There is a terrible darkness descending upon the galaxy, and we shall not see it ended in our lifetimes.
- Inquisitor Czevak at the Conclave of Har from the Har Transcriptorum - CODEX IMPERIALIS M01.993

The smell of a newly opened box from Games Workshop - staring in awe at the rows of miniatures still on sprues - clippers and polystyrene cement to hand. Breath it in friends, it is the start of a new project.





Greetings one and all, this log will track my progress through Deathwatch Overkill, the birth of a Genestealer Cult and my first foray back into the world of Warhammer 40,000.

Since returning to the hobby in fall 2014, I have focused solely on Age of Sigmar and Necromunda (both blogs linked below), but my introduction to the hobby when I was 10 years old started with a Warhammer 40,000 Second Edition Boxset and I have been itching to return.

- Age of Sigmar Blog
- Necromunda Blog

Deathwatch Overkill gives me the perfect way back in. It is a game in-of-itself (which I fully intend to play), with a faction I can use for both 40K and also Necromunda too.

Not to mention it has some of the best miniatures Games Workshop have ever released!

So sit back and enjoy the ride. A slow ride, mind. This blog will differ from my others in that I will be posting up a lot more WIPs rather than just finished models. So let's kick this off with my first WIP!

4th Generation Hybrids WIP


You get two sets of 4 poses with the 4th Generation Hybrids. I wanted to add a bit more variety to the models, so firstly I swapped the heads around for the second set. I also cut off the connecter beneath the neck to allow free posing of the head. I think this has created a nice mix of poses and gives the set a bit more variety.

What do you think?

More to come...



Here is a gallery of all the finished models so far:

Genestealer Cult












Deathwatch






Misc

Is this the bit where we all scream 'subbed' as loud as we can to get you painting these awesome minis ASAP?

SUBBED!

This will be awesome. Cutting the locator pegs on the heads is a good move, plenty of variety there already. Glad that 40k has finally managed to lure you back in.

Yeah, cutting locator pegs for half of them is essential to avoid repetition, I think. I got caught in traffic and the shop closed before I picked mine up yesterday, but I'll be doing the same tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Thanks for the comments guys! This project has taken a little while to get off the ground with me, but it's finally picking up steam! I promised more WIP shots with this blog than either of my others, so I though I would post an update of my progress so far.

WIP /001


So here is the cult so far - not much progress really. I have decided to do all the standard Hybrids as one giant production line. I have never done a production line bigger than 10 models before, so let's see how this goes.

Painting a production line like this can be incredibly boring. I also like to take miniatures to my local GW to paint on my lunch breaks at work - for these reasons I also decided to paint the characters in tandem to the giant production line - starting with the magus.

Hopefully this is a much more exciting WIP shot :-P





I want to up my game with this model. I went and bought GW's Artificer brush to help with the fine details and it's going well so far. Bear in mind this is still a WIP but I consider the skin and the cloak to be done now, so it's on to the other detailing. What do you think of the face? I tried very hard to add lots of depth to the skin and to keep the eyes precise.

Thanks for reading everyone, and I love any kind of feedback

More to come...

Quite simply superb, great choice and use of colour!

Hot damn! Nice job there, Bottle!

Nice work. Nailed it

Haven't had time to work on my own Cult minis, so I 'll have to live vicariously through you. Great start and looking forward to more!

Looking good so far. Liking the choice of colours.

Magus looks really cool.

EDC

Subbed, I need all the inspiration I can get for my Cult painting!

How did I not see this until now!?? Lovely work on the Magus. Looks the bomb. really nice decadent look to him. All the other cultists produvtion line method>? You nutter!! Good luck though. Looking forward to seeing how you progress

Great start. Cutting off the connectors on the neck of the hybrids for more variety is something I have been thinking of so it is nice to see that it works on your examples.

Steve

Ooh I've been looking forward to seeing people do these! Subalubadubdub!

Bottle- after reading your comment about playing through the campaign but with keeping DW characters dead, I can tell you now its not possible lol. Played 2 missions tonight and got fething murdered in both! The cult ambush/gambits can be horrendous (on top of that, my dice rolls were horrendous also)

Thanks for all the comments guys - makes me want to pick up a paint brush straight away! Unfortunately I am on holiday for 2 weeks (well maybe not so unfortunate ;-), over in Jan's neck of the woods. Cannot wait to work on this some more once I am back.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Bottle- after reading your comment about playing through the campaign but with keeping DW characters dead, I can tell you now its not possible lol. Played 2 missions tonight and got fething murdered in both! The cult ambush/gambits can be horrendous (on top of that, my dice rolls were horrendous also)

Yes, I have been following your campaign log and it's a great read! (You need to charge up your phone for more pics next time though ;-)

I think I'll play the campaign normally the first time through. I have some other plans for fun scenarios too. I would really like to play a game of 2nd Edition/Necromunda Hybrid with all 11 Marines against the entire Cult. Hopefully I can get something out together :-)

Well, this project got right royally sidetracked! I still haven't finished off that Magus but thanks to the great Dakkadakka painting comp, I have been able to start my Patriarch and make a lot of progress already.





What do you think so far? The skin will lighten up quite considerably and I am hoping to incorporate subtle lighting into the highlights across the armour. The base will have some grass tufts added to it, weathered somewhat, as I think the base is a little lacking currently.

Theme depending, I should hopefully be able to get more Deathwatch done in later competitions too

AoS is relentless and takes up all my hobby time!

Coming along very nicely Bottle

Gotta say, both fig and base looking awesome so far!

Are you following a recipe for the Patriarch's skin/carapace?

Your models are looking great so far, I'm excited to see more!!

