Servitors of the Unnamed Chapter - Space Marines, Gene-Stealers, Necrons

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**Oldmanronald**

On the Workbench – Cult Scout Sentinel

I am putting together a Brigade Detachment for my Genestealer cult. It requires at least three fast attack units. I picked the Cult Scout Sentinel since it is the cheapest and since it has the scout rule. These Sentinels are armed with the cheapest weapon possible, the Multi-laser, although I magnetized one of the models so that I could replace the weapons if I want. I considered the Atalan Jackals for fast attack. But the Jackals take up more points and I don’t think that the genestealer cult really need fast attack except to fill out a Brigade. I could be wrong and may want to build them later.

Three Unpainted Cult Scout Sentinels

Two Unpainted Cult Scout Sentinels

Cult Scout Sentinel with Painted Patriarch

These models are ready for painting. I already painted the heads for the drivers which I will glue on later. I plan to use an airbrush for the orange colors of the body. I like the looks of the models even though I suspect they will not last long on the game board. Still, if my opponent is shooting these models, he is not shooting my more important players.

**tzurk**

Really love the brood brothers commander - good stuff.

Let's see those sentinels oranged up!

**Oldmanronald**

Oranging Up the Sentinels

Thanks Tzurk for kind remarks about the brood brother’s infantry commander. He is really the only customized piece in the Genestealer Cult army so far. Also, I have oranged up my sentinels.
I used an airbrush in a portable painting booth to spray on the orange paint. I like to do this for my bigger models since it is quicker.

The Painting Booth with Sentinels

Airbrush with Sentinels in Painting Booth

I first painted the undersides of the models with a burnt sienna undercoat. Then I used a Golden Cadmium Orange acrylic paint for the orange but I mixed it with a little blue to tone down the intensity of the orange. In this case I mixed the blue with orange right in the cup on the airbrush but the orange was still a little too bright. Next time I will premix the paint before putting it into the paint cup to make sure the color is right. The result is that the model looks orange with some defined shadows although that shadow is actually the burnt sienna undercoat.

The Painting Booth with Sentinels

These models look pretty intensely orange since I also sprayed the bases and the parts that will be later covered with additional colors. Compare this to the rest of the figures which I painted with a standard brush. Notice that they are not so intensely orange.

Hand Painting Several Infantry Figures

The finished painted mortar team in the picture above is a template for the other models.

Once the Sentinel was finished with other colors and duller pigments on the base, it wasn’t so intensely orange.

Scout Sentinel

**Oldmanronald**

Nexos

One fun thing about Genestealer Cults is the number of weird characters. In this last batch, I made up several including the Nexos. He is described as a Strategic Coordinator and has a certain ability to add command points during the game. I had fun painting this model. The character himself is painted with the standard pattern that I have on all my genestealer cult models. The map portion of the table is painted white and overlaid with fluorescent paints. This made the map look like it is glowing. It was an experiment that worked.

Nexos – Front

I also painted portions of his armor, arm, and hands white and then painted over them to mimic reflected light.

Nexos – Top

Nexos - Looking at Map

I painted the table mostly bronze with gold trim at the top so that it looked like light was emulated from the map.

Nexos – Over the Shoulder

Nexos - Side

**Oldmanronald**

First Cult Sentinel

The main reason I made these Cult Scout Sentinels was to fill the fast attack slot for a Brigade Detachment. These are fast moving models that will die fast. Since with cult ambush all the Genestealer cult models can pop up on the board just about anywhere and will die fast, I really don’t see a real special role for these models except to grab objectives and to put some pressure on the enemy during the first turn. They are neat looking models and will be fun to play as long as they last.

Cult Sentinel – Upper Front

Cult Sentinel - Right

Cult Sentinel - Left

Cult Sentinel – Front

Cult Sentinel – Rear

Cult Sentinel – Upper Front Right

**Oldmanronald**

Familiar

I painted this model several months ago but forgot to take a picture of him. He is an easy model to overlook, simple and small. I really like this model but it was hard to get his head in focus in the picture. The space marine helmet under his hands was fun to paint.

Familiar - Front

Familiar – Left

Familiar – Right

Familiar – Rear

The little pile of debris to the right just under his tail is looks like something that he just defecated. This was not intentional.

Familiar – Another Front

**Oldmanronald**

Brood Brothers Master of Ordinance

This model is built using bits from the Cadian Command squad and from the Genestealers Cult Upgrade Frame. I made the braid from two strands of floral wire and was pleased with the results. The coat is blue rather than orange to make him appear more regale. I really like this model. He is an elite who will beef up the three Basilisks in this army.

