Citadel Holiday Miniature of the Year - Jakkob Bugmansson

Last year during the holiday season I painted up the annual Games Workshop holiday miniature, The Red Gobbo, and took home a best painted in the local Warhammer Store's contest. He was a fun little guy to paint up, and I ended up putting him in an individual case and he is now a permanent part of the décor in my gaming room. This year, I'd doubted that there would be a holiday miniature painting competition, but like a champ Warhammer Hillsboro came through with a virtual competition involving this year's holiday miniature, Jakkob Bugmansson.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Regardless of what holidays you celebrate at this time of year, I just wanted to take time out and hope everyone has a great one despite the challenges wrought by the pandemic this year. I firmly believe this is a year many of us will always remember, though in many ways we'd rather forget it. It has been full of unexpected challenges and disappointments, more tragedies than triumphs, and has truly tested all of us to the breaking point. 

Our Trip to Warhammer World - Summer 2019 Callback - Part 2

While the retail areas of Warhammer World are amazing, and being able to buy Forge World items off the shelf is a treat (and pay UK prices which are now lower than US prices), the real highlight of the whole experience for me was the Exhibition Centre. As I mentioned in the previous installment, the exhibitions start out with a brief history of Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop. It then opens up into more detailed displays of many of the various product lines, all expertly painted, but there are many larger displays and dioramas which tell stories from various parts of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K cannon. Mixed among these are several smaller vignettes, some of which date back decades to the early days of Games Workshop. Given I started playing Warhammer 40K during its Rogue Trader debut, this was a very welcome trip down memory lane!

The Orks attack!

Our Trip to Warhammer World - Summer 2019 Callback - Part 1

Needless to say, this year has been an absolute bust for travel, vacation, camping, etc. However, it suddenly occurred to me that I'd never posted any pictures of our trip to Warhammer World during the summer of 2019. We spent nearly two weeks in the UK (England and Scotland), and honestly tried to take way too much in during that time including castles, cathedrals, Roman ruins, and even Tankfest! However, as hitting Warhammer World was on my bucket list, we had to at least spend an afternoon there.

Space Marine guarding the car park

Armies on Parade Awards Date Set

After some digging on the Warhammer 40K Facebook page, I found a cute video announcing when the Armies on Parade awards would be announced - December 19 at 1:45 GMT. So that's this Saturday! Of course, 1:45 GMT is 5:45AM Pacific, so I'll be checking out the replay once I wake up... likely a couple of hours later! The whole ceremony is going to be on Twitch, so anyone who is interested can click the links above or snag the URL from the image below.

Trench Line Fortifications for Warhammer 40K

As part of my Armies on Parade entry this year I was working on a fair amount of terrain. Almost all of it ended up in the final display, but there was one piece that didn't quite make the final cut. It wasn't that the piece wasn't coming out well, it's just that I had more trouble than expected integrating it into the final display. The top (surface) layer of the display was originally intended to have a defense emplacement on top of one of the low hills, but I had trouble integrating the emplacement into the overall theme of the board, so I ended up leaving it out. It's essentially done at this point, I may go back and so a little more shading in a couple of spots, but I think it came out pretty well.

Mortar Squad for the Brood Brothers

With Armies on Parade over, I've finally gotten back to finishing up a few projects that I'd had lying around. One of them is a fun little Heavy Weapon squad with mortars. The nice thing about this particular unit is I can slot it into my regular Genestealer Cult army or I can kick it over to the Astra Militarum detachment depending on what I want to run. The miniatures started out as the the basic Cadian squad, but I've come into a fair number of "bits" recently, and I decided to go a bit crazy with these guys as advanced modeler's syndrome kicked in.

The Subversion of Hive World Novgorod - Genestealer Cult Army Background

Hive World Novgorod lies in the outer reaches of the Segentum Tempestus, deep in The Veiled Region between Gryphonne IV and Bakka. The history of the original colonization of the world during the Dark Age of Technology, when humanity poured into the galaxy by the billions, has been lost to the ravages of time. With the coming of the Imperium, the planet became an important mining world with rich deposits of rare elements and a relatively small population. After the dark years of the Age of Apostacy, the role of the planet was modified to include not only mining, but manufacture of tanks and other weaponry for the Astra Militarum. While its production was low compared Forge Worlds like Gryphonne IV, its proximity to that world allowed it to share its unique Standard Template Construct designs. The resulting massive influx of workers soon outstripped available space for settlement and large hive cities were constructed over the mines and forges to house the burgeoning population.

