"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

A Game of Epic Proportion!

Ahhhh half a year later and I'm ready with my second post this year :D

Some of my annual goals have been met. I've been playing on a regular basis with our monthly Blood Bowl league running and started out with 3 wins but progress stalled and after two defeats in a row I'm poised to challenge from 3 place for the title as the year draws to a close.

Got a couple of Necromunda games in as well, still a fun game after all these years but the campaign advancements quickly goes outta hand.

And then - I've signed up for an Epic Armageddon tournament here in Copenhagen in the beginning of October and I'm well excited after a test game (first in two+ years) last week.

I've dusted off my old Eldar army and have a sound list painted up but will have to paint up some additions in the next weeks time.

As for the game, Christian aka Krigsminister (Minister of War) happily played the part of the evil Imperial oppressors, trying to kick my peaceloving space hippies off their arid dried up raisin of a planet they call home. Now pictures!

A Guardian Warhost occupy a rock formation, beefed up and ready to rumble!

Posing for the camera!

A troupe of Falcons inflicts 8 straight hits on a lurking Warhound, who scuffled back and hides under a rock.

Eldar artillery at the ready!

More barrage points!

The SM Commander formation takes a pounding.

They brought their friends along!

Through the mesas and spike trees, the SM front line can be seen advancing.

Brave Windriders engage a lonely Devastor squad, making sure to stay well outta arms reach of the nearby tactical and assault marines.

The marines cut down one of the Guardian hosts, leaving the other to watch their brethen fall before them.

Opposite view.

From Krigsminister's perspective as the Avatar gets summoned and swiftly gets his mojo on.

Avatar and friends having a good day at the office.

Minor casualties as the Spear of Khaine wipes an entire Tactical formation.

And I didn't really take more pictures but Christian pulled through a narrow 2-1 victory on objectives. We forgot tons of things, mainly playing stuff in a wrong way so a lot of time was spent re-reading rules etc. but it was all good fun and well worth, especially considering we are going to play 5 games in two days in a short while.

I hope you enjoyed the photos! I will try and post more the coming weeks as I prepare for the tournament. I should be able to get at least one more game in before crunch time.

Until then, thanks for looking!!!
Thomas

OIII Stop the press!!! I did manage to paint a few minis during my blogging hiatus. Here you are - these are mainly test pieces for using Tamiya Clear on a Zenithal undercoat. Works the charm if you are to paint block of heavy armour for example:

Ah new winds aflowing in 2015

Hi all,

I managed to begin a new job and work my butt off, move twice and at last into a home we own since my last update BUT I did also manage to paint a few minis, which will feature in this update :)

Since it is the first update in the new year it would be prudent to make a small recap of my hobby 2014.

I managed to paint some 30+ minis including my Dark Elf Blood Bowl team, I joined and participated in a local BB league on a regular basis, got some Malifaux games under my belt as well as a 2vs2 Epic Armageddon game and a single RoC game and attended a single convention so all in all not the most fruiticious of years but a nice little year spent.

None the less, I'd like to paint more, play more and attend more cons so my hobby goal of 2015 is to:

• Paint more minis than last year! With 10+ models already done I'm well under way :)
• Paint up 1 BB team (at least) and two crews for another games system.
• Play more games - joining the local Necromunda league is a bloody good start :)
• Attend at least two cons. Should be possible if our local club con gets going, just one more to go then.
• Make my own participation game for our local club con. I've already started on this.
• Do a crazy project - like painting an army!! This is the dream at least :D

Ah all the dreams and hope of a young lad, let's hope I complete half the goals it would be a great success!

And with no further ado, the minis I've painted so far in 2015.

First off the block was these chaps, which I'm gonna in my participation game, set in a very near future, somewhat post-apocalyptic inspired by Hermann's Jeremiah comic series crossed with old GW reject Dark Future and 90's computer game It came from the desert. These fellas are hired guns from a secluded cooperative out to secure vital and valuable minerals - by any means necessary :)

The hobgob archer is actually not a newly painted mini but he was finished this year. I began painting him some years back but got stuck and finally decided to give the last onceover and call it done.

