The Space Bastards

A 18mm scale 3rd/4th Edition Warhammer 40,000 Project Log

[thespacebastards]

Terminator Command Squad (Rubric Terminators): I

“In times of war, the most of them have a form ready practiced that they may take and in which they may don their armour. For some this is something quite humanoid, but for more it is something more like that of a wyrm; serpentlike and glove-fitted to better interface with their wargear.”

— Extract, =][= Officio Exploratorem Cipher

I think I’m done messing with my Terminator squad.

The base models are all “Void Ranger Bastion Suits” by Red Nebular. I really like the design of these, and the detail level of the sculpts is just right for the weird wonky scale that I’m working to.

Rules wise, these are a squad of Rubric Terminators with a Tzeentch Aspiring Champion, lead by a Tzeentch Chaos Lieutenant. The rank-and-file have combi-bolters and “power dusters”, that is, power weapon knuckle dusters. The Aspiring Champion has a power duster and Close Combat Weapon, and either Doombolt or Bolt of Change, as takes my fancy, which is represented by his chonky wrist-mounted plasma gun. The Lieutenant has lightning claws and the same counts-as Doombolt/Bolt of Change situation, this time represented by the cannon, which is also his face.

Scale wise, I’m printing them at 70% of the native scaling Red Nebular published the files at.

▲ I tinkered with the base files a bit. To fit in better with the ‘lore’ of my ‘army’, I added helmets to the figure variants that were originally bare headed. Rather than trying to scrape the original helmet together from other files, I went for a beakie helm to continue the RT look. The helmet is the “Firstborn Heads - MkVIb Helmet” by Red-Warden-Miniatures.

I added a sword in its scabbard (which is “Indomitus Power Sword”, again by Red-Warden-Miniatures) to the Sargent figure (▲ above), and for the Captain (▼ below), I wedged in the gun from one of bLUARt's “Mechanical Hive Gun Drone”s∗ for an overall “anteater-ready-for-a-fight” look (▼▼ further below).

▲ above image, to illustrate what anteaters be like when they do that, courtesy of Animal Facts Encyclopedia's page, Anteater Facts.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm), Bastion Suit (28mm)

Screenshots rather than renders as, as ever, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm still going to try and get something painted this week. Will post again soon with proof.

—   N. B.

∗: …which I purchased intending to use them in this project, but they turned out to be far too slender to scale down. Even printed at their intended scale, the ankles are very thin indeed.

[thespacebastards]

The Malforms (Thrall Wizards): II

Just a touch more progress on the Malforms.

▲ The thin barrel on the “Walking Gun” with the .50 Cal turned out to just be too flimsy when scaled down, so I booled it off and subbed in a retro plasma pistol from Toftylicious’ “Super Soldier Hand Weapons”. I’ve also scaled up the running pose a bit to make it more robust.

▲ I also found an adorable little guy who looked he’d fit in with the other Malforms: "Blobimus Maximus my beloved" by Rubeebee.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm), and the Malforms.

Screenshots rather than renders as, as ever, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm going to try and get something painted this week. Will post again soon with proof.

[thespacebastards]

The Malforms (Thrall Wizards): I

“The ‘emergence’ is a process of iteration. Always it is some years following their becoming one with the sphere that they will make their first attempts, the learning of it coming from within, where it is understood their minds are as one. These early bodies are failures, little more than inanimate masses or short-lived gasping things. Over and again, their light is returned to the sphere to emerge in another form.”

— Extract, =][= Officio Exploratorem Cipher

I've got quite a collection of figures together to be my Thrall Wizards. The idea with all of them is that they are members of the obliterator virus cult who are still in the process of learning how to make bodies for themselves, and are yet to really get the hang of it. I've got 9 figures that I'm very happy with as a visually cohesive group, but I'll add to them if I stumble upon any others.

▲ (Top to bottom) “Fresno Nightcrawler”s, "Flurry", and "Ao Oni" all by Schlossbauer. Images from their Cults pages.

▲ “Walking Weapons” by Dust Punk Miniatures. Image from their MyMiniFactory page.

▲ "Nobur (Demonic Entity)" by RN Estudio.  Image from their MyMiniFactory page.

