Androgynous Scouting Party

Salutations. After a lot of life type distractions I have finished some more models. As the last few games I've played were all Genestealer Cults orientated, I naturally finished up some Eldar.  Here's the blurb....

Scouts of Ulthwe

So as I've gone with Ulthwe as my craftworld of choice I needed to get some troop slots filled in. I used some black primer some grey drybrushing and some sepia ink for the white weapons. One of my faster turnarounds. Of course I had to emphasise something so I thought the luxurious leather knee length boots would give these guys the impression of rugged outdoorsie types who like to kick back in alien S & M clubs at the weekend. It's been a real culture change for me not to drybrush ALL weapons silver but as the fluff says; Eldar weapons are plastic, so they should look it.

The central model with the sword is now completely obsolete but an absolutely cracking model. He can of course double up as the Alaitoc sniper character if I ever decide to piss all over my gaming principles and go for a more competitive army.

The scout on the left is particularly well endowed. A miscast rifle barrel on the model made it's way into my loose lead order and I never threw it out. some years later, a dremel, brass rod and the tip of a plastic Eldar lasgun coalesced into the magnificent Aeldari weapon you see before you.

The final five models are much the same as the rest but for a sense of completeness are depicted here, the only thing to note about Eldar scouts is they really like to kneel down when they shoot.  

It was only when I painted up these guys that I realised what nice sculpts they are. Plenty of folds in the robes and almost expressive helmets. What is also very cool about them is they have very interesting poses. They also fill out my Kill Team, unless I decide to beggar myself getting a few other expansions for it. So another 14 furtive types have joined the Continental Drift Painting family and will hopefully be featured in a batrep in the near future.

Thanks for reading.

My moldlines brings all the boys to the yard!

 Howdy. My rather lackluster painting progress has finally improved! Yes, I've managed to get a few off my to do list. So here's what I done;  

 Brood Brothers

My Genestealers have been bolstered by some rather ancient Imperial Guard models. A purplish tint to the skin and some dull clothes denotes these are members of The Drabb Butchers - the name of my cult that are an offshoot of The Innerwyrm Cult, hailing from an abattoir world. You will probably notice there is a trooper pointing forward with a 33% arm addition. This is trooper Urkk, he normally tucks an extra arm under his uniform but he just got  bit excited in this picture. 

Ready and willing to throw themselves in front of a character at the slightest whiff of danger.

The Deliverance of Skorlax

Patriarch Glurcastes was troubled, his long planned insurrection was imminent but several seemingly unrelated chances put the plans into turmoil. Firstly, was the unprecedented comet that had bathed Skorlax in poisonous radioactivity that wiped out 97% of the human populace here. The alien genes of his family had protected them from the worst depredations of the comet but rendered his hybrid children sterile. The only hope to propagate his line was with the dozen or so pure-strain genestealers that remained. Then came the invaders, first Aeldari, shortly followed by Orks - who gave battle on one of the larger urbanizations on Skorlax. As the Aeldari fought and defeated the Orks more and more green-skins made planet-fall to do battle. When vast numbers had dropped onto the surface of Skorlax, the Aeldari disappeared. Knowing that a large force of Orks on the planet would ruin any attempt to contact the star children, Glurcastes sent out the telepathic summons to all his kin. Leave the mines and eradicate the invaders!

The first Battle of Skorlax was an  attempt by the Seer Council of Ulthwe to entice (sub)Waargh Tonkwappa into a large scale ground invasion. To deal with a threat that directly affected Ulthwe holdings. That threat (as is evident by the blurb above) is Genestealers, in the form of The Cult Of The Four Armed Emperor. I had recently purchased the new Codex and Dylan obligingly gave me a game. As the Ork Codex was new also both of us would have little idea of what to expect. What would be a given though, is that there would be plenty of close combat!

Genestealer Cult Killteam

Greetings. After some laziness hobby wise I have finished up my Genestealer Cult Killteam. Feel free to make up a suitably impressive name as I'm at a loss at the moment.

They posed for this publicity picture following an impressive arse kicking given out to some Orks. A batrep may well be on the way. The cult's magus lurks in the corner being sneaky.

Thanks for reading.

Scargill - The Sector's Epicentre

Anyone sort of following this blog may well be aware of me trying to run a rather lackadaisical campaign set on (and around) the planet Scargill. For those with a smidge of interest I've decided to flesh out the background of the planet and surrounding system.


Scargill is the 3rd planet sunwards of the system (and sector) of the same name. The system contains five planets in total, four are habitable due to terraforming during the Dark Age of Technology. The planets are, from outermost inwards; Gruesome Discovery, Stuke, Scargill, Ghades, and Conflagratus. Conflagratus is the only planet in the system without a human population due to it proximity to the star; Scargill Big. Of the other planet in the system Gruesome Discovery is cold sparsely populated research facility, Stuke is an inhospitable desert planet that has ever been a penal colony and Ghades is a fertile jungle planet with a large reptilian indigenous infestation. Regular culls are launched every few years to keep the population down and provide combat training for Scargill PDF forces.


