Switching him over to a Hexbase which i use for all my RT figures, i them removed his blades and replaced them with Bolt Pistols and set to work with some bits and greenstuff. I had also decided on trying to reduce his chainmail look and was not that fond of the chainmail feet so added some boots.

The boots are the most complicated Greenstuff i have done to date and happy with their final look, i also added a little sandworm at his feet in keeping with the Dune inspiration.

Next onto the painting and building his life...

Relics. Orcnar

The first Project for 2016 is the first of my Tor Gaming Relics factions - The Orcnar!

I picked up the set on eBay and after a dip in Biostrip 20 to remove the paintwork they have all be rebased and made ready to paint! The figures are all metal and most of them came in more than one piece so they have all been pinned and the gaps filled with Green Stuff.

The two Beorn figures have had their arms repositioned and will have some more ornaments added

The Niwain has had his arm repositioned and given a staff and bracelets

The Eotan have been given rings and collar. One of them with claws seemed to be holding balls in their hands which i was not too keen on so i have added more cork and turned it so he is pulling up clumps of earth.

The Unmann have been given bracelets

The Dogma have been given a collar and bracelets on their horns

The extra adornments will be painted as stone and were partly inspired by Brian Frouds book on Trolls. I plan on using quite an earthy palette on the Orcnar with different shades for each type.

The Orcnar

Kickstarter

A quick shoutout for Tor Gamings Kickstarter which is promoting their new Cthulhu Mythos inspired faction the C'thu.

The kickstarter is already funded and is a great range of tentacled and wing'ed beasties that will work well with Relics but also any other game where you might want the Old Ones!

C'thu Kickstarter

Tor Gaming

2016 plans

Almost half way through the month and on my first post of the year, not a good start!
Elsewhere i have actually been quite busy gaming and cutting and gluing and painting so lots of posts to catch up with.
At the end of the year i had a recview of what i was playing/planning to play and had a little trim:

Warhammer Fantasy - My Bloodbath at Orcs Drift Collection make slow progress, 2015 was a good year and i managed to pick up quite a few of the characters. 2016 will be a good year to get them painted and hopefully acquire some more Hobhounds!

Warhammer 40K - Adepts Mechanicus - Hasn't got much further than the planning stages, have plenty to build but yet to find a slot to start!

Inq28 - Lots of plans around the Copper Oracle which will also support my Admech force.
Warhammer 30K - Mechanicum is still packed and ready to start, resist the urge to join the tide and start a PreHeresy Chapter (maybe one day!)

Gripping Beast Saga - Scenery is all done and ready to show off in a future post and have enough figures to start assembling. I have also acquired some building and two longship kits (revell)

Dystopian wars - Has unfortunately fallen to the Cull

X-Wing Miniatures Game - An unexpected hit and i have now amassed an Imperial and Rebel force and started building my own Scum force, The ships already come prepainted so its nice to be able to just play and save my limited painting time on my other forces.

Malifaux - I had planned on Culling Malifaux but it has had a stay of execution, partly due to the models and partly after finding the blog Garden of Hecate, inspiring stuff and has given me some ideas about creating a similar line using the storyline from one of my other non-miniature projects ( long term photography project 'The Lost Toy Room') but more on that at some point in the future.
My Silent Hill/ House on Haunted Hill/ Asylum themed McMourning Crew is also one i want to see finished if only as build project.

15mm Various - Has entered deep storage...

Doctor Who  - Pending Cull

Judge Dredd - Pending Cull

Macrocosm - Supported the Kickstarter and picked up a fantastic selection of their Malignancy faction so on the build list for 2016

Frostgrave - Picked up the rule book at the end of the year and certainly caught my eye so on my start list for 2016

Tor Gaming - Relics. Relics has been my new year addiction and I have managed to pick up quite a few of the factions from eBay recently as well as support their latest Kickstarter. Preparing at least one of the forces is my first target of the year!