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.
Altryn Greymore – Ironclaw Space Pirate
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.
More of my miniatures at ninjabread.co.uk
