Artillery of the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry - Gallery photos part 3

Welcome to another gallery post. Today we have the heavy hitters of the army, the artillery.

I don't have as much artillery as I'd like in the army, I've always wanted a battery of Basilisks, a FW Minotaur and possibly even a Praetor. A guy can dream. So without further delay lets check out some of the IVs heavy support.



First up we have the Deathstrike missile launcher. This guy has seen action in lots of games of various sizes and has experienced the whole range of outcomes from the unpredictable payload. It's killed my own Leman Russ, wiped out death stars and killed nothing at all in equal measure.

The painting inspiration for this was the old school epic Deathstrikes with the chequered nose and white red combo (google it and you wills what I mean).



One of my favourite tanks to use in the game and one that certainly gives people real concern, the deadly Medusa! Although I'm unsure if I can use it anymore given it got cut from the AM codex, fingers crossed the FW rules are the same.

This is one of the oldest models in my force, painted at the same time as the original platoon chimeras (over 10 years ago). It got updated when I started this blog with weathering, freehand,  converted crew and a shell rack for the back.

I've got plans to go back and update some of my tanks again. There are lots of bits of details I never touched (the skull eagle on the side, the glass in the front hatch, and further weathering with a sponge, not too mention the stowage that these tanks all need!).



Ahhh, some proper artillery! No tanks here, but instead the bane of many an opponent, the brutal Thudd guns! These pack such a serious punch and have accounted for countless enemy infantry and even light armour.

The veteran among you will recognise that they are the old squat Thudd guns. I picked them up on eBay a couple of years ago complete with Praetorian artillery crew! An absolute diamond of a find, they only cost about £30 if memory serves.

I gave them some TLC by varying gun barrel length and going to town on some scenic bases with GW resin pieces and various guard bits. The crew are a mix of heavy weapon soldiers and there is a gunnery sergeant with a map (wearing the goggles). That's right a map, none of your fancy auspexs here, utterly useless if the Praetorians infantry haven't managed to put down range markers before the battle too mind you.



Now you don't just bring a big gun to an artillery fight, you bring a massive Bombard Siege Mortar. This gun is massive. So much so they had to mount it on a Leman Russ chassis. One of FW's oldest and in my opinion best kits.

You will notice the red and white colours and the explosion mark freehand on the flank. These appear in one form or another on all my artillery tanks. In the same way marine devastators have the chevrons, or tac marines the arrows, I decided my guys needed a big explosions.

Additionally you can see that additional sponge weathering has been applied to this tank. This will eventually be applied to the rest of the army.



Finally in this instalment we have the Hydra flak tank. What a thing of beauty, shame it is pretty much useless at its in game role due to the fact flyers simply come on and smoke it straight away.

Its one game of note was in a 5/6k apocalypse game where it outflanked (due to the strategic asset), came on behind an Eldar Vampire Bomber and almost blew it out of the sky in one turn! It was left on just one or two hull points and promptly shot off into the sky. Sadly the hydra didn't get to finish the job but it sure was good shooting.

It's the FW model and like the bombard, despite its age, is a thing of beauty. Lots of gems and glass bits to pick out on the turret section of the model. But sadly it seems I decided to ignore the viewing glass on the hull. That will be remedied in the future I think!

That's enough for now! I hope you are enjoying the frequent posting. Up next will either be the mainline tanks featuring the Leman Russ and Macharius, or perhaps a job lot of infantry. Let me know if you have a preference!

Thanks for having a look!

Getting ready for Vidar's fate

Today I have finally been able to put a good few hours into painting some models!

I've been busy with a couple of professional exams the past month or so, this has unfortunately meant I've barely had sight of a paint brush. That dark time has now come to and end (for the time being), and I find myself with a mountain of models that need painting!

The big event on the horizon is Saturday 20th April where I will be teaming up with none other than Col Gravis at Warhammer World's campaign weeknd Vidar's Fate where on the Sunday in a 5k a side Apocalypse doubles game, the my mighty Macharius and Gravis' Malcador will be teaming up along side well over a 100 guardsmen and 20 odd tanks!

As per usual I have left myself with it all to do painting wise before I head up there. Grand plans of adding things to my tanks, changing bits here and there, painting a platoon of Tallarns... have come to naught. I've had to revise my plans somewhat and will content myself with 3 Thudd guns, the 9 crew, 6 regular guardsmen (to give me some options weapon loadout wise), 5 possible counts as ratlings and Victoria Lambs Captain Caine who I have converted a little bit.

