Tuesday, 9 October 2018

The Benevolent Brothers - A Cult for Mutants and their Supporters

Necromunda is home to all kinds of cults, Imperial devotees, sinister xenos bands and spire-based secret societies. Chaos cults are not unknown - there are those who seek (or are found by) dangerous and unpredictable powers. There are also those cults who provide havens for the unwanted, the lonely and the dispossessed. The origin of the Benevolent Brothers is rumoured to have been a soup kitchen run by a pair of missionary brothers, seeking to bring the light of the Emperor to the mutant slums of Borscht's Crack. No-one knows for certain what happened to the brothers, but the rise of the Benevolent Brothers, a cult of mutants and their human hangers-on, is led by a charismatic and eloquent pair of mutie brothers...
Chaos cultists stalk the streets of the underhive.


My gaming group is due to start a new Necromunda campaign in mid-November. Whilst I could have retained the Data Kings tech gang, I generally like to use a new campaign as an excuse to make some new models. With the updated and revised Chaos Cult rules published, the time seemed right to make something chaotic.

I wanted a slightly different spin on my chaos cult, so decided that it would be comprised of mutants in the Rogue Trader rather than Realm of Chaos style. Forget claws and beastial faces, my mutants are weird-looking oddities, supported by some unloved human outcasts who are the lowest of the low.

I'm still debating the exact make-up of the starting cult, but it will be led by the brothers Jakob and Wilhelm, and will include as many autogun-toting cultists as I can fit in.


My first two figures are Teech (cultist with autogun) and Wilhelm (witch). Teech is based on a Rogue Trader space pirate with a head swap from a modern Imperial Guard ratling, which makes him look a little weird.

Wilhelm is actually an unreleased sorcerer or druid that was my prize for winning one of the painting competitions with 'Enter House Ulanti' at Bring Out Your Lead 2015. I've been waiting for a suitable project to use him in, and I figure he works equally well as a Necromundan witch as a fantasy figure.


I painted both figures with the same colour scheme, basing the skin tone on the lovely Rakarth Flesh paint. I tried to tech up Wilhem with the addition of some pretty geometric patterns on his skin.

I've got a range of other figures awaiting paint, including the cult demagogue, Jakob - sneak preview below!


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

20 comments:

  1. Sean9 October 2018 at 16:49

    Lovely pair. I look forward to reading of their exploits in the underhive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom9 October 2018 at 19:00

      Thanks Sean! I foresee lots of ineffectual but entertaining attempts to reach fame and glory.

      Delete
  2. Suber9 October 2018 at 17:31

    Delightful. I was trying to discover where did the bits for Wilhem come from -I assumed it was one of your conversions! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom9 October 2018 at 19:01

      Not this time! He's a one-piece oddity all by himself :)

      Delete
  3. Lasgunpacker9 October 2018 at 20:34

    Fun! And of course you will need quite a lot of gangers if they all have autoguns. I like that they are mutants in the vein of Quovandius from Inquisitor, rather than the bug headed claw arm types... that sort would be shot on sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom9 October 2018 at 22:03

      Lots of gangers with autogun is about right. Throw enough lead at the opposition and some will hit! I should look back at Quovandius, I'd forgotten about him until you mentioned it.

      Delete
  4. Simon Quinton 10 October 2018 at 07:28

    Nice duo. The rest look promising as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom10 October 2018 at 13:48

      Thanks Simon, hopefully they'll look the part when they're done.

      Delete
  5. (Kym) + Warburton + (Classic40K) 11 October 2018 at 05:04

    Very cool--looking forward to more!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mr Papafakis11 October 2018 at 09:10

    The small head from the ratling fits him nicely. Just goes to show that the scaling for the ratlings bodies was not the same as their heads. He looks creepy :)

    I really like the dude in the middle of the last shot too Jon. He's gunna look ace painted up.

    Great stuff as always mate :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom11 October 2018 at 09:14

      Thanks Shane. I did actually embiggen the ratling head by increasing the size of the cranium - it was a little too small in reality once I'd added it.

      The sword-waving guy is going to be my cult leader. Hopefully he'll turn out OK!

      Delete
  7. Asslessman12 October 2018 at 10:01

    This is a great group which draws inspiration on something less eye-catching than regular chaos. Very cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom13 October 2018 at 10:16

      Understated and overlooked, that's the most insidious kind of cult!

      Delete
  8. Dai12 October 2018 at 16:55

    Subtle tends to be better for Necromunda where Chaos is concerned I think so I am quite intrigued to see what else you have in store for this ragged lot. Good stuff mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom13 October 2018 at 10:19

      Thanks! They'll all be in a similar vein, slightly odd and unpleasant looking :)

      Delete
  9. FourEyedMonster17 October 2018 at 02:23

    Great looking skin tone, which is also spot on for the subject matter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom17 October 2018 at 15:31

      I wanted something realistic, yet slightly off-kilter for the skin. The dull fleshy tan of Rakarth flesh works for me :)

      Delete
  10. Chrahlsath the Flayer19 October 2018 at 14:28

    Great work Jon - I look forward to their forthcoming encounter with the Cult of Thrubb, and my horrendous dice luck against you finally changing. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. axiom19 October 2018 at 20:08

      Thrubb is clearly a deluded looney! The Benevolent Brothers follow the true path leading to mutant rights.

      I'm eagerly awaiting a rivalry to match Fisk and Stumpy :)

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)