Same goes for these bad boyos - 5 evul dvargrs to use well in almost any setting possible. They've been sitting in my paint queue for quite some time but I've decided to finish some if not all of these half done paintjobs. I might go back and touch up some details like verdigris on shields and add a bit of flock and lichen to the bases but I quite like how they came out.

Last week, I sat down and knocked these two chavs out, aptly named Robbo the Loon and Yarb Tittimus the 3rd. They are gangers in my brat gang, the Iaco Spire Yob Knobs, to kill and die for loot in our new Necromunda campaign at the local club, Rogue Trader. They are actually test muppets as I'm not too familiar with painting bright colours but I've decided to press on rather than keep mending, washing and shading - so these two are DONE!

Next in line is Iacomo Yobbo with his hand on the pump and wearer of purple pants!

Well that's it for this time 'round. Hope you've enjoyed the pictures. I have my first gang fight tomorrow so prepare for a wee report sometime in the not so distant future. My aim is to blog twice a month but I'm already slagging. I do however enjoy painting minis more and have made a fairly decent start to the year so expect more (also we are planning a deskspace, an actually fekkin' desk, where I can paint and cut and glue and sculpt, yes I've also decided to learn how to sculpt ha ha ha no seriously!

Thank fer looking and have a good one until next yea time :)

Thomas

Oi a paint challenge!!!

So I've in all secrecy accepted this challenge, hoping I can manage to paint 5 of this lot.

All of them will feature in my "It came from the desert" game that I plan to run as a participation game at a convention here in Copenhagen this coming Spring.

For colour inspiration, well Dark Future the board game springs to mind, as do Mad Max, but also comics like Jeremiah by Hermann Huppen and Giraud's Blue Berry - so I will try and go for a dusty and worn look on the bikers etc. and a colder more sleak look on the drivers, police and militia guys.

The train in the back drop is not part of the challenge - at this point.

Until later, have a good one!

Realm of Chaos revisited!

So me and my fellow oldhammerer Lazar of the Young Lead blog had ourselves a quick lunch break game of Realm of Chaos.

We cut the rolling of warbands short and simply choose from whatever was painted and what we felt like fielding. Then we decided both champions were lvl 10 sorcerers and drew 2 spells from all the decks of the 4th ed. Battle Magic set, oddly enough there were no chaos spells (it's a set we borrowed), but hey ho what'd ya know it worked anyhow.

We played using the Rogue Trader reference sheet, the Warhammer Armies book and the RoC books for troops stats and it worked okay. The actual gaming however was tedious - skirmish games have come a long way since the Golden Days so we kinda agreed that if this dream of playing a narrative ever had to come to life, we will have to find a more dynamic system for the game play and perhaps also for creating the warbands/or let a GM decide rather than randomly roll everything single upgrade, item, gift, mutation, etc. - which was fun, but balls out also time consuming if not a real death blow to any gaming night that is set to last 3-5 hours including playing a game :D

Now on to the onslaught!

Hazmat Mutilatore and his band of unmerry men are shocked to see their bitter rival, Obediah Ruffhouse and his bunch of miscreants teleport in reach of the much coveted wizard and his enchanted scroll (the objective of our game).

The view through Hazmat's built in googles, a gift from his chaos God.

Hazmat and his harbingers of doom wasted no time and quick close down the offender Obediah, though taking to casualties to some powerful and vile magic.

KERRANG!!!! Steel meets wood and flesh. Die foolish womenly-dressed puny men! And they did muahaha as their bossman ran hurriedly away with his captive.

Well, I took no more photos sadly, pressed for time and all, but it sure was good fun and we managed to set up, roll dice and take down again within 2 hours, so it's definitely on again soon.

Until next time - have a good one!!!