Space Hulk: reflections

I recently finished all the 'campaign' from Space Hulk (2014), including the 'Disable the shields' game from White Dwarf #33 (Sep 2014). The photos of this scenario are below. I've dragged this out over several years against the same opponent, knocking off a few games each year. I'm very glad to have completed all these games, which I have never done despite owning Space Hulk (1989) since the 90s.

The boarding torpedo screams across the void.

The Terminators break into the hulk.

Contact! A long corridor provides no cover.

The squad advances with mutual cover...

Jammed! A genestealer rips the heavy flamer marine apart.

As the plan falls apart, the far marine makes a slow break for the objective.

The genestealers swarm!

Jammed! The sergeant goes down.

The terminator sacrifices himself to buy time.

The sole survivor lumbers toward the objective.

He holds off the xenos long enough to disable the shields.
Victory! But at what cost?

I have long appreciated the elegant simplicity of SH: the tension of blips moving on the board, and everything swinging on single die rolls. 6s to hit in shooting with minimal modifiers; simple action points, line of sight, and square grid-based movement. There have been some changes from the 1989 original but the core experience is the same*. While the Terminator player gets D6 'Command Points' to spend every turn to give them a little action flexibility, the only surprises the Genestealer player has are how many xenos each blip represents. This does sadly lead to some predictable situations where you know exactly that you are unreachable this turn.

I can't help but try to improve this venerable classic- give the 'Stealer some random cards which maybe they pay for in blips, that they could use to move extra squares or appear in unexpected places.

I put quotation marks around 'campaign' because the games are not linked in any meaningful way. Win or lose has no effect on upcoming missions, and your deaths are miraculously healed. This is another area that could be improved.

I'm tempted to dig up the Deathwing (1990) expansion which, IIRC, had a mini solo campaign.

Is it time for a refresh of this venerable game, or should it be left at peace? Can you recommend a similar game?

* I cannot recommend the Genestealer expansion (1990), the psychic and shooting rules are clunky.

40K Red Corsairs: Greater Possessed

The Greater Possessed are Chaos Space Marines who have made a pact with a daemon to possess them, in exchange for unholy power. That will certainly not backfire in any way. They are unnaturally large and daemonically mutated, their armour and backpacks fusing with their flesh and sprouting ectopic teeth, eyes and horns.

These were a fantastic pain to paint, with little details everywhere. It was difficult to parse what is bone, horn, teeth, flesh, etc. They look just right now they're done. They're big chaps, on 40mm bases.

The Master of Possession is a shamanistic sorcerer who helps facilitate these unholy bondings.

He's supposed to be floating but looks like he's skipping along. I thought about doing some green flames, but stuck with what I knew. I did try to make his leather coat look textured and interesting.

I got these a few years ago for Blackstone Fortress, and they languished in the 'too intimidating to paint' pile until now. 

Skull-o-meter™: 18