Artillery of the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry - Gallery photos part 3

Welcome to another gallery post. Today we have the heavy hitters of the army, the artillery.

I don't have as much artillery as I'd like in the army, I've always wanted a battery of Basilisks, a FW Minotaur and possibly even a Praetor. A guy can dream. So without further delay lets check out some of the IVs heavy support.



First up we have the Deathstrike missile launcher. This guy has seen action in lots of games of various sizes and has experienced the whole range of outcomes from the unpredictable payload. It's killed my own Leman Russ, wiped out death stars and killed nothing at all in equal measure.

The painting inspiration for this was the old school epic Deathstrikes with the chequered nose and white red combo (google it and you wills what I mean).



One of my favourite tanks to use in the game and one that certainly gives people real concern, the deadly Medusa! Although I'm unsure if I can use it anymore given it got cut from the AM codex, fingers crossed the FW rules are the same.

This is one of the oldest models in my force, painted at the same time as the original platoon chimeras (over 10 years ago). It got updated when I started this blog with weathering, freehand,  converted crew and a shell rack for the back.

I've got plans to go back and update some of my tanks again. There are lots of bits of details I never touched (the skull eagle on the side, the glass in the front hatch, and further weathering with a sponge, not too mention the stowage that these tanks all need!).



Ahhh, some proper artillery! No tanks here, but instead the bane of many an opponent, the brutal Thudd guns! These pack such a serious punch and have accounted for countless enemy infantry and even light armour.

The veteran among you will recognise that they are the old squat Thudd guns. I picked them up on eBay a couple of years ago complete with Praetorian artillery crew! An absolute diamond of a find, they only cost about £30 if memory serves.

I gave them some TLC by varying gun barrel length and going to town on some scenic bases with GW resin pieces and various guard bits. The crew are a mix of heavy weapon soldiers and there is a gunnery sergeant with a map (wearing the goggles). That's right a map, none of your fancy auspexs here, utterly useless if the Praetorians infantry haven't managed to put down range markers before the battle too mind you.



Now you don't just bring a big gun to an artillery fight, you bring a massive Bombard Siege Mortar. This gun is massive. So much so they had to mount it on a Leman Russ chassis. One of FW's oldest and in my opinion best kits.

You will notice the red and white colours and the explosion mark freehand on the flank. These appear in one form or another on all my artillery tanks. In the same way marine devastators have the chevrons, or tac marines the arrows, I decided my guys needed a big explosions.

Additionally you can see that additional sponge weathering has been applied to this tank. This will eventually be applied to the rest of the army.



Finally in this instalment we have the Hydra flak tank. What a thing of beauty, shame it is pretty much useless at its in game role due to the fact flyers simply come on and smoke it straight away.

Its one game of note was in a 5/6k apocalypse game where it outflanked (due to the strategic asset), came on behind an Eldar Vampire Bomber and almost blew it out of the sky in one turn! It was left on just one or two hull points and promptly shot off into the sky. Sadly the hydra didn't get to finish the job but it sure was good shooting.

It's the FW model and like the bombard, despite its age, is a thing of beauty. Lots of gems and glass bits to pick out on the turret section of the model. But sadly it seems I decided to ignore the viewing glass on the hull. That will be remedied in the future I think!

That's enough for now! I hope you are enjoying the frequent posting. Up next will either be the mainline tanks featuring the Leman Russ and Macharius, or perhaps a job lot of infantry. Let me know if you have a preference!

Thanks for having a look!