Yellow Hulking Peril in Space

Having returned from a wonderful holiday, I've been lucky enough to have some spare time to wrap up a few bits I've had sitting an the hearth (literally, the front room has the best light in the house - crafts project central). Firstly, I've been trying to paint up some of the random figures I've collected over the years either as parts of job lots or as trades and have managed to make a little Lamenters force out of them. One of the aims of this project was to paint everything - no-decals involved. This was a little bit of a chore to begin with, but pretty sure I've got the gist of painting checks and circles. So stoked to have finally gotten over the fear of painting bright colours too - no going back now!

Psychic Mohawk.

I'm a huge fan of the 1994-65 range of Marine figures and painting this fella up was a treat. I must admit that painting the black design directly onto the loincloth was a little scary, but thankfully it worked out okay.

Sgt Lorenzo.

I've had a massive thing for this figure ever since I first painted one up over 20 years ago. That dynamic posture is so sick and the little crux terminatus swaying from his belt is just the best. One thing I didn't recall about this figure is how small the shoulder pads are compared to the plastic versions - was a real challenge to try and make everything scale up correctly!

Squad Lorenzo.

I have no idea where this strike force box set MK8 marines came from, but they look awesome! They're more imposing than their later MK7 brethren, with wider helmets and stockier stance. I did have to trim their arms lugs off to accommodate the later arms, but other than that, they're straight up marines. The heavy bolter was a pain to put together though, forgot how guff those devastator arm/weapon assemblies were!

'If it bleeds, we can kill it' - The original Predator.

This Predator was an ebay rescue gamble that cost around £8.00 if I recall. It was missing sponsons, exhausts and some other little bits that I luckily had in my bits box. After being stripped, sanded down, undercoated and sanded down some more, it sat waiting for a year or so  before I could decide what chapter to paint it. Really stoked on how this turned out, although I managed to drop the entire thing near completion and have lost one of the sodding exhausts - so frustrating!

I'm toying with the idea of painting up a chaplain, an old RT terminator squad and a second edition Dreadnought for these guys too, but that won't be for awhile yet. For the meantime, they'll hang out with my existing Blood Angel army and bemoan the fact they'll only ever get played with once a decade.

The other project I've finished (well the first part of anyway) is a squad of classic RT Space Hulk terminators. I've a copy of the new version of the game and enough painted Genestealers to run a full campaign, but until now, no appropriate terminators. Whilst the figures included in the modern version are amazing, I've not felt compelled to paint them yet. Here's the first squad more or less completed. I plan on adding some more guff to their bases and maybe adding some kill marks to the armour to differentiate them.

In the woody depths of deep space, nobody can hear you alien quotes.

The first squad! I'm already prepping the second as I made the mistake of assembling one with an assault cannon rather than a heavy flamer (because it looks loads better) which is used more in the primary missions. Once the second squad is done, I will have a game of Space Hulk. I promise. Honestly.

So fucking red. 

Very much indebted to Pob for sending me this figure - thanks fella! One thing I noticed with all of these models is how soft the lead is. I've got some figures that have been hard to paint up with crisp edge highlights because the edges simply aren't there anymore. Thankfully these guys weren't too bad, but it's such a shame are these are such nice sculpts.

Dakka dakka dakka.

Couldn't resist copying the paint-scheme used by McVey in the 90's for these guys, I messed up with the hazard striping, making it a little wider than the original, but the thought is there! You can just about make out some of the damage to the crux terminatus on his shoulder plate - will try and make a feature out of it perhaps!

So once these guys are all done, I'll be painting up a set of Deathwing terminators, complete with the original Bill King inspired character names and stuff because I'm so fucking sad. By a weird stroke of coincidence, I also have enough Genestealer Hybrids to make up a complete set for all of the original blip tokens which could be interesting! So, theoretically, in a years time, I could be running a weekend-long campaign like I was 14 again. 

I need help.