Baneblade (III): Weathering

It has been a while since the last update, but honestly, finding time to paint has been a real challenge!

Painting this monster of a tank is not a simple task, there is just too many things to do.
In any case, finally I have been able to finish it and here it is.

I tried not to overdo the weathering although I can see I went a bit too far in some areas anyway. I used pigments and AK Interactive enamel washes.
I am very happy to mark this one as done because it is not only a huge figure, but also is the last miniature of the Genestealer Cult Army as well as the first milestone of the year done! I will take out the whole Army for an Armies of Parade blogpost, hopefully soon.

As for taking pictures, it is too big for my lightbox so I just placed it on my desk and took pictures the best I could, which is not that great. You can see all variants and a few pics of the details. Including the mandatory "drive me closer so I can hit them with my sword" picture. I hope you like it!

Next on my table are the Iron Golems of Warcry, for a change!

Baneblade




Banehammer




Banesword




Doomhammer




Hellhammer




Shadowsword




Stormlord




Stormsword

And some detail pics of all the sides

Mandatory "drive me closer so I can hit them with my sword" picture

Painted in 2020

Baneblade (II): painting

It took me a while, but I have finally made some progress with the eight variants of the Baneblade.
Even though I am locked at home like everyone else, family obligations are taking most of my time these days, so my painting time is almost null.
In this step, I have managed to block all the basic colours, painted the Hybrid and basically have it ready for the weathering.
I am not after an extremely weathered look, I just want it to look old. Kind of like it was stolen by the Cult from a storage facility and has had poor maintenance. Therefore, I will favour a dusty look and I will try to contain myself from adding too many scratches, as opposed to my Sons of Horus Army.

I wanted to paint it with urban camo pattern. But, as I do not own an aero, I needed to do it with spray. First, I base coated the tank in black using GW Black Spray. Then, I masked the camo pattern and sprayed Army Painter grey. Without making it a fully consistent coat, to make sure it looks granular in some areas, as if it was sprayed.

After that, I painted all the metals, lights and minor details. Then, I just needed to highlight ribbons and plates.

I did not want to make it look like "too Genestealer", therefore, there is just a single sign of it, barely visible. The idea is that the Cult is not showing itself out openly, so the tank could pass for a poorly maintained Imperial one, and only when it is really close you can see the Cult icon. Which looks like it has been sprayed white on top of a purple stripe on the front.

As a final touch, I added a few decals. It has been years since I don't use decals, but I thought that for the tank it was the right choice.

To highlight the myriad of ribbons and all the plates, I decided to use an enamel wash with white spirit rather than regular wash and edge highlight. The wash I used leaves a dusty, brownish shape, which is the kind of look I wanted. You can see a picture of the wash from AK interactive below.

Next steps are scratches and weathering. For that I will be using streaming grime enamel wash and pigments.

I hope you like it!

Baneblade




Banehammer




Banesword




Doomhammer




Hellhammer




Shadowsword




Stormlord




Stormsword

I hope to have the weathering done by end of the month, let's see...

Baneblade (I): building an Octoblade

As I introduced in the previous post, I wanted to build my Baneblade as Octoblade.

Honestly, I doubt I would ever try out in battle all 8 variants of the Baneblade, but hey, it is a very cool hobby project and I wanted to build it.

I have to say it has been quite challenging, but I am now a proud owner of an Octoblade!

I can't believe how many pieces this kit has!

First, I bought 50 3x1,5mm magnets as I already had 75 of the 2x1mm ones as recommended in the tutorial I was following as a guideline. I also used this other one as a visual help for the unclear parts.

It took me roughly 6 hours to sand and prepare all the components.

Then, another 4 or 5 to assemble, glue, drill, check, double check, triple check polarity and still manage to mess it up a couple of times and then remove and assemble again :)

For me the worst part where the variants of cannons that you can assemble as you need to measure and glue small plastic pieces to hold the magnets inside. That took more than a few attempts to get it right.

I have made small variations compared to what the tutorial was recommending. Basically, I used smaller magnets whenever I could as they were not only easier to drill, they were also handling the job quite well.

