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I’ve always liked the Tallarn Imperial Guard and have over the years bought some of the models. I have even painted some.
These Tallarn Imperial Guard were on display in the cabinets at Warhammer World.
The Tallarn Desert Raiders are a regiment of the Imperial Guard raised from the Desert World of Tallarn. The soldiers of the regiment are highly skilled at desert and mobile armoured warfare.
I have been thinking about getting some miniatures for Legions Imperialis since it was released. So was pleased to get the Legions Imperialis: Rhino Transport boxed set as a present last Christmas.
The Rhino is the most widely used armoured personnel carrier in the Imperium. Based upon ancient STC technology, the fundamental design is robust, reliable, and easy to maintain, with an adaptive power plant that can run off a wide variety of fuels. Within the Space Marine Legions, the Deimos pattern was the most widespread, serving as the basic armoured transport available to the Legiones Astartes and the foundation on which a number of other war machines were based.
In the box you get two sprues that can be used to construct ten models.
I am thinking I will paint these as Imperial Fists.
The first stage was constructing the models. Unlike the older Epic models, which were a single casting, these are multi-part kits. They were not as fiddly as I thought they would be, however there are quite a few parts, for example all the exhausts are separate parts.
I constructed five of the models.
You get various options when modelling these in terms of the hatches.
I have constructed one as a command Rhino.
The detail on these small models is quite amazing. It will be challenging to do them justice when painting them.
I think it would be great if there were conversion kits for these models from Forge World, but that isn’t going to happen. Thinking about the other five models in the box, if I might do something else with them, but I will probably paint them also up as Imperial Fists Legion Rhino Transports.
The next stage was to give the models a white undercoat.
The next stage will be the base coat.
The Mechanicum Ordinatus are massive weapons of destruction that the forces of the Imperium use when faced with unprecedented enemy forces. Essentially they are Titan style weapons on tracks.
In the time of the Great Crusade the Ordinatus macro engines were rarer than even the Battle Titans of the Legio Titanica, and only a handful of Forge Worlds had the resources or indeed the doctrinal blessing and religious authority to produce or maintain such embodiments of the Omnissiah’s divine wrath. Such was the sacredness of these machines above all others, that an entire subcult of the Mechanicum was devoted to their worship and propitiation.
We first saw these vehicles in Epic, and then Forge World released 40K scale Horus Hersey versions of these massive vehicles.
The Ordinatus Ulator is a rare and truly arcane weapon system of huge power. Its primary weapon is the Ulator class Sonic Destructor.
Another version is the Ordinatus Sagittar, similar to the Ulator, it is armed with a Volcano Cannon.
These are nice models, but I am not really a fan of them. They look very vulnerable to enemy fire, there is no armour to speak of. They also don’t look very mobile (despite the four tracks). What do you think?
On a recent visit to Warhammer World I purchased a blister pack of four metal Dwarf Engineers. I did baulk slightly at the price of £37.50, nearly ten pounds per miniature. I know it’s been nostalgic when I remember buying a blister pack of five dwarves back in the 1980s for £1.95. These were originally released about twenty years ago. I never bought these, as my original dwarf army comprised miniatures from the 1980s and 1990s.
Within the blister are the four dwarf models, separate weapons and tools, and four 25mm square slottabases.
The first thing I did was clean up the models, sorting out casting lines, and the little bits of metal that are on the model from the casting process.
I then attempted to slot them into their slottabases. Alas the tabs on the models were too wide for the slots. This is something that I remember from days of yore. The main issue is the writing on the tabs, the name and copyright information. It was a simple matter of getting out the file and filing the tabs down to the right size before slotting them into their bases.
I have decided to paint their quite detailed and bulky backpacks separately.
I then added texture to the bases using Citadel Sand.
I bought my pot of sand years ago, but as I was running low, I realised I wanted another tub, but Games Workshop had stopped selling it. I was lucky in finding a tub on eBay. I like the sand, as it also contains small stones, which enhances the bases.
The next stage will be a white undercoat.
These models of the Imperial Guard Baneblade super heavy tank were on display at Warhammer World.
The Baneblade super heavy tank is the standard super heavy for the Imperial Guard. It’s huge and the design is one of the oldest in service with the armed forces of the Imperium. It is one of the Standard Template Construct (STC) designs that ensures that Forge Worlds across the galaxy are able to easily manufacture the tanks to a consistent design. The size means a large crew, ten in all. They are often used as command vehicles by Imperial Guard commanders.