The planet Scargill is a  vastly rich world in mineral terms it is a well populated industrial planet. Not designated as a Hive world it has a citizenry that rates in the 15 billion plus at the last census. Scargill was first inhabited by humanity during the Dark Age of Technology, but records do not show exactly when. The first colonists on Scargill were tasked with developing the abundant minerals and metals to trade with other Imperial planets, one such metal Neoduiron is famous throughout the sector as one of the finest material to make power weapons due to it's conductivity. Scargill is a class C gravity world making the pull a third greater than on Blessed Terra making the population slightly burlier than the Imperial norm but within Adeptus Administratum regulations.

Scargill is separated into three different provinces, one might call them countries due to their immense sizes Gremethorpe, Koverton and Orgreaves. A fourth province called Foote lies on the southern pole and is largely uninhabited due to highly unstable fluctuating radiation pulses caused by an anomaly in the poles ozone layer.  There is a demi-province called Collierie, which is the residence of the current planetary governor. The current governor is Thatcher Magz as ruthless and callous an individual as it is possible to meet on a lawful Imperial planet. Magz has been the governor for over 70 orbits and she is likely to remain so indefinitely due to her wealth and arsenal of apothecaries. The land masses are separated by turbulent seas that contain vast amounts of edible aquatic creatures. Huge factory ships farm the seas but the sudden storms can sink even these 10 Km long vessels.

Thatcher Magz; draconian governor of Scargill.

Scargill society consists of millions of family units called shops that belong to greater collusions of citizens called unions. Unions govern small districts and generally oversee every aspect of life within that district. If one union needs outside assistance from another it will instigate a trade agreement or alliance. Alliances between unions are usually of a predefined duration but there are some exceptions. A common source of conflict is when two unions wish to enter into a trade agreement with the same party, these skirmishes are often called strikes and can be quite bloody.

The people of Scargill are rigid adherents to the Imperial Cult but very superstitious,  particularly with regard to mining and other heavy industry. They are great believers in respecting the machinery or it will 'jinx' you. For many generations the mining unions have stated there is a lesser deity that watches over the population to ensure machinery is not mistreated. This is probably a corruption of the teachings of the Adeptus Mechanicus. A common threat for unruly children is the Tin Men will take you away in the night. Another common belief is common in the eastern province of Orgreaves, a form of ancestor worship that manifests mainly in the more remote areas, a creed that places the reverence of ones elders almost as important as worship of the Emperor Himself. A large number of  folklore tales are of vengeful  elders punishing disrespectful youths.

Due to it's wealth Scargill is regularly beset by void pirate raids from the nearby Tebbit Nebula. It is  beleived that the pirates have criminal allies on the planet which enables them to launch successful raids and escape before the authorities apprehend them. There is also a guerrilla organisation that regularly sabotages Imperial facilities in an attempt to destabilise and ultimately overthrow governor Magz.  Recently several xenos races have attempted to establish beachheads on the province of Gremthorpe. These include Tau from the Pur'La Sept, Aeldari from Biel Tan and a Necron force from an unknown location. A recent attack from heretic Astartes of the Death Guard chapter was beaten back at a heavy cost. It is also thought that Waaargh! Gitsmasha is currently making it's way towards Scargill. As a result of recent hostilities the Scargill Plantery Defense Force have been aggressively recruiting to replace casualties.

Tally Ho For The Imperium!

The armed forces of Scargill were experiencing somewhat of a purple patch of invading hostile  forces, first the Death Guard attacked the PDF (Kinnock region), then came the Necrons, shortly followed by the Tau. All in the same region, against the same commander; Balto Krudditch. Krudditch was becoming a minor celebrity on account of his successes and willingness to use anti xenos profanities whilst giving interviews to the local press. After the defeat of the Tau there seemed to be no further incursions from off world, and that would seem to indicate some R & R for his troops. That was until the vox net chittered some coded signals to advance to Stoop, a heavily industrialised town located near the entrance to the Sciatica mines, west of Scousehatton. It would seem according to the message that a force of Elder from the Biel Tann craftworld  have taken offence at something and were intent  on murder and mayhem. Krudditch's force had not been fully reinforced so he had  to conscript some riders from the Scroxix Hoghunter Dragoons - a volunteer group who keep the numbers of porcine predators at a managable level -into the force. His valued associate Revs Cantalope was still receiving his leg transplants so a slightly smaller than usual battle group entered Stoop to engage the perfidious Aeldari....

Some vile Biel Tan Aeldari.