The Galaxy (as of 9th Edition) - with Novgorod in green

Brood Brothers Veteran Squad

I wanted an excuse to try something a little different with my Astra Militarum infantry squads, so I decided to take the plunge and create a veteran squad. The Veteran squad really only differs from the traditional infantry squad in one statistic - ballistic skill. So this said to me I should tool up my veterans with as much lethal long-range firepower as possible, and not waste any points on close combat weapons. So that's the direction I went - I have the option of up to three plasma guns plus one heavy bolter, and the Veteran Sergeant has a plasma pistol! For those of you counting figures, yes - there are twelve figures in the picture below even though you can only field ten in a standard squad. This gives me the option of dropping the heavy bolter or a couple of the plasma guns as needed.

Biophagus and Primus for the Cult

I figured while I had my Armies on Parade board up, I may as well snap a couple of photos of some of the miniatures I'd finished up for the entry, but hadn't featured here on the blog. Among those are my finally finished Biophagus and Primus. These were some miniatures I'd picked up ages ago, but could never quite get to come together the way I wanted them to. I finally bucked down over the past month or so and got them painted up. I especially wanted to get the Biophagus painted, as my army background is based on the Twisted Helix concept, and his research and experimentation (originally as a Chief Medical Overseer Markow in the Astra Militarum) was the vector by which the whole cult started.

Armies on Parade 2020 - The Fall of Hive World Novgorod

Well, it's done and dusted! My 2020 Armies on Parade entry is entered and photographed with the good camera. This article includes all of the the photos and video I sent in to Games Workshop for my my entry. So, enough of the buildup - on to the army!

The Cult arises!!!

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 6 - The End of the Line

We're finally at the end of the line for Armies on Parade 2020. The board is done and as many miniatures as I think I'll have time to actually finish are completed as well. Photos have been taken (not only of my entry, but my son's too). This blog entry will be the teaser where I go through the final set up of the board for photos, and hopefully get the photos of the "real thing" up tomorrow using the photos that actually went to Games Workshop. Now I sit and wait for the results. I honestly have no high hopes, I'm a good painter, but I'm not Golden Demon quality by any stretch of the imagination. My board also tends to stretch the 2'x2' limit to the very reaches of credulity in hopes of telling a good story (speaking of which, you'll be getting a full army background in a future blog entry as well). The bottom line is I had a lot of fun doing this board, and I learned a lot of new techniques that will continue to serve me well in the future. 

All of the photos in this entry were taken with my Galaxy S8, whereas the photos for my official entry were taken with my Nikon DSLR. You'll likely see the difference in quality even from the thumbnails. I also set up an actual photo shoot area with a real white backdrop for these as I wanted to get the best possible photos for the contest itself.

The bare bones board ready to accept terrain

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 5 - A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

I'm finally getting into the home stretch on the board of doom, but I've got a bit of a ways to go yet. The first pass of the surface is good to go, though I'll be adding a little bit of static grass to the corners to just provide some additional interest. I'm hoping to get the trench line done, but if it doesn't happen, I won't be broken hearted. It's a neat piece, but the compromised detail on some of the surroundings makes it a beast to paint. The ground effect is made up of fine and medium soil and dirt ballast, with a little bit of Ammo of Mig Kursk Soil (AMIG1400) pigment thrown in.

Surface with crater-ponds and trench line placeholder

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well, to say this year has not gone to plan would be perhaps the greatest understatement ever, but here we are and Thanksgiving is upon us. I hope everyone is having as great a holiday as is possible under the circumstances, and I know I'm planning on having my fair share of Turkey before it's done! In years past I'd be attending a Flames of War "Tanks"-giving tournament, but there isn't one for obvious reasons this year and honestly I've been so focused on my Armies on Parade entry, I wouldn't have had time to finish up a new army anyway!

Speaking of Armies on Parade, I hope you're enjoying the "behind the scenes" look of my board over the past few days. There will be a couple more installments as the final board takes shape. I'm planning on taking photos Friday, November 27 and early Saturday November 28 to just sneak in under the November 29 deadline for photos. I may even include a short video as well. Once the photos are together, I'll get them posted here along with some short fiction I've been writing to cover the army background.

Until next time, have a safe and awesome holiday weekend!

