Converting and Painting a Rogue Trader Mutant.

I had just enough time this week to sneak in an entry to the Beware Mutants Competition on The Emporium of Rogue Dreams.  The entries were generated using the random mutant rules in the original Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader rulebook and unpainted and painted versions were required. 

I chose a human as a base model, no way I'm chopping up my rare RT squats, and rolled for three mutations. I got Skull face, Moronic, and Very warty skin. Nothing that would really help the character in a fight and Moronic means that he must make a test every time that he tries to use any sort of technology. And that he's completely unable to open milk cartons or yogurt containers.

The body is a Major Magnam mini from Rogue Trooper with a skull head from a Screaming Skull Catapult crew man. I sculpted a thick covering of warts on his arms and neck and added a plastic lasgun. Of course at this point he's missed his Moronic test and is waving it like a wand hoping that hot light comes out of it.

I also Photoshopped a Chapter Approved: Book of the Astronomicon style stat sheet for Ol' Knobby and created a blank version so others could use it. The main font seems to be Sudbury Book which is easy to find for free online. The main header is Arial Black.

Although the rolls made for a pretty pathetic mutant, I had a fun time converting and painting this little fella and coming up with his back story. Plus I used all Rogue Trader era bits which makes me extra happy. :)

Steampunk Photo Reference.

This felt a bit like being in a Piranesi drawing.

The old iron still supports tons of rail traffic every day.

Here are some pictures that I took of an ironwork rail trestle in my hometown of Indianapolis Indiana. I love old ironwork with its graceful yet powerful use of iron and rivets.

I hope this gives some suitable steampunk inspiration to your terrain or art projects.

Warbots Advertisement in Dragon Magazine

I was doing my occasional Googling for John Dennett's Warbots information and came across this ad on Philip Reed's blog Battlegrip. The ad was a half page in Dragon Magazine of April 1985 and I'm assuming that the artwork is John's.

Featuring a Battle Trooper Mk IV.

It's interesting to me that it was being promoted as an RPG and not a wargame. I'd love to find a copy of it if anyone knows its whereabouts or even who was writing it.

And of course I had to throw some colors on it.

New MST3K Patch

With the relaunch of Mystery Science Theater 3000 just around the corner, I've been really curious about the new costumes and sets. Felicia Day recently posted an image of her and Patton Oswalt in their costumes as Kinga Forrester and TV's Son of TV's Frank. So I felt compelled to try to recreate the patch design on their uniforms.

It seems to be based somewhat on my beloved Ro-Man "Robot Monster" and incorporates four colored hexes which seem to recall some sort of existing visual system that I'm unaware of. If anyone knows what they are supposed to mean please let me know in the comments.

I'm a massive fan of MST3K and Patton Oswalt so I'm chuffed as punch to see the new episodes. Push the button TV's Son of TV's Frank!

SleepyOni: Channel Trailer

Sleepy Oni is one of my best friends and a total nerd-crafting genius. Check out his YouTube channel and subscribe!

Forge of Ice Entelodont "Skull Pig"

Sculpted by Matt Gubser.

"What big teeth you have..."

"Gznort!"

Alex Bates at Forge of Ice is brilliant at coming up with bizarre minis that I don't know I need until I see them. This entelodont, sometimes falsely called a "hell-pig" or "terminator-pig", is just such a miniature. Alex had asked me to design a few bases for him so I used my laser cutter to create a tile pattern and then sculpted vines to show an ancient civilization being overtaken by jungle.

As part of my compensation for the bases Alex sent me two of the entelodonts so I quickly assembled and painted one. Assembly is a breeze, pin the head on and add a bit of green stuff to soften the join. Then just drybrushing and washing to capture the fur texture. I based the color scheme on this excellent rendering by Masato Hattori.

The base was painted and then had static grass and jute twine added.

Overall this is a solid mini that reads perfectly as the overpowered beast it's meant to represent. Matt truly captured the musculature and forward motion of such a beast. It was a blast to paint.

Vintage Battletech Demolisher Tank

Almost a proto-OGRE.

With two Robotech Tactics Tomahawks.

Needed a bit of hobby meditation last weekend so I built and painted this vintage Battletech Demolisher. It came with a sprue of bits like the pintle mounted guns and the strange "horns". It also included cast metal rods to use for smaller gun barrels but I just used brass wire.

The camo scheme just came together as I was painting, I didn't start out with a plan other than I wanted something dark red. Originally this was going to be for a Horizon Wars Martian army but I had some small House Kurita decals so it went right back to the Battletech universe.

Thse are still available from Iron Wind Metals but are a bit pricey at almost $30us. I'm glad I found mine in my lead horde.