Old Strains: Genoproject and the Genestealer Hybrids

Or, "How I once converted a Eldar Genestealer and Ork Genestealer"

What feels like a thousand years ago, the revised plastic Genestealer kit released to much fanfare. However, that fanfare was pretty negative as this was the early days of the Internet, and the advance photo of the new plastic Genestealer that leaked was taken from the front, the with crumby, potato phone camera pointed right up its nose!

Thus began Stealergate: the controversy of the entire 40k community panning the new genestealer models before they were even released for having giant nostrils, and Jes Goodwin swearing off the online community for them having prejudged a model they hadn't even seen yet.

So, when the new plastic Genestealers finally released in the Battle for Macragge they did so under a bit of a pall. However, there was a group of us Tyranid hobbyist who couldn't be dissuaded by net negativity. We appointed ourselves Goodwin's Army, and we decided that we would embark on a project to show what the plastic Genestealer was really capable of!

Or at least I think that's how we started. Regardless, the Genoproject was born!

Kroot Tyranid Hunter Killteam - Kitbashember... the rest of the weeks

After making a good start on the first week of the Kitbashember project, real life happened. As a result, I got off my nice tempo, but I still endeavoured to crank out as many Kroot Tyranid Hunters as I could and to keep up my rhythm.

In the end, I cranked out 7 Kroot in total, which I'm happy with, but it still grinds my gears that I didn't make the full 10.

In my last post, you saw the first three members of the team:

The Trooper and The Heavy

The Priest

Kroot Tyranid Hunters - Medic

And I teased the Medic, but here he is in his full glory:

Kroot Tyranid Hunters return! Kitbashember - Week 1

This post is a double zombification: resurrecting the Modern Synthesist blog from its long slumber, and resurrecting one of my smallest projects that seems to have achieved surprising reach across the internet.

Specifically, that time I created a Kroot Tyranid Hunter for Nuffsaid/Brother Pink's birthday.

REMEMBER ME?

I made one, always intended to make more, but then just kind of put the idea on the back burner and some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost to me over the years. 

The internet, however, remembered.

Genestealer Patriarch Throne - The Osseous Throne

The centrepiece of my Genestealer Cult of the Omega Strain is the cult's Patriarch, known as The Master, and his Osseous Throne.

In this article, I'd like to share more photos of the Osseous Throne, both unprimed and painted. However, before we get to that, I should probably touch on my...

Inspiration for the Conversion

Anyone who has been along for long enough, or who has a vested interest in Genestealer Cults has probably run across either the following piece of phenomenal art by Tony Hough...

(Due possibly to some Twitter cajoling, he even did the following colour version of the same art in recognition of his 30th anniversary as a 40K artist!)

Genestealer Patriarch Conversion - MonsterMarch Week 4

So way back at the beginning of March, I cheekily committed to finish the above converted Genestealer Patriarch model for MonsterMarch, a hobby pledge event being hosted by Path Of An Outcast. However, to do that, I needed to make him look like this guy, who is The Master from Guillermo Del Toro's modern vampire TV series The Strain:

That meant sculpting some kind of cloak, which, honestly, terrified me. But I bit the bullet, took it on, and in the end I think it worked out.

Paint Yoshit Week 8 Update (Squaduary Week 4)

This is the Week 8 update for mine and Brother Pink's Paint Yoshit Challenge, and also happens to be my final update on my progress/participation in Stepping Between Games' Squaduary challenge. To review, here's where we are in my own Squaduary schedule:

Week 1: Assembly
Week 2: Priming and Airbrushing
Week 3: Clean up and details
Week 4: More final details and basing

...and what do I have to show for myself?

I had been hammering away at painting yesterday to have as many models as I could absolutely done for the Squaduary deadline at midnight on February 28th, but then I saw this post from Rob over at Broken Paintbrush about how he'd failed at Squaduary.

Except he hadn't. Not in my eyes, at least. Sure, his Orc Bloodbowl team wasn't based, but they looked pretty great to me!

...which made me realized that I could base the models I had in their current state, and call it done, even though I knew I'd have to go back later and touch up/finish some of their details. So I got out the pin vice and my already-painted bases and set to work!

