From GregB: Deredeo Dreadnought for Alpha Legion (15 points)

"The Alpha Legion wants you to MOVE YOUR CAR..."

While it's not exactly up to the globe-trotting standards of certain AHPC folk (*cough* Miles *cough*) I do have the good fortune to enjoy some time in the Palm Springs, California area every year with my lovely wife Linda.  We are there this week, so not much painting, but still some 30k fun to share.  This is a Deredeo Pattern dreadnought battle armour, painted in the colours of the Alpha Legion from GW's Horus Heresy setting.

I can't top the quick explanation of dreadnoughts that JamieM already offered in his submission featuring Thousand Sons Space Marines.  The dreadnought is a power armour unit driven by the ruined remains of a fallen Space Marine.  As Jamie said, if you are going to exist solely in a coffin covered in guns, you might as well do it in a fully pimped out ride.  The Deredeo Pattern suit delivers...it will provide serious firepower to support the requirements of Alpharius' lads.

The marine-helmet-style head gives a good connection to the Marines and 30k setting on an otherwise very unique sculpt that echoes a number of sci-fi themes

I love the look of this sculpt - it fits with the other 30k dreanought suits, but evokes things like the crazy Macross destroids or the "ED 209" from Robocop, among other things.  The guns, the armour, it's all over the top - and that makes it ideal for 30k in my books!

Assuming the autocannons and missiles don't wipe out whatever the problem was, there are a pair of heavy bolters in the hull...total overkill

Steve B is a genuis, and he used magnets on the build, so I can swap in the heavy flamers if preferred. Since this is an Alpha Legion unit, I assume the flame throwers would be used to burn documents and evidence...

This thing is armed to the teeth - and the teeth probably explode or something too. Features such as the Anvillus autocannon battery, Ailos missile launcher and body mounted heavy bolters all ensure enough firepower to wipe out any inconvenient loyalists or witnesses the Alpha Legion would find inconvenient.  There is an option to equip this model with flame throwers in place of the heavy bolt guns on the hull, and I'm able to do it in this case because of: MAGIC.

A view of the ammo containers on the back

Well, actually it's magnets.  The magic comes from Steve B.  He assembled this beast for me.  Steve is a great guy, and while he doesn't have say a whole lot here on the Challenge blog, trust me that in addition to incredible painting skills (as we have seen from his submissions) he has the mind of a hobby engineer.  He has already assisted me with a number of tricky kits from Forge World, and this is a tricky one indeed, with the belt fed weapons hitching up to the pack.  But Steve not only assembled it, but he frigging magnetized the whole thing so I can switch out the weapons! All of them! So if I wanted to, I could order the plasma cannons...funny how I say "if", like that's a
variable...

The model is a big sucker, bigger than the other dreadnought models.  Seems fitting to me, as it is carrying enough weapons to fight its own war.

The tactical Marines give an idea of the size of the model...this is a big sucker

So a huge, huge, "thank you" to Steve B for his help and skills, and I hope my painting does his efforts justice. I am super psyched to have this model finished, and can't wait to take it for a stroll on the gaming table.  As a newly painted model, I'm sure it will dominate the table, right?

I don't know how many points this counts for - but I'm not a minion, so we'll toss that problem over to them! See you all next week!

Alan and Paul: Good luck! My newly painted figures inevitably suffer ignominious defeat the first time they appear on the table. And most of the times after that. This is an impressive beast, and I love the description. I said it before with your marines, but I love the paintwork on this, and the marine head in white is a nice contrast. It seems only fair to consider it a vehicle, so 15 points to you.