Stargrave – Minster Salvage and Absolution Inc.

I started by avoiding the same archetypes used in the Talons of Solubris crew. I avoided anything too Jedi-like in the first crew, so this time leaned into more “force” type powers to see how that plays

Captain (Mystic): Qui-Gon Jim

Stats: M 6 (+1) … F +3 … S +2 … ARM 9 … W +3 (+2) … H 16 (+1)

Powers:

Suggestion, Heal, Void Blade, Destroy Weapon (+2 Not Mystic), Pull (+2 Not Mystic)

First Mate (Psionicist): Kobi Juan Aloo-Gobi

Stats: M 6 … F +2 (+1) … S +2 … ARM 9 … W +2 (+2) … H 14

Powers:

Break Lock (+2 First Mate)

Lift (+2 First Mate)

Psychic Shield (+2 First Mate)

Control Animal (+4 Not Psionicist)

The Daktari mercenaries are being employed by the Captain and his First Mate not knowing the bad blood between the Solubrians and the Daktari warriors. The Talon’s of Solubris are almost the last of their creed and the Daktari and pirates were the enemy guilty of the genocide that befell them.

As far as Captain Qui-Gon Jim and First Mate Kobi Juan Aloo-Gobi are concerned the blood thirsty but capable Daktari are a necessary evil in their own quest. A local resource whose past is of little consequence or interest to them.

The Daktari have faired better out of the Last War, but only by becoming vassals of the Pirates. Their own home planet of Daktar is being harvested of its resources to fuel the Pirate fleets, but the Daktari were ultimately successful in beating the Solubrians and still have a place to call home. The universe is in an apocalyptic state, so like everyone else the Daktari have next to no commerce that isn’t Pirate controlled and many of the young Daktari fighters have left home to ply their trade as mercenaries throughout the local galaxies. This is where a section of 5 Daktari  (runners, recruits and a guy with a carbine) have joined the crew of The Mission with Captain Qui-Gon Jim and First Mate Kobi Juan Aloo-Gobi.

They wear a mixture of garish coloured garments and black and brown fighting overalls and basic armour.

The NorthStar Gnoll heads are meant to be placed on a sculpted neck, so I glued a piece of whittled sprue on to the neck section of the cultist body and then glued the head into that. Because the Cultists are designed for a fantasy setting the leading foot of one of the runners was attached to it’s tab base my a grass tuft. To keep the same basing style I replaced the tuft with a bit of sprue. I figured it would look like a piece of broken ship. To give the illusion of the damage happening recently I threw down some ash type flock and some bits of Warlord Games pin markers sprue that is a lovely translucent red.

The purple arms paint is Emperor’s Children Pink with a wash of Druki Violet. The cuffs are Trollslayer Orange. The trousers are Warpstone Glow green with Deathguard Green stripes with an Athonian Camoshade wash. The whole mini was primed in Sceptre Black from the new TT Combat primer spray range and a zenith from above with Army Painter Leather Brown. I really like the pattern of the waistcoat on this minis. The whole overalls got a drybrush of Steel Legion Drab and an Agrax Earthshade wash.  The waistcoat got a coat of Darkoath Flesh Contrast Paint. The socks are Flesh tearer Red Contrast Paint with Mephiston highlights.

The face was the reason for the brown zenith to be honest. Knowing that I would need to bring the face up to a Zandri Dust and Morghast Bone colour for the patterning on the face I didn’t want to start that progression from black. The Zandri Dust was applied on the teeth, hair ruff, nose, ear tips and eyebrows and dotted on for the markings pattern. The whole face and neck got a Casandora Yellow wash, then the high areas got a highlight of Morghast Bone, as did the teeth. The tongue is a Bugman’s Glow flesh colour.

Qui-Gon Jim is the Captain of his star ship “The Mission”. The “Minster Salvage and Absolution Inc.” is just a front for his own quest. The few pockets of authority in the galaxy and the pirates rarely have any concept of religious tolerance and fear the psionicists and mystics. The powers that they have been mastering in their conclaves (manipulating people, inanimate objects and people’s perceptions) are both feared and  in demand. It was easier to avoid persecution if he comes across as a selfish salvage specialist than a priest trying to find a new home. Religious orders were looked on suspiciously, as a judgemental and pious people that horde resources in monastic compounds and communes in rare areas of calm in the chaos.

Qui-Gon was dragged out of one of these monastic compounds and threatened into serving an ambitious warlord else the monks and initiates of his flock would all be killed. Qui-Gon honed the more aggressive and warlike powers in the warlord’s raids, robberies and plundering as was demanded of him.

His best initiate, Kobi Juan, was able to get a message to Qui-Gon. The crew stood around to hear the message of unknown origin. The message that sounded like a garbled mess to the warlord and his crew, held a psychic message that Qui-Gon heard loud and clear. “They lied… Betrayal… Many dead… They lied… Not safe… Return… Please Return…”

Qui-Gon waited until the next mission, an intricate heist where Qui-Gon was the linchpin for it’s success, to exact his revenge on the warlord and his crew. As the warlord screamed at the end of Qui-Gon’s void blade the warlord’s crew were arrested by the bank’s tipped off security forces. Qui-Gon avoided the authorities, took the warlord’s starship and returned to Kobi Juan.

