New Cult Russ - Gryphonne Pattern Vanquisher!

I'd finished this particular model a few weeks ago, but I've been super busy working on some other items, and never got around to posting the photos. This is yet another of my "vintage" kits that had been lying about the house for ages that I finally decided to re-purpose to the Cult. These kits are from the days when the plastic Leman Russ kit didn't include the vanquisher option, so the only way you could get it was through Forgeworld. This is the Gryphonne IV version of the turret on a Classic Russ chassis. Unfortunately it looks as if the turret has been discontinued, which is a real shame because I kind of like them more than the current plastic offering.

Another Russ for the Brood - with Backstory!

The local gaming board/club, Ordo Fanaticus, posted a challenge this week to "find the oldest unpainted or unfinished single model project you have. That model that has been languishing in the bottom of a bin, and get them table ready." While I'd hoped to have another Brood Brothers infantry squad, command squad, and platoon commander done this week, I decided to take up this challenge as I had... an idea!

Way back in 2000 during Warhammer 40K's 3rd edition days, Games Workshop released Codex Armageddon. This was one of the early attempts to create a special battlefield and event that players could fight - similar to what they've done with Psychic Awakening over the past year. Set on the hive world of Armageddon, the Codex covered the Third Armageddon War between Imperial planetary defenders and the great Ork Warlord Ghazghkull (Mag Uruk) Thraka - who is incidentally due to make an appearance in Psychic Awakening soon. Okay, technically he's out, but if you didn't jump on the boxed set before GW had to shut down because of ongoing COVID-19 issues, you're out of luck until they reopen. I'd always wanted to do a guard army, and the Steel Legion troopers looked truly military to me - so I picked up some miniatures and vehicles and started the painting process.

Photo from the original Codex Armageddon - Steel Legion mechanized moving out!

Old School Leman Russ Demolisher - Pressed into Cult Service!

Games Workshop first produced their plastic Leman Russ kit way back in 1994. At the time it was a major breakthrough for Guard players, and given the capricious scatter mechanics of the day, the Russ was an absolute beast on the table as battle cannon shells could bend and curve like the Matrix and blast vehicles from the side and rear with near impunity. They also started producing alternate variants of the Russ either through Imperial Armour (later Forgeworld) or through the addition of white metal parts to the standard kit. I had one of these vintage beauties lying around that had never been fully painted, so I decided to "requisition" it for the cult.

This one I'd built in ages past with a rather unusual mixed armament of the Demolisher Cannon, one Heavy Bolter, and two Plasma Cannon. As the Demolisher variant isn't in the normal Genestealer Cult codex, this will purely be a Brood Brother Astra Militarum detachment addition to the force, which is perfectly fine with me. It will give the Baneblade company!

Armies on Parade - The Uprising!

I found out that Games Workshop holds an annual Armies on Parade event a couple of months ago. As I've been working a lot on my Genestealer cult, I figured that this would be a fun opportunity to get the army out on the table and see how it fared against the competition. I had several ideas for a scenic base, but ultimately realized that I just didn't have the time to completely build something new from scratch. I'd already been building several of the ruined plastic buildings available from GW, and I ended up picking up a Forgeworld Realm of Battle 2' x 2' base (the Cityscape Generatorium Sector) figuring with a little work I could make it look pretty good.

Genestealer Cult - First Vehicles!

The new Genestealer Cult forces for Warhammer 40K can take a variety of vehicles as a part of the core Codex list. Some of these are new and unique to the Genestealer Cult army list, and I plan on detailing those in a future blog entry. Others, however, represent Astra Militarum (AKA "Imperial Guard") forces which have either been infiltrated or co-opted by the cult. I'm working on several vehicles of this type, and have a couple done so far.