Spotlight On... The Genestealer Neo-Patriarch

The idea of a Genestealer Cult has always fascinated me: infiltrating alien creatures slowly consuming aculture from the inside out; slowly turning its own strengths against it; taking over; and all the while, broadcasting a stregthening beacon to the Tyranid Hive Fleets, drawing them ever closer...

Then Inquisitor came out... and I realised that I had to have an Inquisitor-scale Genestealer of my own.

Now there wasn't, at the time, a model for a Genestealer at Inquisitor level (and the one they brought out later was pretty grim). I decided to convert one from the Tyranid Hive tyrant at the time.

Now this beauty was converted to match the old style Genestealer style. hence what might now seem an odd style.

The hardest part was doing the head as I had to saw through the metal frill of the Hive Tyrant. Man that was difficult!

I built up the detail on the Patriarch with milliput, posing him in a fairly passive pose. I did this because I wanted him to be totally different from the normal charging pose; more furtive and contemplative.

The claws were actually made from Ork knives. I'm particularly proud of spotting that possibility.

And I'm also pleased with the paint job. Considering I did him a good many years ago now, this remains one of my best ever paint jobs, especially on the head.

I am a huge Space Hulk fan and I use this chap as a 40k scale Genestealer Patriarch in that and Space Crusade. It's a little known fact that I have a site dedicated to making Space Hulk better called Space Hulk Smooth.

In 40k I either use the rules for a Broodlord (a bit whimpy for his scale) or a Hive Tyrant. It's possible to choose upgrades that match him quite nicely.

My biggest quandry has been about the colour. Since I painted him I redid all my Tyranids in yellow. But I just couldn't bring myself to repaint this guy. He's too nice. As a result he stands out a bit. But hey, why not! He deserves to stand out! 

Re-examining the Brood Nest

Apologies, I must have gotten confused when I was writing my previous blog about my Tyranid Brood Nest.

It turns out it was less scenery piece and more cat vomit.

And here is the culprit:

Haydon!  

It’s actually what I found on my War Table when I got home from work yesterday. I think he was just trying to get involved with my various projects.

The funniest thing was that if you look at the “Brood Nest” there’s a fish shaped cat biscuit nestled in the front of it!

I must say, my friend Mike was sceptical. He described it as looking like “a pile of glue and s#!+, it doesn’t look like anything.”

I do actually have a few home made Brood Nests. I must remember to post some pictures.

Heh heh.

On the Painting Table: Tyranid Brood Nest

And here is my latest scenery project: A Tyranid Brood Nest.

This is the first one of a series of linked projects that will populate the table when the gribbly ones have descended for feasting.

I decided to go for quite an elongated shape for my first one and constructed it from a mixture of gravel, sand and PVA glue.

This has had its base coat but I’ll be adding highlights later on.