Thanks, hemmis! Don't put yourself down though, it's all about practice and i've still got a long way to go. You should get your Tau up onto Dakka, i'd love to have a gander!
In fact i'm losing faith in some parts of my Tyrant so i made the executive decision to start work on some Genestealers. I just didn't feel like i was giving it 100% and i was possibly rushing bits, definitely time to get some air and then i'll come back at it with more force and a better idea of what i need to do.
Achtung! Continue reading at your peril. This is not a short update. This isn't even an update. Oh no wait it is:
So, i have a small surprise and i'm not sure it's a good one. Some of you might like it, some of you might be angry, not unlike the consensus on Marmite... I'll cut to the chase, i bought some Space Hulk Genestealers just before Crimbo, well not some; i bought them all. And the Broodlord. Thank you very much
BrotherTri!(He's a great trader if anyone is considering trading with him.) I know a few people think it's a bit of a travesty to convert these little gems but i'm doing it anyway. Balls deep or GTFO, that's what i say. I'm going to use six or seven of the fiends, the others will be planked for a rainy day.
Firstly, i fraken love these models, i love them so much i'm going to slate the hell out of them for a while. Yeh, i'm going to play devils advocate for now, we all know why these models are super-awesome-steak-sauce but if you're considering buying them, you deserve all the facts. I was provided with some lovely big pictures of the very models i was buying which was nice but many of you might buy them on ebay where you only get a stock image of the whole lot in a big tide of dark blue.
I probably should knock out some harsh, blanket criticisms before i look at them in batches, it's really not all that bad though...
Flash: Good actually, exactly like
GW plastic kits and it's a pleasure to take some time with a beer or a cuppa and file it from these great models. This simple 'chore' was a genuine labour of love with these guys and i've never experienced that with a model.
Sculpts: Some are great, many are standard, most are duplicates. Individuality couldn't have been on the brief for these guys. Some poses could use a little work but there were some really difficult restrictions to work around. One thing i noticed a lot of were some strange defects(I assume this is due to the casting restrictions.), basically, in certain areas, details were stretched over areas which should have been gaps. Not easy to fix in most cases but also very hard to see as they blend in very well. It doesn't retract from the model i don't think.
Material: Pretty great, slightly more brittle maybe and it has one of those plastic smells you get when you file certain plastics. Files very easily, very easy to cut, glues wonderfully and it drills a treat too!
Time to throw down some pictures i think!
The two above are your standard Genestealers with a tiny base you don't get in the
GW plastic kit. They are also duplicates, that's going to turn into a theme...
Once, twice, three times a stealer. The triplets here are very similar to the first two models shown but they have lots of jaggy bits which makes them a
to pick up and just a bit overdone in my opinion(okay so they aren't
that sharp but it's not a pleasant feeling). Nevertheless they would take a nice paint job very well and look beautiful on any table. Yeh, i lied a little bit, one of them has a big and beautiful base but otherwise he is identical, spiky, and rather boring. It really is top notch and it will be finding it's way onto a Warriors base in the near future because, as you can see, i've confiscated it from him for being a fraud.
This congo line on the other hand is a 100% genuine trio of pointy impersonators. More models for a rainy day but that's no bad thing.
These guys look pretty great, a little busy but very nicely posed when you manage to focus through the mass of arms. My pictures are horrific so if you can't see: They are mid-vault, the arms at there backs appear to have just let go of the metal girders(Is that a girder? What's a girder?!). Sadly the two arms hanging down on each model throw off the well sculpted arc and they end up looking a bit messy.
But anyway, as you can see, yet again, we have a pair of lazy copycats in our midst and no that's not a mirror it's a trick to convince you there is another original sculpt in the set. Well, there isn't.
Yeh, not really sure what this pose is achieving to be honest but it's probably just me. I'd guess that when you play Space Hulk they'd look very like they were scuttling alongside a wall or something. I might use one with a wall on it's base but i wouldn't place any bets on it yet. I can't really pass this image without mentioning the clear duplication. Again they are beautiful models and one day i'm probably gona paint they hell outa them but count with me here: One... two... three... four. Four Genestealers. Ah hah hah. Two similar models isn't going to cut the mustard on this project never mind four identical poses. Of course the bases are only duplicated, and the Terminator armour ones really rock, but i don't really like putting other armies on my bases without a reason(I think i'm going to give the 'man of the match' a trophy on their base to represent the enemy defeated if i ever get a game with them.). If i were to stick the Termy armour in as terrain i'd freak out over what colours to use and how old to weather it and why it's there and so on and so on.
