Welcome to Space Crusade!

Finally!

Space Crusade is all finished! I don't know how many of us managed to complete our boxed sets of Space Crusade and HeroQuest; but I can say that at long last I am amongst them!!

Space Crusade was my favourite of the two games, not because I thought it was better, the two are completely different ideas (HeroQuest is a dungeon crawl and Space Crusade was a direct tactical competition) but because it always made me break out in a sweat about 20 mins in!
It didn't matter if you were playing the Marines or the Alien player, the hyperventilation would set in the minute the blast doors opened!

That being said I have always enjoyed playing the Aliens more, against three determined Marine players it becomes a hell of a challenge =)

Here are a few shots of the minis, my apologies that some of the pics are a bit blurry =(

 The Blood Angels. When equipped with Boltguns sporting COMBAT BLADES they make a lightning fast assault force.

 The Imperial Fists. The most annoying of Marine Chapters with their SUSPENSORS. Basically a team of heavy weapons guys moving as fast as bolter guys do!

 The Ultramarines. Princes among Marines, the bravest of the brave, loyal to a... Yeah so obviously my personal favourites  =)


And here to spoil the day for the Marines. The bad guys!

 The Grotty Gretchin! Usually used as cannon fodder or to stop drafts.

 The Orks. Tougher than a steak dinner after the third re-heat, and just as ugly!

 Oh now were talking, the Chaos Androids. Packing one of the more eclectic ranged weapons in the game, no slouches in close combat either. The appearance of one of these guys is usually enough to send an entire marine team running...

 And this is how you get your own back as the Alien player. You use your own Marines. I've had these evil gits go toe to toe with a Marine team and win. Game winners and life savers (well, unless you are a Marine player  I guess...)

The Genestealers (for some reason renamed 'Soulsuckers' in the video games??) You might not get to place them as you would your regular troops but man are they useful (when they FINALLY decide to join the battle...)

The crown jewels of your Marine eradicating defense force... The Dreadnought! (or 'noughts' if like me you managed to find two!) They may have a passing resemblance to ED209 but kick much more ass! Remember though to always, always, always! have them accompanied by some lesser troops. It doesn't matter what they are, just keep a power sword/power glove/meltabomb wielding Marine Sgt away from them!


So there we go. One fully painted box set of HeroQuest and now one of Space Crusade!
Each set was made up of two boxes, one being my original from waaaaayy back, and the other being more recently discovered. Out of the two projects the Space Crusade minis were by far the more difficult to finish satisfactorily. The nature of the pieces being multi-part and the number of models with existing paint jobs (in relation to the almost untouched quality of majority of my HQ figures) meant a lot of searching for usable parts and some hefty cleaning up. But overall I'm really pleased =)

Managing to get nine marines per chapter was a real boon too as it means no having to swap weapons on painted figures, and getting two dreads was awesome! I wonder if I will ever get to use them at the same time... (evil smile...)


Here's whats on the butchers block this week.

The guys are interested in having a go at reliving our teenage years with a bit of a Necromunda bash!
Very excited about this as I never got around to painting my mighty Goliaths. Maybe I can even include a missile launcher this time... hmm
Hopefully it will all come together and we'll have a five way campaign going with everyone talking smack and stabbing one another in the back like we used too... Ah, them was the days...

Lastly, here's a shout out to a fine fellow I used to game with from those heady days of adolescent spottyness.
These two adventurous types were painted in the space of a dull, rainy afternoon over at my mates place. My effort is on the left, a fancy fellow with a feather in his cap and cow shit on his feet (probably...) My friends model is the other and I think showcases his extraordinary talent for turning out unique characters with almost no effort (the jammy git!) I cant tell you how much he taught me about miniature painting, he just did it like no one else!

I miss you Eb. I hope you are doing well.

Ace.