Gun for hire – Imperial bounty hunter complete

Happy New Year! Instead of partying into the early hours last night I stayed in and managed to finish my bounty hunter character for Inq28 (I know, I’m so cool). It’s been a long road with this model but he is finally complete. Initially, I was uncertain how to paint him but once I’d settled on the light grey body armour the rest seemed to come together quite naturally.

I think this is one of the models I am most proud of to date. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone on this project in terms of kit-bashing and it is the most heavily converted model I own. I am also really proud of him because he is the most original model I have created. Many of my conversions have been copied from White Dwarf or inspired by something off the internet but with this guy the whole concept and execution was my idea.

I was at one point concerned that the model had too much black on him but I have tried to paint the different black areas differently so as to distinguish them from one another. The leather coat was blended up through blue-grey highlights whereas the gauntlets were highlighted by adding khaki to black. The gun casting has sharper, more harsh highlights in pure grey to make it look like a hard, cold material to distinguish it from the fabric areas. Splashes of red were also used on the model to tie him in with Inquisitor Sterne and to add some visual interest.

Gun for Hire (wip)

 

Work continues on the bounty hunter for Inquisitor Caleb Sterne’s retinue. I am really pleased with the face as it has turned out exactly the way I envisioned him: a hard-bitten veteran of many adventures. I think the stubble and shaved head really add to this.

The colour scheme was one of the hardest parts of this model to figure out which is why there has been such a delay between finishing building him and getting some paint on him. Initially, I knew I wanted a lot of black on him but didn’t have a clearer idea than that. In the end I opted for a colour scheme which would give him an individual look but also tie him in with Inquisitor Sterne. For that reason I painted the black coat and grey armour using the same methods as I used for the inquisitor. I then added some chips and scratches to the armour and glazed the bottom of the armour plates with Agrax Earthshade thinned with Lahmia Medium to make them appear well used, further emphasising the nature of the character.

In other news, I can announce that I will be returning to Warhammer World in the new year for a three-month stint as a Studio Painter. I really enjoyed the experience last time and am looking forward to going back.

Have a great Christmas everybody!

Andy.

Inq28 bounty hunter

Another common Inquisitorial agent is the bounty hunter, individuals skilled in hunting down criminals whose skills are of great use to Inquisitors. While building this model I had an image of Harlon Nayl from Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn and Ravenor books in my head. He is described as wearing a long stormcoat over a black bodyglove and having a shaved scalp. While the model isn’t intended to be a direct representation of Harlon I have incorporated elements such as the long coat and shaved head (although I left the original Mohawk as it looked cool). I also gave him some body armour, always useful when your line of work involves being shot at a lot.

The main part of the model is made from a Cadian’s torso attached to the legs of one of the ever-useful Dark Vengeance cultists. I really like the design of the lasguns carried by the scions and converted a pair of arms from the scions kit to fit. I resculpted the left shoulder and hid my rough greenstuff work under a kroot shoulder pad adorned with an etched-brass symbol. A small holstered knife provided the finishing touch to the weapon and gives the impression that he is armed to the teeth. The rest of the model was decorated with purity seals, pouches and grenades.

I decided not to use the backpack from the scions kit as the hanging wires attached to the weapon hid the trenchcoat which is one of the defining features of the model. Instead I used a pouch from the ogryns set as a backpack and attached a space marine knife.

Overall I am very pleased with this model, especially as I didn’t have a clear idea of what parts I was going to use at the beginning, just an image of what kind of character I wanted him to be. The rest was a case of trial and error using blu-tak to try out the parts first before gluing them together.