Space Hulk- Broodlord and genestealers

Phew! That's the end of my Space Hulk project!

I was very proud of myself in 2009 when I held off getting this, despite GW stating this game would never be reprinted.

Photo from Blood of Kittens

In 2014 when they reprinted it, I folded like a wet paper bag. It still took me four years to paint, and I guess we're due for another edition?!

So here's all 22 genestealers, on my Necromundan Zone Mortalis tiles with the Battlefield Accessories walls. I rebased the stealers on 32mm bases with my generic indoor/ desert basing. There are still some little details to be done, but if I'm honest, who's looking?

Space Hulk genestealers

The Broodlord, on a 40mm base.

Space Hulk Genestealer Broodlord

And, as a final bonus, here's the C.A.T. and a relic.

I couldn't get the Skullometer™ to read all the skullz on the stealers, but the C.A.T. and relic read 13.

Happy blog day to me!

It's my 7th Bloggiversary! This year's reminiscing is brought to you by the letter 'B' (for Barks' Bloggiversary):

Back to the (grimdark) future

I can't really hide that this year has seen an unexpected resurgence in my interest in GW. Necromunda, Kill Team, Space Hulk, and Blood Bowl have been a big chunk of my hobby time. I'm looking at Blackstone Fortress, the 40K version of Warhammer Quest. I feel a little dirty. If you'd told me this five or ten years ago I'd have been very surprised.

Battle of Britain

I really enjoyed painting these cheerful planes, although I was a little underwhelmed by the game.

Hello, Rabbit Leader!

Blood Bowl

I finished two teams this year, Khorne and Wood Elves. In 2019 I intend to finish my long-term goal of having played all 27 official teams at official tournaments!

Hardcore Khorne

Fangorn Forest Entwives- Best Painted Team, CanCon 2018

Batman

Next year I expect to receive the Batman: Gotham City Chronicles kickstarter, which is going to be a bat-load of toy soldiers. I'm looking forwards to some bright superhero colours, and it is giving impetus for me to finish a number of stagnant projects before the bat-crate arrives. Brace yourself for plenty of bat-posts in 2019!

Blood Angels

My 'big' project for the year was Space Hulk. I'm very happy they're done. A handful of genestealers to go!

BFG

This Vindicare was my entry for the AHPC VIII 'BFG' round. I'm looking forwards to AHPC IX starting next month, for which I have been volunteered as a minion.

Boardgames

I've played a lot of boardgames this year, including getting some good friends around for several days for some serious fun in August. I'm planning to do it again next year.

Birdz

These Crowz are an evocative little flying horde

Bad Squiddo

I got my first figure from Annie Norman:

Bane mask

I'm slowly building up a nice genestealer cult, and I don't even play 40K...

Thanks for all your support! I really enjoy our little corner of the blogosphere.

Space Hulk- all terminators painted!

I've finally finished all the terminators for Space Hulk. It only took me four years! I was getting a bit fatigued toward the end, and I left out some detail painting. Here are all their pics- note that I rebased them halfway through!

Space Hulk Blood Angel Terminators- painted and in the Detolf!

Sergeant Lorenzo

Sergeant Gideon

Librarian Calistarius

Brother Leon

Brother Zael

Brother Claudio

Brother Deino

Brother Noctis

Brother Omnio

Brother Valencio

Brother Goriel

Brother Scipio

Bonus dead dude

Phew!

Some thoughts:

• Red is a challenging colour that I felt I had to master before I could commence this project, and I'm happy with the outcome. Army Painter Pure Red spray was excellent.
• I'm glad I rebased them on 32mm sculpted bases, but wish I'd done it before I started.
• I drilled out the barrels with a 1mm pin vice, which is such an improvement.
• Most skulls: Librarian 26 and Dead Dude 27, but that's mostly from their scenery, so the winner is Sergeant Lorenzo with 15.

I've still got a dozen genestealers to go... and a C.A.T. ...

Space Hulk- Sergeants

I find it really hard to finish projects without a deadline. I've powered through and finished off the last of my Space Hulk terminators!

Bang! Bang! Gideon's thunder hammer came down upon her head. I quite like the details on his storm shield.

Sergeant Gideon

Storm Shield

Sergeant Lorenzo was a bit of a hassle to paint with all those gems, and I kept rubbing off the paint on his cloak. The winged grail on his back snapped off due to getting repeatedly snagged on the custom foam case (fail), and I had to carefully pin it to fix it. I'm happy with his power sword, it is a simple and quick technique that I think is effective.

Sergeant Lorenzo

Power sword

So many gems...

This weekend I will put up some squad shots and some thoughts.

Skullometer™:

• Gideon 9
• Lorenzo 15

The end of the war to end all wars

I attended an interesting public talk today by my gaming friend and academic Dr Nathan Wise. It was on responses by Australian soldiers to the announcement of the Armistice, one hundred years ago today.

Illustrated by diary and letter extracts, their response was not as jubilant as you may have thought. There was a bit of initial doubt and skepticism due to previous rumours and furphies of peace. There was a sense of loss of direction or purpose, which officers tried to control through reconstruction and non-war employment tasks.

Most importantly, soldiers wanted to know when they could go home. When they did get there, their long-established mateships and unit cameraderie were at risk of being lost.

Lest we forget.

Kill Team- first games

I had my first games of Kill Team recently. The skirmish size made it a fascinating prospect as I have no proper size 40K army, but handfuls of models here and there which are suitable for grimdark gaming.

My Genestealer Cult Kill Team:

• Leader- Neophyte with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword
• Zealot- Aberrant with Power Pick
• Veteran- Purestrain Genestealer
• Medic- Neophyte with shotgun
• Acolyte with Rock Saw
• Neophyte with Flamer
• Neophyte with Grenade Launcher
• Acolyte with Autopistol x2
• Acolyte with Icon
• Neophyte with shotgun

My opponent had four of the new Primaris Marines, which are lovely models. He also took three Scout Snipers. We played a simple kill-'em-all non-campaign learning game.

Kill Team about to break cover

Sniper nest

Primaris (Primarises? Primarii?) on the high ground

Cultists advance

Om nom nom on the snipers

Marines trapped on a walkway

My opponent was great, explaining rules patiently. I had some excellent dice rolls and his were appalling- the game didn't go how I expected! I survived a hail of shots and chomped my way through his force.

My next game was against the Adeptus Mechanicus, a steampunk-aesthetic force. My plan was to charge them like the first game, but I got utterly mown down for my troubles.

Cult advance across rubble to the defended ruins

Flanking 'stealer gets shot by overwatch

Cult gets stuck in open and is gunned down

The flamer is great, but the grenade launcher less so. Shooting is not my strength. I'll beef up some of the close combat options.

I’m conflicted about this game. The setting and models are great, and the main drawcard. It has been fun to revisit my ill-spent youth again. But the game mechanics are clunky and not as elegant or polished as other games I’ve been playing. In particular, the hit-wound-save-effect roll sequence is tedious, the weapon options and skill trees are overwhelming, and movement and line of sight can be a source of disagreement and slows the game compared to a gridded board. The lack of any suppression is off-putting. It has the advantage of being popular and thus it is easy to find opponents and games. I don't think I would enjoy this competitively, although of course this would depend on my opponent. Ultimately, I do look forward to making more teams and will be playing more.

It allows me to get my toys on the table. I will be playing again. I'll name and come up with a backstory for my dudes, and hope to participate in a campaign which will give me even more investment in my team.