Visions of Heresy

One of the great things about working in miniature in general is the ability to bring just about anything to life. If you can imagine it, then you can build it. To a point at least. Not all of us can whip out a sketchbook and doodle a great character (I know I can't – I suck at drawing), and fewer of us can then create an exact replica in miniature. We each have our limits, and just about everyone I know has to draw inspiration from somewhere else for their Inquisitor figures.

Inquisitor Tannenberg, by John Blanche - I managed to score a print of this from Ebay years ago.

The art of Games Workshop is an obvious place to start. 30 odd-years of drawing and painting is out there in rulebooks and on the cover of novels to gaze at. I'm sure most of us will be familiar with at least some of the studio's artists over the years, not least John Blanche, the art director, and man whom a lot of the inspiration behind Inquisitor came from. If you can track down the Inquisitor Sketchbook, released in the wake of the game, you can find a number of concepts for the game imagined by Mr Blanche, some that made it into print, and some that didn't. Recognisable ones like arco-flagellants grace the pages alongside less familiar solar priests, and an archetype I will one day get around to realising in a model – the pirato-grafter. The pirato-grafter is said to love grafting organs and appendages to his flesh. Four-armed, spider-eyed assassin anyone? Of the artists to have graced the studio, my personal favourite is Adrian Smith, particularly his 80s/90s work that appeared in the Realms of Chaos books and Warhammer 40,000 2^nd edition. A large number of his pieces appear in the Inquisitor rulebook as well, and he was responsible for presenting Blanche's concepts in the “Creating Characters” section.

Cherubael, by Adrian Smith

With the 40k RPG ranges going from strength to strength I have to recommend checking them out for modelling ideas. There is a lot of great artwork in these books from previously untapped sources. A number of the artists featured in their pages have not worked in the GW design studio, and provide a number of fresh takes on the 41^st millennium. Within the the Fantasy Flight Games range there seems to be a move away from traditional pen and ink drawings to digital compositions. I feel this is a great development, and there are some superb illustrations where photo-realism has been the artist's goal.

Dark Heresy Tainted Noble of Malfi by DeviantArt user Cryptcrawler...

...And my take on him in 54mm.

Away from the 41^st millennium, inspiration can be drawn from a number of sources, not least TV, films and video games. The Mad Max trilogy has always been a favourite of mine for post-apocalyptic rabble, and there's a trailer for the new Tom Hardy vehicle (ha!) doing the rounds on the 'net at the moment if you need refreshing. Sci-fi staples like Star Wars and Star Trek can provide inspiration, even if their universes are a little too “clean” for my liking. There is a gamut of other, potentially lesser known, films that could be combed for ideas, such as Dark City, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, and the more up to date Elysium. Game franchises like Fallout, Doom, Bioshock, the Elder Scrolls, Half Life and Dead Space all serve as inspiration for heroes and villains. Just about every example of these media will have the potential to inspire, just look at Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau!*

My Reclaimator, wielding a Fallout 3-inspired combat shotgun.

Within traditional art circles, there are a number of artists and pieces that have the right amount of bizarre for use in the 41^st millennium. If you don't know who Hieronymous Bosch was, just go and google his name and look at the images that come up. His illustrations of hell are probably his most famous pieces, and what makes his paintings even more incredible is that he was painting these in the 15^th century. Its surprising he wasn't burned at the stake! William Blake is another whose paintings could be used to draw inspiration from, especially his renditions of the nine circles of hell from Dante Aligheri's Divine Comedy, which were often bloody and horrific. His illustrations of the punishments dealt out are particularly gruesome. I'm sure those better versed in art history can come up with some more images and artists worthy of study.

