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.
More of my miniatures over at ninjabread.co.uk
!