I've rescaled all the figures considerably to get them looking right alongside each other, and everything else. I've also done a little bit of "remixing" to some of the files.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm). Edits wise: The “Fresno Nightcrawler”s (by Schlossbauer) were perfect as they were, and all I did was resize them.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm). Edits wise: All I've done so far to the “Walking Weapons” (by Dust Punk Miniatures) is add little eyes to make them look a little more like the Fresno Nightcrawlers. I'm going to try having them printed at the size above, but it might be that those barrels are too slender. I really like the idea that all of these have tried to make bodies for themselves with guns built in - but obviously, it's not gone to plan.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm). Edits wise: I've wedged a lasgun barrel in the eye of "Nobur (Demonic Entity)" (by RN Estudio) - I really liked the idea that he's gone wrong trying to give himself laser-eyes. I added eyeballs to "Flurry" (by Schlossbauer) because the eyes paint up well, and "Ao Oni" (also by Schlossbauer) has just been resized.

I'm really looking forward to getting physical prints made, and putting some paint on these.

Screenshots rather than renders as, as ever, I have no idea what I'm doing.

[thespacebastards]

Brother Jones, Obliterator Cult: I

"And, there is Brother Jones. He is claimed to be he the of same name, formerly the Master Techmarine of the Space Bastards. He is of the inner cadre of the cult, the first of them in the study of their heresy, the ritual act they call “the Obliteration”, and is tasked with furthering their mastery of it. In war, he takes a form terrible in size, and possessing within himself forges and a great quantity of that cuprous ichor that is central to their worship, such that he may provide for the material needs of his fellows when away from The Sphere, and make repairs upon their bodies."

— Extract, =][= Officio Exploratorem Cipher

I’ve been tinkering with this digital kit bash (“remix”) for about a year now, but I think I’m finally happy with it.

The majority of the figure is a 3d model of a Mondoshawan (from The Fifth Element) put out by MAG-NET over on Cults.

The mask-face is from one of Anvil Industries' Daughters of the Burning Rose kits, which I stretched out of shape to make it a little creepier.

The neck is from a bLUARt “Mechanical Hive Gun Drone”∗.

I also tinkered with the right arm to add the plasma weapon nozzle, which was taken from one of Red Nebular’s Space Orcs.

The pump strainer (thanks again to “C.” for modelling it for me) on the front of the belly is the same one that is on the end of Tallus’ stoma-pipe, and a few other models that I’m doing for this project.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm), Brother Jones (32mm foot-to-eye, 43mm between perpendiculars)

Screenshots rather than renders as, as ever, I have no idea what I'm doing.

—   N. B.

∗: …which are really nice models that I would have really liked to use as Brother Jones’ gun-servitor-dogs, but they turned out to be too slender to scale down. Even printed at their intended scale, the ankles are very thin indeed.

[thespacebastards]

Chaos Androids, Pack Dæmons: I

“Deep below the surface of their world they keep great Squat forges. Within them they cast lightless bodies from the living metal, and offer them to those of their order who are still to emerge from the sphere in a form of their own.”

— Extract, =][= Officio Exploratorem Cipher

I knew pretty early on in this project that I wanted to do something with monopose models. I'm generally quite fussy about not duplicating figure poses∗, but I have no small amount of nostalgia for the early, square-set plastic figures that were everywhere when I first got into wargaming as a lad—it seemed all anyone had was that one particular monopose Space Marine! 

What I really wanted to do was find a way to have a distinct unit or two of monopose figures which could stand alongside the rest of the 'army' without looking out of place either visually or logically. 

From the very start I’ve been playing very fast-and-loose with ‘reinterpreting’ the units in the Codex to bring them into line with the theme of my force. At one point or another I’ve certainly looked at every entry in the army list and thought about what else it could represent. During one such spell of daydreaming I found myself pondering on what else the statline for the Horrors of Tzeentch could represent. Human strength and toughness, but an extra would…something human size, but inhumanly durable…how about ye olde Space Crusade Chaos Androids?

The little back corner of my brain that’d been on lookout for my monopose opportunity suddenly lit up. Aesthetically and logically, robots are allowed to all stand in the same pose. It just made sense. And, for it to be a homage to the old Space Crusade Androids just added a sort of nostalgia icing to the metanoia cake.

