Creating a 3D Space Hulk board in Terrain Tinker

Back in 1989 Games Workshop released the first edition of its widely popular Space Hulk board game. Over 30 years and four editions, The story-driven boarding actions continue to entertain wargamers and board gamers alike. As great as it is, the game can be massively improved by replacing the cardboard corridors with fully 3D components. Now with Terrain Tinker’s latest Space Port Kickstarter, it’s easy to design and print yourself a fully 3D printable Spacehulk set.

Terrain Tinker

For those unfamiliar with it, Terrain Tinker lets you combine OpenLOCK tiles into larger models ready to export and print. The exclusive ‘Spaceship’ set from the current Kickstarter is perfect for recreating the hulk. Using 2×2 floor tiles for each square of the cardboard components, map out the various corridors.

From here, just get creative with the different combinations of 2×1 and 1×1 interior walls available in the set. The exterior walls are not necessary, but help to ramp up the Space Hulks cool factor. once satisfied, you can export the designs as combined sections for the 3D printer. Or, for those gaming digitally, export your creations as 3D assets for use in online board game simulators.

Painting the corridors

Once printed, with a little bit of drybrushing you can get the components painted quickly to a table-ready level. All the paints below, excluding Citadels Typhus Corrosion, can be found in the Army Painter range.

• Basecoat the entire model with Gun Metal spray, making sure to get underneath the interior walls overhangs.
• Once completely dry, heavily dry-brush the exterior with Army Painter ‘Spaceship Exterior’ and interior walls with Drake Tooth.
• Pick out some of the external panels with Vampire Red, don’t color in too many panels, and try to keep it random.

• pick out some of the exterior details, open internal panels, and switches with Gun Metal.
• speckle patches Typhus Corrosion technical paint with a relatively dry brush on the walls and floors. use an old brush for this step, as the small particles of grit in the paint will ruin a good brush.
• Wash the entire model with a 1:1 ratio of Vallejo black wash and water.

If you want to take it one step further, before speckling the Typhus Corrosion, lightly air-brush thin lines of Vallejo Air Charred Brown between the exterior panels and on the edges of the floor squares.

Ready to play Space Hulk!

With the models in play, the corridors and rooms look fantastic. You could even fill an entire board with corridors for boarding-action games of Warhammer 40K or Horus Heresy.

It’s never been easier to build and print cool parts and buildings for your home games. Upgrading your Space Hulk is but one of many options available in Terrain Tinker’s latest Kickstarter. These sets are the first Exclusive to the platform, so recommend getting in quick to get the best deal on them.