Abdul Goldberg - Space mercenary

Abdul Goldberg, the infamous, Abdul Goldberg the bastard, Abdul the deceiver, Abdul the betrayer, I don't think there are characters as evocative of Rogue Trader as Abdul Goldberg and that's a real funny thing given the little information we have about him.

Since a little painting challenge has been created on the Emporium of Rogue Dreams on Facebook, I thought it was time for me to offer my vision of him.

I've had the model converted for a while now and yesterday night, I don't what happened but I just finished the model in one session. This is not a usual thing for me to do and that explains the rushed look of the paintwork. I did have a very clear idea of what I wanted him to look like.

Now I want to explore a bit of what we already know about Goldberg first. Colin of teh Leadpile has already covered that in a brilliant post with which I totally agree.

Now let's have a look at the 4 apparitions of Goldberg in the Rogue Trader rulebook, just to get an idea of who he is :

OK, so Abdul is  a liar and a thief who uses dirty tricks, not a good start...

Right, so Abdul seems to be a confirmed to be a tricky bastard but he's enjoying good time with his crew so at least he seems close to his men.

Huuuum, Goldberg seems like the guy who values his own life, perhaps above the value of a promise of friendship... looks like th eperfect definition of a good pirate to me !

OK, so Goldberg is a man of ressources who knows what he wants.

See, the funny thing is, all those descriptions show Abdul Goldberg is no more than how you're actually described in the scenarii : a cold blooded pirate who will do anything, including theft, murder, lies and worse, to reach your own goals. Not a good guy but not exactly the worst kind either.
He seems to me he's just the typical space pirate like many we know and have come to love :

Now there's of course the name, Abdul Goldberg, with the
Andy Hoare from Tales from the Maelstrom asked Rick Priestley about it but there's little to learn from that :
" I've asked Rick about the character and he says the name wasn't a specific reference, but was intended to be suggestive of 1970s sci-fi baddy/rogue types."

So with such conflicting first and last names, I had several choices :

- Totally ignore his name and model what I wanted : Tempting, it wouldn't make much sense which would fit well with the general RT vibe.

- Make Abdul Goldberg a middle eastern looking guy with visual elements from the cultures implied by his name : Dangerous, I'd be scared to make a "Jerry  Seinfeld wearing Fez on a camel"

- Make Abdul Goldberg even weirder by adding elements to the concept, elements that actually don't relate to the character or with what we alredy know of him : That's more like it. It's a matter of pushing things to 11 for me.

That's how I came to select the most peculiar head I had in the bits box. For some reason, I felt adding a third cultural elemnt would make the model even funnier.

You can actually see that the head pieces Sikh warrior wear are actually more exagerated than what I used. But they are just brilliant graphically and th efact the head is that of a fat guy over a slim body pleased me even more !

One of the main elements I wanted for this model was that I didn't want him to openly carry a gun. This doesn't mean he doesn't have a weapon concealed in his coat or that he may not be trying to get a grenade in his pocket but I want to leave a doubt.
The guy is a con man, always on the run, fleeing and thieving, that's what the running pose is all about. He's always either being chased or chasing others. The fact you don't know what he's going to take out of his pocket summarises everything, is it the shuttle's keys ? a gun or grenade ? his ID ? Who knows ?

"- I've heard the guy can fly, I SWEAR !

- Nah, that's just bollocks ! I know a guy who's worked for him and it told me that Goldbeg is actually a robot, that's why no ordinary means can kill the damn thief

- You guys know nuthin', I was hired by the governor on LV537 and I've seen the guy with my 2 eyes stopping bullets with his bare hands after we shot him. God damn piece of shit had stoen all our honestly robbed loot from the starport !

- (takes a long blow from his cigar) I'm telling you that guy must have made a pact with some demon. We've set up so many traps to get his ass that we're almost fascinated like kids when he still manages to cross us... damn thief...

- What about you Drik ? Have you ever encountered the infamous Abdul Goldberg ?

- Oh sure I have... (sigh)

- What did he steal from you or what trap did he make you fall in ?

- ... Nothing.

- Really, You sure that was the man ? Doesn't sound like the great pirate !

- Oh, I'm pretty sure it was him Kohl, I had all the time to ID when I saw him come out of my home kissing my wife goodbye..."

 It seems space bastards are an inspiring subject for me, I have 3 done so far and I don't think I'm going to stop here.

Now please don't expect to have 3 posts and 6 models painted a week. This was just a fluke. Really.
I have plenty of projects ongoing at the moment and I have absolutely no idea which one is gonna be completed first (especially since I'm starting new ones every day).
Anyway, there's gonna be freshly painted stuff coming soon enough !

Take care !