Combat Cards: Imperial Inquisitor

After painting some new releases over the last few weeks I decided it was time dip back into my collection of vintage models. This is the latest in my project inspired by the late 80s Citadel Spacewar Combat Cards. The idea is, of course, to paint the minis as closely to how they appear on the cards as possible.

Here's the comparison shot:

I'm pretty happy with the scheme match although I struggled a bit with the freehand this time. It doesn't look too bad in these shots but it is a bit off and I certainly won't be posting any close ups of it! I have a particular soft spot for this mini because it appears in the original Rogue Trader rulebook. It is a version with a different paint scheme and it is not specifically described as an Inquisitor, but its definitely the same mini.

Here are a few more shots of my version:

Finally, here is the whole card. I have one more mini left to do in this little project - I picked my favourite 5 from the set of 36. It would take me too long to do all of them, and some are very difficult to get hold of.

Combat Cards: Ork Warchief

The next of my Rogue Trader minis is another one from a Citadel Combat Card, an Ork Warchief by the name of Boglob.

The aim with these is to paint the minis as closely as possible to how they appear on the cards. Here's the comparison shot.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that this isn't quite the same model... The armour and weapon are identical, but either this model came out with alternative head sculpts, or the model on the card had some conversion work done on it. I think the former is more likely but I haven't managed to track down a definitive answer. I was a bit disappointed when I realised that I wouldn't get to paint the boils on his face, but never mind.

The freehand is the biggest challenge in recreating these paint jobs. The yellow dagger detail was far trickier than I expected it to be, and I found it pretty frustrating to do, but the end result was suitably Orky and I do feel like I am learning something each time.

The red power armour has about five different layers to build up towards the final look. Normally I wouldn't go to this trouble but the joy of working on single models as opposed to army projects is the time that you can spend on an individual mini.

I had never seen what the back of this mini looked like until I got my hands on it... turns out that the Ork has rather nice looking jump pack on. His chain mail undies are a nice touch too.

Here he is with some pals. The shot is not quite as nice as it would be if these models used the same basing scheme, but these minis are from another project. I managed to find a complete set of the original Space Ork Raiders which I am trying to paint up as closely as possible to the box art. I can't quite put my finger on when I became obsessed with copying paint schemes but I've certainly got the bug - especially for old fashioned minis.

Finally, here's the entire card.

Combat Cards: LE101 Renegade Warlord

As my Captains Project is one model away from being finished, I have started work in earnest on one of my other ongoing projects. I picked up some vintage Citadel Spacewar Combat Cards, and decided to collect some of the minis featured in the set so that I could paint them as closely as possible to how they appear on the cards. The first to be finished is "Tyrell of Arden", a Renegade Warlord.

Here's my version compared to the one on the card. A pretty good match even if I do say so myself! The shoulder pad was one of my first ever efforts at free hand, and I was very pleased with the result. The marking is made up of very simple basic shapes which make it a good place to start experimenting with freehand I think.

The armour is based on GW Waagh Flesh and, with gradually increasing amounts of GW Ogryn Camo mixed in for the various levels of highlights.

The one thing that I would have done differently with the scheme match would be to switch the wash on the tentacles and the shoulder pads to a sepia wash instead of a brown one. The mini on the card has a bit more orange tone to these parts, but I didn't realise this until after I was mostly finished.

The gun was a very simple job - a base coat of Vallejo Heavy Warmgrey with a GW Duruchii Violet Wash.

Here's the entire card. This mini is sort of a buy one get one free for me, because as well as featuring in this card set, he's also a Citadel Limited Edition - LE101 to be exact. Here's the Stuff of Legends entry. I'm also collecting and painting a few of these limited edition minis.

Of course, 40k cat was present to help with the photoshoot.

New Rogue Trader Projects for the New Year

This post breaks some of my self-imposed rules because it doesn't include any finished models, but I am easing myself back into blogging after the Christmas period so I will let myself off on this occasion.

Citadel Combat Cards
I had completely forgotten about these until I came across a recent post over on the Impossible Fortress. We used to play with these in the early 90s, and when I remembered than there was a "Spacewar" featuring Rogue Trader-era minis I was straight off to eBay to procure a set.

Of course, the natural progression from there is to get my hands on some of the minis and paint them as closely as possible to how they appear on the cards. I have chosen the following cards, as they feature models that are relatively easy to get hold of, and I will be painting them over the next few months.

This Chaos Marine will be first. He's also a Citadel Limited Edition model (LE101), so this will overlap with my other new project - see below.

I am pretty sure that I have enough pieces left over from my RTB01 Tactical Squad to make this one. I remember him well from the Rogue Trader rulebook, and this paint job harks back to the days when marines were allowed camouflage.

Another mini from the original rulebook. I have him in my sights on eBay!

This one is proving trickier to get my hands on, but it is early days.

LE2 Imperial Space Marine and other Rogue Trader Era Limited Editions
It was only a matter of time before I wanted to paint the first ever Space Marine, and here he is, complete with 80s stlye hex base. This example actually looks like it is white metal rather than lead, but it is definitely the sculpt I was after so I don't mind that this one was produced later.

This got me looking at the Stuff of Legends page that catalogues the limited edition releases around the same time. I am planning to collect and paint a few of these, including the LE9 Space Skeleton which I've managed to track down (though I don't actually have my hands on him yet).

So there you go, two new projects to add to the painting backlog. For my own benefit more than anything else, here is a list of all the ongoing projects that I am currently working on:

• 1995 Orlocks
• Space Ork Raiders
• Space Marine Captains
• A small Vostroyan Army
• Tau Army (modern)
• Salamanders Army (modern but includes some vintage minis, and mostly complete)

Finally, here is a bonus picture of 40k Cat helping me to take these photos.