Another Turnip28 Regiment: The 31st Pumpkin Fusiliers.

 Whilst I am still sorting through my Rogue Trader Traitor Legions, I have been distracted by a Turnip28 again. The end result of this distraction is that I tackled a kit bashing project I meant to do in time for Halloween.

Some time ago I noticed that a company called Anvil Industries produced a variety of different 28mm heads. Looking through them I noticed the Pumpkin Heads and thought that these would be great to use to convert up some miniatures for Turnip28. The link to the pumpkin heads can be found here: https://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/pumpkin-heads-regiments

The kit bashing was very simple. I used a mix of Perry Miniatures French Infantry 1812-1815 and Warlord Miniatures Napoleonic French Infantry bodies, and just head swapped the heads for the pumpkin ones. I added some grass tufts to the miniatures to look like roots and growths, and they were finished. They were fun, quick, and easy to make, and I really enjoying kit bashing again. It has given me a few ideas and wish to make a few more regiments in 2022 at some point.

Enjoy :)

The 31st Pumpkin Fusilier Regiment.
(I named them the 31st after the date of Halloween).
It consists of one Toff, two Toadies, three units of Fodder, and one unit of Chaff.
For those of you who have no idea about this, the core rules can be found here:
https://www.patreon.com/Turnip28/posts?filters%5Btag%5D=Turnip%20Rules

The three Snobs: the Toff in the centre, flanked by his two Toadies.
For these Snob miniatures, and the Chaff light infantry, I have added some other pumpkins Anvil Industries produce for basing, just to differentiate them from the mass of Fodder. 

The Toff.
I used the French Officer torso for this miniature as he is the regiments commander, and I used one of the pumpkin heads with a hat to give him a dandy look.

Toadie.
I  have used an old Citadel Skeleton arm with sword to give him that slightly different look, and a light infantryman's torso.

Toadie.
This Toadie has a couple of Victix British Officers arms to give him a sword, and given his leaning pose, I thought a reaching out arm made him look that little bit more creepy. I again used a Light Infantryman's torso.

Chaff.
These are a form of Light Infantry. I have used the light Infantry bodies, and a few of the scenic pumpkins for the bases.

The first unit of Fodder.

Unit Standard.
I have swapped the Imperial Eagle for a piece of brass wire with a large pumpkin head on top. The banner itself is just thin plasi-card. One of the pumpkin sets, the hollowed out set, came with a tiny little spoon, which I added to the banner top for fun.

Drummer.

A pair of random Pumpkin Fusiliers.

Another pair of Pumpkin Fusiliers.

A third pair of Pumpkin Fusiliers, this time in uniform jackets rather than greatcoats.

The second unit of Fodder.

Drummer.
In the Perry Miniatures box set there are three drums, but only one drummer model. I was keen to have a drummer in each of the units, and so I assembled the drums, and glued one of a random miniatures back in placed of the knapsack.

Another pair of random Pumpkin Fusiliers, this time in Shakos.

A cold and lost looking Pumpkin Fusilier.

The tired unit of Pumpkin Fusiliers.

A second drummer with stowed drum.

A few rear views of random Pumpkin Fusiliers.

No idea what my next blog update will be on, I didn't expect to do this update on this subject! I am currently painting a Maniple of Khornate Robots, but I do have a mind to paint the 31st Pumpkin Fusiliers.

Rogue Trader robots

 As a quick aside, I have been basing lot of different things for my Rogue Trader era Traitor Legions and today I have been assembling and basing Robots. I had already based the Cataphract robots, but completed the others, and thought I would share. 

Enjoy :)

Rogue Trader Robot artwork.
The rules and artwork were first released in August 1988, and later re-printed in the Warhammer 40,000 Compendium.

Robots!
In the rules, robots are organised into Maniples of four of the same type of  robot, plus a Techmarine for the whole Maniple.
Here, from front to rear, I have a Maniple each of Crusader, Cataphract, and Colossus robots.
They are all based on Citadel round 50mm bases. I think this gives the miniatures a little bit more room to look better. 

