Genestealer Cult Gargoyles
Howdy, interwebs!
This is the Rogue Trader Maitreya summer 2013 Warhammer 40k modeling blog-irc-bbs-forum dealie. This summer, I am working on finishing my Genestealer Cult army in time for the Labor Day [URL="http://www.strategicon.net/index.php?goto=events"]Strategicon [/URL]tournament. The 1750 point army is about ¾ done, but way short on painting, and I am desperately short of fast hordes to put pressure on my opponents’ flanking units and backfield. I was well and duly convinced that I need a unit of gargoyles!
A week or two later, I was watching [URL="http://videosift.com/video/B-17-Scary-WWII-Segment-from-Heavy-Metal-The-Movie"]clips of B-17s [/URL]in one of those Wikipedia time/space loops where I was losing an hour of my life due to no particular reason. Bounce to a few [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3__NN16uoXk"]Black Sabbath[/URL] songs from the early eighties, and I recalled how utterly terrifying it was to see a crazed mob ripping through a city, with giant bat riders raining death from the skies. It is amazing how quickly the memory returns of my nine-year-old heart being gripped with paralyzing fear as I watched this awesome film when it was released in the theater (thanks dad). Fast forward 32 years, and now I want my Warhammer 40k enemies to feel this same paralyzing panic and hopelessness as I overwhelm them` with countless horrors.
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I don’t want gargoyles, I want feral bat riders of death! I NEED feral batriders of death!
TO THE COUNCIL CHAMBER!
A half hour sketch the next day at work, and I had my idea. . . Gargoyle body, Genestealer rending claws as legs, an 80’s era Ork boy head for the pointy-eared tusked bat face, and a rider. Durn sketch missing. . . must have cleaned out the pockets a wee bit too aggressively. Of course I have the needed parts, right? I have two boxes of Gargoyles sitting in the shrink and countless Space-Hulk V1 Genestealers doing a few decades of waiting around.
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Sifting through bits, I found a baggie of a few dozen Digga Yoofs, purchased from “Trollboss Bob” back in the day. I probably paid $2 each for blisters of four-five of these little miscreants. Bob had some crazy deals back then, and they sold out fast (often within a few hours). For those not in the know, Diggas were a faction out of Gorka Morka, an Ork buggy n’ scrap game in the style of Necromunda and Mordheim. Digga Yoofs were human youths that grew up in the shadow of Orkish Kulcher, so were ripped hard little bundles of sinew and malice at an early age. In the U.S., the game went over about as well as lo-salt pickled broccoli, and remaining models were blown out. End result is I happened to have two fistfuls of bald, muscular, mini-me miniatures, just the perfect size for Gargoyle jockeys.
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Headed over to a buddy’s house with bitz and toolbox in tow, I set to mock up. Quick comparison of Ork vs. Genestealer head was a tough but unanimous decision. Torqued up dremeled the little urchin and mounted him up! Voila! Pretty durn cool.
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Next step is to make a bunch of them. Mathammer says I need 18-20 for an effective unit, so I’ll start with half for the next step.
Will update regularly. Got a lot to do by the end of summer!