Rattenkrieg

 

Our Stalingrad minicampaign goes on with a meeting engagement between nazis and soviets in an industrial sector of the ruined city

First into the field is Záitsev himself, who gets into ambush...

... and oneshots a german sniper with his trusty mosin nagant

The next soviets to show up are the veterans of the assault section armed with PPSh-41s

Followed by more german reinforcements

Both tanks appear also, but their shots are ineffective given the abundance of cover

Turn 2 begins with a duel between the T-34 and the panzer IV, who both manage to roll a 1 with the antitank gun

Despite this poor showing Záitsev manages to snipe the nazi officer from half the board

The bulk of the russian troops have appeared by now

And the gremans are incinerated by the tank mounted flamethrower

The nazis take cover behind the tank

Precipitating a massed charge of ruskis armed with molotov cocktails

After surviving an antitank shot the T-34 manages to blow p the enemy panzer

And a final charge of the russians seals the game. ¡For the Motherland!

Stalingrad assault

 

First game of our ww2 campaign is a classic assault on an area of ruins held by the red army

The ruskis are well entrenched and wait for the german onslaught

First into the field is a panzer IV followed by a sniper team

The german tank unleashes its fire against the russian infantry wasting tis activation, the T-34 takes this chance to move out of cover

And blow away the nazi tank with an AP shot

Following this success the veteran assault section moves into the nearest ruin

The flamethrower and machine gun of the T-34 makes short work of the incoming germans

That are then finished by the submachine guns of the assault squad

Retaliatory german fire decimates one of the soviet units

But then Zaitsev takes aim and kills the enemy oberleutnant with a single shot

The tank cleans house on the center

And the last fascists turn tail and flee

Panzer IV

After doing the T-34 it was time for a german tank, and none is more iconic than the panzer IV, a vehicle that served during all the war, from the invasion of Poland to the battle of Berlin. In 1941 the panzers met their match in the new generation of russian tanks, so for the campaign of 1942 most of them had been upgraded with a new turret bearing a heavy antitank gun. In addition extra protection was also developed in the shape of a ring of armour around the turret, and two side panels called schürzen. This tank represents one of those who fought in Stalingrad and later battles. 

Painting was certainly time consuming, over a basecoat of light brown I applied a drybrush of cream, followed by metal weathering and then two colours of camo, the last step was a wash of sepia ink.

Pretty much like the actual thing the warlord model is way over engineered, with tons of bits and bobs that you need to put together, and not even a peg under the turret to keep it in place while it turns. In the end I had to glue a piece of sprue underneath. The T-35 was far easier to assemble, with only two sprues and less fiddly details, proving once again that russian tanks are better

 Also, lacking any kind of inserted pegs the schürzen are quite fragile, so I expect them to break and fall at the first hit from the russian guns

Primus Crusade: defend the generatorum

 

Witnessing the triumph of the Redemption the outcasts of Helmawr made a last attempt to reclaim Hive Primus, their target was the geothermal heatshink, the beating heart of the city that provides power and heat to its faithful citizens. Dreading what foul intentions the fallen nobles had, the Redeemer led the crusade into the sacred halls of the Mechanicum, and there we met our mortal foe

In his wisdom Klovis had secured help from the tecnomagi of Necromunda, who provided him with a massive ambot to defend such holy temple of the Omnissiah

The blessed machine soon proved its worth, smashing into the goliaths and ripping them apart with its brutal tunneling claws

The crusaders advanced steadfastly into the blasphemers, unleashing the holy fire of Redemption 

A murderous firefight erupted at close range amongst the pipes and machinery of the generatorum, a struggle that would decide the fate of Necromunda once and for all

Our bounty hunter joined the fray, felling the downfallen lady Helmawr with a holy fusilade from her mastercrafted bolt pistol

Never one to shirk from danger blessed Klovis charged straight into the foe

Slaughtering their mercenaries and driving the heretics out from their places of hiding, to better bestow the Emperor's judgement on them

With her veins soaked with frenzon Alpha launched a valiant charge into the so called noble, punishing her with powersword and adamantium teeth

From the vantage of a furnace the brethren laid down covering fire, annihilating heretic after heretic with heavy stubber fire

All the while the ambot rampaged amongst the foe, melting their blasphemous fesh with its inferno pistols and disintegrating the remains with razor sharp claws

House Ko'iron also joined in the fight, their novices proving themselves through the trial of combat 

Klovis led us on a pincer movement, enveloping the goliath line

Me and brother Sebastian charged into the sinners, and while I took down my opponent...

... brave Sebastian couldn't overcome the giant mass of muscle that led the heretics, and so fell in glorious martyrdom before the eyes of the Emperor, praised be His holy name

Another setback was the fall of Alpha, whose drug fuelled fury was no match for the lethal bladework of the Haera harridan, who after all had been trained by the finest fencing masters of the Spire 

But it was too little and too late, and after losing most of their fighters the goliaths retreated to the pestilent depths of the underhive, chased by the maledictions of the frustrated scion of Helmawr

And by such glorious deeds was the crown of Necromunda secured for Ko'iron and the Redemption made into the official credo of all hives. ¡May it remain so for as long as the galaxy endures under the blessed light of the Master of Mankind!