Gaslands - The Faithful Sons

With the Gaslands project complete, it was time to take some shots of the whole gang. So, here there are, The Faithful Sons genestealer cult Gaslands gang in their entirely. Two heavy trucks, one performance car, one car, a buggy, two bikes, three acolytes on foot and five neophytes on foot.

The Zealot laying down some heavy fire.

I enjoy small contained projects like these, though I fell down the rabbit hole hard with this one. 20mm genecult near-future car gangs pressed several of my buttons. I could still go on and do a set of cult-inspired terrain for this. My terrain in general is sorely lacking! That might be a project for later in the year.

The Patriarch extorts his flock to greater efforts from the deck of The Ophanim.

I particularly enjoyed painting the bikes for this warband. I was stumped for what to use for bases, as I didn't fancy squares. Then I remembered I had a few clear bases left over from my Man O'War Khorne fleet, which worked out just fine. The infantry are on 20mm Renedra bases, with HobbyMad 20mm magnetic base bottoms for transport, and also because I like the nice clean black finish on the undersides. We all have our quirks eh?

Left to Right - The Joyful Word, Little Beast, The Ophanim, Jackal One and The Zealot.

With the gang complete, I'm hoping to get some games in once such things are possible. In the meantime I have built myself a list of 'must paint' minis I've had on my mind for years. I'm starting off with the Limited Edition Jes Goodwin fimir. After that I have some of the Skeleton War Machines set to do, some 28mm Genecult minis, (the kelermorph in particular), Genecult chaos coven minis and a certain beloved Tzeentch sorceror and Khorne warlord from my youthful warhammer exploits all in my sights.

One is excited.

Gaslands - Neophyte Hybrids

Today the last of installment of my Gaslands project, the neophytes. It's been a very enjoyable project, but the time has come to wrap it up for now. These five eager brethren are the final addition until the 20mm love hits me again. 

From Northstar, and sculpted by Mark Copplestone, these bald fellows make for perfect neophytes. They were a joy to paint, as most Copplestones are, being sufficiently detailed, but really easy to read. I gave them my standard genestealer cult colour scheme, and added to my small trio of acolytes, they make for a nice little group of foot sloggers.

So with these guys completed, I am more than ready for Gaslands fun, once I pick up a few gaming accessories that is. I'll be posting some shots of the complete gang soon, but for now I'll leave you with a photo of part of the gang limbering up for some missionary work. 

Some of The Faithful Sons doing a grocery run.

Gaslands - Acolyte Hybrids

Today we have a trio of acolyte hybrids on foot for my Gaslands genecult. Making these wee hybrids in 20mm was something I put way more effort into than I should have, but it was terribly enjoyable. The original minis were 'Dark Brethren' from CP Models. Here are the un-defiled minis:

So as you can see, they've been fairly brutalised. I mostly used greenstuff to make the ymgarl hybrid heads, with some claws from my bits box. For the other hybrid with the mancatcher, I used some Instant Mold to make a mould of parts of one of the old metal genestealer familiars, which gave me enough pieces to work with to make an early generation hybrid.

Here are the fellows in more detail.

Brother Hastun Medlock

Brother Davon Yogoth

Brother Jerec Yogoth

These three fellows are the first of eight cultists on foot. That should see me right for most predicaments the Faithful Sons might find themselves in.

Of course, I do see myself adding a covered truck to the group at some point, if only to echo the vehicles from the illustration in White Dwarf 115 above. A covered wagon with some purestrains visible in the back would be pretty cool.

Finally, the patriarch has some hybrid mooks to order about. 'Make sure it's a skimmed milk latte my child.'

So, with that, I start on my final push to finish the project, the neophytes on foot. I leave you with an image of just how wee these guys are! I've grown used to the scale, but boy, they are teeny.

Gaslands - Jackal Bikers

The Gaslands project careens towards completion. The last vehicular additions are these two wee bikers. Kol Venner and Sayben Desh riding Jackal bikes operate as outriders and scouts for the Faithful Sons.

Both of the bikers are 3D prints, graciously sent to me by a pal once I announced I was looking for genecult bikers in 20mm. I mounted them on bases I had left over from my Man O' War project.

Kol Venner on Jackal One.

This one has an obvious warboy vibe, but suits equally well as a neophyte biker. I painted on some residual brow ridges just to reinforce the genecult theme, as well as  a purplish tinge to his skin.

Sayben Desh on Jackal Two.

Kol here is much more obviously a miniature atalan jackal. Where he hails from, I know not, I was just delighted to my hands on him.

With these two outriders, the gang is technically complete. However, I'm going to add some cult members on foot should 20mm cult wargaming opportunities loom at some juncture.

Little Beast flanked by the jackal riders.

Gaslands - Little Beast

Today we have the last of my vehicles for my Gaslands gang, Little Beast. I wanted to add a buggy to the roster, partly as it's another vehicle type, partly as I like that sweet Northstar gunner and partly because I love this car. It's the only one I bought from a modern range specifically for the gang.

This was the only car I took apart to paint. I drilled out the post once I had consulted YouTube on the matter. Painting it in sections was much easier, and it went back together really easily. I added a driver too, who you totally can't see in these photos, but he's in there, all highlighted up, rarely to be seen by the eyes of humanity.

For parts, I used up more of my Northstar wasteland warriors drivers crew pack, leaving me only one lonely passenger mini. I used another 3D printed gun and some parts from the Implements of Carnage sprue. I have a handy tub of Adeptus Mechanicus parts that are unbelievably handy for odd parts, such as the gun mount and windscreen shield. Some bendy corrugated sheeting for amrour and that was that. 

I kept the original wheels this time, as I had run out of alternatives! Still, they look grand. With that, the gang is ready for road, though I am adding some more models, namely a pair of neophytes on bikes. After that, we're looking at some neophytes and acolytes on foot.

