VI Legion Vindicator for 30k

Prepare to FEEL the loyalty! A new tank arrives for The Rout!

Another 30k vehicle rolls off the painting table! This is a "Deimos Pattern Vindicator Laser Destroyer", an armoured fighting vehicle of the Horus Heresy in the grim and dark future. The chassis will look familiar - it is the same as the Deimos Pattern Rhino and the Deimos Pattern Predators seen in earlier posts. The "Vindicator" has been around Space Marine arsenals for a long time, but the main weapon on this variant of the tank is a little different. Instead of a huge howitzer, it's sporting a huge laser.

Yes, to come up with this vehicle, the tech adepts of the Mechanicum have taken the Space Marines' favourite APC, filled the troop compartment with scary batteries and other abominable technologies, and mounted a "Laser Destroyer" on the front.

Decals courtesy of the legion-specific decal sheets from Forge World.

In the fluff of the Horus Heresy story, these vehicles are presented as something of a stop-gap improvisation, borne of the need for more tank-destroying vehicles than there were tank-destroying-chassis available. Nonetheless, I think Dr. Evil would approve!

I love the whacky look of this thing, and while that "laser destroyer" looks plenty-destroyer-y, this weapons is a pretty "average-sized" one compared to the other weapons and vehicles in the Space Marine Legion arsenal. But there would only be so many Falchions to go around, and a Space Marine Captain in the Horus Heresy needs to take whatever armoured support can be found. Yes - 30k is bonkers!

Closeup showing the combi-bolter and command cupola for the vehicle.

This is a mixed resin-and-plastic kit from Forge World - and I must once again acknowledge the assistance in Steve B, who put this model together for me so I could get it painted.  Like the other recently-painted Space Wolf vehicles, this had been sitting primed and ready for quite some time as I worked on other hobby projects...but here we are, it's now ready for battle. Thank you Steve!

View from the top. I'm sure having those cables exposed to enemy fire isn't any sort of safety problem at all...

Still the good ol' general-pupose hatch on the back...have to access the batteries on that laser somehow, right?

The Marines of the VI Legion Astrates will no doubt be pleased to have some serious firepower now backing them up on the table. As a newly-painted tank I'm pretty sure the chances of it being knocked out the game on the first turn are relatively low...or, probably, more like 82%, but whatever. It's fun to have another tank finished off as I slowly-but-steadily balance the firepower in my 30k collection between the rebels and the loyalists. 

Ready to roll for The Rout!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you are somewhere safe and sane. Cheers!

Zvezda 15mm Sturmtiger

So after a bunch of faffing around building and painting 1/72 aircraft, I felt like having a bit of a "palate cleanser"... so I got out a Zvezda model I'd bought at the new hobby shop in town, back when they opened a year or two ago.

The Sturmtiger is one of my favourite German AFVs of the late-war period. After some success with the Sturmpanzer IV ("Brummbar") armed with a 15cm howitzer, Alkett designed and had approved the "38cm RW61 auf Sturmmorser Tiger" - an assault rocket mortar on the Tiger heavy tank chassis.   

As with most 1/100 Zvezda kits the tank was quick to build with only a few parts. The one challenge I find with the "snap" kits like this is that some of the snap parts can be fragile. I ended up having to glue the track parts to the chassis.

After assembly the model was primed black and basecoated with my own Dunkel Gelb formula - in this case GW XV-88 mixed with Zamesi Desert. 

Camo was applied by lightly stippling GW Doombull Brown and Catachan Green. The tracks were painted with Vallejo Track Primer.

The main armament was a 380mm mortar firing rocket-assisted ammunition. The distinctive vents in the gun tube wall exhausted the propellant gases forward. Range of the weapon was 4,600m (!)

After the camo was laid down the vehicle was washed with Agrax Earthshade and decals were applied. The model was then weathered with sponge chipping and some dirt (GW Rhinox Hide and Mournfang Brown) brushed up from bottom upwards.

