I ordered this set of Regimental Advisors through an independent Tabletop Hobby store. Although I saved a few bucks, it took a month to be delivered, so I won’t be going back to them.
After reading about the Regimental Advisors in the Codex and some tactics blogs, I decided I had to have them as options to add to my Company Command Squad.
Regimental Advisors in the back row flanked by a command squad and Basilisk
Astropath
I feel like I’m going to add this character to my Company Command Squad (CCS) in every game I play. He’s the cheapest psyker in the game at only 25 points, easy warp-charge points. And he generates his powers from Telekinesis discipline which the Primaris Psyker can’t.
My Astropath Regimental Advisor
Master of Ordnance
The Master of Ordinance (MoO) is an interesting character. He’s a T3 single wound character for 20 points. But, he has the ability to call a S9 AP3 Large BlastBARRAGEattack down anywhere on the board. The problem is it’s likely to scatter 3D6″! And since the attack counts as Ordnance, he has to remain stationary. A odd tradeoff, but could be handy for a static CCS.
Master of Ordinance on the back of a Basilisk (being blinded by my camera’s flash)
Master of Ordinance on the back of a BasiliskMaster of Ordinance on the back of a Basilisk with a command squad in the foreground
Officer of the Fleet
The Officer of the fleet (OoF) is character I don’t plan on using, but I’m glad to have.
Upon passing a leadership test, this character improves your reserve rolls by one (so 3+ on a D6), or reduces your opponents reserve rolls by 1 (5+ on D6). This is stack able with other modifiers like a Comms Relay, Emperor’s Tarot, or another Officer of the Fleet. I don’t think this is all that great, especially since the leadership test will only be successful about 50% of the time for this character.
However, from the moment I saw this model, I knew how I wanted to paint him. I hope it’s painfully obvious.
My officer of the fleet. I hope you can recognize his resemblance to a certain Starfleet Officer (hint, see vessel in the background)
Uses and Tactics
I was planning on usually having my CCS in a Chimera, which is fine for protection, issuing orders, and firing a witchfire power. However, if the tank moves at all that turn, it eliminates the ability for my MoO to fire.
Alternatively, I may have my CCS stationary hiding in cover or behind a blob squad. In that case, I’ll either have to be strategic about being stationary, or make use of a trick like the “Forward For The Emperor” order or hope my warlord rolls “Relentless” to make use of the MoO’s attack.
Leman Russ Battle Tank parts, still on sprue, but primed skull white
The Leman Russ is a given because it’s so iconic for the Astra Militarum. Reviews from Grumpy Guardsman and Imperator Guides say the Leman Russ Main Battle Tank (MBT) is too expensive and ineffective because of the ordnance rule. I agree, but it is a nice ‘generalist’ for my first Leman Russ. I expect it’s S8 AP3 will be great for chewing up Space Marines. And, I can modify it like the Basilisk for lights and sound, which is a big plus!
I really like the Schaefer’s Last Chancer’s models and am looking forward to painting and using them. I plan to organize my Cadian models as a platoon from now on, and I wanted some models that distinctly looked like veterans. So, this set of the “Last Chancer’s” looked perfect. A nice treat is that the set includes a meltagun, heavy bolter and missile launcher. I plan on fielding them as “melta-vets” in a Chimera, and some as my new Command Squad.
Ogryn I plan to field as special character Nork Deddog
I don’t have any fluffy special characters, and reading the Codex I decided I wanted Nork Deddog. In my previous battles, my Command Squad has been devastated by close combat. This big, tough, angry Ogryn should act as a good deterant or measure for fighting back!
I don’t like the new Ogryn models, so I was very pleased to get a good deal on this older version of Nork on eBay.
Servitor with servo arm
Servitor with servo-arm
Servitor with Heavy Bolter
Servitor with Heavy Bolter
Since I plan on fielding a rather tech/mech heavy army, a Techpriest and some servitors are practical and appropriate. Some dislike them as not useful or cost-effective. But I like the idea of Techpriest repair rolls being more effective. Further, for 10 points you essentially get a guardsman wearing carapace armour armed with a power fist! Not a bad deal. And two of these servitors I ordered have heavy bolters, which will give them some punch in the backfield and overwatch protection. I’m looking forward to fielding the squad of 5.
Old 90’s stormtroopers
The old stormtroopers are an oddball but I like them. I have a squad of old 90’s stormtroopers which I’ve fielded a few times. But they’re a different colour scheme and hard to field because of the heavy bolter and plasma gun. These additional 5 models give me some flexibility. I can run 9 lasguns or modify one to have a plasma gun and run “plasma vets”. And more importantly, I can try out the new paint colour scheme on them.
Rhino as it arrived
This Rhino is a bit of an oddball. It’s not an Astra Militarum vehicle. However, it could be a Space Marine Rhino to go with my Imperial Fists or as a transport for my Inquisitor. In fact, I’m tempted to modify it a bit and field it as a Razorback for additional mechanized punch. We’ll see how it goes.
This pile should keep me busy for a while! Lots of fun to come!
This chimera is one of the oldest models I own. I bought the kit for this Chimera at the Grand Opening of the Games Workshop at the Eaton’s Centre in Toronto around 1998. It’s one of the few times Warhammer models were all discounted! The store has since closed, but I still have the tank and treasure it.
Chimera “Eaton” before its update
The paint colours reflect the colour scheme I had for my Imperial Guard forces at the time: Black with blue and red trim.