The Schismatics and Sowers of Discord, by William Blake

So, I've covered the basics. Most of you will no doubt already have drawn inspiration from some of the sources I've listed above. I'm not so sure that many of you will know about the following however. The World of Wearable Art is an annual show held in Wellington, New Zealand that encourages artists and designers across the world to come up with incredible outfits that are less fashion items than they are pieces of art that are hung on human bodies rather than on gallery walls. I came across the WoW while travelling through New Zealand earlier this year, first learning of it in the Te Papa museum in Wellington, before travelling to Nelson on the South Island where the WoW entered existence in the late eighties. While there I visited the WoW museum which had an exhibition of the most recent year's work and had videos of the show. The show is part theatre, part dance, part fashion catwalk and has a number of themes running throughout it. Last year's Victorian freak show was a particular highlight. I don't think description can really do some of the pieces justice, so here are a few.

I can't encourage you enough to google for more. So many fantastic ideas that really could be turned into denizens of the 41^st millennium.

What are your sources of inspiration? Please share where you get your ideas, and if you have models based off artwork please post pictures on Facebook or tweet us @T_C_Inquisitor.

*For those not in on the joke, Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau was the sample Inquisitor presented in the Rogue Trader Rulebook. If you don't get the references in his name, then there's no helping you!

The Carthaxian Inquisitor

P.S. After composing this piece I came across this thread on the Ammobunker which is a treasure trove of grim pieces for the 41^st millennium. Not exactly safe for work, so browse at your own risk!

The Trouble With Models.

I have been fortunate enough to see some downright beautiful Inquisitor models in my time, excellent concepts realised with technically perfect conversions and superb paint work. I've had the pleasure of seeing some of these models “in the flesh” as it were, and been happy to have lost out in Painting and Modelling competitions to them. There's nothing better than a stonking model, something that I'm sure all Inquisitor players can appreciate.

Conclave user Kaled's beautiful scratch-built Sister Hospitaller quite rightfully won the Inquisitor Grand Tournament top model prize a few years ago.

As I alluded to in my first entry in this blog, I feel that Inquisitor was the first game I played where I was encouraged to create my own character and given free reign to put him or her together in any fashion I liked. Inquisitor Mikael Van Helser was hardly a breathtaking example of kit bashing, but I wanted my character to have a daemonsword, hand flamer and shuriken catapult, and that's exactly what I modelled him to have (in hindsight, he was a bit of a travesty with that combination, but we live and learn). The freedom to create someone that did not have to be tied to a specific faction from the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop was completely new, and we newly liberated Inquisitor players only had our imaginations as a limit to our creations. I feel that the new scale I was building models for was a fantastic chance to get away from the familiar 40k tropes too, as everything was new and there would be no familiar archetypes in my new miniatures. I soon fell in love with 54mm, and really enjoyed the process of fine-tuning painting techniques for the scale. Converting too became a favourite past time, and no amount of cutting, pinning and gap filling seemed too much of a stretch. I have Inquisitor to thank as well for teaching me to sculpt: I went from struggling to jam greenstuff between joints to sculpting (imperfect, but passable) models from scratch.

A passable Celestial Lions Space Marine Scout.

In my opinion, the Inquisitor range included some of Citadel Miniatures best sculpts, with my personal favourite being the Adeptus Arbites Judge. There were some not so great figures too (I'm looking at you, Callidus Assassin), but the quality of the line was generally pretty high. One of the best things about the line was that, for the most part, the miniatures were multi-part figures, which allowed for easy conversion by simply swapping out components. Goodness knows how many combinations of parts there were, especially when the booster packs of additional weapons, heads, arms and legs were included, and the Painting and Modelling forum of The Conclave would see novel constructs each month that made even veteran modellers wonder how no one had come up with that combination before. We were also blessed by the heroic scaling of 28mm Citadel Miniatures that meant that a large number of components worked just fine at 54mm. I have a few models that use 40k ork arms with no adaptation needed, and plenty of weapons from 28mm look realistic in the hands of Inquisitor figures (rather than ridiculously large!).

40k ork arms were put to good use on this mutant.

