Warhammer 40k Armoured Train Build

This is a project that I've had at the back of my mind for a long time. Actually, the seeds were sown years ago when my brother attended a gaming event where our local game store Marquee Models in Harlow (UK) had a land train game set up with ork vehicles that were jumping onto the train to attack it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I got the idea of a warhammer train and it stuck - bubbling away back there for decades.

Recently, I've been working on my Steel Legion and the train idea resurfaced. A quick Google search revealed that some people had been able to make one successfully. A while back, I'd looked at actual scale train kits, but they were prohibitively expensive. I was basically looking for something to be used in scenarios - budget was definitely limited for this project!

A bit of Internet searching revealed this thread: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/769594.page?userfilterid=122875 - which featured a great train built from something called a "Caterpillar Construction Set"... I looked it up on eBay and got a used one a few days later for a grand total of £10 plus postage. If you look at the thread on Dakka Dakka, it was a really involved build. I wanted to do something more simple with a focus on look and playable area. The running boards for the train were a brilliant idea  so I took that idea and sort of ran with it to increase the playable area. The train itself is perfectly in scale, but as a dodgy plastic toy, I had a lot to do. The first things to work o  was the windows at the front as the front is always the place people look first!

I also bought a bunch of plasticard bits to make railings and details with. The photo above shows how the basic shape for the running boards was constructed. I decided to make a freight type looking train and not to add guns so that it wouldn't be so much a fighting piece as a transport. I also looted my bits box for parts. I really didn't want to add hundreds of rivets to the thing, but handily, I had a bunch of flat plastic Warlord Games bases that already had a gripping side that looked like rivets, so I used those with some plasticard used to cover where it said Warlord Games in the middle of each one! 

For the 3 carriages, I have one small (in this photo red) tank which was actually an ore cart looking thing I flipped over and built a gantry on. The passenger car is next which has large playing areas added. Of all the carriages, it was the most unstable, so low armour skirting was added which is also some sort of anti roll device to stop it tipping too far on the table. After that in the distance is a mostly flat tank carrying platform which should hold 2 Chimera size tanks, although I haven't tried to size it since adding the hand rail section to the rear. There is a bunch of cheap ass looking plastic track sections too I am going to paint as well. They would actually look really good if based up, but as I don't have room to literally build a permanent train board, the flexibility of being able to lay them as is has to be king. 

All in all, I spent about a week building the Steel Legion train. I guess I need to name it now - and paint the thing. I finished 3 carriages in total plus the train, and there was a one more carriage in the set I can do at a later date along with a bunch of track.

It took quite a lot of spray to get down a decent coat of white to start working over the top of. It was fun to roughly array it once it was looking like more of a united colour. For me, the balance came out just about right- a lot of the otig9nal kit is visible still, but up-detailed and the running boards are a very usable size. 

The photo above shows the passenger carriage from the rear. I added a raised gantry with control panel to the back - the ladder on this one was already part of the kit, so that helped and saved me a bit of time. Work on  the whole train was slow in the beginning, but once I got going and had basic shapes in place it came together pretty quickly.

Pictured above is the big transport carriage which I did test later on after writing some of the text earlier and found that it will still hold 2 chimera hull tanks or similar size. Actually this was one of the more difficult carriages as it had a number of lumpy plastic details that I had to remove which was one of those jobs that could only be done with clippers and a lot of time. I did most of it while watching TV in the end.

Now that it's undercoated, it looks almost ready to cross the Ash wastes! Story wise I envisage it crossing the big stretches of Armageddon between Armageddon Prime and Secondus or the hives themselves. Hopefully, I will have time to update once I have had the chance to pit some paint on it. 

Steel Legion Imperial Bombard

 

This model has been on my painting radar for far too long. I always wanted a Colossus back when they first appeared in the guard codex - I think it was 5th Edition? - anyway, they never did make a proper model. At the time, I had high hopes for a joint plastic kit with the Medusa at some stage, but it never happened. 

