Thunderhawk and Rapier Battery for Legions Imperialis

Legions Imperialis reinforcements!

Hey, look at this! A second post within one month! Efforts to get back into the regular posting routine continue here with some kit for GW's "Legions Imperialis" game (a.k.a Epic 30k), the small-scale tabletop game rules for the Horus Heresy. We have a battery of Rapier support weapons for the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons, and, the real star of the show, a Thunderhawk gunship in the colours of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Warmaster's own Sons of Horus!

Rapier Support Battery

"Quad launchers" - the current version of the old "Thudd Guns" - great for knocking enemy infantry around.

"Rapier" support carriers go WAY back into the Rogue Trader times. Take some kind of scary weapon, mount in on a tracked carrier and give up a couple of support crew, and you had a Rapier. They were available back in the day both as 28mm metal kits, and were also among the first metal support options for the early "Space Marine" game - you could get tiny little batteries of these guns to support your 6mm sized Space Marines in the earliest version of the "Epic" game.

The designs have changed over the years, but the concept of the weapon is still the same - some scary weapon on a tracked platform, accompanied by a pair of minders/crew. In the scale of Epic 30k, where super-heavy tanks and Titans stalk the battlefield, these weapons are not large, but they can pack a surprising punch.

Rapiers - anti-tank fire support that will come in handy for the sons of Magnus!

These are great little kits - the only real downside is that they are part of a larger sprue, sharing space with heavy dreadnoughts and other support bits - and so it is not really easy to acquire a decent-sized batter of the guns without accumulating a bunch of other stuff you don't necessarily need. But even the small battery is useful - two laser destroyers designed to pack an anti-tank punch, while the quad launchers take out rival infantry. They don't move very fast, but they do move, and so are good to support an infantry detachment. 

Thunderhawk Gunship

Let's fly the friendly skies of 30k!

On to the star of this post! Here we have a classic Space Marine vehicle, the Thunderhawk gunship. I have been painting Thousand Sons for Legions Imperialis, but there was no way the Warmaster was going to miss out on this bird, so it got the green for the Sons of Horus! 

The original! Who remembers these little metal guys zooming over games of "Epic"?

Remember the original Thunderhawk from the days of "Epic"? The modelling has come a long way!

The Thunderhawk is the all-around, go-to gunship for the Space Marines. While not as large as the venerable Stormbirds, the vehicle fills a similar role, meant as much for action in the void as it is for ground support (hence the main weapon mounted on the top) while it carries Space Marines in for combat landings. It has quite a few weapons to provide fire support for them after they have been dropped off! 

This is a model that GW originally released for their excellent 2nd edition of "Aeronautica Imperialis", the 40k-setting air combat game. The company leaned into the dark humour of its fanbase by touting that a plastic Thunderhawk model was here at long last! I think most of us appreciated the humour :)

Anyway, this thing just looks cool. Here are more photos. 

View from the top.

Side/rear view.

View of the bottom detail.

The model is easy to detach from its flying base, so you can represent it on the ground during the game if the need arises.

There are a lot of parts to this kit...you need to pay attention, because the components are small! But wow, is it ever a wonderful little kit. I painted it sub-assemblies...not a whole lot of them, but I did the tiny heavy bolter currents and missiles separately, as well as the secondary wing assemblies (the smaller "wings" over the top of the engine). I glued those secondary wings into place, but if you wish you can build it so they move! I loved painting all of the details on this model (to the extent I could manage it). I can't wait to use it in a game of Epic 30k at some point. 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for another post, hopefully soon!

"Saturnine" Dreadnought for 30k Thousand Sons

"Saturnine" Dreadnought for the Thousand Sons. Big guns on a big dreadnought.

Well, at long last...a blog post! I have been utterly delinquent when it comes to posting on the Blog. I actually have been painting a fair bit through the summer, and have been meaning to share some photos, because that is fun! But...I just keep getting delayed on the whole "take photos and post" part of the process. Oh well. Let's try to get one post going, and we'll see if we can build on it...and for said post here we will highlight a new addition to the ranks of my XV Legion Astartes - a great big "Saturnine" Dreadnought. This is a 28mm multi-part plastic kit from GW's "Age of Darkness" range.

Big sucker...

