Army Project: the Macragge Workers' Alliance

Welcome to the Army Project series where I break down my ideas and processes behind making an army. Whether its the lore, the look, the builds or individual models, these articles are where you'll find an in depth look behind how I come up with and create my armies.

I'm going to kick things off with the army I'm most known for, my Genestealer Cult, the Macragge Workers' Alliance.

Army photo courtesy of Play On Tabletop

Origins

For the origins of my Genestealer Cult, we gotta go back to the start of 8th edition 40k and my start with the game. At that time, myself and a few buddies decided to give 40k a try; they were all returning to a childhood hobby and I was brand new to the game (though I was familiar with the setting). Being that I had knowledge of the universe and lore, I knew exactly who would be my forever army... the Tyranids.

I'm a monster guy when it comes to my fiction and there's no bigger monsters in the 40k universe than the Tyranids. I quickly learned the game, then began to scour bitz swaps and the second hand market to grow my bug collection. Soon I had roughly 2500 points of Nids and it was at this time my group decided to play our first narrative campaign.

My friend, John, had organized the campaign adapting an old 40k campaign rules set, and so we would fight for the fate of the world known as Chrysos! Over the course of our games, I played my part well. I swarmed my opponents, outnumbering them 3 to 1. My Hive Tyrant, Raquel, was an unkillable menace who earned her monstrous reputation. At the end of it all, my army had won the campaign and my Hivefleet Behemoth had overrun and devoured Chrysos. I lived the Tyranid dream! But I was left kinda with a dilemma; I wanted to continue my army's legacy, but I really didn't want to just repeat the same story. I wanted character, personalities, history -- an army where life and death matters. It was at this time that Gamesworkshop had just dropped the brand new Kelermorph model for Genestealer Cults and I knew I had found my next army.

The GSC had only just gotten a proper army book and they fit exactly the bill of what I was looking for. Plus the Kelemorph's 'Man with No Name' inspired look really got my creative wheels turning on how I could make this army my own. Which leads into where I typically start designing my armies.

8th edition codex for the Genestealer Cults

The Kelermorph model that inspired the army

Who are They? AKA the Lore

Once I've settled on the idea of the army, I then flesh out their lore, characters and background to solidify what makes my Genestealer Cult unique from every other cult and help guide my choices when it comes to their visuals.

First I settled on a name, and in their case I came up with two names. One would be the name they are known by within the Imperium, while they are still in hiding. That was the Macragge Workers' Alliance or MWA for short. The MWA was founded after the First Tyrannic War on Macragge.

Their second name, the Shadow's Comfort, is their true name, hidden from outsiders. This is presented as the name of their religion and is only revealed after one has properly fallen under the influence of the cult.

One aspect I really love about GSC lore is that the most prominent cults each have their own distinct way they are valuable to the Imperium. It's easier to infiltrate a society when your members are extremely desirable to the wider Imperium. So I needed to find what that was for my cult, and I once again leaned on the old west influence, specifically using the history of the Union Pacific Railroad.

My Primus, Valentine 'El Patron' Valdez, surrounded by Acolytes and Neophytes. Photo courtesy of Play On Tabletop

The MWA specialized in building mag-rail lines to connect settlements, with a secondary focus on reclamation work on war-torn/disaster struck Imperial planets. They are highly resourceful workers, getting by with minimal support and low supplies. They frequently utilize local fauna to accomplish jobs that a vehicle or machine would be typically be used for. Horses to replace surveyor bikes, draft animals to pull supplies and equipment. Their workers live in roving towns called Hivecrawlers that follow the building of these mag-rails, scrapping together a living as they traverse a planet's surface improving Imperial lives. This makes the MWA highly sought after by the Imperium to be placed in sites far from main support lines, typically on the outskirts of Imperial territory.