I had quite a look around for some suitable models before settling on "Chaos Android Unit 03" by Gudaaccesorios, which is a pretty well a 1:1 recreation of the Space Crusade figure. Gudaaccesorios has actually done three poses of this figure - this 'at the ready' pose, the original Space Crusade pose, and a third one in a jokey meme pose, shooting two guns into the sky. I chose this pose over the original Space Crusade one because I've always thought that original pose was just a little too goofy - it really looks like a skeleton doing some kind of pirate jig†.

The army list entry for Horror Dæmon Packs gives options for two varients of the Dæmon: the smaller of the two, “Horror of Tzeentch”, and the larger “Flamer of Tzeentch”. Both have identical statlines, but different ranged attacks, the Horror having “Dæmonic Fire”, and the Flamer “Doombolt”.

Comparing a few 3rd/4th edition weapon profiles, I hit on the idea that Doombolt's R:18", S:5, AP:4, Assault 3 put it somewhere right between the 3rd edition Necron's Gauss flayer and Gauss blaster, which, to my mind, meant it would be perfectly represented by the by a slightly cut-down, shotgun-style Gauss weapon, much like that of the original metal Necron warriors.

▲ ▼ Gauss Flaster? Blayer?

I thought for a while that I could just use the original Space Crusade Lasgun to represent Dæmonic Fire, but it didn’t feel right. The weapons stats, R:12". S:4, AP:6, Assault 2, are really those of a powerful shotgun—a super shotgun, one might say. So that was what I went for; the classic Doom 2 double barrel, but with a Moe Szyslak-style pump to make it easier to model into the original models’ hands.

▲ ▼ Super Shotgun

In both cases, I just took the original model and added the weapon on top. These were some of the first actual things I’d made for myself using 3D software, and I’m really happy with how they came out.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm), Chaos Androids (20mm)

Screenshots rather than renders as, as ever, I have no idea what I'm doing.

— N. B.

∗: so much so that the sister project to this is a very large 15mm scale orc horde, for which I've gone to frankly silly lengths to avoid there being any duplicate figures at all...but that's another matter for another time.

†: That, and my friend, "P.", has long had a large unit of Perry Miniatures British Sailors in the same "at the ready" pose that I always thought just looked really neat, and which I have always wanted an opportunity to emulate.

[thespacebastards]

Tactical Marines: I

I painted this guy almost a year ago now to test out my colour scheme. I was very happy with how he came out, but promptly lost all steam for this project due to real life things getting in the way. I think I can remember how I painted him, but will do a second test figure first to make sure I've got it down.

The model is a "Void Trooper" (Edit: they're "Void Rangers", not "Void Troopers"!) by Red Nebular, printed at 65% of it's native scale, so is about 24mm tall from the bottom of the foot to the top of the head.

Printing was by my friend "L." Thanks, as ever, "L."!

[thespacebastards]

Chaos Spawns: I

TLDR: I spent two years looking for the perfect Chaos Spawn model, and all I've got to show for it is the perfect Chaos Spawns.

The core of my Space Bastards force is a Chaos Spawn factory - a five marine, three wizard thrall unit of Chosen in a Land Raider charging out on turn two or three and casting Gift of Chaos eight times in a single shooting phase before they charge. It's an old tactic, and rarely does it work as planned, but when it does, it is a lot of fun. The idea is to try and end the game with more models than one starts with by turning the opponents models into Chaos Spawns.

So, if it does go to plan, I'm going to need a lot of Spawns. I wanted to keep away from the usual "wiggly, deformed mound of chaos flesh" type of Spawn, and do something more in keeping with ny backstory fluff for The Space Bastards - an obliterator cult unknowingly worshiping a dæmon in the form of a living Greek statue, and attempting to emulate his form with their goopy metamorphic obliterator sludge bodies. 

Another strand of my lore for the Space Bastards is the idea of placing the minds/souls/"divine lights" of members of their order into artificial bodies. With this idea, I'm using the old Space Crusade Chaos Android models for my units of Terrors and Flamer Dæmons, using the same lore of "spirits in robotic bodies". Given the way that Dæmons are summoned onto the battlefield, melding that with my fluff for the Chapter, I like the idea that there is something about the mortal soul that allows the cultists to latch on to it with a with their unformed metamorphic goo, and build a body there, around it - with or without the soul's consent. 

