Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey everyone.

So at the start of the lockdown, I was doing some reorganising of the home office (aka "spare bedroom dumping ground") and ended up getting all nostalgic over Space Hulk (first edition) that had been sat on the top of shelves for years. I'd made a pretty awful attempt at painting some of the Terminators back in my youth, and decided to have a go at repainting them now I had some spare time on furlough.

I managed to buy a Citadel Essentials box with some paints and a brush, and did an okay job of making them look a bit more presentable. I then found another box in the clearout with some plastic Imperial Guard and Space Marines, five metal Terminators, and what look like some early Rogue Trader figures all in various states of damage. I managed to patch together four Terminators from the five, and got those painted up as well. At this point, it's safe to say I'd got the bug again!

I used to play the original 40k Rogue Trader rules (must've been late '87 onwards, so very early adopter), mostly with small skirmish groups of a few figures until friends started building larger armies. The 2nd edition 40k rules didn't go down very well with me or my fellow gamers, and we ended up drifting away from 40k. I played loads of Space Hulk and Dark Future for a while until finding opponents became difficult. I did get back into miniatures recently (2005-2010) with Flames of War, but other things got in the way. Going through all this again has made me realise how much I've missed it all - especially the original 40k rules and Space Hulk! Kill Team looks like it might be more my thing, in the spirit of the original 40k?

Anyway, thanks for reading and I might pluck up the courage to post some pics of my lockdown (re-)paint jobs. Not quite as good as the examples I've seen on the forums, but some classic 80s and 90s miniatures for older gamers to reminisce about.

On a RT/2nd Ed nostalgia trip right now, so I'll watch this thread with interest!

Right, let's try a test with an image...

Red squad terminator, with unpainted base. I wanted to keep the squad colours (red and grey) for game purposes in the paint schemes as the bases would be painted over. In hindsight, I think I channeled my inner teen and overdid the red on some of the figures (as you'll see later).

Well, that worked, so here's more of red squad...

Of course, we can't forget grey squad... although I used black/dark grey as the original light grey didn't look so good.

Suitably moody Adeptus Astartes recruitment poster shot...

Command squad. These guys use some yellow, which came about because a) it contrasts with the red and black for the other squads and b) the bad ass assault cannon guy had a yellow chainfist and that inspired me to do the shoulder pad over the cannon in a very non-standard Ultramarine yellow.

Also, action shot with some genestealers. I've painted up 9 of the 30 that came with the set. I was never a fan of the classic blue/purple-pink colours, and was surprised to see contemporary genestealers come in all kinds of colours... many looking more like angry fruit salads. Originally, I was going to try for a black Alien(s) xenomorph look, but the idea of a zombie-ish look and feel struck me as interesting. Fans of the old Dan Dare comic, such a myself, might feel there's more a Treen/Mekon look with the subtle green heads/hands.

Finally, some early Rogue Trader figures.

The bandit/gunslinger was "Inquisitor Ortal", an old school RT inquisitor born and raised on some low-tech backwater planet. His motley crew includes an Eldar outcast made from a Blood Bowl dark elf and a Space Marine arm (it made sense to my younger self). He was originally a rather lurid green and glossy brown camo, but I felt he needed something else for the repaint.

Yes, that is a Mighty Fortress, bought for games of Warhammer Siege (with borrowed armies) or, more usually, 40k. Unpainted at the moment, but a definite future project. I've no idea where there plastic accessories are - somewhere in a box still in storage I hope.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I don't actually remember owning the halfling chef/surgeon! He was tucked in one of the boxes I found and was primed but otherwise unpainted. He's pretty cool though, and was fun to paint - if tricky. I'm not overly happy with the face and ended up using moustache and sideburns to try and cover up the mess.

john_chandler wrote:
Command squad. These guys use some yellow, which came about because a) it contrasts with the red and black for the other squads and b) the bad ass assault cannon guy had a yellow chainfist and that inspired me to do the shoulder pad over the cannon in a very non-standard Ultramarine yellow.

Not to dork things up, but I should also mention that yellow/gold is the color worn by command figures in the original Star Trek series.

I'm sure thats just a coincidence though.


Edit: Welcome back to 40K, and nice figures by the way. Definitely some old school vibe.

Welcome back to The Hobby (tm).

Nice looking models. My brother still has a Mighty Fortress too. Of late he's actually been using it for work for planning historical re-enactment stuff...

Yes. 9th Ed is exciting for me re old skool rules.
Small games, crusade style...

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Welcome to Dakka!

Thanks everyone.

I love Star Trek in all its forms, so sounds like the TOS-era command gold was in the back of my mind when I painted those terminators!