It’s not Christmas without the Doctor Who Christmas Special. And I had a sharp intake of geek-breath when Imperial Fist Space Marines strode out across the festive snowscape.

Grimdark future soldiers! Just wait until they unmask and you stare into the face etched with centuries of service to the God-Emperor…

Oh, it’s Bill Bailey. Bill Bailey serving double-purpose as comic relief and exposition.

What rammed home the visual similarity for me was the Rogal Dorn yellow, and the helmets flipped up à la Space Crusade.

Coincidence? Or deliberate homage? Leave a comment.

Here’re some of my personal favourite strips…

Here’s the recurring Inquisitor character that would try and rein in Inquisitor Murderbunga.

And what I love is even though the Space Marines are wearing helmets, they’re still able to emote.

Warhammer 40,000 has never been so cutesy. Devour the entire Wobbly Model Syndrome archive.

Photoshop colour scheme over Tommie’s superb paintjobs. One of the misleading things about Photoshopping miniatures is you think your alternative colour choices looks awesome, when in fact it’s actually the original painter’s crisp highlights and colour blocking.

’70s and ’80s Scifi Heritage

Dark God of the Transformers mythos – Unicron – was a metallic spacebot with facial hair. When I first saw the Storm Rage Veterans he sprang to mind.

He will provide you with new troops to command.

Unicron is a child of 1980s, when orange seemed to be the signature colour of science fiction. I remember it vividly from Gerry Anderson’s Space:1999 and UFO series. They’re orange THEY MUST BE IN SPACE. Maya (left) has orange hair – she must be an alien.

This was influenced by the colour of of NASA spacesuits, or more specifically the Launch / Entry Suits they more which were deliberately bright to help rescue crews spot crews that’ve bailed out on Earth. Then when they’re in space astronauts change into white suits as it reflects heat better and it’s easier to spot against the grimdarkness of space. I digress…

For non-Brits who weren’t exposed to the horrors of UFO, orange is also synonomous with retro sci-fi thanks to Star Wars.

Agreeing with me is Dave King of Bederken Miniatures. One of his many projects is a Rogue Trader force painted rather than as the established Warhammer 40K universe would have you expect … “away from gothic and towards early eighties science fiction. I wanted them to be able to walk into an episode of Rogue Trooper or ABC warriors and look the part.”

A C100 Female Marine?!

Check out Dave’s retro lead blog. It’s cocking brilliant.

Squat Heritage

Squat boxes and detachment cards for both Warhammer 40K and Epic were orange.

Blimey, remember datafaxes?!

But the models themselves weren’t – they were typically green and red. It wasn’t until the White Dwarf in Space subscription model came along that we saw a Games Workshop Space Dwarf (not Squat) in orange. But that was chosen more because he’s wearing a modern spacesuit more than the old Warhammer 40K card components.

And so we come to my seond experiment with Forge Fathers and orange, this one also influenced by Beardy Bastards. The first used far too much yellow and will not be shown in public. It’s Vomit Brown, Ogryn Flesh Wash and Dheneb Stone highlights. It’s an experimental model that’s had parts redone a few times, and is rough in places so the photography’s deliberately slapdash.

The Future’s Grimdark. The Future’s Orange.

These can be found in the galleries over at Golem Painting Studio.

Surprisingly not about gamers being playing in a beardy fashion, but about Dwarfs in Space. Dwarfs under threat from drooly multi-limbed alienbeasts.

The comic’s not a gag strip like Ninjabread – but an action comic broken into twice-weekly installments. There are nineteen chunks so far (much like the character Rungnir) you can click through.

I’ve been experimenting with orange schemes inspired by Bastards on some Mantic Forge Fathers – it will pop off the tabletop beautifully. That’s no accident – Teb (Beardy Bastards artist) says the orange was “an original color that would stand out perfectly in dark and somber environments without it getting too bright”.

Read Beardy Bastards from the start.

This week’s strip picks up from this one two weeks back.

Forge World’s Contemptor Dreadnoughts are a lovely hark back to days of 40K past. For those unfamiliar with their 40K history, the Contemptor (or “Chuck” as it was affectionately known) was one of three Marine dreadnought varieties.

With Forge World going utterly Rogue Trader of late with the Contemptor Dreadnought, MKIC Deimos Pattern Rhino, Land Raider Proteus (and its gorgeous new variant) and Rapier Laser Destroyer – and the Mole Mortar and Tarantula already released what is left unplundered? Which 1980s Marines hardware will see a resin resurrection?

RTB-03 Land Speeder?

The original Furibundus class Dreadnoughts?

The Deredo Dreadnought?

The Space Crusade Dreadnought?

The Mission: Dreadnought Dreadnought?

The Vincent Blackshadow?

The First Marine Jetcycle?

The Mk14 Bullock Jetcycle?

The plastic Predator?

Place your bets now.

Mike McVey (him of bare-bottomed fame) says…

There will be two categories in the painting competition – single Vanguard miniature and single Strain miniature. We’ll be offering vouchers for the store as prizes, along with the chance to get your painted miniature in the final game (most likely on the box, but we haven’t decided exactly where yet). We’re also going to give the category winners any one the sold out LE resin miniatures as a special prize (we have a very few pristine castings of them stashed away) – so if you missed Ar-Fienel, Lt Kara Black or Isabella, now is your chance to win one.

Brimstone, the Strain beastie Tommie painted for the Studio Mcvey webstore.

As an added incentive, we’re putting the entire Sedition Wars line on sale for the duration – just use code SWPAINT in the checkout process and you’ll get 10% off your order. (This includes Frebrand miniatures, even though there isn’t a Firebrand category).

I’ve got until January 14th to get my Strain looking suitably fleshy and drooly.  Full details in the McVey thread.

Back in the early ’90s, Games Workshop tried appealing to younger generations by releasing simple and self-contained boardgames. Their experiments with the then-revolutionary idea of making wargaming figures out of plastic meant they’d got child-friendly products that didn’t need assembly, or give you colica Pictonum. The rules were badly designed and largely random. All in all, a lot like Dreadfleet.

Kerrunch was a one of a series of four games: Ultra Marines (where you played as, erm, Space Wolves battling the Blood Angels); Space Fleet (spaceship comabt); and Mighty Warriors (which reused the Heroquest concept and models).

Blood Bowl Miniatures

Kerrunch came out after Blood Bowl second edition, and reuses the Orc and Human miniatures from it. They’re joined by the Elf and Dwarf plastics from the Dungeonbowl supplement. And they’re all in lovely bright colours.

It appears the colours varied, I’ve seen Orcs in blue, Humans in green, Elves in yellow. Though I’m not sure which colours are from Blood Bowl, Dungeonbowl and Kerrunch. Do you?

The 6-piece card jigsaw pitch is rehashed from 1st edition Blood Bowl, only on a much thinner card – pictures when I’ve dug out my 1st edition Blood Bopwl pitch to compare it to.

The rules fit on a single sheet of paper, and the miniatures are brightly-coloured – two signs it’s aimed squarely at kids. The central game mechanic firmly establishes the pediatric appeal – throwing the dice into the lid. The box is also a component.

People say 40K has dumbed-down recently – but I have yet to see it with box lid mechanics. I look forward to playing this for kitsch value, both with adult gamers and genuine eight year olds.