Oldhammer Crusading; A Blast From My Past

 

   It's been quite a while (isn't it always?) since my last post and life has been pretty busy, works been pretty busy and my Wifi has been crap, really crap, hence the dearth of posts. However, we have finally got that sorted and I am back with a whole narrative campaign to post about, new builds to show, a whole warren of wargaming and related rabbit holes to visit...or sumfin like that.

     Anyway, you're not here to read about al that upconing stuff you're here because you want to know what all this Crusading stuff is; right? Well this post is about both a trip down memory lane for me and also my entry into the wider world of gaming; Space Crusade. the MB game produced under licence from Games Workshop back in 1990. I am not going to go over the history of it, there's plenty of stuff about it on Board Game Geek, A Zen Guide To Starquest and the Youtube channel Always Board Never Boring (which is where my interest got reignited) for those of you interested in finding out more.

     If you visit the Always Board Never Boring channel you will have seen the chap who hosts it, Kevin Outlaw(?) play through several solo games as well as a video on buying Space Crusade and the parts thereof on eBay and that got me thinking (followed ever so swiftly by acting) and a brief flurry of bidding, winning and buying later, I am happy to say that I now have pretty much a complete set.

     So why go to all that bother? you may ask. Well this is the game that my sister bought for my older brother back in 1991 and, when he showed a distinct lack of interest in it, she gave it too me instead and, inadvertently, started my wargaming journey; it also introduced my son, Stuart, and me to WH40K, so it has a lot of sentimental value as well as a lot too answer for (I don't know what has happened to the original set Stuart and I had, his mum and I separated years ago and I moved back to Glasgow). The only other time I had seen Space Crusade between the now and mid 90s when Stuart and I played it last was back in 2013 or 2014 when I attended Bring Out Your Lead, the Oldhammer event held at Foundry Miniatures. Someone had brought along a very nicely, fully painted set and was running a game of it at the event. I didn't play it there but I certainly remember coo-ing at the painting standard of the miniatures. So, realising that, with a bit of effort, I could have a similar, fully painted set of a similar standard and the opportunity to set up a quick, fun, multi player game (or play solo games of an evening when my painting mojo has popped out for a walk) I have started on the next part of my crusade (do you see what I did there? Not very clever, was it? 😀)

Reverse of the game box. I love the artwork in the back ground. It
looks like that Blood Angel is about to tell those kids to keep the
noise down.

     The box containing the game is a genuine Oldhammer joy to behold and I plan to base most of my painted figures on the artwork that is on there. My only deviation will be the Chaos Space Marines that I will paint based on the figures in the 4th Ed Chaos Space Marine book that I also bought for purely nostalgia reasons.

4th Edition Chaos Space Marine Codex

   

The Box Art

The Dreadnought looks great...and nothing like the Chaos
Dreadnoughts now

The box even comes with painting advice. 

My take on the box art Chaos Space Marine Champion.
Sculpt-wise, they look very different from one another;
the box art one looks, in my opinion, a bit crude or below
par. 

My Chaos Space Marines so far. The one with the missile launcher
is still WIP. As this will be based on the Iron Warriors I have some
black and yellow strips to add to him. The fifth one I am undecided;
Black Legion or Alpha Legion?

Inspiration

Thankfully, the Space Marines are easier to paint.
Imperial Fists WIP

I don't have all the weapons options for the Space marines
but I am getting there. There are some enroute from eBay
and I hope to source the last one or two from the Oldhammer
Facebook page

Genestealers. I already had these figures for INQ28
(Inquisitor in 28mm) and In The Emperor's Name

I need to get one more Android (Necron?) These ones
came ready painted from eBay. The paint job is good
but they will be painted over in white as per the box art

Looking forward to painting the Dreadnought too..

Orks! Really nice sculpts

..and Gretchin...mad as bats design; space blunderbusses,
love it 😁

     And that's where I am at with this project. It shouldn't take too long to complete and, heaven knows, there's nothing like completing a project to encourage you into committing to another one...like I need encouragement 😁

Pip pip for the mo,

GJ