Mercenary Abbadon
28mm
They say he was there at the beginning. One of the originals; witnessed the birth of the Imperium. But that's impossible... he's just a man, a lowly spacer. Still, the glitchy old holos don't lie; there he is.
This figure is easily one of the most vintage models I own. First appearing in 1987, the sculpt dates all the way back to the early days of Citadel Miniatures' "Rogue Trader", when there was a lot less rigid backstory or structure to their catalog. Later, the Rogue Trader universe became the skull-piled Warhammer 40,000 we all know and (problematically) love, and street-level characters like Abbadon, Plunderino Pete, and Irn-Bonce the Squat are now a thing of the past...
1987: first appearance as "Ground Combat Trooper". |
... then "Abbadon" a few months later. |
It's an odd sculpt, hunched and bandy-legged with a very vague helmeted face that's almost skeletal. But I like it, it has a grimy working-class-in-space appeal.
I picked this model up years ago, and a recent post by Matt S. of Oldenhammer in Toronto spurred me to paint it up. I love his bold, lively painter's hand, and I think this paint job is definitely influenced by it. I tried not to mimic his version of the figure, but the shoulder patches are identical as a small homage.
(Abbadon's name was of course recycled for a much different, more skull-licious 40k character later on)
"How long were you out there, old timer?... Hmm, a man of few words, I guess." |