Back when I was a kid, you could broadly divide robots into two types – the Transformers toys you wanted, and the offbrand Transformers-type toys that were available to buy here in the United Kingdom. I loved both.

While we were awash in the stories of the Transformers UK comic, Transformers Ladybird books, Transformers VHS cassette – the toys themselves were difficult to buy. The UK toy aisles were, however, awash with other companies’ robo-offerings – Grandstand’s Convertors, Bandai’s Robo Machine, Tek Toys’ Robo-Kats, MC Toys’ Moto-Bots, Tomy’s Super Alternators and many more. They seldom had any accompanying in-universe fiction, and sometimes not even a name! My imagination went into overdrive trying to shoehorn these pretenders into the official Hasbro Transformers universe, creating my own contrived space operas that justifed a steam train fighting an aircraft carrier.

Now my play patterns have evolved beyond simply ragging toy vehicles around the floor shouting their names and making explosion sounds and into sophisticated adult wargaming, I thought I’d resurrect some of the netherspace of non-canonical robot warriors and sculpt a gawky 1980s robot chonk. Presenting Autoborg, Robot Warrior of the Far Future.

Okay, I may have missed the point by not engineering him to transform – or sculpting an accompanying vehicle mode. But I feel his Popeye style forearms and spindly strut thighs really evoke the spirit of a transforming robot toy. I was tempted to paint him in big slabs of bright primary colours to get across the toyetic vibe, but instead chose a striking camouflage scheme which is instantly undermined by big slabs of purple that really contrast against the sandy yellow colour of the base. Generation 2 Megatron eat your heart out.

If you’d like to fight science fiction wargames with your own Autoborg, he’s up on my Cults3D.

Ninjabread out!

Come friend, come and learn of the secret origin the first Inquisitor at the dawn of Warhammer 40,000. This is the tale of Inquisitor Lord Augustus Hargen and his ingredient parts.

Sculptor Bob Naismith made this O.G. Inquisitor by combining two Citadel Miniatures from earlier ranges – Warhammmer Fantasy’s CH2 Chaos Warrior Sir Gigal de Appliance and 2000AD’s JD14 Traitor General. I painted all three so they could stand side-by-side radiating mad Citadel Crossover Energy.

This magical combo of medieval fantasy tropes and British military scifi elements established the tone for Warhammer 40,000. The whole gothic techno-fantasy universe spins out from seeds like this and Inquisitor Ezquerra. Thirty-three years later Games Workshop are still designing ornately armoured Inquisitors like the upcoming Kyria Draxus.

Shout outs to the Jason Fulford, Danny Kastigaunt, Loorg and Matthew Sullivan renditions.

I entered Hargen, along with Sir Gigal and Traitor General into the Oldhammer Community’s Naismithery Competition, and to my astronomical levels of delight Bob Naismith chose the trio as the winner. Bob’s sent me a super-special one-of-a-kind prize which I’ll show soon. Thanks, Bob! Bob’s currently working on his Overrunners range which you can check out here.

Ninjabread out!

This March I am proud to present an Ultramarines combat squad deliberately contrived to conjure up a very particular point in time – November 1990. It’s March for Macragge.

Tactical Squad Rhenus. Their presence remakes the past.

In November 1990 Space Marine design saw a step change with the release of the RTB15 Strike Force boxed set. The new age of Warhammer 40,000 was ushered in with these brand new metal-plastic hybrid Marines.

It was the transition point from mk6 power armour to mk7 power armour. It was the transition from one-piece metal castings to metal torsos with plastic arms and accessories. It was the transition from Bob Naismith, Aly Morrison and Mark Copplestone designing Space Marines to Jes Goodwin.

There are two versions of each of the Strike Force torsos – the earlier verion had rounded shoulders which made them backwards compatible with the RTB01 plastic arms, and the later version had the shoulders flattened off to fit with the 1991 redesigned arm sprue. The 1990 arm sprue from the Strike Force box was curiously discontinued – if you know why, please enlighten me in the comments.

The 1990s would go on to see the mk7 range fully rounded out with more torso designs, special and heavy weapons, jump packs, and all new accessory sprues. But in November 1990 if you wanted any of that for your mk7 marines you had to use the old mk6 pieces – which is what I’ve done on this squad. The Sergeant’s powerfist and weeny bolt pistol, the rocket launcher, various ammo packs and binox are all pilfered from the RTB01 kit.

The RTB01 rocket launcher (below left) requires a bit of fiddly modelling to get it to work on a Strike Force torso – the arm toting it is a combination of the original RTB01 arm with a Strike Force shoulder pad, and some putty for the wrist armour.

