Space Hulk revisited

Now. Where was I?

And what did I want to do?

Ah, yes. Space Hulk! It was a gift from a very good friend. Having played the very first edition (I still have it in a cardboard box somewhere, the original game box got destroyed) I was absolutely awed by the quality of the new sculpts and components. This had to be painted! Four years onwards and the plastic was still as bare as the day it left the factory. Something had to be done. The genestealers were first in line. The goal? A quick paint job with a good contrast. They are a horde and should look fine with a minimal effort. Unfortunately, I am horrible at minimum effort. They’ve not only gone through 3 different colour schemes but also at least as many painting techniques. Until one day, Citadel Contrast Paints came along! Time to revisit this project.

Contrast!

The Contrast paints worked like a charm but my need for “just that extra touch” added more time than intended, In the end, I settled for a scheme that would stand out from the Terminators, which were going to be the standard Blood Angels to get the most out of the sculpts. I am quite pleased with the end result. When I get to the Patriarch, I will do a step by step. For now I hope you can see some of the combined techniques in the group shot. Say “cheese”!

Terminate!

No Genestealer should go without some gene to steal. Enter the Blood Angels Terminators.

Paint by numbers

Simple. The sculpts are Blood Angels. The paint scheme will be Blood Angels. Citadel colours are practically designed for Blood Angels (Mephiston Red should give a clue). So I went for the Citadel method and followed their painting guides. Almost. I do like it but there was something missing. Even (edge) highlights on the entire model didn’t convey that ” we are hunting deadline xenos in the claustrophobic, ill-lit corridors of a drifting wreck of a space craft” feel, so I opted for a red zenithal prime going from Mephiston Red to a very dark version, blending it with Abaddon Black on an almost 1:4 ratio. That was going to be my starting point. I also wanted to challenge myself and push the contrast to a level that would almost be too extreme for my regular painting style. High contrast is something I admire in the work of highly skilled pro painters. I will add some step pictures for the new models but here are some of the recent ones I’ve worked on and finished in different steps of completion.