Scraping in before 2019; Astra Militarum, Sexually Unattractive female and Alien Buskers

Howdy. A quick post to display all those last minute additions to my painted model family for 2018. Last year I managed a review of the year, not sure I will achieve one this year so this may be a slight nod in that direction too. Firstly, here are completed toy soldiers;

Imperial Preacher

After recent games I've noticed that my Catachan troops aren't all that bad in combat with their strength of 4. Give them a preacher and they get an extra attack so doubling their effectiveness. Giving them the order Fix Bayonets improves their shit-kicking ability even further. So a bloke with a sword and a big red book is ready to smite the ungodly. Think I'll call him Eamon.

"Tonight, heathens and xenos, this is your death!".

Grunts

Below are some assorted guardsmen, firstly Valhallan mortar crews still waiting for their mortars to get delivered from the stores. Annoying in particular for the guys holding the shells. I'm hoping they can be deployed in the near future making my mortar squads doubly able to wipe out lightly armoured infantry not in cover.

I don't understand it, I filled in the required purchase order but the mortars haven't arrived. 

Next are some Catachans who will form my shotgun/meltagun tag team. My last game underlined the gap in my army for a heavy hitting squad to jump out of a chimera and let fly at close range. The moment in question was when I deployed a unit of vets to shoot up some Wraithguard approximately 5" away. The difference between ST 3 lasguns and ST 4 shotguns could have been crucial. Anyhoo I have now plugged that particular gap in my force, I have also painted up two more plasma pistol armed sergeants to assist with general enemy of the Imperium extermination duties. The shotguns were cannibalised from the metal Necromunda sets and the plasmas are Orky in origin. I had simply cut off the ends of the lasguns and pinned on the much larger barrel of the shotgun. 

"Buckshot for the enemies of mankind!"

The next pic has a similar collection of xenophobes with the sergeant having a converted Mad Robot Miniatures head. There is quite a lot of cool bits over there to individualise your models. I like to think this particular vet sergeant has had part of his face destroyed by aliens/bacteria/heretic weaponry in the name of The Emperor. He is horrifically scarred and only takes off the mask to scare new recruits and upset Aeldari with his unasymmetrical face. War is hell! I have also sculpted some eradicated alien species on a couple of bases to emphasise the rather gung ho nature of the jungle fighters.

Sergeant Basterd has one of the body of one of the terminally peaceful Q'bork alien lifeforms at his feet. During a volunteer mission deep into their Q'bork tranquility system guardsmen from the Krablokistan 47th acheived 78% kill ratio. What was even more astounding that many units returned from their mission with complete powerpack batteries on their lasguns. Truly heroic.

Another view of Sergeant Basterd.

a better view of the Q'bork.

Trooper Buckshot with an exterminated alien mammal at his feet.

Heavy calibre weaponry is ideal for peacekeeping.

Blind Beggar Miniatures Ensemble

I've been a fan of Blind Beggar Miniatures for a while now and have got some more denizens of that particular range finished. First up is the Mayoress. She(?) comes with a choice of a large laser weapon or a bunch of flowers in her paws. Not a looker this one but an interesting model nonetheless. I think she can have a variety of uses in games, in particular Thatcher Magz, planetary governor of my campaign setting planet Scargill.

"Hot laser death for you luvvie?"

"Or is it posies?"

Juggenfloot is a 6 piece band that play the cabaret circuit of bars and clubs in any disreputable Imperial world that allows xenos on the planet without an instant execution. Juggenfloot (not the name I would have chosen) play a mixture of acid hymns and hallucinogenic swing music. First up is what appears to be a simian lifeform playing a stone necked lute. A bionic arm ensures that 14 hours lute solos are the norm.

If Slash was a species similar to a Jokaero, he might look like this.

Next up is my favourite model in the band, a huge shouldered lifeform sporting some sort of keyboard instrument levitating around his chest, in fact he could actually be rattling his own ribcage. I like to think the instrument is called a Hypnocordion® and it is banned on many planets due to large scale rioting and civil unrest caused by it's operation. This particular instrument is played by Jowey "the knuckles" Faygin and has racked up a score of four riots, two religious pogroms and civil war due to his playing.

  

Jowey "the knuckles" Faygin

Next comes the aquatic percussionist Blap Blap Mmkadzee. Armed with concussion bongos this diminutive hat wearer can provide a steady beat or medium range support with a slight adjustment to his (or her) stance.

WIPE OUT!

The last band member I have finished is this guitarist in monks robes. Probably from the order of the shredded epiphany, this musician is probably called Brother Wahwahpeddle. Before joining Juggenfloot his previous group; Godfunk Soup Kitchens had to disband due to an outbreak of mental leprosy infected 3 band members causing a difference in musical directions.

Kumbaya

Finally, not a band member but a humanoid in robes and a gas mask. This model has many different possible uses. Some sort on nun with a HAZMAT suit is one of them. Armed with what looks like a WWII rifle this model can be many things. An acolyte for an Inquisitorial force for one.

Nun with gun.

So there you have it. Twenty two more figures finished and ready to star in a batrep (or similar) in the near future. All that's left for me to do is wish everyone a happy new year and a satisfactory amount of hobby time to you all!

Thanks for reading.