'Tis but a scratch!

The Hive Mind will not be happy about this.  My poor Genestealer Patriarch has been sacrificed to the cause and is now unplayable except as a piece of scenery.  Fortunately, I still have the Spawn of Cryptus, fully painted, so if I ever get off my lazy arse and finish the Genestealer Cult then I have something to proxy in.  Of all the Broodlord clones I own, the Space Hulk model is still my favourite anyway and I have the hideous finecast version too if I ever get desperate.

Lets get it on!

This Redemptor Dreadnought is a ton of fun though.  I might have to get another one.  I'm not the biggest treadhead in the world but I played Mechwarrior obsessively in the 90s as well as the BattleTech card game.  TitanFall 2 is a firm family favourite in our household and we all thought that Pacific Rim should have swept the Oscars (with the possible exception of my wife, but what does she know?).  Thank goodness GW have finally decided to jump on the bandwagon.  Well I say that, but in fact dreadnoughts have been around for donkey's years (the Tau and Eldar would like a word with me too).

A mere flesh wound.  I've had worse.

The original Dawn of War opening cinematic is still the best video game intro ever made.  I defy you to watch it and not want to have an assault cannon surgically implanted, replacing your right arm.  I remember when I first bought the game I just replayed the intro movie over and over again without even bothering to progress to the campaign screen.

Help me, baby Jesus!

I even converted two Psyfleman Dreadnoughts and bought a baby carrier, back when I mistakenly thought that owning a cheesy Grey Knights list would make me a better player.  So yeah, dreadnoughts are a thing, but the old models are clunky and small.  With no discernible knee joints they have to waddle around like beached turtles.  Compared to the releases of armoured walkers in recent years and the inevitable scale creep they have an almost comedic look about them now.

Well not anymore, mech fans!  The Redemptor has sexy knee pads and is assembled pretty much like an action figure.  You can open him up and admire the sarcophagus inside.  The hips and ankles are ball-and-socket joints (but have to be glued).  Even his fingers and toes are pose-able.

Stealer Man!  Stealer Man! Does whatever a Stealer can!

Of course I went berserk with magnets and even put some on the Patriarch's primary arms in order to get multiple poses.  I originally wanted the Redemptor either punching him whack-a-mole style or shooting him in the face at point blank range, but this proved to be beyond my modelling skills.

Besides, I really didn't want to glue the 'faceplate' of the dreadnought on.  Being able to see all of his insides is far more interesting.  Then I hit on the idea of the Patriarch ripping all the armour plating off in an insectile frenzy to get at the sarcophagus interred within.  The kit comes with two different faceplates so it was easy to distress one of them and then switch it out if I wanted to show the metal behemoth in a more traditional pose.

I'm looking forward to painting this but need to tidy it up a bit and think of something to put on the base.  Some hanging wires and pipes might make it look a bit more dynamic too.