Cult War: Month 1

Cult War 2018

Allen and I have agreed on a project for 2018 that will be the main focus of our hobby efforts in 2018. It isn’t going to be the only thing we do but it will have set goals that we want to achieve each month. As Allen has done most of the work he needs to do on his Necrons he is now going to be working on his packed shelf of Genestealer Cult models which has influenced my army decision which is the somewhat broad classification of Imperium.

Imperium gives me access to Inquisition, Deathwatch, Astra Militarum, Tempestus Scions, Assassins and Dark Angels, all of which are models I own but need to get painted. Once I have some Astra Militarum painted Allen can use them too as we work through narrative scenarios. Eventually Allen can even have some Tyranids if that’s the way the story goes.

To begin with we are going to play Shadow War. Allen’s choices are fairly simple, the Genestealer Cult list whereas I can choose from four lists! Inquisition, Astra Militarum, Tempestus Scions and Dark Angel Scouts.

For January I am painting my entire Inquisitorial war band. This consists on a Ordo Xeno Inquisitor, several acolytes and neophytes and a bounty hunter in case I’m allowed reinforcements. I’ve also chosen to paint one objective and one scenery piece, though in this case it is built as three separate models. If I can manage to do this every month we’ll have a substantial collection of items to be playing with.

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Like  Lee says, 2018 sees me starting a new army. I wanted something completely different from the Necrons, which are sitting at a comfortable 2,000 points painted. Problem is, people hate playing them. 19 wins on the bounce now means even I am tiring of playing with them. I feel that games, especially casual games, are the formation of a pact between opponents, a commitment to mutual fun and enjoyment. Wiping players from the board and taking minimal casualties frankly has limited appeal to me.

And it is with this mindset in mind that I have chosen my new army. I had no shortage to choose from but have decided that it wouldn't be Power Armoured so that's Ultramarines, Emperors Blades (my own Homebrew chapter) and Deathwatch all discounted. I have all three Aeldari armies but those too i'm not especially keen on, and given their dominance at the recent LVO it would appear that I made the right choice. Nope, it was the Genestealer Cult that I decided on.  At this point, I probably should have had a word with myself......... 

'2018, new army! Genestealer Cult!'

'Al, that's a horde army mate, you hate painting horde armies.....' 

'I've got a great idea for background and colour scheme too'

'Al HORDE ARMY. Keep it simple....'

'I'm gonnna do them with a primary colour of Yellow!!!'

Al, nooo, Al.... SHTAP! Al......???????'

Anyway, there we are, 168 models to paint. Sigh. Complex colour scheme, double sigh. Yellow as a major colour. All the sighs. Still, i'm committed now,  (some would say I should BE committed).

So month one, saw me complete a grand total of 25 models. Anyone who knows my painting habits knows that that is a LOT for me.  I'm quite pleased with that output and if i can keep it up I could see the army completed in a little over six months. Which would suit me down to the ground.

I made up my paint recipes and wrote them down and knocked out ten Neophytes pretty quickly, making good use of washes to cut time. (I refuse to drybrush). The Acolytes were a little trickier as the percentage of Tyranid elements increases. This meant I effectively had to work out the colour scheme for Hive Fleet Terebinthinas (and if you know why they are called that you will know why they have that colour scheme). Yellows greens and purples feature.

Anyway, this, and the fact that they are just harder to paint means that only 5 Acolytes were finished. I did better with the indoctrinated Imperial Guard/PDF elements though and got a full squad of 10 finished along with freehand on the pads which a few may recognise. After all they are the Brotherhood of the Yellow King...

So, yep that's 25 models all done for January, not too bad, now to see if I can maintain it. At the very least its enough for our planned games of Shadow War. The Cult Rises.......

We'll be back next month with another update!