Wyrd Beastmaster (W40K)

Back to 28mm scale here - this week I finished this wyrd Beastmaster (a minor psyker with the ability to control creatures).  The miniature is an EM4 'ganger' that I snapped up from eBay for £1.99, as I liked the 'Mad Max' apocalyptic look to it, & thought it'd fit in very well as a wyrd for Necromunda or 'Inquisimunda'.  He's got a bit of a Mohican appearance, which suggests Necromundan Ratskin stock to me.  This figure has a taller-than-average stature, & could equally be used as a barbarian, Chaos thug, ganger, or hired gun.

More riot police

I've completed some more 15mm scale British riot police for containing the Infection, & reworked all the visors & shields to have a more blended grey-to-white effect.  It doesn't show up that well in these photos, but I also added a gloss varnish finish to their helmets, visors, & 'transparent' shields.  I used a DSLR extension tube that I got for Festivemas to take these pictures, & I'm pleased with the results - cheaper than a dedicated macro lens!  Firstly, here are the new riot police.  The officers at the back have 'riot guns'.

Followed by members of an Armed Response Unit with pistols & kevlar shields.  I will be adding some Rebel Minis SWAT Team figures for officers armed with other firearms.

Finally, here is a lone Infected / zombie riot policeman!

The figures here are all Rebel Minis Riot Police, mounted on 1p pieces, with Gale Force Nine dead/winter static grass & earth.

SAS / special forces

Another group of 15mm scale figures for the zombie apocalypse - British SAS / special forces.  I have my riot police underway, & plan to add both regular police (who have been armed due to the crisis) & an armed response unit.  However, I fancied some heavy-duty opposition for the infected hordes, & these SAS from Rebel Minis seemed just the thing.  I've had the figures for a while, & was thinking of going with yellow or orange boiler suits with black body armour; & then for a while I was going to paint them in the blue boiler suits & black armour of the famous SAS Counter-Revolutionary Wing - before ditching the idea as being too similar to the uniforms of all the police units that I have planned, as well as being a very specific unit with limited uses in a zombocalypse.

After having a long think about it, I reasoned that the military have plenty of suitable 'zombie-proof' gear in the form of camouflaged CBRN (formerly NBC) suits, without having to get in some garish 'HazMat' gear specially.  So I've painted these 2 fireteams as woodland CBRN suits.  If they'd had their hoods up & been wearing helmets, they could represent regular army, but as it is I'll run with them as SAS / special forces.  Maybe they've been sent into an infected zone to rescue a VIP, or retrieve an important 'package'...

Riot police

Back to 15mm scale for today's post - a group of riot police!  These Rebel Minis figures are perfect for any zombocalypse or serious urban disturbance.  I have painted them in modern British riot police uniforms (as featured in the nationwide riots of 2012), as I fancy gaming a zombie pandemic with a UK setting.  Not sure on a rules set yet, but possibly Ambush Alley's 'Ambush Z'.

I'm pleased with the outcome, & the uniforms are a pretty good match for the real ones, other than the additional padding at the back of the helmet (where UK police have numbering in yellow), & the holstered sidearms (in the UK only a small number of Authorised Firearms Officers carry guns).  However, in a zombie pandemic, I think that emergency legislation (or police taking matters into their own hands as society collapses) would mean that firearms would be issued widely...

I considered painting some of these figures with blood splatters & hand prints on their equipment, but at this tiny scale, I want to reserve most of the gore for the actual zombie figures, so that they are easier to pick-out on the tabletop.  This also means that I can use them for less apocalyptic settings too.  Not 100% happy with my attempt at a 'transparent' effect on the shields & visors, but it's passable at this scale.  I may gloss varnish those areas.

Demiurg (W40K)

I really liked how the Battlefleet Gothic expansion Armada cheekily brought Squats back into the official Warhammer 40,000 universe as the 'Demiurg'.  Ever since then I've been wondering what they might look like (I've never been keen on their original Warhammer-Dwarf-like look), & now thankfully there are a few suitable miniatures on the market. 

My favourite is Hasslefree Miniatures's Grymn range.  I see the Demiurg as grubby & industrial, but a little more advanced than the stagnant Imperium, making use of full-AI droids for much of their labour & warfare, especially following the destruction of the Demiurg Homeworlds by the Tyranids.



So here are my first 28mm Demiurg - mining vessel crew with bolters & vac-sealed carapace armour!  These particular Grymn are from the Heavy Infantry range.  I really enjoyed painting these fantastic sculpts, & will be adding a few more from Hasslefree's extensive Grymn collection.  To tie these figures in with my Battlefleet Gothic Demiurg ships, I went with a tarnished, oily iron look for their armour.  Next up: Demiurg in exo-armour!

