Quarantine 37 – Stargrave

There’s “Tabletop Ready” and there’s “Encounter Table-top Ready”.

I am happy with these even though they are not my best work. Not sure whether some will even see the table because beyond the odd scenario there’s no guarantee they will all be needed.

The warriors don’t look out of place with the rest of the “Nameless”? minis from StarSaga. They got a red Halfords spray over a bone white spray I had already used to prime them. I had a Lost Patrol scheme in mind, but I really don’t know how likely I am to complete that or play that. Far less likely than playing Stargrave. They then got the Dark Contrast Shyish Purple over everything but the head, but I brushed it thinnest over the arms. Then the army got a Fleshtearer Red Contrast over the arms and a Vallejo Royal Purple drybrush over the bone looking torso and back. The face is mostly Bugman’s Glow and Reikland Fleshshade wash, with dots of a Bugman’s Glow dappled across the back of the head afterwards. The claws are a Zandri Dust base with a Wraithbone highlight.

The acid spitters are fun. The “spit” is just the swarf from drilling into bits of sprue with my pin vice during some terrain building. Then coated with PVA and Nurgle’s Rot to give the slime acid effect.

The space zombies are the protagonists in only half of the game. There are alien bugs on the space station too.

There are 5 classes of bug and I was really struggling with what might fit the bill. Then I remembered there was a StarSaga bag that came as a Kickstarter extra through the post as I guess a wave 2 or late wave 1 addition I was entitled to as part of my pledge level.

The bags I got had some shooting aliens that weren’t going to fit the narrative, but these minis gave me enough variety to cover 4 of the 5 classes and the last “warrior” class will be represented with some Tyranids.

Not sure whether 3 of each will cover everything in game, but I am reluctant to spend too much more on this part of the project. I may just have to make encounters harder or easier by dragging in better or worse alien bugs depending on the shortfall in any given scenario.

The paint scheme is Black Primer with a Halfords Red Primer zenith. Then hit with a Wraithbone drybrush over everything. Then a Bugman’s Glow drybrush over the fleshier parts and a dark Purple Contrast Paint over the more armoured areas. Then a dry brush of Vallejo Royal Purple over all the armour.

I still need to pick out some details, maybe come up with something a bit bolder as an extra colour somewhere on some of the variants. Need to get this scheme down on some Tyranids to see how they look. Need to make the spitter aliens a bit gross. Need to base them all, but for an evenings work I think this is going great guns.

Pringle tub and apnea mask pipe industrial piece.
Cocktail stick containers becoming Sci-Fi silos or containers of some kind.
A sprue made lift platform.
StarSaga terrain pieces.
MDF TTCombat crates.

Sci-fi gantry.  Scratch built from cocktail sticks, chain and packing strapping flooring.

This game will have enough terrain to make it look good and get played if it kills me.

There was a lot a silver spray paint and some model mates spray making these looks. Some Nulin Oil here and there and some dry brushing of Vallejo Silver but nothing particularly clever.

Drone.
Bought the first couple of bait price Imperium magazines from the news agent over the last few months. Knew I wasn’t about to start a Necron 40K army, but was hoping there would be potential for those models for Stargrave. This was the first one that seemed immediately transferable as an Encounter Table addition.

I used a mix of Vallejo Military Green, Vallejo Gunmetal Grey and Vallejo Silver to get some interesting colours over a black primer. The red sensors was a silver base with a couple of layers of ghost tint from Minitaire Fresh Blood airbrush paint dabbed on with a brush.

The Gaunch is described as a bulging-eyed, flesh eaters with pigment changing skin. I chose to kitbash a couple of Gaunch from Mantic Games Ghoul bodies and the big eyed crewman head on a Stargrave Crew Box sprue. I needed to snip off the metal nails sticking out on the original ghoul body and limbs, but otherwise it was a simple head swap solution.

The model was primed Black and zenithed in Halfords Grey primer. I did struggle to convey the pigment changing skin. I figured that how he is creeping across the Vallejo Grey Green bulkhead there would need to be a touch of green on the legs, but transitioning quickly from metal Vallejo Gunmetal Grey flooring to my Sci-Fi grid basing that there would be a dark metallic sheen to the legs too. I used a watered down coat of Vallejo Military Green for the clothing. I used Vallejo Light Grey for the highlights on the head and fingers. I figured that if he is making that lunge from the dark, that his upper body would suddenly become quite lightly coloured to fit in with the well lit corridor walls, to create even more delay in his prey’s reactions as they try to focus on what is moving towards them. I used Nulin Oil to help draw it all together as a paint job and then highlighted the clothing with a Military Green and Light Grey mix and back over the head with Light Grey. I dappled down occasional dots of Gun Metal on the skin to try and show some skin-like imperfections and think it has helped improve the final look.

Could have done more grime and chipping but realised that as the power in the galaxy after the Last War these guys would be better fed, prepared and equipped than anyone else. But they are pirates so there’s a trade off. If I make more I will add more alien heads because I am sure they recruit from everywhere given that if you want power, protection and money these are the only serious players in the galaxy.