Little Beast and The Zealot.

Gaslands - The Ophanim

The Gaslands project chugs on. Today I add the main man to the gang, that patriarch himself, on his tricked out limo, The Ophanim.

I wanted a performance car for the gang, and not adding a limo to a genestealer cult Gaslands crew would be a major missed opportunity. Happily I came across an the perfect vintage die-cast car in a €1 tub of similarly unloved cars at a local scale-modeller shop.

Once I'd mutilated the old car, I ferreted about for some tasty parts to make it into a conveyance for the more ostentatious patriarch. A throne made of all sorts of detritus, a nasty ram, assorted do-das and a nice laser cannon. The crew are from Ramshackle, Northstar and Games Workshop (big daddy is in fact a genestealer cult familiar). I love the Northstar wasteland warriors, they make perfect neophytes. I have several prepped for duty as dismounted crew down the road. Down the road. Eh? No?

Fine.

The car was painted up much the same as the rest of the gang, heavyily weathered and with plenty of black contrast paint. I added a little heat damage to the laser and painted up the... lasery bit as if it is hot to add some visual interest. I fear for that crewman's nethers if that thing misfires.

The performance car has two build slots, so I chose the laser and grabber arm. The reason I went for grabber arm is that I wanted something to represent the patriarch's psychic powers as he mentally compels enemy drivers to plough their cars into walls, off bridges and into each other. The arm can change an enemy vehicle's facing, so that works nicely.

With the limo done, I am starting work on the final car of the gang, the buggy.

Gaslands - The Joyful Word & The Zealot

It's been a while, but at long last my next two Gaslands vechicles are ready to roll. Two heavy trucks, The Joyful Word and The Zealot join The Preacher and get the gang up and running proper.

Since I built The Preacher I went on something of a parts ordering spree. The Ramshackle Games ranges were ideal, giving me loads of guns, turrets, rams, armour and some tasty cultist type crew I could have driving and hanging off the various vehicles. Combined with the Gaslands Implements of Carnage sprue from Northstar and some nice 3d printed parts I had enough bits to kit out a number of vehicles.

The two trucks have been in my possession a very long time, almost forty years I think. They were originally two Kellogg's Cornflakes delivery trucks I sent off for as a lad. Little did I know as I cut out those wee coupons from cardboard cereal boxes that I'd be ruthlessly defacing them several decades later. Life, you scamp you.

As well as the parts I amassed, I carved some armour plates from plastic card for the windows. That combined with some corrugated iron served to armour these lads up. Oh, and some nice big rams. The Joyful Word also has some skeletons chained to the front. These are from the All Quiet on the Martian Front range.

The Joyful Word above is kitted out with a machine gun, crewman with grenades, ram and a wall of amps. Not the most efficient weapon, but huge laugh potential. The magus is no doubt extolling the faithful to ever greater effort via five huge meaty amps. 

I used a combination of traditional and contrast paints here. Mostly to quiet down drybrushing or add some vibrancy. I also used the Shyish Purple contrast paint with some medium to apply some recess glazes to the cultist's red robes. The slightly smaller scale begs greater contrast, though I might start using it on my 28mm stuff too, as it works nicely.

The Zealot is a more aggressive machine. Armed with a minigun, harpoon, ram and a crewman with a machine gun, it's an unsubtle automobile. These two trucks won't be super nippy, but they'll certainly be good for turning rivals cars into flaming scrap metal. With these two done I think I'll need to add something more nippy like a buggy or performance car. Maybe a bike or two.

My next build will be a lot more overtly genestealer cult related. I mean, the cult limo is a staple, but I'm thinking something more open top, with just a sprinkle of throne room thrown in. Daddy needs a sweet ride too.

Gaslands - The Preacher

The Preacher

Wait, this isn't an undead warrior? What gives?

Last week I finally succumbed to the lure of Gaslands. Several friends are deep in the garage already, looting their children's toyboxes or vanishing into local toyshops for toy ca- I mean fine detail 1:72 scale vehicle models.  You can see the results of Witness Weekend: Part 1 here. There is something deeply satisfying about taking a literal toy and modding it with model parts to make something entirely different. The hardest part for me was gluing the wheels. That's where it stops being a toy. No more vroom vroom neeeooowww! for you. Well, there will be, but not as originally intended.

Of course, when I slipped off the precipice into this new rabbit hole, I discovered that several companies supply armour, weapons and most excitingly, crew and drivers. I have several packages of weapons, amour plates, dozer blades, turrets, drivers and crew en-route.

Now, this particular car, The Preacher, is part of the Faithful Sons gang. A collection of mutant evangelists spreading the word of the day of ascendance. (reader squints suspiciously) Some of the crew I have on the way have a definite cult look about them too. I'll try to keep the arms down to two though. Probably. Though there might be a 20mm genestealer proxying as a motorbike at some point. So yeah, at the moment I'm toying with the idea of a post-apocalypse Mad Max style genestealer cult gang. They may end up being just a bunch of mutie nutters with a religious bent, we'll see.

I made The Preacher from an old car that had previously served in Dark Future, some twenty or more years ago. There are several other cars from that time who will now serve as the basis for the rest of the Faithful Sons. I had no dedicated parts for this guy, so I used the contents of my ample bits box for the guns, armour and such. Once again I made use of the new GW Contrast paints to tone down weathering and add depth. The only part of the car that had anything bar glaze, wash and drybrush were the headlights. AK Interactive's washes are a godsend for vehicles. Fuel Stains and Streaking Grime being two favourites. and I also used some Basecrafts pigments for the ruddy dust and rust.

As soon as supplies arrive I can get busy in the chop shop for the next couple of vehicles.