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.

Really like this metal model from the Nickstarter. The multiple layers really threw me to begin with. Not sure which combo of colours to go for.

I started with a Halfords Grey Plastic Primer and because of the array of layers hit it all with Nulin Oil to make it easier to identify the garment parts. Decided to start with the bottom layer shirt and want with the same citadel smurf blue I used on Qui-Gon. I had said I would go for a less bold scheme for the models not representing the Daktari, but it hasn’t really gone that way when I get sat down with the models. I lent into that a little with the Deathguard Green of the main coat and sleeves and the buff waist coat being a Zandri Dust and Morghast Bone colour certainly isn’t as poppy as the red and the blue.

The face looked nice after the Nulin Oil and I wanted to do some tribal scars or markings. I think the white nose and freehand markings look good. The trousers are a Vallejo German Grey. The staff is a Vallejo Military Green. The metals are a mix of Vallejo Gunmetal Grey and the Runelord Brass, with a highlight of Silver. The pouches are Dead White again as with the Captain. The Mornfang Brown of the greaves / putties and the Vallejo Flat Brown of the knee pads was working with the WYSIWYG that this guy doesn’t have light or heavy armour.

I am thinking I might find a symbol to put on the pouches of the specialists and the Captain and First Mate, but not sure what to pick yet.

Pathfinder for my second crew. It was a really fun kitbash. Genestealer torso and arms, Maelstrom’s Edge legs, Stargrave Crew sprue head, Gripping Beast axe and a Warlord WW2 Japanese ammo pouch to cover a backpack hole in his back.

It is a deviation from my original list, but the discovery of a dynamite throwing arm on the Genestealer sprue, and the absence of a multi-shot big gun to make the gunner I originally planned lead to the change. I found the Maelstrom’s Edge sprue given free at Salute a few years ago, with legs I could use to support a Genestealer torso and after a bit of knife work the model came together nicely.

I went with a desert yellow primer, because I was already using it to paint a tank and fancied a change from the grey and black I had been using.

The whole model got an Agrax Earthshade wash to help me see all the details. Then once all the base colours were down I hit the whole model with Nulin Oil wash and kept it quite grungy and grimdark when going in with a more measured and weathering focused highlight.

Smurf citadel blue used on the shirt again like the Captain and First Mate. The overalls / chaps around legs were kept the primer yellow and highlighted with some Army Painter yellow. That’s the beauty of the Army Painter primer and matched dropper bottle range they have. The trousers are Mornfang Brown and the flesh is Bugman’s Glow and the hair is Army Painter Dead White and Vallejo Light Grey. I think the look of the whole model ties in with the salvage type specialists, with dynamite supplementing his grenade and the protection suit looking more rig and sci-fi construction style than military.

The metals are a mix of Vallejo Gunmetal Grey and the Runelord Brass, with a highlight of Silver.

This metal medic is from the Nickstarter. NorthStar really do support the Frostgrave / Stargrave games well I think.

I have seen him painted with blue skin and various clothing schemes online, but after priming him Army Painter Skeleton Bone I felt I wanted the skin to be fairly pale but still human.

The smurf blue shirt unifier continue on this crew and the white hair it seems. I went with a Deathguard Green stab vest and the white holster, like on the Captain etc.

The metal sprue piece on the base was glued there to look like a bulkhead / doorway lip. The writing on the tint text door is the website address from a decals sheet at the very bottom.

I was struggling to find an extra specialist soldier and was going to kitbash something before I found this great metal Hasslefree mini in my pile of potential. Hasslefree have semi-regular sales and I see fun Viking and fantasy models, some post apocalyptic modern minis and not-Lara Croft and Not-Nathan Drake models that caught my eye over the years. This dog and his nude dopelganger have found their way into my collection and now he’s painted he will make a great Gunner option for this crew. Now I have seen the studio paint job I might make some changes.

I started with a black primer then a Halfords red primer zenith, but really only the head and shoulders got hit with the red. I built the colour back up from black with Flesh Tearers Red Contrast and Mephiston Red. Then when I got that high enough I did some chipping and a Jokaero Orange and Mephiston mixed highlight to bring up some high areas. The changes I might make would be to colour some of the spine plates and  alternating front armour plates in a contrasting colour like a blue.