Master of Ordinance - Front

He looks cross-eyed. I did not do this on purpose but actually it is more fun and sort of fits his character.

Master of Ordinance - Left

Master of Ordinance - Rear

Master of Ordinance – Left Front

This shows some of his braiding over the chest and arm.

Master of Ordinance - Right

**Oldmanronald**

Spearhead Detachment

I have almost finished my spearhead detachment with a three armed company commander, a master of ordinance, two heavy weapons squads each with three mortars each for a total of six mortars, and a three gun Basilisk Battery. I only show two of the Basilisks but I have already assembled and have started painting and have almost finished the last gun. This spearhead detachment is intended to set up behind any terrain during the first turn and to remove bubble wrap and any other difficult targets during the first turn and to remain in place with little movement during the rest of the game taking out targets using indirect fire. The brood brother’s company commander role got clipped after the latest FAQ but he will should still be reasonably effective giving orders to the two mortar squads.

Spearhead Detachment

For 450 points, this spearhead detachment should give a real shooty backbone to the genestealer cult ambush based army.

**Oldmanronald**

Sanctus with Silence Sniper Rifle and Soulsight Familiar

The fun thing about the Genestealer cult is all the various models that seem to fit the colors and style of painting that I do. Except for a few highlights of fluorescent green and a little red, most of my colors are shades of orange and blue. There is a little sienna yellow in the skulls and ruins at the base of most of my models and a little bronze gold in the tokens although bronze and gold are variations of orange and yellow. I actually vary the textures from the dirty base to the shiny tokens and weapons more than the colors. None of the colors are pure, however, as most are mixtures of several colors. Thus this model’s orange uniform and cape includes a base of burnt sienna and an orange mixed with blue to lower its intensity. The weapons are painted with black as a shadow, metallic blue as the light, with a touch of silver mixed with metallic blue as a highlight.

Sanctus – Left Front

Sanctus – Front

The familiar was fun to paint. To paint the pipe that the familiar is climbing, I left the black and white spray painted base coat and the accidental smears of paint from painting the rest of the model on the unpainted pipe and simply covered the pipe with Army Painter blue tone. This keeps the underlying stains and shadows that give the pipe depth but the blue tint contrasts to the orange and ties the pipe into the rest of the model. I really like the technique of using tints and shades over an unfinished base coat and simply adding regular paint for details and accents. One of these days I will paint a whole model this way. It might be great with Orcs. It gives the model a weathered look and is very realistic.

Sanctus - Right

I wasn’t sure that I liked the Familiar and the pipe when I made the model until after I painted it. Now I really like the Familiar and the Sanctus together. This model turned out better than I thought it would while I was painting it.

Sanctus – Rear

Sanctus - Left

**Oldmanronald**

Bad News – Good News

This post includes bad news and good news.

What is the bad news?

My plans for this army were to have two heavy weapons squads in my Brood Brothers Spearhead detachment and three heavy weapons squads in my Genestealer Cult Brigade detachment. The two in the Spearhead detachment are armed with mortars. The three in the Brigade detachment would include 1 more mortar squad and two other heavy weapons squads, one with lascannons and a second with lascannons or possibly autocannons or heavy bolters. I have already built two mortar squads and a lascannon squad. Although I really like my mortar squads, they are tedious to build and I wasn’t really looking forward to building the last one. I liked building the heavy weapons squad with lascannons and really like the look of them.

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – left front

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – left

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – right

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – rear

This view shows a footprint just under the gunner’s assistant butt.

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – right

Heavy Weapons Team with Lascannon – front right

So the bad news is that under the latest FAQ, the rule of three has been amended so that my army is limited to only three heavy weapons squads even though the heavy weapons teams are from different codices. Since I already have three heavy weapons squads built, I will use them although for the points I would be better off with three mortar squads rather than two mortar squads and one lascannon squad. The mortar squads are cheaper and are great for removing screens around important targets. Although I like the idea of a lascannon squad with cult ambush that can pop up any place on the battlefield, I must admit that my experience with lascannons has usually been disappointing. And that has been with space marines who have a much better ballistic skill. Still, I find the mortar squad tedious to build and I don’t want to buy and build another weapons squad, at least for now.

What is the good news? Since I want to run a brigade detachment, I need two more heavy units. After considering the options, I ordered two Goliath Rockgrinders and they should be arriving today. This means I have a weekend ahead of assembling and painting these models. I can hardly wait. My air brush trigger finger is already itchy.

