T-34 medium battle tank

 

No soviet army is complete without one of the iconic T-34 tanks. This Warlord Games model will fit nicely with the infantry horde that I painted last week. While a late war variant equipped with a 85mm cannon we'll be using it as one of the earlier 76mm tanks from 1942 in our Stalingrad campaign

Painting was pretty straightforward: over a basecoat of chaos black I applied a layer of dark green followed by a lighter green drybrush and some metal sponge chipping. Then the fiddly details such as the commander (a commissar of course), the metal cables and several bags and boxes. The last step was applying the transfers, over which I sponged some extra metal chips

The treads were painted separately and glued in place afterwards. The final touch was a drybrush of light brown to make the mud and dust stains on the lower part of the tank

Soviet winter

 

Keeping on with the Bolt Action mojo I've decided to put on a refight of Stalingrad this year to celebrate the 80 years of the german surrender. The first step towards this goal is a box of warlord games soviet winter infantry, who albeit having less flash and mouldlines than their german counterparts, were nonetheless a pain to assemble thanks to having all the weapons separated from their arms

I've separated the soldiers in regular guard infantry with grey coats

And raw conscripts wearing quilted jackets

A sniper team was a must given their importance in both history, movies, and rules

Two heavy troopers equipped with a LMG and an antitank rifle give the platoon some extra firepower

Molotov cocktails were also an essential addition to the force

And finally the officer, who fittingly looks just like comrade Stalin

The Viridian Palace

All of Necromunda hailed Klovis as our saviour after his glorious purge of the mutant uprising. Marching through cheering crowds the Redeemer then crossed the Wall alongside the nobles of Ko'Iron and invaded the deviant halls of Catallus, clashing with the goliath defenders of that decadent house

In such noble endeavour the Redeemer was joined by the infamous bounty hunter Kal Jerico, a miscreant mercenary that my master allowed to temporarily join the crusade for the final assault on the heights of the Spire

We engaged the hulking foe at close range, raining flames from our eviscerators into their flesh

And with iron teeth were their bodies chastened, paying in pain for a live of sin and degeneracy

Their bounty hunter paid also for the effrontery of standing in the way of our holy wrath, brave sister Celestine striking him down with a blessed weapon suffused by the Emperor's holy power

Even the bloated mass of muscle that called itself their leader was brought low by the weapons of the faithful, annihilated by a humble novice armed with nought but the power of faith, and some low quality weapons provided by the arsenals of the Redemption

Alas brave Alpha was grievously injuried in the blessed struggle, wounded by a fell blow from one of their corrupt mercenaries

But fear not reader, for the gallant Jerico charged ahead from across a barricade to defend the stricken damsel, protecting her prone form with his trademark bravado

One by one we cleansed the Catallus warehouse from the Goliath scum

And when the feeble sellsword was given the coup the grace the ragged remnants of their gang turned tail and fled, leaving the Viridian palace in the hands of the faithful

After such magnificent victory House Ko'Iron was enshrined as the ruling lords of Necromunda, and the rotten spawn of Helmawr exiled to a live of drudgery and shame in the bowels of the Underhive

Primus crusade: purge

And so it came to be that order was restored on Hive Primus by the fire and the sword. The lords of the spire came down from their decadent heights of hubris and descended amongst us, to join the fight against the heretic hordes that had boiled up from the depths of the Underhive. Klovis and I took part in many a purge, joined by the formidable Lady Credo, last heir of a family criminally persecuted by the malevolent Helmawr. It was in one such a cleansing that we met face to face with the sinful daughter of the arch-despot, that had taken on herself the task of reestablishing the tyrannical grip of her house on all of Necromunda.

With fiery words of redemption Klovis led the charge, laying waste to the abominable mutants with the Sword of Persecution

And by His grace was the heretic brought low by the onslaught of the faithful

A skillful fighter, Credo joined the charge in the forefront, slaying the mutants with graceful precision

It was high time to remove such abominations from the sight of the Emperor, and Klovis stormed into their pestilent ranks slicing and mutilating their corrupt bodies

As ever the crusade proved far better fighters than the swollen goliaths, scalping foe after foe while the over-muscled behemoths struggled against the mutant rabble

And after cleansing the hive from the heretic taint was Klovis lauded again as the true saviour of Necromunda! May it prevail long as the brightest gem in the crown of the Master of Mankind.