Crusader robots.
These are a close combat robots, armed with powers sword (located in the arms I assume, I never really knew), and normally a Las-Cannon on the back. However, mine have the Heavy Bolter option, which given their anti-personal role, I think suits them better.
I intent to paint them in the Crusader Khornate colour scheme of red and black in the artwork behind them.

Cataphract.
The Cataphract is described as a general all-purpose battle robot, and the mix of weapons, bolter, flamer, and Las-cannon, suggests that.
I am unsure of their eventual colour scheme as there was no Traitor colour scheme for Traitor Legion Cataphracts. They may end up as part of the Sons of Horus and so may follow their armour colour, or I might use the generic black Traitor colour scheme in the artwork.

Front and back of the Cataphract.

Colossus class robots.
I have shown the front and rear views here.
These are described as siege robots, and the big siege hammer as the left arm helps reinforce that idea. They are also equipped with ta bolter on the right arm, and a rear mounted melt gun.
These will be painted in the Colossus Khornate colour scheme of red and black in the artwork behind them.

Now with the Colossus robots I only had three complete ones. The fourth was missing arms and a back unit which holds the Melta gun. I thought there might be something on e-bay, but to no avail. I did however have two spare robot arms without any weapons, and so I added an RTB01 bolter the the right arm, and scratch built a ball and chain for the left arm, reminiscent of the Samson class of Imperial Siege Dreadnought.

Rear view.
To replace the weapon mount I added a lance from the Rogue Trader era Juggernaut kit, with an idea to add banner to it later on. I didn't bother to try to add a Melta gun somewhere as I thought it would detract from the miniature, and as it's a conversion, people would be aware of that it should be equipped the same as the others in the Maniple.

Next update with be on the Rogue Trader era Night Lords, which I promised last time, but I still haven't painted the shoulder pads!

Rogue Trader era Alpha Legion Traitor Marines.

 With all the sorting, organising, and rebasing of my Rogue Trader/Slaves to Darkness era Traitor Legions, I thought it was about time I actually painted some of them. So I chose a small, quick and easy Slaaneshi organised squad, and chose a colour scheme which I have been wishing to try out. 

I have chosen the Alpha Legion squad, but this is probably not an Alpha Legion many people would recognise now. As mentioned previously on my blog,  I am planning to organise and paint my Traitor Legions in accordance with Rogue Trader/Slaves to Darkness era information. Much of this comes from the Slaves to Darkness book itself, as well as some of the White Dwarf magazines, and information from the Space Marine game. At this time (1988 to about 1991) there was not a great deal of detailed information on any the Traitor Legions, especially those less well know ones such as the Alpha Legion. It was mainly the World Eaters, Emperors Children, Death Guard, and Thousand Sons which received more information as they were the primary Legions representing the four major Chaos Powers, and to a lesser extent The Sons of Horus.

Concerning the Alpha Legion, my main source is from the artwork found on page 166 of Slaves to Darkness. Here there is a composite artwork of the Slaaneshi aligned Traitor Legions, which at this time we were informed were: The Emperors Children; The Iron Warriors; and The Alpha Legion. With this in mind I have chosen to organise these three Legions around the Emperors Children list in the Slaves to Darkness book as it seemed to make sense. There is a generic entry in the Lost and the Danmed book concerning The Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion, but this is only as add-ons to the Death Guard and Thousand Sons army lists, and isn't very interesting. I thought it would not be as fun to assemble as a Legion assembled using the Slaaneshi list.

Painting wise, the Alpha Legion shoulder pads are shown as a mid vibrant green, with bright red trim. There are no references to the rest of the armour colours, so I made the decision that this would be the colour scheme for the legion, something I probably would have done at the time. There are a few examples of Chaos Marines painted green, but whilst these could be Alpha Legion, I don't think this was anything more than just people painting miniatures how they wished. I also chose only to have the edges of the should pads red, as opposed to any other trim on the armour. I have done this so they would
not look too similar to the way many Nurgle Marines which were painted at the time.

