Goin' Rogue: A New Rogue Trader Blog

It's always a sad day when one of your best friends (and stalwart gaming buddies) moves out of town. A few years ago we all lost such an individual to another city, leaving many voids in his wake, one of which being in the game master department. Thanks to Al Gore and the invention of the intarweb though, we can still live vicariously through his latest exploits and what he and his new group are getting into. Not just us, but you too!

I've added 'Warrant of Trade' on the blogroll to the right, so go check it out. It will chronicle his Rogue Trader campaign, in both storyline, direction, and all the cool behind-the-scenes stuff that he's working on to keep it moving. If you like keeping up with sci-fi RPG campaigns, or are a 40k universe fan in general, this site's for you.

Rogue Trader

Although the new Rogue Trader from Fantasy Flight is by no means a new release, I just now got around to picking up a copy of it this week. "Wow", is all I can say about it. Just the sheer size, weight, and feel (yes, as in texture) is impressive, then you open it up and are given a feast of the senses (yes, new book smell and all) of its innards.

Beautiful artwork, easy to reference tables, amazingly written fluff, background, and mechanics, the list goes on and on. Many naysayers, myself included, were leery about the move from Black Industries to Fantasy Flight Games. Dark Heresy was more of a stepchild, given custody to FFG by the state, and they've done what they could with it (don't get me wrong, Dark Heresy rocks too), but now the FFG team has been able to strut their stuff and show off their own biological offspring to the gaming world at large.

In almost every way, this game is everything Dark Heresy isn't, and in the mechanics department, it seems there's been some key tweaking based on feedback from issues with DH. My "reviews" are more 'touchy-feely' than crunchy, but suffice it to say, if you're into sci-fi roleplaying, this is the book for you, even if you're not boned up on the vast fluffverse that is the 40k juggernaut. It would work equally well suited to many different mindsets for a campaign; exploration, conquest, mercantile, and the like.

I've posted my pic next to the original Rogue Trader, which wasn't an RPG, per se, but it did have enough elements in it where it could be seen as such. Obviously it's the grandaddy of 40k and I would be remiss not to include it for posterity.

All Hands on Deck!

Rogue Trader after-action report, click here for the rest of the story...

"Black Jack" Onyx was plying a meager trade route in the outskirts of the Callixus Sector, financed by the mid-tier trade consortium Collective Menelauis . It was consistent, if not extremely prosperous, work..."

Trencher Commandos

So, Privateer Press released a new unit preview and it comes in the form of Trencher Commandos, the elite version of your basic trencher (which already looked cool). Well, as Andy put it (he's also the one who pointed them out), they look like they're armed with lasguns and frag grenades, end of story. Given their "elite" look, drawn combat knives, goggles, leather rucksacks, trenchcoats, and the like, these chaps can (and will!) pass easily for the troopers on board our Rogue Trader ship, the Void Dragon.

I need to post a character sheet of my RT character, Commander Kennoch the Arch Militant, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Instead of having a heavy Imperial Guard background like most Arch Militants go, I opted for a leader-of-the-resistance type instead. Having put together a resistance force to fight and eventually repel the Eldar on an abandoned Imperial world, Kennoch rose to power. When he joined the crew of the Void Dragon, he brought his personal army with him, the Sentrek Freemen. Yes, the same Sentrek Freemen you've heard about, rumors of their turning traitor are exaggerated. Since my Traitor Guard project died before takeoff, I've got to use their cool name somehow!

So these Trencher Commandos will make their way onto the tabletop somehow during our RT games. The thousand troops have been broken down into ten fighting companies of one hundred men each. Of note, the 10th company are equipped for close combat; chainsword and laspistols. The 1st company (our veterans) are equipped with hel-guns (and soon, carapace armor). 1st company will be the Trenchers you see here.

Rogue Trader Characters

Some the Void Dragon's Crew


Commander Kennoch

This is my Arch-Militant character, Kennoch. Raised on a Hive world, grown up in the gangs, and eventually left the world to escape persecution from a criminal organization, Kennoch ended up fighting the good fight. On a forgotten, backwater world, Kennoch rose to leadership of a human resistance fighting the accursed Eldar.


The figure itself is quite the rarity, and I've had it for a long time. Before Necromunda was called Necromunda, there was a gang warfare game by GW called Confrontation. This fig was "Leader 3" and they were put out in limited quantities for playtest purposes. I also have leaders #1 and #2, plus some of the original gangers. It's taken me somewhere in the order of eighteen years to get around to painting it, better late than never!


For a game like Rogue Trader, this fig is near perfect and exudes character and all the grittiness that is the 40kverse. I like him because he's awfully gregarious, and you can tel he's a grizzled veteran and can swing that power axe with ease. He still sports some gang signs (Necromunda Spiders anyone?) and has just tons of little details and extras, like the critter on his shoulder. I'm pretty surprised at the detail for a sculpt from 1990.