The golden years weren't to last though, and first Games Workshop stopped its component service, and then started to reduce the Inquisitor range as moulds began to wear out. Finally of course, all the Specialist Games ranges were discontinued in 2013. The lack of immediate access to Inquisitor figures is an inconvenience, but it is not really that much more difficult to game at 54mm than it was a decade ago. Ebay is always an option, and at any one time you're likely to find a handful of Inquisitor figures up for auction. Most don't tend to go for more than they would have when Games Workshop were still selling them, and if you don't mind paint-stripping, you can usually pick up pre-owned, painted characters for a few pounds/dollars/euros each. There are some models that were rare even when GW were selling them, including the Civilians and Kal Jerico, so expect to pay big bucks for those.

There are Inquisitor models for sale right now! If you're quick you might still catch these auctions...

Through Ebay, a manufacturer of cheap, plastic 54mm figures was discovered by members of The Conclave a few years ago. This Russian company came to our attention through its “Insurgent” models, who all had Inquisitor Eisenhorn's face. Clearly, this wasn't above board, but surprisingly, Games Workshop either didn't notice, or didn't care enough to stop them, and a number of us now have a squad of these “Insurgents” as NPC goons for our games. For around £10, including delivery from a seller in Moscow, you could have these models in your hands, and with a quick paint job, and minor conversions if you were that way inclined, a fully functional warband for Inquisitor. Bargain. It turned out that the company behind these models had a large range, including Roman gladiators, Cossacks, American Confederates, Minotaurs, Orcs, and the hilariously named Battle Gnomes (dwarves to everyone else), which were all available at knock-down prices. As well as the “Insurgents” I put together some pirates and cyborgs. They all look the part with minimal work.

Conclave user Brother_Brimstone shows off the Battle Gnomes.

If you are a bit more discerning about the figures you like to own, the historical figure market is saturated with exceptionally high quality 54mm figure manufacturers. One of the wonderful things about the 41^st millennium is that practically any time period from history can be represented in the Imperium, so Roman generals, 17^th century pirates, and members of the 101^st Airborne can all rub shoulders in the service of the Inquisition. A number of fantasy and sci fi ranges have blossomed over the last few years too, and from these ranges can be found aliens, daemons and barbarian heroes. For those interested in checking out these alternative ranges, the Carthax Wiki has a page dedicated to alternative model suppliers, and can be found here.

Another of Kaled's models, Jessamyn Rae began life as Pegaso Models' Nokjagerin.

So, is there trouble with getting hold of and working with 54mm Inquisitor figures? I don't think so. Hopefully you'll now be aware of the beauty of the Citadel range, and have seen a few examples of alternative figures that have impressed you. Dispelling the unease that some people have about working at a different scale to what they're used to is a bit more of an ask, but you'll just have to trust me that all the techniques you know already are transferable, and will result in a great model. Most of the weapons and gadgets in your bits box work fine at the larger scale too. Just give it a try, and even if you don't end up gaming at 54mm, you'll have a nice display piece for beside your computer.

If you want to see more pictures of tasty, tasty models, then follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Carthaxian Inquisitor

P.S. a week has passed since Scum, Subs and Muties was made available for download. I've had a bit of feedback so far, but would love to hear more!

Scum, Subs, and Muties

More than any other game I know of, Inquisitor is the easiest to write content for. This is down to the fact that the rulebook doesn't acknowledge itself as the final word in Inquisitor gaming, and actively encourages GMs and players to get out there and do things however they like. It's a great little trick, and over the years it has let me come up with loads of things for the game, inspired by numerous sources. In recent years, the 40k RPG line has provided dozens of sourcebooks for those games, and all of them have been ripe for plundering for use in Inquisitor. I've taken many things from them and moulded them to fit in with Inquisitor. It's not as simple as copying and pasting though, as the games have as many differences as similarities, especially when it comes to skills and talents. I do love playing the 40k RPG line, but I do so for a chance to use my noggin to unravel labyrinthine plots, rather than the tense and exciting final showdowns that Inquisitor provides. Quite a few of the skills and talents used for the former seem a bit redundant or too complex for Inquisitor. Many of Inquisitor's writers described a game as the last ten minutes of a film or TV episode where the set-up has given way to the action (whether a nerve-wracking infiltration or pyrotechnic shoot out), and quite a lot of the skills a Dark Heresy acolyte might have wouldn't need accounting for on an Inquisitor character sheet. One would only need to agree with the GM whether or not your character would understand the words in a daemonic tome, or know how to activate the cogitator. Otherwise, the pace of the game is slowed down for dice-rolling and the checking of skill descriptions in rule books. Following the TV episode analogy, a Dark Heresy campaign would be a series arc, with all the scene-setting as well as the action.

