Jetbike Jackal
A short post this week – just one miniature which I finished at the very end of 2022 (but which had been half-painted on my hobby table for a few months before that). It’s another reinforcement for my genestealer cult, Tertii Imperatoris Cultus, and my third limited edition mounted hybrid.
According to the Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki, there were nine of these in total, consisting of eight regular hybrids and a magus (of which I have six so far, and have painted three). They were released around 1990 but never appeared in any catalogue, and they’re therefore fairly rare (there’s usually at least one or two of them on eBay at any given time and occasionally a complete set, albeit often with silly ‘buy it now’ prices). Presumably intended as cavalry support before Games Workshop merged genestealers with tyranids in the mid-nineties:
They appear to have originated by converting some of the genestealer hybrids sculpted by Bob Olley, adding IG Rough Rider legs and the then standard plastic horse.
Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki
Which I find oddly satisfying, given the lore around genestealers. These models aren’t just suitable for conversion, they were literally packaged as a mix of parts from different armies (and even different games, given how much work the old plastic horse sprue did at the time). And that’s without considering the arms. I’ve used the plastic genestealer arm sprue from the 1991 Blue Catalogue, but they’re not a fantastic fit and I suspect Imperial Guard arms may fit a little better.
I’ve also, as you can see below, gone a step further and kit-bashed the rider (‘Hybrid 12 Mounted Version’) with an Imperial Guard Jetbike, because I thought it would look cool (I’m not sure if I can suspend my disbelief to picture a normal horse galloping around the bowels of a hive city or the irradiated deserts of a dying planet, although that might also look cool). The saddle is a little narrow; not quite such a comfortable fit as the Gorkamorka mutie steed, considerably better than the original cyboar. They also fit well on the Space Marine riding lizard and modern Serberys Raider… so watch this space.
I’ve used my regular colour scheme – classic blue chitin and sickly purple flesh, pale grey armour, with primarily orange, burgundy, and green spot colours – and painted the model in three sub assemblies: the base, the rider, and the bike. I think the overall effect is either of some kind of law enforcer for the cult (or perhaps a hijacked bike), and I am very please with it.
Next week I’ll be posting some more third party cultists (that was after all the intended theme of this collection), then maybe a full group photo. After that, who knows? With luck I’ll have found time to start painting again!
Shin High Terror! 
Fantastic job and a brilliant little conversion; the colour scheme is tremendous. I love the way you paint the blue, purple, and grey together. The shading/highlighting you’re doing just pops extremely well. Can’t wait to see more!
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