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Starting early last year, I fell off the Warhammer-Free bandwagon and started picking up boxes for a new Genestealer Cult army...which was my favorite army from "back in the day." Those boxes (and boxes, and boxes...) sat languishing for nearly a year before I cracked open a selection and glued them together. I tried to do a new (to me) style of painting, and just couldn't grasp it. I should have worked on some test models that I didn't care about first. Anyway, that gap between expectation and reality stalled the project and I eventually just decided to continue doing things the way I had been. But that meant I'd either have to redo all the minis I'd started, or replace them...GW being GW, and with the history of diabetes in my family meaning I'm likely to need both kidneys, meant repainting. Which brings us here. I need a change from HeroQuest, so it's time for the Genestealer Cult to arise! I've only got a couple "before" pictures that represent the jumping off point. These were all base coat and wash stage. And I just couldn't process it. The wash was patchy, the colors didn't look the way I wanted, etc. This probably could have been salvaged, but I just hit the wall and "couldn't." So they sat. Starting last week, I've been pumping my time into making the upgrades. Some things are better, others aren't. Not better doesn't mean "worse" just that it's not "better." This will be a WIP log for the entire army (currently 4,000 points worth), not individual units. That list is extensive. Currently 1+ of everything in the GSC model range (with multiple Combat Patrols and Start Collecting boxes) excepting any Brood Brothers (Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum) units. IF I get that far, that will be a whole 'nother thing of loyal, absolutely not renegade, guard who are all totally not mutants and whose cult of the (four armed) Emperor is absolutely not heretical. They're all normal there. The first round of pictures is rough: it was late, I was tired, etc. We start with the Patriarch: I've gotten the carapace 2/3 of the way redone. I started with Corporeal Shadow with the intent of using Worn Navy and Soft Blue to bring it up a bit, but there's just not enough difference between CS and WN to justify it. So I just used Soft Blue over the Corporeal Shadow and will use Heather Blue on the highlights. Heather Blue is actually a good match for the color I originally used on my Purestrain Genestealers from the original army. The red fleshy bits are currently Bloodstain Red. The spines and claws are still in need of work, as is the base. That will be coming soon enough. That brings us to the Maga/Magus and the Kelermorph (a rootin', tootin', three-armed shootin' alien hybrid). I've only redone the Maga's skin with the Rosy Skin triad. I've touched her brow ridges, and will hit those with Heather Blue to lighten the transition a bit. That dress will remain gold, and the boots will stay red but I'm working on the exact colors. The staff is the one actual piece of base coat and wash that I liked. I might leave that. The Kelermorph has had his flesh redone (Tanned Flesh triad), Bloodstain Red on the fleshy bits under the carapace, and the same Corporeal Shadow, Soft Blue as the Patriarch. His cloak is Uniform Brown, Green Ochre, and Faded Khaki on the "outside" and Stormy Grey, Cloudy Grey, and Rainy Grey on the interior. The trousers, which can't really be seen here, are also Turkey Brown, Uniform Brown, and Green Ochre. The Aberrations are a sort of shock troop--early mutations and experiments unleashed when the time is right. They mostly have Imperial Purple, Amethyst Purple, and a mix of Amethyst Purple and Spectral White for their trousers. The exception is the leader who has Turkey Brown, Uniform Brown, and Green Ochre. The carapace started with Heather Blue and was followed up with Morning After Blues and Ghost White. I've employed the same Tanned Skin, Golden Skin, Rosy Skin and Dark Skin triads that will appear later for the Hybrid Neophytes. The red fleshy bits under the carapace are Red Shadow, Bloodstain Red, and Clotted Red. The red Aberration is Bloodstain Red, Clotted Red, and Carnage Red. The grips on the weapons are done up in Deep Ocean, Marine Teal, and Surf Aqua which is a surprisingly adequate version of Makita's blue... More coming "soon!" Which brings us to the Hybrid Neophytes, the backbone of the army (seriously, I'm going to end up with about 120 of these guys--some with shotguns, some with slug throwers). The basics have already been described: standard flesh triads, uniform colors, the same blue on the heavy weapons, etc. The armor is Aged Pewter and I'll be using something to give a bit of a different base but I'm not sure quite what. It will stay mostly the Aged Pewter, though, to give a different vibe than standard silver colors. The trousers are the same (Turkey Brown, Uniform Brown, Green Ochre), and the jackets/shirts are Uniform Brown, Green Ochre, and Faded Khaki. The belts and straps are Green Ochre and Faded Khaki. Working with the same few colors has helped keep a unifying look and kept me from being too bogged down in the infinite details on the models. I plan on keeping the red trim, but I'm not certain which red it will be.

