Sunday, November 22, 2009

TOEMP #8 - A (Strength 10) Blast from the Past... And some other random nonsense.

Well, after a couple rather non-productive weeks and a failed challenge, deadline-wise on #7, I wanted to get back in form. The challenge this go-round is fairly open as far as unit types to paint, so I decided that I'd crank out one of the final Heavy Support choices for the Mordian 7th - It had been too long since I'd painted any guard, after all!



Although no longer available in the current Guard codex, the Rapier Laser Destroyer is a quad-barreled lascannon mounted on a tracked unit. In the original RT-ere rule set it was rather deadly, and the fine folks over at the Tempus Fugitives website have created a set of rules for it that my local opponents don't seem to mind playing against. I decided on a more red-dominated scheme on this, to represent it being provided to the army and maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus forces that are part of the 7th.




Speaking of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I ended up re-primering the Archmagos Veneratus after a disappointing initial paint scheme, and I have gotten the base reds back on to the model. I'm hoping to get it finished off over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, if all goes according to plan. Of course, as is my modus operandi, over the last week or so I did hare off on another small side project as well...



Now before anyone goes into shock about the non-GW models, rest assured that they will be put to use in the 40k universe. These models are the next batch of adversaries for my upcoming Rogue Trader campaign, which I'm planning on kicking off over the new year. These six will represent the group's main villains - Haderach Fel and his group of cronies. I did finish up one model so far, as the fluffy bustled dress and sniper rifle combo was just too much fun to resist! The models are from Fantasy Flight Games Anima Tactics range, with a few 40k-stule weapon swaps here and there. Scale-wise they're all a touch taller than the standard 40k model, but not egregiously so. Well, the one guy in the back on the 40mm base is about 7.5' tall apparently, but I'm going to work that into the story, so it'll work out just fine.



This model will represent Lady Irina Demephon, a mad noblewoman with a penchant for dashing ship's captains. ...Dashing ship's captains brains out with high-calibre rounds, to be more specific!



Lastly is the first of several Battlefleet Gothic miniatures in the works - One can't play Rogue Trader without a selection of spacecraft, after all! This will be the player's initial vessel, the Eclipse Du Normandie - a Dauntless-class light cruiser.

I'm looking forward to running the game of Rogue Trader, as I think there's going to be a lot of good crossover opportunity for modeling and painting between that game and 40k. For example, the Eldar Corsairs that I'd built will be pulling double duty - As a Troops choice for the Eldar army, and as members of the Stygian Reavers, a group of Eldar pirates that will be a thorn in the side of the players in the RPG!

7 comments:

  1. Eclipse Du Normandie : what do you mean ?

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  2. Fantastic updates! I really like that quad barrelled sight for sore eyes! I like how it looks perfectly maintined as a stand alone model, but with the 2 Guardsmen next to it looks as if they are merely in charge of pointing it in the right direction, the droid does the rest. Nice work mate

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  3. Gregory: The name isn't really supposed to mean anything specific, just pseudo-French to go along with the character's history (as in the year 40,000 so much of 'our' current history has been bastardized or muddled). The other family ship will be called "Triomphe du Normandie", which I'm sure is also a horrible butchery of the French language. No offense intended! :)

    Unforgivenangels: Thanks! That was more or less what I was going for - I envision the cantankerous old machine spirit arguing with the crew about the 'proper targets'. Heh.

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  4. do you want to mean "From"(as with the Normandy place) or "of the"(as with the boat named Normandy) with "de" ?

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  5. BTW, I'm just willing to help, my owbn blog is full of "globish" (as english spoken by peoples who do not speak english - Global English - GlobIsh)

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  6. I think the "of the" mode would be more accurate. Though the player means more Normandy as a place rather than as a name of a thing - i.e. Eclipse of (over) Normandy, and Triumph of Normandy. Would that still be "de"?

    Unfortunately my languages are English and German, and "Vernfinsterung Von Nordfrankreich" doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Haha!

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  7. I've got a couple old Rapiers and was wondering how to tie them in. Will have to give the Tempus Fugitives rules a look see.

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