Raven Guard Heavy Support - Autocannons Galore

Some heavy hitting support for Corax's fellows...

Ten guys with autocannons? Ten guys with autocannons.  Gotta love the Horus Heresy!

Work has been pretty nuts lately, diverting me from much hobby time for painting (much less gaming).  But I whittled a gun out of a bar of soap, bluffed the guards, and managed to get a few things finished.  Here is a Raven Guard heavy support squad armed wall-to-wall with autocannons.  The Marines are wearing Mk III armour.

Embossed shoulder plates add the perfect touch as always

I had finished a few of these guys for a Rogue Trader game we played not that long ago (although it seems like ages ago), but managed to round out the whole group of ten models just recently.

Sergeant with crazy comb and crazy gun

The original autocannon models called for the ammo can to be mounted off the back of the Marine armour, with a kind of belt feed mechanism working around to connect under the front of the weapon.  While possible in theory, the reality of the models and of Forge World's "quality" (great sculptors, wonderful designers, but clearly they don't give much of a sh*t about consistent casting) was such that there was not enough heat guns, boiling water and fast timing in the world to get even a single model assembled that way, much less ten of them.  So I just cut them up and mounted the ammo cans right below the autocannon.

I like the little targeting device they include for officers...

I like how it turned out - makes the gun even more impractical looking, which in turn (to my mind at least) makes it look like something the Imperium would have approved. "Sure, nobody can really use this in a practical way, but these are Space Marines we are talking about - commence production immediately."

Practical weapons of the 30th millenium...

Continue to love the MkIII armour - the best models out there!

The tactical usefulness of this unit will be, well, "interesting". They will blow away things like Rhinos and bikes - fun!  But mostly I just like the crazy appearance.  It underscores the dark, armed excess of the heresy setting and the Space Marine Legions.  Why send one guy with an autocannon, after all, when you could send ten? I mean, do you love the Emperor or not?

Ready to make a stand on Istvaan...

Stay tuned for more reinforcements for the Raven Guard..