To review, I took on a VERY AMBITIOUS pledge at the beginning of Squaduary. I'm working towards a tournament deadline at the end of April for my Genestealer Cult, so I thought Squaduary would be the perfect thing to get me ripping through painting most all of my infantry for that tournament force. Here's what that looked like:

All told, that was about 46 models...which is nuts for a challenge where you're supposed to paint a squad. But I had an airbrush, so everything was going to be FINE!

In the end, I wound up completing three squads, for a total of 21 models, which is less than half, but I'm pretty happy with that I DID accomplish.

Completed This Week:

- 6 Aberrants: I'm not really sure why, but I REALLY love the Aberrant models...particularly with their power hammers. Thought there are still some final touch ups to be made, I'm really happy with how these guys came out—especially the one who's setting up to hurl the dynamite. 

Genestealer Cult Enforcers - Omega Strain

Though I shared some shots of these guys as part of the Paint Yoshit Challenge, I love them so much that I think I need they need their own post. They've also been pretty popular on Twitter and Instagram, with a bunch of people saying they reminded them of House Delaque from back in Necromunda days.

These guys came out of a want to make some slick Neophytes that would stand out from the rank and file, whole serving as appropriate escorts for my Primus.

The unit type "Enforcer" is pure invention on my behalf, but it seemed appropriate

Genestealer Cult Teaser Pictures Analysis (Rumours)

I typically don't go in for rumour posts, but I feel like all the attempts to decode the Genestealer Cult teasers posted on GW's 40K Facebook Page have been a little amateur hour. A lot of people are talking about seeing Power Loaders and mechs in those grainy, shadowy photos, and I think it's just optical wishlisting.

I ran a couple of the photos through Photoshop's ENHANCE! filter, and here's what I came up with:

First up, we got this one, which came out yesterday:

 

Genestealer Cult Returns! Inspired by The Strain

Hokay, so.

A long time ago, I got an idea for a Genestealer Cult, featuring some creepy dudes in black trench coats, and I swore that, once GW released plastic greatcoat guard, I would convert up my stealer cult.

So that never happened, but Games Workshop did release Genestealer Cult models, and—holy moly— are they every beautiful, and absolutely SPOT ON the Genestealer models of old, except modernized to compete with the surreal level of plastics currently coming out of GW. In case you'd missed it, they were sculpted by my new hero, Darren Razza Latham.

Though I had been holding out for greatcoat guard to start my cult, this release forced my hand.

Get. This. (Genestealer Cult Rules)

Kids,

I'm still out in stasisland, but I wanted to make sure no one missed the opportunity to download this new rules set from the Tempus Fugitives for the updcoming Second Tyrannic War Campaign. Sure, they are only house rules, but since I've always been a fan of the Cult, I eagerly collect any and all semi-official Genestealer rules documents.

What's more, in the current age of Games Workshop's Oppressive Online Regime (maybe I'll write more on that later, but it is the prime reason for my existential ennui when it comes to The Hobby these days), I don't doubt The Company will be seeking to get these rules taken down, whether they are for an independent event or not. Thus, you should grab them while they are grab-able.

Here's a link to the event page:
http://tabletopnation.simpletix.com/Event/16/WH40000-Second-Tyrannic-War-18/

Here's a link to the campaign document/experimental ruleset:
http://www.tempusfugitives.co.uk/pdf/40k/2TW%20Pack.pdf

Hive Fleet Moloch: A Killer Team

UPDATE: Marco Schulze/Hive Fleet Moloch lives again! You can now follow his work on his Hive Fleet Moloch Instagram profile!

As I mentioned in my previous post about the diabolical mind behind Hive Fleet Moloch, Marco was always into the creepy story behind the Tyranids. He communicated this in how he chose to photograph his Nids, but he also paid particular attention to their posing and basing. Nowhere is this fact more apparent than with the Crimson Stalkers of Tenebra Prime: a Tyranid Kill Team that Marco put together shortly following the release of the new plastic Genestealers in fourth edition.

(If you've not heard of Kill Team, it is a simplified rules set that Games Workshop introduced some time in...4th? Edition. It is some times referred to as 40K in 40 minutes as it used smaller, more characterful forces for skirmish-sized games. It was loved by gamers, so much so that there is a fan-made ruleset entitled "Killzone" that can be downloaded for free and is, IIRC, updated to be able to play in 5th Edition.)

Once again, I've been limited in what I can post by the fact that I mined most of these photos using the Way Back Machine as HiveFleetMoloch.com is currently offline and being occupied by cyber squatters. That being said, I was able to find a goodly number of photos.

