Imperial Guard - Charybdis Assault Launchers (proxy Griffon/Hydra)

Pressing onward with the guard vehicles for the glorious 7th brings us to the Charybdis Assault Launchers, which I've used alternately as proxy Griffons or Hydras as the situation calls for. Made from the older Chimeras, some bits from the vehicle upgrade sprue and the launcher and top hatch from a space marine Whirlwind, they fit together surprisingly easily!

 

I continued on with the "mid-launch sequence" on one of the launchers, I like the dynamic look it gives the model, though it'll invariably come loose or snap off in due course...

 

On the rear section I added a hatch, and have plans to be able to run these as Salamander scout tanks with the enclosed crew compartment upgrade, though I'll need to build a set of autocannon or heavy flamer turrets to take the place of the launcher. Should be fairly easy to do, and make them even more multi-purpose!

Heavy Artillery - Manticore and Charybdis, Part 1

With the release of the new Deathstrike/Manticore kit, I knew I had to have one for the Mordian 7th. The first step was to determine what I wanted to build. The kit is unfortunately designed in such a way that you can only assemble it as the Deathstrike OR the Manticore, though I give them credit for designing a kit that gives us the option, it's rather ingeniously designed! I'd built a Deathstike carrier a while back and as potentially devastating as it may be, I found it to be a bit too random for anything but the largest of battles. So, Manticore it is!

The new kit was a breeze to assemble, and with careful gluing the missile rack can be raised and lowered, which I thought was a nice touch. I left the Storm Eagle rockets separate to facilitate painting, and am somewhat regretting not leaving the launch ramps separate as well, but I'll muddle though.

While I was at it I'd picked up a Whirlwind model for the launcher, as I regretted selling my previous Charybdis Assault Launcher (which I use as a proxy Griffon) and have been itching to build another one. I decided I wanted something a bit more animated with this one however, and decided to use a pair of missiles scrounged from the new Sentinel kit to represent it in the process of firing. I tried to sculpt a bit of flame from greenstuff, and will be using some orange or red clump foilage to represent some smoke billowing from the rear of the weapon system. I still need to build a hull for it, but while I was fiddling around with it I was pleased to note that the collar ring on the base fits the various Planetstrike weapon platforms. I may have to build a few more of these to build an ersatz Hyperios Air Defense system!

Rounds Inbound, Part 2

Took some time this afternoon to do some painting and knocked out the proxy Griffon. While I was at it I also painted up a Destroyer I'd built based on an old beat up Leman Russ chassis. Not my best conversion work by a long shot, but it's servicable I suppose.

I really should have done more with the barrel, I may end up replacing it with something more interesting looking in the future. It's been unusually cloudy for the last week or so, and the models come out looking a little more blue than they truly are - it's supposed to be rather nice tomorrow, hopefully I can get some better-lit shots...

Rounds Inbound, Part 1

I stopped by my FLGS this afternoon and picked up a slightly damaged Whirlwind for about half the usual retail price. The Rhino was badly warped, and will end up being terrain fodder, but the launcher was intact. I had been reading the Adeptus Arbites codex from BoLS, and the Black Maria caught my eye. I thought about making one, but I subsequently thought that it would be more useful to use the bits to make a proxy of some sort instead, as it would be easier to justify as part of my guard army. That being the case I decided to use the launcher to make a vehicle that I will use as a proxy Griffon.

By happy coincidence, the panel that the Whirlwind launcher ordinarily attaches to is exactly the same width as the main hull of the Chimera, once turned sideways. A small strip of plasticard was sufficient to cover the gap left over when slotted into the top of the Chimera, other than that the whole kit went together almost as if it was designed to do so!

On the back side I used a couple pieces from the standard Chimera kit which fit almost perfectly, all I had to do was trim off a couple protrusions. I added a rear hatch and a few bits of stowage here and there to cover up some of the open spaces.

In game, I plan on using the model as a proxy Griffon with the armored crew compartment upgrade. I chose the Griffon as the range, template size and damage were all roughly similar to that of the Whirlwind's Vengeance missile option, though the griffon does hit slightly harder (Strength 6 as opposed to Strength 5). I dry fit both missile pod options, and though technically the Vengeance missiles are the larger of the two missile options, I felt the smaller missiles in their racks looked better when mounted to the Chimera chassis.

A super simple conversion, I'll have to make another pair to fill out the squadron!