Gore Half-Horn, Grendl Grendlesen, and 40K Poultry

One of my favorite parts of the latest Necromunda game are the bounty hunters and other hired guns introduced in each book release.  It's a bit like a slow motion release of a big book of NPCs that I remember buying a couple of when I was into the 2nd and 3rd edition of D&D a long time ago.  That plus the opportunity to convert your own "counts as" models for them leads to that much more enjoyment in my case.  Gore Half-Horn is all GW bits while Grendl Grendlsen is a re-purposed Reaper Bones dwarf ranger.

Somewhere in the 40K universe someone is raising dangerous birds as sources of protein for uphivers, planetary governors or just because that's what was there when the colony ships landed.  Narrative games of 40K, RPGs or a Necromunda scenario style random monster all seems like potential homes for these two.  More Reaper Bones models.

All the models are base coated with a coat of Agrax Earthshade.  Dry brushing, bases and final details still to be worked out.  Getting to this point is an accomplishment giving my history of buying and building with no painting at all.  Finishing paint jobs and actually playing games with the miniatures is still to come.

Ambots, Arbites and Illness

A week ago I had a busy, productive Saturday that by evening time turned into a nagging cough which by Sunday midday was a fever, chills, aches, etc. For three days solid my mind was clear of all interest in any sort of hobby thought or action.  40K is a pretty constant presence in my daily activities or thoughts so it is always interesting to see what knocks it out.

In the last couple of days I've managed to build the two Ambots that have been sitting in my Necromunda cue.  It was a nice surprise that you end up with two extra pairs of legs and a small pile of other bits.

Converted Arbites bomb disposal servitor moves through Ambot depot.

Arbites are another long running 40K passion of mine.  Below are a couple of Hasslefree Miniatures converted to be a detective and her ratling sergeant/lifeward/gunslinger.  I seemed to be going for dirty concrete bases with limited success.  I need to come up with some background for the detective and her partner.  I watch a lot of detective shows and I like the idea of these two investigating cases mid-hive in what might pass for a normal community of different types of workers, Administratum and other Imperial citizens.  Not quite a cozy mystery if it's at all connected to the broader 40K universe but also not a Judge Dredd, "I AM THE LAW!!!!!" type of setting either.  The Fantasy Flight Games 40K RPG books were the inspiration for the bomb disposal servitor conversion and, while very much were intended to help set the stage for solving 40K mysteries, are also great fluffy sources of detail for life in the Imperium off the front lines.

Steel Legion Reinforcements

Some reinforcements for my Steel Legion force arrived this week from Victoria Miniatures.  One of their Kangaroo APC miniatures purchased as part of the excellent fund raiser they organized in January in response to the massive brush fires in Australia.  They also have an ever growing collection of wonderfully characterful miniatures that can be added, for free, to orders for each $50 US in the order.  I was able to pick up two of my favorites in the set along with a mortar battery on wheeled chassis that make more sense to me if I am going to model my Steel Legion force as mostly mobile infantry.

Dribs and drabs of painting done in the last week or so but not much progress on squad 2 of the Steel Legion blocking in the main colors.  I primed some models last weekend to give me options to paint when I tire of guardsmen but only a bit of paint put on two small models from those models.  I did look through another box of conversions and bits for warband models for Cardinal Vindrix and there are some potential entourage members I will try to organize into a unit under the old Agents of the Imperium codex.  I hope the Inquisition get a more robust set of rules building off the White Dwarf article at the end of 2019.

Cawdor gangers made from GSC, zombie and Frostgrave Cultist bodies.

Painting Progress, Inquisitor Axne and Cardinal Vindix

Getting close to finishing painting on my first squad of Steel Legion troops while starting the painting of squad #2.  11 out of 71 models with paint on them for the force.

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Minimal progress on painting has me looking at all of the in progress/built models that are visible in my hobby area and thinking about what to paint next.  One possibility is Inquisitor Axne built after seeing many interesting conversions from the easy to build Sequitor Stormcast models.  I'm working on some background for her and her Inquisitorial warband.  I see her as a positive, pragmatic force committed to both preserving and improving the Imperium.  It is a position that would, sadly, generate more enemies rather than fewer I suspect.

"An Escher ganger taken at age 10 in a Goliath raid, Axne was used as a test subject in Goliath growth stimulant experiments.  She escaped five years later having endured a litany of substances that left her standing well in excess of six feet tall with a strength to mass ratio the envy of many front line battle servitors. Alone in enemy territory, Axne then spent the next several years haunting the nearby territories as she collected resources and tried to determine how best to enact her revenge on the Goliaths. During that time she observed and eavesdropped on all manner of settings, people and transactions slowly developing an affinity for finding ideas and areas of worth."

Inquisitor Axne and acolytes recruited from her former Escher gang.

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If Inquisitor Axne is envisioned as a positive Inquisitorial force then Cardinal Vindix is quite the opposite.  He is a Ministorum Cardinal that will use Inquisitor rules if he ever takes the field.  Cruel and vindictive, his quest for Ministerial justice is always focused on maximizing fear and imposing his version of the Imperial Truth.  I assume his hood is made from the flayed skin of his opponents real and imagined.