Connor Mc Lambert - Grey Sensei (and I won a prize again...)

Here he is, Connor Mc Lambert, the grey Sensei !

Some of you may know I've engaged myself in a game of Necomunda during the Oldhammer Week End this summer. This game revolves around the idea of  a crossover between Highlander and the Sensei concept  (as presented in the Realm of Chaos tomes).
The link between the Highlander movies and the sensei concept has been instantaneous for most of the contestants with the immortals, special powers and all.
You can learn far more about the game HERE.

This game will probably be on of the most silly and tongue in cheek of the week-end and every member seems to be awaiting it with great expectations.

Of course I'll be throwing my own sensei in the pit but since some participants like Cheetor have already crossed the line with characters directly inspired from the film , I thought I had to take the opportunity to do a sensei based on Connor McLeod (played by french actor Christophe Lambert).

You may have realised the model does not have a striking resemblance with Christophe Lambert but it's almost intentional...

Redeemed chaos champion : How the emperor loves you more than you hate yourself

Now we come to one of the best parts of the Sensei background. You may remember from the starting post on them that there is a little detail in the rules that intrigued me a lot :

 

Rogue trader Mad punk

A lot of work in progress at the moment, most of which being for the upcoming Oldhammer week-end in Newmark. This means a grey sensei, a space adventurers gang and on a totally unrelated note the 2nd edition eldar avatar (WIP pics to come to get your thoughts on the process).

The model I have to show today is the Mad punk form the rogue trader adventurers range.

It is a lovely model with some very pretty parts and some more bizarre ones (just look at the size of those gloves) but I found it very pleasant to paint. I am very glad to have a feminine member in the crew at last. She also adds a little more etnic diversity with a middle-eastern scout friend and the halfling which shows in the grim darkness of a dark future there may be only war but not only WASPs fighting it.

Oriental adventurer for a Sensei band

And here comes a new follower for my sensei. His name is Moulay Abd An-nour and I really enjoyed  painting him and imagining a background for him. I see him as a scout used to rough environments which is why I painted him a pair of blue Jeans and a leather Jacket to give him a sort of traditionnal adventurer look. He has some very fancy weapons one of which being a shuriken pistol. I think it is a interesting weapon in terms of Background since it either means he got it from black-market or that he got it from an eldar (which I strongly think he did)

A rebel's tale in the Rogue trader universe

Hi people, today let me present you Poakey, a rebel underhive dweller who has seen the light of the Starchild and joined the band of Lucas Stern, Sensei extraordianaire. 

Poakey is a youth whose athletic skills have always been reliable and which earned him a good place in the local Deathball league. Poakey was playing in the Human League until he won his admission in the trans-species league but severe repression by the Hive authorities made him chose a life of rebelion instead of a sport career. It was on this occasion he met Lucas Stern, a Sensei, hero of the Starchild and defender of the oppressed. he has then been following him across the universe to help for the good cause.

This model is a Hive worlder and like quite a lot of thsoe you'll see here, it comes form the excellent Rogue trader adventurers range which integrated a lot of older references and some very good additions.

Pictures from Solegend

But what were the inspirations for that miniature and the way I painted it? Hum well, I can't hide that the quite peculiar haircut with short hair on one side and long hair on the other immediately make me feel about someone most 80's fans know :

Phil Oakey form the Human League

I strongly advise you to read Zhu's excellent article about his particular haircut and how you can see it on other references like Kaleb Daark.

We can note that the model is wearing a pair of power armour legs on top of his regular outfit. I really like this detail because it reminds that in conforntation (Laserburn's heir and Necromunda's predecessor) it was possible to get power armour parts and to wear them even though the real benefit of a power armour only came when the power pack was worn with the rest.

As it is now, those pieces are probably more of a burden than anything else but I like to think Poakey is expecting to find a complete set over time ! I painted the parts in rusted steel to represent the fact he probably scavenged them from some sort of sordid place.

Another thing I like about this model is the strange set of weapons he holds. A wooden crossbow is quite unexpected in a cyberpunkish setting and the chainsword is looking more like a sort of tuned butchering tool than a real weapon. It enhances the fact this fellow armed himslef with what he had under hand.  I also painted the shoulder pad as if it could have been a sort of sport protection to remind his past.

The belt's been painted green against all colour theory logic for the sole reason it reminded me of the belt on this guy (yeah I know, pathetic fanfoyism form a pathetic maniac) :

Roronoa Zoro from Manga One piece

Now here is the traditional group pose with the 3 members so far, the 4th being nearly done and the 3 on their way.

While we're at it, I thought I could show you the next Rogue trader band I'm working on. It's the band of Roger Ferrero, rogue trader and space adventurer. You can see that his band has changed a little from last time but the background is still the same (yeah, the space skelleton is going to be a playable member of the crew).

Another thing which has had my interest lately is the preparations for BOYL 2014, the Oldhammer event in Newmark this summer. Since I 've decided to join a little game implying several sensei, I thought it was the good occasion to make myself a grey sensei (aka BAD sensei). I decided to base my model on Christophe Lambert in the Highlander series and here is Connor Mc Lambert, grey sensei and ennemy of all good things.

I had particular fun making him a perveted katana from different sources and I'm quite pleased of the result. The kendoka in me is particularly pleased that his right hand is holding the saber the right way but that's the part most of you won't care about...

