I'm sure many here had noticed this, and apologies if I'm simply restating the blindingly obvious, but during the course of reading the "Legio Cybernetica" section of the Horus Heresy book 2, "Massacre", page 265 I noticed the following:-

"A Legio Cybernetica Battle-automata Maniple of any single type may also be taken as an Elites choice for a Space Marine Legion Crusade Army, Imperial Army or Rogue Trader Militant army..."

Thus it seems conceivable that one of the armies Forgeworld plan on bringing us as part of the HH series is a Rogue Trader Militant army. Cool!

Rogue Traders haven't come up much during the Horus Heresy, which is not too unusual as I imagine their role then was literally as pathfinders for the Imperium like their warrants imply. They find systems that are out of contact with the Imperium, make contact with them, feel up whether or not they are open to conversion (if human) or their level of defenses (if Xenos), and then flag a Crusade fleet who will come and endlessly attack with Space Marines until the situation is pacified.

I would be interested in running a Rogue Trader army myself.

I've been building one up myself, at my normal painting speed, which means 1-2 miniatures a year. A "counts as" Inquisition army with IG allies.

I have a rogue trader, explorator and a couple of the command crew so far.

I've been dithering for a long time over how best to represent household troops. I want minis reminiscent of Imperial Guardsmen, but somehow slightly more "ragged" looking: my Rogue Trader army concept is that it's very much at the more poverty stricken end of the scale. So very much more of an "imperial militia" rather than a heavy Imperial Guard army.

The force has to be carried to planetary surfaces using Halo Barges (I plan to eventually make my own Halo Barge to go with the force) rather than proper military lifters, so it'll be a light infantry force with light armoured support.

I had in mind doing some kind of Siegfried Siege tank force to go with it, but I'm actually now thinking of giving the Taurox a go. (I'll put wheels on it rather than use the tracked version.) A Taurox makes sense as a Rogue Trader vehicle for a light force, as it'll be easier to tranport than a tank and will be cheaper to run.

Our RT goes the opposite way. At Rank7 he has several colonies producing troops, vehicles, and ships. Presently the party Magos has finally optained a Knight Manufactorum and produced the first Paladin Knight there.

That's the fun thing about RT armies as a concept: they can be as grand or paltry in scale as you want.

My RT operates out of a battered Claymore Class corvette, with a small number of not particularly well trusted mercenary "house troops." He gets to planetary surfaces in ancient and unsafe Halo Barges, and his soldiers use cheap weapons and modified civilian vehicles. It makes for a fun army concept.