Inquisitor Harrow

So, Steve has delivered in fine form, with Gillam Harrow finally coming to life, along with his pets. Here he is, with his Hound, and a gun-skull:

When I sent him off to Steve, I suggested that he take inspiration from Darth Vader – after all, both are cybernetically-sustained juggernauts. The very classical black-cream-red colourscheme is very Inquisitorial indeed, and marks Harrow out as an uncompromising individual who doesn’t hide his allegiances. There are four Inquisitorial symbols on Harrow’s model alone!

Harrow is made from a wide variety of parts: His body is from the Chaos Khorne Exalted Hero; his head, backpack and arm are from one of the Servitors in the Techmarine Set. Harrow himself is one of my first Finecast miniatures, and the conversion wouldn’t have been possible for me without him being in that medium. His shoulderpads are from Space Marine Terminators; his belt buckle is from the Company Champion of the Space Marine Command Squad. His chainsword is from the Space Wolves sets, though I did replace the pommel for a skull from a normal Space Marine chainsword. Oddly, the bit I can’t place is the aquila necklace – I shaved the aquila from something, but I don’t know what! 

One of Steve’s favourite parts of the paintjob is the bionic arm. He says “he’s got a brutal look to him so had to have some damage on him – my favourite piece is the chipped paint on his bionic arm, I was thinking he’d used is to block a chainblade at some point in the past.” 


I absolutely love the pistons on the back of the hand, which help make it appear really brutal. It’s a really nice  hand, hidden away on a servitor model that often doesn’t get a second look.

The back of the Khorne Lord has a bunch of skulls – which were removed without too much fuss due to the model’s finecast nature. Liquid GS was used to smooth the cloak; when used right, it’s a godsend. The power pack has some really subtle OSL – I imagine that it helps power his armour and sustain the cybernetics that keep him alive.

In this picture, you can see the tabard (or demi-tabard, I’m told) – the cream colour of which helps to break up the rather oppressive blackness of Harrow’s model. These were green-stuffed by PDH, and really help the model to look dynamic and interesting. The Inquisitorial rosette comes from a 54mm model, and the chain is from the plastic flagellants – a kit that has a lot of applications for any INQ28 modeller.

The Servo-Skull comes from the Forgeworld Titan Tech-Priest. I imagine that it’s a high-calibre stubber of some kind. Harrow, in some ways, is much like the famed Inquisitor Tyrus – a lumbering beast with little ranged ability of his own. The gun-skull helps to add a different threat to him.

Harrow himself might be slow, but his Hound is not. I imagine him letting the beast loose to hunt down his enemies, allowing himself time to close. I wanted the beast to have an Inquisitorial symbol as a dog-tag of sorts, identifying his master to his opponents and differentiating him from other cyber-mastiffs.
The collar was again created by PDH from a strip of thin styrene. The Inquisitorial symbol comes from a Grey Knight shoulderpad, and was attached by Steve. The cyber-mastiff itself is of course from the Forgeworld Imperial Enforcer

It’s a deliciously twisted creature – a huge slab of (vat-grown?) muscle perfect as a hunting beast, easily capable of bringing a man down. Steve painted it, at my request, based on a dachshund, as my fiancée has one. This hound is far nastier, though!

 

As a unit of three, they make rather an imposing sight. However, Harrow as many other agents at his disposal, and these should see the field together at the 2013 INQvitational, now just over two weeks away!

Framing your Figures

I’ve seen a lot of interesting photographs of models recently, and one thing I wanted to draw peoples’ attention to was the way in which they take photographs of models.

I don’t have the nous to set up an elaborate lightbox for my miniatures, though this Blogspot post makes it sound very easy to do:

I was reading a thread by Daemon-Forge over on the Ammobunker, concerning his Arkham City miniatures, where he used a nice backdrop of Arkham itself to give his models some “grounding” – this links with conversations I’ve had with Tammy (TearsofEnvy) and John Blanche, about how a model’s base can in some ways operate as a sort of “frame” – and if you consider the figures we work with as pieces of art, it makes sense. (On that note, check out the latest work from Jeff Vader – something very impressive indeed.)

Here’s one of Deamon-Forge’s figures:

This is something that obviously can be taken to extremes, as these pictures by Jon Law demonstrate – though that’s obviously something that’s out of most of our leagues! Something interesting I’ve recently seen has been people in the INQ28/Inquisimunda communities using books and artwork that reflect their figures – something I find compelling, and would like to replicate myself.

This image by the poster Githalas on Powerfist.dk shows what I mean, using the Inquisitorial Sketchbook as a backdrop:

And recently Andy Hoare posted his latest retinue member, the agent known as Amber Gris – but if you look at the picture, she is actually standing on two pages from the Inquisitor rulebook.

It’s funny when we talk about how people within the INQ28 community have crafted models that look as though they’ve just jumped out of the pages of the 40k rulebook – well these models have!

It’s something I certainly want to have a think about when I post pictures – how can the “frame” alter what’s inside?

