40k Genestealer Cult - Brotherhood of the Argent Spiral Complete!

Managed to sneak by the GW shop after work this afternoon and got a couple army pics taken!

When I think 'horde army' I generally think of the Orks, but Emperor save me if the Genestealer cult doesn't do horde as well! Since the models are generally painted and placed into battlefoam trays and shelved in the Closet of Doom I honestly had no conception of how many there actually were in the end, models just kept coming out of the trays and spreading out across the table!

Overall, I have to say that despite the fact that there was a year-long hiatus between when the army began and ended, it was definitely a blast to both build and paint! I've been doing a lot of monotone and subdued marines of late, so the brightly contrasting colors were quite refreshing! I'm really happy with the skintones in particular, with the purestrains being very purple, and lightening up to near-human tones throughout the generations.

Couple more semi-closeups, which mostly go to highlight that I'm not a particularly steady-handed photographer. While they are a riot of colors I think that they hang together well - hard to go wrong with blue and yellow as strong contrasting colors, and the little splashes of red and the white armor pop as well.

Of course you gotta have a little spreadsheet porn - It's deeply satisfying to turn the last boxes green! The force underwent a lot of changes from the beginning of the project to the end - notably an entire edition change, so there was a shuffle to make it 8th-compatible. In the end it worked out as a fairly full Battalion detachment, and a Vanguard detachment mostly consisting of purestrain 'stealers, and a Leman Russ, because why wouldn't you? On the up side the army has already been earmarked for sale, which means there's some incoming funds for future projects!

Now to ponder what to put in front of the painting servitor next. With Necromunda right around the corner I don't necessarily want to commit to anything major. Just something bite-sized to pass the time until release weekend and getting my mitts on the new plastics! Hmmm...

40k Genestealer Cult - Leman Russ Exterminator painted!

Got a fair bit of painting time in today and finished off the Leman Russ Exterminator! Carried the colors through from the Acolytes with the blue, white and yellow, and it turned out pretty well I think...

 

Added in some stripes on the dozer blade to match those on the Rockgrinders, and laid in some further vehicle identifier stripes on the front of the side armour. Went with the bright blue-white halogen lamps to match the Rockgrinders as well (again, my usual yellow headlamps would get lost in all the other yellow bits).

 

The turret weapons are magnetized so it can also be run as a Vanquisher should some more anti-tank firepower be needed. Tried out the dirty white recipe used on the Acolyte's armor on the tank crew's fatigues to help tie them together. After that it got some sponge weathering on various edges to dirty it up and it's good to go!

May bounce back over to the Imperial Fists next and reward myself for all this painting with some build time!

40k Genestealer Cult - Leman Russ Exterminator painting begins!

We've been having some sub-zero temperatures over the last few days so no sealant possibility for the recent terminators. So, bouncing back over to the Cult for a bit! Rather than doing yet another batch of infantry (oof) I figured it was time to have a little fun and make a start on one of the tanks for the force...

 

The intent is to have the brood brothers to be a PDF force, using older variants of the military vehicles. As a callback to the color of the carapaces on the Purestrains, I'm going with blue tanks (the guardsmen will have fatigues in the white similar to the armour of the hybrids and blue armour) which may be a bit of an unusual choice when seen on its own but hopefully it'll look cool laid out with the army as a whole. We'll see!

40k Genestealer Cult - The First Curse painting begins, and a Cult Leman Russ built!

Trundled out the painting servitor, filled the pigmentation application dispensers with the appropriate colors and set it to work on the Cult - built up quite the tidal wave of grey plastic, it's time to get cracking! I plan to work my way through the army painting process one detachment at a time, starting with the primogenitor of the Cult and the First Curse detachment.

Going with a muted version of the 'classic' genestealer blue and purple paint scheme, and so far the purple is more or less complete and the very first of the blues have been blocked in. I'm planning on adding some tattooed/painted spirals to them in white so wanted to keep their basic colors dark for a good contrast.

