Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Steel Legion - Chimeras, Support Vehicles & Air Support

Installment #3 of my Steel Legion Chronicles for 40K - APCs and Support systems.


Although I had several hundred Steel Legion infantry, my vehicle pool only contained 6 Chimera APCs, enough for six squads (as if my games ever got that large).  Everything was magnetized, with each platoon having its down color coded markings and flags.  The flags were removable which would indicated a loaded APC with infantry or empty.


My force also contained a flame thrower tank and three Forge World mortars for fire support.


Rounding out the force was of course air support - one Valk with a full lascannon loadout and a Forge World Vulture Gunship.  I was quite insane at this point in life and even painted the pilots and cockpit interior, complete with computer readouts.




Not much to say about the painting.  Everything was airbrushed per my usual scheme.

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Chimera APC

 

 

 

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Hellhound

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Valkyrie

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Forge World Vulture Gunship

Next up will be the infantry themselves.

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Steel Legion Leman Russ tanks

Steel Legion Part 2: Leman Russ Battle Tanks.

My legion had more than enough armor: 6 Leman Russ if my memory serves me.  Everything was magnetized.  Any combination of weaponry was swappable.  I must have drilled and cut my hands a thousand times.  Even the pintle mounts and search lights were removable.

Weathering was done via airbrush and Vallejo pigments (another first for me).  The rivets were done with Delvan mud (what a big job that was).

Leman Russ tank

These gave my airbrush a workout for sure.  Like everything else 40K these are now only part of my modelling history.  Hopefully someone is putting them to good use.

Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Steel Legion - Self Propelled Artillery Basilisk and Manticore

No this blog is not dead.  Quite simply I have not been painting for roughly 30 months.  However, I am in the process of another round of 15mm painting and will be showcasing some new material shortly.




Anyway, years ago I was into 40K, specifically Imperial Guard and Chaos Space Marines.  I have long since sold off those massive armies I collected (for thousands of dollars in profit), but the photos survive.  So, in the interim I will showcase part of that collection: specifically the Steel Legion.




Ten years ago I collected a massive Steel Legion army: 24+ vehicles, gunships and 300+ of the old Steel Legion metal figures.  Every vehicle option was magnetized for each vehicle (I was certainly insane then) and many of the figures were also customized. 






The vehicles were my first attempt at airbrushing anything.  I used Citadel paints at the time (Shadow Grey and Rotting Flesh).   They were a BITCH to thin and use in the airbrush.  I have long since switched to Tamiya paints for all my airbrushing needs. 


The Forge World Medusas and Basilisks were a Christmas present from my wife.  Medusas were especially brutal since they ignored armor saves.  Yes the artillery shell comes out of the breech too.     

a battery of Imperial Guard Forge World Medusa mortars

Forge World Basilisk

Manticore

missiles were magnetized to allow for ammo tracking

Main battle tanks will be the next installment.

Citadel Realms of Chaos Fiends of Slaanesh

Lets move away from Sci Fi for a second and go back to the beginning for me, Fantasy Wargaming.  I have not played Warhammer Fantasy in well, forever.  However, Fantasy Gaming will probably always be my first love, especially Chaos, specifically Khorne and Slaanesh.

Citadel Realms of Chaos Fiends of Slaanesh

These six bad boys are very old Citadel Fiends of Slaanesh, dating back to the 1980s.  These guys were a lot of fun to paint up.  Each one was done in a different pastel color, representing the different moods of Slaanesh.

"Let me lick you!"

"Come, embrace me!"

"Let me pinch you chubby cheeks!"

Fiends of Slaanesh

What is best in life?  Licking the ass of another Fiend of Slaanesh!

These babies were a blast to paint.  Slaanesh demands vibrant colors, especially when they clash. 

 

 

 

GZG UAV Grav Drones

GZG makes a great line of drones and UAV vehicles.  Last year I picked these guys up, to be used in my Alien Squad Leader game.  I figured they would be used in either my Mechanoid Army or Cyborg Enslaver Army, as floating weapon platforms or as robotic grav tanks/walkers.  I like to keep my options open.

The models are very modular, allowing for multiple weapon options.  I took them a step further and mounted two sets of weapons: plasma and missile pods, in an under and over fashion (normally the weapon is only mounted on the bottom of the model). 

GZG UAV Grav Drones

 Originally I painted these guys in my standard Sci-Fi Grey pattern.  However, this was before I had completed my Cyborg army, which was metallic.  So in the end I decided to repaint them to match the Cyborg Army. 

