Imperial Guard Hydra

The Hydra Flak Tank, also known simply as the Hydra, is the main mobile anti-air artillery piece of the Astra Militarum. It is produced on hundreds of Forge Worlds across the Imperium and is widely-used in nearly every regiment.

The Hydra, like many other Imperial military vehicles, is based on the Chimera armoured personnel carrier chassis, and is armed with a set of twin-linked Hydra Autocannons. Hydra Autocannons are a set of long-barrelled Autocannons mounted on a turret with highly sophisticated tracking and targeting equipment.

Imperial Guard Baneblade

This Imperial Guard Baneblade was on display at Warhammer World in early 2020.

Imperial Guard Baneblade

Another view of this Baneblade from the 2009 ForgeWorld Open Day.

Imperial Guard Baneblade on display at Warhammer World.
Imperial Guard Baneblade on display at Warhammer World.

The Baneblade is the primary super-heavy tank of the Astra Militarum, and one of the largest and oldest armoured fighting vehicles in the service of the Imperial armed forces. The tank is a venerated Standard Template Construct (STC) design, with ten people needed to fully crew one. It is also one of the oldest STC designs in existence. They are often used as command vehicles by Imperial Guard commanders.

Imperial Guard Baneblade Miniatures Gallery.

 

Forge World Macharius Omega

The Macharius Omega is a variant of the Macharius Heavy Tank used by the Imperial Guard. The Macharius Omega differs from the standard Macharius tank and its other variants due to its unique main weapon. The Macharius Omega is a war-machine built with a single purpose, the battlefield deployment of the Omega Pattern Plasma Blastgun.

This is the Forge World Macharius Omega on display at Warhammer World.

Forge World Macharius Omega
Forge World Macharius Omega at Warhammer World

This weapon is a variant of the common Ryza Pattern Plasma Blastgun commonly deployed on the Stormblade super-heavy tank. The Omega Pattern is smaller and lighter than the Ryza Pattern, as it uses a compact generator and smaller force crucible allowing it to be mounted on smaller armoured hulls, such as the Macharius. The downside of this version of the Plasma Blastgun is that it is less stable and generates considerably more heat than the Ryza Pattern, but fortunately it is also much easier to manufacture.

While the sins of innovation and initiative are frowned upon by the Adeptus Mechanicus, new patterns and designs of weapons and armoured vehicles are still created. The Macharius Omega is one such vehicle, created with a single focus, that of the battlefield deployment of the Omega Pattern Plasma Blastgun. The STC for this weapon was originally discovered by Explorator-Magus Hum’nal in late M39, but a Mechanicus schism over the purity and completeness of its template delayed the testing and eventual deployment of the Omega pattern weapon for centuries.

Forge World Macharius Omega at Warhammer World
Forge World Macharius Omega at Warhammer World

Imperial Guard Parade

This incredible Imperial Guard Parade was on display at Warhammer World. You can see Leman Russ tanks in front and coming up behind are super heavy tanks like the Baneblade and the Shadowsword.

Defending the parade were these huge defence guns.

In the display there were also Valkyrie flyers, Sentinel walkers, infantry and Chimera APCs as well.

See more photographs of the parade.

Death Korps Diorama at Warhammer World

In this Death Korps Diorama at Warhammer World were various heavy tanks and infantry. There was this Shadowsword.

Imperial Shadowsword Super Heavy Tank

The Imperial Shadowsword Super Heavy Tank is the sister tank of the more common Baneblade super-heavy tank of the Astra Militarum. The Shadowsword is a nearly identical super-heavy tank to the Baneblade with the exception of its armament and battlefield role as a Titan-killer. Armed with a massive forward-firing gun known as a Volcano Cannon the Shadowsword’s primary focus during combat is the destruction of enemy Titans.

This Malcador Infernus was part of that diorama.

Death Korps Malcador Infernus

The Malcador Infernus is a variant of the venerable Malcador Assault Tank design. It is not widely used by Imperial armed forces at the present time and is in fact little known even within the Imperial military.

A “crocodile” style variant of the Malcador, I do like the rear part of the vehicle I am less so sure about the main weaponry. It looks like a big flamer.

Now I know it is a big flamer, but what I mean is that it looks like an out of scale flamer, a 3-up of a standard flamer rather than an actual flamer which is big!

Across the diorama was infantry and a fair bit of snow.

Astra Militarum Super Heavy Tanks

In the display cabinets at Warhammer World there are some really nice models of the Astra Militarum Super Heavy Tanks.

A single super-heavy tank is a dominant presence in an Astra Militarum battle line. As it ploughs inexorably forward it lays down a wide path of destruction. Enemy ranks shatter long before it reaches their position, and those unlucky few who are able to maintain their defensive formations are ground to paste under the slab-like plates of its tracks.

The Imperial Shadowsword Super Heavy Tank is the sister tank of the more common Baneblade super-heavy tank of the Astra Militarum.