Old Imperial Guard models whose uniforms inspired the old colour scheme for Chimera “Eaton”
My new forces have a distinctly different colour palate. My new infantry models are grey with black and gold trim. I will probably get around to re-painting those old models too, but my mechanized army made me prioritize getting the vehicles up to spec more quickly.
Rather than re-painting the black hull Administratum Grey to look like my other Chimera, I decided to flip the colours a bit. I left the hull black, and gave it gold and grey trim. And I’m really happy with the result!
Chimera “Eaton” with its new paintjob
Chimera “Eaton” with its new colours, side view
Nameplate of Chimera “Eaton”. It says “Espandor VII” in a highly stylized font. I don’t remember what that was supposed to mean, but I decided to leave it.
I found that the gold on black looked really, really sharp. I’m tempted to paint others to look like it, but then I decided this should be a special tank.
The only physical change I made was to switch out the pintle-mounted storm bolter with a heavy stubber. Most tactics I’ve read suggest the heavy stubber over the storm bolter. They’re the same points, and although the heavy stubber is weaker and has a poorer AP, it fires 3 shots instead of 2, which is really important, especially if snap-shooting.
Chimera Eaton Before(left) and After (right)
I’m glad to (re-)introduce Chimera “Eaton” with its new colour scheme. I plan on using it as a stationary “pillbox” for a command squad. That way they are kept safe, the commander can still issue orders, and the tank can fire all of its weapons with full ballistic skill.
I first mentioned my new Basilisk in this post. This has by far been my favourite model to build so far.
Basikisk parts as they arrived from the eBay order: Partially assembled and unpainted
Partially assembled Basilisk
As I mentioned in this post, the parts weren’t complete so I had to partially disassemble and re-assemble the Hellhound and Basilisk so that there would be enough parts for both. Part of the puzzle was that they supports for the Basilisk’s Earthshaker Cannon weren’t included. So I improvised using some spare parts.
After I started painting, I realized I wanted to do something special for this tank. The Earthshaker Cannon is so iconic of the Imperial GuardAstra Militarum that and unsubtle that I felt it needed something. I wanted to make it something I would be personally proud of. And that meant going back to my Engineering roots and adding some electronics and circuitry.
I wanted to make the gun light up and make sounds. The simplest way to do this would be to scavenge the speaker, light, battery and control circuitry from a Dollarama Toy Gun. I got the below toy for $3 (plus tax).
Dollarama Toy Gun that was scavenged for parts
I must admit, I had a lot of fun exploring the device. It was kind of like an autopsy or a dissection of a mysterious object.
Dismantled toy gun showing speaker, integrated circuit, vibrating motor, light, and wiring
Taking it apart, I discovered it wasn’t very complicated. There was a tiny integrated circuit that handled the noise generation. Connected to the circuit was a simple speaker and a LED. There was also a motor that made the gun vibrate. I wanted to use that to make the tank shake, but it was pretty bulky and heavy.
Detail of internal parts of Toy Gun
Toy gun’s integrated circuit I scavenged for the lights controller and sound
I decided I wasn’t going to use the vibrating motor thing. But the light and sound were very necessary and I was looking forward to using them.
Simplified circuit of lights and sound for my Basilisk tank
Actually fitting the electronics into the tank was trickier than I expected. The inside of the tank is actually quite small, so there isn’t much room to work with.
The tank came mostly assembled from the person I purchased it from on eBay, so I actually had to break the tank apart to get inside.
Disassembled Basilisk Tank
I mangled the battery holder from the toy gun and shoved it into the tank. The batteries are surprisingly bulky! At the same time, I slid the speaker into the forward section below the ‘hatch’, positioned the integrated circuit chip behind the battery, and made sure that the control wires and LED light were free to reach the outside of the tank.
Crafting the battery holder and other parts into the inside of the tank.
I punched a crude hole int he top of the tank so that the light and control wires would come out. The idea was that the wires would come up just below the Earthshaker Cannon so that they could go into it with minimal distraction.
Crafting station
The LED went into the cannon from behind, and I installed a momentary pushbutton on the back of the cannon. I rather like the way the barrel of the cannon lights up!
It lights up!!
After all that fancy assembly, I needed to finish the paint job to make it presentable. It’s mostly just Administratum Grey with Auric Armour Gold highlights, like the rest of my army. However, I’m proud of how the wash on the skulls and wings on the top of the guard turned out.
New basilisk, front viewNew basilisk, left side view. You can see the pushbutton on the back of the cannon.New basilisk, rear view. The pushbutton doesn’t stand out much, which was the idea.
New basilisk, right side view
Why did I name this tank Bertha? Well, it’s a very unsubtle tank, so I thought it deserved an unsubtle name. And, there’s the historical Big Bertha.
I really enjoy that it’s an ‘active’ electronic model. I plan to incorporate electronics of some sort into future tanks.
My biggest regret is probably that the battery is inaccessible inside the tank. Changing the batteries is all but impossible, and I’m worried about a leak eventually. It’s something I’ll keep in mind for future projects.
Basilisk Tactics:
Both Grumpy Guardsman and Imperator Guides agree that the Basilisk is iconic but not particularly competitive. The main blast is a very impressive S9 AP3 large blast. However, the barrage rules give it lots of trouble. Its minimum range is a whopping 36″ which means it can’t use the Barrage rule within that distance. And scattering 2D6-3″ means it’s pretty likely to miss its target.
My Warhammer 40,000 Blog featuring Imperial Guard, Space Marine and Inquisitor Models
