WIP Imperial Guard Trojan tank conversion

A quick Monday night photo update of my latest project!
I seem to be flitting from various things in the army at the moment without actually finishing anything!

At present I am updating all my tanks with stowage and extra bits being painted. It's really making the old chimeras look a lot better so I'm very pleased.

This post however, is about a Trojan that I am converting after buying a chimera and raiding my bits box. The other day I decided to purchase the new 7th edition rule book. That shopping trip ended up with me buying a chimera and no rulebook. Something went horribly wrong... Or is that right?

I've built the mainstay and have various green stuff to add along with the final grabber or cable on the crane. Also I need to do rivets to keep it in line with the rest of the tank. Anyway here are the photos enjoy!

There is an icredible variety of IG bits from over the years on this tank, while you look at the picks, see if you can identify a few.

What I would love from you all is some feedback on how it looks so far and any suggestions you may have on what else to add or even remove. Additionally can anyone give me tips on how to make quick, easy and consistent rivets.

Cheers!

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!

Heroes of the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry - Gallery photos part 2

Welcome to part to of our review of the regiments heroes. So without further ado, lets get back to it!



First up we my take on Victoria Lamb's fantastic Captain Caine miniature. Its a simple hand swap for the Imperial regulation weapons and the addition of epaulettes in line with the strict Praetorian dress uniform regulations.

The model was an absolute joy to paint as Victoria Lamb sculpts have such fantastic definition, particularly in the face. I think the ease of painting eyes is always a good barometer of a sculpt.

In battle he has sometimes taken the place of a company commander. No doubt in the future I will have to properly convert him a suitable retinue. I'm loathe just to give him the normal old GW Praetorians as he looks a giant of a man against them!



Not really a hero, but he is on his own so he is at least a maverick! Sadly he is still the only Tallarn I have managed to paint, but when I get around to it there will be a company of these light infantrymen supporting the Praetorians. I love the old guard sculpts, the Tallarns are still brilliant today.



Now we have Primaris Psyker Raeven Oscuris. While not a native of Praetoria, he has served with the Praetorian IV for quite many years and due to his ranks, status and prodigious psychic talent is afforded special dispensation with regards to uniform regulations.

One of the few models in the army without any red on his uniform. Given his unique position I used purple and the dark marble to help him stand out further, while still keeping him in line with the colour of his uniform and the white belt, gloves and pouches.



As the ranking member of the Praetorian Commissariat, Lord Commissar Adolfus Stern is charged with ensuring the safeguarding and spiritual fortitude of the men.

Being a commissar I had to paint him black but I decided that he still needed something to tie him to the army. I did this by a relatively simple headswap, conversion and a few key colours being used. The head is the only maxmini pith helmet head used in the army and has the commissars usual hat badge grafted on to it.

I sculpted the epaulettes, detail on the sword and converted the bolt pistol into a plasma pistol. There red and white used in painting are the key colours helping to tie him to the army, while the purple cloak, as with the psyker, help mark him out as special.



Our final hero is Kyran Arkadius the ranking Techpriest Enginseer. Given the large number of vehicles in every deployment it is a position of great responsibility within the regiment and he is rightly afforded the respect of all Praetorian personnel.

I went to town painting this guy red and used my standard colour on the robes. Additionally you will see the purple used on the grips of his axe and tools once again marking him out in the army. It's another of my favourite Imperial Guard models and I really must get him retinue of some kind whether it be servitors or guardsmen/thralls of some type!

Thanks again for having a look. I hope you are enjoying the recent glut of posts. Long may it continue!

In my next post I hope to show you so more new photos of some of heavy armour of the regiment.

Heroes of the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry - Gallery photos part 1

Keeping up this new found regularity of posts here are some of the promised updated gallery photos of the army!

Starting with some of the heroes of the glorious Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry.



First up we have some very old and some very new favourites within the army. Starting from the left we have the Praetorian Hunting Ridgeback of Colonel Winterborne. It's the cyberdog that accompanies the enforcer and was a forge world event only model from a few years back.

In the middle we have the senior liaison officer with the Mechanicus, Vitus Theron. This is the old metal Cadian Colonel who featured on a golden demon entry over 10 years ago. Over the years he has proxied for many a different officer or advisor.