Eve Crobuzon comes out guns blazing in the finale.

Some of you will be sitting here thinking why bother with Inquisitor then? Well, I feel that the action sections of an RPG campaign are just not as satisfying as manouevering a physical model around a tabletop. There's a disconnect between you and your player character when it's an abstraction of a battlefield, and no models duking it out. The answer may be to play RPGs with models, but with the rate that characters evolve and change through RPG campaigns it's hard to keep up with the modelling requirements, and time and space is a universal issue. Inquisitor also benefits from the fact that you can choose whether to be cooperative with other players or get into a fight with them. Hacking down your fellow characters in an RPG would shorten the playing experience considerably!

Hector Ganz isn't above a bit of backstabbing...

The latest inspiration I've taken from the 40k RPG line is to provide more options for less than noble character archetypes for Inquisitor. I think that the Scum archetype from Dark Heresy is just one of the best named careers in practically any RPG; it oozes distrust, lies and knives in the back, and is far more evocative than say, Assassin or Guardsman. It's more than a name too, as having a scummer on the books can give an Inquisitor access to the underworld of a planet, system or ship, where just about anything can be procured and anyone can be bribed. Amongst all the paragons of faith and purity in service of the Inquisition, a scummer is a bit more of a questionable character that wouldn't baulk at doing the dirty work often required of those in the service of the throne. All in all, having a scummer or two on the table provides for a bit less dogma and a bit more bending of the rules. The first part of the sourcebook I'm presenting today gives a hand to those who wish to develop a scummer for their warband, and includes a couple of related archetypes, thieves and reclaimators. You can find it here.

Hive Scum are just the worst.

As well as Scum though, the 41^st millennium is full of other groups that are cousins to humanity, often abandoned to the worst of the galaxy and treated little better than the enemy. There are those whose minds have broken under the strain of the madness around them; those whose separation from their fellow men has changed their appearance forever; those whose origins owe more to flawed science than nature; and those hapless individuals whose genes have been ripped up and re-woven by pollutants and the warp. The second part of the sourcebook details The Insane, Abhumans, False Men and Mutants. You will find mental afflictions and mutations for the first and last groups; and for the second and third groups, archetypes for ratlings, variatus beastmen, scalies, Afriel Strain guardsmen and a group of gene-spliced False Men known as the Sons of Meridian.

You sump-sucking mutie.

The second part of the sourcebook then provides a wide-ranging number of options for creating your own characters from outside the common avenues of the Imperium. Abhumans can provide an interesting alternative to the common man without going as far as to recruit xenos (and certain accusations of heresy!) to a warband, while False Men and their flaws allow for the exploration of the terrible science of the 41^st millennium. Mutants are something of a favourite of mine, and I'm sure other fans of terrible 80s sci fi will agree that they have a soft spot for the bug-eyed and tentacled freaks from the sump. The Insane presented a bit of difficulty in writing as such things can be a bit too real, and can cut far too close to the bone. In creating the section, I was keen to keep things relevant to the game above all else. I think I achieved a selection of afflictions that make for interesting quirks for Inquisitor characters.

You can find part two here.

I hope that you all enjoy the sourcebook, and welcome any feedback you might have. In a few weeks time I will put together a blog entry with comments from readers, both on the subject of the sourcebook and on the blog in general. Next time I am going to talk about the most important part of the game - cool miniatures!

