From MikeF - Tyrant’s Legion Hellhound Tank (20 Points)

I promised one more vehicle for the Tyrant's Legion and I'm happy to be able to deliver. I was thinking of doing a rhino for the Retaliators I painted last week, but a recent Ebay purchase arrived in record time and I decided to paint it up. I managed to grab a hellhound tank from Ebay for a relatively decent price. The current hellhound tank is readily available from GW, but I wanted the model they produced in the mid 90's with the metal fuel tanks! I managed to find one being sold in Vancouver for what seemed like a decent price  It was already assembled and painted, but I could tell it wasn't assembled particularly well. That didn't matter as I planned to strip and repaint it anyway. 

After a soak in some isopropyl alcohol, the model came apart and I was able to strip the paint and fix up the shoddy assembly work. The one problem I noticed was that the turret was a real mess. The turret consists of a metal lower half that connects to the plastic upper portion of the chimera turret. The metal piece had several rectangular open spaces on each side that is normally covered by metal extra armor pieces which run along the bottom half of the turret. These pieces were missing and had been replaced with plastic tank tracks that were poorly fitted to the turret. In addition, whoever was wielding the hobby knife must have been a lumber jack because there were large cuts and gouges all around the plastic turret component. This was why I got it for a decent price I guess. I managed to use some plastic armor tiles from a Gaslands conversion sprue I had in my bits box and cut them to shape to fit around the turret. It turned out ok I think.  It has the look that the armor was applied in the field by a crew that wasn't quite confident in the standard armor of their rolling barbeque! Only the best for the Tyrant's Legion!

28mm vehicle for 20 points.

I'm not sure I'll be able to finish anything else before the end of the challenge, but in case I don't, I'd like to thank Curt and the minions for their hard work during the challenge. I'd also like to give a general congrats to all the challengers for all the great stuff they've completed. Well done everyone!

You know how much I love these restoration/reclamation projects Mike, and you've done an outstanding job with this one. Yes, isopropyl alcohol is a miracle liquid and I cannot believe how long it took me to discover that... plastic or metal, everything that gets stripped at Conscript Towers starts out in IPA. If necessary I use some Castrol Super Clean after, but it's often not even necessary. The Hellhound is suitably old-school (METAL!) and it looks great! The little hazard decal on the back is the finishing touch!

Twenty for you!

Dallas

From MikeF - Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors- 28mm x 2 - 10 Points

My Tuesday post is a small one this week. I'm working on a few vehicles and it was a bit tight getting them done in time.

During previous challenges I've added models to my mostly done, never really done Cadian Imperial Guard. I'm past the point of adding any big units, but I still have a few odds and ends to add. One of these is Regimental advisors! These are a neat little buff you can add to your command squad to help you on reserve rolls or to drop a big ordnance template on the enemy. They include the Astropath, Master of the Fleet and Master of Ordnance. The Cadians already have an Astropath, but the other two have been absent for far too long. I've always turned away from purchasing the actual models from GW due to the cost. Fortunately, I've been able to source a few alternatives. Over the years I've accumulated a large number of bits and I was able to throw together a Master of Ordnance. He has a large back pack communication device, an auspex and he's holding a document containing coordinates...or maybe his lunch order. Everything is GW, except the head which is from Pig Iron Productions.

Master of Ordnance 

The red star features throughout the army. I think of it as more of a regimental badge and not an indication that they are space commies!

For the Master of the Fleet, I purchased a model from 3rd party manufacturer, Chaostemple Miniatures. He comes with two head options, mask or no mask. My entire army has gas masks, so I went mask. It's a resin and metal model and is nice quality. Unfortunately, Chaostemple will cease trading at the end of February, so get him soon if you want one. I did a first with this model and gave him grey hair! I was inspired after looking at myself in the mirror!

Officer of the Fleet

That's 2 x 28mm models for 10 points!

Thanks for visiting!

Love these Mike!  I always like to see some kit bashing, and here you'v cobbled together a whole figure from the bits box.  I hope he got hi extra pickle and the correct type of mustard on his Smoked meat sandwich.  And you've nailed the great hair on the Fleet advisor.  Is this true to life, dare I ask?  I dunno much about 40K, but on reading the term 

"Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors" I was thinking of a SciFi equivalent of the French Revolutionary Representatives of the Peoples, but these guys look and sound like they might actually be useful.

