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 - Astral Claws Retaliator Squads - 10 x 28mm Miniatures (50 points)

 

The Tyrant's Legion wasn't only composed of normal humans. Space Marines from the Astral claws chapter were assigned to every detachment to ensure loyalty and take advantage of the "ablative" armour offered by the Legion Auxilia. It was also a way for the Tyrant of Badab to hide his ever expanding marines complement which was numbering well beyond the 1000 marine limit as dictated by the codex astartes. Some of these units would be formed into Retaliator Squads, which were primarily concerned for enforcing discipline within the Auxilia. They are close combat oriented and equipped with chainswords and combat shields. I painted up 2 units of 5. 

I hope to complete at least one more vehicle for the Tyrant's Legion, but we'll see how it goes.

The combat shields are from Kromlech

10 x 28mm miniatures for 50 points.

Thanks for visiting!

An Astral Claws Retaliator Squad sounds like something best avoiding, and looks that way too.  Those are some bruisers, and very nicely painted too.  I really like the blue with gold should guards.  50 point for you sire, and looking forward to their AFV.

From MikeF - Tyrant’s Legion Tanks and Turrets - 3 x 28mm Vehicles and 2 small turrets - 68 Points

After completing a few infantry units for the Tyrant's Legion, I decided it was time to add some armoured support. The TL army list has a few interesting options unavailable to normal guard units in 5th edition. These include twin-linked lascannon turrets for the Leman Russ tanks and Thunderer Siege Tanks equipped with a demolisher tank. I sourced the lascannon tanks from Kromlech which are designed specifically with the classic Leman Russ tank for 40k. The thunderer is a conversion using the 30k Leman Russ tank designed for the Solar Auxilia and a kit from Tiny Panzer Studios (through Etsy) which adds the hull mount with gun and top plate to hide the turret ring. It's a very nice 3d printed part that required very minor cutting and sanding to make it fit properly. The conversion kit does NOT fit the classic Leman Russ model however and is designed specifically for the Horus Heresy version.

I also painted up two chimera turrets to swap out the ones for my Steel Legion Imperial Guard. I included a photo of the two chimera's for display purposes only and only the turrets were painted during this challenge. I went with 4 points for each turret, but I'll accept Peter's final judgement on what he feels the turrets are worth. 

The vehicles use the same grey formula, but they're a little busier with decals and markings than the Tyrant's Legion. I may pick up some new transports in the future, but they should work for now.

That's 3 x 28mm vehicles for 60 points and 2 x 28mm vehicle turrets for (maybe) 8 points = 68 points total.

I think I'll take a break from the Tyrant's Legion for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Those are great looking tanks Mike, love the 1918-1940 look to these clunkers.  Great blue too.    

From MikeF - 21 x 28mm Tyrant’s Legion Auxilia - 105 points

 I'm still rolling with the grunts for the Tyrant's Legion! The majority of the soldiers in the Tyrant's Legion were poorly trained and equipped conscripts conditioned to die selflessly for Lord Huron. In the rules, they have the worst armour save available and combat stats available. I again went outside of normal GW offerings and picked up a 20 man squad from the Mad Robot Miniatures "Grognard" selection. These are heavily modeled after the original Rogue Trader guardsmen and they work perfectly as Legion Auxilia. Their armour barely covers their vital organs, they have absolutely no equipment, packs or ammo pouches and even their lasgun looks like a glorified flashlight. I imagine the group of them crowding around a single USB port waiting their turn to charge them. Mad Robot Miniatures are very modular with separate legs, torso, arms and heads. They have a stunning variety of options, including a few that some old school guard players with instantly recognize. They are also not cheap. Quality is very good and there was very little flash to clean up. They're made of resin, so hot water treatment will quickly straighten out any rifle barrels that come bent.

I painted them with the standard light grey uniforms, dark grey armour and blue weapons. As I start putting them on the shelf with the other units, it's really starting to come together as an army. I'm hoping to have a few tanks painted up for next week and maybe some actual Astral Claws marines painted before the end of the challenge.

The squad leader's torso is actually from Anvil Industry

I thought a view from the back would be good, as I think its the side the enemy will most often see.

That's 21 x 28mm miniatures for 105 points.

Thanks for visiting!

Great looking miniatures Mike.  Love the detailing on your officer and the simple but effective basing.  It maybe you who gets to watch their backs as they stride across the table to victory.

From MikeF - 20x Tyrant’s Legion Armsmen - 20x 28mm - 100 points

 My first post was for the Empire theme and was the command squad for my Tyrant's Legion army. My next entry are 2 squads of Armsmen. Armsmen are basically equivalent to Imperial Guard and are armed in a similar manner. For the armsmen I used the excellent Raumjager infantry from Wargames Atlantic. To give them a little 40k treatment, I replaced the heads with some Rogue Trader inspired heads from Mad Robot Miniatures. Wargames Atlantic is definitely the most cost effective way to add lots of infantry. For $55 CAN, You get 24 models in a box which was enough for the command squad and 2 squads. 

Squad with flamer and missile launcher. The Sgt has a shotgun and knife from the genestealers cultist kit.