The model was quite inexpensive - I think $8.99. Well worth it.

A nice addition to the WW2 German force in 15mm. Pictured next to the Sturmtiger is a PSC Sdkfz. 251 and crew.

Until next time - stay safe everyone!

Imperial Bastion

 I've wanted the bastion for a while now, but I have trouble justifying terrain purchases. However, I came across a new kit on eBay that seemed to be going for a good price, so I snapped it up. Rather than have the kit sit unbuilt for six months, I instead painted it up over the weekend. I stuck with my trusty Russian Olive paint scheme to get it done quickly. I’m pretty happy with the results.

VI Legion Predator

Deimos pattern Predator for the VI Legion Space Marines.

Another 30k vehicle rolls off of the painting table in this posting. This is a Deimos Pattern Predator, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astrates, the "Space Wolves". The kit is a resin-and-plastic hybrid from Forge World.

Decals are glossy, as the model won't get a final Dullcote spray until the fall.

There are scads of different 30k tanks in today's Horus Heresy gaming, and in general they are all awesome and a lot of fun. Many of them are "new" designs. But there is something about the classics. Just like the Rhinos from an earlier post, the Deimos Pattern Predator model carries an old-school, Rogue Trader era vibe to it, one that nostalgia-types like me just love. This specific picture from an old White Dwarf (also in the 40k Compendium) comes to mind when I think of this vehicle specifically for the Space Wolves, and I wanted to add this vehicle to that growing collection.

A classic image of the original Predator from the Rogue Trader days.

Together with the Rhino, the Land Raider and the Whirlwind, the Predator sits at the original core of the armoured forces of the Imperium, and in Rogue Trader days you could find Predators fighting among the regiments of the Imperial Army as well as in Space Marine Chapters. Over time, the Predator evolved into a vehicle designated solely for Space Marine use. GW has updated the plastic model since the Rogue Trader times (and I have to say, the updated model is pretty nice too and it will be sad when it disappears).

The autocannon on the Predator won't really hurt many enemy tanks, but it chews up light vehicles and enemy heavy infantry.

This 30k model might be a throw-back in terms of design, but the options are much more in step with the more modern 30k/40k game, in that the available weapon choices are quite vast. The vehicle I have painted here is sporting the classic auto-cannon, and a pair of heavy bolters on the sponson mounts at the sides. But you can put all sorts of weapons - twin lascannons, melta cannons, flamers, even conversion beamers (!) on to the turret if you like.

Decals from Forge World's Space Wolf decal sheet.

Steve B built this model for me (around the same time he did the Rhinos in the previous post). And as Steve B is a genius with magnets, he built it so I could swap in some of those other more exotic weapon choices - stay tuned for more on that...

Motor pool for The Rout taking shape at the lake this summer.

Since this is the final post for this years edition of "painting from the cabin", I thought I would toss in one more photo of Lake Superior.

Sunset over Goulais Bay and Lake Superior, just before the Labour Day weekend.

Thanks for reading, hope you are safe and sane, wherever you are!

Team Yankee 15mm Leopard 2s and BTR-60s + Vallejo Vehicle Paint

One of the things that the pandemic has been good for is ordering stuff over the Internet. What can be hit-and-miss though is the fulfillment of those orders. Back in April I thought to take advantage of some free shipping from Battlefront and ordered some GF9 terrain. I figured I'd add a couple Team Yankee tank sprues just for fun, so I threw in these two Leopard 2s. Well... suffice to say that my order finally arrived in July after having to cancel the first order and re-order the stuff... I guess I should also add that the complete order hasn't even yet arrived, since the two aircraft flight stands I added on were on backorder. I guess it doesn't matter much because there's no sign yet of the two 1/144 SU-25 Frogfoot model kits I ordered off eBay at the start of July... typical.

 

Anyway, the models finally arrived and have duly been built and painted in the same fashion as my other Bundeswehr Leo 2s.

