Iron Warriors MK V Marines and Razorback Turret

So I've taken a mini-break from the Sisters of Battle (just a mini-break, mind) to work on some Iron Warriors for my Heresy force (which is already far too large, but whatever). This time around it's a ten-man squad of Space Marines in MK V ("Heresy") armour and a cool multi-melta Razorback turret from Wargame Exclusive.  

I really like the Heresy-armour Marines but have only painted a few of them, those are in my Blood Drinkers army. The "molecular bonding studs", modern Marine touches, and mix-n-match nature of the suits are appealing. To the latter point I've modelled the squad leader with arms, power fist, and bolt pistol from the MK IV plastic Space Marine sprue.

The models are in various "action poses with a couple even rushing forwards, which is cool. Parts fitment was very good.

The one thing I'm not a super-fan of though is the right shoulder pad. I prefer the pad to have an edge I can trim out in bronze, just for a bit of contrast. These plain ones are just OK.

Some cool poses eh? I also used bits from the MK IV sprues to add some pouches and grenades.

 

This is the "Imperial Melting Turret" conversion set from Wargame Exclusive. Pretty cool little kit, it comes in four parts, and includes two Gothic headlights too - I used those on my Sisters Rhinos.

The vibe though is much more 40K than 30K, with the creepy gun servitor. But if any of the Space Marine Legions would've hooked up Servitors to their Rhinos it would've been the Iron Warriors, so I suppose that's OK.

The turret fits onto a standard GW hatch mount. Unfortunately the plastic kit GW part didn't exactly fit my Forge World resin Deimos-pattern Rhino. Oh well. 

Pretty cool looking though even if the Servitor has to take care not to melt off the storm bolters!

Anyway that's it for now. Iron within, iron without!

Sisters Statuary, MK1 Land Raider, PK-Berichter

These models were my second-last post in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

The model is from Manufaktura Miniatures. It's a 3D print I've painted as statuary to fit the theme of the old-school all-metal Adepta Sororitas army I'm building for Warhammer 40K.

The Manufaktura figures are superb but it has to be noted, mostly "NSFW"... I've chosen one here that fits my taste but many of their models are... explicit. So be aware of that if you search them on the Web or visit their site. I bought this one from a stockist on eBay so wasn't really aware of the nature of the range before I visited their website... thankfully not on a work computer :-)

The model is really exquisite, well sculpted and great print quality. Painting was a breeze of course, no "grisaille" or "Zorn palette" necessary. The pillar I did before - very flexible as the space on the top fits a standard 25mm round base so I have created statuary to fit many gaming themes.

Next up was a Propagandakompanie Kriegsberichter with his own movie camera and "PK" cufftitle.

This is a metal model from Warlord Games' Bolt Action range and painted up a treat. I painted him as an enlisted man with the early-war lemon yellow waffenfarbe, since according to Angolia and Schlicht's "Uniforms and Traditions of the German Army" the cufftitle (see previous photo) was likely discontinued when the PK-guys got their own grey waffenfarbe colour rather than piggybacking onto the signal-troops' colour. 

Im einsatz, making a TikTok of a passing Pzkpfw. 38(t).

Lastly for this post we have a real blast from the past, an original Land Raider with just a couple of modern updates. I acquired this model in a trade on the weekend, fixed the doors, primed it black and painted it earlier this week.

As we all know, this is the Ur-Land-Raider first produced by Games Workshop back in 1988 and made available for retail purchase in a box of two models, for 12.99GBP no less!! 

But remarkably, although I've been playing 40K myself since 1989 or so, I'd never owned an original Land Raider model, until now! 

As I said, this model came to me in a trade (along with a MK1 Rhino) and needed some work. A previous owner appears to have replaced the sponson lascannons, it had Forgeworld Iron Warriors doors, and a modern exhaust stack and dozer blade has supplanted the originals. Still and all, not bad for a nearly 35-year-old model. 

I started by removing the resin doors and replacing them with standard modern Land Raider doors, cut out a bit to accommodate the big hinge. I also stuck on some very cool Heresy-era eagles from a modern Age of Darkness vehicle sprue.

The 'Raider accompanied by Iron Warriors Siege Tyrant Terminators.