So, I present to you, The Crimson Stalkers of Tenebra Prime:

The Tyranid Archive - 4th Generation (2005)

In honour of 40k's 25th Birthday this year, I'm working at an ongoing series called "The Tyranid Archive," which is meant to be a historical look back on where Tyranids came from and how far they've come. Here's our next installment.

4th Generation (2005)

(Also known as PLASTIC CARNIFEX!)

The 4th Generation/Edition refresh of the Tyranid codex caught me completely by surprise. Moloch, who at that time was pretty tight with the studio, had warned me it was coming. I remember being shocked, thinking that Nid players had waited so long for their codex after the release of 3rd Edition (not, actually, that long now that I look at it objectively), and that there was no possible way that we could be getting new models because Games Workshop had only just refreshed the entire model line. Long story short, I was, more or less, happy with the situation the Tyranids were in during 3rd Edition, and I couldn't imagine how Games Workshop could possibly improve on it.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Hive Fleet Moloch: What happened to Moloch?

Alas, poor Moloch, I knew him, Horatio...

/Flame On/
When trying to amass photos for this article, I googled "Hive Fleet Moloch," and I found a thread on Heresy Online or some similar forum, wherein someone said he/she was starting an army using the Hive Fleet Moloch colour scheme, but he/she had no idea what the Hive Fleet Moloch paint scheme was. Then someone else replied to the post, saying that as there was no scheme described in the codex or on lexicanum online, the original poster could paint Hive Fleet Moloch ANY COLOUR HE/SHE WANTED.

No.
Sorry.
Just...no.

The reference to Hive Fleet Moloch wound up in the fifth edition Tyranid codex solely as a nod to the very talented German artist Marco Schulze who originated it back between second and third edition. It was recognition for years of dedication to one of the original extensively converted Hive Fleets.
/Flame Off/

So, in a vain attempt to avoid this happening again, and in the hope of leaving this article as a reference for new Tyranid collectors everywhere, I present to you...

Hive Fleet Moloch

Now, if you've been eating your biomass and keeping in touch with synapse, you, likely, know all about Hive Fleet Moloch, but in case you missed something, or in case the fleet has fallen off the astronomicon, I'll give you a bit of a personalized tour.

The Art of Jutami

The concept series is my schizophrenic attempt to shine light on the art that inspires me. I always do some of my best work when working from concept sketches. I find the hard lines and white space conducive to creation as they give you just enough definition to get you going, while still leaving space to do your own thing. Here's hoping you find these sketches as helpful and inspiring as I do.

The next installment in the Concept Series comes from another fairly recent addition to the Warpshadow forums: Jutami. He gained people's attention with his big beastie conversions--particularly his very heavily armoured Swarmlord. He also caused a fair few eyes to bug out when he revealed his clean, masterfully-applied, nearly luminous paint scheme. And, most recently, he rose to the task when forum admin Hive Node asked for artist on the board to contribute their pen-and-pencil renderings of Tyranids for the inspiration of other bugs on the board.

The Art of Warren Beattie

The concept series is my schizophrenic attempt to shine light on the art that inspires me. I always do some of my best work when working from concept sketches. I find the hard lines and white space conducive to creation as they give you just enough definition to get you going, while still leaving space to do your own thing. Here's hoping you find these sketches as helpful and inspiring as I do.

This is the second installment in the Concept Series: a recurring feature here meant to showcase the concept sketches of both professional and amateur Tyranid artists. When it comes to converting and creating new Tyranid organisms, I have yet to find a better source of inspiration than the concept sketch. The goal of this series is to make sure this work is visible, allowing converters and kitbashers to get new ideas for diversifying their swarms.

We started the series off with an artist as professional as they come: Mr. Jes Goodwin--a man who has been defining the Tyranid aesthetic since Andy Chambers was called The Great Devourer. This week, we switch tracks to an amateur artist (in that he is not employed by GW), and as the series progresses, it will feature many more amateur artists. However, the decision to start with Warren Beattie was a conscious one as he was the first to ever pop up on my radar, and he may be one of the finest amateur, 40k-related artists I have ever run into.

"Warren Beattie" is probably a name you've never heard, and it's only marginally more likely that you've heard the forum handle "Vermis." It's more likely that you may have run across this sketch somewhere along the way:

Or, perhaps, this version that he coloured up for Hive Fleet Moloch: