For those of you who might be interested in my other writings, I recently had a couple articles published in Watkins Mind, Spirit, Body Magazine. 

My print article on Zen koans is available in the Summer 2022 issue (pictured above). Who would have guessed I'd ever share a table of contents with Lady Gaga?

And there is another article (with no paywall) on the Watkins website about my dad's death last summer.

It's a real honour to be published in Watkins. The magazine grew out of Watkins Books, which is the oldest esoteric bookstore in London (and one of the oldest in the world) - being founded in 1897 by a friend of the theosophist Madam Blavatsky.

I've always wanted to model a War Monster and last January I finally did it.

The incitement for this project was reading Saga: Age of Magic (2019) by Alex Buchel and Fred Machu. Saga has been one of my favourite rule-sets since the first edition sprung on our hobby in 2011. Age of Magic adapts the second edition for fantasy skirmish games. One of the strengths of the book is that the authors give their imagination free reign when it comes to units: besides great dragons and giants, there are rules for fielding the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse or Hern's Wild Hunt. But most intriguing for me were the rules for one gigantic beast who swarms with drivers, archers, and crew. I was hooked by the requisite dimensions for the model: a base between 8 and 12 inches long. Since Saga games usually occur on a 3x4 foot board, this single miniature would occupy a huge part of the available real-estate. A real monster!

Rules from Saga: The Age of Magic (2019)

Illustration by Steven Kellogg from The Wicked Kings of Bloon (1970)

White Dwarf #100

Ultimately, I decided to do something simple. I wanted a model that could be used for different settings: an orcish beast for Saga, a piece of moving scenery in Warhammer 40K, an exotic adversary for Star Wars skirmish games.

To ensure a variety of different miniatures could stand (or even fight) on the howdah, I tried to make it broad and easily accessible, without many railings, walls and other accessories that might get in the way. I didn't want a diorama so much as a functional model.

The beast itself in a plastic dinosaur from Amazon. I added a few choice details with greenstuff and brass chain, and then primed him black. The painting was dead simple: I brought out the colour with successive layers of drybrushing over his rough scales. 

Overall, I'm pleased with the results, especially when it's loaded down with Krapfang's Orcs.

I'm high on Bob Olley. My latest foray into his world are two of the 4011 Adeptus Mechanicus Servitors he sculpted in 1989.

Painting Olley miniatures is often challenging, but these two were a joy. The facial expressions -- by turns crude, servile and sedated -- emerged from the brush without any specific intention on my part. The wonderful details (like the wires, implants and bionics) were crisply carved and easy for me to delineate. The two miniatures seemed to paint themselves.

It's a reminder that part of the miniature sculptor's art is to help the painter. After all, it is the painter who will have the most intimate, the most delicate experience with the sculptor's efforts. Indeed, few other visual artists can console themselves with the notion that there is someone out there who will spend hours and hours contemplating the most minute details of their work. (I just spent some time in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence where I was confronted with some of the greatest sculpture in human history. But with the crowds seething around me, I couldn't spend more than a few moments looking at each individual piece).

I wonder whether miniature sculptors often get feedback from their customers on the experience of painting their models. I hope so! 

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Here is the first of Mr. Olley's magnificent miniatures. This is "Servitor" 4011-06.

Thanks!

If there is anything that's cooler than the original RT401 Space Elves released in 1987, it was the RT402 Eldar Command Group released in 1988. With these figures, we see sculptor Jes Goodwin starting with the basic theme of the Eldar warrior, and embellishing it with free-jazz experimentation. The peaked helmets morph into masks or burst into tentacle-like tubing, the weapons grow teeth or elongate, and the armor mimics the shapes of Space Marines. It is a tour-de-force.

Well, I think we can safely say that the story ends well for the sculptor and his work. Over 30 years later, the Eldar continue to be one of the most aesthetically and mythologically interesting aspects of the 40K universe, (notwithstanding what some crusty grognards might say). And Jes Goodwin is the Lead Miniature Designer at Games Workshop, one of the few personnel remaining from the glory days of the 1980's.

I curbed my customary inclination to collect every miniature in this range because -- well, how many standard bearers and musicians does one squad of Space Elves really need? I painted them in the classic scheme of blue and yellow. Their insignia marks them as members of the Scarlett Command, a small band of Eldar Corsairs.

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First up is the leader of my force "Cdr. Avele Swifteye". He (or she?) is wearing a helmet overlaid with scowling visage, an apparent homage to the mask (or men-yoroi) that samurai wore in order to protect their face and scare their enemies. Avele's mask and crest seems to mark him (or her?) out as an aristocratic warrior.

