Sisters of Battle Exorcist

It's a tank with missiles, but the codex adds, "More than artillery tanks, Exorcists are mobile shrines to the magnificence of the Emperor that project inspirational battle canticles." I have to look up what canticles means.

Although I'm not a 40K player, I do like to paint some of their more interesting models, like this one.

I followed the box art for the paint scheme pretty closely. It's in the colors of the Our Martyred Lady order.

For the wings at the back, and also the other sculpted icons, I used Vallejo Khaki as a base coat, followed with a wash of Vallejo Skin Wash and then dry-brushed with Vallejo Bonewhite; and little white added to the Bonewhite for the final highlights. Seems to give a nice overall "stone" look.

The tank commander/driver has a set of organ keys to operate it. I think it also controls the firing of the missiles at the back.

The tank on the box art has several decals on the front, but I chose not to add them as I like the more start look of the black contrasting with the gilded parts.

A group shot above with the the Exorcist along with the two Rhinos painted earlier.

Due to non-stop rain last week and today, our landscaping project got delayed. This means my intended game for this Friday will likely also be postponed. I do want to host an Hail Caesar game before the year's out, but I know folks have holiday get togethers, so it may not be able to be. In any case, thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best as we near the end of 2021.

Tamiya 1/48 Jagdtiger - WIP

Greetings all. Apologies for the long absence, but here's a "keep it alive" post on another 1/48 scale Tamiya kit I've been working on. Actually, I put the kit together a couple of weeks ago, but was trying to find a local, off-the-shelf spray paint which would approximate the dreaded "dunkelgelb," the German Dark Yellow used on most of their late-war production tanks. I finally broke down and picked up a can of Tamiya TS-3 Dark Yellow off of ebay - if not for the shipping it would've been a decent price. Anyway, this is another superb kit with minimal parts; and I am actually getting better with putting the multi-piece tracks together. Here it is after a coat of the Tamiya Dark Yellow and some hand-painted camo stripes.

The green stripes were applied using successive layers of light watered down Vallejo acrylic. I plan to dry brush the base coat color over the stripes to soften the edges and tone down the green. Also, attaching the tools and spare tracks should hide most of the imperfections of the brushwork.

Doing some online researching, this green stripes over the basic dunkelgelb combination seems common for the 653rd Heavy Panzerjager Battalion - one of only two units which were issued Jagdtigers; the other being the 512th.

A total of only about 80 Jagdtigers saw service from late-1944 until the end of the war. It weighed 71 tons and the main gun was the 12.8cm Pak 44 L/55. It performed best in an ambush role, as would be expected by it's powerful main gun. However, due to its weight it was prone to mechanical breakdown. Also, by the time it entered active service, the Allies held air supremacy which also limited its deployability. Interestingly, the first Jagdtiger that was destroyed in combat was taken out by a bazooka! Not sure who the grunt was who fired it, but he should've gotten a medal just for that.

In addition to the dry brushing, it'll also get some pin washing and a little weathering. The kit also comes with a commander and driver - both will be added later. The hatches are held in place with masking tape on the inside for now.

Here I am next to the Jagdtiger at The Bovington Tank Museum which I visited several years ago. You can see how large it is - I'm about 6' tall - give or take a foot.

So much for now; thanks for stopping by and best wishes to you all!

Choson Korean Multi-Barrelled Cannon

Wanting to add another artillery piece for the besieged Koreans at Haengju, I ended up using this RAFM Miniatures Organ Gun. Although the model is based upon a 15th Century European gun, it should be plausible enough for a 16th Century Choson Korean one.

The figures crewing the gun are Perrys previously painted. In the background are two more barricade stake works I also worked on. Having committed to hosting the Imjin War game at the local convention, Enfilade!, in May the terrain might as well be decent.

This RAFM model was chosen as the Grendel Dwarf Cannon which I wanted to use looked way too big. I received the Grendel model on Tuesday and ordered the RAFM on Wednesday off of ebay. Amazingly it arrived today, and was a quick project.

Here's a multi-barreled cannon from the Choson period in the War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea.

WHFB Helblaster Volley Gun

Another kit picked up from the recent 50% sale. Opted for the Volley Gun over the Helstorm Rocket Battery as the rockets are way too temperamental. They can be switched out later if needed though as the upper portions fit into a slot on the carriage without the need for gluing.

The crew are painted up as Marienburgers as the recent Handgunners. The guy with the ramrod has a Pistolier's head, and the Engineer has a helmeted head from the Order Knights kit.

This gun will be used in the next game - possibly next weekend - against Pat's Lizardmen army. Hopefully it'll do better than the Steam Tank did during the last game where it had two Misfires in a row trying to build up Steam :Points.

I'm also waiting for a Space Marine Terminator Squad to arrive from an ebay purchase.

WHFB Empire Great Cannon

This is an OOP model that is all metal except for the wheels which are either plastic or resin. The crew are painted up as belonging to Talabheim. I was considering painting them up in the colors of another city, but the red and white pop pretty good against the cannon.

The crew are a bit on the short/stocky side, but very nicely sculpted nevertheless.

Another welcome addition to the Empire army.

Hopefully, this Great Cannon and the Steam Tank will be providing good heavy artillery support.