From Scott R: Space Aussies playing as Astra Militarum in 10th Edition 40K 28mm Part II

 Hi all,

To start off, thanks Sylvain for putting up Part I and giving me points to get started.  I had a laptop failure which has put me behind.  New laptop and off we go.

I introduced the project for this years painting challenge in Part 1 this included a quick look at the infantry progress as well a quick look at the whole force.  Part II will look at the vehicles component that have been completed so far.

The Vehicles: Tanks

I have three tanks completed and ready for the table.  The vehicles are mostly Games Workshop, with one from Victoria Miniatures that came as part of the Kickstarter.

Victoria Miniatures Tank and APC based on the WW2 Matilda Hull to fit the Aussie Theme.  Both vehicles printed really easily and have excellent detail.  They scale well with the rest of the 28mm figures.  The only downside is the lack of weapon systems to make the tank viable as a stand in for 40K. the APC version however, has option and could be a Chimera or Hellhound.

The APC print fitted with weapons to use as a Hellhound.

The wheeled vehicles is another 3D print from 'The Makers Cult'.  I used this as a proxy for the Tuorox and Tuorox Prime, a Tracked APC with  and without a turret.  Personally, i dont like the look of the Tuorox from GW.  So went with this which reminds me of the old British Saladin we had in service in Australia.

The picture above is an example of the print options available from The Makers Cult.  I used the top two.

Some of the vehicle just after building the GW kits for the Leman Russ, Rogal Dorn, the two Tuorox can be seen with a GW Baneblade at the rear.

The remainder of the vehicles lined up getting undercoated black in prep for the colours.

The base green is down using a mix of AK Real Colours and Tamiya Acrylics.  This gave me the green modulation I wanted as they are supposed to be for a tropical forest/jungle terrain.

Side view, also the optional turrets and guns are here as well as the sentinel walker and the trench Mortar.  The Trench Mortar is another 3D print from Victoria Miniatures.  This is a beautiful model and fits in very well.

Second painting step complete.  Black camouflage lines to break up the shape now done on all the vehicles as well as the dirty brown tracks and exhaust base colours. The Mortar and walker (Foreground) had the metallic grey components painted here as well.

The hulls have been masked off in preparation for the unit/faction fast identifier markings.  For me I chose a blue and white marking.  Again a throwback to Aussies in WW2.  

The Blue and white were the markings of the Royal Australian Airforce, their roundels' and tail identifiers. So i wanted to continue that with this force.

Vehicles: Close Ups at the 99% completion Mark.

Decals and Markings:

The vehicles have been given markings that match my old regiment in Australia, the 1^st Armoured Regiment (1AR).  1AR was kitted out with the Leopard AS1.  The vehicles had standard markings, unit tactical signs, callsigns in white lettering, and a leopard head on the hull.  Although I placed these on the hull for better visibility.

Turret markings.

The decal sheet left was acquired from a company in Australia and suited the task well as it had all the markings and callsigns i needed.  the Decal Sheet right was from Company B a miniature online store out of the UK who do some odd sets.  This set is for the 6th Australian Division in North Africa.  

But it gave me the Divisional tac plate of the black square with Kangaroo and Boomerang.  Ok now onto the vehicles themselves

Rogal Dorn:

Front View

Rear View

Right Side with Callsin visible, 2C for the squadron Commander.  This allows me to recognise the vehicle as a command vehicle in the game.

Front with unit Tac sign yellow red square and the number 30 in white.

Leman Russ:

Similar markings however the callsign on this is 2D the second in commands' tank.  Again so the vehicle can be readily identified.

Tourox 

Slightly different marking on this.  as its an Infantry carrier i have given it an A Company callsign. 1 for A Company, 3 for the PLatoon and A for the Platoon Sgt.  13A.

Scout Sentinel:

Carries the Number 7 as this is the callsign for the Reconnaissance Troop in the Regiment.

So thats it for the vehicles so far.  Their are still a number of tanks to finish as well as one aircraft.  These will have different markings but same pattern camouflage.  

