These were one of the few models outside of the “clearance” batch from Noble Miniatures (RIP) that I picked up new, and I had picked them up ages ago because I wanted to be able to do a homage squad for Jain Zar, based on the novel Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence by Gav Thorpe, one of my favorite out of the Black Library novels. I didn’t quite achieve the original plan, since Jain Zar as I’ve painted here doesn’t quite match the color scheme in the book’s art, but I think it’s certainly closer than my last attempt was, and I think I might just call that good enough.

Given the rather rag-tag nature of Genestealer Cults, and where I wanted to tie that idea into my new army, I figured since the last batch of Banshees all had their helmets on, these ones were going to have the helmet-off builds, and I wanted to get a variety of skin tones in. Not just regular skin-tones for the “infected,” either, but I made sure to give at least one of them a genestealer-y purple, with bright, popping yellow eyes. These largely play within the same colors that I’ve detailed so far, but I will say that the basing on the Banshees, and adding that to the rocks and scenic bases that I was planning anyways, made them a little tricky to pull off at points. I still can’t say enough good things about the updated sculpts or about the number of bits you get to play with.

I’ve always had a blind spot in building my Howling Banshee squads, and that was Mirrorswords. I started building and painting these before the 10th Edition codex for Aeldari was released, and so I decided I was going to resolve that – only for it to turn out that Executioners, which I had always leaned into before, was arguably the better option now. Oh, well! I painted two Exarchs with this batch so I could swap one out with the Executioner in the metal squad, and the plan with these is to either run them with Jain Zar or just completely solo in a Wave Serpent transport. Over-investing Banshees in the transport has cost me pretty dearly in previous games and I think this time, especially with limitations on how often Flitting Shadows can go off, it’s going to be more important for me to pace myself in this edition.

I’m very happy with how this squad turned out, and happy with how the color scheme in general that I’ve selected for the army has been shaping up so far. In the few test games and casual games so far they’re performing pretty well, and I’m hoping that only improves from here with practice. And, of course, the next thing to share is going to be the designated party bus!