A really wonderful pair of models here, and two beautiful bases to go with them. I'm actually very happy about this 'doubler,' because it's such a nice pose. The one little nit-pick i'd have is that the hanging arms and particularly the Terminator skulls are intruding again on the flow of the sculpt. It is understandably difficult to make the models in a way they can be 'sprued' in two pieces, it's just a shame they didn't make those arms separate pieces so you could fit them outwards, 'balancing.' I know why they didn't, i'm just saying.
This pose is, well, it speaks for itself. Wonderful. Although, it is technically inaccurate. (Man, i'm such a whiny
.)Yeh, there is more than a little too much plate bent out from a very small area but i've already thought of two ways to fix that. Actually i might do both. What's that? Shocked gasps and cries of hypocrisy? Well you might be right but i love this model and i think i have discovered a way to use it twice and it being very hard to recognise. There is a large chance i am in denial so i'll do some dry fitting before i chop into the second one.
Double trouble here, great pose, very clear as to what they are up to and it's not something you can get from a
GW plastic kit without a lot of work. Definitely using one of these slippery little fellows to keep things dynamic and interesting and it will add an important height change which really works for the squads when you group the models up.
Well, what's to say, easily the two sweetest models in the set of twenty-three. Maybe you disagree? Broodlord's a bit on the large size but i'll use him with the generic Genestealer rules despite him being the clear leader of the pack.
The 'Stealer sliding/scrambling down the wall is truly sublime. He's going to look great on display. I really don't think i need to say more about the fine, gentlemanly chaps...
So that's all the bad stuff i could think of, but i'd still suggest you buy them if you are considering it, hey, maybe those rainy day models will turn into a rainy day fund if you can keep a hold of them for long enough. It's a great set and a joy to prep, convert and paint too i'd bet.
Time to get a move on, already written a huge post but i have some quick updates. This is a project log after all!
More Genestealers! Sorry, you've already seen some pictures but here are just the ones i've started converting with a few notes. I'll give most of the info via the Broodlord's entry then buzz through the rest, i've kept you here far longer than you signed up for! Actually i think a well done and thank you are in order for reading this this far!
Have a cookie on me!
The mighty Broodlord! Well, not so mighty, i'll be playing him as a standard Ymgarl Genestealer but fluff wise he'll be leader of the pack and will be awarded a suitably epic nickname. As you can see, i've taken up dentistry, i'm not very good yet so he is missing his lower jaw, tongue and, well, all of his teeth. Or 'oughha ouha udgh' as he would say. But there is heavily veiled method in my unbridled madness, the Ymgarl gene is extremely apposed to all of that clobber you see. It's very clear on the requirement of tentacley, brain sucking, writhing maws. I simply can't fight that sort of pre-determined fate.
The large area of filing over his humongous cranium isn't as brash as it appears in my photographs, the area between his eyes however, is. It would be clumsy to reiterate my last argument with a few alterations, but i'll do it anyway. My fleet don't have vision like we do, their carapace covers the area where there eyes would be and they use developed psychic abilities along with sonar and similar alien abilities to see. Who needs eyes when you spend most of your time in the dark? Not these guys, no siree, Bob.
As you can see i dabbled in a little hand surgery too(And not for the first time! ...but my scarred palm is another story.). The reasons for this are twofold, like a disappointing table napkin: Formerly, he was holding bits of Terminator and i simply was not having that sort of nonsense; Latterly, i've decided this genus of 'Stealer doesn't have any of the half developed rending claws/mutated human hands that are so common amongst their puny cousins. If you can mutate your own body why have some 'okay' defect human digits when you can have full throttle death talons at the end of every limb. I played with the idea of removing the four bones on the back of the imported claws and making it one per finger but i think four muscles would increase climbing dexterity, basically being able to angle the pressure applied.
