I was surprised to learn that Acro-Flagellants could technically be classed a type of servitor. As the poor soul condemned to such a fate is, among other things, lobotomised as part of the process that turns them into near mindless killing machines.
I had previously painted some Acro-Flagellants as part of the Adepta Sororitas combat patrol. Unfortunately, the process of painting them wasn’t exactly smooth and I ended up with a trio of mismatched idiots. I was therefore determined to do better on this with this full squad of Acro-Flagellants.
With that in mind I jumped into the assembly. As with a lot of Games Workshop kits, there are two identical sprues, and each Arco-Flagellant has two build options. As such you can build a squad of ten with unique sculpts. I worked my way through the kit, building one of each of the sculptures and making sure that one of them was Damien-1427, or “Flagellant with endurance implants” as he is known in the instructions. For those that don’t know, Damien was a character in Games Workshop’s now discontinued 54mm scale game, Inquisitor. I never played the game, but it’s nice that Games Workshop have kept the character around in some form.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
In any case, once the models were assembled, I primed them with Colour Forge Raven Black. From there I picked out all the skin with a couple layers of Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin, tidying up any overspill with Two Thin Coats Death Reaper. I then gave the models a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Acrylic Ink through the airbrush. I then split the squad into two random groups, one had their skin washed with a coat of Reikland Fleshshade and the other with Army Painter Speedpaint Warrior Skin. Unfortunately, my selection was a little too random and I had inadvertently given the canonically pale Damien-1427 a coat of the darker Warrior Skin. Oops. It is what it is, perhaps he’s been spending his down time in the sun? I moved on regardless, painting the metallics with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver and the clothing and tags with Black Templar. Within my Sororitas the colour black signifies penance, which is why the clothing is black and the Repentia have black weapons.
At this point the models were pretty much done but there were some final details I wanted to pick out. I painted any syringes, lenses, and tubes with Flesh Tearers Red and carefully picked out any plugs in the flesh with Scale75 Thrash Metal. To make the plugs look sorer, I painted a ring of Guilliman Flesh around each of them. For the scars on the skin, I carefully painted them with Two Thin Coats Sword Hilt Burgundy. And while I was carefully painting things I also used Army Painter Skeleton Bone to pick out any teeth. Lastly, I put a dot of Army Painter Fiery Vermillion in the middle of each of the lenses.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
With the models done I moved onto the bases, which followed the same process as the rest of my Imperial forces. To start with I covered the flat areas of the bases with Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste before giving it a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone and a drybrush of Tyrant Skull. I then dabbed on patches of PVA glue and sprinkled on Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains which I then sealed in place with some Matt Sealant, also from Geek Gaming Scenics. Finally, I painted the rim with Steel Legion Drab.
I’m really pleased with how these have turned out, and I’m honestly surprised at how quickly I was able to get them done. Once I had the skin base coated it was an easy street until the end. I was tempted to give the metallics a drybrush to help bring out some of the texture a bit more, but the models are so spindly that I didn’t want to risk snapping something.
What I’m also tempted to do is rather than slot these penitents into my Sisters of Battle force as they would normally, is to induct them into my growing Adeptus Ministorum crusade. And while yes, Sisters of Battle are the militant arm of the Ministorum I am slowly putting together an army centred on the Frateris Militia and the Eccelesiarchy. That way I would have a force of professional soldiers in the Adepta Sororitas and a separate army of their barely sanctioned zealot followers of the Adeptus Ministorum.
Damien-1427 running free - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops