Civies and Commissariats...

 Greetings once again fellow Oldhammerers...

I have managed to maintain some painting enthusiasm and painted up a couple of more figures to add to my (tiny) Imperial Guard force (now dubbed the Foederati MDCCIst, or "The Redshirts").

First we have a boltgun armed trooper who will form part of Commander Tzerchov's Command section.

Nothing too special here, just the same scheme I have used on all the other troopers I've painted so far.

Next up to maintain discipline (in their loyalist incarnation at least...) I've also painted up a Commissar. It took me a while to find one of these at an acceptable price but I finally found one. He was missing his laspistol barrel which has been replaced with a slightly more modern (and chunky) plastic example (also my first attempt at pinning!).

Anyway here is Commissar Rötenborg in all his glory.

Sometime ago I found a blog post where someone had painted several commissars in vibrant colours instead of the traditional black. I decided to go a similar route (although I didn't go quite as vibrant) and also tie him into the Redshirts a little better. Unfortunately I can't remember who made the original post and a few searches have failed to find it again, so apologies to whoever that was, but thanks for the inspiration!

The only suitable place I could find for the hazard stripes I use to tie the members of the force together was the chainsword, but this seems pretty appropriate (although originally I went with more thinner stripes which didn't work as well).

Finally there are actually a few other models I painted ages ago but then never got around to posting on here, so I'm just going to throw those in here.

 First a small group of additional civilians to fill out my growing collection.

 These are a set from CP miniatures. I didn't put a lot time into them but they've come out ok I think.

Also I actually painted some terrain, these were some cheap 3D printed bits I picked up at a model show earlier this year.

I still have a second one of the crates to paint at some point but I'm sure they'll come in useful at some point.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

Inspiration grows from the barrel of a gun.

Spaceballs! Oh s@*$ there goes the planet...

 After a bit of a break from mini painting I have been working more on my famous sci-fi franchise inspired scenario idea.

I thought that Inquisitor Thrad needed some white armoured minions to complete his ensemble. I did consider using some Space Marines but I don't actually have many of those and had already used them in my other Inquisitor's (Tycho) retinue.

Instead I settled on some of the early Imperial Guard troopers with more armour than the normal bunch.

I painted the circular patch to match the orange shoulder pad rank insignia used by the Sandtroopers on Tattooine

I'm pretty happy with how the two of them have turned out, even if they are quite difficult to photograph! They do actually remind me more of the Spaceballs from Mel Brooks' parody (hence the title...) than actual Stormtroopers (probably something to do with the rounded helmets) but I don't think that's a major problem.

Finally a shot of them with their boss.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

A Return to Oldhammer...

Due to recent events I've found myself with more free time of late and have used that to actually slap some paint on some figures.

So I've added a couple more members to my Star Trek themed Imperial Guard. One of them is just regular trooper, the second is to expand my options a little.

Originally these figures were painted to accompany my eponymous Rogue Trader. However I thought about also using them as more conventional (if poorly camouflaged) Imperial troops. As such they needed a leader as my Rogue Trader (the old Imperial Scout model) is a little too ragged in appearance and carrying too much xenos weaponry to fit the bill.

So the first figure is Commander Tzcherkoff for use as a commander when they have more loyalist tendencies, complete with Gold 'command' uniform.

Eventually I intend to form a five man command squad, possibly armed with bolters around him for now he has to make do with these two.

The other figure is a basic trooper to add to the main squad, painted in the same way as the earlier figures, complete with classic 'ray-gun' coloured lasgun.

And finally a terrible shot of the whole squad so far, still needs a couple more members to get a full 10.

Think I might paint a few classic Eldar next.

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Me and this... erm... (understength) Squad...

Following up on my previous post here's the guardsmen I was painting fully painted and varnished.

A couple of close up views of the sergeant:

And the whole lot including the two I'd already painted.

Currently painting a RT Navigator who will also be joining the eponymous Rogue Trader's crew.

Till next time,


Cap'n Smyrk

You and what army?

So I'll admit that I've been in a bit of low point when it comes to hobbying so far this year and have thus had nothing to post for the last few months.

But I have recently started to get back into painting up some of my small lead pile, they're not quite finished yet but since I haven't posted anything in a while I thought I'd show off where I've got to with them.

The current selection are five more Rogue Trader Imperial Army/Guardsmen in my Star Trek Red Shirt inspired scheme to join the two I've already got painted as part of Cap'n Smyrk's crew.

Just three more and I'll have a whole squad! Which doesn't sound like much by most people's standards but for me is quite an achievement.

They still need Smyrk's crew hazard strips and a coat of varnish but everything else is about done.

Anyway will post some more photos when their done, currently also working on the Rogue Trader Navigator who will also be joining Smyrk's crew (needs someone to navigate his way through the warp).

Till next time...


Cap'n Smyrk