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 4 - Workin' in a Coal Mine

I've made quite a bit of progress on the lower levels of the board since the last installment. The mine level is nearly done, and now you can see all of the extra bits I've added to bring it together. I used one of the old resin Forgeworld 12" x 12" floor tiles (now OOP) to create a raised platform with a couple of Plastruct truss structures and some cut foam so it looks like the wrecked Goliath drove onto its platform from something. You can also see the test fit of the fragdrill in the upper quadrant. Also reealed is the reason for the green LED lights that were in the "effects package" for the mine level - they're glowing green crystals of course! I epoxied some quartz crystals together in order to create them, as if you've got a mine, there should be something exotic down there to actually extract!

Lower mine level - nearly done!

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 3 - Scratching the Surface

As this is part three of the series on this year's Armies on Parade board, I figured it was about time to get around to talking about the third layer of this cake - the surface level. I'll also go through some major updates on the mine level as well, as that level is coming right along. My parade board is designed to tell a bit of a story, with the Uprising taking place simultaneously across the planet - in the mines, in the Hive city, and across the planet's surface. As my army is a mix of traditional Genestealer Cult models with a very liberal dose of unique Brood Brothers examples, I figured I needed at least some surface area to show off some of the larger vehicles that wouldn't show up in a mine or Underhive.

Early phases of surface construction

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 2 - Onward and Upward!

In the first entry of this series on my 2020 Armies on Parade, I went through the basic set up of the lower level (mines) and the middle level (underhive). In this entry, I'll go through the next steps on both levels, including installing the permanent lighting in the mine level and starting work on the ceiling lights on the underhive level. As I've gone along, I've tried some different ways of wiring up the LEDs, though they're all parallel circuits. I'll include full circuit diagrams in a future entry.

Ceiling grid sitting on the top (surface) layer board

On the Road to Armies on Parade - Part 1 - First Steps

Of all of the great experiences I've had playing and painting miniatures for Warhammer 40K, last year's Armies on Parade was one of the highlights. I've always loved not only building, converting, and painting the miniatures, but telling a story with those miniatures. I'd also managed to make it to Warhammer World while vacationing in the UK last year and saw the amazing dioramas on display there realizing I was not the only one who wanted to take that storytelling to the next level (or in the case of the displays at Warhammer World, the next 50 levels or so!). Last year I didn't win a medal at our local shop, but I did take home best painted for my "Uprising" themed entry. With that great experience under my belt, I immediately began planning this year's entry.

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.

Doin' the Neutron Dance - The Cult has a Valdor

I honestly can't believe it is already August, 2020. If you'd asked me what I would have been doing at this point, normally I'd have been getting ready for my son's Scout summer camp - of course with all of the COVID insanity, that's been canceled. Honestly most of 2020 has been canceled for all intents and purposes, and sadly it looks like that it isn't going to let up anytime soon. I'm still working toward Armies on Parade for this year, but I'm not sure that will actually happen either. Hopefully it will at worst be postponed for a few months, but in the meantime I've got a lot of miniatures to get painted!

I've always loved the Forgeworld line of resin kits and conversions for Warhammer 40K. I came to 40K from a background in static model building, and in the early 90's built and even cast some of my own resin kits. I've continued to keep my hand in the game with some of my 15mm projects as well. When I saw the Valdor Tank Hunter on the Forgeworld site, I knew I had to add one of these beasts to my burgeoning Cult Brood Brothers force.

Indomitus Made to Order - GW Gets it Right!

After all of the insanity this weekend with the Indomitus box selling out in minutes we've finally gotten a response from Games Workshop, and quite frankly it is the best possible outcome and some of the best customer service I've ever seen from GW. If you go back to my article from yesterday, I'd indicated:

"Given the slim to possible negative margin on the set, I find it unlikely that Games Workshop will end up making more of them - though if they do it would be a really favorable gesture on their part in an effort to improve relations with their customers."

Today on Warhammer Community, there is an announcement revealing that Indomitus will now be "made to order." I can honestly say I'm glad I was wrong in my pessimistic view of their making more sets, but I'll certainly stand by the second half of that statement as the goodwill on web already seems to be spreading.

The Perils of a Loss Leader Strategy - More Things I Think I Think About Indomitus

It is still radio silence from Games Workshop on the fiasco that was yesterday's Indomitus launch, though the speculation and posturing on social media obviously continues unabated. Comments seem to fall into a few distinct camps, but there is the prevailing concept that Games Workshop made a huge amount of money yesterday with Indomitus selling out in minutes. While no doubt they had a banner sales day, in order for a company like Games Workshop to make money, they have to bring in more revenue than they spend on producing and marketing their product.  Based on their typical pricing model, I find it hard to believe that the new box is a real profit machine on its own. In fact, I firmly believe Indomitus was designed as a "loss leader" to bring new players into the stores, and from this perspective it likely failed miserably.