**Oldmanronald**

Two of My Favorite Steps

I got my two Goliath Rockgrinders Friday night and was able to completely assemble one of them and get the second one almost assembled this weekend. That is a problem with this hobby. Real life interferes. I wanted to spend this weekend assembling and painting these models but my daughter had a baby shower, my house was filled with guests, I had to mow my lawn and do yard work, we went to Church for Mother's Day, and I had to spend lots of time with my wife, children, and grandchildren. So my spray painting trigger finger is still itchy. I might finish and get a base coat on the models after work this week.

When building models, certain steps are more fun than others. My favorite steps use to be assembling and especially customizing the models but lately I am enjoying the painting more. Now, two of my favorite steps are 1) painting the base with a mixture of gray gesso and model railroad ballast, and 2) painting the base with pigments. Both steps bring the model together. The gesso and ballast cover the base and unify the model so that all the bits and green stuff mounted on the base are pulled together in the same landscape. The models feet, the skulls and other battlefield debris, and any green stuff that I have used on the base are now made part of the same terrain. Painting with the pigment does the same thing for this almost final step in building and painting the models. Again, all the diversely painted parts of the model are unified into the same desert landscape.

Models with Newly Applied Gesso and Ballast

Some of the gesso is still wet in the picture above.

Models with Newly Applied Gesso and Ballast

Models with Newly Applied Pigments

The pigments on the base are still wet on the models near the front. The NOVA shot glass contains a mixture of orange pigment and old pastel grinds that I mix as the primary base components. The orange, violet, and blue pigments in their containers are also in the picture. So is the green brush that I use to apply the pigments and the pigment fixer. The fixer is not in this picture.

Models with Newly Applied Pigments

Some of the pigment is on the newspaper. Since the Goliath Rockgrinders don't have a base, I will not be using my gesso on these trucks but I will be putting some pigment on the truck, expecially on the rockgrinder front blade.

**Oldmanronald**

Kill Team Terrain

Last year I ordered the Kill Team Starter set. It included a Kill Team Core Manual, a couple of spruces of Adeptus Mechanicus figures, a couple of spruces of the Genestealer Cult, some datacards, and a gothic destroyed cathedral. I have been working on this and have built and painted most of the models. I am still working on the cathedral.

I have experimented with some techniques that have been somewhat successful. I assembled the cathedral and its outlying walls and primed the cement portions of the wall with pastel primer that I had. The pastel primer is full of fine grit that is designed to hold pastels into place. I then used an air brush to paint metal portions with reds and turquoise, the red to underlay the iron and the turquoise to underlay the bronze. The pictures show the painted areas and the grey pastel areas.

Outlying Walls

Colourfix Primer – Pastel & Multimedia Primer - Elephant

Opened Colourfix Primer – Pastel & Multimedia Primer – Elephant

Walls with Pastel Primer Painted on

Interior of the Cathedral

I then actually took pastel sticks and colored the walls mostly with dark pastels to represent crumbling and discolored and flamed cement.

Wall with Pastel Stick in Hand

Wall Darkened with Pastels

Cathedral with Designs in the Roof Painted with Pastels

I spray painted on a fixture to hole the pastels. Actually, I wasn’t too happy with the results. The pastels comes off when the terrain is handled and it seemed too bizarrely colored. So I put it aside for several months. A few weeks ago, I started painted over the metal work on the Cathedral with metallic iron and bronze paint. I’ll have to take some pictures of these and post them in the next few days. The Cathedral is turning out okay but this use of pastels took too long. So overall, I wouldn't do it again..

**Oldmanronald**

Painting the Last Basilisk

I use an airbrush to paint vehicles. A couple of weeks ago, I finished up the last of my three Basilisks and this week I assembled and airbrushed my two Goliath Rockgrinders.

Basilisk in the Paint Booth

I have a portable paint booth that I set up on my work bench. In the back is a filter that shows in the picture and behind the filter is a fan which draws in the spray paint. It seems to work pretty well. The filter is turning orange. My airbrush is on the left mounted on my airbrush cleaning jar. The Golden Cadmium Orange is on the right. I paint the underside of the model with Burn Sienna which is a dark orange and then overcoat it with a mixture of Cadmium Orange with a little ultramarine blue to cut the intensity of the pure orange.

Basilisk in the Paint Booth – Closeup

The combination of burn sienna and orange gives the model some depth. I will hand paint in the details including metallic blue on the main gun.

**Oldmanronald**

Assembling and Priming the Two Goliath Rockgrinders

I enjoyed assembling these models but it took longer than I thought it should. They are latter GW models so the instructions are reasonably detailed with few errors.

Assembling the Goliath Rockgrinders

The models had some gaps. I filled them in with Yellow Milliput which works better than Green Stuff for filling in the gaps. Milliput is water solvable so it can be diluted and more easily pushed in the gaps. The excess can be wiped away with a wet rag or finger.