Added a bit more highlighting on the blue on the Patriarch to see how it looks, brightens it up a little bit but not overpoweringly so - pretty happy with the recipe so far!

 

In other news, a little package arrived on my doorstep yesterday containing some excellent conversion bits I'd ordered up from the always-awesome Blood and Skulls Industries. The package included the alternate turret, armor plating and plow to convert up a Leman Russ variant for the Cult. Still immediately identifiable as a Leman Russ but different enough to mark it out as a local PDF variant. I've always wanted to do a "more dakka" Exterminator, with three heavy bolters in the hull, a pair of autocannons in the turret and a heavy stubber just for that little extra overkill against horde armies.

 

Of course, when facing off against more heavily armored targets the cult needs a more robust weapon, so the turret weapon is magnetized to swap in a Vanquisher cannon instead! Rather dig the V-plow dozer blade as well, I think it ties in nicely with the similarly-angled plows on the Rockgrinders.

Heresy Era Imperial Army - Prospero Spireguard Khalophis Victrix-2 Tanks Painting Continues

Got a little more brush time in this weekend than is usual, and managed to get the trio of tanks up to the "off the assembly line" stage, prior to the addition of waterslide transfers and weathering. Despite the fact that three days ago we got 19" of snow, this afternoon it was almost 60F and I was able to get the initial sealant pass on 'em. Gotta love springtime in the Rockies!

As has been pointed out, technically speaking the "Ragnarok" tank is a post-heresy designation, from the War World of Krieg during the 500-year war from 433-949.M40. That said, it's also a long standing trope that technology in the 41st Millennium is more often rediscovered from ancient archives rather than newly designed, so it's not a great stretch to assume that some STC Construct tank matching the silhouette of the modern Ragnarok existed during the Heresy. Since the Ragnarok is obviously just a 40k-ed up Soviet KV-2 from the 1940's, I figured I'd give them a nod and call these "Khalophis Vixtrix-2" tanks to give 'em a little Thousand Sons-y feel as well.

Heresy Era Imperial Army - Prospero Spireguard KV-2 Ragnarok Tanks painting begins

I'd alluded to the Gothic KV-2 tanks that I'd ordered from MaxMini back in November, and sadly I ended up having all sorts of issues with getting all the track sections needed to build them. Originally intended for use with the Geno Five-Two project, the final pieces arrived well after I'd already finished and sold the army. So, rather than just bin 'em, they'll find use as part of the Prospero Spireguard instead!

Haven't gotten any farther than just getting the basecoat for the red down but I think they'll make a nice addition to the force! I'll be using them as counts-as Leman Russ tanks, they're roughly the same overall footprint size.

  

In other news, a Box o' Joy arrived from Forge World earlier in the week and I got a chance to see their new packaging firsthand. Previously the kits were just ziplock-bagged and thrown in a shipping box which sometimes led to bending, breakage, and occasionally the wrong items being shipped entirely - though FW was always super helpful getting the correct pieces out when there was a problem, it was still a problem. They're starting to individually box up the kits, and the trio of Deimos Rhinos that I'd ordered each came individually packed, with the resin pieces inside further bubblewrap padding, and an 'inspected by' note. Everything in the box was in perfect condition and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed by the updated care they're taking in shipping the product. It's definitely long past due...

Imperial Guard - Macharius Omega painting in progress

It's been a crazy week full of catching up on work after vacation, and getting ready for a gig this past Saturday so I've had no hobby time whatsoever. However, today was quiet enough to get some brush time in!

  

Got the basic colors on the Macharius Omega, with the standard black, red and yellow. I also tried to do a 'plasma pulse' effect on the coils which I think worked out fairly well. Still a ways to go with the crewmen, and the fine detail yet to be done.

 

Snapped a quick comparison shot with the Leman Russ Executioner, and I'm pretty pleased how they tie together so far!