Finally on the right we have one of the Colonel's bodyguards, Chuxo, from one of the native nomadic tribes of Praetoria Secondus.



Here we have Colonel Winterborne and the Regimental Command. On the left we have the medic, standard bearer with the regimental banner depicting the slaying of the Ork Warboss Raguk during the second war for Armageddon. To the right we have comms adjunct and a veteran guardsman. Finally in the middle we have Colonel Animus Winterborne.

The squad were converted from the DKOK command squad using Victoria Lamb and Curious Construct heads and with plenty of green stuff on collars, aquila on helmets and the epaulettes. Additionally the banner is an old blood angel assault marine banner with the original Praetorian top and a copper rod for the pole.



Another very old miniature, veteran sergeant Castor Varren who is a plastic Cadian and greenstuff conversion I made over 10 years ago. He had proxied for the old sergeant Bastonne, master of ordinance and even a commissar!



Another of my historical relics! If I remember correctly the preacher was painted up (once again over 10 years ago) to form part of an inquisitorial war band. The inquisitor and most of the group were sold on eBay, however the preacher became attached to Praetorian IV.



While not individual characters the Praetorian Chosen men are certainly heroes of the regiment. Wearing the green piping and white tipped feather awarded to marksmen and the Chosen men are some of the best shots within the Praetorian regiments.

They are converted from a mix of Victoria Lamb miniatures and the plastic Cadians. There is green stuff work on the hats and cuffs. There are still two of these guys to finish painting to bring the squad up to 5. They've stood in as ratlings before in the absence of viable human snipers. Although I've yet to play a game of 7th or with the new codex, I imagine they will be ratings once more.

This concludes part 1 of the Heroes of the regiment, I hope I've managed to finally produce some better quality photos that show my painting in a better light!

Any comments always welcome, stay tuned for the next post with the tech priest, captain caine and much more...

The battle for Research Station Epzoid Kappa. prologue

Extract from 'Our Darkest Hour: The Ork Invasion of Kallax', by sub-Commandar Reynor Armsworth, Kallax III PDF.

"While it was inevitable that the massive Ork horde would eventually reach the walls of Mercatura Hive, it was far from certain how quickly they would reach it and how much of their formidable forces would be intact when they got there.  At this point it was the job of the Imperial Commanders to harry the Ork forces as much as possible with their most mobile divisions in order to distract, slow and disrupt whatever passes for order in an Ork Waaagh!

During this period I had the honour of being one of the many communications officers for Tactical Command based in the Trade Precinct of Mercatura Hive.  I witnessed many extraordinary engagements during this part of my career, some roaring successes, others dismal failures.

As with most wars, the eventual outcome pivoted on just a few key engagements. For a time I was posted as a communications liaison officer for the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry who fought in one of these most important of battles.  Their Commander at the time, Colonel Animus Winterborne, had already made himself famous from his daring (and perhaps foolhardy) activities in the Timus Mountains at the start of the campaign, and now was to take part in an even more important event.

Research Station Epzoid Kappa was a rare joint venture between Imperial and Mechanicum personnel.  While the story of how such an unusual working arrangement came about is an interesting tale in itself, it is of little relevance to the battle that put a final end to its use.

The research station became of tactical importance primarily due to its incredible high strength aerial scanning array.  While its intended use was to study the extraordinary electrical storms and meteorological affects that developed across the plains in the summer months, it had soon been discovered by the Imperial Commanders that it could be used as a radar system with unparallelled accuracy.  Its intricate and revolutionary design meant it could pinpoint aircraft within a couple of meters, in real time, through any clouds or weather effects and with enough information on their direction, size and exhaust wake to work out exactly what was in the air and when.

For a few days this gave the Imperial forces such a tactical advantage that they were able to completely dominate the air space above the plains even though their aircraft were outnumbered more than fifty to one.  In this brief period countless airstrikes were unleashed on poorly defended Ork ground forces, slowing them down and buying precious time for the defenders of Mercutura Hive.

Dumb as a single Ork appears to be, it seems certain that one of them figured out where this technical marvel was located and planned a counter move.  A massive Ork aerial force descended upon the facility, large and fast enough that no matter what information was gathered on it, it could barely be slowed before it had carpet bombed the entire facility.

