Space Crusade Reboot, Part 6: the Genestealers

In the late 90’s, Space Crusade was an introduction to the hobby for many teenagers and I was no exception. The funny thing is that it was also an introduction to another game, much more evolved and advanced, which quickly became a classic: Space Hulk.

In Space Hulk, squads of Blood Angel Space Marines explore a space hulk infested by zillions of deadly blue-and-purple aliens: Genestealers.

Painting Method

Space Crusade comes with three of them and I really wanted to paint them with the classic color scheme (blue/purple). As I also purchased the last edition of Space Hulk, I wanted to find a good and efficient way to paint them.

I came up with a method that can be used in a production line, where you can paint minis four by four with a good result.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4vEKRySMJw]

Color Scheme

With the stealers, the most difficult thing to do was to find the right painting method.

As I really wanted my stealers to look old-school (and also to fit with the Sin of Damnation novel’s descriptions) I couldn’t use the official Tyranids’ painting tutorials Games Workshop provides.

So, I went on some experimentations with my first stealer. After some test and trials, I found a color scheme I liked:

• The whole body except the head, the hands and the feet are painted with Kantor Blue
• Head, hands and feet are painted with Daemonette Hide
• Claws are painted with Zandry Dust
• The whole miniature is shaded with different shades (see the video).
• When the shades are dry, the miniature is highlighted with successive dry-brush sessions.
• Details are done to finish the miniature

This technique is good for painting stealers in batch and I’ll surely use it when I’ll start painting the Space Hulk box.

Also as you can see in the video, I make the carapace darker than the rest of the body, which subtly suggest that it’s heavier or stronger than the arms or the legs. I like the transition from almost-black blue to dark blue it gives.

Details

In the video I don’t explain how I did all the details of the head, so let’s do this here.

I painted the teeth with Zandry Dust, then shaded them with Agrax Earthshade. When dry, I highlighted them with very small touches of Usanti Bone.

The tongue was painted with a first coat of Mephiston Red and received then a coat of Blood for Blood God, to give it a nice shiny effect, perfect for a part of the creature that is supposed to be wet.

Finally the eyes were painted with a touch of Yellow and were then glazed with a red glaze. This gave a real transition effect to the eyes and changed the yellow into a light orange.

Yellow is the best color against purple regarding contrasts, that’s why painting the eyes of the stealers in that color is a good idea: it make them stands out perfectly.

This post is part of a series where I log all the progress I make on rebooting Space Crusade with modern miniatures.