Looking very nice indeed Bottle, the metals on the pipe are especially good. Why the addition of the SM vehicle light on the base?

Thanks guys! :-) looking forward to posting an update.

NidLifeCrisis wrote:Gotta say, both fig and base looking awesome so far!

Are you following a recipe for the Patriarch's skin/carapace?

I am following my own recipes, mainly because I work from white undercoat no matter what and like my colours bright. The carapace is based on Stegadon Scale Green, washed blue and highlighted with Russ Grey. I will further highlight with Fenrisian Blue and Pallid Wytch Flesh.

Skin is Warpfiend Grey washed purple, it will brighten up a lot, I will highlight with Warpfiend Grey and probably Admistratum Grey and Pallid Wytch Flesh. Might need to use lots of lahmein medium to keep he layers smooth.

Thraxas Of Turai wrote:Looking very nice indeed Bottle, the metals on the pipe are especially good. Why the addition of the SM vehicle light on the base?

Thanks! It's meant to be a bit of old tech, or a pilot light for the machines below (where the pipe comes from). I wanted a spot colour to work with the Purple/Blue and also wanted to add something industrial to contrast with the alien organics. It looks a bit weird now but stick with it, it'll look good when it's finished (hopefully).

No worries Bottle, I did not think it looked weird just wondered what the thinking was behind it, and your reasoning is very sound.

Any further progress with the Hybrid production line? That is one hell of a lot of models to tackle in one go.

No progress on the production line really, haha. Maybe too ambitious? I have put down a few more base colours and drilled out all the barrels. The problem for me is really Age of Sigmar and how fast it is moving. As I am a slow painter I struggle to keep up, and now that I want to start attending more tournaments that means making my army a little more competitive which is trumping the Cultists in priority. I currently have 10 Militia to finish, followed by a Hurricanum and then 30 handgunners - which is a production line and a half in its own right. I am now hoping to pick up the cult again sometime in the autumn but in the meantime I want to use Dakka's monthly painting comp as a nice deadline to paint a few models from the set when they meet the theme.

...speaking of which, the Patriarch comes along. I have almost done the carapace and the skin, so onto the eyes, claws/spikes, the glowing effect on the brain and then finishing off the base with the pilot light getting finished and the rest of the base (drybrushing and static grass). I have at least 2 more weekends I can dedicate time to, but I might need to do some work on the week nights to get it finished in time for the deadline.

He's coming along beautifully (is that really the appropraite adj here??!!) Bottle. The green/blues you've used on the carapace have come out sweet and the little spots of brown glaze in some of the shadowed areas work perfectly. Great work as ever - 진짜 잘했어!

Whelp. I'm aroused.

 LeCacty wrote:
Whelp. I'm aroused.

Have an exalt, lol.

Nice work bottle, that looks awesome.

EDC

Looking good on that Patriarch, looks like we are going in different directions. Mine is going dark while your's is going light

Finished the Patriarch making the first fully complete model for the project! (I really need to finish off that Magus). What do you think?




I was happy with how he came out. The power spot on the brain took a little trial and error to look good. Could have came out a little better but it looks more convincing if you stand farther back haha.

I was also very happy with the base. The cracked earth came out nicely. Would love to hear feedback from you all :-)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Thraxas Of Turai wrote:No worries Bottle, I did not think it looked weird just wondered what the thinking was behind it, and your reasoning is very sound.

I'm interested how you think the pilot light came out in the end?

Januine wrote:He's coming along beautifully (is that really the appropraite adj here??!!) Bottle. The green/blues you've used on the carapace have come out sweet and the little spots of brown glaze in some of the shadowed areas work perfectly. Great work as ever - 진짜 잘했어!

고맙당 - I heard you're a fan of Stegadon Scale Green too. I seriously cannot get enough of this colour for all my... blues.

TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:Looking good on that Patriarch, looks like we are going in different directions. Mine is going dark while your's is going light

Yeah! I am interested in seeing yours in comparison! Have you posted any pictures since that wicked base you made? I keep checking your thread but it looks like you're working on other stealers constantly haha.

We should get Jan involved next time and all work on the same mini! :-)

LeCacty wrote:Whelp. I'm aroused.

evildrcheese wrote:Nice work bottle, that looks awesome.

EDC

Thanks guys!

Great job Bottle. Big congrats on finishing the big guy. The most recent photo is this one
Taken on iPhone while on holiday in rubbish lighting Had a huge clear out of hobby space tonight so plan to put brush to model tomorrow to get the carapace done.

Oh my god that is perfect.

WIP - ANTOR DELASSIO + EDRYC SETORAX

Hey everyone, this is what I have been working on the past month. About 80% complete:



I'm having lots of fun! I can't remember the last time I painted a Space Marine but it was a very long time ago. I am painting these for Dakkadakka's August painting competition and will get them done by the end of August.

I prefer my Blood Angels to not all look like surfing models so I gave Antor white hair and a gaunt complexion. I am having so much fun with Purple and Red washes currently on faces that I have learnt with my recent AoS Freeguild models. The skin recipe for Antor is as follows:

1 A thin coat of Flayed One Flesh over the white undercoat.
2 Reikland Fleshwash thinned with Lahmian medium over the face
3 Pits of the cheeks, eye sockets, chin and lower lip given a wash of Carronburg Crimson followed by Leviathan Purple (the old one)
4 Eyes and teeth done with Pallid Wych Flesh and Abbadon Black
5 lower eyelids done with Kislev Flesh
6 Highlights of skin done with Flayed One Flesh thinned with Lahmian Medium
7 Final skin highlight done with Pallid Wych Flesh thinned with Lahmian Medium.