Had to WYSIWYG up my Daktari Trooper because he didn’t have heavy armour. If he’s under fire he drops his head and makes his way to cover then looks up again to get off his reply. The Daktari don’t like heavy armour. This is one of the reasons the Solubrians were able to hold out as long as they did in their wars and why the teaming up with heavy hitting Pirate allies was essential to their eventual victory.

Clearly it’s just a shoulder pauldron from my bits box attached to his combat smock on his back.

I like the name of this Hacker on many layers. The Hacker is meant to have light armour, a knife and a pistol.

He’s a kitbash of NorthStar body, head and hacker deck with Genestealer pistol and knife arms.

The metal hacker from the Nickstarter had some augmentation on her head. I didn’t feel that creative so just painted some dots of paint behind his ear and hoped that this and the cool visor would be enough to suggest what he is. He has the hacker deck at his hip, but this might not be visible from all angles.

The paint job was a black primer then a drybrush zenith of white. I hadn’t started out with white hair being the combining factor in the crew but it kinda turned out that way. The salt and pepper look on this hacker looks great in my opinion. The Macragge Blue shirt has also become a theme that I had intended more. The Rhinox Hide brown is a lovely leather colour and the Averland Sunset helps tie him to the battle overalls of the Pathfinder in the crew. The trousers are Deathguard Green and the whole mini got a Nulin Oil before highlighting all the high areas back up towards the original colours they were based with. The webbing continues to be mostly Game Colour Dead White with a touch of Apothecary White Contrast to knock some of the intensity back.

The crew of The Mission is complete.

Thanks for all the likes.

I used a fancy font of 11 as a transfer to gel the faithful as a crew. The Daktari obviously haven’t been accepted into the faith and should not wear the symbol.

The crew is really interesting and should be a challenge for the Solubrian crew from my other project to fight. I might take both crews through the solo campaign in the expansion Quarantine 37. See my progress in preparing for the game below.

Quarantine 37 – Stargrave

I imagine that Menelaus my Hacker was one of the men struggling with the authorities, the harsh new world and had tired of the life of a criminal hacker and left his hacking days at the commune door. When the Pirates attacked he was the one to get the message to Qui-Gon Jim on the Pirate flag ship. It was he who supported Kobi Juan in his search for the survivors and he is happy to do his part now their haven has been destroyed. He is quick in the defense of his new found faith and is keen on seeing post-apocalyptic style justice brought to those responsible for the culling of his brethren.

The gun dog, Archer, was brought up as the youngest of 12 pupmen in a shady slum on a low tech world far far away. As the family struggled to feed themselves he was sold to a Pirate Captain as a slave so that the others might live on the proceeds. As he matured and spiked in growth he began to join the boarding parties and earn his place on the ship. The Captain felt threatened by his strength, ability in battle and ferocity and tried to cast Archer adrift. But he forgot that dogs (and even dogmen) are man’s best friend and the crew turned on their captain in a bloody mutiny and cast the captain adrift instead. He had progressed to be First Mate, but there was bigotry towards dogmen and animosity and jealous of his position was becoming a problem. Archer was crushed against a shuttle in a botched boarding action. Partially paralyzed he was suddenly a burden rather than a fierce and valued fighter. Sadly the crew didn’t have the kind of loyalty and honour Archer had hoped for and needed. They set him ashore at a dead end space port, gave him a handful of credits and wished him well. By luck or by fate (depending on your politics) Qui-Gon Jim saw the uncharitable treatment and abandonment and convinced Archer to travel with him back to his commune where he could recover from his wounds. Qui-Gon managed to find a battle suit that had augmentation to improve reaction times, but as a benefit actually supported the central nervous system and gave Archer back the ability to walk. Being relatively intelligent he was able to understand the 11 Tenents of Truth being delivered at the commune and initially out of gratitude but eventually by devotion he studied and was eventually accepted into the faith.

Thanks again.

Happy hobbying.