The Ultramarines project means I’m painting three blue Space Marine armies concurrently. I’d be nice to have the three projects more visually distinct, but I’ve got strong emotional reasons for each scheme individually so I will just have to live with a big jumble of blue in the display cabinet. It’s like that Eiffel 65 song. Da Ba Dee. Da Ba Daa.

I’m bursting with ideas for other Ultramarines squads, and while I’m not going to collect the entire Chapter there are 99 other squads to explore with 1990s-themed collecting and modelling ideas.

This squad makes me feel as nostalgically 1990s my other hobby – standing outside derelict Global Video stores.

I’m putting together a full tutorial for Ultramarines power armour which will publish soon. If you head over to the Patreon, there’s already a wealth of tutorials for how to paint Blood Angels, Crimson Fists, Nemesis Chapter, an Apothecary, Deathwatch, gold power armour and battered yellow armour, as well as lots of skin recipes and special freehand walkthroughs.

Coming soon, more blue Space Marines. Ninjabread out!

Buenos dias, Ninjabread readers. Today my Mexican-flavoured vintage Space Marine army gets some Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements. An “Adeptus Mexicanicus”, if you will.

This Marine is one of the vintage Mark Copplestone designs, wearing a modified suit of Mk 6 power armour – instantly recognisable from its chest cabling and beaked helmet. What makes the Copplestone Techmarines really stand out is the wealth of bonus tech details – the toolbox, the magnifying lenses, the drillbit and equipment mounted on the belt. They’re a joy to paint.

The gnarly witch hand sculpted onto the right shoulder is the original symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus, before it changed to the skull cog of today.

Back in the olden days, Techmarines were just basic lads with a bolt pistol, who you had to field one for each vehicle or support weapon in your army. Over the years they’ve grown in stature and are now mighty HQ choices striding around the battlefield with an exotic array of wargear and special rules. So that I can field this miniature in modern games of 8th edition Warhammer 40,000 and still have it backwards compatible for Rogue Trader, I modelled his modern wargear as a separate little drone.

The drone’s chassis started life as an upside-down 6mm Epic-scale Land Raider with the smoke launchers and sponsons sliced away. The weapon is the business end of the standard Rogue Trader Imperial Conversion Beamer, mounted on the much meatier body of a Eldar D-Cannon.

To descale it, I added big chunky rivets made from sliced down plastic tubing, and a big fat radio-control antenna with a pennant with the classic Beamer identification symbol.

In games of Warhammer 40,000 he’s been great at zapping enemies, but has yet to unlock his full potential as the army has precisely zero vehicles for him to repair. But I plan to remedy that soon with some solid lead Dreadnoughts, Landspeeders and support weapons!

Ninjabread communication complete!

It was competition time again over at the Oldhammer Community. The friendly neighbourhood Jeany-Bap-Baps challenged hobbyists to paint miniatures sculpted by the great Bob Olley, and have them judged by the Lord our Bob himself. I couldn’t resist, and so I created this mini-diorama.

Bob Olley was one of the key contibutors to the nascent Warhammer 40,000 range, and he sculpted a huge portion of the Squat range that I’ve loved collecting, painting and gaming with through the years.

The Squat Berserker isn’t actually one of those original Rogue Trader miniatures, but a hyper-limited edition that Bob sculpted for a tiny indie manufacturer that’s since disappeared. I was hoping its extreme rarity would mean everyone who saw my painted casting would HAVE THEIR MINDS BLOWN with the novelty.

Only not. The first bloke I showed mine to simply said, “Yeah whatevs, looks like the one I did.” Screw you, Paul. Screw. You.

Not only that, but turns out his blogpost features loads of other cool indie manufacturers’ Squat miniatures that he also painted before I did mine. Sho3box is exactly the kind of person that turns up to cool parties wearing the same Decepticon logo shirt as you. And with the girl you were hoping to ask out already on his arm.

So I had to push further to ensure novelty, and modelled the Slayer standing over another Olley sculpt – an original Citadel Miniatures Genestealer Patriarch. I sawed that huge lead torso diagonally in half, and chopped apart and resculpted the limbs until I was satisfied the Patriarch was looking sufficiently collapsed, defeated, and bleeding out into the cold metal grille of the base.

It’s also the second Genestealer model I’ve painted recently, the first being a Locus for a wet-blended purple cloth tutorial for Patreon supporters. Check it out here!

Over forty people made it to the finishing line in the Oldhammer Community‘s Olley competition, and we wait with baited breath to see who Bob judges the best. (If it’s sho3box, I’ll explode.)

With Space Marine players jumping for joy that the new Primaris miniatures get jump heavy weapons, I’ve jumped at the chance to do a Rogue Trader era squad – when jump heavy weapons were also a thing.

Stamped out in Warhammer 40,000’s second edition, and now only just reappearing 26 years later – Space Marines with heavy weapons could also select jump packs in a number of ways in the various army lists. Squad Taurasi have done it here by being a Tactical Squad upgraded to “Cobra Squad” status in the 1988 Book of the Astronomican army list – and the highly mobile lad on the far right is toting a Heavy Bolter.

