The Cult - Limos

I'm still casting my eye about looking for various components for the Cult. Such little conversion gems as Empire flagellant and skaven plague monk parts have been brought to my attention, as well as Rackham and Heresy ghouls for use as hybrid base models. Today though, we turn our attention to the most definitive of Cult vehicles, the limo.

Armoured limos and genestealer cults go arm in arm as far as I'm concerned. Even though limos are about as appropriate to 40k as hotpants on a space marine, I can't imagine my cult not having one or two of these in the army.

However.

I do not think a shiny black car with bullet-proof windows would last awfully long in battle against terminators, stompas and such. To this end, I think some small concession to praticality is in order. I still want to have an identifiable car, but something you can imagine actually seeing on a battle field. Armoured car it is then. But something with at least some limo-ness about it.

The first thing vehicle proffered was the Hispano Suiza MC-36 from Minairons Miniatures. This has a great front end, I can see it fitting in nicely. Still, I thought something more angular might work better.

Next up, and already in use in some 40k armies was the Russian BA20 armoured car. This has potential. More armoured, so it actually looks like it might last a couple of minutes against las-fire. Swap out the weapons, add some 40k detailing, cult paintjob, some weathering and we could be good. Depending on the list I use they could be Chimera, rhinos or even raiders. I was thinking 'Ooo, you could do great bases for these', but 40k vehicles don't tend to have bases I see. Hmm.

 

I also noticed these on my travels, bases on the Rolls Royce armoured car on Moif's Wargaming Resources. These I like a lot, but I've no idea what the base models are. They look mean though.

As you can see, I spend a lot of time ferreting about for conversion parts before I go anywhere near starting a new project. Time-consuming, but it'll bear fruit eventually!

Fimir - Final Half Dead Update

It's with a final buffing of leathery skin and scape of rusty metal that I add the last three members of the half dead to the unit. It's great to finish it. I had this idea wandering about my head for some time, and to see it done is pretty satisfying. Here's some shots of the finished unit.

Now to enjoy the finished unit high until it's overshadowed by the next hobby compulsion, like deciding what colour to paint the boils on the back of the marlwyrms. Blacky green with some gloss varnish, methinks...

Fimir - What's on the Table

Just a quick post to reiterate that the fimir are still very much in progress, in case anyone was worried what with all the genestealer cult talk lately...

At the moment I'm just finishing the last of the half dead. I have some basing to finish, and then they're done! I'm very happy with them, and I'm looking forward to popping their cherry on the tabletop.

Just hitting the painting table are the first of the marlwyrm monstrous cavalry. I'm considering how to paint the shields of the fimir riders. Some of the results of the verdigris effects I tried on the half dead should work great on the detail on the shields, which are from Scibor. I also have some drool techniques using various plastic glues to test before I apply them to the maw of the wyrms. Fun times!

The Cult - Mechanicus Hybrids

The wheels in my brain continue to turn as I'm getting a handle on how I want the cult to look. I still need to settle on a list. Currently the chaos space marine codex looks appealing, as it does not require huge amounts of figures, and I  can add in some renegades later on. (I've still not given up on the renegade/cult idea) The new mutilators entry in the book is perfect for huge hybrids, and so on.

But for now, it's all about fashion. I want to combine the mechanicus and cult looks together, plus a dash of chaos to spice. This could easily look over the top, so it's carefully does it. To that end, I dug out some conversion I did some years back that might fit the bill for the army aesthetic.

These would be 3rd gen hybrids that have been altered. (Note the third arm socket) I like the idea of taking something as gooey and biological as the genestealers and adding technology. I may pick up some servitors and hybrid them up. These two boys would need some update work, mostly clean-up and decent bases, but I might replace one of the arms with a stealer arm to tie them back into the cult. What they would count as, no clue!

Genestealer Cult - Build a Better Hybrid

I've been mulling over how to build hybrids over the last couple of days, in between glazing bog mummies and priming giant worms. My, but there's a lot of companies making cool bits out there these days.

I have a pretty good idea how I want my cult brethren to look. If anyone remembers house Harkonnen from Dune, that's pretty much it. It looks to me like Bob Olley might have been a bit influenced by Dune when he was sculpting the original hybrids too, they have a lot of that ribbed cowl thing going on, so happy days. How do I emulate that with today's components though?

Fimm sent me a few links earlier, and the Victoria Miniatures one did have some great stuff there. The bald heads and gas mask heads are certainly really useful.

I've seen some recent cults use ghoul heads from the GW kit. I think that's a great idea for maybe 2nd or 3rd generation hybrids. As to bodies, I've seen a couple of options. I like the greatcoat idea, so there are some possibilities I've seen thus far. Meridean Miniatures are doing a Kickstarter for their Steampunk army, and there's some nice greatcoat bodies in the set. As my cult are a corrupted adeptus mechanicus order, the steampunky look to these is perfect. I wonder would they take GW Cadian arms? The also do very nice mechanicus style heads. Look at set C. I

For the hybrid bits, obviously the tyranid range from GW has lots of stuff that can be used. The modern genestealers are quite different is design from the older stealer, so I'll proabably be chopping up some old space hulk stealers for parts. Hybrid heads are the biggie though. Sure, ghoul heads are good, but I need something more appropriate for a 1st or 2nd gen. MaxMini do alien hybrid heads, but I'm not too gone on them. They also do nice mechanicus type heads.

