Modelling an Amalathian Inquisitor

[Inquisitor Vale]

I am looking for some advice on how to model my Inquisitor. The introduction to the Conclave says that the unwary poster might get more advice than he bargained on! Using a bullet point structure was advised -- as I am a complete beginner I have resigned myself to paying for conversions (my imagination outstrips my capacity by fifty miles and it is not a great imagination! Person A, who will remain nameless, has kindly offered in the abstract -- I feel it's my duty to ease their path) even though I will attempt a Palpatine to Astropath which is little more than a few purity seals. Any and all model suggestions gratefully received.

* Ordo Hereticus, Amalathian. Commodus Voke rather than Eisenhorn.
* An intensely devout man, a firm believer in the Emperor's Will. His Imperium is unfolding as He intends and it is the duty of His Inquisition to serve as His arm to keep the sacred Priesthoods of Earth and Mars free from taint and prevent the evils of factionalism and internal strife. Certainly not a monodominant*
* A youngish man (a little off sixty, but thanks to juvenat seems 25-30), a pale, stern, ascetic face (Tyrus?)
* A scholar (book?)
* Not wearing armour. Robes, perhaps? I would prefer a more passive pose to Lord Borak's excellent cultists or Malicant.
* I have always been very fond of the ecclesiastical (I think the commonly used word is ''Gothic'') details around the edges of 40K paintings (robed servitors, the Mechanicus and the Navigators, cherubim, servo-skulls, adepts and priests alongside the uniformed soldiers of the Guard and Navy, the holy Crusades, for example) that, to my mind, make 40K what it is visually. I feel obliged to say that Gav Fry (Greenstuff Gav) has been more helpful than I can say -- I've bought a Blank [to be repurposed]  and two adepts of his own casting,  and 4 servo-skulls on eBay, and I hope to continue this ''feel'' in my warband.
* Weapons (easily arranged by swaps): Power sword (Kal Jerico's?). Is it stretching WYSIWYG to include a servo-skull with a stubber on the same base? Or his Self-Flagellant Cherubs [unarmed, so not actually germane to the question -- purely visual in game terms]. I think I prefer the latter if I can find a Cherub with nothing in its hands and a closed mouth (I envisage the self-flagellants as reciting his examinations of conscience when people go by as a humiliation and tugging at his clothes and hair, interfering with his dictations as a mortification, as a beginner I cannot devise a vox-caster mouth -- not an invention of mine: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Servitor)

*As I discovered monodominance is not orthodoxy, far from it (I would say it was at best semi-heretical). They assail and seek to destroy sacred parts of the Priesthood of Earth. They remind me of the 18th century Jansenists -- a sect of Catholic heretics who purported to be purer than  the Church and wanted to destroy it.

[Lord Borak]

Ok, so you want him in more non combatant clothes maybe? This leads to the question of; How does he dress? The world he's from might impact on how he dresses but if he's investigating something then maybe he's undercover? If so, what disguise is he wearing? Or is he the guy who doesn't do disguises and wears a great big =][= symbol around his neck whilst reciting tenets and clubbing heretics to death with his book?

[Inquisitor Vale]

Hello,
I think – I think mind you – he wouldn't behave like either category. Not disguised as a civilian, but not tearing in like a monodominant as an Amalathian wants to preserve order would only upset it. He is more likely to formally try and execute heretics than simply strike them down in the field, to preserve order (see Eisenhorn on Hubris – he could simply ride roughshod over Imperial protocol and will do so if souls are at stake through corruption or incompetence (the corrupt or incompetent official will in his turn feel the wrath of the Inquisition), but the very definition of an Amalathian is one who does not as it is showing contempt to the Emperor's chosen servants.)

I think I imagine plain, but rich and heavy ''Gothic'' robes or long coat, ( black or at most deep scarlet and black, cussed imagination) with his seal and the sign of the Aquila pinned to his breast or hanging round his neck (plain, as the Imperium requires piety and humility and he is a genuinely pious and humble man, rich as he is an Inquisitor – velvet, fur, some little gold, not the garish wealth of a rogue trader)? He's a progena whose father predeceased him and whose mother died in childbirth, so he has no real memories of Lambda Carthaxine (an invented Hive World, his father was an Administratum adept). I imagine he would copy his mentors.

Mercifully I have found a picture to support my pontificating. This Blanche drawing gives something of an idea of him as an old man – less psyber-eagle. Devout (look at the skull-headed pins in his head, evidently intended as a mortification, cf. Cilice), richly but severely dressed (the heavy fur collar – almost suggests the weight of duty, very fitting for an Amalathian who bows before the Emperor's holy will) formal, grave, augmented heavily to sustain him at his duties, elaborate weaponry (seeming almost to indicate the order and hierarchy of the Imperium he tries to protect.)
http://gothicpunk.tumblr.com/post/7801744643/inquisitor-tannenberg

A thousand curses on my impractical imagination. I think -- think mind you --

[Lord Borak]

Well, Eisenhorns head fits that artwork perfectly. As for his cloaked body, I'm not sure where you'd start to be honest with you. My first thought is to convert the Navigator model (if you have one - I don't). Otherwise scratch building is going to be the way to go. The Crime Lord would be a good fit but he's a tad on the fat side.