Empire Characters for the War Altar & Hurricanum

Finished up the characters that came with the War Altar and Hurricanum. Here's Volkmar the Upset (aka Grim) riding the War Altar. He wears a bling item - the Jade Griffon which gives him the Regeneration special rule. He also wields his Staff of Command which adds +2 Strength to his close combat attacks from the altar. I plan to use the model as a Battle Wizard as he costs too much as Volkmar.

Here's the Arch Lector who can channel Power and Dispel dice the same as Wizards. He also know three Battle Prayers which act as augment spells. The Horn of Sigmar next to him causes Terror on a charged enemy unit.

Here they are on their magnetic infantry bases.

On to the figures from the Hurricanum (and Luminark) kit. Three figures come with this kit and at least one of them can be used as a Wizard - which is what I have done. Here's one of the Acolytes on the forward platform of the Hurricanum. As he holds a cool staff, he could also double as a Wizard.

Here's the actual Wizard model from the kit. With the long cape, he looks more appropriate as a Wizard.

Here's the other Acolyte carrying all the scrolls and such - a pretty cool figure with lots of character.

All of the figures are magnetized and can be removed from the Hurricanum and placed on infantry bases if needed. The Wizard will be on foot and attached to one of the infantry units.

Next up is a Great Cannon. It is an older metal model that Guy Bowers gave to me as a gift when he visited us last month for Enfilade!

Empire Steam Tank - Ready for Battle

Well, it does still need the Engineer to operate it, but the tank itself is done

I initially painted the shields in the Talabheim colors of red and white, but the white got lost in the silver. I decided to paint them in the Altdorf colors of blue and red - especially after my wife agreed that red and blue would look better against the silver.

That's a Hochland Long Rifle mounted atop the turret; the turret itself holds a Steam Gun which functions as a Breath Weapon. The main body houses a Steam Cannon, which works the same as a normal Cannon except the range is based on how many Steam Points are allocated - up to 36" using 3 Steam Points for 12" a point.

The turret can spin 360 degrees and the cannons can pivot a bit up and down. The road wheels could spin, but not after being glued to the base.

I was going to add some wording onto the scroll, but will hold off until I can figure out what to write.

From straight on, it looks like a space capsule.

This was the last component for a 2,000 point army, but I still need to paint the Engineer as well as two Acolytes to operate the Hurricanum, the Arch Lector to ride the War Altar, and two figures that will double as Wizards. All of these figures will have magnets to have them on their respective vehicles are on separate foot bases, if needed. My buddy Scott and I will be playing a WHFB game this Saturday at The Game Matrix. This will be my first such game and Scott hasn't played since the 3rd edition. Should be fun!

WHFB Empire Hurricanum/Luminark Completed

Still need to paint up the guys who operate these contraptions, but here they are. As there is only one carriage/wagon for either "weapon", only one can be used at a time. Here is the kit configured as the Celestial Hurricanum:

Here it is as the Luminark of Hysh - note that the top part of the wagon is reversed. The kit has pegs on the bottom of the housing allowing it to be lifted up and turned around and put back into the frame of the wagon. A very nice feature.

More shots of the Hurricanum:

As noted in the previous post, the outer ring can be removed and tilted to different angles Also, the inner frame containing the planet can spin freely.

As with the War Altar kit, the inside of the wagon includes details such as the book stands and numerous engravings and plaques.

A few more shots of the Luminark of Hysh.

The mirrored ray gun can be swiveled on its pedestal.

A final shot of the Hurricanum:

Thanks for checking out the blog and hope you like this very interesting kit.

WHFB Empire War Altar of Sigmar - Completed

Here it is - still need to paint the wizard, and also the flags that attach to the rear of the the wagon - which I forgot to paint.

It's really tall! I'm glad I used magnets to remove the griffon when travelling.

There are some optional pieces like more candles and a telescope that I may add later.

It's quite an interesting model and goes together pretty easily - not many parts actually.

I have a couple of kits to work on, Karl Franz on a Griffon and a Hurricanum, but will hold off as the annual historical convention, Enflilade! is next weekend. I'm not hosting any games, but will be hosting a visitor from the UK, so will spend my attention there. I'm kind of blase about the convention this year anyway - I'm more interested in playing my first WHFB game.

Perry Choson Korean Hwacha (MLRS)

The two rocket artillery pieces for Changun's army based. The figures themselves are on metal washers and can be removed from magnetic topped stands as casualties if needed.

Here are the stats for Korean rocket artillery from the Imjin War WAB list posted on the WAB Forum: "A rocket launcher has a range of 30”. When successful in To Hit, the RL inflicts 2D6 S4 Hits on the target unit at short range and S3 at long range. A RL requires at least 2 crewmen to move or fire every turn, but may not Move and Fire in the same turn. When down to 1 crewman, it may only fire every second turn."

 

The longer and shorter arrows are only aesthetically different for the rules. I will have to do some research to see how they differed in actual battle.

Historically hwacha were used mainly for defense, like at the Siege of Haengju, but I don't see why they can't be used offensively in games.

Here is a period drawing showing a pole used to elevate the firing platform.

However, some sources say they were fired at a 45 degree angle for better range. The Perry kits comes with such a pole, but I chose not to use them.

I'm waiting for some Perry cavalry to add to this army. They are all in armor and Perry doesn't make any unarmored cavalry. I'd like to have a unit of mounted archers that are unarmored. I think Scheltrum makes some, but I don't think they'd mix well with the Perry figures.