Tuesday 1 June 2021

Stargrave Bestiary: Mindgrippers / Necromunda Ripper Jacks

Continuing with entries from the Stargrave Creature List, I decided to paint up a small group of Mindgrippers. These are Necromunda ripper jacks that my good friend Asslessman sent me the other week - they are perfect for represending the "parasitic monstrosities [that] are only slightly bigger than a rat and resemble a manta ray with little spider legs."


The unwary travel the lost ways of the Underhive at their peril!

I wanted a quick and simple paintjob on the ripper jacks, so stuck to drybrushing and washes. I used GW's Rakarth Flesh as the basecoat, with a heavy drybush of Pallid Wych Flesh over the top. I then gave them a flesh wash over the whole model and a glaze of yellow on the central body. The membrane flaps got washes of crimson, purple and finally blue at the edges. Then it was a second light drybrush over the raised central areas with Pallid Wych Flesh and finally a thinned brown wash over everything just to knock it back a little.




If I was self-critiquing, I guess these have turned out a little more bright and colourful than I really wanted. But equally they do look perfectly creepy, and they're ready to terrorise some sci-fi adventurers!


18 comments:

  1. They really look good and the colours are subdued enough for the purpose while still making them look organic so best f both worlds in my book.

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    1. Glad you think so! Nice to get the thumbs up :)

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  2. Nice paint job. I like the color combo, simple but effective. They look suitably menacing and alien. I completely forgot about them, so thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Hobbs! The inspiration for the sculpts is pretty evident, but its such an iconic scifi trope that it works across a lot of settings. Glad you approve of the colours.

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  3. Really nice - I've not seen those models for ages! Who's the unfortunate-looking chap in the top picture, by the way?

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    1. Thanks Toby! They're classic that are nice to get back to the table.

      The unwitting victim is from my chaos cult, converted from a Gothic Horror peasant: http://magpieandoldlead.blogspot.com/2018/12/its-long-shot-cultists-get-snipers-too.html

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  4. Very Alien/s “facehuggers”, I approve. I think the bright colour scheme is representing their attack mode when their natural skin camo suddenly turns off as they leap upon their unsuspecting prey.

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    1. Thanks Dai, I can buy into that skin colouration description!

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  5. The way that you got these nasty little scamps to hang above the guy's head in the photo is hilarious. Truly a gem of an atmospheric shot, and worth the paint jobs all on its own!

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    1. It was fun doing the staging for that pic, including sticking on upside down using blue tack!

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  6. So cool!
    Always wanted to paint some for my scavvies but never got any of these on painting desk. Maybe inother life 😉

    Love these atmospheric pic you take - want moooar!

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    1. I don't think you're alone in having wanted to paint these for ages - it's my first time too, and I always meant to get a beastmaster wyrd!

      I'll keep trying to take those scenic pics :)

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  7. Eeeek! Scary! Flying facehuggers is kind of worst nightmare ever! Pretty cool paintjob!

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    1. Thanks Suber! They're horrid beasties!

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  8. Yay, good job on these. They are not cheap to come by...

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    1. Thanks Skully! I'd dearly love another set of 6 really. They're almost impossible to track down these days though.

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  9. Excellent work on those mind-rippers ... they look, well, excellent. Super job!

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