"Saturnine"-type kit is the new "latest thing" for the Horus Heresy, central to the box set of the 3.0 edition of the rules released in the summer of 2025. Considering that the Black Library had 50 or 60 so novels covering the story of the Horus Heresy, as well as a 10-book series on the Siege of Terra itself, and that "Saturnine" kit is not mentioned the whole time, this amounted to quite the ret-con, even by GW standards! 

Low emissions...I think? 

The Saturnine-equipped chaps are pretty large. The Saturnine terminators are essentially "they're terminators, but bigger!", and the same thinking lies behind the Saturnine dreadnought - "it's a dreadnought, but bigger!". This thing is mounted on a 100mm round base and is much larger than the Contemptor and Leviathan dreadnought models found in the Space Marine Legion collections. 

"Heavy Plasma Bombard" on one arm.

It is still not as big as the Imperial Knight kits, but in terms assembling and painting, there are a lot of similarities to the approach. There is a significant amount of metal/machine, covered with armoured plates, and the best way to tackle the painting is via a sub-assembly process. This allows you to get a base of metal colours down on the interior components, get those washed and dry-brushed, before focusing on the external armoured covers. 

"Disintegrator cannon" - surely this is totally safe to use...

This is particularly important with the giant, turtle-style armour plates which dominate the top assembly on the model - they cover MOST of what is underneath, but NOT all, so it's worth taking some time to paint the plates separately. It's also a lot easier to apply the transfers to them before they are affixed to the main body.

Secondary weapons, mounted on the chest of the dreadnought. The pair at the top are "concussive resonators", while there are a pair of "photonic incinerators" on the bottom. These are designed to accommodate magnets, which is great.

The designers of this kit anticipated small magnets, which is great, and so magnetizing the weapons was easy. The kit comes with two different options for the (relatively) smaller short-range weapons mounted on the torso, and those are easily magnetized so you can swap them out. The main weapons on the "arms" can also have magnets fitted to them, allowing them to be changed out should I even acquire some of the other weapon options which have been released in the months following the introduction of these new kits.

Close up the the "sarcophagus" on the Saturnine dreadnought...

I've played very little of the 3.0 Horus Heresy rules, so I can't tell you how this thing performs in games. But I have come up against Saturnine Terminators, and find they are just broken, so I expect this thing would deliver similar results. I cannot remember what the main weapons are called, but they seem pretty devastating to infantry and to vehicles, while this version of the dreadnought armour is likely to be unbelievably resilient. These are among the game's newest models, after all, and as the "40k style" is sadly continuing to creep into 30k gaming, it's not shocking that these new kits would be powerful in the game. 

It's hard to spot, but you can see the alternate weapons mounted on the torso.

But I should be fair - these things are not solely a power gaming exercise. First, this is a very nice model kit, something GW can still do very well. And whatever I think of "Saturnine" stuff, it sure seems popular with gamers, and in a genuine way. Many players seem to have a soft spot for those distant images of the original goofy-looking "Saturnine" armour of the Rogue Trader times, and are pleased to have the chance to bring the updated kits to their 30k collections.

No doubt the Thousand Sons of my own collection are surely pleased to be enjoying the boost. They have the "Axehole 2.0" to lead them in battle. They have a Saturnine Terminator squad to bring further support. They also have a new Spartan APC to carry the troops into battle!  Watch for further reinforcements to come to this legion through the fall...anyway, that is all for now, hopefully I'll be back with another post before too long!

Nearing the End! Mounted Seventh Cavalry Troopers and More Plains Warriors

OK! So we're about a month away from The Big Birthday Game and the models are progressing nicely. The latest I've gotten done are eight mounted Seventh Cavalry troopers and eight more Plains warriors. First the cavalry - they are Wargames Foundry models (naturally) and are pretty great in every way. The horses are noticeably larger than the Plains ponies ridden by the warriors, which necessitated slightly bigger bases, but that's the way they were in real life and it's fine by me.

   

Custer organized the Seventh in a particular way - each company was mounted on the same colour horses, except for one company, and the buglers who were on greys. Company A had coal black mounts, Company E had greys, Companies B, D, F, I and L had bays, H had blood bays, G and K had sorrels, and C had light sorrels. Company M had mixed colour horses. These were all identified with brands. The excellent Foundry horses have a "US" incised brand on the front upper leg and I put company brands on the rear left "thighs". The pattern was company letter over "7 C" for the Seventh Cavalry. I did these with a black technical pen.

  

The castings are good - horse is one piece and the trooper, saddle and gear cast together as a separate piece. This makes for easy painting although there is a lot of gear. You can see the light blue overcoat rolled in front of the trooper here. There's also a nosebag, feed sack, saddlebag, pistol holster, lariat, and canteen.

I've painted the greys as E Company of course, the bays (reddish brown with black points - mane, tail and socks) as C Company, and the sorrels (reddish brown with light coloured points) as C Company.

Bugler here on a grey.

Trooper of Company C in his red fireman's shirt.

With the mounted troopers out of the way I also got some more dismounted Plains warriors done. These are the Foundry Dog Soldiers.

Goes Through the Camp, Touch the Sky (he is a big fella), Voice Like Thunder.

Yellow Thunder, Walking Rain.

Three Fingers, Pawnee Killer, Plenty Coups. All painted in the traditional style, although I did punch up the blue with another highlight of Hoeth Blue and the red with some Evil Sunz Scarlet.

Here are the forces as of this update. I have nine more Plains warriors to go and maybe three more Crow scouts if there's time. I also want to make some teepees for background colour on the battlefield. 

So till then... hoka hey!

Plains Warriors Progress

Really on a roll now with another group of dismounted Plains warriors completed. I feel like I'm well on the way towards completing the Little Bighorn project at this point. 

I had planned a trip down to Montana in September to visit the battlefield again as a reward for finishing all of the painting, but that is a bit up in the air now, for a couple of reasons. One, while my original plan was to head down during the week of Labour Day, that's hit a snag as my parents have to stay with me that week as my father has a medical appointment in the city. Two, we are now "at war" (trade war that is) with the United States and I increasingly consider it questionable form to visit and spend money there. So as for the second point anyway, we shall see if relations thaw in the next couple weeks. While we are not political on this blog, I will nevertheless say that I find the current American federal administration's position towards trade with Canada both baffling and frustrating in the extreme. Imposing tariffs that your own importers and consumers pay is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. But Canada will now impose counter-tariffs. I hope we are not entering into an escalating suicide pact. 

ANYWAY... here are eleven more Plains warriors for the project. Above are Walks Alone, Crow in Rain, and Swift White Raven from the Foundry "Young Bloods 2" pack.

Running Rabbit, Wolf Looks Back, Goes Walking. The first two are from the Young Bloods 1 pack and the last from Young Bloods 2.

Fish Arrow, Bear Licks with Tongue, Lazy Boy from Young Bloods 1.

Strikes Like Bear (from Young Bloods 2) and Holds Fire (from Young Bloods 1).

A bit of a show-off of a couple of the shields. I always have a bit of a challenge coming up with ideas for the designs but I think these are OK.

The models were painted in my usual Plains style - flesh done with Doombull Brown under Ratskin Flesh and warpaint applied over top. Basic painting but I think they look OK. With these models done I think I'll have painted one of every dismounted Foundry Plains warrior. I do have another couple packs though and next up is another Dog Soldiers pack. I will do at least one more pack of Young Bloods too. It'll be easy enough to vary the paint jobs.

Until then... hoka hey! 

A Few More Black Riders

I painted these models a few weeks ago as a wee break from the Little Bighorn project. I figured they'd take next to no time at all and I was right. They are resin models from a "third party supplier" that I threw in with an order for some other models. The mounted and dismounted models at left are "the Tainted" and the ones at right are "Dwimmerlaik." They were originally retailed together as the metal "Ringwraiths of Angmar."

 

They're certainly decent models but did need some repair as some of the swords were a bit warped and flimsy. But that was pretty easily done with some thin plasticard cut to shape.

Honestly I'd been wanting to bring my contingent of Nazgul up to full strength for awhile now as I was sitting at six dismounted and two mounted models. So this puts me over the top, albeit technically needing one more dismounted model to make the full Nine on foot. However I think I have a metal one left in a blister pack somewhere.

Not a lot of painting required on these models as Dark Rubber and a light touch with Mechanicus Standard Grey do most of the work for you.

They're really well-sculpted models typical of the pieces from Games Workshop Warhammer and it's good to have them in the cabinet. We just need to get Conscript Frederick's excellent Weathertop terrain out for a game!

Seventh Cavalry Dismounted Troopers and Scouts

After the slog of painting almost a dozen mounted Plains warriors it's a relief to get back to some quick work. And by that I mean models that are wearing at least some semblance of a uniform. 

