The Ymgarl Leech

The real beauty about this hobby is that people can make their own models to fill gaps in their collection, whether that's conversions or fan sculpts. I recently received a fantastic model which evokes the genestealer-csith hybrid pictured in the Rogue Trader rulebook. It came from a fellow genestealer fan who has had it sculpted and a handful cast. 

Terrified crew-members attempt to gun down an escaped specimen they were transporting.

+++ They Came From Beyond the Warp +++

Prologue: The Enemy Without

 

Some duties are heavier to bear than others. Guarding the Astropathic Temple of the Benevolent Listeners based on the planet Eccebestus is one many guards of the Beelraphon system aspire to. The planet is as peaceful and welcoming as the task and the Astropaths are dull.

 

It is such a quiet life here, it almost looks odd. Some would even wish for problems to occur to make it look more "normal". The answer to this might have arisen when an Astropath collapsed this morning without any explanation. His last words were "Don't let them take ANY of us with them...". From the agitation outside it seems there's another matter too. Things are getting way too "normal" all of a sudden. That's one hell of a report you're going to have to send to HQ...

 

My good friend JB (aka Asslessman) has conceived an international, multi-game system narrative campaign, incorporating games of Rogue Trader, Space Crusade, Space Hulk, Space Fleet and possibly others. I believe some of these games will be played at Bring Out Your Lead 2017 at Wargames Foundry in July. JB asked if myself and another good friend, Graham, would like to start off the whole thing with a small scale skirmish using the Inquisimunda rules. Of course we would!

Sometimes girls go for the short guy - ratling genestealer hybrid

Back at the end of October, a painting and modelling competition was launched over at the Father's Hall Facebook group (home to all things relating to genestealers and their romantic associations with the human race). Between now and the end of November, participants are being invited to make and paint a new genestealer hybrid. The rules of the competition are:

 

1. Submit a finished hybrid, any generation, any race.
2. Post images of the model prior to priming and once finished. All models must be new work from the start of the competition.

I've been slowly collecting enough genestealer hybrids to make a small force at some point in the future, and the competition seemed like good motivation to make and paint a hybrid in a test colour scheme for the future force. And then I read the rules again: "any generation, any race."

 

I thought, 'I wonder if I could make a ratling genestealer hybrid....?'

 

Holding that thought, I hit ebay and snaffled this cool little fella - a weird pre-slotta halfing oni demon (he later had his horns removed and a slotta-tag added, becoming an Oriental Halfling):



 

 

Bits and pieces

I've been busy with a few odds and sods over the last fortnight, but unfortunately I've not really finished very much. My main focus has been more terrain, but I still need to add a few finishing touches to that before I take some photos.

Still, I've been merrily snapping away with the camera on my phone and thought I'd share some photos of other stuff with you. First up are some in action shots of my newly completed terrain, being used in an Inquisimunda campaign I'm participating in. The Quest for the Golden Phrogg has around a dozen players and semi-regulars, using the Inquisimunda modification rules to Necromunda. Essentially, instead of using a Hive Gang, you can use an Inquisitor and their retinue, an Adeptus Mechanicus or Rogue Trader warband, or Squats, or Eldar pirates, or pretty much whatever else you fancy!

I've been using a radical Ordo Malleus warband, complete with mutants, beastman and daemonhost. Three games in and I've managed to pick up a host of experience, in spite of losing two out of three games!

Some of the warband advance warily into an abandoned herders' village.

 

The Humiliation of Inquisitor Dirske - A Necromunda Mini-Campaign

Felix Catal sat nursing his injuries in the mess room of the Arbite Courthouse. Beast Trooper Braxt had been left for dead in the underhive, along with the majority of their Adeptus Arbites escort. Catal had dragged the motionless form of Inquisitor Dirske away from the fire-fight himself...Dirske now lay in a comatose state in the infirmary, great plasma burns over his body. And the genestealer infestation was no closer to being eliminated..."How did it go so wrong?" Felix muttered, shaking his head.

I spent a happy day at Warhammer World earlier this week with my friend Graham, reacquainting myself with the Necromunda rules (and at the same time trying to inexpertly teach them to Graham). In the build up to the day, we'd each agreed to use the games as motivation to paint some new figures. I painted up 5 Adeptus Arbites to escort my Inquisitor, Hennel Dirske, and his henchmen. Graham painted some new genestealer cultists to oppose them.

Inquisitor Dirske's Force



Inquisitor Dirske and his escort

Inquisitor Dirske - power weapon, laspistol, mesh armour, wyrd power: mental assault
Beast Trooper Braxt - autogun, knife
Felix Catal - shuriken pistol, hand flamer
Arbite Sergeant Raul - bolt pistol, power maul, carapace armour
Arbite Stevin - bolter, bolt pistol
Arbite Palframan - shotgun, bolt pistol
Arbite Hinde - shotgun, bolt pistol
Arbite Iasa - grenade launcher bolt pistol

Brotherhood of the Church of Evolution



The insidious Brotherhood of the Church of Evolution

Magus Bal-Ondar - staff, autopistol, wyrd power: mind control
Purestrain genestealer
Neophyte Rubin - heavy stubber, stub gun
Hybrid Grelsin - autogun, claw
Hybrid Saarl - autopistol, claw, knife
Brood Brother Ryk - lasgun
Brood Brother Jem - lasgun
Brood Brother Micah - lasgun
Brood Brother Morlon - lasgun
Brood Brother Phyl - lasgun
Brood Brother Arn - lasgun
Brood Brother Rab - plasma gun

A Tale of Two Baldies - Xenos Merchant and Genestealer Magus

My two lastest figures have a few things in common; they are both aliens, both bald and both have interesting stories behind them.

First up is a figure from the talented hands of Sonny Bundgaard, and was sculpted for the Frothers 2014 sculpting competition: Froth Eisley. Sonny had a small number of his alien merchant sculpt cast up in resin and was kind enough to send me one on the understanding that I would paint it.

Sonny's Alien Merchant