The spotter is from the RT404 Eldar Field Artillery range released in April 1988.

From White Dwarf #99

But to run these scenarios, you need miniatures to play the dramatis personae: the politicians, rebels, engineers, navigators and rogue psykers. And that's where the RT601 range of adventurers came in! 

And yet for all the splendor of this range, it was an evolutionary dead end. As we all know, WH40K grew into a tournament games of army lists, not a plot-driven adventure game. And so the RT601 range was the first and last great spurt of character-miniatures.

I'm pleased to report that I finished collecting and painting all 32 miniatures in the RT601 range. Let's take a look at the first six miniatures!

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First is the RT601 "Eldar Trader". In Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (1987), Rick Priestly writes that the Eldar are "clever traders" who eschew conventional space travel. Rather, they use small warp-gate networks centered in their craftworlds to move their goods between planets. The haughty expression of this model is priceless. I can almost hear him saying, "You don't want carpet. You want area rug!"

I tried my best to make this fellow look loud, hungry and lecherous.

Thanks for coming by! And remember: stay loud, hungry and lecherous!

You bastards. You have no idea how good you have it today. When I was young in the early '80's, we didn’t have nice rulebooks with full-colour illustrations. Holy Jumping Christ, we barely had rules. And we certainly didn’t have Warhammer 40K. If we wanted to play a knock-off Star Wars skirmish game, we couldn’t just reach for the latest British import, like some silk-slippered princeling. Oh no. If we wanted to roll dice, we had only one option: we played Galacta: Star Commandos.

Those old ladies are gone now. So are the hobby stores. And so are the malls. They have been plowed into the earth so that you and your friends can sip bubble tea on a patio. What is bubble tea, anyway? My only prayer is that it's something that will give you gas.

Unboxing Galacta was a painful experience, but we grew up fast in those days. Inside we found: (1) ten solid-based miniatures so lumpy they looked like Hershey’s Kisses; (2) a photocopied pamphlet with two pages of rules; (3); a dozen pots of paint dried into hard putty; and (4) a paint brush so splayed that it couldn’t be used to apply makeup on a Bonobo.

They called it a “paint-and-play” game, the cruel jerks. But did we make a Reddit about it? Of course not. Because that’s what wargaming was all about in my day: disappointment.

And then Rogue Trade showed up and ruined everything.

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This is the last time I let someone write guest post. What a downer. Anyway, let's continue the tour through Citadel's RT601 range of Adventurers for 40K Rogue Trader. 

First up is "Female Warrior Gabs". Her slotta tab gives her the alternative name "Sister", which seems to a reference to page 268 of the Rogue Trader rulebook (1987), where we find an enigmatic passage mentioning the Adepta Sororitas or Sisterhood: "an order of devotional warrior women." The accompanying illustration by Stephen Tappin shows "Sister Sin" in full power armor. Sadly, the Sisterhood was an idea that languished for a few years, but was rekindled in the 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (1993).

Next we have the only other Sister from the Rogue Trader era, "Female Warrior Jayne". This is another beautiful sculpt, with female characters that are dynamic and interesting without being sexualized or caricatured. I only wish they had chosen better names than "Gabs" and "Jayne". It makes them sound like they play bingo.

Nothing is more evocative of Rogue Trader than the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus -- mainly due to the mind-wrenching illustrations of Will Rees. Here we have "Tech-Priest Schlan". He's a wonderful miniature that really captures the strange blend of technology, religion and body-modification. I tried to paint his face in such a way that the tubes and plates are hard to distinguish from his flesh.

And speaking of bionics, here is the "Test Bed Slave". This is another miniature (loosely) based on an illustration from the Rogue Trader rulebook. I do wish that not every cyborg was waving his arms around like he's Frankenstein's Monster.

Fifth is the "Old Pirate". I find him fairly ho-hum -- but he's one of the few Rogue Trader miniatures portrayed with a needle pistol.

And finally, here is the "Space Amazon". This is another iconic miniature that seems to be in high demand (if eBay prices are anything to go on). As Jason Fulford has pointed out, this sculpt is almost certainly based on John Blanche's "Amazon"illustration. I enjoyed painting this miniature, but it is the opposite of Gabs or Jayne. With her garter belt and bodice, the Space Amazon is a female warrior whose essence is confined within the stereotype of the sexy femme fatale.