This is ideal for my cult. With minimal oversight from the ruling governance of man, and very appealing opportunities for the average citizen of mankind (not being drafted into endless war, fair pay, no abhuman prejudice, opportunity for hard workers to excel, etc) my cult has ample opportunity to infiltrate and take root among the most vulnerable sectors of the Imperium. They are in it for the long haul, playing a very slow game of infiltration. They have hidden their true loyalties for centuries so that they can continue to grow trust throughout the empire of mankind. While other cults destabilize single planets in preparation for a Tyranid invasion, the MWA is part of the bigger picture, slowly seeding themselves deep within the empire of mankind. They are a slow boiling of the water.

Propaganda poster for the MWA recruitment

Now that we've established the main factors of their lore, I can start fleshing out the look of the army. I try not to get too bogged down in finalizing all the armies lore details as I find during the building and painting process I'll refine and hone in on the story, letting the models help guide things. This gives me freedom to flex and change things as I begin working on the army.

Look of the Army

I had been wanting to do a 'western' themed army for quite some time, so the Kelermorph was the exact spark I needed. From that initial spark, now I could begin to establish the visual rules for my army.

The first rule I established was that I'd add duster jackets, hats, scarfs and other cowboy attire where appropriate. I deliberately wanted to avoid turning them into a gimmick army, hence my restraint on my use of cowboy hats in my 'cowboy cult' army. The cowboy aesthetic is much more than just the boots and hats, so using them wouldn't be what I was solely relying on to get across the western theme. I also wanted this army to fit within the 40k universe setting, so it was important to keep enough of the signature Genestealer Cult look intact to ensure we could suspend our disbelief and accept them as 'canon' 40k lore. Their visibly bald heads across most of the army would be the easiest way to make sure this army felt like a proper Genestealer Cult army while still giving me enough room creatively to make sure they were MY Genestealer Cult army. So instead of adding cowboy hats everywhere, these would be reserved for special characters to have them stand out visually as someone of importance.

Photo of my Kelermorph, Ginnie Hazard, courtesy of Play On Tabletop

The next visual change was small but significant. I wanted to swap out the sci-fi looking guns for more western looking revolvers, shotguns and rifles. This is a great way to uniquely represent the distinct style of my cult.

Where ever possible, I'd also go for a low-tech option to accomplish a unit's role on the battlefield. This helps build my cult's specific infiltration tactic; they volunteer to help out war ravaged worlds rebuild that aren't as readily connected to the wider Imperium. Low-tech solutions show their resourceful nature and it helps with the western theme since it gives me a lore reason for my Jackals to be riding horses instead of bikes. And I really wanted them riding horses!

Photo of my Atalan Jackals and Jackal Alphus courtesy of Play On Tabletop

The final big visual came much later in the army's life. I work part time at Red Claw Gaming and I started a massive yearly narrative campaign. As the campaign manager, I would play as an NPC so that if we needed a fill in player I could jump in and play those games. At this point I had nearly 2500 pts painted for my MWA, so I wanted them to be an example to our players of how big the narrative possibilities in this particular campaign are. So instead of playing my MWA as a cult ascendant, they are 'pre-ascension' in the campaign. This means I play them as an Imperium army. They have not yet made their true nature known. Within the campaign my secondary objectives in games revolve around keeping their secret hidden and safe from the rest of the Imperial players. This lead me to come up with my final big visual marker for the MWA and that's the 'pre-ascension' look.

My pre-ascension Acolyte Hybrids the Groundhogs

My pre-ascension Abberants the Prandium Steeldrivers

My pre-ascension Abominant, Mercy. Photo courtesy of Play On Tabletop

My pre-ascension Reductus Saboteur, Madds Finnegan

For all my most obviously infected units (mostly those with more than 2 arms) I would create kitbashed versions of those units that could reasonably pass as a normal Imperial human citizens. This is where my army really clicked for me. It opened up my creativity to a whole new level and gave me the excuse I needed to really have fun with a wide variety of Warhammer kits. I was able to incorporate many kits from Necromunda that I loved to really explore the diverse possibilities of an army made up from all regular everyday working stiffs of the Imperium. It opened the possibility that every new humanoid release from Games Workshop is a potential new MWA unit, which gives me the long term engagement that I want from my main army. There's always something new I can add!

