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.

Hunting Party

Frankly, Governor Balten had been hoping that the monstrous corpses the mercenary squat team had brought in would be an end to the trouble. He had enough on his plate with complaints from the Moss Guilds about the independent lichen farmers.  But rumours continue to persist about ‘creatures’ lurking in the jungles.

So he did what any Imperial Governor would do.  Declared everything sorted and banned anyone from talking about it. Although he couldn’t shake a sense of unease at the hysterical reaction one of his advisers had on seeing the corpses, shrieking about the ‘Great Devourer’ or some such nonsense.  Poor chap had spent decades in the Guard, clearly left him unhinged; he’d had to be put on permanent ‘gardening’ leave.

But still the stories persist…

Out in the settlements, moonshine and bravado combine, and a group of lichen farmers are determined to see if the stories are true, and perhaps bag a trophy.

Left to right, Old Pete, Patch, Hank and Cletus, and the Cyber Mastiff, F1D0.

The hunters split into pairs to cover more ground, Hank and Cletus taking F1D0 with them.

As the farmers pushed through the dense brush, something else was already stalking them. 

Out of sight of the others for a moment, the creature struck at Cletus before vanishing again into the jungle.

Rushing to the sound of screams, the others found their friend laying still and bloodied on the ground, with no sign of his attacker.  But F1D0 had a scent now, and Hank released him the flush out the beast.

By now the creature had worked its way behind the hapless hunters, and revealed itself, hoping to make short work of the four legged creature hunting it. Hank got a snap shot off as it charged, but the rounds just bounced off the creature’s hardened exterior.

Despite the furious strikes of its terrifying claws, the plucky cyber hound held on.  Taking the risk of hitting their canine companion, the remaining three hunters opened fire, frantically spraying the creature in front of them.  This time the hard rounds found its weak spots, and it fell with an inhuman shriek.

Surprisingly, the hunters found Cletus sat up - dazed and badly injured, but definitely alive, complaining of thirst, and apparently completely unable to recall anything about what had just happened.  Clearly too much to drink, or perhaps not enough!

Either way, they had one heck of a trophy…

Who’s a Good (Robo) Boy?

Yet another freebie model courtesy of Miniature Wargames Magazine, a Robo Mastiff from the Wild West Exodus range.  This has been sitting around so long I’d forgotten about it, but it was the perfect quick break from Empire Demigryphs.

Assembly was easy, no instructions needed, but the sprue was in a pretty horrible orange plastic, which took a few coats of paint to hide.  There’s a reason most manufacturers use a simple grey.

Straightforward paint job.  Liberal washes and some sponge chipping to give it a worn look.

I’m sure I can find a good use for him.

Robo dog’s not scared of anything!

“Fetch!”

 

Rogue Trader Imperial Army

I’m going to be catching up on a few posts from before Christmas here and there, and this is one of them.

Going back to that conversation I had with Matt about whether I had any old Imperial Guard models (just a few, it turns out), I dug out my old first edition collection for review.

I had some I’d picked more recently that had been painted in one scheme but not based, loads in an old scheme I painted in the late 1980s, and some never touched. What else could I do but spend some time updating them, getting them consistent, and basing them!

 The first challenge was finding a match for the OOP GW Codex Grey - got there in the end, but you may notice the odd slightly lighter or darker mini here and there. I went for speed and simplicity over quality, but I’m pleased with how they look as a group.  Where faces or other parts were OK, I left as is, to get some variety in skin tone.  

Sneakfeet

Thanks to another Wargames Illustrated/ Wargames Atlantic freebie, I ended up with one of the ‘not Ratling’ Sneakfeet, and couldn’t resist assembling and painting them.

As usual with Wargames Atlantic there are loads of fun options and they go together pretty well.  Also really easy to paint, with nice definition and not too much fussy detail.  Reminded me of Copplestone’s sculpts in that regard.