The Orks were not wasteful in their destruction however, as they used almost exclusively incendiary ammunitions to wipe out any resistance offered.  While this preserved the precious equipment that the Orks no doubt planned to utilise for themselves, it also saved the lives of some of the facility's inhabitants who were lucky enough to be in more secure bunkers.  These few survivors were able to report back to Tactical Command and give just enough warning so that Colonel Winterborne's mechanised infantry could arrive in time to meet the Orks on an even footing."

The evolution of the Praetorian IV

I started writing this blog back in November 2011 as a way to kick start my hobbying after the best part of a decade away.

The army was fairly small in a state of some disrepair those years ago and in dire need of some attention. In terms of how many points I could field painted, it was little more than 1000pts (if that!), I remember that when I played back then I would tool up as much as possible just to fill the points!

Now I strip everything down to the bare lasguns and can field over 4000pts! Times have indeed changed and hopefully they will change some more so that I will be posting photos of 8000pts in another year or two!

How the army has changed over the years. In no small part due to the inspiration and support of all my followers on here. Lets take a look at some old blog photos and take a stroll down Praetorian memory lane...

Up first we have three photos from the very first post back in November 2011. Here we have the predecessor to colonel Winterborne. Before I converted the DKOK command squad I used the original command section models and had Cadian colonel filling. The colonel was originally painted for a golden daemon entry circa 2003/4 when we was mascarading as a titan princeps accompanied by an epic titan legion battle group.

This photo shows all the tanks in their original form. They were painted also in circa 2003 and featured transfers and an utter lack of my now common battle damage and freehand. The main camo colour of the tanks proved to be impossible to replicate due to the change in the paint ranges (snakebite leather sadly bit the zandri dust...) and you will later see the progression in colour in the newer tanks.

Also the eagle eyes will notice the 'exterminator' which has heavy bolters in the turret too! If the veteran (I guess I'm a veteran these days despite being only late 20s) among you cast your mind back, over a decade ago GW released rules that meant you could build your own tanks and pay for various weapons, armour values etc. This variant was to be the Leman Russ Bulldog! I eventually tracked down some autocannons back in 2012 and brought it up to STC spec.

The only infantry at this time was one 10 man squad, the command section and the lancers. A pitiful excuse of an army in all honesty! It was high time I got painting!

Now we fast forward to June 2012. After a frantic 6 months of painting the army went to war in the Badab sector and made the journey up to Warhammer World. They featured the innovation of the explosion markers (I believe I was one of the first to do this) which caught a lot of people's eye and we now have the converted rough riders, storm troopers, commissar lord, a load more tanks and infantry and of course the good colonel himself!

This was the first of several accolades for the army as I picked up best painted!

In terms of addition to the army this must be the golden age of productivity! I need to recapture that drive and get back to it. Perhaps its time for a campaign weekend or big battle to get me motivated...

We now have August 2012 and Praetorian High Command saw fit to attach a mighty Macharius Vanquisher to the army. This photo was taken on the Khemri display board at Warhammer World and is probably the only time the desert camo army has actually been in the desert!

A return to Warhammer World December 2012 where the army picked up another Best Painted! Here we see some fortifications, a couple more forgeworld tanks and some more heavy weapons. Every time I went up there forgeworld stole my money. I say stealing because I really had no say in the matter.

Another photo of the army taken the same weekend, making the most of the lovely gaming boards for some more spectacular photos. That cardboard box under the table contains the next addition to the army. Any ideas what it could be?

On the red ash of the Armageddon wastes we see the army July 2013. We now have the Thunderbolt fighter, the thudd guns, techpriest a few more guardsmen and the chosen men. The army cleaned up in terms of killing orks and was narrowly beaten into second in terms of painting by a beautiful Sisters army.

And now back to present day with the photos taken earlier just a few days ago.

The notable additions now are the two Taurox. Sadly due to real life hobby time has been much reduced in the last year and so the expansion of the army has stalled a few times. A couple of big moves have been causing all sort of problems however with the new year and less moves, we are hopefully heralding in a new age of hobby prosperity for the brave soldiers of Praetoria!

Thanks for following everyone! I'll do my best to keep the posting up!