Army Colours

The MWA logo (Note how many arms are present and the sickles creating the Genestealer Cult logo).

Colour is a huge part of any army and it can help tell our story just as much as the kitbashing if done well. I'd need a colour scheme that would help reinforce the look and theme I started with my conversions/kitbashes. This was surprisingly easy to do for them. I decided on a sepia based palette, with deliberate pops of saturated colours to tie into their story (specifically blue, purple and red as a call back to my Hivefleet Behemoth Tyranids from who they originate). Sepia is a colour palette we associate with the 'wild west' as anyone who's taken one of those "cowboy dress up" portraits can attest to. So sticking with warm, desaturated colours will make for a great canvas for the army's colour scheme.

I deliberately chose to have a palette instead of a hard colour scheme to help this idea that my army is made up of a collection of labour workers. I wouldn't paint them to look like they were wearing uniforms as that would assume they were organized from one 'force' and my MWA infects across a multitude of trades and unions. Plus with my models now kitbashed from a variety of kits, not just Genestealer Cult models, it was important to be able to tie the multitude of outfits I'd included into my army. So I employed a "jumbled batch painting method" that keeps my army looking like they belong together but still makes each model look like an individual. How this works is I'll line up a unit of 10, pick a colour like Snakebite Leather and go down the line painting 1-3 bits of random clothing that colour. So one model may get their vest and belt in that colour, the next their pants, the next shirt, boots and gloves, and so on. I repeat the process with all my main colours of my palette until the unit is done with their base tones.

Photo of my Iconward, Pat Diaz, she encompasses the full colour palette for the army

With that solved, we move onto the pops of colour. These will not only tie into the backstory of this army but add some nice contrast to break up the sea of browns. I decided that blue would be the main link to their Nid heritage as it was the colour of my Tyranid bio-weapons, so it's the obvious fit for my GSC bio-weapons, like claws and boneswords. This is extra effective in that it highlights their 'alien' nature since the blue is both highly saturated and a cool tone that contrasts my warm desaturated main scheme and marks it as unnatural. With red and purple being closer to my main palette, I'd use them as an additional bit of storytelling in the army. Red would be an identifier of units and models associated with law enforcement within my army. It could be a bandana, shoulder pads or cape, but anyone with red is in charge of enforcing the Cult/Union's laws. Purple would act in a similar fashion but for religion instead of law. Those wearing purple clothes were directly tied to spreading the good word of the four armed emperor.

Photo of my Jackal Alphus, Boss Dixie Gallows. She has the red cape symbolizing her place in law enforcement

Photo of my Magus, Reverend Beau Bucanhan. He is in purple robes as he is crucial to spreading the Shadow's Comfort religion

Photo courtesy of Play On Tabletop

Photo of Theodore, because he's precious.

My final painting decision was the basing. For the MWA it was really easy, we went with a dried beige earth, with some red/yellow tufts. This continued to tie into the wild west look. My only challenge was the Necromunda models I bought for the army always came with these Necromunda bases, which have grates and metal plates covering them. Not exactly wild west looking material. So the solution was to divvy those bases out randomly among my models (that way it's not obvious which are Necromunda models and which aren't) and then use my texture paste to strategically cover those bases in a way that made them feel like old abandoned structures, mag-rails and tech found in the outskirts of the planets they are working on.

The Macragge Workers' Alliance has been an incredibly rewarding army for me and are where I really began to find my groove with Warhammer. Though the majority of the army is now painted, I'm happy knowing they will be a forever project for me as I create new versions of units, get inspired by new models and add to my ever growing Union.

If you'd like me to do a deep dive on any of my units, characters, paint jobs, kitbashes or the ever growing lore for this army, let me know in the comments below.