What I Think I Think About the Indomitus Fiasco

Wargaming can be an expensive hobby. I wrote an article on this a couple of years ago examining the cost of several different gaming systems, and suffice it to say Warhammer products frequently occupy the upper regions of that cost band. While Games Workshop can continue to charge a premium for their products because they own the IP, there are an increasing number of entities trying to create miniatures suitable for 40K and Age of Sigmar. The rise (and slow improvements in quality) of 3D printing is another avenue many seem to be exploring. The problem is that you can't use these at any official Games Workshop event. As a successful company, GW seems to be trying to combat this trend by at least offering entry level sets at a discount - providing substantial value for the dollar and then charging prices with higher margins for the more specialist and advanced units. The new mega-boxed set for 9th Edition was to follow this strategy - a box with the new rulebook, 61 exclusive easy to build miniatures, and a host of other goodies for the (relatively) low price of $199. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, in this case, just about everything...

Armies on Parade - Wrecked Goliath (And How!)

As mentioned in previous blog entries, I'm really trying to put together a great Armies on Parade entry this year. To that end I've been planning out the uprising of my Genestealer Cult and how to turn that into a fun and dynamic board. I'm not ready to go into the full details at this point, but I do have one of my set pieces finished. As part of the board is going to be set in a mining area (complete with tectonic fragdrill), I wanted to include at least one Goliath. I'm still finishing up a Goliath transport for my cult, which will likely make its appearance on that level - but to add some drama to the board (and as I needed a few Goliath wheels for another project - keep watching this space), I decided to build up a wrecked Goliath on a disused heavy equipment lift platform. However, just having a derelict vehicle on the platform didn't seem to be quite enough... so I took it one step further.

The Cult Goes Ballistic - the Deathstrike Missile Launcher

The industrious cultists down at the motor pool have managed to stea... errrr, requisition a brand new unit for my Astra Militarum Brood Brothers detachment - the Deathstrike Missile Launcher. This particular unit sort of appears to have taken eighth edition off, as it only fires once per game and "blast" type weapons were a bit underwhelming in that edition. However, with the new ninth edition blast rules, Games Workshop promises that "your favourite ICBM is getting EVEN DEADLIER." I'd already had one going just because I loved the look of the vehicle and figured it would go well with my Master of Ordnance.

Mid-Year Status Report

It's hard to believe that we're just past the midpoint of 2020. I honestly don't think that anyone could have predicted the twists and turns the world has taken this year, with COVID-19 completely upending plans and economies across the globe. Many companies were shut down completely for several months, including Games Workshop. Most of these are starting to open back up now with precautions in place, but I expect the pandemic will continue to impact us for at least the rest of the year. Back in January I posted a 2019 retrospective and some of my plans/goals for 2020, and I figured now would be a good time to see how I'm progressing.

To Paint or Not to Paint, That is the Question!

With the 9th edition of Warhammer 40K set to drop a mere few weeks from now, the rumor and leak mills have been running overtime. One of the changes to match scoring leaked in recent posts is the fact that a player can receive 10 "bonus points" for having a "battle ready" painted army. Granted the other mission scoring elements are in the 15 to 45 point range, so the 10 points for having a painted army is likely only going to serve as a tiebreaker in some rare instances. Though its impact is minimal, the move appears to be more than a bit controversial for a variety of reasons. That being said, I personally think this is a net positive for the game and the hobby as a whole.

Atalan Jackals - Mad Max for the Genestealer Cult

One of the newer units available for Genestealer Cult armies in Warhammer 40K is the Atalan Jackals. They provide the cult with a much needed fast attack/scout force, though their primary use in 8th edition has been as a fast drive by demolition charge delivery service using a couple of key stratagems. Of all of the units I've assembled and painted recently, these Jackals are easily some of the most complex. Not only can they be equipped with a fairly dizzying array of weapon and stowage combinations, but to paint them effectively the entire miniature has to essentially be disassembled. This first unit of five represents half of the Jackals I need to eventually finish, though I'm waiting a few weeks to start the other half and the Jackal Alphus HQ figure.

Brood Brother Basilisk - No Chamber of Secrets Required!

