On The Painting Desk- Inquisitor Warband

I first got interested in the 28mm Inquisitor scene in about 2012.  I was really into Games Workshop's Specialist games ranges like Necromunda, Epic, Battleftrleet Gothic, Aeronuatica Imperialis, Gorkamorka, and Inquisitor.  I had burned out on all the changes in the main 40K rules, and the Specialist Games seemed a bit more stable in the core rules department.  An investment there seemed like it would last for a long time.  However, those game ranges were on life support and died.  I guess I was wrong again!  Thankfully, I never let the death of a game really stop me from being interested in it. 

Anyway, I had long had an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor character that had been a character in various campaigns.  However, he was always just a plot point and never a playable character.  As I learned more about the idea of playing games of Inquisitor in 28mm scale (instead of 54mm scale) I thought it would make sense to make a warband for this Ordo Xenos chap.

Draxiz Xanatos and his retinue was born.  As mentioned, Xanatos was an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor who had zealously protected the God-Emperor's domains on the Eastern Fringe.  For decades he battled the infringements of the cursed Tau Empire's influence with the border worlds.  As a result, he frequently found himself in physical, spiritual, and diplomatic combat with the Tau and those under their sway.  Over the decades, he received severe injuries.  His body is a patchwork of scars, bionics, and rejuved, necrotic flesh.  He has received such severe facial wounds that his eye was removed and was irreplaceable with bionics, earning him the gory nickname of "The Cyclops" from his peers.

:Left to right: Seneschal Guiseppe Petro, Father Robertius, Inquisitor Draxiz Xanatos, Sergeant Major Danygan Bathory, and Spymaster Sebastian Twist 

Since Draxiz Xanatos was a fairly militant fellow, he tended to have close contacts with the Departmento Munitorium, Imperial Guard, and the Imperial Navy.  Therefore, much of his kit came from tried and true patterns seen across the Eastern Fringe.  Such equipment helped reinforce his authority as an enforcer for the Imperium in areas of space rife with the stains of the touch of the Tau.   

During a campaign to liberate the people of Centarius Prime, Xanatos was forced to trek with a small band of loyalists across the desolate and forbidding Plains of Gedd.  On this journey, he encountered ancient, monolithic structures that caused physical discomfort to behold.  On it was ancient writings and glyphs of a sort he had never encountered before.  These cylcopean and monolithic structures were truly ancient, and only revealed recently by the shifting winds of the Cantarius plains.

Later, on other worlds and in other campaigns, the Inquisitor uncovered or discovered more artifacts that were clearly linked to the primeval monoliths of Centarius and the Plains of Gedd.  It became clear to the Inquisitor that these artifacts were not isolated sites, but somehow linked in a terrible and horrifying way.  Soon, his attention turned to preparing the Old Guard Stars for the coming rising of this new, ancient threat.  His worst fears were confirmed on the planetoid Bin Mazar when he first encountered this ancient threat for himself, Necrons.

From Left to Right: Sir Rowlynd Taggert-Feral Worlder, Duke Vito De Selvig- Hunter, "Cleavus-345"- Combat Servitor, Prefect Primaris Hieronomous Deodoric- Xeno-Archeologist   

 
Since Inquisitor and skirmish games are all about individual characters, each of Draxiz Xanatos warband has a backstory.  I won't bore you with the details here.  Suffice to say that they are more elaborate than any 28mm model really needs.  However, one of the joys of individual model-vs-model skirmish gaming is the chance to couple it with light role-playing and for that a backstory helps immensely.         

Almost all of these fellows were made using parts from a few main sources; the old Empire Halberdiers multi-part kit, Imperial Guard Command Squad, Imperial Guard Infantry Squad, and the old Warhammer Fantasy Zombie sprue with copious amounts of greenstuff and goodwill.  I think there were a few Skaven bits from the Gutter Runners and some Khemri and Ork pieces as well.  Father Robertus is a Reaper priest model pre-Bones, who is now available in Bones.  I recommend him as a traveling friar model with a great deal of character.

The other thing about these guys is I mostly used cheap Super Store bought craft paints and cheap big box brushes to paint them.  The acrylics worked surprisingly well, but I recommend watering them down 2:1.  Then, I washed them with Army Painter washes.  Not a bad outcome and very cheap.

Ready to Purge the Heretic and smite the Xeno

I originally planned on using these guys for Inquisitor 28mm games and with my Warhammer 40K armies.  However, I originally built these guys in 2013!  That is 6 years ago!  Needless to say I don;t really play those games as much as I did.  I thought about using them in Kill Team, but apparently Inquisitor warbands are not a thing in those rules at the moment.  Therefore, I think I will use them to play either Pulp Alley or Strange Aeons 40K.  In a pinch they will also do for Rogue Stars, Rampant Sun, Rogue Planet or other Sci-fi skirmish games.

These little men have been in my painting queue for a long time.  I have done more painting in 2019 then I probably did in the last 3 years combined!  Let's see what else gets done for 2019.