Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Ultimate Scoundrel

Abdul Goldberg stole your ship off you - the poker game was rigged and you're sure he put something in your drink. Your crew are unhappy - having been turfed from their ship together with their possessions. The ship and its new crew leaves tonight - unless you can steal it back

It's no exaggeration when I say that Abdul Goldberg has haunted my games for decades, and yet I've never put very much thought into how I would represent him on the table. Back when I was just a bulldog puppy my Rogue Trader collection was a hodgepodge of Space Marines, Squats, and Imperial Guard and my only "opponent" fielded pansy Eldar and Chaos, so most of our games were skirmish sized and we never really got to dig into the pirate and mercenary story lines on the tabletop, but they were some of the coolest scenarios. Fast forward to now and I'm obsessed with pirates and scoundrels! The time has come.... for the ultimate scoundrel to make it to the tabletop.


Imagining the ultimate scoundrel

All of my pirates and mercenaries are scoundrels, but they're more in the vein of the lovable rogue like Han Solo or whatever that character's name is that Animal Mother played in Firefly/Serenity. Abdul Goldberg has to be something else. I imagine him being kind of a cross between Harry Mudd and a Dick Tracy gangster. He's a con-artist but he's also violent and dangerous, maybe whatever a crime syndicate kingpin would be about three-quarters of he way up the crime lord ladder.

 Me, but with a tommy gun!!

For inspiration I'm totally stealing from Whiskey Priest again, but he did a great post on Goldberg a while back that is worth re-reading, also Symphonic Poet featured a Goldberg-esque character on his blog. So I guess it's now or never.

We're having an Abdul Goldberg contest over at Emporium of Rogue Dreams and I wan to document the whole project here on the blog. The competition calls for a back story and a model to be submitted by the end of May, which I think is totally achievable.

My idea is to have a guy who really evokes Harry Mudd's weird over the top, tin-pot dictator fashion while still making him look like he can hold is own in a gun fight. I also want to have him equipped in a way that matches his character. So far that was the easiest part. Here's what I came up with:

MWSBSSTWIALdIntClWP

466443639999
Equipment:  Displacer Field, Flak Armor, Web Solvent, Bionic eye with built in Targeter, Bio Scanner and Energy Scanner                                                  
Weapons: Power Sword, Digital Needler, Antique Pistol, Knock-Out Grenades, Stasis Grenades, Shuriken Catapult

I'm also considering the possibility of him being a low level psyker. Nothing too obvious, but just enough so that it compliments the con-man aspect of his character. I feel like the shuriken catapult makes him dangerous on the table and gives him an exotic look.

Stay tuned!

8 comments:

  1. Fantastic concept! Harry Mudd is a great direction. (And there are some great figures that you can work into it. I can offer a suggestion or two if you haven't already come up with a dozen.) Looking forward to seeing where this leads you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seeing all the great ideas about Goldberg has really warmed me up ! I actually have 2 models in mind now, I guess it could be funny to have both to represent the many faces Abdul can take !
    Looking forard to seeing what you come up with !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol I just had an image of a guy pulling off a rubber mask to dramatic 70's movie music. "It's none other than the nefarious Abdul Goldberg!"

      Delete
  3. Harry Mudd! I love it! My figure came in the mail yesterday. I've got some ideas but obviously need to dig deeper. Stats? I'm still working on the backstory.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like your thinking, Harry Mudd is a great direction to go in. Now I'm questioning my own choice of bits. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board methinks!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wonderful food for thought. I hope somewhere in here is room for a complex heist codenamed "The Goldberg Variations".

    ReplyDelete
  6. I look forward to seeing your interpretation! I really enjoyed doing mine!

    ReplyDelete