 

Kal Jerico and Scabbs

I've wanted to have this iconic duo since first reading their adventures in Warhammer Monthly, as the new model from Forgeworld doesn't call me I went for the old miniatures from 1st edition with updated bases. Kal's look is based on his depictions in the comics and artwork, while Scabbs wears a collection of reeking rags worthy of Baldrick himself

In the new edition Scabbs has a plasma pistol he scavenged from Helmawr knows where, so I scavenged one from an old chaos marine arm I had in my bits box

 

Secrets of Mortis: underhive shakedown

 

Having beaten the infidel hordes at the gates of hive Mortis the Redeemer led the faithful into the bowels of that desolate city, to uncover the truth in the rumours about a great treasure hoard buried in the underhive. The crusade rushed to one of the small trader towns that squirted the frontiers of the desolate areas: under interrogation and through the blessed ordeal of pain their inhabitants would reveal to our Messiah the truth of the matter.

Upon reaching the settlement we discovered that it was in the hands of the robotic enforcers of Helmawr, that had entrenched themselves inside while they mistreated the hive dwellers

And from the industrial ruins surrounding the town we could hear increasing noise and gunshots

Proof that more gangs had flocked to the place and that it's taking would be a battle to savour

Never one to lose heart in the face of holy slaughter Klovis rallied the faithful, speaking unto them these words of truth: nothing was impossible with the Emperor's help, he said, and only through suffering could true purity be achieved, for verily it is written that "penance without pain is no use" in the blessed book of Redemption

First as ever into the heat of battle, the Redeemer showed his displeasure to the corrupt lawmen by spreading amongst them the flames of the Sword of Persecution

Following his example the faithful marched into the ranks of the vile foe, unleashing a veritable storm of shot and fire that showed them the error of their ways

And by His grace was the heretic brought low and his sins punished justly with death, praise be!

Even a crude mechanical contraption brought forth by the apostates was brought low, engulfed in the purifying flames of the Redemption

Hugging the cover that dotted the derelict dome the crusaders stormed forwards

Cleansing deviants left and right in its triumphal march

By then the enforcers of sin had been ravaged by the combined onslaught of all gangs, and gangers of all kinds were spilling into the central plaza looking for information

It was then that a terrifying sight, sure to frighten anyone not imbued by the zeal of the faith, appeared before us: a pack of plague zombies had descended into the dome attracted by the sounds of battle

The blasphemous heretics struggled with this new foe

But the faithful lost no time in cleansing such abominations from the sight of the Emperor

With more zombies closing in the Redeemer decreed that it was time to storm the loathsome compound. The templars charged into the flaming town, and by His grace one of our novices was the first to extract a clue on the whereabouts of the hoard from the terrified scummers that lived there

Battle had turned into a veritable melee, with the host of the miscreant dragging themselves on the floor

Despairing , bleeding out and fleeing in haste

Before the majestic sight of te defenders of the one true faith

We rejoiced as the sinners fought with one another, sparing us the hassle of offing them ourselves

Shining with the Emperor's radiance the Faceless engaged a massive ambot in the middle of town, and while he wasn't able to defeat the mechanical beast it soon was neutralized by the weapons of his brothers in Redemption

While the other gangs were brought low more and more zombies had come into the fray

Infecting the goliath barbarians with their deadly plague

And so did the inner vileness of the infidels show upon their bodies, which raised again as mindless undead abominations, dragging themselves forwards like true vessels of corruption

Only the faithful, filled with the Emperor's own light could stand in the face of such horror...

...but not for long, and having retrieved all the information he needed the Redeemer ordered a hasty retreat from the condemned settlement, leaving the heretics at the mercy of the plague zombies

An adequate fate for those who had turned from the Emperor's light and wallowed in lives of sin, blindly turning their backs on the redeeming light of our holy cause!