So as you may have seen on Dave’s recent post, the Sprues and Brews team are currently taking part in a Tale of Gamers!

We have a budget of the cost of a Start Collecting Box, roughly £60* each month to purchase and paint models to put towards brand new armies for both Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. We will be alternating between the systems each month, starting with 40k in January and moving to AOS in Feb – this gives us some variety in what we are painting and gives us a month to think about what additions we want to make towards our forces.

So what army did I decide to do for 40k? Well, at the Warhammer World Vigilus Open Day I fell in love with a gorgeous kit, the Genestealer Cults Atalan Jackals, and there an then I pledged my life to the uprising…

With my decision made I began to crack on with my first unit – a squad of Neophyte Hybrids

I have always loved these models, and have come close to joining the cult many times – however I had never painted them before, and boy oh boy are they gorgeous kits!

I decided to go ahead with the Cult of the Rusted Claw as I absolutely loved the grey and orange scheme that had been featured in the 7th Edition Genestealer Cults Codex and felt it fitted well with the industrial miner vibe that the cultist models have.

With just the index available at the time, I just went to town and built up whichever weapons I thought looked cool – after all, over the course of 6 months I should have plenty of options to build a decent force out of even if the heavy weapons get dropped!

If you want to know how I painted these, then look no further than Duncan Rhodes’ Neophyte video from way back in the mists of time – I thought I would be able to use this scheme for not only all the “human” looking elements of the force, but also the vehicles and bikes!

Next up I wanted to do something a little more “alien” looking, so decided to paint up a unit of Acolyte Hybrids, the more Genestealer looking of the troops choices!

As with the Neophytes, I decided to just build what looked cool – and what looks cooler than some massive mining equipment?

Just like the Neophytes, these guys were brilliant fun to paint up, having all the industrial elements of their more human brothers, but also the gribbly Tyranid parts of their Xenos heritage!

I’m very much looking forward to painting up more of these guys along with their Metamorph brethren! For these models I used Duncan’s Acolyte video again bearing in mind I would be able to use these schemes for Purestrain Genestealers, Aberrants and the Patriarch…

Speaking of the Patriarch, next up was the creature that birthed the entire cult…

This big monstrosity was great fun to paint up, and a pretty powerful unit on the tabletop too! You may notice that he has some Blood Angel helmets, and the fact that fellow Spruer Jay collects Blood Angels is nothing but a massive coincidence…

With the Patriarch completed I though I’d best get the rest of the Broodcoven completed!

The Magus was next up, and while he isnt a patch on the gorgeous new female Magus, he still has a spot in my army for psychic shenanigans!

And last, but certainly not least this month was the Primus! This sinister, trench coat wearing character was again a perfect blend of Human and Alien and a real joy to paint up!

And so, the first month of the cult was completed! The forces of the Rusted Claw are hiding away ready to strike out in March ready for the second month of 40k in our Tale of Gamers. The question is, what will I be picking up to reinforce them? Well I do have my eye on those nice bikes…

But before we get to month two of Genestealer Cult, we have February to get though first! And that means Frosty Fyreslayers**…

See you later in the month for my progress on these guys!

*The keen eyed may have noticed that my pledge this month is a little over the budget! Ok, I’m owning up, I’ve split a Battleforce for January saving the other half of the box for a future month!

** Yes, I know that Fyreslayers dont sound very frosty, but bare with me on this one…

Published by Matt Crowther

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