Farewell, Eisenhorn (and Welcome, Eisenhorn!)

With the recent Specialist Games sell-off referenced in my previous post, it had to happen eventually. But in a rather understated post on the Conclave, Koval announced the awful truth – that Inquisitor Eisenhorn’s model is No Longer Available to purchase on the GW website.

I’ve bought a 54mm Eisenhorn figure, and he’s currently sitting in bits in a drawer at my parents’ house. I’ve always loved the figure, and it serves in many ways as a token of my affection for Dan Abnett’s seminal trilogy. These are the figures that spawned Inquisitor – and without Inquisitor, there would never have been INQ28.

So I’m sad to see so many of these figures going – especially with the resultant price hike that eBay will doubtlessly enjoy. It really is an end of an era.

In other news, I saw on the Black Library website that Xenos, the first of the Eisenhorn novels, has recently been re-released in French. The exciting thing about this is the new artwork that’s been created for the cover – I’m very impressed!

Eisenhorn may be dead – but long live Eisenhorn. 

Specialist Games Sell-Off

MarcoSkoll pointed out this Warseer thread where it is reported that GW are slowly shutting down the Specialist Range – as models go out of stock, they are seemingly not being replaced.

It would certainly be worth considering which models you may wish to purchase – with many Specialist Games figures being among the most distinctive and interesting figures released by GW, they are a boon to INQ28 hobbyists.

Just a head’s up!

The Pyremaster

I was exceptionally excited to receive a text from Steve last night saying that he’d managed to finish painting Pyremaster Korbin, one of Inquisitor Harrow’s retinue.

Here he is in, his glory. I appreciate that he’s not a converted model, but some of the metal Witch Hunters figures are among my favourites ever released. Steve’s classic red-black-brown Inquisitorial colour scheme helps to put that across:

Steve promises that Harrow and his faithful hound are next on the painting block – which is very promising indeed! 

A Gathering Storm

Hello, all.

Storm Clouds Gather

There have been posts in the last few months regarding the “golden age of 40k”. I think that it holds true – for whatever reasons, there has been a huge convergence of various individuals, blogs and creations. There are fantastic figures being produced that are really very beautiful. I would, once again, encourage people to check out the Ammobunker INQ28 Sub-Forum, which has been alive with exceptional creativity.

It is, therefore, regrettable that I haven’t been able to do any modelling myself. My living arrangements simply don’t make it feasible, and in many ways I feel as though this massive tidal wave of creativity is simply passing me by.I’ve never been a particularly good painter – I enjoy converting figures, and would say I’m pretty good at it. But perhaps never being able to fully realise the concepts in my head has brought about a sort of creative disconnect.

INQvitational Affairs

I’ve been working on the literature for the 2013 INQvitational, now slated to take place on June 1st. The INQvitational, and events like it, are the only outlet at the moment for my GW hobby. At the moment, we have twenty players signed up for the event, and I’ve been trying to organise everything to make it as fantastic an event as possible for the players. After all, we have to outdo the previous year’s event.

If you are interested in taking part in this year’s INQvitational, please contact me via email at the usual address: inq28blog@gmail.com.

This year, I have been exploring the concept of an “international INQvitational”, a series of games played in different countries all on the same day, that contribute to an overarching plot. I’m keen to create something of substance and worth, something that makes a difference to the players on the day. I’ve missed out on so much hobby-related excellence in recent months, and so I want to make this excellent in my own way.

Obviously, that requires a sort of “buy-in” from players in different places. Again, if you are interested in such a concept, let me know via the previous email link.

Harrow and his Hound
Since the last update, PDH has managed to complete his overhaul of the Inquisitor Harrow figure for me:

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He’s since sent this on to Steve, my captive painting genius, so hopefully we can expect to see something soon.

Xanthites
The talented Jon Flindall (known as RiseoftheMagi) has received a model from me, which he’s started to neaten up for me. Here’s what he had to say:

Spurred on by the excellent stuff that’s been coming out of the AB painting and modelling section of late, I’ve been having a poke at the xanthite fella. Attached pictures are of some likely boots from a elysian – it should be easy enough for me to blend the trouser-tops into existing ones (they’re just tacked on at the mo). The donor model’s already got some small kneepads, so I can’t see leg armour like Helsmarck’s working unless I cut off those, but I reckon the trous/kneepads/boots look in these pics could work?

I’ve also been trying out some arms – I like the idea of building his existing shoulder pads up a little into eisenhorn-like ones (definitely with a lensey gadget too) in which case his sleeves would probably be coat ones – I think the attached one’s ok size wise, though the autopistol would have to be swapped for a cane or scimitar perhaps…

Any thoughts on tabard/chest?

INQ28 Round-Up 
There’s plenty of interesting INQ28 going on at the moment – some that’s caught my eye are:

“Welcome to Cetus” by The Beard Bunker: I’m really intrigued by the potential of this thread, and would encourage people to keep their eyes on it.

Linguliformean’s =][= Retinue: I particularly like the wackiness of the retinue member hanging from a tree!

