Colonel Schaeffer’s Last Chancers

In my previous post I mentioned I was spending some time completing unfinished projects.  This is another one.

Around two decades ago I picked up the set of Colonel Schaefer’s Last Chancers (probably from the Derby GW store on Sadler Gate).  I don’t even recall why, I knew nothing of their background (other than the obvious Dirt Dozen theme) - I think I just liked the models.  I painted a few at the time, but never finished them.  Now I thought it was time I got around to it.  

Colonel Schaeffer, Demolition Man, and Hero

Scope, Brains, and Ox

Rocket Girl, Fingers and Grease Monkey

Shiv, Warrior Woman and Animal

If you can, have fun guessing which ones were done recently, and which are now roughly twenty years old.

Random SF Stuff

Just painting random odds and ends the last few weeks - stuff that’s been laying around too long waiting for paint.  Particularly models from almost complete projects I started years ago.

Copplestone Neo Sov banner bearer.  Still needs a banner.  Last of the Neo Sov models I have, all the others were painted years ago.

Similar issue.  Painted some metal GW Cadians almost twenty years ago, but had one left over.  Quite fun trying to replicate a decades old paint job, with different colour ranges.  Chap on the left is new, one on the right is old.  Not bad, new one’s a bit darker, possibly because I used a black rather than white undercoat.  I now have enough of this range to field a 40k 2nd edition fully ‘legal’ platoon.

Some Scavenger/gang types.  Having fun with leftover parts I had laying around, including sprues from magazine freebies.  Bodies are Frostgrave Soldiers kit, with other parts mainly from Wargames Atlantic and Konflict 47 Fireflies.  The BFG was painted with a battered look, to hint at something that might have started life as mining equipment.  Guy on the right is fielding a cut down BAR.

Space Hulk second edition - missions 1 & 2

 Having painted up the terminators from 2nd edition Space Hulk, it would be rude not to use them.  I found a set of rules online to simulate the genestealer’s turn, and off I went.

Mission 1 - Suicide Mission

As the introductory mission it’s not quite as hard as the name suggests.  You only get one squad of marines, but the map is small and the bad guys only get one blip per turn as reinforcements.

This first mission saw the marines having to destroy the controls for the escape pods, to avoid any contamination of the planet below.  

Despite some appalling rolls on the ‘Jam’ dice, they successfully completed the mission with only one casualty (as a result of one of those Jammed Storm Bolters), partly due to some good command point rolls early in the game that got them moving.

As a reward for success, I decided the marines would get +1 to their command point rolls next turn.

Mission 2 - Exterminate

Simple.  Hold position and kill 30 genestealers.  

This mission does somewhat favour the marines if careful with placement, and opening doors to create clear lanes of fire, so no genestealers can reach a marine in a single move.  That said, the pressure builds up as the game goes on and, once the marines start taking casualties, it can get hairy real fast.

The sergeant and flamer formed a reserve, while the other three covered the perimeter.

The Marine’s dice rolls were on fire, with very few jams this time and some excellent command point rolls (even without the bonus).

The result was a win with no losses.  I played through to the end of turn in which the marines got kill number 30, and the Terminators ended up with a final tally of 32 kills, including one very lucky close combat kill in the very last turn!

Pressure builds up on the right flank, but it’ll all work out…

The sergeant and flamer didn’t fire a shot, but Terminator of the match went to the marine on the left flank.  Who racked up a full 15 kills.

Man of the match; ‘Ace Rimmer, what a guy…’

The reward this time will be that the Terminators can use a command point once in the next mission to stop the genestealers receiving reinforcements for a single turn.

On reflection I think the rules I’m using for the genestealers are making them too cautious.  I’m going to tweak that to make them more aggressive.  I’ll put it down to them initially being sluggish from cryo.

Thudd Gun and Servitor

Sticking with the Rogue Trader theme, here’s some work updating the squat crewman from my old Thudd Gun, and a Bob Olley sculpted servitor.

The skin on the servitor was made deliberately pale and given some pink and purple washes for a nice, unhealthy look!

The Thudd Gun hasn’t had any work.  However I kind of like the battered look it has gained over the years.  I may just tidy up the control unit on the base, but I’m open to thoughts.

Quick Space Hulk Terminators

 I’ve had the plastic terminators from second edition Space Hulk hanging around for a while. I fancied getting some paint on them but couldn’t face spending ages painting and highlighting armour panels.

So, in keeping with my attempts to find quick ways to do tyranids and genestealers, I tried something different.

I wanted them to fit in with some old Ultramarines I have, in the really dark blue style from Rogue trader.  What I settled for was an overall spray of Colour Forge Raven Black, then a zenithal spray of tempest Blue.  A light drybrush with some lighter blues and a bit of detail and they’re done… enough for now anyway, I might add insignia etc later if I can be bothered.

The background is printed card terrain from Crooked Staff Publishing.

I also sprayed some RTB01 beanies and scouts from Advanced Space Crusade, so watch this space.

More Commisars

Turns out I wasn’t satisfied with just one.  These two had already received a basic paint job many years back, so this was a case of updating, improving and fixing.  Most of the paintwork on the coats is original 

Bolt pistols are from the Advanced Space Crusade Scouts.  They’re a bit ‘chunky’ but they’ll do.

Rogue Trader Commissar

 One from way back when that’s been a long time waiting for a proper paintjob.  Metal body with plastic arms - in this case the crossbow wielding arms from the Empire Militia kit. I wanted a stock for the lasgun, so the crossbow was removed and replaced with a shortened plastic lasgun, and cuffs built up with greenstuff.  Honestly, I can’t remember when the conversion work was done - it’s been on the ‘to paint list for a while!

Painting made deliberate use of drybrushing and more grey tones than I might usually use, to deliberately create a worn and faded look, from whatever environmental conditions require use of a gas mask.