The Shadowsword is a nearly identical super-heavy tank to the Baneblade with the exception of its armament and battlefield role as a Titan-killer. Armed with a massive forward-firing gun known as a Volcano Cannon the Shadowsword’s primary focus during combat is the destruction of enemy Titans.

The Banesword is designed for use in siege and urban warfare, its quake cannon able to pulverise enemy armour and reduce fortifications to rubble with equal impunity. The Banesword is armed with a fearsome array of weapons – none more so than the mighty quake cannon on its turret. It can also be equipped with a pair of sponsons sporting a twin heavy bolter or twin heavy flamer, each capped by a lascannon turret!

The Hellhammer is a super-heavy tank of the Astra Militarum that is a variant of the infamous Baneblade tank.

The Hellhammer replaces the rocket-assisted Mega Battle Cannon or Baneblade Cannon of the Baneblade with a Hellhammer Cannon, a variation of the Battle Cannon commonly found on the Leman Russ main battle tank. It has a shorter barrel with special heavy-gauge suppressors built into it that allows it to fire extremely high-calibre shells without ripping itself apart. These shells are designed to destroy armour and emplacements with an unstable sub-atomic charge.

The Doomhammer is armed with a fearsome array of weapons – none more so than the mighty magma cannon on its turret. It can also be equipped with a pair of sponsons sporting a twin heavy bolter or twin heavy flamer, each capped by a lascannon turret!

The magma cannon of the Doomhammer is a smaller version of the volcano cannon, though its compact size allows for troop transport space within the hull.

See more photographs of the Astra Militarum Super Heavy Tanks in the miniatures gallery.

Imperial Guard Parade

This incredible Imperial Guard Parade was on display at Warhammer World. You can see Leman Russ tanks in front and coming up behind are super heavy tanks like the Baneblade and the Shadowsword.

The Astra Militarum, also known as the Imperial Guard, is the largest coherent fighting force in the galaxy. They serve as the Imperium of Man’s primary combat force and first line of defence from the myriad threats which threaten the existence of the human race in the late 41st Millennium.

Imperial Guard Parade

It is comprised of countless billions of men and women, hundreds of thousands of different regiments, supported by a vast array of light and heavy armoured vehicles that provide the Guard’s primary offensive punch.

In the display there were also Sentinel walkers, infantry and Chimera APCs as well.

Imperial Guard Parade

Watching the whole thing was Imperial officials and a solitary Imperial Fists Rhino was in there too.

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers – Tallarn

I have some Daemonhunters Inquisitorial Stormtroopers which are based on the Cadian Kasrkin I decided many years ago to add a unit based on the Tallarn or I may just use them as inducted Imperial Guard.

Having found some Tallarn Heavy Weapons blisters in a box, I dug around to see if I could find my other Tallarn models to finish them off. I did manged to find the boxed set, from which I had based and undercoated the models. I then later found the three models from the blister pack.

What did surprise me slightly was I had done some more work on them, but never got around to photographing them for the blog or website. As a result I had forgotten how much progress I had made with them.

I had done the flesh and drybrushed them. I had drybrushed the three models with Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone. Unlike highlighting and glazes and the suchlike, drybrushing does not give as neat as a finish as those methods. However I quite like the dusty look for these desert based models and these are going to be gaming models, not Golden Demon entries!

I quite like them, but they could do with a little more work to finish them off. They are quite dusty looking, so I might give them a light wash of Serpahim Sepia to tone down that look and add a little more shadow. Back in the day when I painted these I had used an ink wash mix (as Citadel Shades weren’t around).

Certainly means I can look at the boxed set and get them finished, I am thinking I might use a Contrast paint on them to get them done faster…

Check out the workbench feature on the Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (Tallarn Blister).

Painting the Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie Assault Carriers

I have finished painting my Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie Assault Carriers.

Typically seconded to the Astra Militarum, Valkyrie Assault Carriers deliver troops directly to the front, hovering in place to provide fire support, before blasting off to take on enemy aircraft. Versatile weapon hard points allow them to be kitted out to take on a wide range of ground targets and aircraft.

I had the boxed set of the Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie Assault Carriers, which I constructed and gave a white undercoat.

The models were then given a basecoat of Ushabti Bone. I wanted a lighter colour, knowing that when I shaded the models it would darken the basecoat.

 

I am not particularly happy about painting camouflage, but decided I would have an attempt on these models, partly to push myself in terms of painting, but also to make them look different to the Imperial Navy and Ork models I had painted. I also quite liked the scheme that was used on the GW models.

Now I am pretty sure they used an airbrush on their models, but I didn’t have an airbrush!

I used a stipple brush and Castellan Green to add the green camouflage. I made my stipple brush by cutting the bristles down on a normal brush to around 3-5mm. I didn’t want marked and clear camouflage, more of a stippled or airbrushed look. Paint is added to the brush and then I try and remove some (not so little as with drybrushing) but enough for coverage.

I quite like the effect and I think when shaded this will tone it down as well. Continue reading “Painting the Aeronautica Imperialis Valkyrie Assault Carriers”