For this months Single Figure Challenge I decided it was high time we shook it up a bit. When things stay the same for too long stagnation and inertia sets in and I am not having any of that on CH, we are agents of change goddamnit! My plan then, was to start introducing occasional themed challenges into the mix and encourage some experimentation with miniatures outside the realm of the obvious contemporary 40k/WHFB/Warmahordes stuff.

Somewhat fortuitously, our (apparently warp tainted) homie Jake over at PaintxDestroy decided to surprise us with a box of vintage Rogue Trader era 40K figures with the proviso that the crew paint them up and send him pictures of the finished minis. A crossover of sorts then, like the blogging equivalent of the Judgement Night soundtrack. So here’s Part 1 with Part 2 coming as soon as the rest of us quit dicking around and finish our miniatures. HUGE shout out to Jake for donating the minis and kicking us down with some serious grind, good looking out buddy. Also much love and respect to the Oldhammer community for inspiring this months challenge, hopefully the first of many!

Paulo is up first with this veteran Ultramarine Sergeant:

“While I’ve got a decent emotional attachment to ALL of the figures that were up for grabs, I went for this guy as he has a cool mush. That grizzly expression is indicitave of the era for me, that and the powerfist. Having gotten into the hobby in about 89/90, these figures were the first ones I saw and I stil love them.

I went for Ultramarines for two reasons, one, I had just finished reading Dan Abnett’s Unremembered Empire, which cemented both Guilleman and his legion as growing personal favourites something which has come as a shock to my warp tainted mind. The second was a mate has an Ultramarine 2nd company army but works mind bending hours so I thought it would be decent to paint a few models up for him as he’d not have the time himself to take part in the challenge.

Colourwise, it was a nightmare. Id not painted an Ultramarine since i was about 13, and I HATE Macragge blue so I had to make do with whats now Kantor blue and some Vallejo model air. Came out wicked though. I went for a modern zenithal technique with some sponge chipping so he looks grizzled, I think the new techniques on an old model look pretty good'”.

‘THERE ARE NO WOLV..’ . Shut the fuck up, we get it.

Sketch plumped for this staunch looking Astartes with a cool Judge Dredd style shoulder pad!

“My fascination with gaming all started with HeroQuest but the real gamechanger was playing my first games of Space Crusade. After that, fantasy never had a chance! The idea of Space Marines always appealed to me and the late 80’s White Dwarf magazines were the bible of my youth. Well thumbed pages full of metal moon men filled my room and it’s the early 40k models that I hold dearest of all. Each model had so much going on and were treated as if each were a character itself. I wanted to paint a marine that fitted in with my current Space Wolves project but without losing the character of the model behind all the weathering I usually like to use on my models. I wanted this model to feel like a Terran Space Wolf marine who would have served with the legion since the start of the great crusade”

Kev talks us through his choice, an iconic Space Ork mini….

“I was lucky enough to get in first on the squabble to pick out miniatures and chose this stunning Rogue Trader era Ork. I remember seeing this in WD issues over the years but knew next to nothing about it. I agreed to the challenge and then pretty much forgot all about it. When it showed up a couple of weeks ago, I stuck it on a stand and left it next to my PC, casting an eye over it while playing Warcraft, waiting for the decision to be made for me. After a couple of days I had decided to recreate the image I had in my head from when I was a kid. So rather than go for a modern take on an old miniature, I wanted to try and recapture my youth. Flesh wash over boltgun metal, goblin green base, not a spot of battle damage in sight, mega bright reds etc.

In that respect I don’t think I have been massively successful. The reds are nowhere near bright enough and the metallics don’t look dark enough, but I’m still really happy with the result. A little post painting research revealed this guy to be from the original Rogue Trader Space Ork command box. It’s the main man himself Gordal Luggub:

Chris Mcgreevy took a break from his amazing Grey Knights to smash out this Crimson Fist Techmarine…

“As soon as we started talking about this Rogue Trader challenge I was hoping I’d get to do a beaky marine as a Crimson Fist. That classic cover… It just completely represented 40k for me as a kid. Thankfully we got some awesome models to choose from and I went with a techmarine because I’ve never owned one in all these years and those old sculpts are classics. I love all the spanners and other details that made them look so different to the standard marines, so this was really fun to paint.

I started by airbrushing the basecoat and adding some zenithal highlights for a bit more depth. I’m always hesitant about edge highlighting dark colours as they can be an absolute twat to get right. This worked out well though and I tried to keep the highlights quite desaturated to avoid it looking like something from Tron. I finished up with some sponge chipping and then oil/grease marks with vallejo smoke which is a wash with a little weathering powder in. It added a cool finish to the joints on the servo arm and the end of the spanner. I generally prefer doing eye lenses without OSL and I always paint them with a little gloss varnish just to make them shine. All in all it was great to be given the chance to do this and can’t wait for more of the themed challenges.

My main man Duggan almost bit my hand off to have a go at this Chaplain….

“I was so excited when I saw this Chaplain was up for grabs to paint for this challenge. Whilst it’s an ’88 sculpt from Rogue Trader, it was featured in the colour section of the 2nd edition rulebook that I got for christmas in ’93. Painted as a Blood Angel, I was always mesmerised by the banner depicting a skeleton drinking blood from a goblet, I didn’t get a chance to do a banner with mine unfortunately, but I did get to paint up an original jump pack so it’s a trade off. Paint job wise I steered clear of highlighting the black too starkly, relying on deep blue glazes to build up the lighter tones, I’m not the best photographer so this doesn’t come across too well in the pic. He’s based the same way as my other 40k armies, purely because about a week before I knew about the challenge I threw out a pot of 90’s green flock which I definitely would’ve used otherwise. There’s nothing on the paint job that I went overboard with really, I could’ve added red piping all over him and gone with the yellow plasma pistol but that wouldn’t have been my style. I wanted a more natural look and used this as an attempt to get some blending done using just the brush, I feel like it worked to a degree. A fun project, looking forward to doing something similar int he future”.

Another classic Ork model, this time from Chris Kaye…

“I’d been eyeing up classic Rogue Trader minis, thanks to a sweet haul from eBay of a stack of old classic White Dwarf mags, so when Nate suggested this challenge I was in! I’ve mainly been painting Space Marines, so I jumped at the chance to paint something that wasn’t wearing power armour, and also test my mettle painting flesh, so I chose an Ork. A quick glance at the awesome old school resource Stuff Of Legends helped me eyeball my dude, and then I plumped for an Evil Sunz colour scheme after browsing some old Eavy Metal guides. Pushing the boat out, I gave him a white undercoat, hoping to achieve a brighter finish than my usual drab Astartes. Boots, armour and slacks were done, before tackling the red clothing and green flesh. As usual, being heavy handed with the Strong Tone wash, dulled it down, but adding yellows into the progressive highlights on the flesh and clothing have hopefully made it pop. Sadly, I no longer own any Goblin Green paint and green flock for the ultimate early 90s look”

So that’s the first part of our challenge up. Please let us know what you think of the guys efforts, we love your comments and CH welcomes rips as much as kudos so pipe up and place a vote!!! Part 2 up in a few weeks. Until then get down with a legit Corehammer approved crossover banger……