Well ahead of schedule...

With a glorious half day today I had some extra time to paint and seal the remaining vehicles. Using the 'assembly line' method isn't just for blocks of troops, it's also useful to crank out an armored company. Once I had all the main armor and tracks painted, all that remained was the detailing and the color patterns I use to tie the army together. I find that doing several tanks at once ensures that the overall color scheme stays consistent.


The largest of the tanks in the army (currently... muahahaha), the Stormlord is a super heavy transport capable of moving a short platoon in relative safety. Four twin-linked heavy flamers, four Lascannons, a pair of Heavy Stubbers and a Vulcan Megabolter also provide a frightening amount of firepower.


A step down in chassis size, the Macharius is sometimes referred to as the poor man's Baneblade. Lacking the sheer number of weapon systems of its larger cousin, the Macharius nevertheless can lay out a significan volume of fire.


This monstrosity is what I call a "King Russ". It's a bit larger than a standard Leman Russ, but otherwise is identically armed. In game I consider the Extra Armor and Track Guards compulsory upgrades and purchase them accordingly - otherwise it functions exactly like a Leman Russ. This particular tank has been converted into an Executioner, though I have three more of these chassis that I have held off on building until such time as I get the new codex. Seeing as I have some leftover bits from the Baneblade (especially the hellhammer cannon barrel) I'll likely turn one of them into the Nova Cannon variant whose name escapes me at the moment. The other two will likely end up as a Vanquisher and a 'vanilla' Leman Russ.


Lastly the Wyvern Pattern Command Chimeras - I've done one for my Company HQ and one for the 1st Platoon HQ. My long term plan is to build another Leviathan to act as the Company HQ command vehicle and use the Wyverns for the first and second platoon HQ squads. I'll be honest though, the more I look at these, the more inclined I am to get rid of my old style chimeras entirely and re-build them all in this style - the rear-mounted turrets match thematically with the alternate Leman Russ tanks as well as the Macharius. Style before Purpose, as I always say!

So, the initial plan to get the vehicles and sundry unpainted miniatures done by May 2nd is looking to be a cinch. I did dig up a couple other miniatures that require painting that I'd missed on my initial plan, so I'll be adding the following to the painting queue:

5 Psykers
5 Commissars
4 guardsmen with Melta Guns (to swap out as desired into the 1st platoon infantry squads)

Further updates to come!