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Inquisition Acolytes & painting plans for 2018


This is a post of two halves orbiting around the theme of I PAINTED THIS. Over the last year, Ive made the shocking discovery that having deadlines results in getting stuff done. Conversely, anything without a deadline was either done slowly or not at all. Fancy that.

Annual hobby progress log & plans for 2018
Lately Ive been doing the hobby equivalent of spring cleaning: finishing off the last little bits of various projects. Last year was billed as the Year of Finishing, and Id call it a moderate success. In 2017 I


Things I didnt cross off the list included finishing the Cadians I got a while back. Whilst I painted the platoon, I still needed to paint the kasrkin/storm troopers I got off ebay. Well now theyre done, with a head swap to boot. Theres a few things Id like to add to that army, but they can wait. For now, Ive painted everything I bought.

The head is from Statuesque Miniatures.


2018 is looking like a mixture of backlog clearance and new stuff:

1. Finish Inquisition & Deathwatch stuff (partially done, as per 2nd half of this post).
2. Complete all half-done Empire bits in time for a huge battle with Maisey in early June, including:
     - General on griffon
     - 20x greatswords
     - 5x outriders
     - 10x crossbowmen
     - 20-30x free company
     - 2-4x knights (so that I no longer have a useless unit of 8!)
     - Engineer
3. Renovate & expand Skazzwuzzle’s Bloo Moons with more goblins and… gasp… orcs! The greenskin stuff is for something I’m running for Jeff & Maisey in late November 2018, and is a pretty huge project. I’ve already got the models, many of them half-painted… but they'll need a lot of love before they get anywhere near my gaming table. Should keep me busy for the second half of the year.

Hopefully with all that I’ll find the time for one or two tiny side-projects. I really want to paint a few primaris marines, because they’re so goddamn pretty, and it would also be nice to finish the Sisyphean task that is the wizard’s tower, which has been on the workbench for… a while.


New acolytes for Inquisitor Drake
Inquisitor Drake is one of those characters where I wrote him as an NPC about a decade ago, and he sort of pootled his way into becoming my player-character in Inq28. Im OK with his characterisation, but his major failing, for me, is that he has a name which I pulled out of my ass at short notice and am now stuck with. Does he change it by deed poll? Do I retcon it? Or do I just accept Drakes name even though it suffers from coming off like its trying to say Im a badass and totes named after some famous British dude with a boat?

Either way, Inquisitor Badass Name now has some new acolytes. Or rather, he has one new acolyte, and two acolytes who were painted years ago but for some reason never properly based.

Miniature available from Statuesque Miniatures.

This is Nadiya Zelenko. She was an unsanctioned psyker living in seclusion atop a derelict hab stack in Hive Sejanus. Drakes team got a tip-off and brought her in (why yes, that was an actual mission that we played through, and I told myself if the players did a great job Id make Nadiya a recurring character).

Drake pulled strings to ensure that following her basic training in the Scholastika Psykana, she was released to his service, as he wanted someone who knew the area, and furthermore was feeling increasingly exposed given the total lack of psykers on his team. Since shes new, shes got basic equipment: the ubiquitous body glove, a sidearm, and a battle rifle that means she can stay back from the horror of close quarter combat whilst she hones her martial skills. Having been effectively rescued from a potentially very short life of terror and solitude by Drakes team, shes inexperienced but dedicated. Behind her back, others in the team refer to her as an idealist with a rosy view of the Inquisitions purpose. Drake sees this as a quality more than a flaw, but then, those same people think Drake is an idealist too.


Next up is Acolyte Ashar Lear, which is Alexs player character in Inq28. Agent Lear is a pariah who has all the indoctrination and enthusiasm the Schola Progenium had to offer, and all the charisma and intelligence of a sea cucumber. She looks forward to the day she becomes a full Inquisitor, but in Alexs words, that day will never come, because shes just not that smart. She dresses the part, though, and has become lethal in a fight.

The miniature is from Hasslefree. Her melee weapon is sculpted as a chainsword, although Alex was keener on the notion of having a power sword (clearly she hasnt got on board with the 40K brand of ultraviolence). Thus, I shaved the resin weapon down until it had an edge.

Ashar Lear
With Inquisitor Badass Names warband complete, at least for the time being, heres a family photo. Yes, I know, the base rims are inconsistent. Charadon Granite doesnt exist any more and Im waiting for something similarly off-grey to turn up in the post. That said, putting mid-brown on the others might be a good shout given how much it'll help them blend into a bigger variety of gaming boards.


In terms of how to use these guys in 40K, its imperfect, but breaks down like this:
  • Drake: Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, 5PL
  • Sera Jentiva, death cult assassin (if opponent accepts, am only using 1 assassin with 3 wounds, rather than the 2 assassins with 1 wound you get by default slightly more durable, but half as killy), 1PL*
  • Ashar Lear, acolyte with power sword and plasma pistol, 1PL
  • Maria Blue Ruggieri (the woman in the bodyglove with duel pistols who definitely isnt hunting werewolves or played by Kate Beckinsale, whose two pistols will have to count as a single bolt pistol), acolyte, 1PL
  • Savant Silvio Mendoza (the nutter with the book and the flamer-staff who really shouldnt be out in the field but finds it all terribly exciting), acolyte with flamer, 1PL
  • Nadiya Zelenko, acolyte with bolter (closest thing in the list to a high-powered rifle), 1PL
  • 4 Stohlbard Dragoons, count as an astra militarum command squad with plasma gun, 2PL
  • 2x techpriest enginseers, 4PL
  • Valkyrie gunship, 8PL
  • Total power level: 20
  • Command points: 1 (Vanguard detachment, 1 HQ, 6 Elites, 1 flyer).

Is all that worth 20PL? Maybe in conjunction with an actual army. The enginseers will certainly help keep my mechanised guard afloat! The only future plans I have with these Inquisition chaps is the possibility of adding a second Valkyrie and a squad of Inquisition storm troopers. I already have an old metal unit of them painted, but it occurs to me that the overly-ornate tempestus scion models might actually look kind of OK in Drakes antiquarian colour scheme.

Right. Onwards! To the Deathwatch! Theres nothing like finishing things to get me excited to finish even more things.

Comments

  1. That Inq28 warband looks absolutely brilliant!!

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  2. The joys of dedicated paintind days and a looming deadline (or peadling as I'm now going to call it) are about the only way to progress as I can see it.

    Long live peadling!!!

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    1. The evidence reveals the truth of your words, sir. Peadle for Victory!

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  3. Is that power level from the index then? I haven't picked up any of the new codices, but being able to figure my warband's PL ought to come in handy. I'd like to get them out to ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ play.

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    1. Yep, you can do it all through Index Imperium 2, although I do also have the Imperial Guard Codex. Er, I mean, Codex "Astra Militarum."

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  4. I like Drake's name, it gives him the air of badassery that Drake himself (from what i know of him) would be entirely fed up with. It fits his sardonic nature pretty well i think.

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    1. Funnily enough I did have it written into his background that he hates his name, so your instincts serve you well XD

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  5. If anyone were to enquire, you could always claim that he was named for the popular "r'un'bee" singer, rather than the charming naval hero. Oh, lovely work, btw.

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    1. Ha! Thanks, now I'll have to bust some fresh rhymes whenever I play him.

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