Imperial Guard - Leman Russ Executioner Painted

Got a lot of hobby stuff done over this past weekend, with the the build-out of a whole mess of Dark Angels goodies making up the Lion's share (hah!) of the effort. However, before I jump onto the DA bandwagon with both feet, I wanted to finish up and get a few pics taken of the Leman Russ Executioner that has been sitting on the painting desk in a half painted state for far too long!

In order to distinguish this tank from the Leman Russ Vanquisher squadron, I reversed the red and black on the sides of the tank and the turret. This brightens up the tank overall, and coupled with the yellow spot colors on the weapon housings, it's almost festive! ...In a unstoppable, plasma-spewing juggernaut sort of way. I tried my hand at doing a sort of "plasma pulse" look on the executioner cannon with mixed success. I'm not totally sold on it, but I'm unsure how to better convey the look.

I added a bit of decoration in the form of unit numbering and waterside transfers, and have just about got all the tanks done up to the point where I can begin the weathering process - I've been waiting to get them all done before I do that, in order to keep the weathering looking 'uniform' across all of the vehicles. They definitely need a little something extra, while the black and red is fairly striking, getting some dirt, grime and paint scraped back to bare metal should help to give them all a little more personality.

In other news, the army I'm scheming on for Adepticon was built over the weekend, expect to see a mess of Dark Angel posts over the next month or two. Get on that bandwagon and ride! Woo!

Imperial Guard - Vanquisher Squadron Command Tank

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Hope that 2012 was a good one, and 2013 will be just as good, if not better!

I've been doing a mess of painting recently and felt it was time to reward myself with some build time. Still on the guard kick, it was only natural that I add another tank to the collection, which could only mean one thing - another Vanquisher, hands down my favorite Leman Russ variant. The intent is to have a trio eventually, and with one built and painted so far it was time to make the command tank for the squadron.

Naturally that calls for a model to represent Knight Commander Pask. BS4 with the Crack Shot rule on my beloved Vanquisher cannon? Yes please!

My version of Pask was built from a mix of bits from the Leman Russ tank commander, and the Cadian command squad sprues. I'm a big fan of banners and flags, so why not have him waving an unfeasibly large flag from the command cupola? If anything, there will be no confusion about which tank is Pask's!

I spent a little bit of time magnetizing the side sponsons so I can run the tank with or without them (points permitting). Fairly simple, a bit of sprue cut to fit with a hole drilled to accept the magnet, and a matching magnet on the inside of the track housing. Of course, my first try had the sprues flush with the inside of the sponsons, which meant it interfered with the detail and gribblies on the sides of the tank. I ended up having to knock the sprues loose and push them back into the sponsons slightly so they would sit flush with the tank. Lesson learned: Measure twice, cut once, screw it up anyway and have to re-do it. :)

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year! My plan is to have a nice glass of scotch and be asleep by about 9:00pm. I'm an animal, I know. Hah!

Imperial Guard - Leman Russ Vanquisher painted

Continuing the work on the Mordian 7th Regiment this week with one of my favorite tanks available to the Imperial Guard, the Leman Russ Vanquisher. This was another model that I'd half-finished a while ago but ended up sitting on a shelf while I worked on other projects, so it was a simple matter to polish it off!

Continuing with the black with red accents scheme, I was pretty pleased with the look of the turret. The yellow and green on the lascannon and the black and yellow hazard stripes give the tank a bit of spot color, as it's otherwise rather dark.

I added some purity seals, some minor stowage and some scrolls to the tank to give it a little flair, and painted in the jagged knife emblem along with a blood drop. Now that it's sealed I'm thinking I'm going to add one of the "Mordian" transfers from the imperial vehicles sheet to the armor plate on one side of the turret, and paint a scroll onto the other for the tank name (not sure what the name will be as yet). Not much left to paint for the guard now!

In other news, a bunch of my current eBay auctions are ending this evening...