Call it a stretch, but how’s this for inspiration for magical hybrids? https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/06/narluga-very-strange-hybrid-whale/592057/ A mystery skull of a peculiar looking whale killed off Greenland in the 1980s has been identified after DNA testing as “narluga,” a narwhal-beluga hybrid. Narwhals have a singe large spiral tooth with two vestigial teeth behind it. Belugas have a large number of small, identical teeth. The mystery skull had a moderate number of medium-sized, varied teeth, some of which grew in spiral patterns. The Inuit hunter, Jens Larsen, who killed the whale and two others like it said the creatures were smooth grey, instead of the white of belugas or the mottled grey of narwhals. Technically a hybrid with a beluga father and narwhal mother should be called a “belwhal,” but the skull has been nicknamed “narluga” for almost thirty years and even scientists agree, it just sounds better.

Splitting this one off into his own thread, in order to reduce clutter in the original thread, and also because he won't be a random rainbow dragon anymore. An employee at a local gaming store introduced me to this model, and shortly after seeing it I pretty much decided I very much so wanted to get my paws on it... So I did! Thing is, I don't plan on doing him up in telltale metallic colours, but instead as more of a synthetic creature with a few mechanical elements. There will be a number of firsts for me with this project... First time drilling and pinning a mini First time painting and THEN assembling a mini Very well might be my first time I start sculpting in a few additional elements in order to have it fully fit my theme (one thought right now is making the engine look a lot more biological) First time removing parts to add back in later (front leg armour plates will block details on the legs, so will be temporarily removed and then added back on later) ^Right out of the box, I had an issue or two with his design. First and foremost, while those wings are indeed rather gorgeous, they go straight vertical, which bugs me, simply because they hide so much detail, not to mention I personally feel that if it's a mechanical dragon it would have been designed to at least fold up it's wings when they weren't in use. Secondly, it would have meant I would have to have another element that's painted and then assembled, and I'm more into assembly first, paint second. Third, all those various extra details along his spine would be pointless at most angles, since they'd be concealed by the gargantuan wings. ^So some clippers came out, a few snips and twenty minutes of sanding later, we have it so I can maneuver the wings, and make use of that obvious hinge... Add in a decent amount of blutak to hold it in place temporarily... ^And we now have a much more agreeable to me wingspan! There's a lot more that can be done with this in my eyes as well, as he could be about to take off, just landing, etc That was last week, and catching up from the previous thread. Now let's get onto the good stuff, aka where we're standing today! ^First and foremost, I drilled three pins total per wing... Two 1mm, and one 1.5mm. Three was probably overkill, but I wanted to be downright certain they'd stay in place. I also though they'd be easier to guide in, but boy was I wrong on that front! Took quite a while to get everything lined up how I wanted it. ^A bit of superglue later, and we have a cameo appearance from Citadel's Undercoat Black, a paint I used to be able to mark just where I was to drill along the inside of where the wing tabs were originally to go. ^Alternate angles showing off his current wingspan, as well as the gaps I'm going to get to fill, and maybe add some additional details into. We'll see what precisely happens, but I already have two different ideas dancing in my head about what to do there, with one being electrical wiring, cogs/gears, and various other things to play up on the mechanical side, while the other one is trying to go with the thought of some sort of liquid latex muscle structure. Second one is arguably riskier, but would definitely convey my idea a lot better.