Let me know what you think!

More to come...

Very nicely donw Botttle. The white hair was an excellenet choice and lovely work on the skin too

Loving your JP Deathwatch marines here, Bottle. Have you played many/any DWO missions yet?

Nice work Bottle, they're looking great already. Can't wait to see what the last 20% brings!

EDC

Thanks guys! :-) it's just more and more fine highlights left. I also need to finish up the bases and the highlights on the armour need to be neatened a little - you have to be so neat on Power Armour and it's taken me a little out of my comfort zone to be honest!

@AoV - no not yet. I can't wait to play a game (I bought two sets of tiles so I could play some custom scenarios too!) but I want to play it when it's fully painted. I am not expecting to get a game in till 2017 haha, but when I do I hope to do a full campaign report like I did with my Necromunda last year :-)

Awesome stuff, Bottle! I'll definitely be using these as reference for my own DW guys. I particularly like the metals you've painted. That gold looks sick and even the silver DW arms look really.. warm, somehow.

 NidLifeCrisis wrote:
Awesome stuff, Bottle! I'll definitely be using these as reference for my own DW guys. I particularly like the metals you've painted. That gold looks sick and even the silver DW arms look really.. warm, somehow.

Agreed. I like the colouring too. What is the process?

As awesome as your painting is, my favourite part is that you included the old tyranid book in your first post.

Looking good! The white hair on that guy is a neat idea.

Lurker wrote:

 NidLifeCrisis wrote:
Awesome stuff, Bottle! I'll definitely be using these as reference for my own DW guys. I particularly like the metals you've painted. That gold looks sick and even the silver DW arms look really.. warm, somehow.

Agreed. I like the colouring too. What is the process?

Thanks guys, there's no secret to my golds - just the GW way! When I looked at the Eavy Metal pictures it looked like 2 different shades of gold where used (for example a darker shade on the breastplate wings on Delassio and the lighter shade of the emblem on the front). I based the darker Shade with Gehenna's Gold and the lighter shade with Liberator Gold. Both were washed with Reikland Fleshade and then highlighted with Retributor Armour. That's all - and I should mention I do everything from white undercoat (yes even the black armour - it was a nightmare!). I think that white undercoat gives a brighter and smoother finish.

Joyboozer wrote:As awesome as your painting is, my favourite part is that you included the old tyranid book in your first post.

Oh yeah I'm old school like Happy Shopper!

I bought that from eBay to relish the Genestealer Cult fluff contained within. My dream is also to do the DW:O campaign in a Inquisimunda style - a series of linked battles using the Necromunda/2nd Edition rules.

This is the ultimate slow burn project for me currently, but maybe one day I can make that a reality haha.

Good call on the coloured washes on skin, I too find Carroburg Crimson really useful. Both DW members are looking great, I think the white hair is a great choice as well. As for a white undercoat for the black armour...ouch you are a glutton for punishment Bottle.

KILL TEAM CASSIUS - ANTOR DELASSIO + EDRYC SETORAX




I finished up the two assault marines yesterday and I am happy with the finished result. My edge highlights could be cleaner, but hopefully that will come with practice! I'm not going to jump onto doing more marines from the set straight away. It's probably high-time I finished of the Magus and did more work on the cultist conveyor belt!

Thanks to everyone posting comments, as always it is super appreciated :-)

More to come...

Fantastic work, they are just great!

Those two look stunning, Bottle.

Great job!

Really great job Bottle! Love the jet pack effect. Maybe if you can pull off Januine's technique I may well try (though doubt I'll succeed)

Nice DW you got there. The jump pack rockets(?) are especially nice.

Thanks for the kind words guys!

 TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:
Really great job Bottle! Love the jet pack effect. Maybe if you can pull off Januine's technique I may well try (though doubt I'll succeed)

Wow, I just went back through my inspiration folder and only now realise the image I pulled from Google for the jet packs was in fact one of Jan's minis!

The blue glow works so well to break up all the dark colours it's definitely a must in my opinion.

Haha! Jan is permeating every aspect of the hobby. His evil plan is almost complete......

All seriously, Jan is great at giving tips, hence why I thought you had been taught it by him. Always worth taking a glance at his stuff to see if you like a technique. He'll always do his best to help you out. I should know, he's giving me pointers often to up my skill set.

Not sure you need many pointers though, you are producing some great pieces

Beautiful (in a death from the skies type of way) work here Bottle.Good luck getting back into the horde of cultists.

Top work. The jump pack exhausts are really cool.

EDC

Great work across the board here. I hadn't seen this one of your blogs before, and there's some very cool stuff within.

Motivated by GW's fantastic Genestealer Cult release over the weekend, I managed to get my Magus all finished! Really happy with the result, especially the purple hues on the face.





Now, I need to pick up steam with this set again because I want to get some of the new kits!

More to come...

Love that red on the robes. Tempted to convert one to be holding the freaky genestealer baby a la the codex trailer lol.

PS> Please paint the rest! I wanna see a game of Overkill played with painted minis

PPS> Give him glowing blue eyes and he'll look like the codex cover

That skin is stunning, beautiful work on the Magus there Bottle. Good luck with making a bit more progress on the set.

Holy boop that is some really pretty stuff. Will you be getting the new genestealer cults stuff? I'd love to see you paint some of the new models up.

Thanks guys! Yes I will be buying some of the new kits, but can't decide what to begin with. I don't actively play 40k right now and was hoping to wait till the edition changes and the rules get a redux. I would like to get a box of Neophytes and a Goliath to begin with though!

In some really cool news for me (being a big fanboy), I got my Magus retweeted by Darren Latham - the GW designer who sculpted the range. Check it out!



