A terrifying new dawn rises on Necromunda as tech-hungry gangs and augmented high-society hunters descend into Hive Secundus, where the hideous Malstrain Genestealers await in the darkness. The new Necromunda: Hive Secundus box is up for pre-order this Saturday, and while we’ve been waiting for the ruined hive to open for business, members of the Warhammer Studio have been painting their own takes on the beautiful miniatures contained within.
Lucy: I decided to alter the posing on my Malstrain Genestealers to put them in more of a lunging position, as if they were mid-strike. I wanted to really double down on having them lurk and strike from the shadows using a mostly dark palette with unsettlingly ghostly pale eyes.
I had the idea to detail them with a green hue to make it appear as if they had been tainted by the strong levels of radiation within Hive Secundus as well as their own gene mutations. The basing is heavily drenched in radioactive material, which was created by using Tesseract Glow and a few layers of Ardcoat over a white base layer to really make that green pop! James: I wanted to evoke the shiny metallic hue of the 'Eavy Metal Spyre Hunters, but with a brighter chrome-like effect. Rather than utilising stealth, my Spyrers want people to know they are coming, revelling in the terror their approach creates!
Neil: I was lucky enough to be part of the team who got to design these beautiful beasties, and while they were still sketches and rough shapes on my screen, I was building up an idea of how I wanted to paint them. Just as the toxic environment in which they lived has twisted their bodies, so too it corrupts their pigmentation.
The entire figure was first undercoated in Grey Seer before the carapace and hard areas were lightened using glazes of Grey Seer with Corax White. These areas were progressively highlighted with successively finer glazes of the base colour with more Corax White added.
The shading was created by carefully applying thinned Dreadful Visage, adding a little Druchii Violet for the darkest areas. In contrast to the cold tones of the armour, the ribbed areas peeking through were picked out using Plaguebearer Flesh which has the benefit of being warm but not exactly healthy.
Harley: Since I first saw the Van Saar Tek-hunters, the idea of doing one in all white has stuck in my head, so I knew what I had to do when this hobby challenge came up. I had a lot of fun figuring out how to keep the core colours of House Van Saar present in a scheme that differs so much from the box art miniatures that we usually present.
David: The Heralds of the Venomed Talon were painted with a subdued Corvus Black and Nuln Oil skin contrasted with an aggressively punchy Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red carapace, with toxic Moot Green and thinned Karandras Green sinews to give them a virulent, otherworldly feel. The Cultists were painted with Doomfire Magenta robes and glossy Abaddon Black padding, using vaguely similar colours to the Malstrains to give an industrial – instead of alien – feel.
Andy: I painted my hunting party in various muted black tones, experimenting with the idea of using different finishes to subtly separate each part – some are matt black, others metallic, others gloss, but they're all black!
Dominic: This colour scheme was inspired by one of the original Orrus models, but then evolved to include a lot of elements taken from the Night Lords Legion – including the unhealthy, pale skin. Maybe these kids found some forbidden history books in a forgotten family library and got inspired by the traitor Legion's heraldry?
Chris: I had previously painted some Genestealer Cultists in a similar monochrome scheme after being inspired by the Warhammer+ animation Angels of Death and decided to take this idea further with this project, this time with pops of teal. The miniatures were all painted with four colours (Black Templar, Ulthuan Grey, Sotek Green, and Aethermatic Blue) over White Scar spray, meaning the final effect is impactful while making it easy to do at scale.
Connor
My Malstrain Genestealers were inspired by the box art, using pink lighting as illumination. I loved the test model so much that I carried the idea through the whole gang!
Anthony
The colour scheme I chose was the traditional Genestealer Cults ‘Eavy Metal version. I’m a big fan, and I love the traditional colours of dark blue-purple – even if Purestrain cults don’t see eye to eye with the Malstrain.
Have these inspired you to paint your own Malstrain, Van Saar, or Spyrer gangs? Pre-order Necromunda: Hive Secundus this Saturday, and embark on a new adventure into the Underhells!