I’ve been feeling the itch to add some more genestealer cultists to my partner’s Necromunda gang lately. Ever since I painted three new recruits last month I’ve been hearing the call of the hive mind once again and watching the development of IRO’s very gribbly army has only made the siren song of the star children louder. I’ve been thinking of adding a close combat focused leader to the gang, as opposed to the Magus who specialises, as you might imagine, in unearthly psychic powers. What’s more Azazel’s Jewel of July challenge is a perfect time for painting leaders and characters so I seized the opportunity to work on the Locus.
A new unit added to the genestealer cults range earlier this year the Locus serves primarily as a bodyguard to the cult’s Magus. That also ties in neatly to the background I’ve come up with for the gang, with their attempt to seize Ironhouse from the Goliaths being led by Vyrion the Elder it makes sense that the monstrous lords of the cult would dispatch a Locus to ensure no harm befalls the venerable magus.
There’s a real joy in painting genestealer cultists and in my opinion these are one of the best ranges in GW’s arsenal so – despite all the other projects I’m juggling and the fact that the orange colour scheme is more than a little challenging to paint – expect to see a few more of these xenos appearing over the coming months.
Convert or Die 
July 19th, 2019 at 8:10 am
Lovely job mate – that orange is very tasty, so I’m glad you are persevering with it. Great to see this guy next to the Magus too, they work beautifully together!
July 20th, 2019 at 6:13 pm
Thanks mate – I do like the end results of the orange although there’s been times, especially with this model, where I’ve been cursing picking it as a colour scheme. The Locus and the Magus really do look lovely together though I think, which makes it all worthwhile 😀
July 19th, 2019 at 9:30 pm
Looking great, especially next to his ward there.
And yeah, I’m entirely with you both on how great the Stealer Cult Models are in general and on the bit of regret for having gone with orange. And I already knew from my AdMech that even with Jokaero Orange to help, it’s still not an easy colour to use as a main.
July 20th, 2019 at 6:32 pm
Thank you! Yeah, I think GW have just been nailing all their releases recently and the GSC are some of the best around. It helps of course that they’re a whole range of new models, there’s no shonky twenty-year old plastic sculpts in there letting the side down! Think when I do my Ad Mech they’ll be in traditional Martian red, I’m really pleased with how nice the orange looks on these but once is enough! 😉
July 20th, 2019 at 7:21 pm
I’ve been a fan of Ryza since long before they had an official colour scheme, so them ending up in orange was a bit of a disappointment. But using it again for the Cult of the Emperor’s Embrace was entirely my own damn fault 😉
July 21st, 2019 at 10:13 am
Aye, you’ve got no-one to blame there but yourself! Unless of course your cultists are infiltrating Ryza and you’re planning a cross over between the two armies.
For me it’s always been Holy Mars. I know they’re basically the Ultramarines of the Ad Mech but why sign up to a forgeworld that’s second best right? 😀
July 21st, 2019 at 8:41 pm
“Second best at what” is the question. The main reason I’ve always been a fan of Ryza is that they’re the best in the Imperium when it comes to Plasma, and, for quite some time in the fluff, they were the only ones who could make Leman Russ Executioners.
July 22nd, 2019 at 10:14 am
Just did some reading up on Ryza and they do sound pretty cool. Apparently they were the ones that made the Stormblade super-heavy tanks as well, which I always thought looked amazing. Still not Holy Mars though are they… 😉
July 22nd, 2019 at 8:51 pm
The Stormblade has always been my fave Baneblade-chassis tank, too. I’m still disappointed that it wasn’t made an option in the plastic kit.
At the end of the day, it’s a subjective matter: Regardless of their objective values, I simply care less for Holy Mars than I do for Holy Plasma XD
July 19th, 2019 at 10:10 pm
I am guessing one reason for enjoying these figures is that there is a nice lot of detail to paint and pick out. As always an excellent job and I do like the colour scheme. As you say, orange can be challenging but you have done a great job on these. No rush but happy to look at some more when you have got them done! 😊
July 20th, 2019 at 6:58 pm
The detail definitely helps, there’s a lot there to get your teeth into. I also like the fact that they’re hybrids – neither fully human nor fully alien. I like playing with that idea as I paint them, trying to find ways to hint that there’s something just not quite right about them whilst still keeping them fairly close to human (and not just having it look as though I can’t paint skin! 😉 ) I’ll see if I can rustle up a few more for you to look at soon!
July 20th, 2019 at 2:36 am
Very nice work – that’s one Necro gang I especially wouldn’t want to mess with!
July 20th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
Aye, they should be enough to keep the local Underhive toughs and thugs from sleeping too easy! 😀
July 20th, 2019 at 10:10 am
Another superb paint job mate !
July 20th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
Thank you very much!
July 20th, 2019 at 12:14 pm
Colour scheme looks great on these guys!
July 20th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
Cheers!
July 21st, 2019 at 9:54 am
Brilliant mate. The orange reminds me of the cheese I had in Hawaii hehe very, very tasty indeed. Thanks for the shout out too pal. Do you think the two armies (mine and yours) would be or could be allies? I think we’d lure you in to a false sense of security and comradery only to steel your lovely orange cloaks.
July 21st, 2019 at 10:10 am
Ha! You can try Sonny-Jim, you can try! I reckon my lot would be more than happy to work with yours to overthrow the corrupt Imperium – but ultimately there can only be one Patriarch to rule over a brood. Plus your vision of the Star Children is clearly heretical as it differs from ours on several minor points of dogma – and thus we must conduct a purge lest they find us wanting when the day arrives and they descend in their glory.
I used to know a bloke who made his own cheese to sell. Always worried me a bit that his cheese, his fingers, his dreadlocks and his tobacco were all the exact same colour of orange (not too far from the shade of my GSC’s robes actually). Bloody amazing cheese though – wonder if it’s the same bloke and he’s taken off for a life in the sun!
July 22nd, 2019 at 1:39 am
Haha I really hope it is haha.
July 22nd, 2019 at 9:44 am
Love the painting on those, the orange is to die for! Great project so far.
July 22nd, 2019 at 10:26 am
Thank you! Yeah, I’m pleased with the orange – it was definitely worth the effort 😀
July 24th, 2019 at 8:47 am
[…] Inspired by Wudugasts recent Locus, see here – https://convertordie.wordpress.com/2019/07/19/the-cult-of-the-abyssal-gaze-part-8/ […]