Original Space Hulk Terminator.

The Terminators Wont Look Like That In The Box.. Surely!

Space Hulk is my game. Its the first true Games Workshop box game i got. I did own both Hero Quest and Space Crusade but those were joint ventures with Milton Bradley, Space Hulk however was a pure GW board game. My gaming buddy and myself did play Rogue Trader at the time but as anyone from that era knows, RT was not the simplest or most straight forward of games to play. A hybrid of roleplay and tabletop warfare, it lacked the sense of objective in design that Warhammer Fantasy Battle had. RT gave the impression that Rick Priestley had 5 rule books worth of ideas but had to cut them down to just one and it was never quite ironed straight.  Space Hulk on the other hand is war gaming perfection. Space Hulk was and still is s simple design and compared to the other games we played back then it could easily be unboxed, setup and played. 

I am from a smallish town on the west coast of Scotland and GW were a good 6 or 7 years away from opening a store there. So when i asked my folks to buy Space Hulk for me i knew it had loads of Genestealers and also 2 x 5 man squads of Terminators but i had never seen them up close. Now at that time there was not the vast array of models for individual purchase and Terminators came in an 8 man box, multipart, metal and awesome!!. The models are still excellent too but back then my buddy had this box and i didnt. Space Hulk would fix that balance..... or so i thought.

Shit... They Actually Look Worse!

When i got the game for Christmas..... 88? maybe... i was shocked to discover that the 10 Termies supplied with the game were not the high quality miniature perfection i had dreamt but were infact 10 lumps of dark blue plastic! I couldnt get my head around this as on the other sprues the game gave you were loads of multi part, highly detailed and intricate Stealers! How could this be? how could there be such a difference in the quality of the 2 model sets?

Spindley Legs & Arms, Fine Details!

Ive grown a lot older since then and i understand that this was a calculated business desicion. Nothing GW does in this vein is a mistake. The Genestealers at that time had no real use in any other game system and were ring fenced to Space Hulk but the termies couldnt be too good as that might limit sales of the metal box sets that i loved so much. It all makes sense, at the time though i was pissed off!.

Over the years my dislike for the original Termies has dissipated and ive developed a true love for the model and the memories they gave. I always wanted to paint one in a manor i reserved for better designed models but never found the time as i would inevitably choose the cooler mini for my next project. So this is my attempt at giving my last surviving Original Space Hulk Termie the respect and dignity he deserves.

I actually tried a clean and polished look first but the details are so .... shit, that i just didnt like the outcome. Most of my paint jobs these days are quite grimey or weathered. I love the look it gives but it also covers up and helps to mask any limits to my ability. Line highlighting for instance is the thing i hate the most about the GW painting style. It looks cool but i think if a technique is annoying or frustrating and making you stop painting then you should find an alternative. After all this is supposed to be fun. 

I still line highlight but only in specific areas and its limited. Especially on a model that had corrosion or paint chipping like this one. 

For the Blood Angels chapter badge i used a decal... Total mistake i know!. I was trying to cut a corner and i use decals for other things but the decals are either non GW or are Forge World decals and as such are thin and good quality. The GW decals are like cardboard. Even with a gloss prep and Micro Sol and Micro Set this bastard decal would not sit right and as such it was giving me nightmares. In the end i painted over it and with the weathering it turned out fine but if i had just free handed the icon it would have been easy and my shortcut! wouldnt have taken so much time or given me so much stress.

I used Forge World weathering powders for the soot and rust on the back and also the dust and mud at the models feet. I went back and forth with the decision on a base. I did feel he should be based on a Space Hulk interior style base but eventually i decided i wanted him to look more used and appreciated so i went for dust, rocks and mud like a true table top model should.

Ah the cereal box weapon!. This is the thing that destroyed me the most when i was 14. The rest of the model i can kinda get over but the total lazyness of that weapon compared to the detail present on even the worst Space Marine model at the time was a crime too far in my eyes... Ive made my peace with it now though.

I actually do wonder about the design process for the original game. GW were making some excellent stuff even back then and the artist who painted this box art must have had a stroke when he was approached for this job. I can only imagine the conversation where he is asked to do box art for a space ship style game and the good guys are Space Marine Terminators.... "but you have to make the box art termies look like the shit ones we are chucking into the box.... not the awesome ones that this kids best mate has! "

I like how he turned out... 

Glad i didnt continue with the yellow....