Necromunda: Underhive hangers-on

I'm trying to concentrate on, if not one thing at a time, then less things at a time. I'm really glad to have these underhive characters painted- they're fantastically overdetailed sculpts and were not amenable to batch painting. I did use a few Speedpaints and worked on getting them finished rather than perfect. I'm trying for a somewhat limited, earthy palette.

Underhive Hangers-on

Rogue doc and servo skull

The classic plague mask with a bunch of scalpel fingers, poking implements, and doctor's bag. He's got a handy medi-skull as well.

The doctor will see you now.

Ammo jack

She's wielding a power hammer in one (augmetic) hand and a cigar in the other. Her backpack is festooned with grenades, magazines, ammo, and a boltgun.

Perfect for home defence.

Slopper

This cook carries a brazier and has roast mutant rat and a tentacle on his advertising pole. He's got a cleaver, knife sharpener, and pepper pot on his belt as well as an oven mitt. The ladle is lashed to a crowbar.

"More?!"

Dome Runner

I think this pose and vaguely rodent-like mask is as close as we'll ever get to the Ratskins coming back. The dome runner is an underhive guide, and I liked the idea of him having a blueprint spread out.

"I know a shortcut..."

Hive Watcher

This is a great figure, more machine than man. I gave him very grey, sallow skin.

Skull-o-meter™: 5

Terrorscapes horror game report

I had a game of Terrorscape recently, which hadn't been on my radar before. It is a boardgame leaning heavily into horror movie tropes. Up to three players are characters trapped in a mansion. Behind a screen, the other player is the killer, who doesn't know where the survivors are. The killer has to use logic and deduction to find, fix and finish their opponents- killing one survivor to win the game. The survivors can run, hide, and sometimes defend themselves. but cannot hurt the killer. They have to find five keys or fix the radio and wait for the police- all these actions make noise which attracts the killer, who gets stronger as the game progresses.

Our game was painted by my friend Lims, who took the killer's role. The Butcher has abilities to progressively lock down parts of the mansion. We found a few helpful items, not to mention a secret passage to the telephone room, and were saved by a cameo from Commissioner Gordon- not a moment too soon, as my character was about to be murderised!

I was concerned that the tension in a horror film comes from not knowing where the killer is, whereas in this game the killer's position is known. It was still tense, however, and I understand there are different types of villains that can be picked, as well as different locales.

Recommended!

Dead Man's Hand characters

These figures are from Great Escape Games. I don't think the sculpts quite catch the attitudes of their inspirations, but have made me consider getting back into Old West gaming. Both figures were undercoated black, drybrushed white, and then a variety of techniques to add colour.

'Maeve Newton' and 'Dolores Wood'

I used GW Sigvald Burgundy Contrast for Maeve's dress and lipstick, it was a perfect colour match. I like the red in her hair accessory.

Maeve Newton

A little something hidden away.

I like the colour palette Dolores has.

'Dolores Wood'

Firefly

I got a copy of Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats. I painted it rapidly using mostly Contrast paints and by lowering my standards appropriately. I'm very happy with the outcome. The game comes with cardboard boxes that can double as terrain- even the box base is a big hangar/ warehouse.

Each crew figure comes in a 'Casual' and 'Heroic' pose that have different actions available to them. The 'Heroic' abilities will tend to attract the attention of the baddies!

Serenity crew- Heroic

Serenity crew- Casual

Cowboys

Thugs

Dr Simon Tam

Shepherd Book

Captain Mal

Kaylee

River

Inara

Zoe

Jayne

Wash

These were pretty quick to paint. The female face sculpts lack a lot of definition. The Cowboys and Thugs would be great for Stargrave.

I haven't had time to play it yet...

Nemesis: The Crew

Nemesis passed me by when it came out on Kickstarter in 2018. But I was drawn to the theme of Alien-style survival horror, and have picked the boardgame up subsequently. I have now painted the crew, but I haven’t grown to love them. The sculpts are a little busy and unclear. They take Contrast paint reasonably well but I found it hard to give each figure a focus. Each character has a distinctive colour in the game which I have tried to capture in their paint scheme. I don’t usually go for black base rims, but here I felt I had to (and I need to do a second coat, but I wanted to post pictures...)

The Scientist

The Soldier

The Engineer

The Scout

The Pilot

The Captain

The Crew

I played this virtually during lockdown last year- I died from a chestburster thing, and then the whole ship imploded killing everyone else. Good times!

Next time: the Intruders!

Aliens- Ripley and friends

Our Lady of Survival, Ripley has three flavours: Vanilla, Spicy, and Hot Orange. The Alien Stomper Reeboks were a small challenge to paint.

Ripley

She can pick up Newt and enter Beast Mode as 'Enraged Ripley', but I think 'Maternal' or 'Mother bear' is more apt.

'Enraged Ripley'

P-5000 PWL Powered Work Loader

I really enjoyed painting the Power Loader. Some warm orange-brown shades give definition to the iconic machine. The base is a little bland.

I 3D printed a resin cat and base because I could.

Jonesy

The perfect organism, and a facehugger

Newt

Bishop

I flicked white paint onto Bishop.

Burke

I'm afraid I don't know the sources of these wonderful artworks.