Fast forward several years to about 2018 when I started the Steel Legion force out of the ashes of a few failed past armies, and one of the things I knew I wanted was one of the Forgeworld Bombards. It was actually sprayed in a batch with my first Basilisk and then sort of ended up hanging around. I changed projects and it just never seemed to get finished until now. It also didn't help that somewhere in the middle it took some sort of knock during a house move that caused it to fall apart a bit.

Anyway, the tank uses my standard Steel Legion Scheme - there is a full tutorial on here somewhere, so there's not much point in recounting all the colours. It's easily found on Google under "how to paint Steel Legion tanks" if anyone is interested. 

One factor that slowed my progress on this thing was deciding what to actually do with the mortar itself. Originally the dark grey body was camouflage like the tank's hull, but it just didn't work and looked a bit too murky. The red stripes help add an accent of colour to it too. 

And that about rounds it out for this thing. I really should post more often!

Armageddon Steel Legion Stormtroopers

A few photos to share today of the Stormtrooper squad I recently finished. I've never really been a fan of when they became "Scions" in later editions, and for Steel Legion, I always think of Stormtroopers like they used to be. The original metal models they made are long out of print, and although I hope to get hold of some one day,  I'm rather happy with this unit.

These guys are actually 3D prints. I'm not much into 3D printing and don't have the equipment myself, so I can't comment on how or why these came out so nicely - I just picked what I wanted, stuck them together and painted them. I really like the old style masks though. Design wise, they take quite a lot in terms of heads and guns from the old metals, but the armour is quite different and falls somewhere between the older models and the more recent Scions. 

I tried to emulate the older scheme which was quite heavy on the yellow - in the end, I had to pick out the trousers with black though as too much yellow didn't really seem to be working! Either way, it's pretty much a reversal of my original Steel Legion scheme where the yellow of the jackets is used for the armour and other colours remain pretty much unchanged. I used some additional Scion parts for the build and the arms of the sergeant and vox trooper are both just the Scion plastic bits. 

I've been working on a lot of other units recently, so may post some more if I find the time. I've been away for so long, there's probably more painted models in my collection now that should have been posted to the blog years ago than I ever got around to posting in the first place! 

 

Armageddon Steel Legion Scout Sentinel

OK, so it's probably been at least a year since I posted anything, but not for lack of progress. I rarely have the photography lights out these days for pictures, and true to form these photos were taken in the natural light of the conservatory.

I've always liked scout sentinels- traditionally, Armageddon have the armoured cab due to the toxic environment, but it's definitely fun to see the pilot. In terms of this model, it's pretty stock, but the pilot head is swapped with a plastic death korps head so he doesn't die of exposure up there 😅

I have painted a lot of units recently, and one  of the things I've started to introduce to the Steel Legion is a bit of foliage. There are jungles on Armageddon after all, and I like the contrast of having the occasional plant in there. I'm actually using really cheap plastic plants and spraying them with undercoat and with the airbrush to get them to look good. I had the idea that the plants on Armageddon would be sort of sickly and quite yellow in colour which would explain the regimental uniform colours. 

Speaking of uniforms, this thing is yellow... it's a look I've been playing with. The majority of my vehicles are the traditional grey/sand type camouflage, but for some models I wanted to change it up. My theory being that they would have been deployed to the sands and wastes between hive cities on the planet.

All in all, I think I painted this thing over the course of a day. I've been hitting the Steel Legion stuff quite hard over the past month, so there's plenty more completed and in the works. Maybe I'll get some better quality pictures next time...

 

Bungo the Barbarian - Chapter 23, The Kaleidoscope of Disoriented Pummelling

 Bungo the Barbarian – Chapter 23, The Kaleidoscope of Disoriented Pummelling

 

Bungo’s broad shouldered form was silhouetted against the setting sun, his hair tussled by a breeze that seemed to be spattering him with a surprising amount of sea spray. From a high vantage point on a rocky knoll just outside Turdmondaz, he surveyed his foe in a suitably heroic fashion.

 

“Hold still, or I’ll never get these tangles out…” Shallica shrieked; trying desperately to brush through the thick salty knots quickly forming in the barbarian’s luxurious mane of shining golden hair.