Picasa Web Albums is still adding blue to most of my uploaded photos... I may have to start using a different storage service  :-/

Imperial Navy chirurgeon (W40K)

I haven't completed much miniatures stuff this month, but this week I finished an Imperial Navy chirurgeon, who will be the 'medic' of Inquisitor Isiah's retinue.  He is equipped with a needle pistol & medical device.  I stumbled on this EM4 Miniatures 'Ganger 5' model, & thought he'd fit in perfectly as ex-Imperial Navy. Wasn't sure if the dreadlocks were 'proper' enough for the straight-laced Navy, but then in a vast Imperium of diverse cultures which produces very distinct Imperial Guard 'ground-pounders', I'm sure the Navy must allow some leeway to accommodate different customs.

The backstory for this bloke will probably be that he saved Interrogator Rath's life when he was shot through a lung during the Heliosphan Purge.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - as of about a month ago, Picasa Web Albums started adding high levels of blue to my uploaded images, & I haven't discovered a simple work-around beyond repeatedly re-uploading until the image is as per the copy on my PC. Quite frustrating.

Penitent heavy (W40K)

I finished painting another penitent for 'Inquisimunda' today - every warband needs a 'heavy'!  This is Makk 'Grox' Dunoll, an ex-Imperial Guardsman sentenced to fifty years hard labour for killing two scion officers in a bar brawl.  Like his fellow inmate Kolev Obasan, under the influence of the Redemptionist preacher Thwaite, 'Grox' was loyal to the Imperium during the cultist-backed prisoner uprising that ravaged the sprawling penal facility.  He fought alongside Obasan & Thwaite, killing many of the rebelling inmates prior to the arrival of Inquisitor Isiah & Adeptus Arbite reinforcements.

Unlike the psychotic Obasan, 'Grox' is calm & level-headed (some would say mildly dim-witted as well).  Though powerfully muscled, Isiah's other agents consider 'Grox' as a bit of a gentle giant.  Having joined Isiah's retinue, 'Grox' considers himself to be repaying his debt to the Emperor; but whilst the madman Obasan has remained a follower of Thwaite's brand of Imperial faith, 'Grox' has started to question some of the Redemptionist tenets.

'Grox' is a solid, dependable presence on Inquisition missions, laying down a pulverising hail of heavy bolter fire when called for.  The miniature is another of GW's Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers.

Penitent (W40K)

I'm not that satisfied with my painting on this one, but here's another agent of the Inquisition - a psychotic penitent!  This violent individual, named Kolev Obasan, was serving a life sentence of hard labour when he (along with another penitent that I'm painting) fell under the questionable pastoral influence of a Redemptionist preacher by the name of Fabian Thwaite (another figure that I'm painting).  Thwaite apparently succeeded in moulding Obasan's uncontrolled violent impulses into hatred of the heretical & the xenos, & an acceptance of a debt owed to the God-Emperor.


Along with the Redemptionist preacher Thwaite, Obasan was one of the few survivors of a cult-triggered prisoner uprising at the penal facility, during which he appeared to stay loyal to the security forces, killing a large number of rioting prisoners.  After the rebellion had been suppressed by Imperial reinforcements, Inquisitor Isiah found Obasan sitting in his unlocked cell, caked in the dried blood of his fellow inmates, muttering prayers to the Emperor.


Most of Isiah's other agents have a grave mistrust of Obasan, viewing him as an unpredictable liability; but the inquisitor values the havoc that the penitent can cause in the right circumstances.  When called for, Obasan is usually accompanied by the preacher Thwaite, & wears a collar that can inject combat drugs such as 'Slaught & Frenzon, as well as a tranquiliser when the mission is over... Or the killing is getting out of hand...

Obasan's equipment of choice is a meltagun, chainsword, a variety of grenades, & an auspex to help with tracking down his prey.  The miniature is one of Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers from GW.

Crusader (W40K)

Another 'Inquisimunda' player character finished - an Ecclesiarchy crusader!  This deadly woman is Arabella Solbun, a close combat specialist who takes the fight straight to the heretic/mutant/witch/daemon, & is armed with a force blade & psy-bolt-loaded bolt pistol.  She has minor psychic abilities, mainly centred around combat-ability-enhancement.  Solbun was an orphan raised by a minor Adeptus Sororitas order on the Ecclesiarchy shrine world of Cyclosa.


When evidence of her latent psychic abilities began to manifest on the cusp of adulthood, she was incarcerated by the sisterhood, & transferred to a Black Ship for shipment to Terra or immediate termination as deemed necessary.  However, aboard the Black Ship, a young inquisitor named Isiah recognised Solbun's unusual strength of mind, & spared her from a fate as fuel for the Golden Throne or execution as a dangerous witch.  Over the following years Isiah trained Solbun to further fortify her mind & hone her psychic talents, completing her transformation into a lethal weapon of holy purpose.

The figure is another from Hasslefree miniatures ('Jenova'), with a bolt pistol from a Space Marine sprue added to her left hand.  She is protected by carapace armour & an aegis hood in the form of a golden halo.  I enjoyed painting the finishing touch of light-sourcing around her force blade, & am really pleased with the result.