I had a lot of fun painting checks on the jump packs, to give the squad some visual interest, and distract from the assymetrically lumpen sculpting of these vintage Marine miniatures. This design of jump pack commands a high price on the collector’s market and is frequently pirated, meaning it’s taken years of patient hunting to source five genuine castings – so they’re worth lavishing the paitning time on.

Sergeant Taurasi is not actually a Space Marine miniature, but “Female Warrior Jayne” from the RT601 Adventurers range, meaning this blog counts as part of the Choose Your Own Adventurers series I’ve been doing with cheet0r and axiom. Recently, cheet0r has incorporated some of the Adventurer Cyborgs into his Necron army, and axiom has turned an Adventurer Pilot into a Buck Rogers homage – check ’em out!

To spin Female Warrior Jayne as a sergeant she’s received a thigh-mounted helmet with rank stripe markings, and an an Imperial Eagle command trinket (in lieu of an unaerodynamic back banner) on her jump pack.

Squad Taurasi pushes my Crimson Fists force pleasantly closer to the initial 1000 points goal.

SQUAD TAURASI

1 Marine Champion [9], Power Sword [7]
16 POINTS

1 Marine [8], Power Axe [6], Bolt Gun [2]
16 POINTS

1 Marine [8], 2 Power Gloves [2*15]
38 POINTS

1 Marine [8], Plasma Gun [5.5], Hand Flamer [2]
38 POINTS

1 Marine [8], Heavy Bolter [15], Targeter [5], 2 Suspensors [2*2]
32 POINTS

Basic Equipment (all models): Bolt Pistol [1.5], Jump Pack [2], Knife [0], Powered Armour [6] (with Communicator [0.5], Respirator [0.5], Auto-senses [0.5])
55 POINTS

TOTAL: 195 POINTS

Crimson Fists Painting Tutorial

If you’d like to learn how I paint Crimson Fists, I’ve photographed a Marine in between each step of the blue power armour process.

These steps broken down, with the techniques and theory behind them spelt out, the tutorial is available on Patreon.  The skills you’ll learn are transferable to all colours of power armour. The back catalogue of tutorials also covers white armour and brass armour – and will continue to expand every month.

Coming soon – some vehicles and support characters to round out this vintage Rogue Trader force. I’ve been painting a Missile Armour Dreadnought on the twitch, and also powering through the original metal Land Speeder, and collecting the glorious classic Techmarines. Stay tuned!

It was Christmas 1987, and Games Workshop celebrated the festive season by releasing two limited edition Space Marines (or “Spaced Out Marines” as the advertising called them).  I’ve painted the pair for my growing Crimson Fists force.

Crimson Fists, more like … Crimson Pisseds.

These castings came thanks to @DocRods – who’s been sending me an absolute surfeit of vintage beakies and 2000AD bits.  Thanks Doc!  A very merry Christmas to you, more of them appearing painted very soon.

The Battle Brothers have I FEEL FISTIVE and PUNCH DRUNK graffitied onto their armour.

The cigar-smoking Space Marine has a wisp of tobacco smoke sculpted onto his cheek, which other painters have misinterpreted as a casting worm to remove, or a facial scar to paint pink.

There are two varieties of plastic mk6. backpacks – identical except for the placement of the depressions where they attach to the Marine.   One hole is so high up that when mounted on the metal Rogue Trader Space Marines it looks like it’s sliding down his back – but on this one Marine it’s perfect for the drunken dishevelled feel.

The Crimson Fists stagger back from the Candlemas celebrations.  But who-ho-ho is lurking in the woodlands?

Crimson Fists Painting Tutorial

This month my painting tutorials have seen a record number of sign ups in the wake of the Golden Demon victory.  Thanks to all the new Ninjabread patrons who are supporting the photography and write ups, and also the website in general!

If you want to see these steps broken down, wth the techniques and theory behind them spelt out, the tutorial is available on Patreon. The skills you’ll learn are transferable to all colours of power armour.

I’ve brought a pile of metal Space Marines away with me at Christmas, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I can post up some new squads, characters and vehicles.  Will 2019 be the year they can reach the critical mass of a workable army?

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

British comics lost an icon this week with the death of Carlos Ezquerra – the creative genius behind Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha. Carlos’s character designs and universes underpin a lot of subsequent science fiction – including Warhammer 40,000.  Two years before Games Workshop gave birth to Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, they were dabbling with science fiction miniatures such as this trio of Strontium Dog characters.

Left to right: Wulf Sternhammer, Johnny Alpha, Gronk.

