Space Hulk Genestealers

Hey all ! So earlier this year, I had the chance to score a 3rd edition Space Hulk box for a reasonable price (I wanted a 4th ed of course but I kind like my kidneys where they are) only missing a genestealer and otherwise in pretty good condition. Now as the kids (we have 4 at home) and I love playing boardgames, I thought Space Hulk HAD to be the entry point for miniatures games with them right ?

So after building them all and basing them all on 30mm round bases for fun (had to cut and trim quite a lot on some of them), Then I somehow got lost by how I was gonna paint them in a way that would be both easy, quick and effective. Simple right ?

Fastforward a few months when my other half asked me if she could throw out a bunch a box where I had  kept some coffee stirrers and plastic. A light bulb pooped above my head and I started sticking some of the coffee stirrers, plastic bits, foam and tubes made out from GS and a GSW roller on the bases of my genestealers to make them all blend together and with my terminators on Necromunda bases. It had somehow  overcome my blank page issue.

The idea on these was efficiency first so I zenithaled sprayed them all and gave them all a strategic white drybrush coming from above to get all the highlights fast and easy. I then made a wash from Marron Oliva from Vallejo (something like the old Charadon granite), with added black and marine blue with a good bit of medium and a touch of water to make a wash I could loosely apply absolutely everywhere on the stealers (avoiding the steal bits for later though and making sure none would pool in the recesses and that edges were covered nicely and didn't show the undercoat too much.

After that I gave specific parts are washes (but more in a glazing way with little wash on the brush) to make the faces (crimson carroburg), joints and hands (blue and brown washes mixed) some definition.

It was just a matter of picking details like the claws and fangs (in silver), tongue, eyes and all before giving the whole fingers and claws a black wash. 

The steal parts got different shades of browns (warm to cold) thrown casually and mixed in the fresh to create some variations on the rust effect, quick silver drybrush and a brown wash.

Tongues got a few highights from black to pink through brown with thinned down paint so no fancy blending, just letting the transparencies do their job.

Then skulls which got a basecoat, a wash, two drybrushes and a last pinpoint wash where needed, the armours which were probably the most delicate part but real quick though.

Eyes and lenses were done pretty basically, no fency gem effect or anything.

It all went very smoothly and surprisingly pleasantly too, which was not anticipated on a batch of 21 models but I think none of the steps involved took me more than 20 minutes so it was easily broken over several occasions requiring little time at once and relatively no care except for the very few details picked, 99% of the job being done with a size 2 brush.

They're not winning competitions or anything and a detailed look will show the flaws but they're done to an acceptable standard which is honestly a bit above what I was ready to accept so I'm pretty happy with such a speedpaint. Any other way would have had me agonizing when in fact I'm actually eager to paint some more !

One last detail is that most of this was done during an intense heat wave here in southern France (we could literally see the forest burning by the window !) so washes and drybrushes were the way to go when paint dries between the wet palette and the model.

So after this wall of text, here are the results !

I really like the brood lord, he's sending all the good vibes and makes a perfect alternative to the old patriarch (although I'm totally painting a fat patriarch now).

Although this one takes a lot of space, I quite like his strong Aliens vibe crawling on the wall :

The leaping stealer is the last of the three taking a lot of space but they're super dynamic and break the monotony from the rest :

I quite like the next 2 as well because they look as if they're holding their teddy bear to play stealers and marines with their friends !

Now this is where you can see how the design team saved some time with mirror copies to avoid avoiding too many doubles on the board, the pose is nice, well contained though.

And here are the 4 puzzling ones now, it took le a while (and a friend actually pointing it) that these only have 3 arms ! I don't know if it's intentional to evoke the older hybrids or if it's a convenience thing like the Simpson's or Mickey's 4 fingers, who knows ?
Here again, copy pastes for the poses with different bases and some mirrors help break the monotony

Back to 4 armed stealers but still the same hand with helmt as the previous 4 ! I love that there's such a difference in heights due to positions in all of them, it's a smart move.

And the ones bursting from the floor !

Now onto more traditionnally posed stealers. I have to say I'm not particularly fond of the extra stingers around the mouth and elbows, it's a fragile feature on a model that doesn't add much if at all to the model so I guess it was just a way to get variants.

And the more faithfull to the old stealers (missing a tongue though) !

That's quite a good amount I must say, it will also be handy when I'm playing Stargrave or other games of the kind to have disposable alien creature to throw at the players !

Now of course I had to make them face some terminators and the old ones I love sure look a little small (they're mostly all the sze of the old patriarch actually) but if you've played any Space Hulk, you know how deadly they are so that makes sense and works for me !

Now I can't wait to get the kids to play the first game and hopefully plenty more after that !

I've even got myself a compilation of extra scenarii (fan made but using some official and soe fan made stuff) to get as much mileage as we want !

Anyway, this is a nice way to end summer and start this new school year with fun projects.
Have fun !