Hobgoblin bolt throwers

Despite being pretty much out of Fantasy nowadays from time to time I recieve a painting comission such as these two artillery pieces for a chaos dwarf army. The client wanted them in a vintage, red era style so I went all kitsch on them

 

Escape from Amon Sûl

 

War in Arnor. After witnessing a large force of orcs and evil creatures marching towards Fornost Beren, the King's chief ranger, races to the capital to warn his liege. His party however has been spotted, and the rangers must take shelter in the ruins os Amon Sûl during the night. Come dawn the valian men of the north make a dash for freedom across the enmy lines.

The rangers take shooting positions and lay a veritable rain of fire into the orcs

That rush rapidly into combat

First blood goes to Sauron, a ranger killed by a lucky orc shot

Soon the warg riders come to grips with Arnor's elite

While the ruined watchtower becomes increasingly surrounded

The rangers of the north are too tough to die, and despite the odds they beat the evil creatures easily

Despite their courage time has gone against Arnor and Beren's men are soon swamped by a horde of orcs that overpowers them with numbers

Two lone men make a run for it, but are soon enveloped and slaughtered

One by one all the rangers are killed, until only Beren remains and is felled by the orc's scimitars

Gondor rangers

 

When Red Box realased their "southern kingdoms" ranger set I knew that it was too good to pass up so I duly got one. After an impulse buy and some months languishing in a shelf or other they are finally done, painted in the traditional leather armour and green cloaks of their trade

Now the box is labelled "set 1" so I would like to hope for a second release with warriors of Minas Tirith, a much needed set that would be ideal to replace the italeri english stand-ins that I have to use right now

The ruins of Cadia

 

After fleeing Kantrael Thraxus Hellbreed has come to the devastated Cadian system to repair and join with the reinforcements that are streaming from the Eye of Terror, however the resolute Black Templars are close in pursuit and engage the heretics over the blasted remains of the once proud fortress world.

Battle begins and the Omnissian misses its nova shot against the Planet Killer

The Armageddon Gun is quick to answer, and the mechanicus cruiser has to brace for impact

The Light of Purity is assaulted by waves of dreadclaws, despite the valiant defence of the sons of Dorn some weapon systems are disabled

Quickly regaining the initiative, the Templars close the range and start blasting with bombardment cannons and macrobatteries

The Faithful and the Adamant exit the cover of destroyed Cadia and pounce upon the massive battleship

The battlebarge too lets rip, and her boarding torpedoes incendiate a chaos cruiser

However in the next turn the vessel loses its remaining weapons, leaving her with only the launch bays 

Marshal Gheidon however is far from beaten and his Templars bring battle to the foe aboard the thunderhawks of the eternal crusade

Far from the main action the Unbreakable duels with the Merciless, a fight that goes increasingly in favour of the imperials

Undaunted, Gheidon orders all hands to the boarding rams and a zealous force of knights of the Emperor captures the nearest chaos cruiser

The Templars destroy the safety valves of the plasma generator, and the warship blows up moments after the marines teleport back to the battlebarge

More dreadclaws assault the Unbreakable, but her crew manages to slaughter all the heretics that manage to cross the deadly field of fire laid by the defensive turrets

Another blow is struck for the Emperor when the imperials destroy the blasphemous Malignant, ensuring that her corruption won't spread any further in a cleansing ball of holy fire

Hellbreed directs the awesome power of his flagship into the Omnissian, destroying the cruiser in a final act of spite before jumping into warpsapace, and leaving the Cadian Gate in the hands of the battered but  victorious Black Templars

The fate of Kantrael

 

After the fall of Cadia the Despoiler sets his sights on another target: the forgeworld of Kantrael is one of the last imperial holdouts in the region, so the Planet Killer is dispatched to blow the orb to pieces. Fortunately for the Adeptus Mechanicus a crusade of Black Templars has been recently washed in system by the currents of the Inmaterium, and the planet is far from defenceless.

Chaos Fleet

Chaos Lord Thraxos Hellbreed

Planet Killer

Devastation cruiser - Enduring Pain

Devastation cruiser - Merciless

Devastation cruiser - Malignant

Imperial Fleet

Marshal Gheidon

Battlebarge - Light of Purity

Strike Cruiser - Adamant

Strike Cruiser - Faithful

Strike Cruiser - Unbreakable

Dominator Cruiser - Omnissian

The formidable vessel moves ponderously amongst the attendant fleet

A lone mechanicus cruiser lends her nova cannon to the fight

Battle starts when the Unbreakable shows up behid the chaos fleet and cripples the Malignant with concentrated firepower

 Then the Planet Killer is damaged by an accurate nova shot from the Omnissian

Instead of firing the Armageddon gun the battleship just powers towards the forgeworld

But in the next turn thunderhawks and torpedoes manage to render inoperative the massive cannon

The Faithful and the Adamant have closed the range and fire on the hulking ship with their bombardment cannons

Next turn both fleets come to grips, lances and macrocannon shells crisscrossing the void between them

The Malignant finally succumbs to a fire that had been burning her decks for several turns

Seeing his flagship all but destroyed hellbreed decides to take the coward's way out and disengages.

Imperial Victory!

BFG: Phalanx vs Blackstone

 

After years of preparation Abbadon unleashes his 13th Black Crusade against Cadia, despite the valour of the defending Imperial Navy the chaos horde overwhelms all defences and invades the fortified world. While traitors and loyalists fight it out on the battlefield a ray of hopes shines for the imperials when the formidable Phalanx battlefortress arrives to lift the siege, heading straight for the massive Blackstone Fortress in the heart of the enemy fleet.

"We'll give that Blackstone Fortress an opponent worthy of her size" 

Captain Garadon, Battle of Cadia

The deadly construct takes aim

And unleashes the full power of her warp cannons

However the station braces for impact ans shrugs off most of the damage

Both stations duel it out but it's finally a party of Imperial Fists that board the chaos vessel and liberate the daemon chained inside, destroying the corrupt Engine of Vaul for good.