Anyway, the background, or ' canon' as it appears to be referred to now, was a lot less developed then and everything was a little more fluid. In the intervening years the background, armour colours, etc have been expanded and revised, but in the Rogue Trader/Slaves to Darkness era, to which I am abiding, this is what I have. For my 'of the time'* approach to the Traitor Legions, the last 30 or so years are irrelevant. I think it is kind of fun approach, and I am enjoying it.

*'of the time'- by this I mean only using miniatures and conversion parts available from the Rogue Trader era, and using the paint schemes and army lists from the time. I have allowed myself the use of some of the newer shaped bases because some basing, especially of vehicles such as bikes, was not standard and often home made bases were used. 

Enjoy :)

Page 166 of Slaves to Darkness.

Alpha Legion Squad.
The six Traitor Marines, including a Sergeant and special weapon trooper, which comprises a Slaaneshi squad. Six, or course, being the favoured number of Slaanesh. 

Sergeant, with power glove.
This miniature was listed a 'Four Arms' in the 1991 Catalogue. 

Flamer.
This miniature is listed as the Nurgle Renegade 'Tentacle arm and Flamer'.

In order to make the number of plastic Chaos backpacks which I have go further, for some of the Marines I am using alternatives to the backpack. I also think it gives a little more variety. For the flamer armed Marines I have converted some fuel tanks, and in this case green stuffed some tentacles around it. 

Chaos Renegade.
He is 'Bolter 13' from the 1991 Catalogue.
I like the sword like bayonet, and the textured shoulder pad.

Chaos Renegade.
He is Slaaneshi Renegade 'Bolter 6'.
I should really have photographed he left shoulder pad as it has a little Slaaneshi rune on it, which I have painted yellow in line with the Alpha legions use of yellow for markings.

Chaos Renegade.
He is 'Bolter 10' in the 1991 Catalogue.

Chaos Renegade.
He is 'Bolter 9' in the 1991 Catalogue.

Next blog update will probably be the Night Lords squad which I am working on. I have been using the original  C100 Space Marines for the Tactical Squads, to give them an old school look, and in line with a piece of Slave to Darkness artwork.

Photography background.

 As I have been finally painting again, I have decided that it would be a nice idea to have a better background for photography than the Slaves to Darkness book. A quick skip dive (I did ask permission from the builders!) yielded a couple smaller than hoped for  pieces of wood, but which will suffice for the time being until I can make a proper and larger photography box.

Not much to this really. Two pieces of wood nailed together at a right angle. The ground part painted with Citadel's Agrellan Earth, in line with the bases for the Traitor Legions. The sky was based loosely on the Galaxy decoration on shoes and bags, and was only really a few colours. There are tutorials online on how to do it, mainly aimed at painting Converse shoes. 

Enjoy :)

The two pieces nailed together.

Base coats.

Painted! It took my about half an hour to paint after the base coats had dried.

Close up details of the galaxy sky.

A C100 Space Marine moves across an alien landscape. The Marine is a WIP, and has been painted up as a Rogue Trader era Horus Heresy Night Lord Marine. I just need to paint the shoulder pad symbols and double check the rest of it. More on these later...

Next update will be the Rogue Trader era  Alpha Legion Marines which I have already painted. 

Rogue Trader / Slaves to Darkness era Land Speeder Traitor Legionaires.

More assembling and basing of the Traitor Legions, although I have finally started painting something again!

I have always been intrigued by the idea of mounted a Chaos Marine squad on vehicles, and not just upon the more ordinary jet bikes and chaos steeds. In the Slaves to Darkness book there is a section which details how one can mount entire squads on bike and sidecars, and on Land Speeders. I thought Land Speeders would be very Rogue trader, so I set about picking up the odd Land Speeder here and there over the years. Of course, doing this presents several problems.

Firstly are the number of Land Speeders involved. Each Land Speeder requires a Tech Marine who is required to be a co-driver. This means in practice that in order to field a squad on Land Speeders you require one per Marine in the squad. For the Sons of Horus that would be ten, World Eaters eight, and Emperors Children six. This is no casual undertaking. Of course, if one wanted to field a single or a couple of Land Speeders, personalities can be mounted with a Tech Marine co-driver. However, there is something quite old school epic about fielding a full Land Speeder squad. With this in mind I chose one the Slaaneshi Legions* to be the host of a Land Speeder squad, thus 'only' requiring six Land Speeders.

