Dean Viesel - Imperial Clerk - Previously unreleased Rogue trader model

Hey there, after posting you some plastic non sense I though you guys would expect some good ol' lead. Well that's just the kind of guy I am : I deliver.

As you can see the model above is quite an old one. In fact it dates back from the old days of Rogue trader and it's part of a series of models that the Wargames Foundry has had the brilliant idea to unearth. Go check around all the other wonders from the golden age you can get from them without getting your paypal red hot on ebay.

I warmly welcome you to read more (and better) about this particular series on Jason's blog HERE.

The excellent thing about this model is that it is directly connected to the Rogue Trader Rulebook, though I have to admit I have no clue if in this case the model inspired the illustration or if it's the other way round...

EDIT : Thanks to Brian Roe on the Oldhammer FB page, I've actually learnt that the illustration is from Pete Knifton and it seems Pete never saw a miniature of that fellow which would tend to say the illustration was first.

Illustration by Pete Knifton

The thing you'll notice is that this model is quite muscular for a clerk or administrative kind of guy. I'll be honest, while most of the sculpt is nice (really liked the face which reminds me of Bob Naismith's style) the left arm is massively badly sculpted, massively awkward and massively too massive (did I mention it's too big). But hey, let's not that kind of huge details get in our way ok?

You might wonder why I chose that model since the arm seems such a problem, well I was eager to paint some of what I had brought back from BOYL 2015 and I needed a pacific model to paint for a little challenge organised over the emporium of rogue dreams, a friendly page for whoever loves retro sci-fi, wargames and models at once.

Painting wise, I was kind of puzzled about what to do with this model, first of all, the details are not really helping so I had to pick something easy. Second thing was that not much says "sci-fi" on this model and though the illustration is a clearer about the setting the model could easily be painted for fantasy.

That's why I opted for a clear robe on which to get some "elaborate" patterns. I also tried to limit leather to the max (only the dagger scabbard has some). I also painted the head protection in some form of synthetic see-through material (maybe it's some kind of Head up display calculator or something).

I wish I could have painted a big imperial eagle on his chest but I didn't have the courage and no decal either so I just went with a cheap trick using a chaos decal (and reversing it upside down).

Dean Viesel has never had much in life but he's always known how to make the best with what he had. Life in the underhive is an unforgiving one but Dean quickly understood that being a little taller and a little stronger than average could make all the difference...

He quickly became an agent to retrieve debts for the many influent gangs that had some to collect and it's thanks to his talent to doing so he came upon Pierce Gavestone who recognized his skill. Thanks to some personal favors and hard work, Dean got from Pierce and his many influential contacts to be included in the administratum agency for tax collection.

From that point, his life has been one heaven of tax collecting, muscled law enforcement and working out at the imperial gym where he spends most of his evenings, keeping a sane body and helping the younger agents to do just the same...

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Now if you'll excuse me, I'd just like to show you what I had teh immense pleasure to grab while at my cousin's the other week end :

And that lot of beauties, all so shiny and chrome !

What do I have next ? Good people, if only I knew myself...