Hello chaps, quite an exciting update today – I’ve had a major push on my Frostgrave/Rogue Trader crossover project, and have a bunch of WIPs to show you as a result… I don’t normally like posting B&W WIP shots, but I think that I could use a sanity check on these guys – I’ve gone a bit mini-blind.

So, the idea is (very roughly) to reappraise the background fluff for Myrleia, barbarian warrior of the Azmaa. At the time, I loosely described the Azmaa as a tribe that forms part of a techno-barbarian civilisation – nominally under Imperial control, but infrequently visited and rather isolated from the wider galaxy. I imagine that such tribes would largely keep to themselves, but might gather once a year to share tales about noble star warriors and ravaging monsters from beyond the night sky. Many generations might pass between actually seeing such wonders and horrors, allowing such things to pass into legend. Technology would likely be treated with indifference – some things with long lasting power packs might be useful, (such as lights and crude bionics), but items that consumed ammunition and the like would be shunned in favour of more reliable low-tech solutions. Scavenged tech might also feature in either a functional or ornamental capacity. I also wondered what might happen if the mutant psyker gene were to manifest among the Azmaa – would such individuals be reviled and feared, or would they fulfil the role of Shaman… If the latter, then such individuals might become powerful in ways unimaginable to the dogmatic Imperium, mastering and manipulating elemental forces in unprecedented ways. Might some even become powerful enough to walk the planes between worlds? Travelling outside time and space, might they even be able to reach alternate realities? Well… I propose that they might indeed, and this idea is the basis for my Frostgrave Warband – a group of time/space/dimension hopping travellers from the Azmaa… y’know… because magic…

From a modelling perspective, I wanted to revisit the playfulness of mixing old fantasy minis with modern 40k bits, as I did for this lovely lady – Myrleia of the Azmaa:

Logic (?!?) dictated that I went back to the Chaos Thug line, so I snapped up a handful of old Marauder chaos archers & command figures as my starting point. They have a really cool Native American vibe that puts me in mind of the Muties from the rather excellent Amtrak Wars novels by Patrick Tilley. I haven’t read them for decades, but I do remember enjoying them very much as a teenager, and I’m planning to re-read the series for further inspiration. Anyway, I digress… The lead was chopped, filed and trimmed to remove the bits I didn’t want. Much swearing and blood-letting was offered up to the uncaring hobby gods, before modern plastic was cajoled into place – the aim was for just enough fantasy to show through, while being unmistakably 40k… a very fine line to tread. Did I succeed? You be the judge…

This is my ‘Wizard’ and his ‘Apprentice’ – really happy with how these guys turned out, the static pose of the older, (presumably wiser), man with the leg brace contrasts nicely with the younger man being more dynamic and aggressive looking. Their staffs really place them in the 41^st Millennium – who knows, maybe the servitor skulls atop them still contain a shred of life. Note the use of clocks to suggest Chronomancery:

Next up we have some ‘thugs’… a mix of sci-fi hand weapons on show (literally in one case!). Not too much to say for these guys really, but they certainly look thuggish to me:

Here we have a pair of ‘Archers’ – I had to do a lot of searching to find suitably hi-tech bows for these guys, but I eventually sourced them in a cheap zombie survivors kit. I’m really pleased with the final result here – the ‘Archer’ class was the one I was most worried about pulling off:

Finally, we have a ‘Soldier’ (double handed weapon), and a ‘Treasure Hunter’ (bow & staff). I’m particularly pleased with the Treasure Hunter – the staff looks like it doubles as some kind of scanning device, which fits the class quite nicely I think:

So, that’s it to date – I have some Greenstuffing to do to tidy up some of the rougher bits, but the main build is largely finished. I think that I’ve managed to walk that fine line between fantasy and 40k here, but I would certainly welcome any comments and advice at this point… you know how it is when you are too close to a project, and you lose perspective :-/

Oh, and as a bonus, and just to prove that I haven’t been entirely idle with the brush – I managed to finish off this enigmatic Lizard Stalker type… still no idea who or what he is, just the latest, (and most successful), of my efforts to translate Lizard Men into the 41^st Millennium… Enjoy: