Who are you?

Work on my Ordo Obsoletus war band is progressing. After selecting and assembling the raw components last week, I have been adding equipment with bits and pieces and sculpting details where needed. Although I had a vision in my mind of how I wanted the models to turn out when I began, it's not until things are underway that you can really get a feel for what will look good and what just won't work. It's not unusual to end up with something completely different from what you planned when assembly started. Some components won't combine without a lot of cutting and re-sculpting, and some things just don't look right together. So far I'm happy with how the Inquisitor looks; he turned out pretty much as I imagined; the Arbitrator is progressing nicely; the Psyker has undergone a transformation; and the Techpriest just isn't quite right yet.

The Inquisitor

The Inquisitor now has a lantern in his left hand, a gun sight on his stubber, and some bits around his belt. The lantern is a more “grimdark” source of light than a handheld torch, and adds to the investigative air I am hopefully building around him. It will also allow me to paint some source lighting, which is always a nice challenge. The gun sight is there for no other reason than because I thought it looked good (the Rule of Cool), and the pouches on his back help add detail to an empty space. The doll from Quovandius has found pride of place on his belt. It's an odd little piece, but there must be a story behind it (more on that later).

The Arbitrator

The Arbitrator has had his shoulder pads altered with ProCreate, adding detail to the right in the form of an Aquila grasped in a fist, and has had the left smoothed over. Initially I had intended to alter the winged symbol of the Inquisition on the left into a symbol more fitting the Adeptus Arbites, but in the end kept to the traditional decoration of the right pad. I have also removed the gemstone from the centre of his helm after trying and failing to get it to look like a convincing bionic eye. It has been suggested by users on DakkaDakka and Warseer that I add an Aquila atop his head and a shock maul, and I am heading in that direction next.

The Psyker

The Psyker has had the most work since the last blog entry. I replaced the head from the Judge with Jan Van Yastobaal's alternate head as it conveys more emotion and the strangeness of it works well with the inhuman oddity of psychic characters. His arms have been added, with his hands clasping a human skull. This is his psychic focus, allowing him to better sample the energies of the warp. I plan to paint the skull so that an aethereal glow emanates from the eyes. Finally a selection of equipment was added to his back to fill in a rather uninteresting void. I am pleased with how he is turning out – I hope he carries something of the supernatural with him.

The Techpriest

Lastly the Techpriest. Plenty of gubbins arrayed around him now. He certainly looks like a disciple of Mars, and couldn't be mistaken for anything else. Why am I so unenthused with him? I am wondering whether or not he's just too much of a conventional model. There's nothing new about the combination of parts used here, and he's undoubtedly the safest of the builds in the war band. If he was paint, he'd be magnolia. Tear him up and start again, or make further alterations? I have added sleeves since these photos again at the suggestion of a DakkaDakka user so that he no longer has a flak wife-beater, but I'm not yet convinced. All suggestions welcome!

Getting back to that freaky doll on the Inquisitor's belt... what's that all about?

Inquisitor characters are personalities after all, and it's important that every one has a story. How long that story is really comes down to the player's choice, but I think it needs to be more than just a name and occupation. In most cases a sentence or two will do. Let's take a long-standing character of mine as an example. Inquisitor Tomashek Goddard was originally conceived as a foil to Mikael Van Helser; a puritan daemonhunter on the trail of the daemonhost Voor'acht that Van Helser had fallen under the sway of. That's a compact description, but I think it's enough to grasp the character's motivation and plants an enemy as a plot hook. Of course, there's far more to Goddard (his biography can be found in the Amalathian Sourcebook), but if I was GMing a game where a number of unfamiliar players and characters were attending, as happens at most Conclave gatherings, I would only want the short, snappy version of his story so that I could throw him into the story of my scenario and get on with the game. However, if the player could only tell me his name, and that he was an Inquisitor, I would struggle to tell if the model was responding “in character” to events in the game.

Inquisitor Tomashek Goddard

My Ordo Obsoletus Inquisitor's story starts now, and that doll is an important part of it. I will keep a loose framework to begin with, as undoubtedly, I will have better ideas down the line. I'll keep things compact for now for the same reasons, and to make it easier for others to understand who he is. Allow me to introduce Inquisitor Casimir Fearon:

A student of the discredited Schola Perceptus, the young Casimir Fearon served in the Carthaxian fleet's Arbites corps. Fleeing from a purge of Perceptus alumni, he found himself indebted to Inquisitor Epsis of the Ordo Obsoletus for concealing him from his hunters. After six decades of service, the elderly Epsis elevated Fearon to the rank of Inquisitor, suitably impressed with his acolyte's deductive skills and open mind to the shrouded face of the galaxy. Inquisitor Fearon now travels the breadth of the Carthax sector lending his expertise to events the Ordos cannot fathom. Secretly, he desires to expose the truth behind the purge of the Schola Perceptus, and uncover the conspiracy that saw his alma mater and classmates put to the pyre. He carries a doll he plucked from the ruins as a memorial to those lost.

I will be getting back to the models now, and trying to work out just what to do with the Techpriest. Check for updates on The Conclave, Facebook and Twitter.

The Carthaxian Inquisitor