Rogue Trader Era Vortex Weapons Et Cetera

I have never ever used these in a game, although they captured my attention back in the late 1980s. Looking at a copy  of RT the other day, the rules in there are fun.   In retrospect, the thing almost seems iconic, like Jokaero Digital Weapons and those crazy fat Marines and bulbous Tyranids.  And Ambulls.  And Sand Clams.  I mean, what's not to like?  A bomb that makes razorwire!  A grav-tank from a deodorant stick!  It would even smell manly, except for all the craft-ichlorians!

New Arrival, Spanner-Brother Norrin.  He's in the dip, awaiting colour reassignment.

I don't know about the most recent Vortex stuff; I guess there's a dataslate and it's given a treatment in the Fortress Assault rule book, maybe.  I saw a copy of that the other day and it was cool, but essentially a catalog of the dreary skulls and arches terrain.  Don't get me wrong, I like that stuff, but I'm seeing now why people call it 40K$.  A 'D' template weapon as big as a 2-liter bottle of coke, to shoot at your stomping Knight and make all the little guys irrelevant.

Back to the subject, it seems to me like you'd need a couple of turns worth of trenches, a 3 inch blast marker, and a ping pong ball on a base. Could be a fun thing to scratch build. I'll need to think on it for a spell.  I already envision how to paint and base it, with one of those dumb electronic tea lights.  It's going to be freakin' sweet.

Also, I'm done buying new GW stuff, and done hunting it up on eBay. Aside from Spanner-Brother Norrin up above, I am losing my interest in collecting. I got sniped about 4 times for Genestealer Hybrids and a sweet RT dread, and  I think rather than go through the heartache anymore, I will just convert things and make due.  Like, welcome to my table everyone, as long as your shit has a lick of paint then it's all good.

Speaking of making due, I turned a bunch of junk into almost-terrain tonight. Just a couple of hours of greebles-ing and all this junk will be ready for a layer of PVA wash and some spray paint.  I figure two weeks or so and I should have a pretty playable Underhive ready and willing and able.  I had 3 cans of oldish spray paint seize up on me Sunday and so I went into a Red Fugue and slew everyone in this hab-block, but I figure maybe they were just cold or old or both. Like me that morning.

I'm going to add to my list of "must dos" a couple of feet of slimy canals full of purplish goo, a big factorium where the Taint Cola cult can live and brood/breed, some ratty shacks on CD bases, a couple of destroyed corners-from-styrofoam, 1 big- and 2 or 3 medium- dimensional lumber and laminate flooring hive platforms.  The laminate is 8 inches by 48 inches.  I have a lot of cool plans for stackable stuff, so we may see some height in this Hive.  I look forward to slogging some Marines and 'Nids across it.  You can see I have a bit of a new thing for trying to figure out how to convert scraps of dimensional lumber into gaming terrain.  My system isn't close to perfect at the moment, and I never have the time to cut stuff the way I want to (in my brain) so the miter saw sits and sulks and I make due with the stuff I almost threw away from under our deck.  I persevered in the same manner a Hiver wouldn't throw away anything found, and so here:

Is it junk? Terrain? Terrain made from junk? What do these hivers build their homes of, anyhow?

Also, you ought to check out Inquisimunda.  It's the bees knees, and takes the urgent, mixed squads feel I loved about RT and plops it into an Underhive I already love. I dig Inq28, but nobody wants to play on account of ITS A NARRATIVE GAME or something

After I get the table and terrain ready, I think I'm going to learn to sculpt and cast figs. We'll see.

Archaeotech Stash

an old Nintendo cartridge becomes much-needed counters for my tabletop.  I found it on our post-dinner promenade and it was literally, no fooling, in a ditch behind a house near the trail and so

I will use the guts for treasure and the case for shelter.  Ratskins will revere these and guard them from intrepid gangers.

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On the Kludging of Terrain

(kiopik7y8ooikoiloloikuiikuiooju

Let it be known that this was from me having brown acrylic paint on my fingers as I typed and then I got it all over the place and those letters are from me wiping it down.)

Ahem.

