Shadowsword

Games Workshop's new Shadowsword super-heavy tank kit is awesome, in the truest sense of the word. It's big - dwarfing anything in the 40K plastics range short of a Baneblade. It's pricey, too - a wince-inducing $110 CN at full retail. And most importantly, it has a BIG gun.

I decided to build one of these behemoths almost as soon as I read the announcement of the kit's upcoming release. I figured it would fit perfectly in the future-retro sci-fi world that many of the gang have been obsessed with lately. (See the multitudinous FuturKom/GünSchwarm entries on the blog this year)

My particular Shadowsword, "Wotan", takes its inspiration from the German battle tank of the Great War, the A7V. "Wotan" was the sobriquet given to one of these behemoths by its crew. The rusty, muddy grey colour scheme and iron cross insignia are an homage to the markings of the original vehicle, along with the death's head that featured prominently on several A7Vs.

The vehicle was built stock from the box, leaving off the sponsons which I though somewhat silly given the role of this machine as a Titan-killer. Bitz for the Bitz God I suppose! Weathering was done using gel texture medium for mud and painting with various Citadel browns. Rust was supplied by pin-washes of Citadel Chestnut Ink. Decals courtesy the bits box as well - crosses from a 1/72 WWI aircraft kit (a Roland I think), Roman numerals from Brent Dietrich, and the death's head from the Tamiya 1/48 StuG III.

The commander is a Steel Legion model from GW, he's the loader from the crew-served lascannon, razor-sawed to fit in the turret. He had some details resculpted with greenstuff and his helmet painted in camo to tie in the Great War theme. All in all it's a pretty cool model and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

"Scheisse! Is that the time?? We're late for the assault!!"