So, I've been looking around for about a year for something that fits the bill, model wise, of all that for my Spawns. Something in the same family as the old Space Crusade Chaos Androids - so, something skeletal, and and preferably a bit goofy - but also in keeping with the general chunky look of 2nd/3rd edition 40k. Oh, and, of course, it has to be something that'll work in the rather silly "bigger than 15mm but not as big as 28mm" scale that I'm working to. And, I'll need 10-15 of them, without any duplicate poses, because I'm not about that. Not a tall order at all, and it only took about two years to find something that I was happy with — and that was BigMrTong's digital rendition of Hector from the movie Saturn 3∗. 

Frankly, I think the model is just perfect for what I'm going for. It has the skeletal elements, while still being plenty distinct from the Chaos Androids, with it's goofy robo-arms and cantilever eye stalk. They're armed correctly for the role with just big robot hands, and, like just about everything MrBigTong puts out, they fit right in with the 2nd/3rd edition 40k  style. They're from a movie, but the movie is suitably obscure that I'm happy that they can 'be' Chaos Spawns without anyone being distracted as to their identity by their original movie character.

And, for bonus points, I love the weird tubes. If you've seen the movie, you'll remember the many tubes of weird fluid all around the robot's body. I like the idea of painting them up in bloody or fleshy colours with the idea that the tubes are the remnants of the Spawnhoast's body, twisted, contorted and reshaped into a spiritual scaffold for the a new body of solidifying metamorphic flesh to take form around it.

Oh, and there are plenty of poses available. Should be able to get 12 poses without any looking too similar. Size wise, they look right to my eye printed at their native scaling, which puts them about 38mm tall from the bottom of the foot to the top of the tallest one's eyestalk hinge.

I'm really quite excited to physically get these models in hand and put some paint on them. I'm not sure when that'll be, but I'm hoping my long suffering friend with a 3D printer will be able to fit something in before the year is out.

▲ ▼ Both images taken from BigMrTong's Facebook page.

— N. B.

∗: If you've not seen Saturn 3, it is a movie that is really quite bad, but in such a unique sort of way. It's well worth a watch. The set and robot design are really fantastic - the writing a acting, less so. I'd highly recommend the website: Something is wrong on Saturn 3 — a "Comprehensive Look At What Went Wrong With Saturn 3" — for more about why the movie is the way it is.

[thespacebastards]

Tallus, Greater Dæmon: I

"The first amongst them is the one they call Τάλως, or Tallus. He lies at the centre of their cult. I do not know who he was before his fall, nor if he were any from among their order. He may have been of the Chapter, or an outsider. Or, he may himself be a Dæmon."

— Extract, =][= Officio Exploratorem Cipher

I've not got much to show in terms of physical models, but I've been doing an awful lot of fiddling with digital ones, and thought I'd share.

This is to be the Greater Dæmon for my force. The general idea for the Space Bastards as a whole is that they are a obliterator cult who've worked out how to transmute themselves into a brassy "grey goo".

This is their charismatic cult leader. I spent a long time thinking about this model - I wanted something that was both handsome while still being thoroughly dæmonic. I think the classical Greek "aesthetic" juxtaposed with the stoma and wibbly hand do that nicely. I imagine this guy as a shapeshifter, and like the idea that he turns his limbs and body into weapons, à la the bad guy mechs in the old The Vision of Escaflowne anime.

The base model is "The Immaculate Cain" by Bestiarum Miniatures. I've left the wings off, replaced the spear and left hand with the wiggly fingers from HEROICSCALE's "Fiddler Crab", and a model pump head strainer (for hoovering brassy goo off the ground) added to the end of the stoma hose. Thanks to "C." for modelling the strainer for me.

Screenshots rather than renders because I have no idea what I'm doing.

I think I'm set on using the model as is, but wanted to get some feedback from people before I committed to having him printed. I've had about a 50/50 response from people so far. Half think it is "deeply unsettling" (the desired effect), the other half that it is "very silly" (what we're looking to avoid). Would love for others to weigh in on the debate.

▲ Size Comparison: (Left to right) Imperial Guardsman (18mm), Space Marine (24mm), Tallus (80mm)

— N. B.