Assembled Goliath Rockgrinder with Milliput in Gaps.

If you look closely, you can see the yellow Milliput in the gaps. Also, note the pointing finger on the second model. I like it but it comes from the heavy weapons team spruce which are for imperial guard troops or brood brothers. So the pointing finger does not quite match these neophyte hybrid gunners who have gloved hands. I will use green stuff to modify the arm so it appears to have a gloved hand. The pointing finger with the glove made of green stuff is in the next picture.

Goliath Rockginders with Base Coat - Side

I prime all my models with black and with a quick spray of white primer from the front and top. Notice the gloved hands on all the figures including the pointing finger with the gloves gauntlet made of green stuff. I use less green stuff on my Genestealers than I used to use making my Space Marines. I have so many models to complete for the Genestealer army that I don’t have the time to really make them quite as individual as my space marines. Overall, however, the Genestealers Cult army looks better than the Space Marines because they are a dramatic orange with contrasting metallic blue armor and weapons rather than a more subdued camouflage green brown.

Goliath Rockginders with Base Coat – Front

The weapons lying on the newspaper on the right are heavy flamers for the sentinels.

**Oldmanronald**

Airbrushing the Two Goliath Rockgrinders

The Two Goliath Rockgrinders are ready for the airbrush. The undercoat will be burnt sienna. The overcoat with be cadmium orange diluted with a few drops of ultramarine blue.

Goliath Rockgrinders in the Paint Booth

The burnt sienna is in the bottle on the right. The figures and guns have been removed. I will hand paint them.

Underpainting the Burnt Sienna

Overpainting the Cadmium Orange

Goliath Rockgrinders with Figures

I have painted the orange on the figures and the guns. Now the figures, guns, and trucks are ready for the details to be hand painted. I see some seams that may need to be refinished and touched up.

Goliath Rockgrinders with Figures

**Oldmanronald**

Finishing the Two Goliath Rockgrinders

I really enjoyed assembling and painting the two Goliath Rockgrinders. After airbrushing the Goliaths with burnt sienna and cadmium orange, the Goliaths are ready for hand painting. This was a fun stage since this really brought out the details. It has the same color scheme I have used for all my army but the colors seemed prefect for the Goliaths. The pigments really finished up the appearance of the Goliaths.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Top: On the Workbench

Golaith Rockgrinder – Side: On the Workbench

This view shows the details of the Clearence Incinerator, especially its control panel.

**Oldmanronald**

Three More Models Down

My goal is to have a 2000 point Genestealer Cult army ready for the narrative for Nova Open in the last week of August. This is a challenge since I don’t build models real fast. The Genestealer cult is a mass army with lots of infantry models that need to be painted up. In addition, I had several false starts on models that I made but don't really fit into my army.

Finishing these three models, however, makes me feel like I might make the goal. The third Basilisk finishes up my Brood Brothers attached Spearhead detachment of three Basilisks, two heavy weapons squads of three mortars each, a company commander and a Master of Ordinance. The two Goliath Rockgrinders add a little heavy first round punch to my Cult army.

Two Goliath Rockgrinders and One Basilisk

I have started assembling my second to last batch of models. This batch includes ten acolyte hybrids and thirteen or fourteen Neophyte hybrids. These are the models that motivated me to start building a Genestealer cult army.

Acolyte and Neophyte Hybrids on the Workbench

**Oldmanronald**

First Goliath Rockgrinder

I really like the Goliath Rockgrinders so I took a lot of pictures of the two models. This is the first group. The pigments give the model a gritty look. To get the cutters on the Drilldozer blades looking right, I applied the pigment over the cutters and then wiped the pigments off the tips of the blades.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right Front

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right

This view shows the details of the Clearance Incinerator. The tires were fun to paint. A semitransparent black and blue over the orange base coat gave the tires a realistic look, especially with the pigment.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Left

Goliath Rockgrinder – Rear

Dry brushing with silver metallic paint for the flooring and blue washes over some of the ropes and cables bought out details.

**Oldmanronald**

Second Goliath Rockgrinder

In the second Goliath Rockgrinder, I added details not in the first. My detail favorite is the pointing finger on the heavy stubber gunner. This was actually a tricky conversion. Both the gunners on the Goliath Rockgrinder have gauntlet type gloves that cover most of their forearm. The pointing finger is a bit from the astra militarium heavy weapons squad kit. It is designed for an imperial guard soldier with a cloth sleeve. To match the heavy stubber gunners right arm, I used green stuff to change the pointing finger bit from a bare handed with long sleeve shirt hand and arm to a glove gauntlet.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right Front

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right

The other detail that is different in this second Goliath Rockgrinder is that the access to the instruments panel is left open.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Left

Goliath Rockgrinder – Rear

Goliath Rockgrinder – Front

I rarely pass up an opportunity to use the pointing finger on at least one character on a set of vehicles.