The TY sprues don't come with decals, of course, but I had plenty of Iron Crosses and tactical numbers left over from prior projects. I just had to freehand a license plate for each of the vehicles.

The BTR-60 company came from a local brick and mortar store, so no worries at all about shipping or postage. Super-fast to paint these using the magic spraypaint (Krylon Camouflage Olive) - supposedly it's still in production but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. This lot of five vehicles emptied my last can :-(

 

Anyway, another thing I really like about the Battlefront Team Yankee vehicles is that they come with crew figures as well (are you listening, 1/72 aircraft makers???) I just love the cool character that a crew figure adds to the vehicle.

Cool looking crew eh!

Of course, one good use for these BTR-60s will be to transport the heavy weapons platoon of the Motor Rifle Regiment!

Just such cool little models. All injection-molded plastic and a snap to assemble, while retaining good detail.

I also have to give a shout-out to Vallejo for this paint set, which was a very generous gift from Conscript Perry (thanks Perry!)

I used the Panzer Colours "Dark Rubber" on the tires of the BTR-60s and it really worked a treat - I love the effect. It'll certyainly be my go-to paint for vehicle tires and likely also for Bundeswehr "teerschwartz" (tar black) as used in their three-colour camo pattern.

Anyway, that's it for now... until we can (finally) get gaming together again, stay healthy everyone!
 

Some Terrain

 I’ve been doing some hobby room reorganizing and it forced me to blow the dust off of some buildings I’ve had lying around for far too long. I decided to just paint the bloody things! These were made by Byron and are excellent kits. Dallas already has a post on the blog where he painted some similar buildings. I also painted some resin buildings from the now out of business Critical Mass Games. They are actually 15mm, but I think they work well enough as generic fuel/horribly toxic chemical storage tanks.

Rhinos For The Rout

APCs for the VI Legion Astrates.

I have been posting a little run of 40k work from the Lake, but for some of the final postings of painting from the summer I turn the settings on the painting desk back ten thousand years and return once again to GW's Horus Heresy.  This year I have been trying to build up a loyalist force from the VI Legion, the "Space Wolves". It's been pretty much all infantry and air support to this point. Time to get a little more serious with some more vehicles, and with that in mind, here are two Deimos pattern Rhino APCs.  These are hybrid plastic and resin kits from Forge World.

The pair of individually-mounted bolt guns - classic Rogue Trader-era look!

The Rhino is a classic Space Marine vehicle, and I really like how these "Deimos pattern" vehicles are essentially throw-backs to the original plastic Rhino vehicle models from the Rogue Trade-era. The two hatches on the front, the round hatches on the side, and the two individual bolt guns mounted on top, ready to carry a squad of ten marines into battle!

FW makes custom doors with Legion iconography...not the cheapest thing to get, but you'll love the results.

The embossed doors are a nice touch from Forge World, I love the effect. The only downside is that I only acquired two sets of doors.  I would like to add a couple more vehicles, but a "plain" Rhino would look a bit poor beside these fine vehicles...oh well :) With everything happening in the world, is that really a "problem"? No.

Rear access ramp showing some wear from heavy use.

 As with all of the figures painted at the lake this summer, these models have yet to receive the final spray of Testors Dullcote - so that is why you can see the gloss coat beneath all of the decals. The application of Dullcote will wait until summer humidity fades (which seems to be happening at record pace this year, but I digress...).

Another view showing the side hatches with the custom Legion symbols - love those.

Once more, I have to recognize and thank Steve B for his help getting these models assembled. Forge World's "fit" is hardly seamless and even a cursory inspection of the photos will reveal the many difficult spots where kits does not exactly come together easily. Steve - I'm sorry it took me so bloody long to get these painted! I believe Steve put these together for me in June of 2019, I think, if not earlier...but at least I got to them eventually :)

Ready to roll out with The Rout!

Thanks for reading everyone - hope you are staying sane and staying safe.