Here are some photos of where I've got to so far.



The three Thudd guns are done. They have all been based using resin parts from the citadel basing kit to help add some interest to the large bases and to make the guns look less lonely. There are also a few hidden 'easter eggs' as this one has a crux terminatus hidden under the carriage.



Here we have a range finder I put together from a monocular and the heavy weapon missile launcher stand.



This one has a servo skull floating around, no doubt relaying targeting data to regimental command. There is also an Eldar rune on the base of this one hidden among the tall grass.



Here you get a good look at the little tractors and the classic squat carriages these weapons sit on. I will certainly need to get some Trojans for these guys at some point in the future!



Here is a better picture of the tech priest. I'm not sure if he will ever get much of a game as struggle to see how I would really use him tactically, nonetheless, awesome model and he'll be getting an Trojan as his transport soon along with a load of servitors. (The Imperial Armour 1 second edition updates these guys and gives him the option of a Trojan personal transport)



My Captain Caine with hand swaps and added epaulettes.



My riflemen who may well become counts as Ratlings and possibly dark green cuffs and plumes to mark them out from the rest of the army.



Some regular guardsmen so I can swap heavy weapons out of units if needed. I've developed a much quicker 4 stage method for the uniforms on rank and file so hopefully I won't need to spend to long getting these guys up to spec.



The crew for the Thudd guns. A motely collection of various heavy weapon crews led by the gunnery sergeant front left who is holding a map/communication (probably with coordinates scribbled down) and has goggles on his helmet.

So all of the above needs to be finished by the time I go to bed on Thursday 18th April. Can I get them finished in time? Fingers crossed! At the time of posting this I have already almost finished Captain Caine, and can I just what a model, a delight to paint. Expect to see him in the next post and an update on the rest.

Thanks for reading!

Praetorian Thudd Gun update

Greetings all

A brief update on the thudd guns that will (hopefully) be making their debut at the upcoming Vidar's fate campaign weekend up at warhammer world!



So Thudd guns (or quad guns as they are now know) are 50pts of fun with 4 st 5 ap 5 shots per turn (with the missing turns out part having been removed in the latest faq). So this little battery will consist of 9 guys and 3 guns which are all separate models. They take up a heavy support slot (so face competition from leman russ, medusa, colosus, thunderbolt, hydra, deathstrike... to name but a few) but that is no great problem as these days I can either take an allied guard detachment or a second primary detachment.



I decided to get a bit creative with the crew and have a mix of lascannon gunners, mortar firers and finally a missile team. The missile loader now has a spade and the gunner has had an arm swap and is the lead gunner (a close up of him at the end). I've done a fair bit of work on the bases too mixing some of the GW basing kit resin pieces, sandbags, a servo skull and a tripod with a view finder mounted. I'm pretty pleased with how they all look and think they really add something to the guns as models.



So I started off with carriages and have painted them the same way I paint my tanks. I toyed with alternatives but this seemed easiest and I thought would look pretty cool.



The weathering I go for seems to get more elaborate each time. On this one we have sponged rhinox brown (is that what its called? I dont remember or have it to hand). Then the three stage process of ushabti bone, black followed by boltgun metal for the more serious scratches and marks. When it all gets mounted to the base proper I may well do some drybrushing for dust etc.



The carriages are really great models in themselves and come complete with a little display and interface behind where the guns sit. I've got to say I'm really impressed with the models.



Here we have the three finished carriages with preliminary drybrushing on the bases and undercoated guns. The guns will be black and metal and will be painted separately before I stick them in (as will the base).



Another photos of the carriages.



In this photo you can see the viewfinder on the tripod.





Here we have the gunnery sergeant with a pointing arm from the Cadian command sprue, a hand with a bandage (which will now be a map! Praetorians like to do things the old fashioned way). and a vic lamb epaulette and goggles (which are great!).

I'm hoping to have the guns done in the next few days or so with any luck and then it will be a mad dash to paint the guardsmen when I have some more free time after April 5th. I'm not sure if I will get anything else done for Vidar's fate but here's hoping. I'd love to take more guardsmen and leave some of the mech for once but we will have to see what I can manage!

Thanks for reading!

March update - reinforcements incoming!

Greetings everyone!

Apologies for the lengthy wait for this post, the past month or so has been very busy and continues to be for the next month or two. I'm in the time consuming position of working full time while studying part time for some professional exams, the thing which unfortunately has to give is my painting and modelling.