Part III:  The Infantry and Gun Teams:

This is the Infantry Command Team.  Its finished except for the basing which is next up on the bench to get the infantry of my to do table.  The Command comprises a radio Operator or Vox, Standard bearer, Medic, veteran with a specialist weapon.  The Commander i will save for the next part.  Cheers.

Points Summary:  While Sylvain was generous with giving me points for the painted infantry, to me they were not finished because the bases were not done.  I appreciate the points to get me rolling though.  The vehicle here are the same, they are 99% done but not looking for points yet.  I will submit my points summary once the project has completed.

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Sylvain: Your "Space Aussies" project is such a great concept. I love the uniform look of your army. I will let you go for now, but I'm very eager to award you points for all your good work. See you next time!

-

From Scott R: Space Aussies playing as Astra Militarum in 10th Edition 40K (100 points)

 Project Astra Militarum or Space Aussies

Last year i was re-introduced to 40K after being absent for well of 20 years.  With 10th Edition being released and the game mechanic looking very different to why i left, i gave it another try.  I pulled out my old eldar (now Aldari) and gave it a bash.  It was fun again.

I also took up 3D printing last year as well and after 8 months, finally have the nut cracked on producing excellent figures, vehicles etc.  I participated in Victoria miniatures Kickstarter for space Aussies, a stand in Guard for 40K.  Using the Cadian background I commenced collecting and printing like a man possessed.  This of course along with the other 50 plus activities i was working on.

So here we are, kicking off the start of the final builds, prints and commencement of painting.  

Just under 3500 points. Still a couple of vehicles to build and a few gaps in the infantry line to print.

Victoria Miniatures and the Kickstarter.

I receive notifications of up coming kickstarters, so when I saw the title Space Aussies, I knew this was going to be great, especially from Victoria Lamb.  It didn't disappoint.

The Infantry and crews:

I was fortunate to pick up the codex from the local brick and mortar and started to read the force composition.  This was the guide to what i needed to print.  The plan was to use prints for as much of my infantry and crews as possible.

WIP.  Printed Shock Troops, Kasrkin, jungle fighters, Ogryns, weapon crews, vehicle crews and command.

A summary of the points claimed for the figures:

[TBA]

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Sylvain: Scott, this looks like a tremendously fun project! Since today is the deadline for submissions, I'm going to give you 100pts for 20x 28mm figurines (@ 5 points each). I hope you could find a few minutes later on to clarify how many points you are claiming. Excellent travail!

 

MikeF - Some Big Guns! - 45 points

This will be my last post for the challenge. I managed to complete two more vehicles for my Imperial Guard army. Both of these kits are from the new Solar Auxilia line and consist of a Medusa and Malcador battle tank. The Medusa for the Solar Auxilia, is a large siege tank built on the Leman Russ chassis. For imperial guard, it was built on a Chimera, which could be given an armoured crew compartment. I think the new kit represents that pretty well.

The Malcador is a great kit when compared to the old forge world one (I own two). It comes with a few weapon options, but I wanted a tank killer, so I went with the Vanquisher. This vehicle is actually for my 30k Imperial Militia force which I collect parallel to my guard. I’ve added a few eye of Horus insignia on it to signify that it is loyal to Horus and therefore part of the traitor faction. Greg would say they’ve merely seen the light and want to help make the imperium great again. They certainly won’t be used as cannon fodder! 

I was looking back through my previous post and discovered that I shorted myself five points early in the challenge. I completed a set of 11 droid warriors for my Exploit Zero project, but I listed it as only 50 points when it should’ve been 55 points. I’ve included the photo of one of the models that I completed and included additional five points to this post. 

I managed to move past my goal for this year‘s challenge and completed an entire project. Hopefully I maintain this momentum until next year‘s challenge!

2 x 28mm vehicles and 1 28mm figure for 45 points.

Thanks for visiting!

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Cracking additions to your force Mike - thats quite the armoured column you've build yourself over the challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing them all together. 

Again your splashes of colour and lovely blue lens effects really break all that Soviet-esque green and bring them to life. Good stuff!

- Paul