Rogue Trader: Ilyach Terrn: The Floating Fat Man

                                       

The Little Emperor.  The Floating Fat Man.  By such names is he known,  Long ago, in another life, he was Ilyach Ternn, a waif and a weakling in the gutters of some hell hole on Geminion Secundus.  But his diminutive frame and sad, watery eyes masked a brilliant mind and a ravenous, all consuming appetite for power and pleasures of every conceivable  kind.

Slowly, at first by dint of his astonishing technological acumen, then through the machinations of a cold and calculating cunning, Ilyach rose through the ranks of the gang lords of the Geminions, ultimately rivaling in power and influence even regional governers and military commanders, with the underworlds of entire continents bending before his will, and legions of slum dogs marching at his orders.

But a long life of indulgence has taken it's toll!

Though the apparatus his calls his 'brazen throne', in mockery of the Golden Throne of the Emperor of Mankind yet holds his life within his body, that body is increasingly wracked.by the rot and ruin of a thousand ailments aquired during an artificially extended life span spent saturated in carnal and narchotic indulgence.  Only this machine of his own design now keeps the spark of his wicked consciousness burning within his polluted and decaying  frame.  Yet his power is undiminished, for his wealth and influence are tremendous, his criminal agents and shanty town militia number in the millions, and the keen fire of his mighty mind is yet undimmed.

Just as he designed the brazen throne to preserve his life, Ilach created his own android servants to act as his most trusted and beloved bodyguards, pets and playthings.  Machines with an appearace so life like as to be all but indistinguishable from living creatures.

Careful observation of these warrior women android guards reveal the seams where Ilyach stretched and stitched their skins together over their steel and plastic frames.  Early experiments, these.  Less comely than more recent ones, perhaps, but still alert, loyal and deadly.

 

Iltach's innumerable ailments demand almost constant attention, and so he created a bevy of delectable android nurses to attend to his many needs.  The deep knowledge of drugs and human anatomy posessed by these drones makes them useful as interrogators as well.

 

Here are two of Ilyach's more recent creations and some of those of which he is most proud:  Hop-Toad and Clareeze.

Hop Toad is deliberately designed to appear unthreatening and absurd, but he is fitted with a wide array of video and audio equipment which allow him to record and analyze sights and sounds over great distances.  Even the most subtle details of facial expression, body language and tone of voice do not go unnoticed by his sensitive equipment, unanalyzed by his keen electronic brain, or unreported to his scheming master, and he invariably attends upon his creator at every council and conference, scrutinizing the attendees with his large, cold, artificial eyes.

Clareeze is Ilyach's prettiest and most beloved pet.  (For now, anyway.) Ravishingly beautiful and indistinguishable from an authentic human female, she accompanies her creator everywhere.

Out on the town in downtown Skummburg...

OY, ME LOVELIES!  Let's stop in for  drink at Jezzie's, EH?

 

Rogue Trader: Gretchin Horde!

At long last, I've supplied my Roguehammer Space Ork Commanders with some Gretchin Squads! 

 

...one squad of close combat Gretchin...

...and another of blunderbusiers!  

Either squad makes a fine meat shield for the regular Ork boys to advance behind!

 

"Ere we come!"

Sneaky git advances with blunderbuss...

...Veteran Gretchies!

My Rogue Trader Ork horde is very nearly complete now.  All I have left to do really are a Dreadnought and a special unit of Giant Bat riding cavalry, The Dung Bat Boys...I'm still collecting the bats for those...

I am so fond of my Space Orks, however that I will probably never stop collecting them.  I would like a Weird Boy, particularly one of those large models that incorporate the Weird Boy and his minders into a single casting, and an alternate figure to represent my War Boss...

...but that's about it!

I call this fellow Gonzo.  Don't know why.  Forgot to darken in the barrel of his blunderbuss though.

A handful of Imperial Guardsmen desperately attempt to hold back the Gretchin assault...Doesn't look like they're doing too well so far...

Dead Men Space Marines Assault Squad

 

A new squad for my Rogue Trader Space Marine fore, which is getting pretty close to being finished now.  11 mighty champions of the Emperor, ready to dive upon the unrighteous with wailing chainswords and buzzing power axes.  Heretics, beware! 

The Squad Leader, Big Sarge and some friends...