You could simply convert up an Eisenhorn model to have a fur hood and shoulders.

[Inquisitor Vale]

Great minds, it is said, think alike, and fools seldom differ! (I hope no offence taken) but I actually had the same idea myself while typing -- thank you ever so much. It's a particularly beautiful model and has the 'passive' pose. Somehow obliterating (by filing away?) the shoulderpads and the distinctive 'Purus' bar, then covering the shoulders with heavy fur with a plain front where the bar was already creates a distinctive character, especially if combined with a dark paintjob. The sword only needs a hilt. Thank you once again.

[Alyster Wick]

You and Borak both already hit on the GW minis I would have suggested. That said, you could always combine Eisenhorn's head and some grim-dark bits with an Andrea mini. Two I'd suggest checking out are:

http://www.andreaeurope.com/en/1/andrea-miniatures/123/warlord-saga/1403/ws-19-falkar-wandering-sword.html
http://www.andreaeurope.com/en/1/andrea-miniatures/123/warlord-saga/1316/ws-13-luriel-sacred-fist.html

I don't know how much you're looking to spend, but those two could potentially work for what you're describing. All you'd need is a saw (or a hobby knife and some patience) to make them work, and it'd be a change from all the Eisenhorn variants out there.

[Lord Borak]

(I hope no offence taken) .

I get worse from the wife  It's a shame to hack apart an original Inquisitor model. I actually cringe every time I see some hack apart an Inquisitor model (looking at you Gav). I only have one Eisenhorn model and I'm gutted that the purity seal on his shoulder has been carved away (badly I might add).

Anyway, yeah, Eisenhorn would be a good bet. Either that or the Arbite.

[Inquisitor Vale]

Thank you.

[MarcoSkoll]

* A scholar (book?)

Inquisitors carrying mysterious tomes isn't that uncommon as a theme and, to me at least, someone constantly referring to the same book for answers more suggests a religious dogmatic than a well-read scholar.

It seems more likely that a scholar of a relatively broad philosophy would find themselves constantly pursuing new study, so I'd think I'd suggest the auto-quill, a device that can inscribe down his various observations and thoughts. This could be some kind of suspensor mounted lectern, with servo-arm mounted writing apparatus writing onto an ever unreeling roll of parchment.

Of course, it's certainly possible that the book that the Inquisitor is carrying might be his journal or notes, but whichever way it'd help to have some writing equipment around his person to suggest that the book is not merely a reference.

Is it stretching WYSIWYG to include a servo-skull with a stubber on the same base?

I'd recommend keeping such things separate as they do act individually in game, although it's certainly not beyond reason to have it magnetisable (or similar) so it can be either.

*As I discovered monodominance is not orthodoxy, far from it (I would say it was at best semi-heretical).

It's extremist, but not necessarily unorthodox. To the normal Imperial citizen, the superiority of humanity and the elimination of the heretic, psyker, mutant and alien (daemons, Chaos and the Dark Gods tend to be a rather more proscribed secret) is the default line, only complicated a bit by the existence of Astropaths, Navigators and the occasional downtrodden mutant menial.

It gets rather more problematic at the point that someone actually has the means and authority to carry it out though. Partly because the Imperium would bankrupt its resources actually trying, but also for the more obvious reason that the Imperium actually often relies on many of these things.

So, normally, Inquisitors are indeed expected to be considerably broader of mind than the average Imperial citizen, and Monodominants are thus often unpopular and ill-regarded by other Inquisitors.

an Amalathian wants to preserve order would only upset it. [snip] he could simply ride roughshod over Imperial protocol and will do so if souls are at stake through corruption or incompetence, but the very definition of an Amalathian is one who does not as it is showing contempt to the Emperor's chosen servants.

Well, Amalathianism isn't necessarily preserving order, but instead preserving the status quo.

It's entirely possible to find extremist versions of the Amalathian philosophy that take this very literally, with a strict "better the devil you know" attitude: supporting corrupt governments, opposing attempts to expand the Imperium's borders and the like, simply because these things are established and (vaguely) functional.

[Van Helser]

an Amalathian wants to preserve order would only upset it. [snip] he could simply ride roughshod over Imperial protocol and will do so if souls are at stake through corruption or incompetence, but the very definition of an Amalathian is one who does not as it is showing contempt to the Emperor's chosen servants.

Well, Amalathianism isn't necessarily preserving order, but instead preserving the status quo.

It's entirely possible to find extremist versions of the Amalathian philosophy that take this very literally, with a strict "better the devil you know" attitude: supporting corrupt governments, opposing attempts to expand the Imperium's borders and the like, simply because these things are established and (vaguely) functional.

On that note, check out the Amalathian Sourcebook for more details - http://www.darkmagenta.net/articles/amalathian_sourcebook.pdf

For a last minute model suggestion, you could take von Castellan's torso for the lovely buttons that Tannenburg has and add the fur. Von Castellan is a smaller model, so adding to it wouldn't run the risk of making the torso too wide as could happen with Eisenhorn if you're not too careful.

Ruaridh