Squad with heavy stubber and missile launcher. The Sgt is pointing and holding a lasgun.

20 x 28mm miniatures for 100 points.

Thanks for visiting!

Fine looking squads here Mike, even if I am totally out to sea as what these are!  (I am basically hard of 40K-ing, although I own a few Space Orcs so that I can wreak havoc on our group's rare games).  I appreciate the kit bashing that you've done and there's some nice subtle shading in the drab uniforms and webbing.  I also love the missiles lying around on the ground, and the grim basing ground work style that you've come with.

From StuartL - Uncivil War - 270 Points

Hello all,

    Today sees me come to the end of, (well not 'the end', but the point where I take a long break) my Tyrant's Legion army project. Having painted up a commander and dreadnought early in this challenge and then a lot of auxiliary infantry last week, this week I have the main Space Marine contingent for the force all done and dusted.

    Above are the fast attack elements of the force, two units of 5 motorbikes, along with an attack bike with a multi-melta. In the Tyrant's Legion army list, there is a unique unit option called Iron Hunters. The Astral Claws chapter that forms the basis of the legion was known for it's skill at rapid encirclement and assault actions, often outflanking enemy forces and hitting them from an unexpected direction. The Iron Hunters are similar to regular marine bike squads, but they benefit from the Counter Attack special rule, meaning you can run them forward to hit targets early in the game and not worry too much about enemy assault troops wiping them out in melee.

    Next we have the second group of specialised troops, the Retaliators. This is an assault unit where every warrior is equipped with a combat shield. These give them an invulnerable saving throw (it can't be modified or removed by enemy weapons), making them that little bit more durable. They are led by a special character known as Carnac Commodus. (The fellow equipped with the flag). He isn't that great to be honest, being something of a weaker marine captain, but adds a bit of flavour to the army.

    All of the models have transfers, with the chapter symbol (Tiger's Head) and the Maelstrom Warders symbol (The black shape inside a white circle) coming from a website called 'The Mighty Brush'. Sadly these are now out of stock, but they do have a lot of 40K related decals if you are looking for some. The skull transfer (and the unit transfers on the right shoulders) are all GW stock.

    And here we have two tactical squads. I painted up 3 sergeants for the 2 squads, so I have some weapon options to select from. Being the special snowflake list that it is, the tactical squads are a little different from the standard Codex approved units. Rather than having 1 specialist weapon and 1 heavy weapon, the Tyrant's Legion can select 2 specialist or 2 heavy weapons in their units, avoiding the trap of tactical squads being a bit confused over their battlefield role.

    

    Finally, we have a shot of a tactical squad in a standard defensive formation along with the auxiliaries from last week. Any incoming fire should be stopped or slowed by the wall of bodies in front of the marines. Yes, this is legitimately how the army is meant to be played. In a game world where you have 4 Satan equivalent god-like entities, undead space robots, alien bugs that seek only to devour all life in the universe and more besides, these guys are quite possibly the worst.

    These models are all festooned with skulls (an average of about 4 per mini) and all count towards the Legion duel as well.

Points-wise there are:

31x 28mm infantry = 155 points

10x 28mm bikes = 100 points

1x 28mm bike with sidecar = 15 points

Total = 270 Points

For my side duels

Skulls (144) +167 = 311

Legions (350) +270 = 620

(In my last entry, Minion Millsy corrected my points score, so my Legions tally is 5 points higher than was previously stated) - You're welcome, the Score Gods abhor inaccuracy and we cannot risk their wrath!

From Millsy: Haha! I cannot believe you said "the end" out loud, even if you did qualify it afterwards. 

A sterling effort on these Stuart, especially the shields and the bikes. 40K bikes are one of the wilder ideas in a setting that is wild from start to finish and very thematic for it. It's good to see them getting some love and done so well to boot. 270 points for your tally!

From StuartL - Bad Luck Badabians - 210 Points

Hello again.

    In my second post this week, I am concentrating on one of my ongoing projects, painting up an army for the Tyrant's Legion for the Badab War campaign in Warhammer 40,000. I already posted up a few models for the army, and the models today will be joining them on the table-top.

    As I said in my previous post on the subject, the Badab War is about a small group of secessionists trying to break away from the Imperium of Man and starting a small civil war in the process. The main focus of the setting is the various chapters of Space Marines that get dragged into this conflict, but there are some other forces involved. The original story of the campaign was covered in White Dwarf 101 which was published way back in 1988, but was later revamped and updated in two gorgeous hardcover books from Forge World, Imperial Armour 9 & 10. Included in those books is an army list for the Tyrant's Legion. 

    The leader of the secessionists knew that eventually the Imperium was going to come knocking and so began an aggressive expansion of his forces. First of all, he ditched the Codex Astartes (the rulebook for Space Marine chapters) and began adding thousands more marines to his chapter, the Astral Claws. He also began recruiting the population of the worlds under his control to augment the marines. By assigning and dispersing marines to help run the base-line human forces across his fledgling empire, he was able to disguise the build-up of his forces and provide a serious combat advantage to the regular forces.

