Sunday, October 10, 2010

Killzone WIP: Rogue Trader Crew

One of the things I enjoy the most about Killzone is the amount of customization available when it comes to putting together your Special Ops team. There are so many options that it is really easy to personalize your team and make each member feel like a unique individual. Add to this the strong narrative element found in games of Killzone and your team naturally becomes a characterful cast of either protagonists or antagonists. For today's 10.10.10 blitz I wanted to assemble a new team with as much emphasis on this as I could muster. After much procrastination and dithering I finally settled on making a Rogue Trader accompanied by his closest associates.

I came up short in my push to get everything painted and did not finish in time for today's festivities. It was a fun few days trying to make it and I'm still happy with how much I was able to get done. What follows therefore is a review of my progress and some notes about each team member with details on likely wargear, abilities and such. I made it as WYSIWYG as I could without resorting to any conversion work, though there are a few cases where I deviated from this standard and these are pointed out as well. To represent my Rogue Trader crew I am using the Witch Hunters Codex rules for the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor and Henchmen.

Rogue Trader Scorpio

Rogue Trader Henri Marcellus Scorpio (Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor): laspistol, power weapon, digital weapons, frag grenades, melta bombs, Psychic Power - Scourging, Refractor Field. 81 points. I wanted my team leader to be armed with something stronger than a laspistol upgraded with either the Twin-Linked or Extra Shot specialist skill as I had initially considered. That's why I gave him the psychic attack Scourging with the WIP fluff explanation that it represents his fancy dueling pistols, perhaps psychically attuned to him or coming from some other exotic alien technology. Of course he sports the mandatory Jokaero digital weaponry as well. : )

Dietrich (left) and Prugg (right)

Arch-Militant Xiomara Dietrich (Acolyte Henchman): bolt pistol, power weapon, frag grenades, General Skill: 6+ invulnerable save. 25 points. Scorpio's dodgy bodyguard, armed with a big pistol and a nasty power spike.

Void Master Gustav Prugg (Acolyte Henchman): plasma pistol, close combat weapon, frag grenades, +1 Toughness. 39 points.

Lovejoy (left) and Sphek (right)

Father Bastian Lovejoy, Imperial Missionary (Warrior Henchman): hell pistol, close combat weapon, frag and krak grenades, Specialist Skill: Twin-Linked. 20 points. In this case I couldn't figure out how to switch out the single hell pistol for something more appropriate based on the model I'm using. I'm therefore going with the fluff explanation that they are a pair of autopistols loaded up with armor piercing rounds.

Senior Armsman Vigo Sphek (Warrior Henchman): shotgun, close combat weapon, frag and krak grenades, +1 Strength. 25 points. I think his bionic arm is a cool little detail and gave him the stat upgrade to go along with it.

Lamont (left) and Sprungfeld (right)

Gun-Servitor Lamont (Warrior Henchman): heavy bolter. 25 points.

Chief Steward Hans Sprungfeld (Acolyte Henchman): laspistol, power weapon, frag and krak grenades. 21 points. Scorpio's personal valet and wielder of a huge sword.

Dauterive (left) and Niku (right)

"Doc" Rolando Dauterive (Chirurgeon Henchman): laspistol, close combat weapon, medipack. 20 points.

Trade Seneschal Serpi Niku (Sage Henchman): laspistol and close combat weapon. 10 points.

Lord Winthrop

Lord Winthrop, Cyber-Mastiff (Death-Cult Assassin): power weapon and additional close combat weapon. 40 points.

Alright, that's what I've got so far for my Rogue Trader crew. If you tally up the points for each model you will see that the total is well above the recommended Killzone ceiling of 250. There are also eight total henchmen but an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor is limited to a maximum of six. My plan is to select the actual team members from this group with consideration for the point size, story, or type of game I want to play. It should usually then just be a matter of adding or subtracting a piece of wargear or a specialist skill for the final points balancing, thus giving me what I hope will be a very versatile team.

Here are some sample lists based off of the above descriptions. Modifications are noted but otherwise assume everything else is as described for each model.

200 Points: Scorpio, Dietrich, Prugg, Lovejoy, Sphek, Niku.

225 Points: Scorpio w/ +1 Leadership, Dietrich, Prugg, Lovejoy, Sphek, Dauterive.

250 Points: Scorpio, Dietrich, Prugg, Lovejoy, Sphek, Dauterive, Lord Winthrop.

I will post updates as I finish painting these models. I also have plans for a rival team to match up against these guys and will begin working on it after finishing this group. So expect more Killzone to come. Blitz on!

14 comments:

  1. That is one outfrakingstanting looking team! I love the whole Rogue Trader theme!

    -Jim

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  2. I love the theme, I have used the WH codex for this sort of thing for a long time. There is just nothing else like it if you want to make a colorful cast of characters.