Nonetheless, I haven managed to paint at least one miniature which you will see shortly, and in addition have completed the far less time consuming task of purchasing some much needed reinforcements to bolster the ranks of the 4th Mechanised Infantry.

To make amends for my hobbying transgressions I have a jam packed post for you that I hope you will all enjoy.

So without further ado, lets kick this post of with the newest recruit, the techpriest enginseer...



I've wanted a techpriest for a long time. I like to think of my army in functional terms and like to have the various logistical and mechanical support to keep the army running. The techpriest is the first step in achieving that. In the future I hope to add a Trojan or two, an Atlas recovery tank and who knows what else.



My army is an Imperial Guard army first and foremost, so while it doesn't necessarily fit with the Victorian Steam Punk aesthetic I felt he was nonetheless a good fit for the army. I kept the colours to the limited palette I use throughout and juxtaposed the red and khaki seen on most units, to give him red armour (befitting the mechanicum) and khaki robes.



Once again details such as belts and pouches are picked out in white like the rest of the army, and on this model in particular I enjoyed picking out all the little details that make these models so interesting.



Before I move on to the new recruits which I recently purchased let me show you some which I recently converted. Now those of you that have been following me for some time may remember that I converted 5 commandos from the victoria lamb miniatures using the heads with caps rather than pith helmets.



Well I reviewed these guys recently and wasn't happy with how they looked. They didn't sit quite right with me. So I got out my green stuff, opened the bits box and went to work. Here is what I ended up with.



Behold Praetorian Riflemen. I swapped heads for the pith helmetted variety and sculpted front plumes on all the helmets which have a feather a small rectangular piece and then an even smaller Aquila sculpted at the very bottom.



They have plenty of of pouches and kit and have Victoria lambs epaulettes too.



I also got to work on another fella for the army, and with a few subtle conversions made a Captain Caine of my own.



He has the VL epaulettes and a double hand swap so he fits in with the traditional 40k weapons and a slightly different feel with the sword arm forward and the pistol back.

The penultimate item of this jam packed post is some new allies for the Praetorians. While I was shopping on ebay I looked at other items of one of the sellers I was looking at and low and behold some Tallarn Desert Raiders caught my eye for about half the price they cost new. Well I couldn't resist and got myself a platoon!



I've always loved the Tallarn models and think they will look great alongside the regular infantry. I have two squads and a command section, that all includes a melta gun, 2 grenade launchers, a mortar and a lascannon. A pretty eclectic selection of weapons but that has never stopped me before. Plus the mortar crewman with his hands over his ears is one of my favourite ever guard models.



I'm really looking forward to painting these guys and will be using the same red white and khaki palette mentioned above. I'm thinking khaki trousers, red tunics, white head scarfs perhaps, or maybe khaki tunics and trousers, white accessories and a red head scarf. If any of you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.



Finally on to my latest Praetorian purchases. Now essentially I lost the plot the other day and bought probably rather too much on ebay. I know prices are usually high, but I got a quite a few squads at what I felt to be a pretty reasonable price. I actually expected to outbid on many things so I got rather more than I bargained for. So first up I have a whole load more guardsmen so I can bulk out my platoons and make bigger blobs. Including the Tallarns I have increased my army by about 70 infantry.



Also a few special weapons, now I finally have enough melta guns to try out the ubiquitous melta vets if I so desire. Also not pictured I got 3 more mortars and 3 more lascannons.



A few more officers to lead the new recruits.



And finally the pièce de résistance. Thudd guns!!! Original squat Thudd guns which were sold with Praetorian heavy weapon crews! These I picked up for just over £30 and I consider it money well spent. I have no idea what these do in game terms but some slightly bigger artillery, and such classic models to boot, was to much to resist.



The guns are immensely characterful with the small tractor on the back and the big carriage. While I am tempted to leave them as they are, I do have a mind to remove the gun barrels and replace them with longer bigger ones.

If anyone has any idea how these work please let me know, and in particular, how many crew does each need and do they need to be mounted on the base or separate models?

The last news is that Col. Gravis and I are off the Warhammer World for Vidar's fate campaign weekend. The weekend includes a mighty 2.5k per player apocalypse game! Needless to see we intend to join forces so that is a battle report you can all look forward to where the malcador and macharius shall fight side by side. It's also possible to prearrange opponents for this game, we are currently looking for 2 ork players to play against, if you happen to be going and an ork player or know of any that are then please let us know! Alternatively if you aren't an ork player but are going then also let me know.

Right that is your lot for now, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, I suspect it'll be a month but I'll see what I can do.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of the above. Thanks for reading!