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Modelling Workshopis your indispensableguide to getting themost out of yourmodels and terrain. Inthis installment weshow you how to adddetails to your tanks.

Introduction

With all the talk about the new Imperial Guard infantry, it’seasy to forget the heavyweights of the army – the tanks! Chad Mierzwa shows us how to customise your vehicles.

With the release of the newImperial Guard Codex, tread-heads across the world will be

getting their armoured companies ready torumble out across the battlefields of the41st Millennium.

The tank crews of the Imperial Guardattribute personalities and character to thearmoured behemoths that they ride to war.The hulls of these great tanks are adornedwith all manner of honorifics and blessings,or customised to better suit the battlefieldsthey fight upon.

We thought that the release of the newCodex was a great opportunity to revisitsome of the great Imperial Guard tanks inour collection, as well as take a look at thebrand new kits available this month. We’llshow you just some of the many ways thatyou can customise and personalise yourown vehicles.

We asked Chad Mierzwa – no slouchwhen it comes to converting andcustomising tanks, as you’ll see at the endof the article – to show us how to addpersonal touches and details to your tanks.

If the information about tank markings in this issue isn’tenough for you, then check out the Apocalypse book,as it has a whole section on the subject!

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Chad started off by building a Leman RussBattle Tank, but rather than building itstraight out of the box he performedsomething of a kit bash. To create atooled-up command tank to lead his tanksquadron, he has used extra parts from thetank accessory frame, the commandupgrade frame and the Banebladesponsons and accessories Bitz Pack. Thetank has extra aerials and antennae, aswell as extra flourishes such as fuel tanksand extra armour plates.

Leman Russ Battle Tank

This marking, taken fromthe Imperial Guard tanktransfer sheet, is closelyassociated with the SteelLegion regiment.

This Leman Russ is equipped withextra fuel tanks, vastly increasingits range and allowing it to roamfar ahead of the main battlegroup.

Chad painted the Leman Russin the camo scheme of theArmageddon Steel Legion –Codex Grey with Rotting Fleshstripes. The side panels of theturret are painted with thesquadron markings, appliedusing a masking technique,and a campaign badge, takenfrom the tank transfer sheet.

Extra DetailsChad added all manner of extradetails to the Leman Russ, takingmany of the bits from the tankaccessory frame, the commandupgrade frame and the Banebladeextra armour frame. The Imperialaquila antennae array has beenadded to the turret, along with allmanner of aerials (A and B), markingthe tank out as command vehicle. Asearchlight from the command framewas added (C), and he has affixedtwo of the Baneblade armour platesto the side of the tank (D) in place ofsponsons, serving as ablative armour.Extra fuel tanks, taken from theBaneblade extra armour frame havebeen added to the back of thevehicle (E and F).

A B

E FD

C

Chad has used the Baneblade Sponsons andAccessories Bitz Pack, pictured above, to addmany of the details to his Leman Russ. You canorder the Bitz Pack especially for the conversion,or you might already have a similar array of bitsleft over in your bitz box from your Baneblade.

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Armoured Sentinel

Chad has mounted his Sentinel on thisfantastic scenic base that really shows offthe poseability of the Sentinel. He started byusing the scenic Dreadnought base, andthen added additional ruined masonry takenfrom the Cities of Death ruins.

Sentinel AssemblyThe Sentinel kit contains a multitude of differentoptions, allowing you to build either an ArmouredSentinel or a Scout Sentinel, armed with a widechoice of weaponry. Chad has assembled his as anArmoured Sentinel armed with a missile launcher,making for a versatile option in his army.

After his success with the Leman Russkit, we tasked Chad with assembling thenew Sentinel, showing us just howversatile the kit is. Chad decided toassemble the model as an ArmouredSentinel (the kit also makes a ScoutSentinel) and, in the same vein as theLeman Russ, he added all manner ofantennae and radar dishes to the top ofit. This may represent the Sentinelbeing a command walker, or itcould be used for long-distancereconnaisance operations.

As the only walker in theImperial Guard army, theSentinel’s base offers plenty ofopportunities for really addingcharacter to the model. This hasbeen mounted on a scenic basecovered in rubble and pieces ofdebris, suggesting that the Sentinel isprowling through the ruins of a city.

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The Sentinel was painted in the camouflage pattern ofthe Steel Legion, to match the colour scheme of hisLeman Russ. He has added squadron markings to theside of the Sentinel with a transfer taken from theImperial Guard tanks transfer sheet. The numberdenotes the number of Sentinel in the squadron, whilstthe colour denotes the squadron.

The rear of the Sentinel, showing thedetailed exhausts and the improvedcomms array, taken from the ImperialGuard tank accessories frame. Chad haspainted the exhausts to look heat-blackened, in stark contrast to thegleaming metal pistons on the legs.

Squad Markings

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Sulphur desert Urban sprawl Polar Temperate Jungle Night world Ferrous waste Ash waste Death world

Examples of different company markings. Colours can vary betweenImperial Guard regiments.

2nd

Squad

2nd

1st

Squad

1st

HQ

3rd

Squad

3rd 5th4th 6th

21 22 23

20

24 25 26

27 28 29 CamouflageTanks will often berepainted by their crews asthey are transported tovarious theatres of war.

