Iron Hands Land Raider

Ready roll out in defence of The Emperor (pointlessly, of course).

The summer of 2019 continues to see brushes bending to the Loyalist cause in the 30k setting - this time some serious armoured firepower in the form of an Armoured Proteus Land Raider for the 10th Legion, the "Iron Hands".  It can carry a squad of Medusan Immortals to battle, and provide them with heavy fire support from its batteries of twin-lascannon on either sponson and the twin-heavy bolter mounted on the front of the hull.

WIP photo from the painting table out at the lake.

The "Armoured Proteus" is a Forge World kit, a variant on the classic "Land Raider Proteus" design from the Rogue Trader era of 40k.  The Land Raider is an iconic piece of Space Marine kit. Going back to the time of the first "Space Marine" game, which followed the original "Adeptus Titanicus" and brought in Epic and gaming the Horus Heresy alive, I remembered you got a whole bunch of plastic Land Raiders with the game. I loved the original "Space Marine" game and associate Horus Heresy battlefields with the image of Land Raiders zapping each other on the table in no small part because of it.

"Gaarsak" - a name only a Medusan could love, I suppose? It was on the FW decal sheet...

The GW designers have expanded the collection of 30k vehicles to an incredible extent - adding many variants on the Land Raider, Predator and Rhino chassis, new vehicles like the Sicaran tanks, and even super-heavy tanks like the Fellblade and its friends, not to mention assorted bikes, jet bikes, speeders, flyers and landers.  Your 30k Legion forces have a lot to choose from!

Twin lascannons in a heavily armoured mount.

The classic Land Raider Proteus is a favourite, of course, but the Armoured Proteus always looked super cool - even better in person after Dallas painted one for his Howling Griffons back in 2012.  The Armoured Proteus has the unique, bonkers, classic look of the Land Raider, but with features that resemble a bunker on the Atlantic Wall. For many years I hoped to add one to my 30k collection.

Another view of the top - and the definitely-not-carbon-neutral exhaust system.

Of course, I do not do well modelling these resin vehicle kits.  With Land Raiders, the challenge is always the tracks, getting them lined up, hoping they fit etc.  Well, once again, Steve B here in Winnipeg was willing and able to assist with the assembly for me.  He did fantastic work getting the kit built for me. Thanks very much Steve!! 

Another view of the front.

Chipping on the armour here and there, amid the FW 10th Legion decals.

I started collecting 28mm 30k stuff back in 2014.  As you can tell from a scan of the blog, I sure love the setting and really enjoy the painting, collecting and gaming.  But over more than five years of painting 30k in this scale, my bias has become pretty clear - I have more than 120 infantry, six or seven tanks and APCs painted for my Sons of Horus alone.  But the other side of the conflict is not so well-represented on my shelves - I have collected and painted loyalists in small groups, and this is the first tank I have ever painted for the loyalist side!

Some Medusan Immortals from the 10th Legion on test maneuvers with their new ride.

My "shattered Legion" Loyalist force is coming together nicely - they now have some tough armour to back them up on the table.  But one tank alone, even a formidable Land Raider, won't last too long in many games, so watch for further reinforcements to appear at some point.