Got some stuff done, mostly tinkering around with terrain ideas and that kind of thing.  Downloaded some posters and printed them out on this stuff, which is great for literally painting propaganda onto every square inch of your underhive:

Here is a semi-finished minor project, probably a platform to connect with some shady-ass gantry to another shady-ass platform.  The figs look right at home on it, and it's good to see.  Now, only a hundred more like that and I'll be happy happy happy.

Uh, I think everybody ought to have access to the posters 'n' stuff that I found, but part of the process is finding out what works best for you, and maybe I will do up some old vintage ads in the form of GW-universe appropriate stuff.

Here's a great one to get you started and may Bull Gorg hear this being's pleas for mercy when the time is nigh:

http://recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.com/2011/08/propaganda-and-information-posters.html
 
The Emperor Protects!

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BONUS

Classic vs Recent Figs

I got a bunch of old Genestealers in the mail from eBay, the kind of thing that I get all twitterpated about since it was such a steal. In went the worst of the bunch into the piney, briny drink to get rid of what appears to have been a coat of light blue Testors or some really thick and chunky acrylic paint.

Some interesting things stand out right away.  These GS are blue-green on the insides; maybe signifying from an old edition of Space Hulk or something, I'm not exactly clear.  Also, I dig the movement of the newer ones but the older ones have a charm and stick out in fun ways (the tail protrudes instead of laying flat against the leg). The older ones are a little chunkier and more compact and have cooler greebles, IMHO

Also, this paint job is probably about on par with what I am able to do a couple years ago without dissemination into my brain-zone of key painting memes, and I actually like the splotchiness of it.

Anyway, probably going to try a black undercoat and hit it with some directional two-tone and a bunch of washes to build it up. I'm a classical, conservative Purist when it comes to coloration on these, as I think I have stated in the past. I might try to give them a little more on-purpose mottling and veins and such.  If I don't paint the 2 catachan squads up as tainted Traitors, then it's going to be all Dug-In Claw-to-Claw action.

Scratchbuilt Terrain and Squads WIP

Some stuff I'm whittling away the time with tonight. I find that painting little metal people and hacking together stuff soothes me in a way that thinking about RPG stuff does not do. Taking pictures of it is fun, also.  Also, I got outbid for a RT-era Furibundus, and I don't think I ought to follow through on it, and pray the Emperor forgives me.  I haven't seen one for sale in a while and probably ought to wrap my head around never fulfilling that teen-me's mission...  A coward dies a thousand thousand deaths, as they say.

First up, Hazmat-Control Scouts for my DA Successor Clan, led by Scout Sergeant Brother Dole and accompanied by Warp-Containment Librarian-in-Training Brother Markov.  Their Scout Armor is shrouded in a protective layer of synth-skin to keep the air inside fresh and pure. Markov has been in training for quite some time and his armour is an old and rarely scene legacy pattern...  He bears the scars of recent psychik surgery and is always in a terrible mood, and prone to issue citations indiscriminately.

Newest old-skool additions to the Brood of Taint Cola, with S&H on eBay, they come to about 1.15 a piece.  To Strip, or just re-prime and start again?

My new policy is, if you end up near a lasgun, take it and shoot something.

New Policy: a liberal sprinkling of lasrifles, goo, and grid-grating.  I made that up.

Grid Grating is some kind of acrylic drywall patching tape, in my case found behind the dryer of the rental.  So free, and keeping with my low-rent style.

Punching out the keys on a flimsy work throw-away.  Makes interesting bits (see below)

A box of keys.  Uh, conduit.  Uh, panels.  Uh, viewscreens.  We'll see.

A gunner's nest, from a paint-drip catcher.  1.98 at Lowe's.

Well, if you're like me then this post has jus' about put you to sleep.  Good Night, and Consume and Obey, Citizen!

"Have you got a permit for that rat-on-a-stick cart, Citizen?  If not, I can issue you a citation and then you'll need to submit to a gene-scan, and so help me if you show any signs of corruption.  Is that a can of Taint you're drinking, there?  Give me two cans, five squigdogs, and a rat-burger.  Okay, looks like your permit's in order.  Move along."