Genestealer Cult Su-76 Salamander - Done With Only Two Caveats!

I just put the finishing touches on my Chimera Su-76 conversion and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. The only thing missing at this point is the crew and the radio antenna. I wasn't able to finish up the crew because I'm missing a couple of arms that I need, and I wasn't able to finish up the radio antenna because I can't find my piano wire (and I'm not sacrificing any guitar strings at this point!). So without further ado, on to the photos!

Conversion Corner - The Cult Gets an Su-76-ish! Part 3 - Bringing it All Together

In this third installment of the series covering the Genstealer Cult Su-76, I've essentially gotten most of the vehicle together (sans a couple of the track guards) and it's ready to paint. There's not a lot new on the construction, but I'll point out where I ended up snagging many of the details I used on the kit from. Overall I'm extremely happy with how it came out, and I can't wait to see it painted up!

Conversion Corner - The Cult Gets an Su-76-ish! Part 2 - Fighting Compartment and Gun

In the first installment of this series I detailed assembly of the track units and lower hull of my Chimera Su-76 conversion. In this installment we throw caution to the wind and start building up the fighting compartment. I then move on to the gun which was another entertaining exercise. Since on of the clear defining features of the actual Su-76 is its prominent fenders, I decided to go with the track guards from the Astra Militarum Tank Accessories sprue. The fit on these isn't perfect, and I ended up needing two sets to do what I really wanted to do with the tracks. I ended up sawing off one to create a double row of rivets on both sides.

Plan view of an early Su-76

Conversion Corner - The Cult Gets an Su-76-ish! Part 1 - Track Units and Hull

If you've been following my growing Genestealer Cult army, you'll be aware that a lot of its background is very much inspired by Soviet Russia in terms of its vehicles, uniforms, and iconography. My local Warhammer store, Warhammer Hillsboro, is having a store Anniversary Conversion Contest. Not being one to pass up an opportunity to stretch my model-building skills, I decided to go through with an idea that I'd had in the back of my mind for a while - convert a Chimera into the Warhammer 40K equivalent of a Second World War Soviet Su-76 self-propelled gun. Although it is now a legend, I figured I could just use the stats for the Salamander Scout Tank with its autocannon main armament and actually field it on the tabletop (along with my old Imperial Armour Salamander once I actually get it done!).

Su-76 on display in Nizhny-Novgorod, Russia

Converted Genestealer Cult Armies in Warhammer 40K - How Far Down the Rabbit Hole?

Warhammer 40K has always been a creative hobby. While Warhammer 40K is a game, it is a game where the player has to at least build the playing pieces on their own. Most people paint the playing pieces as well (and this step is generally required for major tournaments). However, some players don't stop there, they heavily convert or even scratch-build forces to create a truly unique army. I've frequently posted my converted Astra Militarum forces that I run alongside my Genestealer Cult as a separate Brood Brothers detachment, but why stop at just Astra Militarum?

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 - Forgeworld Rapier!

Because Warhammer 40K has been around a long time, at least in the world of miniatures wargaming systems, there are a lot of "oldie but goodie" units out there that you don't see a lot on the tabletop but may hold a nostalgic place in many long-time gamers' hearts. One of these for me has been the Rapier, currently known as the Rapier Laser Destroyer. Until recently you could pick one of these up on the Forgeworld site for your Astra Militarum army, but it seems to have disappeared recently, though you can still get a Space Marine version for Horus Heresy forces.