I was shooting for a mix of royal, flamboyant, and gaudy


Void Master

For my Arch Militant I had the fig picked out and the character rolled up, he is good to go. This fig was first painted up without anyone to call him 'home', but that got fixed during our second character creation session. Chrispy is going to use him as a Void Master character. He rolled up the rare 'best power armor' and took the light version, which is fitting for the figure. He's also noble born and the High Elf head helps accentuate that.


The Prince Adam lookalike is an older Warzone fig, an Redemption Assassin. I hacked off his head, not too skillfully, and swapped it for a WHFB plastic High Elf head. I also cut off the funky suppressor from the pistol. There were some real gems among the Warzone range, if you're looking for sci-fi figs, check out Prince August games.


Yes, I was thinking of General Kenobi from the Clone Wars when I painted him! I went with white, ceramite type armor and a fairly monochromatic palette for the clothing. I broke this up with the green in the pouches and straps (also used some green decals) and a non-metal metallic (NMM) pistol with a tiny red dot laser sight.



Since he's a crewman on board the Void Dragon, I used a couple of green Alpha Legion decals on his pauldrons, each one is a stylized dragon motif. I also used a green Athelorn Avengers Blood Bowl decal for the center of his chest armor.


I got on a roll and just started painting cool figs I thought would look good as crew members. I don't even know what class this guy could pass for, but I know he looks too cool to leave sitting unpainted in my bits box! I painted him up quickly, and looking at the photos, it kind of shows, I'll be going back and doing some touch-ups soon methinks.


I spent a lot of time differentiating from his dark skin tone and the leather satchels, bags, and pouches. The two were starting to look the same after a while. I also put more time than I should have into his all too-subtle camouflage pants.


Originally he was a Necromunda Cawdor (or is it kay-dor?) heavy stubber. I picked it up off of eBay last year when I was contemplating a Chaos Cultists army, when that idea was shelved, so was he. I'm glad I was able to find a use for him after all, what that use is right now, I don't know. Were it a Dark Heresy game, he'd be a lock for an ex-Guardsman, but I don't know for Rogue Trader, nonetheless, he was a lot of fun to paint up.


the end...

Rogue Trader Void Dragon

Imperial Rogue Trader, the Void Dragon

Although we are still knee deep in our Dark Heresy campaign, the new Rogue Trader release was too good to pass up. One "free" game night, Andy brought his copy, and he, Chri3, and I all rolled up characters, and of course, the ship itself.


We rolled 60 ship points, but this means our wealth is conversely low. Basically we have lots of ship, but not lots of money, I have a feeling I know what our first few goals will be. We could've gone with a bigger ship, but not had much of anything else, instead we opted for a smaller ship, but that would allow us lots of customization options.


The Void Dragon is a Sword class frigate, drawing its thrust from a Jovian Pattern class 2 drive. A Stelov 1 Warp Engine powers it through the immaterium. An upgrade of Augmented Retro-thrusters gives the large craft better finesse and maneuverability. For protection is has a Single Void Shield Array and a R-50 Auspex Multi-band array finishes up its sensor complement. It also sports a forward Command Bridge.


The Void Dragon has added a Compartmentalized Cargo Hold, and its houses better quality internal environmental system with a Vitae Pattern Life Sustainer. Voidsmen Crew Quarters offer much more spaciousness than standard cramped quarters, and a second Barracks provides proper quarters for the standing ship's marines.

For offense capabilities, the Void Dragon utilizes a pair of Mars Pattern Macrocannons and a complement of Murder-Servitors for boarding actions.


It's the little extras that the Captain and crew of a ship implement that make large differences to those who serve on the ship. On top of the enhanced environmental controls and spacious quarters the Void Dragon also has a central Shrine to the God-Emperor on board. An expansive Trophy Room safeguards the rare items and treasure procured by the crew, and an Observation Dome gives a spectacular view of the stars beyond.


Captain Onyx Jack's personal symbol, the Ace of Spades

Rounding out the final specifications of the Void Dragon is the very curious Warpsbane Hull augmentation. This is certainly not a standard Imperial upgrade, and it is suggested that it is partially (or wholly) xeno in nature. Regardless of its origin, it makes warp travel with the Void Dragon much safer than most other Imperial ships.

About the model itself, it is a GW model believe it or not, from a very obscure game called Space Fleet that came out in 1991 as a predecessor to Battlefleet Gothic. It was a funky little game, but fun at the time, most of the components I had are long gone, except one of the Imperial ships. Considering what the newer ships look like, this lighter, sleeker version will work wonderfully as a smaller, frigate-classed ship. I couldn't think of a name, and frankly the "Void Dragon" hasn't been run by the group as of this writing, but I used a Salamanders decal on the prow, so I thought the name fit pretty well. Some roman numerals help make the ship look 'official' and on the side sponsons there are some kill markings and more ship numbers. Underneath I used a Cadian spade decal for personality.