Apart from that, I'm still on the lookout. I do have a few 1st edition GW plastic guardsmen I might use as brood brothers. They feel cult to me, but my own take on it might not suit them. I did come across GW crypt horrors used as giant hybrids, which is genius. They might make nice weapon teams, ogryns or somesuch. Then or course there's the whole chaos element. I don't want to go too mental with mutations, spikes etc. The odd chaos runesword, chaos symbol (thinking of Khorne for nostalgia, but Tzeentch fits the cult vibe better) and maybe individualise the purestrains a bit.

Early days, I guess I better read some rules too, I haven't played 40k since 3rd edition...

Looking Beyond the Fimir - Poll Results

Well now, that was interesting.

Some serious food for thought with the poll results so far. I was a little surprised at the amount of enthusiasm shown for the Cult, but then, it is pretty loved as a niche army. The other thing was the total lack of love shown for the renegades. I guess you don't see many renegade/raider forces, it's all chaos space marines. To my mind the old metal marines look like they've spent 10,000 years slowly mutating and going insane, thought the very latest chaos marines models are definitely moving in the right direction. Space marines with spiky helmets though, no thanks.

The other thing that came to the fore was how much I was rooting for the fimir. Obviously my heart still lies with the swamp dwellers, and in any case it was never going to be a case of abandoning them once I got to two thousand points. They came in a strong second, so my decision, she is thus:

I'm going to keep on with the fimir until I get to a respectable two thousand four hundred points. At that stage I'm going to introduce a second project and work on them both, I just have too many things I want to add to the fimir army even beyond two thousand four hundred. But, it looks like I'll be looking for a lot of new conversion pieces in the tyranid range for project number two. There will be a third project beginning in January 2014, that one will have a lot of heat rays and howitzers involved...

Here, then, is the first bit of background for the Cult of the Dawn.

"It is M40.999 by Imperial reckoning, and world of Thelema in the Segmentum Obscurus is at war. After fifty years of conflict there is no respite to the fighting, and there is no end in sight. Both sides fight with righteous fury over the devastated remains of once mighty Imperial cities.

The Order of the Dawn had grown strong and powerful before the war, secretly expanding their power base over more than a century. They had moved into human society like the choking fronds of a creeping vine, patient and inexorable. The sons and daughters of the order had grown strong, reaching the highest position of authority by the middle the M40. It is around this time though, that the order began to diverge from the usual sequence of events when a powerful genestealer cult reached this level of infiltration.

The great patriarch of the order, known as father Calogero, is a truly ancient genestealer. Ferried across the void in stasis by the hive fleet, Calogero was secreted into the space hulk the Age of Dreams along with many of his brothers. The hulk had been vomited forth from the warp before the fleet as it made the journey across the empty space between the galaxies. There it hung for a time before again being drawn back into warpspace. How long it remained there, none can say, as time has no meaning in the realm of the Gods.

In the beginning of M38 the Age of Dreams again appeared in real-space near the world of Draconith. It drifted for decades before eventually being marked by an explorator vessel for future investigation. The world of Thelema was tasked with mapping the hulk and recovering any items or artefacts of worth due to the presence of the mechanicus forge temples on the planet. The Theleman team sent returned with the soon-to-be new head of their Order, the genestealer Calogero, who was christened by the leader of the explorator expedition. So the new cult was born.

The combination of the knowledge and mysterious nature of the ordo mechanicus and the single-minded ambition of the cult made for a powerful combination. By M40.508 the order was in control of many of the most influential institutions. But the cult had suffered it's own schisms in recent years. Many of the brethren felt something was wrong with the way plans were proceeding. This, in itself was troubling, as dissent in a genestealer coven is virtually unheard of. 

Calogero was most pleased with his growing power, but he did not feel the pull of the hive mind as it drew close to devour Thelema. The whispers in his head were not those of the great beast. They came from another place entirely. 

Far beyond Thelema, in the depths of space, lie the dead husks of the hive fleet that bore Calogero across the stars. Caught in a violent and sudden warpstorm soon after the Age of Dreams vanished back into the ether, the entire fleet was either pulled into the warp or destroyed. Not a single tyranid creature survived. As if this weren't enough to sever the link between Calogero and the hive mind, the creature that emerged from the warp was no longer a creature of instinct, but independent, cunning, and hungry for power.

Power that it's new patrons were more than happy to supply. For a price."

There you have it. Chaos worshipping hybrid ordo mechanicus, anyone? Time to begin the great bits hunt.

Basing - Tips and Tricks 1 - Crushed Shell

Recently I was asked to throw up some basing tutorials, so here we go, such things I have learned about basing as you may find useful. I'll be doing a few of these, I imagine.

1. The Porridge
I've already posted on this, you can read about it here. However, there's one element of the mix I didn't discuss, and that's crushed shell.

It's fantastic stuff for mimicking shale, mixing in to a basing mix as I'm do and for using larger pieces on bigger bases.

You can also but it on-line I imagine, but it's easy to make. Get thee to a beach, get a shell or two, and when you get them home, wielding a hammer, pulverise it. Make sure to wear goggles, and do it somewhere where flying shards of razor sharp shell aren't likely to take out the cat/child/postman. Take the resulting debris and marvel at the marvellous bits of basing material you've just made.