With a range of armaments, a Baneblade is less of a tank and more of a tracked fortress. An unmistakable icon of the Imperium’s armoured supremacy, a single one of these super-heavy war engines can serve as the mailed fist of an Imperial Guard offensive, or as the unassailable lynchpin of even the most desperate of defences.
The Baneblade was originally an Epic design, but was then available as a modelling project in White Dwarf. Forge World produced a resin version for many years. In 2007 a plastic version of the tank was made available. We shouldn’t forget the 1/6th scale version that Forge World showcased at Games Day 2006.
Initially I wasn’t a fan, I thought it was too big, but over the years I have come to like the concept.
I did think I had this model somewhere, however the pilot has turned up.
This was the original Dwarf Gyrocopter and personally I think the best. It comes across more as an autogyro rather than a helicopter, whereas the later models do feel more like helicopters, almost too sophisticated for a fantasy setting.
This is the original pilot, later Citadel did a pilot with a helmet with a winged helm, which you could argue was more fantasy than this pilot.
You can tell there are issues with my modelling here as the seat of the dwarf pilot has a large glob of epoxy glue there, this was when I use that over superglue.
Now I just need to find the Gyrocopter.
Minotaurs Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider on display at Warhammer World.
I quite like the up-armoured appearance of this pattern of Land Raider, and the weaponry looks quite formidable. I can imagine this being used to clear barricades in the ruins of an Imperial City.
The Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider is the most durable vehicle currently in the service of the Legiones Astartes. These vehicles shrug off weapon strikes that would cripple other battle tanks, and are proof against even the most toxic environment. The weaponry of these vehicles is formidable, featuring an advanced quad launcher and powerful volkite batteries.
This Achilles-Alpha pattern Land Raider is from the Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter. The Minotaurs is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter whose true origins and genetic lineage remain unknown. The Space Marine formation by this name at large in the Imperium today appears to bear little resemblance to accounts of its past.
A few decades back I wrote an article about a modern era English Civil War that was published in Issue #43 of Wargames Illustrated in April 1991.
” … its six o’clock, on Tuesday the 27th October 1998. This is the Royal Somerset Broadcasting Service, and now the news from Wessex and around the world. The headlines: Scotland has seceded from the British Republic, fighting has broken out along the border. Royalist army and volunteer militia units have pushed back across the border an armed incursion by Democratic Guards into south-west Dorset last night. Bristol Docks were once again the target of bombing over the night, but damage has been minimal. The United States has once again confirmed its commitment to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Wessex and Duchy of Cornwall.”
The main inspiration for the background was the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and wondering if a similar scenario could play out in a disunited broken Great Britain. It was also an opportunity to bring in modern armoured trains as well.
After a visit to The Tank Museum I posted a photograph of the Alvis Saracen.
I also wrote: As part of the Second English Civil War, you can imagine the use of the FV603 Saracen to patrol urban areas and to suppress armed resistance.
So when I saw Battlefront were releasing a 15mm FV603 Saracen for Team Yankee, I thought it was time to reboot my Second English Civil War and start painting some models for it.
The FV603 Saracen is a six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier built by Alvis and used by the British Army.
Along with the Saracen release, Battlefront also released the Saladin armoured car.
I also posted some photographs of the Saladin Armoured Car from The Tank Museum and said of possible Wessex scenarios: You can easily imagine how these armoured cars would have been used for reconnaissance, keeping down unrest, and defending key installations against attack.
So I have ordered one pack of each.
I already have some Scorpion light tanks and along with some recently ordered Militia Pickup Trucks as well, I have the first makings of a 15mm army of Wessex. I have noted that Hornby have started a TT120 range of 1/120th scale trains, which would sit well within Wessex. Some ideas to work on there now.
The Avenger Strike Fighter is used for high-speed low level ground attack missions. This makes it ideal for attacking armoured vehicle formations and high-value strategic assets such as munitions dumps. Compared to other Imperial Navy aircraft of its size, it is equipped with more weapons and munitions.
This Avenger Strike Fighter was in the displays at Warhammer World.
On the cover of a recent Miniature Wargames was a sprue of Wargames Atlantic Werewolves. I constructed the models and based them on two pence coins.
Then using PVA white glue I used Citadel Sand on the bases.
Then the next stage will be a white undercoat.