Not only that, but then Mike McVey also liked it! MIKE MCVEY



He was like my hero growing up

Im gonna stalk you now . But really, that's great stuff

Sweet work Bottle. The Magus has come out gorgeously. Haven't even got near mine yet. Still trying to iron the crinklesout of hte colour scheme

Magus looks fantastic! Especially the shading on his head.

Great work on the Magus and Patriarch.
Care to share any of your techniques for the glow?

Eric

That's awesome. And you deserve the recognition as the magos looks awesome, the skin tones are off the hook.

EDC

top work mate, love the skintone on that magus!

Thanks everyone!

 MagickalMemories wrote:
Great work on the Magus and Patriarch.
Care to share any of your techniques for the glow?

Eric

I can't remember every detail as it took lots of guess work. I do remember the eureka moment was a 50/50 mix of Emperors Children Pink and Troll Slayer Orange, mixed with a healthy dose of Lahmian Medium to turn it into a glaze. After that it was highlighted up with Flayed One Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh.

I hope that helps! :-)

Just went and voted on your Magus in the Gallery. Great work.

Cheers,

CB

Great Magus. Really inspired me to push my current project (some Stormcast) a bit back and worked on my own GSC... I adore the face of your mini... It's so full of expression.

Thanks guys!

Next up on the painting block this month:



Really looking forward to painting these. I had fun with the bases and did an ever-so-minor change to the one of the far left cutting away the power-pick from the chest and re-positioning it. The metal flooring is going to be painted yellow to match the pilot light on the Genestealer Patriarch base (Iam slowly going to work in yellow as a base spot-colour.)

I'll try to post more WIPs through the month! :-)

More to come...

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do on the abhorrents Bottle, they are by far my favourite models from the box.

Looking forward to seeing these painted

Such groovy minis, I think they'll look awesome once they're done.

EDC

Fantastic stuff Bottle. Congrats on the Twitter fame. Can I offer the thought that you should submit to White Dwarf.

Those are some awesome models m8 im keen to see what you do with em

There's always one that refuses to co-operate for a photo opportunity, isn't there?

Thanks for all the comments and support guys. I have some WIPs for you this evening :-)

Abberants WIP




The first picture shows what my models look like with the base coats on the white undercoat. I go for really light colours so there isn't much to do after the wash.

The second picture shows them post-washes, with some work on the skin. As the skin is such an important part of these models I am going to put a lot of work into that area using glazes to make smooth transitions (hopefully)



My brother surprised me with a gift of the new Neophyte Hybrids! Wow! This is a fantastic kit to build. Probably the best infantry kit I have ever built from Games Workshop (my previous favourite being the Empire Archers). There's 2 leaders there because I will mix these guys in with the DW:OK ones to make 2 squads of 13. Drilling out the barrels on the shotguns was scary, but is a definite must in my opinion!



ewwwwwwww what are these ugly things!? Back before I took a break from the hobby to live in South Korea, I had a Tyranid army (it would have been 5th Edition). That army is still in my loft and I have decided to salvage these Genestealers from it.

Yes, I was a terrible terrible painter back then lol! But these guys will get thrown in the Dettol and repainted. I have done quite a few repaints on old plastic minis after stripping the paint with Dettol. Hopefully they'll look nice once they have been redone.

It actually leads to a question I wanted to ask you guys. These Genestealers are all armed with Scything Talons... is that still a thing? Can Genestealers have different equipment? And more importantly can Purestrain Genestealers in the Cult Codex have different options?

I am going to see if I have all the rending claws on sprue somewhere as that is the classic look. These will all be painted the classic blue and purple to match the Patriarch.

JamesY wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing what you do on the abhorrents Bottle, they are by far my favourite models from the box.

Thanks! I am really coming to love the models whilst I have been painting them. Hopefully GW will release a box of them in the future because I think the poses are too limited if you have more than 4.

TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:Fantastic stuff Bottle. Congrats on the Twitter fame. Can I offer the thought that you should submit to White Dwarf.

Thanks man! And maybe I will :-)

Dysartes wrote:There's always one that refuses to co-operate for a photo opportunity, isn't there?

Haha!

More to come...

I love the red base colour on your aberrants' cloth - what paint is it??

Yes. GSC 'Stealers can get Scything Talons in this codex.

That's the only upgrade you can BUY, but you can get different upgrades to them randomly (But only if you take the right formation).

Unit size is up to 20.


Eric

Aryllon wrote:I love the red base colour on your aberrants' cloth - what paint is it??

It's just good old Khorne Red! The best red paint ;-)

MagickalMemories wrote:Yes. GSC 'Stealers can get Scything Talons in this codex.

That's the only upgrade you can BUY, but you can get different upgrades to them randomly (But only if you take the right formation).

Unit size is up to 20.


Eric

Amazing! Thanks for the info :-)

Maybe I'll keep the scything talons on them then...

Swish!

More progress on the Abberants. I have spent the week working exclusively on the skintones, and I hope you can see the difference. The skin still has a way to go (and I need to prepare for an AoS tourney on the side, so I am only really working on these in my lunch breaks) but the rest of the models will just be simple edge highlights and shouldn't take too long to complete. I need to do all the veins on the skin and add some purple transitions out of the genestealer parts as well as work on their faces.

Let me know what you think :-)



More to come...

Looking good so far. I can't add anything else to the steps you have outlined, the veins and purple transitions being the only things I noticed that still needed doing. The pink colour coming out of the double arm on the fella on the right looks perfect.

