"Rouge-trading Across the Universe"

"The Lost Crate" - A Rogue Trader progression narrative

We had a small Rogue Trader game the other week (yes, using the RT game rules) and it was pure nostalgia seeing all the old minis on an equally pathos-laden table :)

Fellow oldhammerer, Nuka, and I had been talking about getting a series of games together before the lockdown and we jumped the first opportunity that presented itself.

I wrote up a loose storyline and fitted it to the Mordheim scenario "The Lost Prince" (a capture the flag-style mission). The scenario intro reads a bit like this:

"The (in)Famous celebrity chef, Remee Tredzepi, has lost a load of precious cargo crates containing a selection of endangered rare beasts meant to be the main ingredients of his most recent connoisseurs-dinner, (to be enjoyed by the rich and famous in Proximo Prime, a hive city on the main planet in the cluster). 

The cargo was lost en route to the remote smuggler’s hub, Lohan’s Reach, and is believed to be found among the scrap heaps near the loading docks used by Tredzepi’s longtime compadre, the notorious interstellar buccaneer, Trick Beastley.

You have been hired, through independent contractors, to retrieve said crates. Only problem, you are not the only one who has been approached! Also, the local plantery defense has been hinted that something is afoot and are lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on suspicious activity."

We decided to just make up two crews not concerning ourselves with point values and balance, using the appropriate statlines and equipment from the book. Without further ado, I present the pictures taken on the day.

Overview of the table

We included a number of NPCs who would alert the local authorities when activated. 

More NPCs.

Something lurking in the cargo bay.

The underhive scum silence an old man in street (they blew his face off).

The (evil) Rogue Trader psyker leads his salty space-sea dogs into the city from scrap site shags (obligatory beer pic). 

The Rogue Trader crew advancing.

Inquistor Jahon Gothhart leading his crew of hired (and expendable) ragtags through the streets of Lohan's Reach.

Gothhart draws a deep breath before enter the fray.

Singlehandedly, Gothhart holds the Rogue Traders at bay while his hired thugs retrieve the crate containing the exotic beast for Remee's restaurant.

Battle in the streets. Rogue Trader hard noses in close quarter fighting with the underhive cutthroats.

The pirates try to snatch the beast from the dregs.

Once alerted, The Planetary Defense sends a squad of hardened veterans to intercept the perpetrators.

A lone Imperial Guard sneaks around the back streets to ambush Gothhart.

 

Although not documented, Gothhart managed to lead the beast safely out the board, thus "winning" the scenario. All of his crew were slaughtered, as were the Rogue Trader pirates, so we will have to cook up something new for next time. I have an idea which involves the NPCs from this game. And the infamous chef and his cronies obviously :)

First Blood! Evil Sunz battlewagons and a single Bad Moon Gibletgrinda.

So I have already fallen behind in this Epic Challenge :D but I hope forgiveness is nigh when I post this humble yet proud achievement. I'm a notoriously slow painter, well no slow, but I rarely manage to allow myself time to paint, with everything else getting prioritized. 

Anywho, I have now begun painting my ork force, tried new techniques (yellow does just not sit well with me) and cut some corners. 

Behold the first batch of mighty battlewagons, ready to roar across the battlefield and wreck havoc and devastation upon my enemy! If they don't break down en route :) 

This is 400 pts worth of orky goodness, a bit short and a month late, so I will try and catch up when I get around to painting the bigger stuff such as clans and gargants.

First up are the diminutive Gobsmashas, basically a big gun on big wheels. Given the malfunctional nature of orky machinery, a sight of these should not impose the biggest threat but they are fast and expendable and a battlecannon in your face is something even the toughest Space Marine should fear (if they know fear. But then they get to know death by Gobsmasha!)

Next, we have the Bowelburna, a nasty piece of work. Even faster than the Gobsmasha and sporting a fairly powerful scorcher, so essentially a really big flamethrower on wheels. These are iconic to me and a must have, although I did skip a few corners with the paint job :) The design reminds me of the gun trucks of yore, which was basically a car with additional plating and a turret ... and a gun obviously, and this reflects the Bowelburna, fast and dangerous but with little armour and exposed tires - a recipe for disaster! 

Then we have the mighty Skullhamma! Again, an iconic model and the first ork battle fortress to appear in White Dwarf. I have never painted one before and did this one really fast (as I did with all of them). I have plenty in stock, and I actually look forward to paint one again. There is so much detail on this model, just the amount of rivets for one is mind-blowing! Kev Adams (the sculptor) really did great on these small lumps of lead - at least in my mind, I love them to bits :)

 
Last, behold the gruesome Gibletgrinda! To me, this one is the new boy on the block, being released in the second wave of ork tanks and after our epic phase was practically over, typically for teens we couldn't stay focused on one game for very long and let's face it, GW did take their time with the releases back then :) But it was a different time, the studio was much smaller and the sculptors worked solely in putty so things took time. Albeit, I never owned one before getting back into the hobby, and currently I have twelve (12!) so this one won't be the last hahaha! I just have to figure out how to paint a decent yellow, not really satisfied with this one. But he's done and ready to roll over the corpses of puny 'oomies ;D

That's it for now! Short, too little, sloppy job but an effort none the least! Most importantly, we are in business! Waaargh!!!

RESURRECTION!!!!

Ah, long time no see!

My friend Thorbjørn invited me to a painting challenge during this lockdown period to paint old school Epic miniatures. And it just so happens that I have plenty of old school Epic miniatures :D

I've been wanting to begin painting my Epic Ork army for a long time, so with no avail I present to you a shitload of unpainted metal Orks!

The challenge is to get 500-1000 points worth of miniatures painted every month, arranged according to the army list in the NetEpicGold version of the game.

My army will be built around two clans, Evil Sunz and Bad Moon, with the majority of them being red!

First up is the Kult of Speed, which will be painted as Evil Sunz.

Here is my interim army list:

Type	# of mobs/clans	Figures	Figures total	Points	Points total
Kult of Speed	2	15	30	400	800
Warbuggies	1	5	5	100	100
Warbikes	3	5	15	100	300
Wartrax	1	5	5	100	100
Scorchas	1	3	3	50	50
Gobsmashas	1	5	5	100	100
Spleenrippas	1	3	3	100	100
Bowelburnas	1	3	3	50	50
Mekboy Vehicles	3	1	3	100	300
Mekboy Gargant	1	1	1	450	450
Skullhamma	1	1	1	100	100
Gibletgrinda	1	1	1	100	100
			75		2550

The second installment (sometime after the Summer) will be Boyz, Boyz and more Boyz, and battlewagons! And I have a couple of Gargants and Stompas knocking about as well :)

The plan for this month is to splash paint on one of the KoS and some of the vehicles, hopefully reaching the proposed 500 pts.

The Spleenrippas were my first ever epic models (along with a blister of Gutrippas) some 25 years ago, so I look forward to revisiting them and the other iconic tanks such as the Bowelburnas, Gobsmashas and the mighty Skullhamma! Expect lots of red, yellow flames and b/w checks :D