About a year and a half ago I finished up an Armageddon Pattern Basilisk for my Death Korps of Krieg force (which isn't done yet, but I'm hoping to get back to it next year). It was one of the models that got me back into Warhammer 40K, and is an absolutely amazing kit. If you haven't built one and you have reasonably good model building skills, I still recommend it. That was the last Basilisk I'd done, though. I'd build a few of the plastic ones many ages ago and had done some minor conversion work, but I hadn't touched a new all-plastic Basilisk in years. That changed a couple of weeks ago. My son and I went down to Guardian Games, which had just re-opened in social-distancing mode, and each picked up something new for our armies. He picked up a new Hammerhead, and I snagged a Basilisk.

Hail Hydra! Anti-air Support for the Brood Brothers

The Hydra Flak tank is a newer (though not exactly new) vehicle based on the ubiquitous Chimera chassis for the Astra Militarum. It appears to draw inspiration from several real world anti-aircraft tanks such as the Gepard and Shilka, though it uses an open topped turret more reminiscent of earlier vehicles. I honestly liked the look of the vehicle, and thought it would fill a niche as an anti-flyer vehicle in my Astra Militarum Brood Brothers detachment, so I decided to take the plunge.

Two Random Infantry Guys for the Brood Brothers - and Why They Matter!

While I was painting the crew for my first Imperial Heavy Mortar, I was also painting up a couple of Guardsmen - Brood Brothers guardsmen to be exact. I've even given these two guys names - Mutt and Jeff (pictured below). I know - not terribly original, and not so unusual, but why two? Well, therein lies the story of trying to create a reasonably modular army for Warhammer 40K and trying to maintain squad identity through the use of squad numbers on their paudrons (shoulder armor).

Brood Brothers Second Squad Transport has Arrived!

In August of last year I posted an entry detailing some of the first vehicles I'd gotten together for my Genestealer Cult army. Included in it was a Chimera numbered "21" that served as transport for my first infantry squad. A few weeks ago I finished up my second squad of infantry, and I figured that they needed a transport of their own. Ultimately I'd like to have dedicated transport for all of my Astra Militarum / Brood Brothers squads, and I'm planning at least two more squads so far, though if I'm honest the final tally will likely go higher than that, because the Four Armed Emperor loves the poor bloody infantry!

Ratling Squad - Reporting for Duty

In our post COVID-19 world, time seems to have taken on a fairly relative quality. Though it seems longer, a couple of months ago I posted a write-up on the first of my ratling conversions for my Brood Brothers Astra Militarum detachment. I still have some post varnish detailing to do, but I'm happy to report four more converted ratlings have joined the fold and I can now field a squad of five of the little buggers. I plan to do five more total to get a full-sized squad of ten as you can never have too many sniper rifles in the character happy world of Warhammer 40K.

The Cult Brings in the Artillery - First Heavy Mortar Done!

Among the many heavy support options currently available to Astra Militarum players is the Imperial Heavy Mortar from Forgeworld. These can be a fairly spendy option if you're going with a Death Korps of Krieg force and have to buy the resin crew, but as I wanted a battery of three of these for my Genestealer Cult, I was able to save a few buck and buy the mortars bare without crew. As I've been building a lot of Cult Brood Brothers lately, I have a lot of spare bits lying about. It also isn't too hard to find Astra Militarum bits online for reasonable prices, so assembling unique crews for the mortars shouldn't be too difficult.

Second Brood Brothers Infantry Squad

I just finished painting up my second infantry squad for my Brood Brothers detachment. The nice thing about the infantry squad is I can use it either directly in my Genestealer Cult main force, or in a Brood Brothers Astra Militarum detachment. If I want to be particularly cheeky, I could just run it as straight Astra Militarum - call them something along the lines of Savlar Chem Dogs. In short, these squads are fairly versatile, though fragile. I try to maximize firepower, and have a variety of it so my opponent can't simply ignore them. In a recent battle against Tau, my first infantry squad's autocannon actually ended up being quite effective.

Second Command Squad for the Brood Brothers

A while back I'd gotten a standard bearer together and painted like I wanted it (taking heavy cues from the flag of the Soviet Union crossed with the Genestealer Cult), but I hadn't gotten around to finishing the rest of that squad, including the platoon commander. I've now finally been able to get this crew together and they're ready to take on the world - as long as it's not too tough...

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!

Brood Brothers - Ogryns!

The Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard for us grognards) has long had a history of "overlooking" certain mutations from the human norm and recruit "abhumans" into their ranks. In the current, and recent, editions you can still take Ogryns (large, brutish humans adapted to live on high gravity worlds) and Ratlings (AKA halflings or hobbits). In previous editions, Beastmen were also allowed, but they have since been dropped as an option. For my full Astra Militarum detachment, I wanted to include a unit of Ogryns as they make great battering rams, and it gave me an opportunity to try some slightly different conversions.

For my Cult Ogryns, I started with the basic kit, but decided rather than simply going with some forehead ridges as you'd see on the normal Brood Brothers infantry, the Ogryns would develop full cranial protection remnant of tyranids or hybrid metamorphs. I also decided to go with one Ogryn wearing a gas mask as that is fairly right for the overall army's theme.

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!

Scout Sentinels for the Brood!

The base Genestealer Cult codex includes a few Astra Militarum units which can be taken as part of the core army. This is nice option because the units include the faction keywords Tyranids and Genestealer Cults automatically. A GSC army can field both Armoured and Scout Sentinels as a part of the core list. Of course, these can also be fielded as a part of an Allied Astra Militarum detachment as well, making them fairly versatile. I finally finished up a full squad of three Scout Sentinels for my growing force. One of these days I'm going to have to take a group picture of the whole army, but that will likely wait a couple of weeks or so.

As you can see, I've continued with my "50 Shades of Soviet Green" theme here using two different shades of Russian green for the sentinels. The one on the far left is done with a Second World War vintage 4BO Russian Green (A.MIG-019). I went with a simple red cult insignia on this one. The middle and right-hand sentinels are in a more modern Soviet/Russian green called Dark Green (BS 241) (A.MIG-915). I went back to my tried and true graffiti over the aquila on those.

Genestealer Cult - Hybrid Metamorphs!

One of the newer units to make it into the Genestealer Cult pantheon is the Hybrid Metamorph. They appear late in a cult cycle and bear many of the telltale physical attributes of the Tyranid progenitors. I've been working on a unit of Metamorphs for a while, and it has been a bit of a fight to get them to where I'm truly happy with the paint job - but they're there now, so I can unleash them upon the world!

I went ahead and assembled a full squad of 10 of these guys, which takes two of the metamorph boxes. The Metamorph Leader is the guy in the middle with four arms holding a skull and spinal column. I've been trying to get him to put it down for a while, but he keeps carting it around like a security blanket.

Genestealer Cult Ratling Brood Brother

With the world sort of going crazy all around us, I've managed to take the enforced "home time" to start making forward progress on my various Genestealer Cult activities. I haven't been idle over the past month and a half, just some of the projects have been taking a bit longer than I'd hoped they would to get finished. However, that being said, over this past weekend I finally managed to make real forward progress on several projects. I expect until the current quarantines ease, posts to the blog will be a bit more regular - at least that's the goal!

As part of my Brood Brothers Guard force, I wanted to start including something beyond simple infantry squads (be they command, line infantry, special weapon, or heavy weapon squads) and tanks. I started looking at the possibility of converting some of the abhuman forces like Ratlings and Ogryns. The Sanctus I converted from a Blackstone Fortress Kroot last year got me thinking that there may be other good miniatures out there that I could use as the basis for some conversion, and as BSF had two ratlings, I decided to take the plunge!

Finally Finished Fragdrill!

The marathon is over, and the Tectonic Fragdrill for my Genestealer Cult is finally done! This thing was an absolute beast to actually finish, but I'm really happy with the final result. It looks very "neglected industrial", which is what I was going for with this particular build. I'm starting to realize how big a task I have ahead of me for this year's Armies on Parade, but if the results keep coming out like this, I'm going to be happy with my entry!

Work in Progress - Tectonic Fragdrill

It all started innocently enough, I wanted to work up a killer "Armies on Parade" entry for this year's competition, so I decided to go all out with at least a two level entry. The foundation will be a mining area underneath the hive city above. So with that basis in mind I decided that it would be great to have a Tectonic Fragdrill as that would be right for the idiom of the army - at least that portion of the army. What has happened from there is the most time spent painting a low point-value part of a force... ever! It's not quite complete yet, but I wanted to get some detail photos before I started putting the whole shebang together.

Happy New Year - Year in Review and Plans for 2020!

Happy New Year to everyone who takes the time to read this blog. I hope this next year will be joyous and productive for everyone! Every year I try to take a few minutes to reflect on the previous year and lay out some thoughts of what I may be working on for the next year. I didn't really do much of a "year end" retrospective for 2019, but I vowed to do better this time around!