I have also left a few pieces without magnet as they just snap into place without help.

The only thing that I somehow managed not to get correctly is the front of the default Baneblade that is about 2mm higher than what it should be, I think it bended slightly when drying up. I was forced to cover it with a small plasticard piece that once painted nobody will be able to notice (that is at least the plan).

So, in total I have a bit over 10 hours of work already on the model and I have not even started to paint it.

I will do some painting experiments over the weekend. I will try out some camo patters using spray paint. I do not own an aero so I will do everything with my good 'ol brush.

Without further ado, here are the pictures of the eight variants.

Baneblade



Banehammer



Banesword



Doomhammer



Hellhammer



Shadowsword



Stormlord



Stormsword

All the pieces required to build these variants with ridiculously flamboyant names...

Now, let's get it painted!

Something big is coming!

Now that all the Infantry models are painted... what's left? Well, the central point of the Army, a Baneblade!

Remember, the guys in my Cult are totally crazy and they all travel together in the Baneblade by grasping at whatever protruding pipe is available. The background of the Army is a travelling horde of Genestealers and few subhumans on top of a hijacked Baneblade, the smell inside must be something great...

I want to give it a grey/black scheme so that it fits the urban bases they already have. Let's see how that works out.

I guess this tank is going to keep me busy for a few weeks so updates might stall, but it will be totally worth it -I hope-.

To make things worse, I plan to build it as an Octoblade.
All the required magnets are ready and I have started drilling holes like a crazy man... Hopefully I will have it painted by end of April and then I will be able to cross out the first milestone of the year.

Acolyte Iconward

Today I am extremely happy to share the last painted miniature of the Army, the Acolyte Iconward!

I usually don't employ him in my Army, but as he came out with the box, and I would like to have all the HQ options, I decided to give him a quick paint job. I can also use him as a regular Cult Icon if needed, as I already have another one.

The other options that I am missing are the Locus and Nexus. Both are good because one helps by making the Mental Onslaught more effective and the other contributes to the CP pool, so most likely I will get them at some point. Probably I will keep an eye on the second hand market and will snatch them when they are cheap.

Done (99) ALL!!

• 40 Genestealers
• 1 Broodlord
• 3 Ripper Swarms
• 1 Patriarch
• 1 Neurothrope
• 1 Primus
• 34 Neophyte
• 10 Aberrants
• 1 Abominant
• 2 Familiars
• 1 Clamavus
• 2 Acolyte Hybrid
• 1 Acolyte Iconward

Painted in 2020.

Acolyte Hybrids (II)

In general, I don't usually play with Hybrids on my Army, but as I use them mainly for Kill-Team like I showed already, I decided to paint two of them with the best close combat weapons I can give them.
The main reason I don't play them is that I see they work relative well in a 20-strong unit that I have no interest in painting and using or with the Acolyte bomb strategy that is also not appealing, I'd rather stick to Genestealers and Aberrants.

These two guys always come to the Kill Team games, so anyway is good to have them painted.

Just one to go!

Done (98)

• 40 Genestealers
• 1 Broodlord
• 3 Ripper Swarms
• 1 Patriarch
• 1 Neurothrope
• 1 Primus
• 34 Neophyte
• 10 Aberrants
• 1 Abominant
• 2 Familiars
• 1 Clamavus
• 2 Acolyte Hybrid

Pending (1)

• 1 Acolyte Iconward

Painted in 2020.

Kelermorph

For today I have the custom Kelermorph that I converted and showed already here.

This guy is always present in all the lists I play, as he is usually more than worth the points he costs.
Now that you can easily buy him in a blister, I could change this kitbash for a proper one, but since he is already pointed, it is unlikely I will do that soon...

Because of the crouched position, it was difficult to capture his face on the photo, still, it came out quite blurry.

Done (96)

• 40 Genestealers
• 1 Broodlord
• 3 Ripper Swarms
• 1 Patriarch
• 1 Neurothrope
• 1 Primus
• 34 Neophyte
• 10 Aberrants
• 1 Abominant
• 2 Familiars
• 1 Clamavus

Pending (3)

• 3 Metamorph

Painted in 2020.