Cadian kitbash

This is a project that has been on going for a couple months and at this rate will be ongoing for several more! When I brought the guard Armageddon box, it came with a squad one the new Cadians alongside the vehicles. Now I don't have need for Cadian, so I thought I would have some fun with them. After much thought and rooting through my bits box, I decided on an AdMech  vibe to the kit bashed, in a similar vein to the Miasman Redcowls, although with AdMech guns as well. 

As you can see, I have got some of them built and a number of them are prepared ready, but there are still a few that are needing bits to complete them. 

I have one plasma gunner built plus a number of riflemen, although I'm short on the rifles to finish all the models off. 

I have had to do some kit bashing to get some of the bodies to work, as they have been taken from a number of sources. 

Most of the bodies are from the Cadian squad box but some are from the Centaur passengers and some are from the Rogal Dorn tank crew. The Vox caster was from the Centaur, and is now sitting on a lascannon power cell, while sipping a cup of recaff. 

 Lastly we have the "Cadian" Castellan, who is going to be incharge of this lot. I don't quite know how I'm going to be running these guys yet. I would like to run them as AdMech proxies somehow, or maybe just keep them to when I run my knights with the guard, as a sort of guardian unit. At them moment however, they are more of a modelling fun project more than actual playing pieces!

Hypogryphs

There has been a short pause in posts up here, mostly due to the school summer holidays and our family trip south to see family and friends. However, there has a been a few bits of modeling going on, although mostly of this was at the beginning of the holiday. With the little one now toddling around, there has been less and less time to sit and build, paint or even blog. I'm hoping with the big kids being back at school and toddler groups being back on, I might get a bit of time to blog but I doubt I'll get much time to build and paint, as bedtimes are still challenging!

Anyway, her is the last unit from the Astra Militarium Armageddon box, the Hypogryphs. 

Both units were built pretty much as is out the box, and I really like them. They are very nice looking models with some very nice real world features. 

The rear stowage is the only part that differed from the instructions, with some of the pieces moved around and some bits from the bits box added. 

At the moment, all the options are there, as I haven't glued any in place. I hope that once they are primed, the weapons will hold enough not to need magnetising. 

Battle Cannon

Gatling cannon

Lascannon

Melta cannon

 I don't know how I will field these yet, but I'm leaning towards either battle cannon or Gatling cannons, running them as a pair. This gives them either some anti-marine or anti-infantry. The lascannon is a possible option for anti-vehicle, but I'm always weary of one shot BS4+ weapons. Hopefully I can get some paint on these sooner rather than later, as I'd like to take them to Northern Invasion this year. 

Centaur RSV

One of the last models that I have built is the new Centaur RSV, and I like it. I will definitely have to look at getting a second one at some point. 

There isn't really a lot to say about the build of this model, as it's build pretty much as instructed, the only difference being the addition of the side skirts on the tracks. These are supposed to be for the Commissar Graves version and are not on the standard version but they tie the model to the Rogal Dorn quite nicely. 

The only changes I made were to the passengers. In the box you get 4 guys to go in the box, but I have removed these to add to a kit bashed squad in making for the guard, more on them, as and when I finish!

Instead, I used two bodies from the Field Ordnance Guns, with bits from both kits for the rest. While it's not quite as intended, it still looks like there's two guardsmen hanging out waiting on the back. 

 Hopefully I'll be able to get the other guard infantry project finished sometime soon but it might be a while yet before I get a chance to sit down and finish them. It might also be a while before I get around to getting these primed up and painted! I also still have the Hypogryphs to build. 

Field Ordnance Batteries

Several months ago, I brought a few copies of the Combat Patrol Magazines numbers 75 and 76, two of each actually, thus giving me all the models I needed to build a total of 6 Field Ordnance Batteries, two for each gun type. I had previously built the lascannon versions, built using the Cadian crew supplied with the model, however, the next 4 models would be built as Krieg models, using the Wargames Atlantic Grognards models. 

The first pair were built as Bombast Field Guns, for some long range firepower. Granted with the changes to indirect, it might not be as good as it once was, I still like the idea of my "Krieg" having some proper field artillery. 

I like the fact that the barrels are movable on the models and also the breaches to the guns, it adds some character to the guns. 

These models were built as is apart from the crews, who were replaced with Wargames Atlantic Grognards models. The seated model was a bit tricky, as the legs don't fit very well, but well enough so that you can't tell. 

While the field guns bring some heavier hitting firepower, the Malleus rocket launchers bring massed shots. I still don't understand why these guns aren't indirect, as they are basically rocket artillery, and designed for long range fire support and suppression. Anyway, I think they are the best looking out of the three options available. 

Unfortunately I didn't read the instructions properly when I built the first gun and glued the barrel section in place, so it doesn't move. I made sure not to on the second version, not that it really makes any difference. 

When I was building these, I ran in to a bit of a problem, i only had 3 sitting legs, so initially I made a mold and cast a forth set of legs in green stuff \ Milliput, however, I then discovered I actually had enough standing bodies that I didn't need the legs and so I built this little scene;

It's a little hard to see at the moment but there are two bottles and a cup on the seat and another cup sitting on the left leg rail. When I pair this up, they will be painted as some sort of alcohol \ wine. I imagine the gunners having a little tipple during the down time of reloading the gun, something to keep the spirit up! I do also like the fact that it really gives some more life to the model. 