Thanks James! :-)

I am also wondering if I should take out some of the contrast between the raised and recesses. For example on the guy second from the right, his human arm has some really dark recesses just above the elbow. Not sure if I should lighten it ever so slightly.

I also want to add a blue glow from their forehead carapace and the the shoulders of the two carrying the double-handed hammers. There's so much going on on the skin of the 'Eavy Metal models and trying to replicate it is fun but also challenging in many ways!

There are coming along beautifully Bottle. Really rich coliurful work. Great job indeed

Those Aberrants are great, Bottle! Love the skin tones and the worn tools.

 Bottle wrote:


I am also wondering if I should take out some of the contrast between the raised and recesses. For example on the guy second from the right, his human arm has some really dark recesses just above the elbow. Not sure if I should lighten it ever so slightly.

I also want to add a blue glow from their forehead carapace and the the shoulders of the two carrying the double-handed hammers. There's so much going on on the skin of the 'Eavy Metal models and trying to replicate it is fun but also challenging in many ways!

I personally like the contrast, it adds to the sense of them being infected, as well as working in confined spaces.

Look forward to seeing the glow effects, if you decide to go ahead with it

Wow! these are great!

They look awesome

I can't believe that's Khorne Red, it's so rich and smooth... maybe I should buy some Khorne Red instead of avoiding GW reds in future!

Bottle, I was a fan of your AoS log so I'm glad to have found this! I've noticed your signature around the forums but didn't see a link to a new log. I'll be following along!

Bottle, stop making me want to buy the Hybrids! Yours look so good that I want my own set.

Beautiful work on the Aberrants, their major feature the skin is looking especially good. The little touches like the veins and almost bruise type transitions really set them apart.

Agreed on the Neophyte kit, it is great stuff. I think I would have liked a bit more scope for customisation but you cannot have everything. I may be too scared to drill out the shotgun barrels though...

The cult grows!





Genestealer Aberrants

I am really happy with how these guys turned out. I put a lot more work into the skin and actually learned a lot about skin that I am going to take with me to my next models. Even with my regular humans (for my AoS Freeguild) I am going to start mixing in Genestealer Purple into all the flesh colours as it gives it a really nice pinkish tone that GW fleshtones lack as standard.

Hopefully people will like the industrial yellow spot colour I am using on the bases. You can see it on both the Patriarch and the Aberrants now, and once I get some Goliaths (and hopefully some Munitorium Containers) it will really make the army stand out.

More to come...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Aryllon wrote:They look awesome

I can't believe that's Khorne Red, it's so rich and smooth... maybe I should buy some Khorne Red instead of avoiding GW reds in future!

Yeah, Mephiston Red isn't a particularly nice colour or nice paint to work with (very stodgy), but Khorne red is a get paint in my opinion and washing it with either Nuln Oil or Carronburg Crimson can get you very different results. One thing I would like to do in future is try washing it with a blue to get that cold red I sometimes see on Infinity models, but I am too scared to try it just yet.

Anastasis13 wrote:Bottle, I was a fan of your AoS log so I'm glad to have found this! I've noticed your signature around the forums but didn't see a link to a new log. I'll be following along!

Thanks man! I hope you enjoy this one too!

AUGmaniac wrote:Bottle, stop making me want to buy the Hybrids! Yours look so good that I want my own set.

No one can resist the hybrids! Seriously, in my GW they are selling them in white boxes. The production run can't keep up fast enough with the rate they are being sold.

Thraxas Of Turai wrote:Beautiful work on the Aberrants, their major feature the skin is looking especially good. The little touches like the veins and almost bruise type transitions really set them apart.

Agreed on the Neophyte kit, it is great stuff. I think I would have liked a bit more scope for customisation but you cannot have everything. I may be too scared to drill out the shotgun barrels though...

Thanks! I found the customisation to be enough for me (easier to kit bash than the Skittari kit), but I think you made a few more boxes than I did.

Oooh. Veiny lol.

Very nice work, Bottle!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Bottle wrote:

AUGmaniac wrote:Bottle, stop making me want to buy the Hybrids! Yours look so good that I want my own set.

No one can resist the hybrids! Seriously, in my GW they are selling them in white boxes. The production run can't keep up fast enough with the rate they are being sold.

Clearly there's some foul xenos sorcery afoot! They must be in the thrall of a Patriarch somewhere...

 Bottle wrote:

Aryllon wrote:They look awesome

I can't believe that's Khorne Red, it's so rich and smooth... maybe I should buy some Khorne Red instead of avoiding GW reds in future!

Yeah, Mephiston Red isn't a particularly nice colour or nice paint to work with (very stodgy), but Khorne red is a get paint in my opinion and washing it with either Nuln Oil or Carronburg Crimson can get you very different results. One thing I would like to do in future is try washing it with a blue to get that cold red I sometimes see on Infinity models, but I am too scared to try it just yet.

Try it on a textured part of a sprue - the bit which says Games Workshop on is probably the simplest, so you can see how the wash looks when it has somewhere to pool.

Equally, if you have some cheap figures you're not worried about, they can be useful for this - I've got some Mantic Elves kicking around for that purpose.

They look epic Bottle, agreed on the skin tones being lovely!

Jesus Bottle can't believe how your painting has evolved! Those are pro-level GSC there!

Great final result Bottle, they look great.

Great stuff here. Your models are great obviously, but I also want to say how much I like your bases. The little added bits add a lot to your models.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Mymearan wrote:Jesus Bottle can't believe how your painting has evolved! Those are pro-level GSC there!

Thanks man, I do actually feel like I have come a long way with these guys. I'm going to make a big push in January with them and hopefully will come out the other side with my best painted army to date.

squall018 wrote:Great stuff here. Your models are great obviously, but I also want to say how much I like your bases. The little added bits add a lot to your models.

