Iron Sleet Invitational: Painting Inquisitor Soljic, Ordo Xenos

Inquisitor Anton Soljic - Thorian

In the 15+ years that I have been a part of this hobby, I have always been building and converting models.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about painting them.  There were a few good years were I was consistently painting, and managed to enter some models into the Golden Daemon painting competition at the Baltimore Gamesday, but that was over 7 years ago.  Since then, I put the brush down, citing a lack of time due to graduate work (which is the truth!).  But over the last two years since starting this blog, my desire to take up painting again has steadily increased.  After an absence of so many years, it is a difficult thing to start up again. In fact, all of my paints were dried or misplaced, along with all my brushes! Despite this, I began to collect new supplies towards the end of last year, including getting my first airbrush!  With new painting materials gathered, all that was left to wait for was some inspiration to trigger my foray into painting again.  As it turns out, that muse was being invited to participate in the first Iron Sleet Invitational.



When painting the models, I wanted to stick closely to the story/theme that I had in mind for each of the characters.  The scene that I am trying to create is a confrontation between two Thorian inquisitors who do not see eye-to-eye on the God-Incarnate enigma  (if a man (the Emperor) can become a god, could not a god become a man?).  The power armored one, Lucanus Molnár is fixated on the belief that through genecrafting and the uncovering of techno-arcana from the Dark Age of Technology, he might create a vessel for the God-Emperor to be reborn, or failing that, perhaps repair the fabled Golden Throne (hence his position in the Ordo Mechanicum).  He is the more bombastic of the two inquisitors, quick to extol the virtues of his beliefs, and display his Inquisitorial rosette. The other, Anton Soljic is a more conservative, practical man who still believes in a second coming of the Emperor, but thinks it is great folly to think that anyone would bring this about directly.  As such, he is almost an Amalathian at heart, believing everything is proceeding as the Emperor sees fit, and seeks to maintain the status quo of the Imperium.  He is more discreet, and rarely displays his credentials (over the years he has found that many people act differently when they know an Inquisitor is in their midst). The two inquisitors’ divergent views have always put them at odds, but they have never come to blows.  This might change, however, as they meet in a recently uncovered tech-vault that appears to date back to before the Age of Strife...

I opted for a traditional and reserved color scheme for Soljic to emphasize his reserved character and methods of operation.

The new 32 mm base gives Soljic more of a sweeping dynamic presence than what would have been afforded by a standard 28 mm one. 

Deciding on the first model of the trio to paint was quite simple; I painted the one that I finished converting first, Anton Soljic.  Ultimately, I did not have much choice in the matter, as I was waiting on an order from Forge World to come to start creating the other two!  Wanting to emphasize the inquisitor’s circumspect way of going about official business, I wanted to paint him in drab military colors, functional and unobtrusive, with no obvious signs of his rank. Aside from using an airbrush to prime and do an initial coat of black, the rest of the model was painted with an Ichiban brush and a range of Vallejo Model Air, Minitaire, and Games Workshop paints (Vallejo makes some awesome military colors! ex: Olive Grey, US Dark Green, Dark Green, olive drab, etc.).

Confrontation!

I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about beginning to paint again. After so many years, I thought that I might struggle to get back into it. I am happy to say that this was not the case, having finished the first inquisitor. It was a joy to use a brush again, particularly painting the model’s face, and really bringing the character to life. Only two more models to go, ha ha! Thoughts or comments are always welcome.

- Adam Wier