 

“Do you have any idea what the sea air is doing to your hair. What kind of product have you been using anyway? it smells like bacon….” The she devil asked quizzically – one eyebrow raised with an expression that hinted that it probably was bacon grease she was finding.

 

“There!” Bungo pointed into the sand below where his armoured opponent skittered back and forth on a great chariot. Having left the Adventure Mart far behind to hold their duel, the pair now squared off on a stretch of beach. Bungo’s expression was stern as he eyed the giant conch-shell bodied machine which was pulled by a luridly yellow and pink giant lobster that was easily the size of two horses. On the back of the strange construction stood a figure entirely encased in grizzly rusted armour who was gesticulating what appeared to be a number of ways he would dismember the barbarian, alongside various exotic sexual moves that the barbarian struggled to identify.

 

Bungo’s face twisted in a grimace of both anger and slight amusement as the Champion of Turdmondaz finally spun his chariot into an attack posture and began an unsteady and surprisingly slow meander towards the barbarian. It was apparent that the Butt-Goblins were no great engineers as the vehicle careened forwards on uneven wheels that shook it from sided to side in a booze-addled charge. The giant lobster clicked menacingly; staring forward with bulging black eyes that gave no hint as to its disposition.

 

Bungo crouched low as the chariot approached the knoll, grabbing the blade of Donglore in a downward grip.

 

“Eww, you’re getting more sand in your hair…” Shallica’s voice issued from some unseen place behind the Barbarian’s bulging form where she was still at hard work with her brush.

 

Suddenly the chariot lurched forwards and began a turn around the knoll; evidently, Bungo’s opponent intended to corner him at the rocky edge.

 

“Excelsior!!”

 

His body like a giant coiled spring, Bungo leapt high into the air. He threw his arms wide in a colossal body slam as he plummeted downwards.

There was a single moment of what might be dubbed realisation as the armoured helm of the champion tilted upwards just in time to catch a glimpse of the barbarian before he was upon him. Bungo’s unarmoured bulk slammed chest first into his opponent and they were carried tumbling down the sandy incline in a death roll of bulging sinew and steely plate.

The death roll was surprisingly scratchy and someone was biting the barbarian. At some stage in the roll, he managed to look behind himself and saw that he had inadvertently dragged Shallica along with him and she was busy accosting both men in a frenzy of raging claws.

“Oahhhoo… that’s a delicate area” The champion sputtered – seemingly unaccustomed to the tender mercies of the she-devil as she sank her claws deep into his groin. Somewhere repressed in his muddled memory, Bungo had a distant recollection as to exactly why he had begun to wear an armoured crotch plate in the first place. Luckily, there was little time to consider the trauma further.

The world continued to blur by in a tornado of spiralling sand and jagged rocks. Somewhere mid fall, Shallica had freed herself; leaving the two men in a kaleidoscope of disoriented pummelling. They finally fell to rest after colliding with a particularly large and hard rock.

Bungo’s hand’s pawed desperately for a weak spot in the armoured shell of his opponent’s body, but he struggled for purchase against the slick surface. For a moment, he had the champion in a deadly choke hold only to realise he was squeezing nothing but groaning metal. Somewhere in the confusion, the armoured titan had the opportunity to draw a dagger and soon the two warriors fumbled in a life or death struggle over the weapon.

 

The Champion rolled on top of Bungo, using his full weight to bear down on the jagged glistening point of the weapon. Bungo’s greasy body slid on the sandy ground as he struggled to find purchase against the brute above him. Throwing caution to the wind, he brought up both legs against what he thought was his opponent’s chest and thrust them out straight in a thundering double kick.

 

Both feet collided savagely with the champion’s pre-tenderised crotch. With a howling screech the armoured bulk of his enemy was thrown back in a soaring buttocks-first ark that sent him several meters to the ground.

 

With barely enough time to gurgle something incoherent about fighting dirty the champion’s head listed to one side as he neared unconsciousness. Perhaps fortunately, he had little time to register the sight of the raging she-devil driven lobster hauled chariot that was bearing down upon him. The ungainly device ploughed straight over him; reducing the now somewhat less imposing fiend into a mostly reddish and rather salty paste.