Thanks! I don't actually think my bases are all that neat but I am hoping for the bits of industrial yellow to make an interesting feature. I might need to try some of the new GW texture paints too. Agrellen Earth is already a game changer!

Great looking stuff Bottle. Really top banana
Looking forward to seeing more!

Holy crap monkey-balls, the work in here is awesome!

Excellent work on the Aberrants, really stunning.

EDC

As this is the closest thing I have to a general 40K Blog, I am going to pop in here a small project I did over the weekend:



These Skitarii are an old paint job I did about a year and a half ago (and I think you can really see the improvement in my recent models if you compare them). Anyway, they were the start of an army that never happened and have been sitting in my cabinet since. Only on Friday did it dawn on me that I could use these for my local's Kill Team campaign. So I redid the basing (with snow to really make the red robes pop) and it now looks like I might get my first game of 40K in since... mid 5th edition?

Maybe once the cult has been finished I could return to these guys?...

Great work on your Skitarii, they look awesome!

The white on the bases really does work, would love to see you take on a full Skitarri/Ad Mech army once you finish Overkill. Let us know how you fare at Kill Team as well.

The boldness of the white on the cloaks is very reminiscent of early 40k art. I like!

They look great Bottle. Snow was a fantastic addition

Very cool Skitarii!

Skitarii?
I just thought they were *ahem* Genestealer Hybrids using stolen gear.
: )

Eric

Over the weekend? Damn I wish I could paint that many models to such a high standard over a couple of days.

EDC

Merry Cultmas!

Today I managed to finish off the first 3 of my 4th Generation Hybrids:




I am really happy with the paint job on these guys. I used lots of bright highlights to really make them pop and tried a bit harder to make the chipping look more natural. What does everyone think? I am hoping to do a big push in January to get more of these guys done so watch this space and expect more in early 2017.



More to come...

They look very nice mate. Very good work on that banner handle especially, very crisp lines.

Super stuff!

Thanks for the kind words you two! The lines could be crisper, but I am making progress

Some tidy looking xeno-heretics there, Bottle! May the Emperor's servants purge them with fire and blade.

If you have (I think it's November/December's) White Dwarf, there's rules to field them in Overkill

First update of 2017!

I think I might have mentioned before that in January I was going to try and do a big push with my Genestealer Cult. Well here's the first batch - 5 Acolytes (including the Iconward) and 5 Neophytes incoming:



I am happy with the progress. I have been trying to cut corners while keeping the painting to a high standard. The skin for example is just a single basecoat with a single controlled wash over it which has helped me speed things up.

In case you were interested the skin recipe so far is:
Basecoat: Flayed One Flesh + Genestealer Purple (ratio 4:1)
Wash: Leviathan Purple (old GW wash) + Reikland Fleshade + Lahmian Medium (ratio 1:3:2)

When the wash is applied, I take Lahmian Medium on the brush and blob it onto the bald heads to remove any pooled wash from there and give a smooth transition to the face where the wash is pooling,

I'll add some highlights with mixing Pallid Wytch Flesh into the mix above, but it's not nearly as taxing as my previous skin recipes and looks better to boot.

I have to say these models are sooooo much fun to paint. I just love every part of them. Please look forward to more coming soon.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Some tidy looking xeno-heretics there, Bottle! May the Emperor's servants purge them with fire and blade.

If you have (I think it's November/December's) White Dwarf, there's rules to field them in Overkill

Yeah! I have a subscription to WD so I have those tucked away. I would love to eventually make the alternative DW Kill Team from September eventually but need to get the first one painted up first lol!

Those genestealer cultists are gorgeous, Bottle. Really nice work here, mate!

Yeah stunning work wish I could paint half as well

Thanks guys! If you would like to know any of the paint recipes just let me know because it's all super simple. I think anyone could paint them the same if they applied the same techniques.

For example the blue fatigues is just watered down Thunderhawk Blue painted over white undercoat. Washed in Asurman Blue (old GW wash) and then highlighted straight out the pot with Fenrisian Grey and Pallid Wytch Flesh. 4 steps! :-)

Wow. Very interesting.

 Bottle wrote:
Basecoat: Flayed One Flesh + Genestealer Purple (ratio 4:1)
Wash: Leviathan Purple (old GW wash) + Reikland Fleshade + Lahmian Medium (ratio 1:3:2)

My flesh mix for my neophyte Hybrids isn't too dissimilar: 5 Elf Flesh to 1 Hexed Lichen (Vallejo Game Color paints)
Wash is an even mix of (Old) leviathan Purple and (new) Reikland Fleshshade
No highlights or shadows painted on, either.

You, of course, are concerning yourself with a higher standard than me. LOL I'm looking at "slightly higher than most people's 'tabletop standard,' but what I consider tabletop standard FOR ME." LOL
Then again, almost all of my models are OOP metals, and really wouldn't hold the kind of detail the new plastics do, anyway.


Excellent work. I'm really enjoying watching them come along.


Eric

GSC are looking awesome. Keep it up.

EDC

Long time no mini in this thread! My 2017 has been very hectic with my AoS Hinterlands project which has blown up completely it seems and has taken almost all my time. That pile of GSC minis posted above are now 99% complete along with 10 purestrains - so I'll show them soon. In the meantime I have finished one of the Deathwatch Marines - Drenn Redblade the Space Wolf!







A fantastic miniature to paint and one of my favs from the team. I gave him white hair as I like all my Space Marines to have white hair, and also gave him the classic yellow shoulderpad.

I spent the most time on the face and went for purple eye bags rather than blue/grey. I think it works really well!

