Spotlight On... The Genestealer Neo-Patriarch

The idea of a Genestealer Cult has always fascinated me: infiltrating alien creatures slowly consuming aculture from the inside out; slowly turning its own strengths against it; taking over; and all the while, broadcasting a stregthening beacon to the Tyranid Hive Fleets, drawing them ever closer...

Then Inquisitor came out... and I realised that I had to have an Inquisitor-scale Genestealer of my own.

Now there wasn't, at the time, a model for a Genestealer at Inquisitor level (and the one they brought out later was pretty grim). I decided to convert one from the Tyranid Hive tyrant at the time.

Now this beauty was converted to match the old style Genestealer style. hence what might now seem an odd style.

The hardest part was doing the head as I had to saw through the metal frill of the Hive Tyrant. Man that was difficult!

I built up the detail on the Patriarch with milliput, posing him in a fairly passive pose. I did this because I wanted him to be totally different from the normal charging pose; more furtive and contemplative.

The claws were actually made from Ork knives. I'm particularly proud of spotting that possibility.

And I'm also pleased with the paint job. Considering I did him a good many years ago now, this remains one of my best ever paint jobs, especially on the head.

I am a huge Space Hulk fan and I use this chap as a 40k scale Genestealer Patriarch in that and Space Crusade. It's a little known fact that I have a site dedicated to making Space Hulk better called Space Hulk Smooth.

In 40k I either use the rules for a Broodlord (a bit whimpy for his scale) or a Hive Tyrant. It's possible to choose upgrades that match him quite nicely.

My biggest quandry has been about the colour. Since I painted him I redid all my Tyranids in yellow. But I just couldn't bring myself to repaint this guy. He's too nice. As a result he stands out a bit. But hey, why not! He deserves to stand out! 

Spotlight On... The Aphid

The Aphid is a model from a different game system called Robogear that I use in my Adeptus Mechanicus army.

Robogear offers some fairly whacky vehicles that are clip together, fast to make and kind of interesting – especially if you convert them from the originally intended design as I did with this Thunderfire Battery.

Because I didn't want to use the pilot that came with it, I used toilet paper soaked with glue to make a curving cocpit.

For its rules I used the old Vehicle Design Rules again to design a medium-heavy walker. It’s quite nice in the game but needs to be used carefully to avoid being destroyed prematurely as its weapons are fairly short-ranged.

Aphid	BS	Front	Side	Rear
	3	12	12	10

Points: 129

Vehicle Type: Walker

Crew: Skitarii

Weapons: Twin-linked Assault Cannon, Twin-linked Bolters

Spotlight On... The Neutraliser!

The Neutraliser is a toy I bought a few years ago. I originally painted it up to be a Starship Troopers vehicle but it didn’t sit too well within that game system. When I started to pull together my Adeptus Mechanicus force it seemed like a logical addition.

With the addition of a Forge World brass etched Imperial Eagle it looks (to me) like it fits quite nicely.

As far as stats went, I was tempted by the Apocalypse rules for the Knight Warden from the Tempus Fugitives Cult Mechanicus codex but I wanted something I could use in normal sized games.

A quick fiddle through the Vehicle Design Rules and Bob was my uncle. Although I had to fiddle it a tad to use the Punisher Gatling Cannon as that hadn’t been invented when the VDR came out. I transferred the points across from the Imperial Guard codex.

In the game he is rather cool, mostly because he looks so good. I’m a sucker for the look of things. Rules and winning come far below this on my priority, but they came out quite adequately this time I think.

Neutraliser	BS	Front	Side	Rear
	3	13	13	10

Points: 250

Vehicle Type: Tank

Crew: Skitarii

Weapons: Punisher Gatling Cannon, Missile Launcher

Special Rules: Lumbering (Can only turn 90 degrees after moving a maximum of 6” forward)

Spotlight On... Golgotha, Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker

A while ago I wrote a little blog about my Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker, Goliath... Well now it's time to meet his brother, Golgotha.

Like his brother, Golgotha is a member of my Crimson Blades Space Marine Chapter who developed incredible psychic powers and wound up being put in suspended animation until recent events required him to be resurrected.

 

He possesses incredible psychic might, far in excess of a Space Marine Librarian. Here we see him using the strength of his mind to lift balls of magma up from far underground before hurling them forward to explosive effect.

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous article, although both Psykers make nice display pieces, they function in the game as Baneblade Super Heavy Tanks - the armour representing psychic force fields and the weapons representing psychic blasts.

 

The large fireballs are made from ping pong balls, painted with a ripple effect from dark red up to orange and then yellow. The base is made from a mixture of gravel, sand, all-purpose powdered filler and PVA glue.

The smaller fireballs were made from little polystyrene balls I got from Hobbycraft. The smoke trail is made by a piece of stiff wire with clump foliage (basically tree foliage) glued onto it. I bought from a railway model shop. This was then dry brushed a few shades of grey.



Golgotha is actually standing on a levitated rock - it isn't that easy to tell.

I was going all out with this model because I was hoping to get a look-in at the Best Army award at a Tempus Fugitives event at Warhammer World. I didn't win.

But I did get nominated.

It's a pool of water at the front of the base. The idea is that bubbling steam is surrounding another magma ball being brought up from below. I like it (although the steam - made from clump foliage - doesn't look quite as I would have liked). Unfortunately three out of four people asked aren't sure what that part's supposed to be.

For Golgotha himself, I wanted a different look from his bare-chested brother - more regal and Librarian-like. He's made from various Dark Angels parts and was quite parts-expensive.

The rock he's standing on, by the way, is made from insulation foam.

I'm interested to hear any comments if you have any views...