**Oldmanronald**

Goliath Rockgrinders – Drill Dozer Blade

I really like the Goliath Rockgrinders so I took a lot of pictures of the two models. These are taken from a lower angle than the first pictures.

Drill Dozer Blade – First Goliath Rockgrinder

Drill Dozer Blade – Second Goliath Rockgrinder

**Oldmanronald**

Goliath Rockgrinders – Side View

The Goliath Rockgrinder is a fun model to build and paint. If you want a treat, go into the dakka dakka gallery and search rockgrinder. You will see some beautiful models by different painters. Each has a different color scheme and interpretation. I am not the only one who had fun building and painting the Rockgrinder.

First Goliath Rockgrinder – Right Side

Second Goliath Rockgrinder – Right Side

The instrument panel is open on the second Rockgrinder

First Goliath Rockgrinder – Left Side

Second Goliath Rockgrinder – Left Side

The left side of the first and second Goliath Rockgrinder are almost identical except that the second has a stone embedded in the wheel well of the second model.

**Oldmanronald**

Goliath Rockgrinders – Rear View

For those of you who enjoy checking out rears, these are pictures of the rears of the Goliath Rockginders.

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right Rear

Goliath Rockgrinder – Right

Goliath Rockgrinder – Side by Side

**Oldmanronald**

Brood Brothers Spearhead Detachment – Third Basilisk

In my pictures, the first and second Basilisk are nearly identical. The only difference are the gunners. This third is nearly identical except it doesn’t have pigment on the treads so the gun is a little cleaner. This third gunner is slightly different than the other two.

Basilisk – Right Front

Notice how shiny the tread is.

Basilisk – Back

Basilisk – Front

Basilisk – Left

Basilisk – Right

Basilisk Gunner

**Maharg**

Cult is coming on nicely. The dirty orange works really well for this army

**The Riddle of Steel**

Impressive army you have going. The dirty orange works well and the bright green as a detail color adds nice contrast.

-Rids

**Oldmanronald**

The Brood Brothers Spearhead Detachment

Thank you Maharg and The Riddle of Steel for your kind remarks. I like the phrase “dirty orange” to describe these models.

I have completed my planned Brood Brothers so-called Spearhead detachment. I say so-called since this detachment is a pure artillery support detachment consisting of three Basilisks, two heavy weapons squads of three mortars each, a company commander and a Master of Ordinance. It will be deployed behind cover out of the line of sight except maybe for the Master of Ordinance who needs line of sight to maximize his artillery barrage.

When I think of a spearhead detachment I think of tanks that will plunge directly into the enemy troops breaking them apart, not an artillery detachment hiding at the rear of the battlefield. Regardless, this is my powerful firepower unit that will impose casualties on the enemy every turn as long as these units last.

Brood Brothers Artillery Detachment

**Oldmanronald**

The True Genestealers Cult Spearhead Team

I do have a team that I plan to set up in ambush and have available during the first turn to hit the enemy hard. It consists of my two Goliath Rockgrinders each carrying an Acolyte Hybrids unit with a leader, a cult icon, two heavy rock saws, and hand flamers. It should be fun to deploy although it probably won’t survive the first few turns.

Goliath Rockgrinders and Acolyte Hybrids

**Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll**

I love your setting these up as little detachments that make sense fluff-wise. It's all tied together very well!

**Mellon**

I really like your cult. Striking beautiful colours.

**Oldmanronald**

The Genestealers Cult

This is the first posting I have done for two months. First, I need to acknowledge the encouraging remarks of Gwyn chan’r Gwyll and Mellon. Thank you.

I have actually built a number of models and posted a lot of picture of the models to the Gallery. The problem is that this is a mass army which requires a lot of models. Thus the pictures are somewhat redundant and since I have to build so many models to put together the cult, I have gotten a little sloppy with the paint and it shows in the pictures. Here are a couple.

Neophyte Hybrids with Heavy Stubbers

These models are some of my favorites but I did get sloppy with the paint, particularly with the hands.

Neophyte Hybrids with Heavy Stubbers

Atalan Jackal with double barrel shotgun and cultist knife

I had fun with the Atalan Jackals and made them with three arms so that they could display all their weapons.

Atalan Jackal with double barrel shotgun and cultist knife