Thanks for coming by!

Illustration by Stephen Tappin (1987)

I am not the first painter to tackle the miniatures in Citadel's RT601 Adventurers range from 1988. Indeed, it's hard to love Rogue Trader and not want to paint some of these incredible models.

However, the only other person (that I know of) who has tried to collect and paint all 32 miniatures is Jason Fulford at Rogue Heresy. His painstaking work in analyzing the range (and recording the names carved on the slotta-tabs, which often differ from the catalogue names) is a service to the hobby. Following his progress in completing the "Adventurers Project" was a source of inspiration and encouragement for me. I'm particularly fond of his colourful "Hive Worlder" and the fierce expression he coaxed out of the "Pirate Captain".

There are many other painters whose work on this range are worth a good look:

• Axion at Magpie and Old Lead has done some wonderful things. I particularly love the matching assembly of the "Cyborg" and "Test-bed Slave" (plus other Rogue Trader figures).
• Ninjabread created a wonderful series of dioramas using "Tech-Priest Schlan". Remember: only the strong will survey.
• Warburton at Classic 40K zeroed in on the best sculpted miniatures in the range: the unobtrusively named "Official". Under his brush, the beautifully carved face and subtle details in costume all come to life. Brilliant!
• At the Lead Plague, Asslessman has conscripted several members of the Adventurers range into his fantastic sensei warband.
• Sho3box's "Squat Miner" shows some real mojo.
• Every once in a while, when I want to remind myself what extraordinary painting looks like, I check out the work of Dr. Mathias at his Miniature Extravaganza.  His version of the "Navigator" is simply gorgeous -- and even more gorgeous when you see him arrayed with all his mutant colleagues.

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First is RT601 "Pilot Lorgar". His outfit shows the levity that you could still find in Rogue Trader miniatures: the gold epaulettes, the handlebar moustache, the expression of panic.

Thanks for taking a look!

The 32 miniatures in the RT601 Adventurers range for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader were sculpted by four top-notch artists: Aly Morrison, Mark Copplestone, Jes Goodwin, and Bob Naismith. We have those names only because they were all included in the page devoted for this range in the 1988 Catalogue (where the range was re-designated as 4004 Adventurers).

Artist Bob Naismith

If any of you have any information or insight into which sculptor is responsible for a given miniature in the RT601 range, please let me know in the comments.

It strikes me as a true shame when we can't assign a model to the responsible artist. If you take miniature sculpting seriously as an art form (and I do), proper attribution is essential. How else can we discuss a particular sculptor's style, evolution, and influences?

In any case, for today's post, let's look at Naismith's six models in the range. As a group, they showcase his talent for varied poses and his imaginative use of details to tell a story about the miniature.

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First comes my personal favourite, the RT601 "Scum". This miniature is also known as the "Space Eunuch" because that is the name carved on his slotta-base tab. And a Space Eunuch he is, what with his bare bum cheeks, bald head, and leather boots. I tried to enhance the effect by giving him Marie Antoinette facepaint, including heart-shaped lipstick and a beauty-spot.

Thanks for coming by!

I've always loved Rogue Trader, but the impetus for my recent push to paint all of Citadel's RT601 Adventurers was the publication of Joseph McCullogh's Stargrave (Osprey, 2021).

I see Stargrave as the true heir to Rogue Trader. In some ways, the two games couldn't be more different. Rick Priestly's masterpiece from the '80's is dense as a Bible, with hundreds of illustrations, a sprawling backstory, and detailed rules governing everything from orbital lasers to cavalry charges. Stargrave is smaller, devoid of flavor text, and much more targeted: it provides rules for running a crew of 10 interstellar freebooters, and that's it.

A game of Stargrave

Most importantly, Stargrave and Rogue Trader incorporate elements of roleplaying. In Rogue Trader, it comes through the game master, who runs a scenario with hidden information, elaborate subplots, and campaign continuity. In Stargrave, the captain of your crew becomes your player character and develops better abilities from session to session. In both games, the feeling of roleplaying puts a special emphasis on character -- especially characterful miniatures. In that sense, it's no surprise that the same sculptor, Mark Copplestone, provided miniatures both for Stargrave and for the RT601 Adventurers.

Well, let's see the last seven miniatures in the RT601 range!

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First is RT601 "Pilot Rav". If I had to guess, I'd say this was a Copplestone design, because of the clean lines, open face, and aroma of pulp adventure.

Many thanks for staying with me over this long series of posts!