Let me know what you think!

- bottle

More to come...

5 Neophyte Hybrids all finished today!




The cult itself is up to 14 models now!



These 5 are the first lot finished from the push I did in January which didn't see any models completed but did see 20ish get to 90%. There's an Iconward, 4 Acolytes and 10 Purestrains to follow! It's just about finding the time with AoS taking up so much of it!

More to come...

I love how your Genestealer Cult models are turning out! Very well done.

Loving the Neophyte Hybrids here, Bottle!. Excellent stuff. I quite like the red visor on the seismic cannon guy.

Thanks for the kind words you two! I was happy with the visor on the seismic cannon as well, it turned out much nicer than the red sunglasses on the flamer wielding hybrid which I couldn't figure out how to tackle (I tried a number of approaches and wasn't really happy with any of them).

Nice job on the cultists and SW.

Though I must hastily point out that the SW is failing his name by not having a red blade!

EDC

 evildrcheese wrote:
Nice job on the cultists and SW.

Though I must hastily point out that the SW is failing his name by not having a red blade!

EDC

Haha, true! Once battle begins his blade will turn red after not too long, but I would actually have to play a game of DW OK to find out lol!

Keep it going, Bottle!

The Kill Team grows!



The latest addition is the Salamander, Garran Branatar:



I am actually not too happy with how he turned out. This was a real challenge for me. The things I do best, like faces and skin tones are all missing from this model and in return there's nothing but black and impossible to highlight spot colours like yellow!

The whole thing was certainly a learning experience, hopefully the next of the helmeted marines can come out better!

More to come...

Keep it going Bottle! Almost there!

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Keep it going Bottle! Almost there!

This blog is a year old now and I am probably a 1/3 through the set....

Can't wait to play a game of this in 2019!

Bottle you ol rascal!! Great work on Garran and the brat (as I call Drenn) they look really nice. You chose to change his hair to white as well?!!!! Nice. I just couldnt bear the box art scheme so changedmine as well. Great job alround bud

Excellent work on the Salamander Terminator.

EDC

Thanks guys! I don't think I have seen your Drenn yet, Jan. Are you sure you posted him up on here? :p

Yeah I decided the change the colour scheme on him as I wanted the quintessential Yellow shoulder pad and thought the white hair worked better. I always like the idea of Space Marines being old old dudes, which is why the Bangle got white hair too. Think I'll do it on all of them!

I think he looks great! You've done a good job highlighting that weird cracked chest-plate thing he's got.

 aku-chan wrote:
I think he looks great! You've done a good job highlighting that weird cracked chest-plate thing he's got.

Arigatou Aku-Chan!

I still want to get cleaner with my line highlights, so when I tackle the IF or the UM hopefully I can get a smoother finish overall!

Great stuff, bottle. You know, I'm not usually a particular fan of the "highlight to white" style. for example, James Wappel - as much as I can admire and acknowledge his technical skills often produces minis that I just don't like the look of - too much contrast, essentially - and so many painters follow him down that same rabbit hole.

What you've managed to do here, on both of these sets of models, and it's much more of an achievement on the genestealers, with their cloth and soft parts, is make it look amazing and not overdone. By leaving soft highlights and soft shading amongst the starker highlights and shadow instead of doing it to everything, you've produced amazing looking models.

Another model trickling over the finish line today. My Cult Iconward!



I actually finished one of the 2nd gens today too, but as I have 3 of his buddies almost complete I will wait until all 4 are ready.

 Azazelx wrote:
Great stuff, bottle. You know, I'm not usually a particular fan of the "highlight to white" style. for example, James Wappel - as much as I can admire and acknowledge his technical skills often produces minis that I just don't like the look of - too much contrast, essentially - and so many painters follow him down that same rabbit hole.

What you've managed to do here, on both of these sets of models, and it's much more of an achievement on the genestealers, with their cloth and soft parts, is make it look amazing and not overdone. By leaving soft highlights and soft shading amongst the starker highlights and shadow instead of doing it to everything, you've produced amazing looking models.

Thanks Az! I am a big fan of your painting so it's nice to hear that from you. I have been experimenting with the "highlight to white" (as you put it ) approach for about a year now and really like it. I am glad you think in my application it doesn't wash out the model. The other technique I have enjoyed using for the past year is also to "dot" the final highlights, i.e. just stick it on the corners or raised areas in small dots to almost look like its pulsing. I think this helps stop the brightness be too overbearing on the model. I also never use pure white, so the brightest I ever go is pallid wytch flesh.

4 Acolytes join the Cult today! Totally love these models, so I am glad to see they are Special Operatives in Shadow War as I plan to play that game a lot!

This is coming to the end of the big push I did in January - I do have 10 Genestealers close to completion though, and a Goliath I need to carry on with.

I am about to hit a big AoS painting stint however, so this thread might go a little quiet in the meantime. If I play any games with these I will try to get some action shots!

More to come...

Fantastic stuff Bottle!

Looking fantastic mate, can't wait to see it all together.

sllllooooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy getting there

Rodricus Grytt joins the family. Only 6 marines to go!



And here's an updated family photo:

With just one week to go till 8th Edition is here I have been busy working on getting my Genestealer Cult shaped up into a playable force. Finished up today are 6 Purestrain Genestealers!





I am happy with the way these guys turned out. Especially as all the classic genestealers (not the two princelings) are recycled from my old, terribly painted, 5th edition Tyranid army and before a bath in dettol looked like this:



I want to do 20 Purestrains eventually (maybe even 40) - but for now the focus is on getting a small playable (and fully painted) army on the table for the launch of 8th Edition 40k (which I am super excited for. The new rules direction is everything I wanted!).

