Over at the Emporium of Rogue Dreams, Mark Elster organised a summer competition to model and paint a Rogue Trader mutant, judged by Warhammer 40,000 supremo Andy Chambers himself.  Seeing other people get their entries together (like axiom’s and asslessman’s) inspired me to make my own mutant. Presenting Steppenwolf, Mutant Outlander.

“I am a man wolf.  I am a wolf man.”

In my trades and trawls I’d picked up a duplicate Inquisitor from the Adventurers range.  One had his right arm with its chainsword/shotgun/railgun badly chopped away by the previous owner.  I couldn’t save the arm at all, so removed it up to the shoulder.

The notorious Inquisitor Sixty Pence.  He’s gonna party like it’s your birthday.

Then I went chop-happy and removed the head, saving the stetson for a future project.  Wanting to keep the conversion components Rogue Trader 1980s I found a spare wolf from the original Leman Russ.  At least, I think it was spare, I definitely have three and I hope it’s the duplicate I decapitated.  I then added the tail peeping out the back of the trenchcoat.  A wolf in a trenchcoat has a pleasing Shadowrun vibe.

“I have half a canine mind.  I have half the mind of man.”

Mutation-wise, Steppenwolf has a “bestial face”, which the Rogue Trader rulebook describes as:

“The mutation changes the facial structure so that it resembles that of a beast.  It is extremely common amongst mutated humans and has spawned the sub-race of Beastmen.  Apart from leaving its victim in a state of sickening ugliness this mutation is neither harmful nor beneficial.”

Rogue Trader describes space pirates as particularly prone to mutation, so Steppenwolf will slot right into my Claw Nebula force.  He will be a member of an Outlander squad, so I gave him a new arm with a bolt pistol to keep him compliant with the Book of the Astronomican army list.

Nebula Claw Pirates with the remnants of Squad Hawkwind.

Since I was listening to Hawkwind’s Steppenwolf while converting this figure, it seems only right to photograph him alongside the Imperial Army figures named after Hawkwind members in White Dwarf advertisements.  Above you can see troopers Powell, Turner, Langton and Bainbridge.  I hope to track down the other Hawkwind members to go full-on 1980s space rock.

Thanks to Steve at Eldritch Epistles for hooking me up with some more signature orange lichen recently.

Episode 9 will be brought to you you by sho3box.  Here’s links to the previous episodes:

CYAO Episode 7 – Cinereal Jeannie, Inquisitional Psyker (axiom)

CYAO Episode 6 – Joan Grace, Null Maiden (sho3box)

CYOA Episode 5 – Nebuli Tsar, Ventolin Pirate (Curis)

CYAO Episode 4 – Short Jern Silvo, Ratling Cook (axiom)

CYAO Episode 3 – Garnier Wangst, Eldar Trader (sho3box)

CYOA Episode 2 – Paradox Zeeman, Pirate Captain (Curis)

CYOA Episode 1 – Obi-Wan Sherlock Clousseau, Inquisitor (axiom)

Having painted two Space Pirates, Paradox Zeeman and Nebuli Tsar, for Choose Your Own Adventurers, I wanted to grow my pirate gang.  Here’s Trooper Altryn Greymore, otherwise known as Banzai Jones from the Ironclaw Space Pirate range.

He was a lot of fun to paint – as with all Ironclaw figures it features Bob Olley’s hypnotically flowing cloth details, texture switching (look at the how the cuffs vary from the sleeves) and pronounced facial features.  What turns a lot of people off these figures is they’re not recognisably 40K – the weapon, armour and equipment designs only appear in the IC301 Space Pirate and IC501 Squat ranges, and didn’t get absorbed into the main 40K universe design.  Bomber jackets with fur collars were issued to aviation pilots to keep them warm before the invention of pressurised cockpits, so the figure looks very twentieth century.  The range is a real curiosity from a time before Rogue Trader coalesced into a coherent universe, and that only helps the Space Pirates look of being exotic outsiders on the fringe of the known universe.

Ironclaw IC301 range from the Book of the Astronomican.

I reckon it was this unrecognisability, and perhaps Bob Olley’s trademark flared monkey-nostril sculpting that made Altryn’s previous owner paint him green and call him a Space Ork.  Consequently he was a bargain.

“2x Preslotta Propainted Games Workshop 40k Space Orks 1987 Metal OOP”

I did originally plan to paint the bomber jacket in black-and-orange camo, but after all the highlighting the orange there was enough visual interest.  I still fancied some freehand so I did Vietnam-style helmet graffiti.

His helmet has a quartered design sculpted on, which I painted with my old school crest – the red and yellow tying to the autumnal palette.  The graffiti is an adaptation of the school motto “LABOR OMNIA VINCIT” (work conquers all), reading “PRIVLEGIUM OMNIA VINCIT” (privilege conquers all), which more accurately reflects how our education system works.

PRIVLEGIUM OMIA VINCIT

The Claw Nebula Pirates are off to play Shadow War Armageddon with the lads this weekend – I just need to decide what his gun actually is.  They’re using the Astra Militarum list.  Three models is enough for a legal Killteam, but they’ll be reinforced by my Godbreak 84th, and anything I get painted before Thursday.

Zeeman’s crew aboard the Argenteum Cocleare.