Space 2021 – A Star Saga

Would you look at that, it’s Cthulu’s little brother

Well this is a weird beast, isn’t it? As before, the colour scheme for this isn’t new, there’s a certain uniformity to the Nameless and this is the same colour scheme I used on Project Oberon. To save time on these I actually bought a dark blue acrylic spray from Humbrol.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

These guys really like tentacles don’t they? 

The Riflemen are the second variant of the rank and file minions they have exactly the same colour scheme as the gunslingers, they’re just more tentacly.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

Huh, Tentacles in suits.

After not doing very much for a week a bit, Ian finally got round to painting the gunslingers, which are just basic line troops for Nameless (one of three variants).  I kind of like how the Nameless have tried to force there tantacular (is that a word?  It is now) forms into protective suits but their limbs are still essentially tentacles.

As with all minion level models these are done entirely with contrast paint finished with a purple wash and then a gloss varnish at the end

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

These things just keep on gettin’ uglier

This is the first of the character for Terror in the deep, the eponymous Terror. The colours are broadly similar to those used on the minions only they have not been done using contrast paints. Well, technically they have but I used the contrast paints as a base coat and then gave a heavy purple wash to the whole model over which I then painted layers as normal, I am actually quite pleased with the results.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

Great, just what we need. A case of mega-crabs

With the colour scheme nailed, we went with the big guys first. Also, all of the other miniatures have an additional colour that I need to work on a contrast paint colour scheme for.

I really like these, they remind me a great deal of the mirelurks from Fallout and, if I weren’t painting these in line with the artwork I would definitely be painting them like that too.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

Jesus Christ, how many of these things are there? Let’s hope they run out of bodies before we run out of bullets

These little critters are the lowest form of Nameless lifeforms in the Star Saga game and perfect for testing out my colour scheme. All the artwork and display miniatures for the game have a very simple and consistent colour scheme for the most part.  Blue flesh, purple tentacles and deep red carapace. They’re also really highly textured and are perfect for contrast paints.

I also had an idea similar to brown wash trick. After all main colours were done I used a slightly thinned purple wash over the whole model before going on to pick out details using Tesseract Glow, which is listed by GW as. “technical paint” but is really more like a lurid greed contrast paint. The purple wash really helped to cover up some of those white patches that contrast paints seem to be plagued with as well as giving a nice shade to all of the colours, especially the red.

After doing one of each and proving the colour scheme I farmed the rest off to my brother to paint.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

As part of the Star Saga Pledge I also got all the Deadzone Mercenary characters with Star Saga and, with the Nameless models coming soon, I took the opportunity to paint Project Oberon using it as a test colour scheme for some of the other Nameless characters in Star Saga.

I don’t know much about this particular character but I think it’s an interesting concept. When you look at the Nameless they just look gribbly, betentacled hordes similar to the Tyranids of 40k but their lore doesn’t portray them that way. They’re a sentient race capable of reason and project Oberon seems to be an expression of that because he can be recruited as a merc in Star Saga and his Deadzone description describes him as essentially a spy who reports on the corporations that hire him.

For this I couldn’t find artwork of Project Oberon but he’s similar to the Gunslinger miniatures so I decided to use that artwork.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo

I don’t walk softly, but I do carry a big gun.

Sergeant Ugurik, ork commando. I have mixed views on the Orks/Marauders. Because I have been a fan of Mantic for a long time, I understand why the Marauders exist. By the same token I feel like they have expanded their universe through games like Dreadball to the point where I would like to see them start to step away from their past as a cheap 40k alternative. However I do like this model and I think it stands out from the crowd in terms of Marauders because I think it better represents what I think the Orks in the Warpath universe should look like. Unlike the Orks of 40k, the Marauders in Warpath are described as being intelligent and have superb tactical and strategic acumen to go with their martial abilities. So much so that the humans of the universe were required to invent the genetically engineered Enforcers to stop the Marauders taking over the galaxy. However the models still carry that goofy, comedic look more associated with 40k. Big, boxy and bulky armour or virtually no armour at all. They don’t have the appearance of a species that came within a gnats pube of conquering the galaxy. Whereas this guy looks professional and exhibits a level of technology that is equal to the rest of the factions whilst still having a rugged and bulky look.

Again I followed the artwork for this one and because I couldn’t find the artwork I reached out to the Star Saga community and none other than the original artist got in touch and supplied me with the character concept art (he also gave me artwork for a few others at the same time). Absolute legend.

When looking at the artwork I don’t know whether it’s deliberate or coincidence but the colour scheme is very similar to that of Ogan Helkkare, the Forge Father engineer from the core set. Which could indicate a link between the Forge Fathers and Marauders, the former supplying the latter or just between those two individuals. Thematically I think both work, the Forge Fathers have no love for the humans of the GCPS, arming and equiping a fellow enemy of their enemy would have some merits. Regardless, I really enjoyed painting it and it didn’t take too much thought or effort as I was using colours already used on a previous model.

Ugurik also marks the end of the second expansion, Retake the Blackstar Station. Next on the desk will be Terror in the Deep.

Art Credits Rob Jenkins and Roberto Cirillo