Chaos Cultists (an unhealthy number of) - Blackstone Fortress and Dark Vengeance

Hey all ! I'm pretty sure we all have in common the fact that our desk has works in Progress that have been here for ages right ? Well for the past few months, I've tried to clear my desk from those projects by finishing one after the other to both clear the desk and my mind from those and I have to say it's been a very rewarding process !

I usually paint in batches, I prefer to paint a squad than a single guy, it feels more fficient to me to open a paint bottle for a few models rather than for a single one, however, thee is a critical mass and my sweet spot is usually between 5 and 10.

My painting process usually involves blocking colours from the start to know where I'm going and be sure the scheme works but blocking all colours is a very dull stage and boring process that drains most of the fun to only reach what my friends and I jokingly call the DUPLO stage or the Shit stage. It's usually from that point the graphics change and the process becomes rewarding again, when you apply washes, highlights, paint details and all cool effects, It's how I prefer to paint but it does make me go through an ungrateful stage where I typically let sprojects aside for a while and that's where I've left a fair few of them over the years, right where it could have become fun again but I couldn't bear the models enough.

Now the cultists are probably the most extreme example of this since I've had the Dark Vengeance one on the desk pretty much since they were first released so that's well over 10 years ago !

With the huge Blackstone Fortress hype I got when the game was released, I thought adding its 14 traitor guards would give some impetus back into it but it just meant even more effort and so things stalled for another long while back to a few months ago. And since I had painted all the half painted models on the desk already, I only had those 34 left and couldn't back down so I did  pull the sleeves up and went for it.

What can I say ? I'm glad I did, I really am, they're not the greatest I've painted by a margin but after struggling against them for a decade, I eventually got to work WITH them. A lot had been done with contrast paints or slapchop style (before slapchop was even a term or trend) and I really only had a few details left to add and some washes to throw all around to give some definition to really bring those beyond the shit stage. I only took me a few evenings to do so to fall back to the fun part with selective highligts, details, bit of cleaning and all, all very rewarding stages so these past 2 weeks were 100% fun surprisingly. The experience was the same with all the half painted models I've finished lately so while I don't know if I could make it a general rule for everyone, I can definitely affirm it does work for me to just leave a model aside and come back later, maybe due to my painting process or psychology, probably due to both but It's brougt me closure and that rewarding mojo kick that drives my hobby (plus it really did clear a lot of space on the desk, removing over 50 models !!!)

Now let's stop talking a bit and see the models shall we ?

Like I said, They're definitely not the greatest I've done, but they're done and while some will stay in the back in photo shoots, I reckon some are good enough to maybe get a line or at least a big scene with the main characters !

Let's start with the Dark Vengeance cultists, you'll see I've mixed some Northstar Stargrave cultists head and swapped some weapons and heads with the Blackstone Fortress guards to avoid any doubles :

The leader in the middle is the second time I've painted this model and I have yet a third on the desk as we speak ! It really os one of the iconic models of the band and it still massively rocks a decade later !

His fanatic counterpart below is the same, second version of him and such a great model !

You can see I've opted for some camo greens and brown to keep the Imperial guard vibe and make them visually different from the reneagdes while keeping the distinctive blacks and reds to tie them in, I don't know if that's gonna work or if I should have gone for full black and red on them but that makes them much more versatile and opens several gaming options I want to have so it's the best call in the long run I reckon.

The Blackstone fortress guys show the decade of design evolution between kits and it's quite impressive, not that the Dark Vengeance have anything to be shy of apart from the obvisous copy pastes and mirror CAD. The Blackstone fortress models were trickier to paint though, not as easy to figure a colour scheme for, finer details. They're immensely classy though.

Now I'm getting real close to having painted the whole content of the box (4 years after the release I know) !

And that also means my characters will have an endless supply of villains to mowe before reaching the end bosses yeah !

One last big highlight is that with 34 cultists done and the previous commissare and psykers, I'm getting a solid base for a traitor guard to play in games like Xenos rampant and that's pretty cool !

I wish you all a happy summer and to get to experience the joy of closure on some old projects like I did, I would strongly advise for it !