The Carthaxian Inquisitor

Desperately Seeking Inspiration

The immersive background of the 41^st millennium was always a massive part of what drew me to Inquisitor in the first place. For the first time since Rogue Trader's debut in the 80s were players encouraged to explore the setting with no barriers to what they wished to enact on the table. I think one of Warhammer 40,000's key selling points is its well-developed back story, but the main emphasis of a war game is lining up your toy soldiers and facing off against your opponent, not trying to understand the motivation of the ruling classes that have taken their world to war. According to one video game franchise war never changes, so to see a new facet of the 41^st millennium, one has to get away from the battlefield.

Looking for inspiration in the strangest of places.

Inquisitor was the first game that showed us that the leaders of humanity were not united in defence of the Golden Throne and shadowy factions were at each others' throats. This revelation blew apart the preconceptions that most folk had about the Imperium, and really began to usher in the notion of hopelessness that prevails in the 41^st millennium. The best thing about it was that we players were encouraged to get in amongst the Imperium's stinking guts and start adventuring.

Aliens! Archeotech! Adventure!

If there was a criticism of the Inquisitor rulebook, it was that it didn't have a wealth of background to put to use. When Black Industries (and then Fantasy Flight Games) produced Dark Heresy and its supplements, huge proportions of their releases were dedicated to the setting for the games, the Calixis Sector. At the time Inquisitor came out, Games Masters and players really had to rely on the rulebooks and codices from various editions of Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic and Epic, or Black Library novels (at the time a much smaller range than currently), for inspiration for their games. It took a lot of imagination to describe the differing worlds of the Imperium that were hinted at in these books and start original campaigns. One thing I have been particularly impressed with from the 40k RPG range is the in-depth background that has been produced for the games. I imagine that I'm not the only one who laps up each release and pores through the descriptions of worlds, institutions and individuals within. With the wealth of information available, inspiration for new characters and campaigns is never far away. Inquisitor had very few specific sources of ideas created for it outside of Exterminatus Magazine and the Thorian Sourcebook, and even then, in comparison with FFG's releases it really was a paltry amount.

Inquisitor lacked the support of multiple sourcebooks.

I think the lack of inspirational material has had a lot to do with Inquisitor's shrinking player base. Official support is long dead and buried, which leaves the players with the responsibility for keeping things going. It's a big ask, as most of us have real life matters to attend to. The sad fact is that without our fellow players writing new background or building new models, there are no fresh ideas bouncing around between people. To that end I'm taking it upon myself to kickstart things again.

An encounter during the Antonine Amulets campaign day at Warhammer World.

A few years ago a few members of The Conclave got together to start recording written reports of their games. These initial forum posts were then used as a springboard to create the Carthax Sector as a setting to play host to these games, giving them a dedicated place in the grand scheme of things. The Carthax Sector Wiki followed on from that, and was given a two-fold purpose: to give potential players a guide to the game and to provide details of systems, worlds, institutions and individuals to involve their characters with. The wiki saw a large amount of new content over its first couple of years, but then became rather dormant like so much of the Inquisitor hobby. A couple of months ago, I decided that one way to get people interested again would be to get writing content for the wiki again and hope that it would start a chain-reaction of inspiration in Inquisitor. My aim is to get other players to write and upload content to the wiki, however irregularly. The way I see it, if one person does so, then others won't feel so conscious about contributing. I know some people will be worried about their writing skills not being up to scratch, or their ideas not being accepted by others, but the great thing about Inquisitor is that everything you have been told is a lie, so individuals can chose to use or ignore as much content as they please.

Will this approach work? Who knows. I am still going to have fun coming up with new worlds for others to explore regardless.

Amongst the newly created pages are the multiple worlds of the Colossus System, the mysterious Kalasa System, and a number of Inquisitorial orders and factions found in Carthaxian space. Hopefully reading those will whet a few appetites and spark some reciprocal creativity.

So what's next in my little crusade? More content for the wiki for one, and some sourcebooks. I have one piece I wrote for Dark Magenta when it was still up and running that never saw the light of day, so will be releasing it through the blog. I have dug out a huge bunch of notes on the Xanthite faction that I hope to turn into a functioning document over the next few months. If anyone has any suggestions for that project or any others, get in contact. Please like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter too!

The Carthaxian Inquisitor.