For this November I’ve being trying to paint the entirety of
the Lost Patrol boxed set. As one of Games Workshop’s smaller releases, this
wasn’t a huge task and I managed to successfully paint the entire set in
slightly less than a month.
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Not that many models, but for me, that's
pretty good going for a month. |
Lost Patrol was a game released a few years ago as part of
Games Workshop’s seemingly endless slew of board games based on its properties
it was putting out at the time, and like the slightly-too-obsessed collector
that I am, I had to have them all. Some were better quality than others, and
from what I understand the actual game isn’t one of Games Workshop’s better
efforts. Like Space Hulk before it, it was once again a small group of Space
Marines vs a much larger swarm of Genestealers, trying to find the macguffin
before they all die, though in this game they are Scouts rather than
Terminators. Unlike Space Hulk, however, there were no new models designed for
it – they were all currently-existing models. The game used a very simple rule
set aimed at younger players, a noble idea, but it had the effect of stacking
the game quite heavily in favour of the Genestealer player. And even though
there are a huge number of ways the map can be arranged, there is only one
scenario which limits its long-term appeal. The latter two are things I’ve
heard, by the way. I haven’t actually played the game yet.
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The Scouts were a lot of fun...
|
But we’re here to talk about the painting rather than the
quality of the game, and here I faced some… not necessarily new challenges but
re-visiting some old ones. I have, of course, been painting Space Marines for
pretty much the entire time I’ve been invested in the hobby, even if most of
them were Chaos. Tyranids have been less frequent though regular readers will
recognise the aesthetic at least from the Space Hulk set. The only time I’ve
ever done Space Marine Scouts before, though, was
nearly 10 years ago where I had the idea of
building a scout army to represent the rebuilding of the Black Consuls chapter,
and I’ve painted Human faces intermittently since then (I tend to prefer
helmets.) I didn’t do a terrible job but my lack of experience with painting
faces shows, I think – some of those eyes are very sloppy indeed! If painting
is a skill I’m looking to develop, I might consider doing an army with exposed
faces to give me a little more practice! Elsewhere, the Scouts were painted in
Blood Angels colours, which was nothing new to me since I’d painted the Space
Hulk set in the same way and my Word Bearer army is roughly the same colour
with different trimmings.
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And painting Genestealers this way is a
quick and effective paint scheme. |
The Genestealers were interesting. As presented on the box
art and the photographs on the back, they appear to be a splinter fleet of Hive
Fleet Kraken; largely a bony white colour with red claws. With Hive Fleet
Kraken, the carapace would usually be red, and the flesh would be more of a
sepia-colour, but this way gave them a more skeletal appearance that would be
terrifying in large numbers. After watching a video guide on Youtube and buying
a red wash, I was struck by how little time it took to get an effective-looking
set of models – to game standard, at least; I wouldn’t expect to win any
painting competitions with this – and decided that if I ever chose to paint a
Tyranid army in any significant numbers, this is how I’d do it. I’m pleased
with the overall result, and I’m glad I now have an idea of what a large
Tyranid army might look like for me, should it become an option to paint one.
I think what’s great about these boxed sets is that it gives
you the opportunity to try painting models you wouldn’t normally paint. I
wouldn’t normally choose to paint Tryanids but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed painting
the Genestealers from Space Hulk and Lost Patrol – and expanding my horizons on
where I can take my painting can only be a good thing. I’m not short of them
but don’t know what the next one will be yet, we shall see…
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