Secondly is the points cost. Land Speeders are 200 points each. Six Land Speeders are therefore 1,200 points. Six Tech Marines (with Bolt Guns). One Tactical squad of Slaaneshi Marines (with the Sergeant upgraded with a  Power Glove) 168 points. The total for the whole squad therefore being 1,488 points. This is quite pricey, even for a Rogue Trader era squad, although as they are part of a larger 10,000 point Legion I think that some expensive squads such as this can be purchased as part of the larger whole, with cheaper units balancing out the Legion.

Finally, there is actually finding the Land Speeders. Not being 1988, it is more difficult to purchase some of the Rogue Trader era items now. On e-Bay Land Speeders are usually quite expensive, and so patience (and a little bit of tactically deployed disposable income) has been required, although I already owned three from 'back in the day'.

As an aside, Nico has constructed a lovely World Eater Land Speeder, as well several other World Eater items, and can be found on his blog below:
http://nico-realmsofchaos.blogspot.com/2020/11/world-eaters-landspeeder.html

*A note on my Traitor Legion organisation:
I am assembling the Traitor Legions in the style and manner of the Rogue Trader era. With this concept in mind I am making the assumption that the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion are Slaaneshi Legions, and so I will base their army lists on the Emperor's Children list. Conversely, I shall base the Word Bearers and Night Lords on the Khornate World Eater list. The justification for doing this is the Traitor Legion illustration and artwork on pages 167 and 168 of the Slaves to Darkness book, which I have included in the blog below. I am also using the colour schemes mentioned here too for them. I think this adds a little bit of variety and fun.

Enjoy :)

Land Speeder Squad, destined to be part of my Rogue Trader era Alpha Legion army.
I have based them on round 60mm Citadel plastic bases to give the more stability and I think they just look better bases. Throughout the squad I have kept a mix of the old Mark VI crew, and mixed in a few of the mounted Renegade miniatures to give that Traitor Legion feel.

Sergeants Land Speeder.
For the driver I have used a loyalist Mark VI bike crewman with the goggles. I had to bend the legs together and remove the bolt pistol on his right leg to make him fit onto the seat.

Sergeants Land Speeder, right hand view.
I have replaced both of the crew. For the sergeant I have used one of the mounted Renegades legs and body, but have replaced the bolt gun with a plastic RTB01 Power Gloves. I had to bend the legs a little to make him fit onto the seat. 

Land Speeder with a Bloodletter Renegade head. Although this will be a Slaaneshi Legion squad, I find that some of the renegade miniatures are interchangeable between Chaos Powers. This one looks very H.R.Giger inspired anyway, so I'm not too concerned.

Another Renegade body riding shotgun bolt gun.

A head swap for this original Mark VI crewman. I was going to use a horse skull, but I have already converted a couple of miniatures with those already, so thought I would try a human skull instead.

The final pair of Land Speeders, still with their original Mark VI crew.

The Slaves to Darkness army list entry for mounting personalties and squads on vehicles.

The artwork of a hover board riding Renegade on page 258 of Slaves to Darkness...

...which inspired me with the idea of creating it. The artwork already matched a Renegade miniature, albeit facing left instead of right. So I picked up a Citadel Judge Dredd range hover board and here is the miniature. Not really much of a conversion, but a nice idea. He will end up with the Alpha Legion as well. 

Page 167 of Slaves to Darkness. This illustration, and the entry below it, detail the Slaaneshi Legions, with the names of the Legions, banners, armour colours, and a little background. It suggests that the Alpha Legion wear green armour (maybe with some red trim), whilst the Iron Warriors wear a mid blue, and the Emperor's Children a mix of colours (also detailed in the rest of the book). I will be paint the Legion like this as they meant to be in the 1988 to 1991 approach, rather than how the Traitor Legions colour schemes evolved in the background over the years since. I will do a blog update about my approach to all the Legions at a later date.

Next update will be more Traitor Legion stuff, and maybe even with some painted!