Armament wise there are enough sniper rifles and SMGs for everyone to be armed the same, or to mix and match.  There are also a couple of really characterful options like a frying pan with eggs cooking, a thermos flask, and a head smoking a massive pipe.

I would make a couple of really minor points - definitely test out the fit: you may need to try a few left arms before finding the right one for a particular weapon; I’d have quite like to have the option for a sling weapon on the right shoulder, to pair up with the pointing arm; and there is a fantastic overstuffed backpack on the frame, but it won’t work with any of the slung weapon options, which seems a shame, as it would make for a nice marching model.  But these are really minor quibbles.

For anyone interested, here are a few comparisons.  They’re fairly chunky. Definitely bigger than my old GW Ratlings; comparable to an old style Squat.  Sizewize they’re also a good fit with Wargames Atlantic’s Einherjar, which raises some intriguing conversion possibilities.

Even more Space Dwarfs - bring out the BFGs

 Just a few more old GW Squats to keep my brushes warm.  A couple of these were more touching up and improving old paint jobs than completely new. It shows in places but I don’t mind.  It’s nice to be reminded how I’ve improved.

Two of these are from the old Squat Heavy weapons range: Gunner Keif on the left and Gunner Karl on the right.

This chap is from the old metal range that came with sprues of plastic arms and weapons.  Except his arms and flamer are from the Wargames Atlantic EinherJar sprue Instead.

Building up to be a small but very nice collection.  I’m sure I have a few more around, but can’t find them at the moment.

Tyranid Paint Guide

I’ve already posted about painting Tyranids, so I’m posting this mainly to have a clear record for myself of the method and paints used.  If it’s useful to Someone else, that’s an added bonus.

Step1: undercoat/basecoat of Khemri Dust from a can.

Step 2:  wash with GW Reikland Flesh Shade.

Step 3:  drybrush with Vallejo Iraqi Sand

Step 4 & 5:  apply contrast paint.  Blood Angels Red for exposed muscle, joints and ‘tubes’; Black Templar for the carapace and talons/hooves.

Step 6 & 7: two layers of GW Athonian Camoshade on the Fleshborer.  Finally teeth pick out in off white/ivory, and yellow for the eyes.  I also added a little Carroburg Crimson shade around the jaw where the softer tissue would be.

The usual basing technique (but using ‘winter’ static grass, to suggest the Tyranid presence is corrupting the biosphere), and he’s ready to terrorise the enemy with his pals.

I also did a few Genestealers (from 2nd edition Space Hulk).  Same technique, except the heads and hands had a liberal wash of Carroburg Crimson shade to get that classic pinky purple look.

More Space Dwarfs

I’ve been painting up a few more Rogue Trader Era Squats.  Some of them got a preview in the jungles a post or two ago.  I actually started them a couple of months back, but I wasn’t feeling it and put them on the back burner.  Something about painting the Tyranids unlocked them, and I finished them in an evening or two.

They’re all from the era when 40k didn’t take itself too seriously and were named accordingly in the adverts at the time

Smoothbore Sten, Heckler Smith, maxim bang

Barry Schmeisser, Mauser Von Dreyse

Next up, a couple from the command, and heavy weapons packs.

Sgt Bylcow, Brew Ithica

Loader Powl

Make it Dirty! (Scatter terrain)

 Looking at the photos I took of my 40k game, I concluded that some of scenery pieces just looked too neat.  Some muck was needed urgently!

Cue weathering being added with a mix of washes, dry brushing, and torn up sponge.

Much better!

The barrels got a liberal wash of Agrax Earthshade, then Rhinox hide applied with a torn up washing up sponge.  The crates are VJ Luftwaffe Camo Green, Athenian Camoshade, then very light drybrush of Elysian Green, before having some chain mail applied with a sponge on corners and wherever they might get bashed.

The  container got a subtle application of Earthshade to recesses - bolts, hinges, joints etc - which was immediately wiped down with a sponge; always going the same direction so that any shade that remained looked like streaks.  The floor and ceiling inside was painted with Black Templar contrast.