The good news for me is I am only 4 models away (3 Neophytes and 1 Acolytes) from having a playable 650pt army! Here's the list I am hoping to embark with:

Genestealer Cult 650pts

HQ:

Patriarch (150)
- Monsterous Rending Claws (0)
Total: 150

Magus (73)
- Auto Pistol (0)
- Force Stave (0)
Total: 73

Elites:

Abberants (17)x4 (68)
- Power Pick (16)x2 (32)
- Power Hammer (24)x2 (48)
Total: 148

Purestrain Genestealers (18)x6 (108)
- Rending Claws (0)
Total: 108

Troops:

Acolytes (11)x5 (55)
- Autopistol (0)
- Rending Claw (0)
- Cultist Knife (0)
- Blasting Charges (0)
Total: 55

Neophytes (5)x10 (50)
- Siesmic Cannon (17)
- Mining Laser (14)
- Flamer (7)
- Grenade Launcher (5)
- Power Pick (16)
- Web Pistol (3)
- Cult Icon (0)
Total: 112

Army Total: 646pts

It's probably not the best army, but it gives me a few different units to learn the ropes with! For expanding the army, I want to get my Goliath Rockgrinder finished ASAP as well as bulking out the unit of Purestrains to 10. Once I start playing the game I should have a bit more motivation to finish stuff a little faster than the snail's pace I am currently working to.

I hope everyone else is excited for 8th. It should be a blast!

More to come...

Looking lavish as ever! Have you seen the battle report on WarhammerTV on Friday, between the GSC and the Howling Griffons? If so, I can see why you'd want to get the Rockgrinder done. It's a nasty piece of work.

 Funbug No.1 wrote:
Looking lavish as ever! Have you seen the battle report on WarhammerTV on Friday, between the GSC and the Howling Griffons? If so, I can see why you'd want to get the Rockgrinder done. It's a nasty piece of work.

Thanks! No I haven't yet, but will do sometime this week as I am a subscriber.

I am glad to hear the Rockgrinder is good. From looking through the rules, Goliath Trucks also seem amazing so I am going to be adding one of those soon too.

Can't wait!

Amazing stuff, your paintings are stunning!

Wow. Massive difference there buddy! Great job!

Today I reach a first milestone with the project. A 700pt fully legal force ready for gaming (and I seriously can't wait to finally get these on the table).

Here's the whole army to date:





Here's the list:

Genestealer Cult - 700pts - 39PL
Patrol Detachment

HQ:

Patriarch (150)
- Monsterous Rending Claws (0)
Total: 150
(7 Power)

Magus (73)
- Auto Pistol (0)
- Force Stave (0)
Total: 73
(4 Power)

Elites:

Abberants (17)x4 (68)
- Power Pick (16)x2 (32)
- Power Hammer (24)x2 (48)
Total: 148
(7 Power)

Purestrain Genestealers (18)x6 (108)
- Rending Claws (0)
Total: 108
(8 Power)

Troops:

Acolytes (11)x5 (55)
- Autopistol (0)
- Rending Claw (0)
- Cultist Knife (0)
- Blasting Charges (0)
Total: 55
(5 Power)

Neophytes (5)x10 (50)
- Siesmic Cannon (17)
- Mining Laser (14)
- Flamer (7)
- Grenade Launcher (5)
- Power Pick (16)
- Web Pistol (3)
- Cult Icon (0)
Total: 112
(5 Power)

Auxiliary Detachment:

Cult Iconward (53)
(HQ)
- Autopistol (0)
- Rending Claw (0)
- Cultist Knife (0)
- Blasting Charges (0)
Total: 53
(3 Power)

Army Total: 699pts
Power Level: 39

Next on the painting table... a Rockgrinder and more Stealers!

Thanks for all the comments and kind words so far. Can't wait to start gaming properly with these.

I don't really have an appropriate thread for my miscellaneous 40k models so I am going to stick another in here.

I recently finished up Canoness Veridyan. A great sculpt, but challenging model to paint. Finecast is always tricky as is the tiny detail on a spindly female model.

This model isn't going to be part of any army (yet), I bought it simply because I love the John Blanche artwork so much. I tried to keep the paint job as close to the original art as possible which meant straying away from my trusty grey basing... an experiment which worked for the better! I will have to rebase all my Imperial models onto this style basing if I ever group them into an army.





+++++++

I also got to play my first game of 8th last week! Had a blast against an Ork player but found my army not all too strong. I put all the choppy stuff into ambush and then subsequently failed all my charges. The abberents took out a Deff Dred which was cool, but I need to rethink my tactics for the next game!



The trap is sprung turn 1!



The Magus and Iconward lead the Hybrids into the fray.



The lines are closed...



And the cult is overrun by a green tide!

More to come...

Waaaaaghhh!! Green iz best! Lol.

Looks like a great game! I had my first game of 8th ed with my Dark Angels at the weekend and got eaten by the Children of the Stars.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Waaaaaghhh!! Green iz best! Lol.

Looks like a great game! I had my first game of 8th ed with my Dark Angels at the weekend and got eaten by the Children of the Stars.

The Orks seemed quite strong! I think I need to add in Goliaths ASAP - the plan is the get a Rock Grinder and a Goliath on the table soonish to ferry around the Purestrains and Abberants. Looking forward to playing more games for sure!

Great looking Cultists (and Canoness), Bottle. Game looks like it was a blast. I can't wait to get 8th up and running here myself!

That army is looking absolutely top notch Bottle - gorgeous work man

Wow these are beautifully painted miniatures. Stunning stuff.