Centering in on the Centerpiece: Genestealer Cult Hullburster

All good things must come to an end.  I had fun working on the Genestealer Cult army, and this is the last piece I did for it.  I've mentioned before, my visual theory for an army is that every army or team needs a centerpiece.  It's why for Blood Bowl teams that can have a Big Guy, I make a Big Guy for the team, even if I might not want to use it- then I tend to go ahead and use it, because it looks better to have a centerpiece.

If you consider an army as an artistic composition, then just as a sculpture or painting needs to take into account where the eye will travel, and so take steps to contain the eye's wanderings, not to leave the piece and to go where you want it to go, so too an army needs this. Of course, an army is going to be set up differently, have pieces removed, etc, which is why it's even more important to have a centerpiece: one item that is bigger, bolder, more eye-candy than the rest.  It should still compliment and support the army, but it's job is to draw attention, allow enough rein to wander across the army, but pull the viewer back to it when done.  I am hoping I got that with this piece.

click for larger:

The aircraft is much the same as the other ones, though it does not have an incorporated zoanthrope piloting it. Perhaps cultists are flying it, as they probably are driving a lot of the tanks.  The zoanthrope seed never took in this one.  Why? Likely, it was eaten by something else.  Something bigger, that needed fuel to grow.

The giant Tyranid monster has reached the point where it is growing at a hyper-accelerated rate.  And it isn't content to stay within the confines of this artificial environment: it wants out.  It's tail has burst out the back and the bulk of him has burst out the top, continuing to grow rapidly as it does so.  This species has the ability to puff up it's torso, to appear larger and more threatening.

This is a combo of three kits: Valkyrie, Vendetta upgrade and the Mawloc.

Here it is before painting.

The Mawloc model is designed to rest on his tail, 'standing' on it like a cobra.  Honestly I was never a fan of the 'snake' type Tyranids, and wasn't thrilled when I saw the Mawloc kit when it was released: I'd have preferred one of the large legged Tyranids.  I also think the Mawloc kit looks very static, standing on it's tail:not very dynamic. But with this conversion, I like it. Reason being, it doesn't have to stand on it's tail!
I filled in and sculpted a bottom to the tail, so that it wouldn't look like a bisected straw, which let me wrap the tail out & around the back of the plane. This gives the creature a twisted S shape, making him a lot more dynamic.

I had to go with a red carapace for the aircraft creatures, so they wouldn't blend in with the hull of the aircraft: the vehicles were already chosen for the purple, so that was the only way to go.

So, will the aircraft survive birthing this giant monster? Or will it fall from the sky?  Either way, things are not looking good for the opposition.

This concludes the Genestealer Cult.  At least for now, it's possible the owner may come back for additions to the army.

Weather and traffic kept me from getting to gaming tonight, so that's three weeks in a row I've been unable to get there, which explains the lack of battle reports.  And next week is Thanksgiving- though looks like I'll get some Blood Bowl in for that!

Enjoy the weekend everyone,

and enjoy the clip, but maybe not over breakfast: