Genestealer With Assault Whisk

I've never been much of a fan of speed painting or painting in bulk. I can see why you'd do it (and I've got boxes of drybrushed Lizardmen to prove that I've done it, too), but it does turn painting into either a rush or a chore. On the other hand, when you've had a box of genestealer cultists lying around for about two years, you really have to get them done.

So, I opened the box and got to work. First of all, the new acolyte models are excellent designs and very well sculpted, with is probably why I've seen them in a lot of different conversions. They go together reasonably easily, although the instructions do give the impression that something awful will happen the moment you deviate from them.

Here are the first three. I can't remember what the weapons are called so I'll make some names up.

L-R: Goreflute, Tubular Bell, Heavy Bumper

The model in the centre was made from a Frostgrave body with genestealer arms and a Statuesque Miniatures head. I don't think I've seen a female genestealer before (although I'm sure that the internet has).

These two are also carrying heavy weapons. The lower body of the guy on the right was made from half an eldar that I must have hacked up about 20 years ago. I reckon I could stretch this kit quite a long way...

L-R: Assault Whisk, Lasplunger

I also started work converting an icon-carrier for these guys. This chap started life as a skaven warlord, but his hunched body and back banner will make him a promising standard bearer. Also, he is standing on a little rock, which is always a reliable sign of importance in the 40k world.

In less exciting news, I forced myself to paint three resin bases that I intend to use as objective markers or patches of difficult ground. They were made by Micro Art Studio, and I think they're meant for flying models. They don't look terribly impressive, but they're well-sculpted and I'm pleased with how they've come out.

Someone could trip over that. All the more reason to grow extra limbs and stand on a little rock.

Little Blue Car

Despite its bewildering name, I've liked the Nurgle Mephitic Blight-Hauler ever since it came out - and by "liked", I mean "longed to hack to bits". So I bought one, got out the knife, and got to work.

The smooth track-guards made me think of 1930s cars, with their running boards and wheel-arches. As it happened, I had an unfinished Galvanic Servohauler kit lying around (that's the crane and the tractors, for all you English-speakers out there), so I took one of the tractors and combined the parts to make a Mephitic Galvanic Blight-Hauling Servohauler or, as I like to call it, a "little car".

The curved front of the tractor looks vaguely art deco to me, and fits with the tracks. One of the tracks was split and used to make a shaped hull at the rear, to continue the visual concept down the length of the vehicle. The rear wheels were left over from an ork truck.

I think it looks cool. I reckon it could be a scout car for the genestealer cult, perhaps using the rules for a sentinel: at any rate, its style and colour fit the cult limousine in the previous post.

In other news, I painted a couple more guys for Tombstone: a rich-looking chap with a Winchester and the man I converted to be hiding behind a piece of wall. Coincidentally, they seem to be in uniform.

Here they are in front of the Renedra barn that I bought a few weeks back. The barn is pretty good, although some of the detail is rather soft. I've had to guess at what some of the bits on the front are. Whilst not incredibly detailed or complex (and you can't put models inside it) it is decent enough for its cost and serves as a good thing to block line of sight and hinder movement. Now I just need to do the animals.

Petrol Station Rampage!

Night was falling across the nightmare landscape of the Wasteland and its foul inhabitants were creeping from their lairs, hungry for meat and blood. On the other hand, it was the weekend.

Oboe Chunks, tough hive ganger, lowered her binoculars. "Shall we raid House Goliath's water pump?"

"Hell no," replied her friend, Wizbit Murdah. "Let's buy some Spook off Dave the Guilder and smoke it. How's that for a plan?"

A shadow fell across them. They turned: in the doorway stood Julie Android, the feared gang leader. "Your plan sounds quite atrocious," Julie replied. "I can't condone that sort of irresponsible drug use. One puff of Spook and you'll be craving Mars bars."

"But where can we get Mars bars around here?" Oboe demanded. "Only the tech-priests know how to make them."

"True, but there I know of a consignment nearby, in a ruined petrol station. To arms, girls!"

The peaceful town square, together with oddly familiar outside loo

Fresh blood fell on the dark earth this weekend as two fierce all-female gangs went head-to-head in savage combat. A shanty town that had grown up around an abandoned Dinogas station was the scene of the battle.

