Sunday, August 24, 2014

Going Rogue (Trader): A study in pants

Over the last few years, I built up five different Warhammer 40,000 (WH40k) armies, with about 2,000 points for each army (in order of acquisition): Orks, Ultramarines, Grey Knights, Blood Angels  and Chaos Daemons.  Yeah, a bit heavy on the power armor, I know.  As I started the Chaos Daemons (are there any other kind?  Lawful-good daemons?) army, I wound up buying a few Reaper minis, and realized that - while they're not particularly detailed - they are still just as fun to play as highly detailed, resin-cast minis that cost four times as much.  And, I didn't mind painting them quickly to get them to the table for some dice rolling.

Then, just as I was getting my head around the changes from 5th edition to 6th edition - 7th edition came down like a ton of bricks.

Since the advent of 7th edition, I've been more interested in looking back instead of keeping up.  So, I've gone rogue.

I already had a few random WH40k minis in my old collection and recently acquired a few more.  There's lots of painting to be done, but here's a work-in-progress overview of how my forces are shaping up:

Spahze Mahrines:

First up is my oldest space marine.  I believe he's from Bob Naismith's 1988 sculpts:
This is from when Space Marines wore bloomers.  How do you go into battle without pants?  Maybe you make up for it by attaching a huge machete to your laspistol.
Nice backside.  This sculpt is significantly smaller than modern space marines.
Next up is a set of plastic Space Marines from around 1991:
Got these guys for about a dollar each.  I loved the old school paint job, but the bases had more grass than James Franco in Pineapple Express.

So, into a Simple Green bath.  They took two rounds of soaking and scrubbing and, even then, still have some paint in the nooks and crannies.
All clean and ready for a new coat of paint.
Target acquired.  Fire at will.
This looks like an inefficient way to fire off rockets, how heavy would these be? 
Did they have the Gunslinger rule back in the day?
Old School Flamethrower.

Terminators:

I have six old termies, two with auto cannons:







Chaos:

Rounding out the gang, I have a few miscellaneous minis that I found in the bottom of a box, starting me down this dark road.  Here they are:
World Eater Circa 1988.  These guys only put on half their pants.
Seriously, who goes into battle half barefoot?

These terminators may look familiar.  
Mutt and Jeff.

4 comments:

  1. Great finds! Are you going to use the first edition Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader rules with them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, DS! Yes, I did just acquire a hardback of the Rogue Trader rules, and so am excited to put them to use. I'd really like to get a better collection of the old minis, but figure that this is a good start. Next up, I'd like to acquire a Genestealer cult!

      Delete
  2. The berserkers are more like early-mid 90s, but otherwise looking mighty fine :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, well, of course I just finished basing and and priming them. So, I ripped them apart to check the tags. '93. You are so right! Funny how your mind plays tricks as you get older.

      Now, I just need to figure out how they wound up in my possession. I certainly didn't buy them in '93 and have no recollection of getting them in the last few years.

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete