Epic Walker Week - Contemptor, Furibundus and Deredeo Dreadnoughts

I have a good collection of original metal dreadnoughts, very accurate miniature versions of the larger Rogue Trader ones.  The armament (single or twin arm hooters) and body styles (short leg wide body vs long leg wide body) vary ever so slightly from those specified for the full scale ones, but are still clearly made up from the same components.

Mutilator Detachment.

A classic Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader Mutilator Detachment consists of 4 Dreadnoughts:, 2 Contemptor close assault Dreadnoughts ("Chuck" armed with 2 bolters on each arm - the Rogue Trader one even came equipped with a jump pack); 1 Deredeo attack support Dreadnought ("Eddie" armed with a missile launcher and bolter); 1 Furibundus destroyer Dreadnought ("Fury" armed with a las-cannon and 2 bolters).

Mutilator Detachment.

The other 4 Dreadnoughts are all Contemptors.

Contemptor Dreadnoughts.

Original 1st edition Adeptus Titanicus metal Dreadnoughts can be pretty expensive these days, but as luck would have it, one of the local second hand games shops had another 8 for only £2, hidden in amongst a load of 15mm figures.

Deredeo Dreadnoughts.

A great find and they'll be cleaned up and painted sometime soon, possibly as World Eaters but more porbably just to bulk out my Crimson Fists.  There are 4 more Deredeos and 4 more Furibundus - mixed in with the 4 Contemptors that will give me a total of 3 Mutilator detachments and 1 Destroyer detachment.

Furibundus Dreadnoughts.

For comparison, I've dug my full scale 40K Dreadnought Multilator Detachment out of the howitzer ammunition box in the garage.  It would be nice to have a chance to finish painting these one day, only the first one has been completed. The rest have got as far as Humbrol 104 Oxford Blue base coat and the chainmail drybrush on the weapons.

Contemptor Dreadnought 1

Contemptor Dreadnought 2

Deredeo Dreadnought

Furibundus Dreadnought

Epic Walker Week - Cataphract Robots

The Cataphract robot was my favourite of the original 40K robots.

Cataphract robots.

Known as a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, each Cataphract is equipped with a right arm bolter, left arm flamer and back-mounted las-cannon, making it a threat to both vehicles and infantry.

Left arm flamer and back-mounted las-cannon.

 I had hoped to dig out my 40K Cataphract for comparison but unfortunately it's ended up packed away in a box somewhere while we get ready for building work to create our large new games room dining room.  When I do rediscover it, I'll try and add a photograph to this post if I remember!

Epic Walker Week - Crusader Robots

The quick-moving Crusader robot is armed with a power sword in each arm for close combat, but a back-mounted las-cannon ensures it doesn't lack in anti-tank firepower either.  Apparently they're often used for "mutant hunting", presumably because they aren't affected by fear or terror and won't be corrupted by the unnamed powers.  They also make excellent fast tank-hunters.

Crusader maniple.

 Speedy and well-armed, they also look really cool, a good deal less static in their poses than some of the other robots and more insectoid than human in shape.  I always liked the Crusader but sadly never got a full-scale version, so these little chaps will have to do instead!

 

Epic Walker Week - Colossus Robots

If you're besieging someone, a maniple of Colossus robots will come in handy.

Colossus robots.

Equipped with a siege hammer, the Colossus excels in attacking units entrenched in buildings.  A right arm bolter and back mounted melta gun round out the armament.

Colossus robots.

Like the Conqueror, the Colossus also appeared in smaller, plastic form - in this instance it was included with the original Imperial Guard sprues.  Unlike the Crusader, the Colossus plastic pose was pretty similar to the metal pose but that's presumably just because the metal one is fairly static.  The plastic ones are about 2/3 the size of their metal counterparts.

Epic Walker Week - Castellan Robots

My maniple of Castellan Robots is an ideal anti-infantry unit.  Each Castellan is equipped with a heavy bolter for ranged combat plus 2 power fists for when things get up close and personal.

Castellan robots

Those power fists can be dangerous even for vehicles in close combat!

Epic Walker Week - Conqueror Robots

The Legio Cybernetica is the arm of the Adeptus Mechanicus reponsible for autonomous battle robots.  Robots are deployed in maniples of 4.  A maniple can be a mixture of different types but I've chosen to keep mine each to a single type.

In the original Space Marine/Adeptus Mechanicus "Codex Titanicus" supplement, robot maniples were given "programme" counters which would last for the entire game, plus objective markers to place on their target points.  The situation around them dictated which orders the robots automatically received each turn, e.g. if a maniple with "Take and Hold" orders had arrived at their objective marker, they would switch to First Fire orders.

Robot maniples would usually be painted in Legio Cybernetica colours but I've painted mine to match my Crimson Fist Space Marines.

Conqueror robots.

The Conqueror is a tank hunter, armed with an autocannon in the right arm, power fist in the left arm and a back-mounted heavy bolter for anti-infantry work.

Conqueror robots.

A couple of points of interest: Conqueror! was the name of the original White Dwarf article on robots in 1st edition Adeptus Titanicus, hence my decision to start my Walker Week with this particular design. The Conqueror also appeared in a smaller, weedier guise in on the Epic Space Marine sprues, not much larger than the basic infantry and in a much more static pose than the earlier metal version.

Quest For Makuta - the Bionicle Adventure Game

Bionicle game

We had a nice trip to the market town of Diss today, and we always enjoy a browse of the charity shops while we're there.  Today in the Oxfam shop we came across the Lego Bionicle Adventure Game: Quest for Makuta for a mere £2.99.

The blurb on the back.

Number 1 son (7 years old next month) has enjoyed playing with my Bionicle stuff for the last couple of years and he didn't need much persuasion to spend his saved up pocket money on this rather than some bit of useless tat from one of the other shops.

Mata Nui.

The game comes with a set of neat jigsaw fit hex tiles, shown here assembled as the island of Mata Nui, home to the Bionicle Toa (player characters).

Counters/tokens.

The components are decent quality, nice thick card stock.  It's a shame the playing pieces are plastic pawns with card inserts instead of actual plastic figures.  I suppose I could always order some of the Bionicle Hordika minifigures which are quite cheap (and the right colours, though not exactly the correct shape), but I'll wait and see how the game plays first.

Bionicle Guide

 I was asked to get out my Bionicle guide (a previous 50p Charity shop find) so we could have a look at some of the glyphs and try to translate them.

The Bionicle Lexicon.

With any luck, we might get a chance to try playing the game tomorrow!