Wednesday 1 December 2021

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!

12 comments:

  1. Oh, wow! You certainly have a lot of work ahead!!! These are particularly lovely, I'm quite fond of these models, crude as their designs may look nowadays. Can't wait to see them painted!

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    1. Thank you Suber.
      You're right, they are crude designs, although the Crusaders aren't too bad. I always liked the Robots at the time, but never focused on collecting them until later.
      I wasn't planning on painting them yet, but looking at them I might paint the Crusaders soon.

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  2. Crikey, these take me back. I look forward to the finished articles.

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    1. Yes, they are quite full on Rogue Trader! I am going for the simpler Khornate paint schemes as they will fit with the Traitor Legions. Also, they will be a lot less complicated than the more intricate Imperial ones.

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  3. I'd actually forgotten that these robots even existed, and the models and that page from the Compendium are a total blast from the past. Looking forward to seeing these painted!

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    1. You don't see a lot of the Rogue Trader Robots around, I don't think they weren't widely collected at the time, and most people collecting now don't seem to consider them. There were other things to spend money and points on at the time, and you require four of the same robot to create a Maniple for the army lists.
      They are difficult to buy now, e-Bay is quite expensive. I just collected them over time and bided my time.

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    2. I had some in my Epic army, but I never really paid attention to them in 40k; I liked Dreadnoughts better. I've just had a quick look on Ebay, and wow — the few I could find are expensive!

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  4. Great work on these classics Lee, was such a shame when GW dropped them from the range

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    1. I agree, it was a shame that GW stopped with the Robots. The newer current plastic ones look ok, but lack the charm of this range.

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  5. What a collection of Robots - awesome!!!! Can't wait to see them painted and together
    /Hans

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    1. Thank you. I am going to paint the Crusader Robots first, and then the others as I work my way through the various Legions.

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  6. Very particular models and, we agree, with a retro charm. Being completely ignorant of Warhammer 40k, we wonder if the four robots maniples must be framed in a larger unit, or act independently. Consequently, do they all have to have the same color scheme, or will there be minor variations from maniple to maniple? Finally, the color schemes of the Imperial robots in the Eighties are really curious, almost harlequin with the brightly colored paintings ... Have they been completely abandoned in the more recent versions?

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