'nids part 283 - Genestealer cult - Familiars TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer Genestealer Familiar. Not a great deal to say on these.

They're so little it's amazing they too so long. I got stuck on the debris on the bases though.

There's a subtle torso swap to get slightly different poses. I probably should have cut and reposed that arm in the air to get more variety.

Really straightforward to do.

And they look almost identical to the first two I painted. I think the variety in pose looks clearer in this order...

I also did their carapaces teal/turquoise. My Genestealers are all mixed up when it comes to colouration and it helps to differentiate units etc.

2019/20 Great Big Galactic Stamp of Approval for being a good boy! Better late than never.

'nids part 281 - Genestealer cult - Acolyte Iconward and Familiars

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my Acolyte Iconward inbetween a number of other projects.  If I had to use orange I then did the banner, when I did red on something else I did his robes. When I did the yellow on the Adeptus Titanicus guns I did his blasting charges and hazard suit pipes.

This way he progresses everso slightly and eventually it'll reach critical mass where I can finish him in a night or two. Some of the shading is a bit ropy in places, I think I didn't shake it enough...

I've done the same with the Familiars, they are almost finished. In fact the only real thing holding them back from completion are the random bits of debris on the bases. Again, an hour or two would box these off completely.

It's a little frustrating that they're so close to completion but I can't just get those last elements done. Perhaps if the Iconward is closer TO DONE I'll feel I can get the three of them over the line together.

Ultimately I'm going with the flow, so whatever frustrations these create I'm clearly redirecting my attention elsewhere and other things are getting done. It could well be that the high I feel from ticking these off will be better served when I'm not motivated elsewhere. Having a quick win in my pocket might just be the endorphin kick I need if I lose my mojo.

'nids part 275 - Genestealer cult - Aberrants - Ork Boyz conversion

Afternoon #warmongers I so want to tick off my Aberrants as built, OK technically I already did but deep down these 2 Ork Boyz to Aberrant conversions still needed to be finished off. I did them before the Rippers but as the second conversion stalled I thought to delay posting in the hopes I might eventually complete the second one. Unfortunately I didn't take any intermediate WiP pics on the first, which I had envisaged being a second Hypermorph but that's definitely not an improvised weapon and he has no tail.

I trimmed away most of the Ork body and the Aberrant shoulders went on like American Football padding. It got glued in place and then I filled it with greenstuff. I bizarrely wanted a 4th vestigial arm which I cut from a spare broken Termagant torso. It's kind of rubbish but I had to give it a go. I also added a tiny GSC glyph as a belt buckle, replacing the Orky one.

I also added a chitin plate to his shoulder, while using some Drop Pod bits for the base and part of some Sanctum Imperialis girders which will blend with the other resin bases and my actual Sanctum Imperialis model. Although Red Planet BASE! is my philosophy I try to adapt them a bit so there are some that are more 'rural', with all the slate and those that are urban - Genestealer Cult. Ferron Proxima is red all over but that doesn't prevent weird and wonderful debris from adding further interest to the bases.

The plan with the greenstuff was just to pad out the torso but I did some pretty ham-fisted sculpting and I think it'll do. I added a little spine crest on the lower back, hopefully the painting will blend it all together. I also added some chains, that had previously kept him locked up. A dot of super-glue gel to hold it in place and then liquid superglue to bond all the links together.

The GSC knife and belt pouch completed the look, it had been the one I cut the glyph off for the buckle and just hides the waist a bit - makes it less orky. It was the only one without grenades on too, as I don't think they carry them.

As kitbashes go I think it does the job, certainly won't stand out too badly once it's painted.

The second one had a leg removed above the boot and a spare Genestealer leg was added [again no pics] then I decided to sculpt a cult skirt... or hakama. This is the early stage just to give a base to build the folds on. The front isn't too bad.

But the back has still a long way to go. I need to prepare a base that he's stretching up onto with his right foot.

I had the headless body mounted on a base for months, but couldn't find the motivation to sculpt the remaining folds on his skirt. It started to annoy me so I decided to set aside some time in my lunch break at work to do it. I quick splodge of terracotta Milliput and I think I did a half decent job.

The folds aren't perfect but once painted I'm pretty sure it'll all blend in. I think the tattered nature helps sell this, in particular the little holes at the end of the fabric work really well - it helped to have a similarly dressed Abberrant as a reference to get the same look.

When I got home I stuck a genestealer icon from the upgrade sprue on the central hexagon thing on his back. But it looked odd, so I cracked open my Empire Flagellants box set bought solely to make some fanatical shotgun and flamer toting neophytes, that have never been used. I knew there was a banner [or 4] in there and this one was ideal.

All it needed was a slight twist with pliers on the bracket and it fit perfectly on his shoulder webbing straps. Not sure I could argue he was a Hypermorph - still no tail or improvised weapon but he does stand out so might be able to proxy him in friendly games with my crew. Not that we ever play, but you know - options...

Anyway, Big Build TO DONE! Big Galactic Stamp of Approval, because why not! He's since been undercoated and if I can get the base and a couple of basecoats done he'll be back up to speed with the others.

'nids part 271 - Genestealer cult - Acolyte Iconward - Big Build TO DONE!

Full disclosure - this is technically a 2018/19 season Big Build TO DONE! However, aside from the Sanctum Imperialis showcase I really wanted to move onto the Season. The Big Teal Stamp of approval has challenging connotations that I'd rather move on from. Anyway the Acolyte Iconward has been built a long time but I only just added it to the base and used cork for the first time to represent shattered rockcrete [like all the big kids do!]. It also adds another few millimetres of height which is never a bad thing [except when you're packing the model away].