He found murdered monks and initiates and a gore covered Kobi Juan on his arrival. When the warlord’s men, left to guard the compound, turned on their captives with brutal efficiency Kobi Juan had fought back with such ferocity that the last of the warlord’s men fled. A contingent of the monks escaped on a transport, some hid in refuges and hard to reach meditation stands across the region but it was clear the compound was now compromised and a new base would need to be found. The few monks he could find became his crew. He augments his crew with whatever recruits he can find (hence the Daktari contingent), made Kobi Juan his First Mate and explores the galaxy looking for the lost monks and initiates that escaped the evil warlord’s cull. Qui-Gon  is gathering money and resources to set up a new safe haven for gifted individuals, to offer faith and absolution for those that want it and protect those that can’t protect themselves in a place beyond the reach and corruption of the pirate menace and those that would rid the galaxy of mystics and psionicists like Kobi Juan and him.

I had wrongly thought that a mystic mini in the Stargrave Nickstarter with a cloak and staff was going to be included in the bundle that I backed. It wasn’t. It was an extra option that could have come in my preorder if I had paid more.

I had my heart set on this guy being my not-Jedi Captain. Instead of hunting him down on eBay I chose to make him from the Stargrave Crew box that I bought.

The body and head are straight from the kit. The cloak is from a Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish sprue. The sword was made from a length of heated red sprue attached to a WW2 Japanese katana hilt.

For details on the basing and the Gerry Can that inspired the use of stretched heated sprues check out my other Stargrave project below.

Stargrave – The Talons of Solubris

I sort of tied my hands by diving in and creating my Daktari minis, just knowing roughly from my first crew that pistols and knives and light armour equals recruits etc.

Now they’re built I started looking at the actual troop types and their points and found that there are no carbine carrying troops that don’t have heavy armour. So I will try to add something to my carbine toting Daktari mini to denote better armour.

For my monks and initiates to be my specialists I will probably make good use of my Stargrave Crew box. The specialists generally have bigger guns and more armour so I will turn to my Gate of Antares and some Kill Team Genestealer Cults sprues for some inspiration.

I haven’t looked at the gear for my Captain and First Mate that closely, but will probably need to add picks and decks to make sure they help pick up the loot where the specialists throw out the damage and the Daktari run around as a distraction.

My initial list looks something like this:

390 credits spent

Recruit (free) – May resort to 2 recruits or runners depending on how my specialists survive.

Runner (free) – The Daktari with the purple arms and knife and pistol forward will be my runner.

Hacker (20 cr.) – Need to build. Probably from the Crew box.

Chiseler (20 cr.) – Need to add a knife to my belt on my Daktari chiseler to make him more WYSIWYG.

Trooper (50 cr.) – Will look at adding more armour to the carbine carrying Daktari for more WYSIWYG.

Medic (100 cr.) – Metal mini from the Nickstarter.

Burner (100 cr.) – To be made, probably from the Crew box, with a weapon I saw from the Genestealer Cults sprue.

Gunner (100 cr.) – Some rapid fire should be fun. Need to find an appropriate gun.

Thinking about the aesthetic I will try to make my monks quite drab and dark. Race / species wise I  can have some variety of aliens as the monks I think, but avoid animal like heads so they don’t look like the Daktari.

This list with the medic and burner etc. will run very differently to my Talons list, which was the aim.

The Captain and First Mate have high health but low armour, so the Medic seemed like a good option.

Made from a Stargrave crew body, head and backpack, with a Genestealer sprue gun arm and support arm.

I think the gun looks adequately flamer like, not sure of it’s 40k significance or designation, but with the right pain job will look cool.

I think with the helmet, back pack, shoulder pads etc. denotes heavy armour enough for me.

I liked the Object Source Lighting on this one. Started with a black primer then a Halfords red primer from above.

Then I tidied up the areas where the glow of the gun would not reach with mostly Abaddon Black.

Then I used Mephiston Red to highlight all the red areas. I think I did a couple of coats to try and make as bold as I dared.

Might add some flame shaped sprue at the end to emphasize the flamers side because the scorching at the muzzle I tried is a bit understated. I was hoping it would be a red acid style burner rather than flamer, but feel that might be a bit abstract.

I love the look of this guy and feel that blacks and browns will be my go to for the remainder of this crew.

Qui-Gon Jim has had a cursed life. Well as a model anyway. Sword snapped off 3 times, snapped foot and snapped off base. Perhaps because he was built and primed and then left on the bench as other projects took priority, leaving him exposed to bigger items being passed, sometimes carelessly, around the desk.

The turquoise Contrast paint was out for the top. Then hit with smurf blue in a heavy highlight. The cloak is Steal Legion Drab with a Mornfang Brown lining. The trousers are Vallejo Green Grey with a Athonian Camoshade wash and a Deathguard Green highlight. The belts and pouches are Game Colour Dead White, hit with Nulin Oil and then a heavy highlight of the Dead White again.

I think I may return to this guy because I think he needs some OSL from the void blade. He is the Captain and should have a cool paint job fitting his status, but the curse he has been under prep wise has lost my love for him at the moment.