What you can see here has been done in 2 nights and I only need to add some green stuff to make a new collar and to refine the sword and he's good. I used the dark vengeance cultist as a base and it's a really good model to work with. I love how a simple modification can make him look completely different (I have even as we speak some other plans for the very same model) :

Oh and while we're stillat it, let's have a look at some henchmen I kitbashed for my imperial nobles with fantasy imperial trooper, scion tempestus and regular IGs

In the next episode, I'll declare the winner of my little give-away so stay tuned !

Lucas Stern, Sensei master, hero of the Starchild

OK, with all the latest sexual confusion of last Week-end, I managed to get the finishing touches on the Sensei Master for my Sensei warband. This time you can be sure he is a man and has been so for a few centuries and even some millenia (no more phoenix non -sense ^^).

I've already covered a bit of the history and concepts of Sensei in a previous post so today I'm going to focus mainly on the leader of the band.

Let me present you Lucas Stern, my sensei master, leader of the sensei band that will arise in the coming weeks.

This is actually the second time I've painted this model. First time must have been in 1997 or something and I remember I did not enjoy painting him much at the time. It's why he has spent quite some time in a box of unloved half-painted lead until I rediscovered him a few months back and decided a good Acetone bath and some fresh eyes could probably do him good.

My main inspirations for this model were taken from this illustration (coming from the Slaves to Darkness tome) :

And as explained in my previous post, by the Japanese martial art of Kendo which I happen to practice. The real funny thing is that the first time I painted this model it was already with blues and greys just like it is now because for me that's the way Sensei have got to be painted (don't ask me why, I have seriously no clue).

Anyway, this time the choice of colours is justified by the feeling I wanted to give to the model.

The name sensei itself is a japanese word meaning "teacher" or which represents someone who has authority over you in a special field. The description of Sensei as very straight and honorable people in the Realm of Chaos books added to the japanese origin of the name immediately rang the Samourai bell for me and especially the Kendo one.

The picture below explains the different parts of a typical Kendo armour (in Japanese fencing, cuts and thrusts touch so you definitely want some protection to avoid broken limbs and cracked skulls).

Note that all the parts can somehow be found on the original drawing and on the model even if in altered versions. I have serisouly no clue as to wether this was some real inspiration or not but I couldn't let that resemblance unused for my project.

Both drawing and model display some form of blade which is the essence of Kendo (literally meaning "the way of the sword").

So the blue/grey/black colourscheme fitted both my ways of seeing sensei and the colours used in Kendo.

I opted for a red chainsword to offer some contrast. The colours are volontarily not very bright because I beleive such a character has managed to survive for centuries by staying low-profile in the shadows and this model served as a basis for the rest of the band in terms of colour combinations. The poor "readability" of it made me work the blues twice until I got the result I was looking for.

I kept a nice armour and clothing and decided to add battle damage on the chainsword (don't know if that shows well on the pictures).

Some of you may have heard about Musashi Myamoto, a great swordsman and ronin renowned for his swordmanship and being the autjor of the Go rin no sho.

Well I wanted to use some of the philosophy behind this art to give my sensei some more depth and I decided to opt for the principle of Zanshin.

(I'm using Wikipedia's definition)

Zanshin (Japanese: 残心) is a term used in the Japanese martial arts. It refers to a state of awareness – of relaxed alertness. The literal translation of zanshin is "remaining mind"

zanshin is the continued state of spirit, mental alertness and physical readiness to meet the situation

This principle is very important in the practice of Kendo but also in many martial arts coming form the Bushido and it can even be applied to arts. Permanent awareness and readiness is really how I portray sensei. Centuries and even millenia of training, surviving and thinking must have led to someting better than just a bunch of careless heroes.

I chose this concept because it embodies honour, respect, skill and experience. I realy see Sensei as the paladins of Rogue trader, with immortailty as little bonus.

I hope Japanese people or people who practice martial arts won't be offended by my poor freehand skills and attempt at calligraphy. 

I actually tried to paint the Kanji (symbol) like I would have done with a big brush on a big sheet of white paper, trying to write the whole Kanji in one motion (actually 3 to reload the brush) in order to keep a good Zanshin while doing so (if you follow me).

From now on, I'll add a picture of the band growing little by little so here is Lucas Stern with his loyal ratling cook, ready to go explore the universe and serve the Starchild and help those who need hope.

As far as Background is concerned, the Sensei leader will stay a bit misterious until his troops gather around him, for now, all I can say is that he's been serving th eStarchild cause for a very long time and that his time to come to light has come...

I don't know what other follower I'm going to do next but he should be ready soon (meaning before the end of the week).

Building up a sensei warband, what's not to like ?

You may remember from some posts ago that I plan on making a sensei warband. I 've always ben surprised to see how few of them seem to make it to the tabletop or even the painting ranges. The sensei are one of the most interesting aspects of the imperial history on the 40k Universe and probably one of the one which lacks to today's fluff.

I'm speaking of a time where Gods of Chaos were fighting gods of Law and when the emperor had a detailed history and past which opened doors to many a stories... But the topic today is not discuss the lacks of modern fluff but to see how we can use the gems of old books.

Here is some brief recap of what you're meant to know about the emperor :