I also put together a new hatch with storm bolter. Fortunately the modern 40K parts fits this old model to a tee.

Alternatively, this 'Raider can be fielded with a pintle-mounted multi-melta. This one is from the Forgeworld pintle-mounted weapons set. Handy.

A bit better view of the door, decals and weathering here.

It was a really straightforward paintjob, although I regret not having any Modelmates/Dirty Down Rust Effect for the eagle. Once I get some more of it I'll tune that up. In any event it's a really cool model and will fit in well with my Iron Warriors 30K force.

Now we're almost caught up!

More Iron Warriors!

I submitted these lads for the 1980s/Retro Studio in the Challenge. Although these models are relatively new (they're the plastic Space Marines in MKIII "Iron Armour"), they're throwbacks in a couple of ways. I have some of the original metal versions of these dudes in various of my Space Marine armies - those models came out something like 30 years ago. And additionally, the models are "retro" in the sense that GW released them for gaming in the Horus Heresy, a time period 10,000 years before the current 40k timeline. Well, I'm convinced anyway... 

In any case, here they are - 10 Space Marines in MKIII armour, members of the IV Legion, the infamous Iron Warriors. Pictured above is the sergeant with plasma pistol and power fist, a classic combination.

The nine other Marines are all armed with Phobos-pattern boltguns.

The poseability of the plastic models is excellent, I love each of these poses.

The models were painted in the style of my other Iron Warriors models - basecoat in Leadbelcher, trim in Brass Scorpion, armour and trim washed with Nuln Oil (the armour done twice) and the trim washed with Reikland Fleshshade. The yellow pauldron stripes were basecoated Zandri Dust and gone over with Averland Sunset, washed with Agrax Earthshade and sponge chipped with Vallejo German Camo Black-Brown.

The bases were painted with Rhinox Hide, worked up with Mournfang Brown and Steel Legion Drab. The boots and greaves of the Marine were lightly drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab as well.
 

This squad will reinforce the significant bunch of Iron Warriors already in the cabinet. I really do like the colour scheme of this Legion as it's very workmanlike and easy to paint. The yellow hazard striping is a nice pop of colour on the models too.

More to come!

New Year's Day Game - More from the Horus Heresy!

This year, in accordance with ancient tradition, I had some of the boys over for a New Year's Day game. I knew Conscript Mike F had been hard at work on his Imperial Fists so I wanted to tee up a game with those guys, and their traditional opponents are of course my Iron Warriors! So it was on.

I set up an urban terrain table that looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. The game was straightforward, the standard three objectives. Whoever held two or more at the end would be the winner.

Here are the opposing forces. It would be a decent sized battle.

We pick up the action in progress, just some impressions of the game.

Iron Warriors Medusa dropping ordnance indirectly.

Iron Havoc missile launcher squad makes short work of an Imperial Fists Rhino...

... while their colleagues with lascannons line up the Fists Land Raider.

Siege Tyrants advance on the flank with a IV Legion Deimos Rhino.

Action in the middle of the table - objective (the infamous "God Box") is just visible at the base of the column.

Land Raider rolls forward... not long for this world...

I think these are the Templar Brethren. They were horrifyingly effective in the game. Their stat line is crazy good. Behind them is a huge crater left by their exploding Land Raider.

Some close in action. Unfortunately the Iron Warriors are about to get a nasty squeeze.

Some action on the Warriors' right flank near the Slurm vending machine objective. 

Siege Tyrants look on at the middle objective.

Imperial Fists Terminators drop in near the shed that houses the third objective.

This was a real exciting encounter - the Siege Tyrants and a squad of Iron Warriors took on the squad of Imperial Fists Terminators. The fight was close but as I recall, the Iron Warriors barely prevailed due to an inopportune morale failure on the part of the Fists.

Despite the Medusa dropping ordnance on the objective, the Fists held it with a model or two at the end of the game. I think they held the Slurm machine as well, so the final result was Fists two objectives, Iron Warriors one objective. But it was a pretty close game.

Thanks to Conscript Mike for bringing his gorgeous Imperial Fists army and to the boys who were able to make it out for the game!