Ammis Umbau-Schuppen: This thread was brought to my attention by KrautScientist – there’s plenty of interesting Inquisitorial conversions here which could be useful fodder for an INQ28 project.

Gillam Harrow – Revisited

I’ve been rather quiet of late. Work is very busy, and I tend to feel that if I don’t have anything worthwhile to post, that I shouldn’t post. That said, the last month heralded the Ammobunker Open Bash 2013, where a number of INQ28 games were played. A grand time was had by all, and with the Easter holidays coming soon, I hope to be able to post up some stuff.

In the meantime, Peter’s been working on Gillam Harrow, my cybernetic Mondominant. He’s been through the wars, and whilst I’m fond of the model, there were a few touches I just wanted improving. Peter’s skill has definitely improved the model.

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Here’s Harrow with his cyber-mastiff, the dog from Forgeworld’s recent Enforcer figure. I liked the idea that his hound was as battered as he was!
Peter put his GS skills to good use, revitalising Harrow’s loincloth:
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Also, here’s the current work on the Cyber-Mastiff. Although it’s not the major surgery Dan was advocating, I hope it’s enough to make him mine. I’d like to (find and) use the Inquisitorial symbol from the Grey Knight shoulder pad as a dog tag for the collar… though I imagine it’d need some fiddly pinning of some sort!
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I realise it’s not the stunning miniature work going on on some of the blogs at the moment, but I’ve found it hard to do anything recently!

However, I would certainly advise you to check out the Ammobunker – particularly its new INQ28 section, which is a hotbed of really interesting modelling: AMMOBUNKER INQ28
 

Hope to hear from you soon,
Molotov

Delving into Denmark

I sat down to come up with some Denmark-related pun… something involving bacon… and I couldn’t get it to come together. Still, there’s some exciting things coming out of Denmark at the moment which have real ramifications for the “INQ28 scene.”

Obviously long-time INQ28 friend Jakob Rune Nielsen is Danish, as are the excellent posters over at http://www.powerfist.dk/ are as well. I was actually put onto this forum by Neil101, and I’m certainl;y glad that I was. I’ve been reading the forum with the aid of Google Translate, and the thread “Skub flere Dukker V2 – Inquisimunda Warband Challenge” has rewarded us with a number of realy excellent INQ28-esque figures.

I really urge you to check these guys out – though the log is baconless, there are some very tasty figures. My personal favourite at the moment is a True-Scaled Grey Knight built by Thomas Kyrsting:

This guy’s made out of the Forgeworld Tartaros Terminators, and has inspired me to look back at the possibility of making Truescaled Deathwatch. More on that in a future post…

Please check out the blog! Some excellent inspiration there!


MolotvDo you know of any new and exciting INQ28/Inquisimunda conversions or threads? Please send me the links, as I’m always glad for new inspiration, and am looking to feature more work from other modellers in the blog!

BLANCHITSU – INQ28 features again!

I received my copy of the January 2013 White Dwarf today – and was pleased to see that the Blanchitsu series of articles is continuing – and that models that may well be very familiar to you have featured within.

The article features the work of Jakob Rune Nielsen and Migsula – but again Peter “PDH” Hudson’s miniatures have featured – so congratulations to all of you!

It’s very cool to have such evocative and interesting miniatures in the pages of Games Workshop’s main media outlet. If INQ28 (and Inquisimunda) minatures can strike such a chord, then I know we’re doing something right!

A Christmas Present

I mentioned in a previous post that I have quite a backlog of material that needs to be posted up on here. One of these was John Blanche’s Blanchitsu article from October’s White Dwarf.

Blanchitsu is really a very interesting look into John Blanche’s modelling mindset. In the October White Dwarf, he presented a series of Inquisitor warbands – I had a wry smile at that. Still, even if these figures are being presented as part of the 40k universe (and of course they are), it was very cool to see INQ28 getting a toehold in White Dwarf.

This picture showcases some of the figures that Inquisitor Guidonis has in his retinue. One thing I like about these pictures (and something that I’ve seen in Jakob Rune Nielsen’s work too) is the use of artwork as a background to the pictures, making the models feel more alive, and part of a greater whole. This is particularly interesting for Inquisitor, where we aren’t making models, but rather creating characters.

I was really flabbergasted when John presented me with these two figures at the REQUIEM event. John has a really interesting mindset where he has this relentless creative drive. Once he’s finished with a figure, it’s on to the next one. The figure on the left is Inquisitor Bernadus Guidonis, a character that has begun to take on a shape of its own as he has been used in a number of events.

I count myself very fortunate that John has taken to our INQ28 group of gaming. Peter recently posted saying that “the best part for me has been expanding my gaming circle from almost non existent to a group of like minded people.” I think that’s been the greatest hallmark of INQ28 – making gaming a social event.

I think that’s what I will take from these two figures –  a reminder that we are part of a community – and that is something special all in itself.


MolotvWhat is your favourite INQ28 model? Which figures to you truly evoke that “grimdark” feeling of Inquisitor?