I made quick work of the dismounted troopers. The whole model gets a drybrush of Dark Rubber, this takes care of the highlights on the black hats, crossbelt, cartridge belt, holster, and boots. Then uniform coats and pants are painted Kantor Blue, uniform coat is highlighted Ultramarines Blue, pants are overpainted AK Sky Blue and highlighted Vallejo Wolf Grey. Buckskins are AK Khaki washed with Agrax Earthshade. It was hot in Montana Territory in June so some of the troopers are in shirtsleeves. While the issued shirt was grey, many wore privately purchased shirts and these could have been any colour at all.

The Scouts took a bit more thinking as their apparel is a mix of uniform and Indigenous attire. Oftentimes they were given worn-out or obsolete uniform coats so that's what these three got. I painted their trousers as buckskins or brown cloth, and the "breechclouts" were done in a nice red-black tartan with Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, and Evil Sunz Red, and "Hudson's Bay Blanket" pattern on the other model.

So with these done I feel like I'm making progress towards completion. I've got about 25 Seventh Cavalry troopers and helpers now, and a dozen mounted and about the same number of dismounted Plains warriors. Ultimately I want to have 40 (or 50?) models a side so I reckon I'm about halfway there. I just primed more troopers and after that, will get to the mounted troopers and 20 or 30 more warriors on foot. I'm going to use the same skin technique I used on my ancient Germans and that should speed the process up a bit.

Hoka hey!  

At Last - Plains Warriors on Horseback

You know how some figures seem to almost paint themselves and others take ages and ages? Well slot these Plains warriors into the latter category... seems like it's been over a month of saying to myself "I will get those guys done THIS WEEKEND" and it never seemed to happen. But I buckled down and now they are done.

  

They are of course the excellent Foundry models. Here we see the model I've painted as Crazy Horse, flanked by two compatriots. I found a suitable model for Crazy Horse (he had to be wearing a breechclout only, no war bonnet, and wielding a carbine - the Foundry model is "Walks Alone") and converted him to hold a pistol in his left hand. The pistol is from an excellent Wild West sprue from Wargames Atlantic which also came in handy later. The other two with Crazy Horse are Touch the Sky and Voice Like Thunder.

Here are Bear Licks with Tongue, New Fire, and Holds Fire. The models were painted with my indigenous skin recipe of Doombull Brown highlighted Ratskin Flesh. The horses seemed to take a long time as I painted several as Appaloosas. Also there was some warpaint on the horses and warriors. I should do more of that but it can be a lot!

  

Here are Lazy Boy, Fish Arrow, and Little Crow.

And finally Walking Rain and Strikes Like Bear.

Finally here are some excellent models sculpted by my friend Paul Hicks and sold by Brigade Games. They are from the civilians pack but converted by me to have revolvers, which came from Wargames Atlantic. Easy conversions. Here I've painted the models as Antelope Woman and Moving Robe Woman, both of whom participated in the battle. Antelope Woman (also known as Kate Big Head) was a Cheyenne woman present at the Little Bighorn battle. She was the sister of White Bull and participated in the battle by encouraging the warriors, helping the wounded, and gathering horses and weapons.

Moving Robe Woman (aka Her Eagle Robe) was later known as Mary Crawler (her father was Crawler, a Hunkpapa). Her little brother Deeds was killed early in the Reno fight. Moving Robe Woman took up a revolver and rode into the fight to seek revenge. She got it - killing a Seventh Cavalry soldier with her knife and shooting interpreter Isaiah Dorman with her revolver. This was pretty well documented as Dorman was the only black man in the battle and his fate drew some special attention. He was married to a Hunkpapa woman himself and was well-known to some of the Hunkpapa at the Little Bighorn, some of whom referred to him familiarly as "Teat". Although Moving Robe Woman didn't personally recount killing Dorman (his body was mutilated by his killer and others in a pretty grisly fashion) she did say "in this narrative I have not boasted of my conquests" and did not disclose her whereabouts when Dorman was killed. The Oglala Eagle Elk (cousin of Crazy Horse) said that Her Eagle Robe had a conversation with Dorman before she killed him with some enthusiasm. It is entirely likely that Moving Robe Woman didn't fully disclose her actions on the battlefield out of concern for later retribution by whites. You can read her own recollection of the battle in Richard Hardorff's book "Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight" and a description of her encounter with Dorman in Greg Michno's excellent time-study "Lakota Noon," among other places.

Lastly, as Moving Robe Woman herself said to her interviewer in 1931... Eyes Hen La! I have said everything!