Oh my God!  Big Sarge, what happened to your face?!  One eye appears to be way lower than the other, or have I just mis-read this?  The sculptor dropped the ball here on what is otherwise a terrific mini.  Maybe it's supposed to be a mass of scar tissue around his right eye?  Or maybe he's a mutant...?

Plasma pistol conversion.  I couldn't find an assault marine with plasma pistol figure but Army list says you're supposed to have one in your assault squad so I converted this one.

Bloody big eighties hair!!  Motorhead hair!  Brian Ansell and Andy Chambers circa 1987 prepare their assault!

Andy attacks!

Chainsword brothers prepare to bound skyward!

"Die, Heretic!"

I still want one more tactical squad, a devastator squad, some scouts and a Thudd gun, and I have two Land Speeders at home waiting for me to put them together and paint them, but that should be about it for the Dead Men Space Marines. Dang, I want to get home!

Rogue Trader: Scout Section and Sanctioned Psyker, 3rd Company, 9th Nepenthe Imperial Guard Regiment

 Nothing too exciting tonight....just a squad of scouts and an onion headed Psyker for my Old School
Imperial Guard Army.  I think they came out ok for the most part, but once again the eyes were my nemesis.  Oh well. Time to move on to the next thing.  Mayhap at some point I will find the strength to try and revisit the eyes.

 The Rogue trader era Imperial Guard army list has no scout troops per se, just Ratling Snipers and Sentinel scout walkers.  For my 9th Nepenthe Regiment unit, though, I wanted an option for some Reconnaissance infantry.  It might be that scanner technology and psychic powers have made scout troops an anachronism in the age of the Imperium but the 9th Nepenthe still relies on them to locate the enemy and guide friendly forces into position to destroy them.  Was never keen on the idea of space hobbits so no Ratlings for me.  Here the squad leader, armed with a captured shuriken catapult, leads the way forward.

 Two scout rifle men take aim at the enemy...

 My concept for the squad was a nine man configuration with a squad leader and a pair of four man observation teams armed with las guns and led by a corporal armed with a sniper rifle.

 One of the Snipers...with a subdued version of the usual bright red and yellow 9th Nepenthe badge.

 A veteran scout sneaks up on an enemy sentry with his knife...

 The sanctioned psyker with his enormous chainsword.  Perhaps he is accompanying this recon squad in order to lend his scrying powers to their efforts.

The recon team sets off in search of the Orks...good luck, lads!

Citizens of Skummburg Part 1 of 3

When I started the Skummburg project I knew I wanted crowds of funny folk wandering around in it.  You know, to get caught in crossfires, maybe join up in gun battles and bar fights or to interact with characters in games that have more of a role playing slant to them.  Here is the first wave of them...

Some shady characters...wanderers in the twisted lanes of Skummburg and the unforgiving desert that surrounds it...

Scavenger and Peddlar Jocko Fane with his famous mechanical eye...a Twisted Dice mini...

Wastelands wanderer Homer Chelk spots something significant in the distance...hopefully not another mirage...This fellow is an old Marauder figure from the early days when the Necromunda game was still called Confrontation...

A scribe, more machine than man, keeps notes on the local populace for his master...

Three more fellows who might be seen on the streets of Skummburg on any given day...

 

The botanist makes his living growing and selling exotic plants...

The Water Porter endures a hard life of back breaking work selling valuable unpolluted water...it's a living...

A grizzled member of a deep-desert salvage company, hung about with his tools and ready for a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster on the rocks at Jezebel's Joint...

Some regular working or middle class folks.  A working stiff heading off to the garage and a Mom taking Junior out for a stroll in the servo-pram...the man and woman are newer Judge Dredd figures...these are closer to 32mm than 28mm,  unfortunately, and have a tendency to tower over the Crooked Dice and Citadel minis, but I can't quite bring myself to get rid of them.

With people living under strange new suns with unfamiliar radiation levels, exposed to weird chemicals and compounds of every description, mutation is rife amoung the populations of colonial worlds.  In some cases mutation is extreme and frightening.  In other, more mild cases, such as these, it is largely benign and just a bit sad.  Old Citadel Judge Dredd Uglies...

Pity the poor Pig faced girl...

...and the genetically challenged Derf Narnar..

Some day this rotation will end and all these little people will be out on the streets of Skummburg where they belong.  I still have about 25 more to get painted while I'm here!