GZG UAV Grav Drone with Plasma Guns and Rocket Pods

 My standard metallic recipe: NATO Black, Tamiya Metallic Grey (I have recently changed to Vallejo Black Metal), followed by Vallejo Gun Metal and Vallejo Steel, all airbrushed at 45 degree angles.  Sensor eyes are my standard Reaper Fire Red Triad.  The model was washed in limited areas with Vallejo Dark Grey mixed with regular Grey wash.

This conversion was unplanned.  I buggered up this first model and had to put a rail gun on the top and the missiles on the bottom.  I guess he could be an anti armor/aircraft model.

Overall I am happy with the way they turned out.  They fit in perfectly with my Cyborg army and can be used as either heavily armored AI controlled Warbots or lightly armored Floating Weapon Platforms.

15mm Alternative Armies Asgard Space Marines

Another quick paint job I did the other week.  I have a ton of these old 15mm scale Space Marines, form the Asgard miniatures line, available from 15mm UK (now Alternative Armies).  These are very old sculpts, dating from the 1980s.  There are nine sculpts in the range, with three being flying power armor and 6 ground pounders.  Only give of the foot sloggers are shown since the sixth is so badly sculpted that I did not paint them up.  My guess is the mold is very old and in need of replacement.  Overall the sculpts are ok for their age.  Personally I found it hard to discern details on some of the figures.

2020 Update: See my new blog entry for a complete redo of this army.

Asgard Space Marines

 I originally planned to outfit these guys for Alien Squad Leader as an Imperial Strike Force, which is made up 100% of Power Armor troops and vehicles.  However I decided against this and they have sat in a box for ages. 

Full squad of 8 Asgard Space Marines

Anyway, the other week, while cleaning up my WIP area I decided to do something really unoriginal and paint them up as Robots/Cyborgs, simply to get rid of them and onto the table (like that ever happens).  I already have a ton of GZG Robots but these guys looked more like Star Trek Borg than Power Armor to me.  I did not paint up the flying sculpts since I didn't see the need.  Tamiya NATO Black, Metallic Grey and Vallejo Steel (all airbrushed at 45 degree angles to simulate a shading effect) were the only paints used, followed up by Army Painter Dark Tone Dip.  Reaper Fire Red/Phoenix Red/Fire Orange/White were used for the visors with the weapons being painted black..
 
It is certainly not the most original paint job but now I have another choice for Cyborgs other than my GZG Robots. 

Rebel Minis 15mm Martian Tripods

Greetings.  It has been awhile since I have picked up a paint brush; several months at any rate.  I seem to go through painting spasms: I paint a huge amount of material then take a long break for up to 10 months.  Probably not the best thing for my painting skill level.  At any rate, there is some new material for me to post: 15mm Rebel Minis Martian Tripods. 

These guys have been sitting on my WIP shelf for almost one year.  Frankly, I didn't know what to do with them.  They were a pain in the ass to assemble.  There are not a lot of pieces mind you, but simply fiddly, especially with 3 legs.  The tentacles are extremely fragile.  Several were attacked by my cat and lost a couple of hit points.  I painted these guys up last week simply because I was sick of looking at them on my WIP shelf.


Rebel Minis Martian Tripods

This force was to constitute a 100 point army for Alien Squad Leader, for the Tripod faction.  The Tripods are a vehicle only army in that game.  So, assembling this force was a rather expensive undertaking.  A 200 point force would be double this size and easily cost over $300.  However, they could also be used in other various games with an assortment of alien infantry to round them out.  I decided to stop at the 100 point level and see if it was worth going to the next level. 

The paint scheme I settled on these guys was a simple metallic grey.  That seemed appropriate for a Martian.  

Small Martian Tripod

Everything was airbrushed, starting with a basecoat of NATO black.   The metallic base was Vallejo Black Metal, followed by Vallejo Gun Metal and Vallejo Steel for highlights.  I then washed the various areas in Vallejo Grey and Light Grey Wash, mixed with a  little Vallejo Dark Grey. 

 Various other areas were picked out with other colors: Reaper Steely Blue for the weapons, Reaper Fire Red, Phoenix Red, Fire Orange and White for the sensor eyes located in various areas. 

 

The tentacles were painted in a basecoat of Vallejo Steel since I wanted them to stand out.

Large Martian Tripod

 Once sealed with Testors Dullcote I used Tamiya Weathering Pigments to highlight the edges and bring out a metallic shine where so desired.

Alien Squad Leader Tripod

Large Martian Tripod

 These were a rather expensive purchase.  However the  models are nice and the bigger ones are quite large.   They tower over regular 15mm figures and vehicles.

For now I don't think I will be pursing a 200 point force.  Assembling another 7 models is not on my to do list and spending such a huge sum for a single large army for a single game seems pointless to me a the moment.