I should have put the barrels down when I took the pictures, as it looks a lot better in that pose, the guys look like they are loading the tubes, one passing the rockets to the other for sliding into place. 

I had fun building this little scene, I try to make a little scene with all my models like this but this is probably my favourite so far. I just hope I actually get around to painting it at some point!

Rogal dorn

 It's been a while since the Rogal Dorn tank was released and for a long time I wasn't bothered about getting one. However, with the 10th edition codex release and the new Rogal Dorn Tank commander, my option changed. To me, it seemed silly to have aLeman Russ commander ordering Dorns around. However, having the bigger Dorn ordering around the smaller Russ's makes far more sense, so I finally have my Dorn commander. 

There are two main things to note on this Dorn, the first being the magnets visible on the turret above. Not only is the main gun magnetised but also the hull gun. I didn't bother with the sponsors as they hold themselves in quite well. The main gun was quite easy to magnetise, the hull gun was another story. It wasn't so much the hull mount but the guns, as the magnet needs to be dropped down inside the hole on the back of the guns, and for the demolisher cannon this proved troublesome, as I managed to get the magnet round the wrong was on three separate attempts! The second thing to note is the head lights, instead of the stibbers or melta guns. 

This lead to the creation of a turret mounted stubber, placed at the rear, where the standing gunner would have been. With the cupola mounted stubber, that gives the three stubbers normally found on the Dorns. 

This stubber was kitbashed from a storm bolters, probably from a space marine vehicle, bits of a storm bolters from the Munitorum containers, namely the stand part, and the stubber barrels from the Dorn kit. This was then magnetised to enable me to pop it in and out of the turret. 

I actually really like this model and I still don't understand the whole issue (pun intended!) I don't see why people were so bothered. My Admech tank doesn't have a bottom and that's not a problem, I don't see it and I don't see the bottom of this either. If anything, it means I can store all the bits for the tank inside it when I pack it away, so that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned. 

The only negative thing I have to say about this tank, is that I might have to glue to main gun attachment in place, as currently it is to loose and just says pointing down when you fit the guns. No one likes droopy gums on tanks, it just looks silly. I have no idea what weapon options are best, but I do like the big gun, just looks like a proper tank. 

Temu Taurox Upgrades

 A few weeks ago I showed my Temu Taurox's, with their dakka loadouts (Gatling cannon and volley guns), well while I was building some other models I had a thought. The turret ring on the Taurox is basically the same size as a 40mm base, and so I had a look around in the bits box and found a few parts that might be useful. 

First up, converting the prime back to a standard Taurox, with a couple of Auto cannons. 

This is simply two auto cannons mounted with some bits from the bits box and a spotlight from the Dorn kit. 

When dropped on to the top of the Taurox body it fits pretty well, giving the automated turret vibe. It might prove a little hairy for the poor soul who has to climb on top of the Taurox to change the magazines!

I do like how this one looks, and I think it fits with the rest of the vehicles aesthetics as well. Once painted up, hopefully it will blend in even more. 

While routing through the bits box, I came across a bunch of bits I had brought for my Wyvern project. These were actually Taurox prime missile launchers, although I doubled them up for this project as I think they look better this way. 

I added so extra little details to the base, just to try and hide it a little bit and also to add some character to the whole thing. 

Overall I really like both options, although I'm a little annoyed that one of the missile pods ended up drooping more than the other and it looks a bit lopsided, not enough to really stand out but enough to be annoying. 

This now means that I have some options for running the Taurox as either primes or standard models plus options for equipping one with missiles rather than guns. I will get around to spraying these up at some point and I've decided to go for the all black scheme for them, which not only makes things a bit easier but also means that they should be tabletop ready sooner. 

The triple T's - Temu Taurox Transports

 So, the other week I took a gamble and brought a couple of models off Temu. For just over 10 pound I picked up two vehicles as Taurox proxies. These models armed with a Gatling cannon and small coaxial guns, which seems to represent Hotshot Volley Guns. The original design I think came from NFayma, as the Minotaur APC (link). The original is better is a lot of ways, apart from one major point, it's a 3D print and I don't have a printer. I did fine some pre-printed versions, but they were only marginally cheaper than the GW Taurox. These were less than a quarter of the other versions and about a 5th of the GW original. 

Now, I do question the legitimacy of these prints, being as they are off Temu but I have no idea if they are properly licensed or not. Given they they were advertised under a whole host of other names, I guess probably not and I honestly don't know how I feel about that. 

Anyway, on to the models themselves. The prints are pretty decent, a few minor issues here and there but nothing of any note. The weapons fit in to the turrets nicely, one is a bit looser than the other but it holds fine, with some paint on it will hold properly I think. The size of the models is pretty good as well, they are, as far as I can tell, the right height and width but slightly longer than the Taurox, bug I don't have the GW model to test against. Hopefully someone will have one down the club at some point so I can check it properly. 

The plan is to paint these two up for the Scions, although the final colour scheme is yet to be finalised. It's either going to be black with red highlights, or maybe a similar red\brown to the Scions. I'm tempted to go for the black, with some spot colours but I'll need to have a think about it.