Cadian ScoutSentinel with missile launcherand searchlight.

VostroyanArmouredSentinel withlascannon.

Other Sentinels

Armageddon SteelLegion Armoured

Sentinel withplasma cannon.

Here are some more examples of the posesand options you can make with the Sentinelkit, as well as examples of the colours thatother regiments paint theirs.

Imperial Guard tanks are drawn from dedicatedarmoured companies, attached to infantry companiesfor the duration of a campaign. A tank companycomprises three squadrons each made up of threetanks, and one command tank. The vertical stripesdenote which company the tanks belong to. Thisexample shows a complete 2nd Company.

Markings and Organisation

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This Valkyrie has obviously seenplenty of action. Chris has heavilyweathered the paintwork, and paintedthe engines to look scorched. Heeven weathered the eagle wingdesign, chipping it away to show thepaint and bare metal underneath.

The Valkyrie

Chris Peach painted this Valkyrie to belong to an ace pilot,denoted by the eagle wing design painted on the wings. Hecarefully cut a template out of tracing paper, using that tohelp him paint the design onto the wings.

Valkyries are drawn from the Imperial Navy,and as such aren’t necessarily painted in thesame colours as the regiment to which they’reattached. For this Valkyrie Chris has created ajungle camouflage scheme, perhaps foroperating with the Catachans.

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Chris has painted a freehand shark’steeth design onto the side of theValkyrie. He used photographs frommodern-day helicopters as referencefor the markings. You can also see themulti-laser, one of the alternateweapon options available.

Stormtrooper Valkyrie

Catachan Valkyrie

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Other Regimental ColoursThe ‘Eavy Metal team painted tanks in a number of different regimental patternsespecially for the Imperial Guard Codex. Here are a few examples, focusing on some ofthe details and insignia added by the experts.

Valhallan Leman Russ Battle TankTank camouflage is not necessarily designed to disguise the tank or help it to blend in tothe surrounding environment – a vehicle the size of a Leman Russ is hard to hide. Instead,tank camouflage is intended to break up the outline of the tank, making it harder to targeton the battlefield. With its jagged pattern, this Valhallan Leman Russ is a good example.

The Valhallan Leman Russ isadorned with all manner ofregimental titles and badges. Thehome world of the regiment isproudly displayed on the dozerblade, along with the ImperialEagle. The turret displays adistinctive campaign badgealongside the squadron markings.

The yellow and black warningstripes immediately stand out onthe Hellhound, especially againstthe dark colour of the hull.Whether it’s intended to act as awarning to friend or foe is unclear.

Mordian HellhoundThe Mordian Hellhound stands out on the battlefield for a number of reasons. First andforemost is the distinctive yellow and black patterning on the dozer blade and fuel tanks,achieved by masking out the pattern with tape. Secondly is the dark blue, almost blackhull, designed for fighting on the night world of Mordian. The squadron markings aredistinctive too, very different from the usual red and white stripes on the Cadian tanks.

Cadian DemolisherThis Cadian Demolisher is a great example of themultitude of tanks in our Studio Cadian army. The tank iscamouflaged for operation in a temperate or wildernessenvironment. Extra details from the tank accessory framehave been added, such as the improved comms unit andthe tank commander.

The Cadian Demolisher has beenassembled with a tank commanderpoking out of the top of the turret.The commander has been paintedto match the uniforms of theCadian army.

Vostroyan BasiliskThis Vostroyan Basilisk has a very distinctive colourscheme, with a light brown-grey hull and brassdetailings. The squadron markings of the Vostroyansdiffer dramatically from those of other regiments, withirregular red stripes on the hull.

The breach of the earthshakercannon has been heavilyweathered around the edges,suggesting that it is slammed openand closed. Kill markings havebeen painted on in freehand.

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‘Chad-eptus’ Mechanicus

Ever since the Baneblade was released, Chad has been tinkering awaywith this personal project, his highly customised Baneblade (nicknamed‘the Procrastinator’ by his comrades for the length of time it’s sat on hisdesk). He sees the Baneblade as some sort of prototype tank built by a Techpriest. He kept the bare metal showing, reasoning that asTechpriests revere machines, why would they cover them withpaint? Many of the parts come from Chad’s extensive bitz box,which is almost as old as he is!

This Servitor is hard-wiredinto the back of theBaneblade, tasked withcarrying out essentialrepairs and maintenanceduring battle.

Is this strange device anexotic weapon, or does ithave some other, moremysterious purpose?

This plastic gumball hasbeen painted to resemblea glowing ball of energy,perhaps an experimental

power source for thesuper-heavy tank.

Tallarn ChimeraWhen they go on long campaigns, the Imperial Guard use their vehicles as mobileheadquarters and rudimentary barracks, loading them up with stowage in the form of extrasupplies and ammunition. The Tallarn Desert Raiders are famed for their hit-and-runwarfare, using mobile elements to strike through the wilderness and attack the enemy froman unexpected angle. This Tallarn Chimera has had all manner of details added to it, suchas cases of ammunition, tools and stowed equipment.

The regimental markings havebeen painted onto the side of theChimera (above top), displayingboth the regimental home worldand the platoon number. Bed rollsand blankets have been affixed tothe outside of the tank (above).

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