    While the captain I posted in December will be the leader of the legion forces, the army list allows for a command squad to lead the auxilia troops. This provides the regulars with better leadership, as the marines literally only use the auxilia as human shields. (They gain a rule that improves their cover save at the cost of a few regulars if the enemy draws line of sight through a regular unit).

    Next we have a unit of Armsmen. These are the professional soldiers who were drafted into the legion. They are about the equivalent of regular Imperial Guard, though their unit composition is a little different as they don't follow the usual platoon structure of the guard.

    And finally we have the Auxilia Cohort, a mass of 20 conscripts that exist only to catch enemy bullets. They are one of the cheapest units in 40K on a per model basis and will get mulched by the first thing that even looks at them. When I used this unit back in 5th Edition, I considered myself lucky if they killed a single enemy model. Their massed lasguns will occasionally hit something, but it is the two flamers in the unit that do the heavy lifting of trying to remove a single marine from the board before they are ground to a pulp.

    To differentiate between the units (as they all use the same basic Cadian models), I opted for transfers on their shoulder armour. The command group gets diamonds and skulls, the armsmen get a number and a winged skull icon (the Imperial Guard insignia) and the bullet-catchers receive a roman numeral and a blank pad.

    The full force of troops is 40 models, plus one crew served weapon. Everything is from Games Workshop, but the model range has been refreshed and embiggened since I bought these. As GW minis, they are covered in skulls which is great news for my ongoing duel, plus I added a few in the form of transfers as shown above.

Scoring these models we have:

40x 28mm minis = 200 points

1x crew served weapon = 10 points

TOTAL = 210 Points

For my duels:

Skulls +111 = 144 Skulls

Legions +205 = 345 Points

From Millsy: Flashlights of the Emperor! This is quite the collection of Astra Militarum (or as we grognards like to call them, Imperial Guard) but in terms of the total forces of the Imperium a mere mote in the Emperor's eye. Even so, the merest trooper may have an impact and should never be discounted when he fights with the zeal only the Emperor can inspire.

I really like your choice of colours on these. The mix of grey uniform and blue armour gives them a really consistent, military feel which is just the ticket. An excellent addition to your existing force!

From StuartL - Tyrannical - Sarah's Library Cart - 65 Points

    And hello again.

    This should be my final post for a day or two, as I clear the last few models from my workbench and make space for some more.

    One of my projects for this year is to paint up some 40K minis. I don't actually play 40K currently, but I do play the variant ruleset for Warhammer 30,000. On one of the forums I frequent, someone has posted up rules for playing games of 40K using 30K and this seemed like a good chance to refresh an old army. 

    Back in 2011/2012 I painted up a bunch of minis for an army list produced by Forge World for their Badab War books. The Badab War is a mini civil war between rival factions in an area known as the Maelstrom Zone. The group of Space Marines assigned to guard the zone become bitter that they aren't getting the support they need and decide to secede from the Imperium. The Imperial high command decides that this needs to be nipped in the bud and send a task force to reclaim the lost worlds. When they arrive they find that the leader of the secession has been building his own Space Marine Legion, complete with unaugmented human auxiliaries. This force would become known as the Tyrant's Legion.

The Tyrant's Legion army allows players to field most of the usual Space Marine forces along with human meat-shields auxiliaries. By using the normal troops to soak up incoming fire supplement their fighting strength, the Space Marines can close the gap and annihilate their foes. For now I have only painted some marines, the bullet-sponges regular troops will be coming later in the challenge. First of all, we have a captain to lead the force. The model is an old metal figure from GW. I think the model originally had a storm bolter, but as I couldn't find it, I substituted a plastic grav-pistol instead. 

    Providing some solid fire-support and devastating melee power, a Contemptor dreadnought makes an impression in the 30K rules. This is the first gen plastic kit which is kind of static, though I did use a melee arm from the newer, more posable second generation model. To help show these guys as being the baddies, I added a couple of extra skulls to the torso (who needs peripheral vision) and some chains around the waist.

    And finally a squad of scouts. the middle model is plastic, the others are metal. All of these models have transfers applied from The Mighty Brush, though sadly that store seems to have discontinued most of their chapter specific decals. 

    Between them, these models are sporting 30 Skulls (31 actually, but the last is a transfer and so doesn't count), you have got to love GW's obsession with skull iconography.

With that lot out of the way, it is time to head across the lobby in Sarah's Library Cart to the History section. I don't have my entry for that part of the library ready yet, but it is underway. To pay for the ride, I offer this female assassin figure, once more from Reaper Bones.

    What is it with assassins and duel-wielding odd looking swords? It doesn't seem like the most efficient way of stealthily and sneakily offing someone. Still, it looks cool.

For scoring, we have:

7x28mm minis = 35 points

1xDreadnought = 10 points

Library Cart = 20 points

Total = 65 Points

For my duels:

Skulls +30 = 31 Skulls

Legions + 40 = 40 Points

_________________________________

Another(!) great entry, Stuart! I've been aware peripherally of the Badab War, but never knew it's particulars, so thanks for filling in that gap of random 40K knowledge! These seven Space Marine models will provide you a great basis for your emerging force while that overzealous assassin will either get her kill or go down in a flurry of flashing blades. Well done!

- Curt