40k Genestealer Cult - Demolition Claw Acolytes and Aberrants complete(ish)!

Working on the Rockgrinders gave me a little breather from the Infantry, but figured I'd take advantage of the warm afternoon after work to finish them off and get them sealed!

Rather pleased with how they've turned out, though I think I need to go back in and do all the pipes on the bases in a far brighter yellow and add hazard stripes. As they stand they're a bit too samey with the scabrous yellow on the trousers. What worked well on the Purestrain bases works slightly less so here...

The Aberrants got the same treatment, and need the same follow-on base treatment, but still I'm quite happy with 'em and am looking forward to getting the force painted enough to warrant a game with 'em!

Spent a little time going over the Rockgrinders and re-blacking in all of the bits intended to be metallic or rubber. Doing so is a bit tedious, but does help the models snap into focus! Really digging how they're coming along, and has me giving more and more thought towards using the plastic Mk.III marines from the recently-released Battle for Prospero box set to make some Imperial Fists to accompany the Custodes and Sisters of Silence. After the fun with this yellow I think it's a foregone conclusion that's what's going to happen!

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40k Genestealer Cult - Demolition Claw Rockgrinders painting begins!

Tonka tough! I knew from the outset that I wanted to paint up the rockgrinders in the ubiquitous construction vehicle yellow suitable to their industrial/miner background. So that meant busting out the tank brushes and going to town with the yellow! I kept these models in a fair few pieces to facilitate painting, I'm going to focus on the vehicles themselves for now, then attack the crew separately.

My current yellow recipe starts off with a basecoat of Vallejo Scrofulous Brown which is a similar shade to Tausept Ochre - a nice yellow-brown that lays over black reasonably well. Still takes a couple coats but I left it a little patchy here and there to give them some depth as the further colors get laid in.

They were next given a heavy drybrush of Vallejo Golden Yellow, and then a light drybrush of GW Flash Gitz yellow - the bright overhead lights tend to wash that out a little in the pictures, however.

The last step of the evening was to give 'em all a nice wash with Seraphim Sepia which blends the highlights in a bit and gives the color a bit more depth in the nooks and crannies. These will be left to dry overnight (they're still a bit wet in the picture), then I'll give them some spot pin-washes to accentuate a few areas, and perhaps another light drybrush with the Flash Gitz yellow to help the edges pop a bit more. Once that's done the next step is the tedious re-blacking of all the areas I slopped yellow on to in the drybrushing stages! In the end they're going to get some nice sponge weathering/chipping, and I have a feeling it's going to really look neat against the brighter yellow. So far so good!

40k Genestealer Cult - Demolition Claw Acolytes and Aberrants continue...

Quick hit today, got some decent brush time in over the last couple days and laid in the base colors on the cloth and armour on the first batch of Acolytes and the Aberrants - they're starting to come into focus!

I knew I wanted to do a slightly different scheme from the last go-around and settled on a yellow cloth and white armour. Went with some red spot colors on them as well to tie in with the reds on the Purestrains.

Pressed on with the Aberrants as well, this pic shows the oily metallic rather well. Got a few more colors to go on the models themselves, then it's just a matter of finishing off the bases. So far so good!

40k Genestealer Cult - Demolition Claw Acolyte Hybrids painting begins!

Pressing onward with the cult, and moving down through the generations! Now that the purestrains and patriarch are complete I figured I've jump on the 1st and 2nd generation hybrids. While I initially thought I'd just try and bang out all of them at once, I realized that would have been 38 which is way too many to batch paint even for my trusty painting servitor. Instead I decided to stick with the "One detachment at a time" method and pulled out just the 15 hybrids that comprise the infantry portion of the Demolition Claw. I absolutely adore the bomb-chuckers, and added a couple hand-flamers to each unit to dissuade any chargers. I really look forward to them rampaging around the battlefield wreathed in flames and explosions!

Much like the last go-around the skin tones will get lighter and more human as they work their way through the generations. The Acolytes are still fairly purple-y but far lighter than the skin on the purestrains - the miner-style Neophytes will be a step lighter than this, while the pdf brood brothers will be getting an almost human normal skin tone, with just a hint of the purple cast to them (at least that's the plan)!

While I was about it I figured I may as well knock out the four Aberrants as they're broadly of the same generation and get the same skin tones. I really dig these sculpts, they're just chock full of personality. Not sure how effective they'll prove to be on the tabletop with just the four of 'em, but at the very least they'll be a little speedbump!

In other news the Burning of Prospero boxes that I've ordered are scheduled for delivery today, so I'll be hard-pressed to not go haring off back into heresy mode soon...

40k Genestealer Cult - The First Curse complete!

Been a rather busy week but I have managed to sneak in a little brush time here and there and the First Curse rears its chitinous head!

There's actually a few more than 20 'stealers in the bunch, but figured I may as well paint 'em all up at once, for those times when I may want to run a couple smaller packs. Went with some yellow accents on the eyes and bases to help tie them in with the yellow to come on the hybrids, and went with the Space Hulk standard Blood Angels terminators, as the red gives a nice contrasting pop to the models. One detachment done!

In other news I sold off the Deathwatch almost immediately after the previous weekend's Armies on Parade event (must get those pics uploaded) and with the British Pound exchange being so favorable I couldn't help but place a good sized Forge World order to take advantage of both the exchange rate and the free shipping. For the most part the box of joy contained several (albeit non-photoworthy) special- and heavy weapon squad upgrade kits, a couple sheets of the lovely new Thousand Sons transfers, and or course I had to pad out the order with something big, right? A Knight Lancer it is! It'll be part of the Forge World Zhao-Arkkad force that will be accompanying the Thousand Sons once the Inferno book is released, but for now the bits got a good scrub & soak and are now drying on the counter. Looking forward to building it!

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.

40k Genestealer Cult - All about that base...

Sorry, sorry. Couldn't help it! Now that the majority of the army is assembled I started thinking about basing. I knew I wanted to do a mineworks sort of theme due to the aesthetic of the cult models, but wasn't able to find anything in resin that I really liked. So making my own it is - I wanted to go a little further than just the usual stones and rubble, and broke out the box of plasticard and tubing to see what I had on hand.

Found some small I-beams that I thought would make for suitable minecart track, and some thin rod that will likely be painted up as some sort of power conduit. Gives the bases a little more personality but doesn't overwhelm the models. So far so good!

 

Moved on to the Patriarch next, and am hoping to get the Purestrains based and get this whole batch primed later today when it warms up a bit - Itching to start painting 'em!