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  3. +1 to BJ said!

    LOVED Lord Wintrhop!!! Freaking cool!!!

    Nice team!

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  4. Damn those are great!

    What model did you use for Lord Winthrop?

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  5. Thats an eclectic mix of models Papps. Love the Dorden (Dauterive) and Jerich (Scorpio) models. Niku is probably one of my all time favourite GW sculpts - took me a long time to track him down from ebay but was stoked when I got him. Are Lovejoy and Sphrek old Necro sculpts?

    Also like the Simpson references - ties in nicely to the Blistonnians.

    Not bad for a couple of days effort.

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  6. Yep Lovejoy and Sphrek are Necro Hired Guns of I remembered.

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  7. Absolutely tremendous. You've nailed the concept, and the narrative elements you've created are absolutely bulletproof: Lord Winthrop FTW.

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  8. @ Loquacious - Thank you, I appreciate that! Hopefully once they're all painted I'll be able to take some better photos of these miniatures and will get them posted. Thanks again, Loquacious!

    @ Big Jim - Thank you, sir! I'm glad you like the team and that I could make my contribution to the Blitz. Thanks again for all the work you and your committee have put in to make Killzone such a great experience.

    @ CounterFett - Thanks! There are so many possibilities using the WH book, it really is a gold mine for cool ideas to adapt. I actually wanted to make a similar Ordo Hereticus based "Rogue Trader" group for use in the Imperial Guard army I was collecting but just never got around to it before my efforts on the army fizzled out. I was really excited about returning to that idea once I realized I could make use a Rogue Trader for Killzone, too. Once again Killzone has helped me find a purpose for old models, thank you for helping Big Jim make this possible.

    @ Nesbet - Haha, thanks Nesbet! I'm happy you like Lord Winthrop, he is probably my favorite of the bunch.

    @ Lord Shaper - Thank you very much, I appreciate that! Lord Winthrop is the cyber-mastiff miniature included in the current Arbites Patrol Team for Necromunda.

    @ Rogue Pom - Thank you, that's great to hear because eclectic is exactly what I was going for. These are all models that I picked up over the years without any plans for how I would use, I just knew that I liked them and would enjoy painting them someday. The henchman model I used for Niku is one of my favorites as well, the range of miniatures for Daemonhunters and Witch Hunters offer a lot of characterful pieces. I hope we get more like this when these armies are updated because they add a lot of 40k flavor not otherwise found in the more usual type of combatant miniatures.

    As Lord Shaper noted, those two are indeed old Necromunda hired guns. I think it's too bad those guys are no longer in production. Also I'm glad you liked the Simpsons references, I just could not resist the opportunity since I knew I wanted each of them named. I didn't want to go too far overboard, though. Thanks for all the feedback, Rogue Pom, I appreciate it!

    @ b.smoove - Thank you!! I really wanted to build a sense of story into this group of miniatures and so I'm very glad that I was able to express that aspect of Killzone gaming. It's been a lot of fun thinking about who these team members are as I paint them and plan on giving each a little background. I'm happy to know that Lord Winthrop was a good choice, I like him too. : ) Thanks, b.!

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  9. Killzone!! I'm hoping it becomes the savior of mini gaming in my gaming group ... after years of being hardcore GW gamers ... then taking a year or two off ... we all abjectly hate the competitive developments within the hobby. Our local store is a GW wonderland ... but its populated with jerky tool ultra power gamers. So we have had to stay in the bunker ... with only 6 of us ... a few of us who don't currently have armies (though I have plenty of loners) ... its just been a struggle getting it all going. Kill team, Necromunda, etc. weren't really good options for us ... just too different from actual 40K. I just discovered Killzone over the past week ... so I'm hoping its a better fit that will allow us all to play scaled down versions of our armies while we slowly build back to the standard games (if we ever do).

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  10. Anyway your blog looks like an awesome treasure trove of info along these lines!! Thank you!!

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  11. Thank you! I'm similarly excited about Killzone and am very happy to share my enthusiasm for it. I hope Killzone is able to bring some 40k fun back to your gaming group, and as you noted it's a great way to start playing again as you build up to full armies if you do end up wanting to play bigger games. Thanks again for taking an interest in the blog, I appreciate it very much. I'll definitely be posting more about Killzone as I get more time to tinker with lists and play some more games.

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  12. Lovely stuff! Sourcing models for Rogue Traders is harder than it looks isn't it ;-)

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  13. You're right, it's definitely a challenge to find good models that look appropriate particularly now as more of the specialist lines are reduced. It does make it fun though when you find ones that you really like. Even though I still haven't finished painting this bunch it's still one of my favorite sets of minis. I really appreciate you taking a look at this group... thank you very much, Colonel Kane!

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