Space Hulk and the Genestealer Cult

Space Hulk was one of the first Games Workshop games I ever came in contact with and I loved it right away. I was not very old but somehow I managed to save up enough money to buy myself a copy. It is one of those games which again and again gets taken out from the shelves and dusted off.

A couple of years ago I decided to try and lure my wife to play some missions with me and she agreed. But only if I painted the miniatures first. This sounded reasonable I thought and since I was collecting both a Blood Angels army and a Genestealer Cult I could find use for the miniatures in 40K gaming too.

It did not take me long to paint up the first Genestealer Brood (12 miniatures) and one squad of Blood Angel Terminators and then we could play the first couple of missions...

But then the Space Hulk project kind of stagnated and I was probably caught up in all sorts of other miniatures buisness... I never completely forgot about the Genestealers and Genestealer Cult project and some how, no matter what else we game, we always end back in the 40K universe...

So now I finally finished the painting of 12 more genestealers and somewhere along the way I also painted up a Genestealer Patriarch...

I have Genestealer Cult Brood Brothers on my painting table and one more Terminator squad, so hopefully I will have a 40K Genestealer Cult at some point and painted Terminator models enough for further Space Hulk gaming.

A Few Painted Miniatures

I haven't really finished any larger group of miniatures lately, but it doesn't mean that I haven't done anything. I have been painting a few random models, painting on still unfinished and ongoing projects (Genestealer Cult, Retained Knights, Space Marines and such), cleaning up and preparing models, stripping second hand models and all such things.

But here is a few of the models I finished recently...

Angry dude and some Hunter-Slayers.

I finished the last two of my Hunter-Slayers, this time trying to give the tubes a green colour, to add a little more variety to their colour scheme. I think it works out quite well, but I don't know if I will repaint the already painted ones... Time will tell I guess.

The big guy is a Lab Mutant from Reaper Miniatures. I bought him really cheap on ebay last year sometime. I was buying something else from the seller and browsed his other auctions and I got tempted by this guy, especially since no one else was bidding on him.

The Hunter-Slayers will gang up with my other eight and the Lab Mutant will probably be used in Post Apocalyptse games or as a Super Villain in modern Super Hero games.

Alien Vegetation From Drinking Straws

I don't want to take credit for this idea, since I got it from a fellow forum meber over at the Lead Adventure Forum. I don't remember where he got the idea from, but maybe it was at Terra Genesis.

I believe these plants can be done in many different ways, so use your imagination and be creative in your design.

Here is how I did mine...

Some of the materials I used (of course I forgot some).

1. Drinking straws

2. Washers for bases

3. Pliers to hold the straws

4. A pair of scissors

5. Hot glue gun

6. Masking tape

7. A candle

I also used a lighter, sand and some paint...

First I cut out the straws in different lenghts.

This how they looked after I gave them a go over the candle.

Remember to use the pliers to hold the straws, you don't want to get melted plastic on your fingers.

It can be hard to avoid melting holes through the straws, but try out a bit and it gets easier. 

Here I have put the masking tape on the holes in the washers.

Using the hot glue gun I attached the straws in clusters of 7-9 each.

Here I have added sand to the bases and painted the straws.

What is left is painting up the bases in the colours of my gaming table and then they should be ready for use.

Also, remember to do this in a well ventilated room or outside, the fumes is probably very toxic!

More Ambulls

As soon as I had painted my first Ambull I knew I needed some more, so I searched Ebay for some time and was lucky enough to get two more, each for a reasonable price.

I would like to get more, so I can make a whole colony, but right now my economy (and my wife) say no. But I guess three is better than nothing.

I painted up the two new Ambulls in similar colours as my first one and I updated my first one a little bit.

Also on my paint station right now is a bunch of mercenaries of several different origins, I finished the first one which is from the Black Hat Miniatures Cobalt-1 line.

The two new guys and the Cobalt-1 mercenary.

 An unfortunate space explorer gets ambushed...

This trio of Ambulls is the last thing this guy will ever see...

The lone mercenary will be joined by a selection of mixed space scum later on and will find use in all sorts of sci-fi gaming. The Ambulls will be usefull for random encounters and fit into any Deathworld fauna.