Painting Challenge Submission #6 - Spartan AFV for Sons of Horus

Spartan armoured carrier in the colours of the Sons of Horus. Model from Forge World.

Submission number six for the AHPC XIII is yet another subject from GW's "Horus Heresy" setting - here we have a big scary armoured vehicle, a "Spartan", and once more we have the colours and livery of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. This is a resin model from GW's Forge World studio, enhanced with a couple of plastic iconography bits from the newer "Age of Darkness" range.

Another side profile view - it's quite the beast!

As Dallas said when he painted his Spartan back in 2015, a big appeal of the 30k setting is the sheer scale of everything. The Spartan fits right in. It is at once a big troop carrier - fit to carry just over 20 Space Marines - and also scary combat vehicle, mounting batteries of heavy energy weapons on its side sponsons, and a pair of heavy anti-personnel cannons ("heavy bolters" in GW nerd parlance) in a case mounting over the front. There are armoured doors on the front and sides, so this thing can basically drive over/through/into wherever, and disgorge a large number of terrifying Space Marine warriors into battle. 

Front assault ramp, with heavy weapons to provide covering fire when the Marines dismount.

GW geeks (like me!) will recognize in this vehicle the silhouette of the "Land Raider", one of the earliest plastic tanks created for GW's Warhammer 40,000 setting. When Forge World first started rolling out 30k in 28mm, they brilliantly went back to those old "Rogue-Trader-era" vehicles and either re-created them for the new Horus Heresy setting, or imagined new, upgraded versions. The Spartan is essentially "a Land Raider" but bigger. One can imagine the early Space Marine commanders meeting with the Mechanicum weirdos (the tech priest folks who build things) and pitching them on this - "We need a Land Raider that's like, a double Land Raider?" - and the Mechanicum tech priests wiggling their tendrils and coming up with this thing.

Not quite zero-emissions exhaust system.

And I love it! A spooky, slab-sided armoured menace, topped up with a load of terrifying Space Marines. I've wanted one of these for years! And I've been painting Horus Heresy for 10 years, so why didn't I have one already? Well...there is something special about Curt's painting Challenge that tugs at you to find figures or a model that has been sitting around for years...and here we have one such victim of long procrastination.

You see, these vehicle kits were notorious being hideous to assemble. Those of us who tangle with Forge World products are used to the uneven casting quality and warping of the resin components - which in theory can occur with any resin product, but sure seems to pop up often with Forge World ones, despite the premium price you pay to acquire it. Yet even by these wobbly standards, the Spartan kits always stood out as being a particular beast to assemble. Reports from all corners spoke of horrors - warped pieces, pain-in-the-ass tread segments, etc. I was scared to even try to build mine. 

View from the air...

So enter Steve B. Not only is he a really, really talented painter, but he is a genius at assembling these models. I commissioned him to build and prime TWO of these beasts for me, and he delivered! Magnetized weapon mounts, the whole nine yards! And if you look closely, you can see where, on the top front of the hatch section on the bow of the vehicle, he had to sand and then green-stuff a serious flaw in the fitting! Steve B is an ace - and this vehicle is just the latest addition to my lineup which started originally with his skilled assembly.

Just an idea of the size...here is the Spartan with one the Marines from my earlier post.

Steve did this for me FOUR YEARS ago? Dallas painted his Spartan in 2015, and I have been gawking at it ever since, yet would not pick up the brushes to get started on mine - even with the assembly out of the way. Put another way...in the amount of time that it took me to want these vehicles for my own collection, enough time had passed that GW itself went through the trouble of re-issuing this model as a multi-part plastic kit to include in the new box set for the "Age of Darkness" game. That box came out last summer, and I still had not painted these? Why? Well, I think hobbyists out there can imagine, and I hope relate, to the sorts of things that cause such procrastination. But in particular, this model always intimidated me, even after it was built and primed - the quad weapon battery was not easy to paint, and it is always so hard to get the black base coat in under the treads...oddly, such considerations were reasons to paint something else...

"Family photo" with the Praetor and 20-man tactical squad - all of which can be carried together in the Spartan.

But no more! This Spartan has finally rolled off the painting desk, and is ready to serve the Warmaster and his quest to save humanity from the clutches of the so-called "Emperor"! As a newly painted tank, it will no doubt be immediately zapped in its first game, but as long as it looks great on the table, that will be fine with me :) 

Ok, enough blathering. As one 28mm vehicle, this earned another 20 points toward my 800-point painting target. I also have one more skull for the skull duel! It's on the back, near the exhaust. Like, where else would you put a skull, right?

Thanks for reading - stay tuned for more great submissions from the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts as they continue to tear through AHPC XII. Who knows what Frederick's point total will be by the time this post is live????