I'm hoping he'll be a Character choice in one of my Battle of the Brush challenges. September is the next one, which is too soon but it might be a nice way to close out December. I've actually got a couple of Genestealer Familiars built and based too that could go with him [although technically he doesn't get them]. Regardless my first Big Build Galactic Stamp of Approval. 

'nids part 268 - Genestealer cult - Aberrants - Big Build TO DONE!

I finally ordered some bases for the Aberrants. I didn't get the same ones as the rest of my GSC, something similar but some other urban rubble bases off ebay that were slightly more 'urbany' and slightly more 'rubbly'. I'm thinking they'll fit well with my Sanctum Imperialis ruins. The Hypermorph in particular looks very impressive on this raised bit of debris.

The Abominant's base is the same one I have Deathleaper on, I'd had a spare for a long time. I'll be doing the banner as a Free Radical Collective 'sacred colours'. He fit so perfectly on it I couldn't not use it.

I actually made the effort of pinning all these and super-gluing them, whereas all my other GSC models were just glued.

I still have the two Ork Boy/Aberrant conversions to finish, they're partially built, just need green-stuffing to complete them.

I've since undercoated these 8 so they'll be ready to paint their bases. I'll probably do that as a block, with the 5 Termagants, Warrior, Hive Guard and Redemptor Dreadnought. However, I don't want to to that just yet as I know as soon as I do they'll be tempting me further away from the Dark Shroud...

 Big Build - TO DONE!

I builds it, I gets the badge!

'nids part 264 - Genestealer cult - Aberrants - Avoidance tasking

Having concluded that my Sanctum Imperialis should be verdi-gris I promptly ttried to avoid the task. Sadly I didn't even avoid it with any of my other priority projects. I spent one night making the torso of my Redemptor Dreadnought [more later] and the Aberrant Hypermorph. The next, night fully intending to paint I only went and made up all 8 of my remaining Aberrants. It says something when building until 1am is a more appealing task than painting that building green! These two are from the new Aberrant kit, but I think the power hammer dude has a Deathwatch Overkill head - they're more gormless looking

I went with 3 power picks, because with 13 Aberrants in total I planned to kitbash another 2 and the spare hammers seemed an easier proposition to convert, although I may just be completely wrong on that viewpoint.

Having 4 Deathwatch Overkill models already I needed to do a couple of things to differentiate these. The first had its raised claw cut and tilted downwards. Then the second claw holding a skull was removed and a spare claw, possibly from a Space Hulk Genesteal was attached - it's slightly bigger than normal. He also got the 'elephant man' head from the new kit but it might have been a mistake as you can't radly see the side of the face covered in skin. The other figure got a new kit headswap.

The robed guys, first one had it's raised arm removed and thn effectively put back in the same position because I couldn't remember what it was like. I did put a little 'dewclaw' in the elbow joint though. I also swapped out the skull holding claw for the smaller Stealer clawed hand. Lastly the power pick was separated from the chest and pointed outwards. The power hammer dude got a new kit headswap, allowing it to look in a different direction.

I might need to add some chitinous armour plates and possibly some adrenal glands/toxin sacs to make them look different to their duo-pose bretheren below. I also need to decide on bases, do I get another set from bases4war.com or just  do my own? Obviously there's a financial implication and although the bases are effectively complete the washing, sanding to fit the feet, gluing and washing again to get rid of the dust is as much effort as PVA, grit and little bits of debris...

Here's my early attempt to kitbash 2 more Aberrants, although one could be another Hypermorph so would need an 'improvised weapon' of some sort meaning I'd actually need to kitbash a third. Anyway, I had some oAssault on Black Reach Orks lying around doing nothing so they're bulky enough to form a base. I cut the arms off and trimmed down the neck to fit the steel collar of the eventual head. I also have a spare Genestealer leg to replace a foot so it's more 'Tyraniddy'.

I realised this hammer came with an upper-torso, so I'm going to really trim back the top of the Ork so it replace it. I'll greenstuff some robes as well to try and cover the orky fashion up too.

Here's where I'm at with my Redemptor, I couldn't even leave this stock. I had a big Dark Angel chapter badge I was going to split but then I found this one that I'd already removed the sword from and it fit perfectly. I might also put the Dark Angel Relics on a rope on the exhaust manifolds on its back, as that also fits perfectly. I'm going to bling the shizzit out of this, loads of purity seals as I'm guessing he earned them already to be in this thing! ;)

And his hips.

Hopefully this procrastination was sufficient to get me back to the Sanctum, we shall see.

Genestealer Cult Graffiti

Back in January, before the Genestealer Cult release/'Day of Ascension'  you may recall the Warhammer Community Facebook post about the Genestealer Cult Graffiti.

Well it transpired that it was in Manchester [where I work] and I immediately recognised the area and visited it as my own pilgrimage to meet this 3-armed Emperor.

I took some pictures but promplty forgot to share them on the blog, though probably did on twitter. It was amazing to see Chris Howker's work first hand [even if it had been defaced and repaired the day before].

It was quite the experience, even if the weather was a bit grim.

But an amazing piece and still in-situ and pristine in Manchester's Northern Quarter on Thomas  Street.

Alongside the Kellermorph are some equally filthy furry Xenos, which I believe are Flerken.

And these skelebob creatures that might have been done by Jay Sharples Art.

Teh full mural.

And this heresy - burn it! 🔥🔥🔥🔥