It Begins.

So, one of the things I wanted to do this year was to create a hobby-specific blog of some kind. There's already a million other amazing blogs out there, (some say, maybe two million!) all of which will be doing it better than I am. However, I still thought it'd be a good way of keeping a record of completed projects, ongoing projects and thinking about doing stuff that is probably never going to happen. To all those that may find themselves adrift in the interwebs warp, I hope you'll be into what I'm up to. Pretty much everything I'll talk about will be somehow connected to Warhammer 40000 and its various offshoots, but I may drift into muckier (re Fantasy/Historical) areas too.

For my first entry I thought I'd share my small, but growing collection of Genestealer Cultists. Pretty sure everyone in the world loves these figures and they really do capture the vibe of the Warhammer 40000 universe around the early 90's. I've lusted after these three particular figures since they appeared and have only just got around to acquiring them without resorting to selling half a kidney. I'm pretty sure that these are all Jes Goodwin sculpts as they seem more refined than the Bob Olley interpretations and more in-keeping with the then emerging in-house style that Games Workshop was beginning to form at that time. They've all been painted in the same or similar pallet and style as the classic Mike McVey versions.

Predictable paint job number one

Predictable paint job number two

 In the future, everyone will need purple camo

These guys really were a joy to paint and the 20 year long wait to get my paws on them was more than worth it. All that time spent pouring over old John Blanche artwork and miniature catalogues as a kid and more recently, the amazing Bryan Ansell collection; if only I knew one day I'd have some! The Magus in particular has great tabletop presence and oozes alien menace. To start with, I'm planning on putting together a band of around eight hybrids of various generations to represent a Necromunda gang. From there I plan to paint up a similar sized force of Rogue Trader-era Imperial Guard to function both as Brood Brothers and as a small Guard army in it's own right. I doubt very much if they'll ever get gamed with as I'm both terrible with remembering any rules or making time to play. They'll be there if I remedy either of those things though!

I hope to put these guys to bed soon as I have one big project I want to work on in 2015 which is a Rogue Trader/Second Edition Eldar army. Was thinking about trying to get it done in time for BOYL, but we'll see how I get on as I'm painfully slow at painting!