Greetings Terrans, I hope you’re all well, and that life is being kind. I have a quick post to share with you today – ‘Olivia Neutron Bomb’ is the BOYL 2017 event mini, and is a beautiful sculpt by John Pickford, organised & designed by Old Hammer stalwart Axiom. Most intriguingly, she is closely based on this classic bit of Rogue Trader art:
I actually had Olivia based and primed as part of my Fembruary effort, but I didn’t get around to painting her because she didn’t quite fit the post-apocalypse gang that I had going on. However, she is such a brilliantly strong female mini, so I knew that I wanted to include her somewhere… Then I remembered these guys from 2016, and I figured that Olivia would be the perfect unit leader for this bunch of reprobates. I broke out my Kantor Blue and started laying down some colour, keeping to the same palette that I used on the older minis but opting to follow the RT artwork rather than freestyling it quite as much as I did on the original guys. Here she is, in all her glory:
The trousers were a real pain – I wanted to keep close to the artwork, but also use the same palette as for the rest of the squad. I think I got there in the end, but her snazzy pants took a few iterations. Otherwise she was a joyful thing to paint – she’s a really lovely mini with such a great story. Here she is leading her team of ultimate bad-asses through the streets of some backwater shithole planet:
So that’s it for now folks, I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on Olivia! I’ll be going dark for a couple of weeks, (a lot of work & life stuff coming up), but I’ll catch you all soon enough. Have a good one :-)
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
I wonder if the artist was originally intended the pants to leopard print? Hard to say, but another great mini and those pants must have been a pain to paint! Turned out really nice and I like the small additions to the base as well.
I considered that at first, but then I thought it looks more like giraffe-print!
Yea, probably Giraffe. You know your animal prints! :)
Giraffes in SPAAAACE!!!
Thanks mate – they were :-) I actually started out with much smaller blue spots, (as per the art), but the trousers ended up looking more grey than blue so I took some artistic license & went with bigger blobs. Glad you like her mate!
Oh, startling job! I love the colours you chose by themselves, but making her combine with the other chaps is just a genius bonus. Huge applause!
Thank you Suber, glad you like her mate – I must admit, that red/grey/blue combo is a real favourite of mine ;-)
Very cool work, Alex. You’ve tied her in very effectively with the rest of the gang, and the red helmet marks her out as something special – as well as the pose – obviously!
Cheers mate, I’m just relieved that she fits in so well! I think the red helmet is important on a squad leader – how else is a sniper meant to pick them out! :-)
Aside from a red helmet, all I can think of is not wearing any kind of protective headgear at all. Maybe a huge, obvious, peaked cap?
That’d do it ;-)
She looks great Alex! The colour scheme suits her perfectly. I should get off my arse and paint mine :)
Great stuff mate.
Cheers dude, glad you dig it… and yeah, you should get off your arse & paint yours! :-)
Looks good mate – and well done on the animal print trousers – that cannot have been easy. You’ve got it to work on an essentially “military” model without it ending up looking like camo which must have been as much of a challenge as the pattern itself.
Cheers dude, glad you like her. Yeah, the trousers were the only fiddly bit really, but that was self-inflicted through trying to match the squad and the art at the same time… I’m glad that she was worth the effort ;-)
Very nice, the efforts on the pants were totally worth it and she does make a kick ass psycho leader indeed!
Thanks mate, in the grim darkness of a far future, a good pair of pants is still important… I wonder if the poor chap she’s holding had the audacity to question her dress sense! :-)
Stunning job. Great post aswell. Keep it up
Cheers mate – I’ll try :-)
She’s fantastic ! I love the colours you’ve chosen and the blue and white trews are really nice !
I really like seeing different takes on a single mini and would like to see them gathered at BOYL18 ^^
Thanks JB, I had a feeling that the colours would appeal to you :-) I’ll be bringing her along, so we can definitely do an ‘Olivias Assemble’ thing! I wonder what the event mini will be this year?!?
She’s really great Alex – a very striking addition to the unit, and a perfect hard-as-nails mercenary squad leader. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the different painted versions of Olivia appear since BOYL – every one has been different, even when panting on the helmet markings and giraffe-print leggings!
Cheers dude, and thank you for helping to free her from the hallowed pages of RT! She’s a beaut of a mini and a joy to paint :-)
Well that is pretty stunning! Giraffe pants are great, but I really like the red you have managed on the helmet.
I agree, Olivia’s assemble is a must have for the forthcoming BOYL.
Cheers dude – let’s make it happen! :-)
Very bad ass. I wonder what the last thing the decapitated dude said to Olivia…was it…
“Let’s get physical”
Or…
“You look like a hairdresser, I need a little off the top”
Or…the obvious…
“Hey baby, how about a little head”
Sorry about that, couldn’t help myself. Great work on her Alex!
*groan* Cheers mate :-)
Sweet painting as usual. I love the retro feel of the miniature; if you hadn’t said that it was a new sculpt I could have believed that it was an unearthed gem from the early days of GW.
Thanks dude – she’s a much crisper sculpt than the golden oldies, but the design captures the vibe so perfectly… she’s a really lovely mini :-)
Very cool miniature.
Great paint.
Neat blog.
Cheers mate, kind of you to say so :-)
Great stuff and a cool model.
Cheers dude – she’s a beaut to paint :-)
I tried to get my hands on one but no dice sadly. Fair enough though as I didn’t attend BOYL and it would hardly be an exclusive miniature if any old riff raff could just lay their grubby mitts on one.
Sorry for the delay I’m not sure why your posts are not coming up in my feed grrrrrrrowllll. Anywho great work mate. She’s brill and ties in really well with the rest.
No worries dude – cheers :-)
Hahaha, who knew that one of my favorite singers went over to the (somewhat) Dark Side. Well, I had my suspicions back years ago when she did that movie, etc. but I preferred to see her through rose colored glasses as it were. Nice job and I like the Tzeentchian giraffe-skin pants too! :)
Thanks Ann – all the smart girls are wearing Tzeentchian this season :-)