I’ve been painting this triumverate of bounty hunters with an eye on Warlord Games’ new Strontium Dog game.  Excitingly they can also be shoehorned into modern Necromunda with the recent bounty hunter rules.

The miniatures are from Citadel’s 2000AD range produced for the 1985 Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game.  Though technically Johnny Alpha and Judge Dredd inhabit separate universes, they have crossed over several times for reasons of awesome.

Johnny Alpha and Judge Dredd, Judgement Day, 2000AD #799.

The Rogue Trader universe borrows a lot of its overall look from Carlos Ezquerra’s artwork.  The amount of time and artwork the Rogue Trader rulebook spends on the (non-Chaotic) random mutations tables is testament to Strontium Dog’s influence.  There’s a lot of Strontium Dog wargear that pops up in the forty-first millennium too, such as gravchutes, stasis grenades and electro-mauls.

But wait – there’s more…

The Rogue Trader Mystery

There was a mystery for almost thirty years about the miniature that appears in a single murky black-and-white photograph on page 11 of the Rogue Trader rulebook.

The mystery figure, top left corner.

The figure never made it into production, appearing only in this photo.  Only in 2013 did details of the figure emerge thanks to Steve Casey’s Eldritch Epistles – it was a one of several Judge Dredd figures that had been converted and cast up in-house to playtest the upcoming Rogue Trader rules before actual miniatures had been made.

It was released a couple of years later by Wargames Foundry, so people like me and Rochie can paint and play with our own copies of this odd curio.

Inquisitor Ezquerra and Johnny Alpha.

I plumped for white and papal purple to spin the figure as an Imperial Inquisitor.  (It was tempting to paint him in green and yellow trousers, as if it’s Johnny improvising a disguise as an Imperial Inquisitor.)  He’s so wee. being from 1985 when sculptors tended to 25mm scale, that I built up his base to help him keep some sense of imposing Imperial authority over the rest of the Imperium’s servants.

More vintage Crimson Fists coming soon!

The Crimson Fists are getting reinforcements, hand over fist.  My 1980s Rogue Trader Space Marine army grows with the addition of another 5-man Tactical Squad composed of vintage metal and plastic Citadel Miniatures.

Time to put the huert on – Squad Huerta.

To my amazement and envy, in the time taken to finish this second squad of Battle at the Farm Crimson Fists, Nico has painted every Crimson Fist for the scenario, plus he’s modelled an evocative scenic base, plus he’s painted all the Orks and – if that wasn’t enough – some Ork reinforcements.  I feel like Falcon running round the park and being lapped repeatedly in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Freehand & Crimson Fist Icons

Again I had some fun adding freehand chapter icons and armour graffiti to the squad.  “THE TRUTH HUERTS” is just punning off the Sergeant’s name.  “INFINITE PLASMA” is a reference to the Battle at the Farm scenario, which Zhu points out gives the Space Marines unlimited Plasma Missiles (as they normally cost 1 point each, it technically means the Marines outclass the Orks by INFINITY POINTS).

I now need to paint a second Missile Launcher so I can reference Elton John’s Rocket Man.

“FOR NOW WE SEE BUT THRU A SCANNER DARKLY” on the Marine with scanner is a 1 Corinthians 13:12 / Philip K. Dick reference simply because he’s holding a scanner.  “FIST OR FAMINE” is from my handy stockpile of fist-based puns.  It’s a treat at the end of the painting process to choose some scrawly handwriting to give the battle-brothers an additional touch of the Rogue Trader era.

Crimson Fists Grand Plan

To fit into my planned 1,000 points (using the Whitescars army list from the Book of the Astronomican) the five Space Marines come out as:

SQUAD HUERTA

1 Marine Champion [9], Power Glove [15], Bolt Hun [2]
26 POINTS

3 Marines [3*8], 3 Bolt Guns [3*2] and 3 Frag Grenades [3*1]
33 POINTS

1 Marine [8], Missile Launcher [30], 12 Plasma Missiles [12] Targeter [5], 2 Suspensors [2*2]
59POINTS

Basic Equipment (all models): Bolt Pistol [1.5], Knife [0], Powered Armour [6] (with Communicator [0.5], Respirator [0.5], Auto-senses[0.5])
45 POINTS

TOTAL: 163 POINTS

Here are the two squads in action alongside each other, with a sneaky eleventh Citadel Miniature tucked away somewhere… can you spot it?

Squads Huerta and Onan fighting in the ruins of Blas in the Gallego system.

Crimson Fists Painting Tutorial

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how I paint Crimson Fists, so I photographed a Marine in between each step of the blue power armour process.

If you want to see these steps broken down, wth the techniques and theory behind them spelt out, the tutorial is available on Patreon.  The skills you’ll learn are transferable to all colours of power armour.

Coming soon – more vintage Crimson Fists to creep the army closer to game legal.