Those Who Rule

Sometimes a family is a lord, a lady, their baby, their homonculus, and their other... baby.

Lord Greiss, Lord-Governor of Colony 87, and family

Last time, the civilians were the intelligentsia; scholars, priests, adeptus administatrum. I've split my civilians into class-based groups (sort of, as we'll see) to create batches that are easier to manage. This week was the aristocracy.

(Well, and last week. It's been a bit of a tough fortnight.)

Let's take a closer look below the cut.

Lord-Governor Greiss

Lord Greiss was part of the first Colony 87 Kicksarter. He's a magnificent sculpt and an absolute joy to paint. I've tried to get a feeling of decadent military aristocracy, with his military uniform, purple cloak and soft white fur stole. He's governor of a desert planet; how expensive was that stole to import?

The black and white checks are pure #oldhammer indulgence.

Lady Greiss

Also part of First Wave, Lady Greiss is a really stellar sculpt. I don't think I've really done her justice, but I tried to use colours I never, ever use; muted pinks and a grey-purple. I love the weird pipe fitted straight into her nose. It's the kind of detail you used to see in science fiction all the time but I don't think it's a part of modern aesthetics. Bugger to paint, though.

Her pet baby's onesie is Vallejo's Heavy Khaki with a sepia wash. Heavy Khaki is a super weird colour that looks nothing like you expect, so I almost never use it. Here it really ramps up the off-putting face on that baby and makes the whole model clearly science fiction. This is not a regular woman. That is not a normal human infant.

Homonculid (Greiss family strain)

Speaking of creepy babies, this homonculid is just the best. Look at its monstrous little face, its hideous pointy ears, the contrast with his frilly collars. I love it. I gave him clothes to match his daddy, while his skin recipe is Ana Polanšćak's recipe for ghoul skin, now my go-to for near-human things that don't deserve the full zombie approach.

The homonculid itself comes from Colony 87's Third Wave, although the concept art was there in the first. He works for the kind of weird vat-grown things that the aristocracy of the 41st millenium make for themselves, so he was included in this set rather than the future alien pets.

Nan-O-Bot and designate_unknown Greiss infant

Finally, we have the Nan-O-Bot and a baby in a carriage. Also part of the latest Colony 87 kickstarter, this pair would probably seem out of place in mainstream Warhammer 40K.* I think she works well with my vaguely-French-comics kind of approach, though.

The Nan-O-Bot is certainly not a true AI but not a brain-wiped servitor either, making her a great candidate for the kind of weird rare technology that rich wankers might keep around. The staining on her exhaust port and wear on her charge station and side hatches give some sense of her great age, helping ground the miniature.

Nan-O-Bot's colours are deliberately the comforting shades in you see in baby nurseries; her head is bronze because it's a nice warm, friendly colour for babies. These were colours I don't usually use, so I faded down the pinks, oranges and blues by mixing in bones and creams. When I did that with turquoise, the colour went the greenish shade you can see above by total accident. It still works, I reckon.

mélange

Lot of things on my sideboard at the moment. Here are some clues as to what might be coming up...


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*Good thing that I'm specifically going for a different aesthetic then, huh? Not everything has to be covered in mechadendrites and skulls, guys.)