▼ Entirely for the platform's benefit, proof that he is like an Action Man down there. Nothing profane to see here, only Dæmons.

[thespacebastards]

=][= Memo Summary Notes: The Space Bastards

"Adeptus Astartes chapter, unrecorded founding, suspected Iron Hands successor, Monastery Fortress on Iraklion II, Iraklion system. No contact with Chapter or Iraklion system since ~400.M37, extensive conspiracy, Imperial records of chapter and system altered over extended period, ends undetermined, assumed: to remove system from Imperial sphere. Manipulation’s magnitude and extent indicate use of Xenos or infernal devices in orchestration, possible rogue inquisitorial involvement. Iraklion system, (pop. 2.3x109, 313.M37 census), formerly Chalcopyrite mine/refine operation, Inner system worlds Cupric in structure, magnetohazard but habitable, no strategic value. Record manipulation discovered during Administratum deep audit of bulk ore transport registrations. Expeditionary fleet dispatched to Iraklion system 729.M41, arriving 742.M41, system found uninhabited, found orderly multi-generational vacation of all worlds, planet Iraklion II missing, orbital perturbations to remaining worlds indicate left orbit of Iraklion Solar mid-M39, leaving system at sub-light and leaving realspace at stellar boundary, means unknown, current whereabouts of Iraklion II unknown. Possible contacts with The Space Bastards post-M37, sources unreliable, further investigation active, result pending, Chapter assumed renegade, likely heretic, excommunicated 744.M41, chapter and Iraklion system stricken from Imperial record for discretion. Connection to, possible nexus of, Obliterator cult "The Brazen Path". Xeno-Necron element? Further investigations active, result pending. Inquisition and ordo xenos continuing to monitor and collate."

— =][= Memo Summary Notes: The Space Bastards

[thespacebastards]

The story so far...

The Space Bastards is my 18mm scale Chaos Space Marine Chapter. This webpage is a log where I will share photographs and thoughts about the project.

A friend and I entered into the whole ‘weird scale 40k’ thing to ease us back into wargaming after both taking a long time out due to ill health and real life. It’s a game that we both know like the back of our hands, and we’d do it in 18mm scale for ease of modelling, transport and storage. The idea was that it’d be an ‘casual, casual easy thing’—with my force literally being ‘Billy Bob and the Space Bastards’ and theirs the ‘Poncy Space Elfs’—where we wouldn’t get all perfectionist and could just model and paint for the fun of it again, like back in the good old days.

I started posting about it on the Lead Adventure forum in 2024, although I honestly did not have much to show for my efforts posted there. When Imgur had it’s spat with the British government and nuked all of my image links, I looked for an alternative place to share my images and whatnot. I tried to start a blog via Google’s blogger, but something about what I was doing (I’ve no idea what!) was causing Google’s algorithm to repeatedly misidentify my blog as a bot account, and disable and delete it – so I’ve given up on that. Someone far more hip and happening than me suggested that I give Tumblr a try. It does seem that Tumblr has all the features I need – really just text and stable, free image hosting. Honestly, before this-morning I’d never been on Tumblr, initially tried to spell it with an ‘e’ (like a glass tumbler), and it was just a place where people ran fan clubs for dirty stories about Harry Potter.

Anyway, Space Bastards—My enthusiasm for the project picked up again in late 2025; or rather, my health got back to the point where I could actually start sitting down and modelling and painting again around then.

I’d actually been twiddling away with the project the whole time, just without much to physically show for it. What I had done is daydreamed about The Space Bastards an awful lot, and chatted on a weekly basis to my pal about them. I’d come up with a whole background story for them, and I’d spent more hours than I care to admit looking for just the right models to play them on the battlefield. Although I was not able to sit down and paint at all, I did learn enough about 3D modelling to be able to twiddle with some models. It has been quite the godsend to have something to idly fiddle about with in the back of my mind through what proved to be some pretty rocky months and years. I’m—'touch-wood’, and all that—at a point now where I’m hoping be able to do some actual modelling again. I’m still getting tired pretty easily, and having to take a lot of ‘rest days’, but even on those I’ve got the acuity to something, so I thought I’d try to write down some of my daydream background fluff on the very off chance anyone should care to read it, and I suppose, more than that, to have something concrete to show for this whole business.

So, that's where we're at.