Tuesday 25 November 2014

Marauder Venator - Test and first on the line




Venators... Funny how these guys have been playing with me since 1996 when I first discovered them in the White Dwarves where the confrontation rules had been published. I had just bought this lot of old magazines in a hobby shop and when I came home my mind was blown into atoms.


Venators and confrontation aren't familiar?, Have a read at THAT first then ...

See? What's not to love in a group of professionnal bounty hunters dressed in leather and chasing psykers and mutants.


Well, the only thing not to love about them is actually getting models of them... As explained before (HERE) the kitbashing route is the safer option. Getting my hands on some of the original Marauder set has proven to be quite challenging to say the least...

Marauder Venators (picture taken from Solegends)

From what I understand, those were cast and distributed in the US where they are slightly more common than on my side of earth. As Confrontation never got farther than being published in the White Dwarf magazine, the interest for it must have remained low (pure speculation, please enlighten me if wrong).

Problem is, the game is actually still cool and some people still love it. I'm one of these. After nearly abandonning all hope to ever get my hand son genuine venator models, 3 occasions poped in a month time or so. Two of these were Ebay auctions which saw me fail at getting anything (despite the tremendous help I got from some people of the Oldhammer community, thanks a lot guys, that really means a lot). Th eother occasion though was th emost simple and elegant of ways of getting a OOP model : a trade. This is how I got my hand son 25% of the whole Maruder venator range ! 

Now on to painting (please forgive my poor pics, things should get better at Christmas...) I opted for a totally not creative colourscheme. Well, I mean to say I shamelessly applied all that was described in the ohn Blanche sketches :


As it's almost impossible to find any picture of painted venators online, I decided to go for the most classical look just to test it (thoug I knew I liked the ide of using leather and whites. Why whites? Well, because for some reason venators have that italian vibe to me, their name (venator is latin for hunter), their masks have that venitian vibe (or at least what I link to venitian imagery).

they make me think about these :

Bauta Masks (traditionnal venitian carnival masks)

The black and white contrast is striking and I had to use it somehow. Just to make tings a little more intersting and to avoid making a direct copy, I reversed it in order to show the leather parts as described in the sketches.


I really like the venators to be professionnals, they do have traditions and a whole graphic universe but I realy like to think of them as cold pros rather than hot tempered zealots as they became later on in Necromunda...

Mutie, mutie, mutie, come here.... who's going to get his bounty? mutie mutie mutie !
For the time being, I've prepared myslef for some kitbash and after experiencing many option regarding heads, I may have found what I wanted on Blightwheel miniatures :



With just the right amount of filing and sanding, they can be a great start for a whole team on top of kitbashed bodies ! Exciting times !


Oh Come ON ! you 've got to be kidding me ! Damn I love my job...
For now, venators will be on pause for a little while but as soon as I get the heads, i'll have a go at buildng some to show you.

In the meantime, if any of you (especially amoingst our north american friends) happen to have some Marauder Venators and feel like making them go to a good home (in exchange of models, money, paintig services or a combo of all of these) , well please consider doing a little gesture, the wheel of Kharma is ever spinnning...


16 comments:

  1. He looks perfect JB. I love the colour scheme and the leather is brilliant, especially on the face. I know what you mean about those marauder mini's, they are kind of a holy grail for nerdlings like us. I've got two so far, a Psyker and a Tech Ganger. What do you reckon a fair price for any of these marauders figures is, as I've got my eyes on some (no venators lol)?

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    1. Cheers Colin, Marauder models are indeed hard toiget and it's frustrating to know most rest unattended in collection or in US attics... but that's how it is !
      Prices seem to range from 10£ to 15£ from what I see (and don't know if that's fair or not). I do have some marauder tech too that I'd trade myself, only ones I'm really after are the venators really (and one ash waste nomad).
      One day who knows? They do exist; I've seen them, I want to believe !

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  2. This is a great start for these guys, very promising. Interesting choice of colours, I believe they work indeed! C'mon, lazy guy, bring us more! More! Mooore!! :D

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    1. Dude you have no idea how harassing getting just one was ! Other models are coming anyway, Soon, very soon !

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  3. Really nice JB, the creamy white is lovely.

    What bodies are you planning to add the Blight Wheel heads to? They look absolutely perfect, your Venators are going to be an exceptional looking force. Very cool.

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    1. Bodies will be kitbashes from empire WHFB and Imperial guards for 40k with some fancy bits given by Jonah from the Meandening shades. (you can spot them in the link just above the solegend pic). Sean helped me a lot in understanding where to go with these actually.

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  4. Beautiful stuff JB. The stark contrast between the dark leather and the light hood / tunic is perfect! I like how you've kept the weapons simple and functional - just right for a professional bounty hunter.

    (Is there any irony that you have a 'wanted' poster for bounty hunters?! ;) )

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    1. Thanks Jon, I find the contrast to be pleasant yes, the leader wil lprobably have a completely white attire (apart form some leather items to make him stand and tie him with the famous JB drawing (the one with an uzi)

      Simple and functionnal, that's exactly where I wanted to go, glad you noticed and liked that. I managed to get a very dark brown and a light black (or dark cold grey if you want) next to each other and keep things clear. that was one of the things I wanted totest with this one.

      Oh and yes, I'm huntig hunters, how ironic !

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  5. I was only wondering yesterday when we'd see one of these painted up, JB. It looks great! I like the plain option of colour scheme; tying it in nicely with the Blanche description.
    Those heads you have found are ideal. This is looking to become a very accomplished project. Looking forward to the next one!

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    1. Well, might be a long haul before seeing another marauder venator painted by me but the plastic onversions could be up soon I guess. I'm glad to see people appreciate the colour scheme. Seems like a thumb up to continue this way !

      Thanks a lot

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  6. Nice work!

    if you were going to kitbash these, you could probably get something similar with Bretonnian bodies, empire militia legs, and IG arms.

    Damn it, now I might have to have a go at one.

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    1. Thanks ! I guess it could work well indeed, it all depends on the flavor you want to give them, I opted for IG legs for a more "pro" look.
      Have a go at them, to try them is to love them !

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  7. Sorry, Mr. ALMan, your new Venator looks great and all that and I wish you well in hunting down the rest of them, but honestly, I just have to say, "Run, Mutie, Run! Run to a place where all Muties can be loved, where all Muties can be safe. Muties, we love you. We accept you. Now Run, Mutie Run!!"

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    1. Sad times ahead for muties indeed...
      We'll see if amongst those cold hearted hunters we can find some nice guys...

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  8. cockerel mutie is total bizzarro! liking the look of these (before my time) but love your colour choice and the mask inspiration photos. have fun acquiring/converting more.

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    1. He's a weird one indeed !
      Glad people like the inspiration , thanks a lot Jessica !

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