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The Trojan is a workhorse used by Imperial Guard armoured regiments as a towing vehicle for artillery platforms and as an armoured ammunition carrier, ferrying extra ammunition to the platforms once in position. Each Trojan is equipped with a crane to lift heavy crates of ammunition from it’s hold.
Across the Imperium the Leman Russ Main Battle Tank is the core of the armoured forces of the Astra Militarum. The tank is named after the Space Wolves Primarch, Leman Russ and the tank itself is used by the Space Wolves.
This is an unsophisticated armoured vehicle, its strengths are reliability and simplicity.
There are many variants of the Leman Russ main weaponry, which provides the Imperial Guard with the range of options when facing diverse enemies.
The Leman Russ hull is also used as a platform on a wide range of other armoured vehicles.
A few weeks back I wrote about Provisionally Prepared, a Warhammer Commemorative Series miniature, or limited edition as we use to call them. When it sells out, they won’t make any more. It’s a lovely little diorama and it features two halflings, sorry abhuman Ratlings, hiding behind some ruins. One is a sniper and preparing to shoot, the other is preparing lunch.
I liked it, so pre-ordered it from my FLGS. What I had forgotten about, or more likely I hadn’t pre-ordered anything in a while, is that Games Workshop have moved to a two week pre-order window. I thought it was a week, so I went to my FLGS last week to pick it up. Of course they didn’t have it, so I picked something else up instead.
This week I went back and picked up Provisionally Prepared. It’s a little box with a single sprue. When (and if) I paint this up, I will be painting the two Ratlings separately to the scenic base.
The Malcador Assault Tank, also known as the Malcador Heavy Tank is a venerable pattern of armoured vehicle that predates the Leman Russ tank in the Imperium of Man’s service. It is not widely used by Imperial armed forces at the present time and is in fact little known even within the Imperial military.
In many regions of the Imperium, the Malcador passed out of common service many millennia ago. The few Malcadors that remain in the Emperor of Mankind’s service have been relegated to the Departmento Munitorum’s strategic reserve, to the arsenals of second-line Planetary Defence Forces or are maintained in active service only by a few units of the Imperial Guard due to ancient tradition.
Originally this was a resin model from Forge World, but a plastic kit version was released for the Solar Auxilia for The Horus Heresy. At the recent World Championships Preview, as well as the wonderful little Arvus Lighter, it was annnounced there would be Malcador variants available including the Valdor Tank Hunter and the Infernus which mounts a massive Titan-grade inferno gun.
Last month I wrote a post about the Citadel Limited Editions that I had seen at Warhammer World. I remember thinking that it was a pity that Games Workshop stopped producing miniatures like this.
Of course the reality is that now and again they do release similar models. We have seen the Red Gobbo festive release and today a lovely little diorama, Provisionally Prepared has gone on pre-order. It features two halflings, sorry abhuman Ratlings, hiding behind some ruins. One is a sniper and preparing to shoot, the other is preparing lunch.
Diminutive, keen-eyed and instinctively stealthy, the abhuman Ratlings serve the Astra Militarum primarily as outstanding snipers – they can take the head off a heretic with their rifles from over a mile away.
Get ready to celebrate with this incredibly detailed diorama showing two Ratling sniper specialists right in the middle of their two most important jobs – fighting and eating.
Thoroughly dug in behind a sturdy barricade, the sniper is shown taking cover and getting ready to shoot. Their colleague, meanwhile, prepares to reload both their bellies and their weaponry, equipped as they are with tasty sausages, a turkey, fresh drinks, grenades, and more, all within easy reach.
This is not a regular army model, this is an amusing scene that captures the essence of halflings in space. It so reminds me of the types of limited editions that we would see in the 1980s.
I really like this model, so I have pre-ordered it from my FLGS.
There were quite a few Imperial Guard Rogal Dorn Battle Tank models on display at Warhammer World. As well as the display cabinets, some have been added to various existing displays, notably the Imperial Guard parade.
The Rogal Dorn Battle Tank is larger than the standard Leman Russ battle tank. A huge tank that provides support for the infantry of the Imperial Guard.
This Rogal Dorn Battle Tank is armed with a twin battle cannon that provides a a high volume fire.
This variant has an oppressor cannon with a co-axial autocannon mounted on its side.
I quite like the model, which certainly has an Imperial Guard feel to it and fits in well with other Imperial Guard armoured vehicles. We’ve not seen any variants for it at this time, well in the heyday of Forge World we would have seen alternate turrets, or the hull used as the basis for different kinds of armoured vehicles. Thinking it might be a good platform for a real large missile.
The model did cause some negative feedback from modellers, who didn’t like the fact that the model did not have an underside.
When it came out I did wonder about it in this blog post back in October 2022.
I do wonder why they decided to design a completely new tank. I suspect it might be that attempting to recreate an existing resin model in plastic was challenging, and to ensure that the sprues would fit in the box they needed to start from scratch.
Well since then Games Workshop have released a plastic version of the Malcador. I am now wondering if we will see a plastic Macharius tank?
The Imperial Guard have a range of artillery, one of the most common variants is the self-propelled Basilisk.
It is used extensively by the Imperial Guard and is produced in vast numbers.
This is a Catachan Basilisk on display at Warhammer World.
This Catachan Valkyrie was on display at Warhammer World.
The Valkyrie are troop carrying gunships used by the Imperial Guard. They are used to take soldiers into the heart of the battle. Flying through the enemy gunfire, landing in the hotzone and dropping off their payload before flying up in support.
Sometimes the troops are jumping, using grave chutes, from high above the battlefield.
The Valkyrie is armed with lascannons or a multi-laser, and under the wings are missiles or rocket pods.
The Valkyrie, like most of the Imperium’s aircraft, is piloted and operated by the Imperial Navy, with a pilot, co-pilot and two door gunners.
There were some Tempestus Scions Valkyries on display as well.
The Tempestus Scions are elite special forces of the Imperial Guard. They have the best equipment and weapons.
Though not a helicopter, the Valkyrie is used in a similar way.
I do have one of these, but it currently remains unbuilt in its box. I did though paint some for Aeronautica Imperialis.
Gallery of Valkyrie models.
The Macharius Heavy Tank, often referred to as a “Second-Generation” Baneblade, is a heavily armoured tank of the Imperial Guard. It is larger than the standard Leman Russ Tank but smaller than the Baneblade it was built to replace when none are available. Macharius tanks are built by Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds that are eager to secure large military contracts, but do not possess the Standard Template Construct (STC) designs which are needed to manufacture super-heavy battle tanks such as the Baneblade or Shadowsword.
This is the variant with Vanquisher Cannons.
From Damien Pedley’s collection on display at Warhammer World.
The Stormblade super-heavy tank is a variant of the Astra Militarum’s Shadowsword Titan-killer tank. It is armed with a Plasma Blastgun instead of a Volcano Cannon, but it is still able to perform the role of Titan-hunter on the battlefield.
This Imperial Guard Stormblade was in the displays at Warhammer World.
Stormblades are built on Forge Worlds that lack the ability to build true Shadowsword tanks, and thus have to compensate by using different weaponry and other less advanced technologies than the original.
Another Stormblade from the cabinets.
From Damien Pedley’s collection on display at Warhammer World.
I like the lighting effect that has been used on the model.