The forces spread out, looking for trouble

James' fierce crew spread out behind a ruined spaceship (most towns have one of these), led by the formidable Morwenna Clench.

 They then moved up towards the petrol station, where genestealer Magus Elron the Credible had foolishly parked his garish limousine.

The fighting was some of the most vicious I've ever seen in a game of Necromunda. Hardened gangers were knifed, shot, set on fire and blown up with grenades. Fighters hit the ground only to stagger upright and battle on with flesh wounds. Brutal killers like Gabba Odyssey and Chocolate Giddyup won their spurs. And time after time, James and I passed our bottle rolls.

He'll regret parking it there.

At last, my crew had had enough. Filling their pockets with sugary comestibles, they fled the scene.

By some weird fluke, neither gang sustained serious damage, even though each of us lost five loyal soldiers to injury. It was one of the best games of Necromunda I've ever played, and one of the toughest. The two new gangs have got off to a ferocious start!

When A Man's Gotta Go

After a hard day of ridin', squintin', sneerin' and shootin', the good folk of Tombstone mosey on down to the friendly local saloon, The Bucket of Blood (it's pronounced "bouquet"). There they've got whiskey, girls and a death rate of less than six varmints per month. What more could you want?

Inside toilets, that's what. And this weekend a bitter gunfight broke out over who had the right to the outside shed, as a band of desperate men tried to take the Bucket of Blood and its outdoor facilities by storm.

This was our first attempt at playing Tombstone, Black Scorpion's Wild West game. James took a force of well-dressed and heavily-armed ladies, and I took a gang of (statistically) identical desperados, and we fought it out in the  road.

As the fight for the khazi intensifies, the Disruptive Kid goes behind a cactus.  Not like that.

 The Tombstone rules are quite unusual. Almost everything involves the players rolling dice against each other, the highest roll being the successful one. The skill of the character determines the dice rolled: a skillful fighter might roll a d.8, where an injured opponent would only roll a d.4. There's also an interesting mechanic for seizing the initiative - ie forcing your opponent's turn to end.


Overall, it was a fun game, even though we were struggling with the rules as we went. I think Tombstone has potential to be a fairly fast and tactical game, even if I can't work out what the heck those tactics might be. It looks very promising.

Fighters lie stunned and unconscious around the whiskey barrels.

Anyhow, the saloon girls stepped up and drove the gang of toilet-rustlers away, with fatalities on both sides. A particular highlight was one spirited lady leaping through the window of the Bucket of Blood to batter Doc Casserole on the verandah. Ouch. Reckon he won't be doin' no square dancin' for a while.

Another Maniac

I have added another ganger to the not-Escher gang. She came from a Kickstarter done by Dice Bag Lady, who do a lot of good female models. She was sculpted by the Hasslefree chap Kev White. I think she may actually be Dice Bag Lady herself, which is pretty awesome. I'd love to have a miniature sculpted of me. Hell, I wouldn't mind if it had a tutu, although I'd prefer to give that a miss.

Anyway, here are a few random gangers, hanging about and looking (vaguely) tough:

And here's the closest thing I can get to a decent group photo.  Sharp readers will notice that there are 11 gangers. I only plan to use ten, but I've got a bonus juve in case I end up recruiting more. At the moment, she can stay back at the hideout and panel-beat the armour when it gets dented.

Horticultists of Nurgle

This week, I've been working on the Nurgle tree demon, or, as it has come to be known, the Great Untreen One. I've made a couple of additions, including putting extra branches on its shoulders and adding some nurglings to roll about the place and vomit like putrid, pukey fruit.

It's also made me realise a couple of harsh truths. Firstly, I will probably never be a great painter (I pretty much knew this anyway) and, secondly, I will probably never get a very good picture of anything, even with the phone on my camera. Frankly, there's about as much chance of me finding a picture of Nessie on there as there is a photo that seems to do the model I've painted justice. Of course, this could just show that I'm deluded as to the quality of stuff that I'm producing.

All that aside, here is the tree in its questionable magnificence.

The concept is that the demon has possessed a tree, in keeping with the "garden" theme that GW has gone with recently for Nurgle. I will enter it into a contest I saw to make a greater demon of Nurgle, but I expect to be up against people who know what they're doing and can paint well. Perhaps I'll win the equivalent of the Progress Prize that I got when I was ten.