Blah, anyway the other hand, or eh stump, i cut it above the wrist and filed the sharp edge, this will be green stuffed into a writhing tentacle. See: Tentacled Limbs, p61. That's going to be quite an regular occurrence due to it being such a potent rule for these guys, it'll nicely represent their ever changing nature, i'll continue that theme through the army.
Finally, the big guy had his base hastily removed from him because, you know what they say, too many skulls spoil the broth. Don't worry though his feet are well manicured and being prepped for something more cylindrical. More importantly, isn't that a large base for a Genestealer?! I'm going the whole hog on this army, i don't care if no one will play me, shame on them. The bases are going to be super-sized for display purposes and a little bit because some of the models are a bit larger than normal.
At first i said to myself, 'Don't do to much to this dude, he's awesome.' Then i lost the plot, well kind of. I really love the model, and i really enjoyed carefully removing the weak mutated hand from the terrain and putting on the big angry one but i really think i can accentuate the flow and movement with some big fluffy tentacles(No, not fluffy like a bunny.). With that in mind the other arm got trimmed above the wrist and the foot was caringly carved out. Is 'caringly' even a word? As before, his mouth is no longer with us and his skull has been severely dented.
Drilled some of the pipes on the base but i strongly doubt i'll do the smaller ones, maybe, probably not. The terrain took a lot of sawing and filing and came out a little lop sided because i made a bad cut. The gap will be covered by the rest of the base i'm going to do so no worries.
As always i tore lumps out of his face, no need for that where he's going. Not sold on my addition of the Rending Claw, it looks particularly large where it is and is killing the flow a bit. The other dissected arm is making way for a tentacle which will follow the curves already laid out by the sculptor. This base was easier but i cut my hand the day before and as a result i slipped with the knife a couple of times taking a small chunk out of the terrain each time, easy to fix though. I did manage to add another cut to my thumb with all the mistakes though, i took a break at this stage before things spiraled out of control and i lost a forearm.
Very simple model so far, all of the usual stuff and nothing new, his base will be getting a fair bit of work and as i said before i'm tempted to use the duplicate. This one will be bursting out the side of a horizontal pipe, no tentacles because he's got tearing to be getting on with. The extra surface material of the pipe will account for some of the material around him and he will be partially buried which should even it out to about the right quantity of debris. The more i think about using a second one, the more i talk myself out of it. That's probably a good thing.
Just starting this one, no filing and just a few preliminary snips, i haven't even removed all of the base. Pretty boring really. He'll be having himself quite a few tentacles if i have anything to do with it, and i do. The slithery little
wont be getting any special terrain, partly because i want to break up the squads but mainly because he doesn't deserve it.
Another model that's only recently felt the sting of my blade. As i said before, the lower arms kill the movement so i'm going in with a bold move of two tentacles. Well maybe, i'm considering completely repositioning his left one so that it's pushing off of the plate of metal between his legs, big job but it might hammer in the movement thats going on. The back arm was perfect but it was a puny man hand so i'm going to put in a claw that does the same job.
And that's the six i've started work on! The others will be made up of heavily converted
GW plastic kit models and maybe one more from Space Hulk, maybe. I bet your tired of all this nonsense now, well so am i but i'm committed and there isn't much further left to go("It's further than you think... and time is short." Shut up David Bowie, no one invited you!). I can see the light of my desk lamp at the end of the tunnel so lets push on finish this you maverick renegades!
I was distracted by the refreshingly large Warrior bases and blu-tacced together a quick mock up of what my Warriors
might look like. The terrain piece i stole from an undeserving 'Stealer is destined for one of the Warriors so i snapped some better pictures of it as well. Thanks again to Dark_Gear for the sweet
GW building terrain pieces, i'm going to go all out with them.
As a side note,
everyone is getting a steroid enhanced base. 60mm? You see what you get, Warriors?! You see what you get when you mess with the Orphans?! ...Can you dig it?
And there you have it, it's been a long journey, a wild ride some might say, i wouldn't. I feel we have bonded somewhat, maybe not. I may have lost my sanity along the way, or just misplaced it.
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Thank you, have a nice day.
All this 'free time' hasn't been all that free for the last two days, 
. That plus the battery issues has just been bad timing! 
's in my life! 
I wonder if this Hive Tyrant is so dangerous they are trying to kill me so it can never come into being! 
CSM-The Collectors 