Dusting himself down with a satisfied grin, Bungo was pleased to see a large golden key on the sand – apparently unharmed by the brutal pulping.

“Turdmondaz…. Front door…” Bungo read the large tag attached with amusement.

Somewhere in the distance, Shallica’s uncontrolled charge continued at a pace; her passing heralded by the combined cry of terrorised Butt-goblins and what he could only interpret as screeching insectile elation.

Oldhammer undead - early 90s skeletons, wights and Vampire Lord

The terror is real this weekend as I sit upon a grizzly chair, in a horrifying room, surrounded by the most dreadful creatures of the night ever cast in lead - yep, it must be some classic undead fresh from the painting table! 

These guys have been a real treat to work on - there's a lot of character in these old models - I've painted them to match my Vampire Counts, which I've been working on revamping (unintentional undead pun), for about 2 years alongside many other fantasy projects. 

For some reason, I really love Wights! Something about those dorky helmets and overblown armour just screams 80s metal album cover art. The old wraith isn't far behind. I painted him I the early 90s style with a bright robe and some patterning like the good old days. I also added red for the weapon shafts for thrse models as it's a nice way to get a nostalgic splash of colour on there. 

The models were actually given to me by my bother who was recently gifted a treasure-trove of old models from someone looking to given them a good home. These guys have been restored and will soon be headed to the battlefield again, so will be seeing action the way they were intended in plenty of games of old fantasy.

While working on these guys, I also dug out one of my personal favorite models of the era - my old Vampire Lord. He was always my general in the 90s Vampire Counts army and has seen so much play, I can't even begin to recount it. Multiple games a week for a good few years. During that time, he killed thousands - probably the most blood drenched model I have in the entire collection. In fact, when I striped him for painting, the metal underneath was tarnished a dark black that cloud never be restored - which I'm taking as evidence of his dark and naughty history! 

Anyway, here he is all back in shape and ready for action. Many years ago, he always was equipped with the Frost Blade and Carstein Ring, so in honour of that, I've painted his sword in a magical icy blue. It's not the best photo I could do, but everything is packed away for an impending house move, so the light is what it is and his Cape is a bit obscured.

To top it off for some rare warhammer stuff, these photos are shot in the proper citadel graveyard that I bought to go with the army when I built them back in about 2000 maybe. Up next is hopefully the Black coach and some Grave Guard with halberds. 

These old skeletons are great though - all armoured as well. They go back a long way - some time in the 80s and long out of print before I ever started I  the hobby, which is rare to find. I just wish I could get my hands on a few more to fill up the unit! 

 

Lizardmen - Oxyotl the Chameleon Skink

 

A classic model I've been painting since last night. Finished him this morning and thought I'd post him on the blog as I've been neglecting to post much lately... again. 

Lizardmen were my first ever Warhammer army. Back then I couldn't afford the armies book at first and I remember leafing through it in my local games store and coming across the art for this guy and being blown away! Immediately I wanted one, but there was no model, so I set to work on a series of terrible conversions with old plastic skinks as the base - then dutifully painted them up in garish colours inspired by Buzizima the Chameleon from the PS1 classic fighting game Bloody Roar 2. Thankfully, some years later, the actual model came out and I bought him. 

As an old sculpt, he stands the test of time very well - I like him a lot more than the other iterations of chameleon skinks that came out later. Actually, I consider pretty much everything done to the Lizardman range after 5th edition to be pretty heinous to be honest, but that's probably a story for another time.

For a bit of fun, I used a coat of Vallejo transparent orange on his skin over a white undercoat which interestingly worked a bit like a contrast paint in terms of making a nice vibrant base. The little tree on his base was a bit of an experiment too, and is made of wire twisted together and coated with milliput. 

That about rounds it out on this guy. Interestingly, he seems to be worth about £40 at the moment on eBay - possibly attributable to Warhammer Total War, but as I've never played it I can't say. Either way, if you have a spare one, you're sitting on a small fortune!