Shrineworld Garrison (what’s still legal??)

[elmo]

Love the details and the lenses look great

[Kierdale]

I might need to steal your cupola conversion for swappable commanders as I was puzzling other that recently.

It's something I plan to do on all future turreted vehicles, and if possible retroactively convert at least my first Chimera and Russ.

As -Iforgetwho- talked about a tank commander waving a standard from the hatch recently, I'd like to do one too, among other poses. I -and I'm sure many others do too- have so many of those tank commander torso bitz spare...

 

  

Love the details and the lenses look great :tu:

Thank you, Elmo, because it was you who inspired me to paint them that way. Far better than the blue I originally did.

 

Perhaps we could do a short tutorial on lenses and such?

[WarriorFish]

Yes, perhaps a magnetised torso might be the best way to go for tank commanders? Or would be, as I have a very particular plan for my Pask that won't use the bit...

 

A nice tutorial on lenses would be great :tu: Done well they can make a disproportionate difference to how the model looks, especially on Guard vehicles which tend to have quite a few.

[RADU LYKAN]

the hazard stripes on the punisher muzzle get a big thumbs up from me :)

[elmo]

I have a tutorial link in my wip thread but as it is a link to a filthy xenos site I will work on a home grown guard tutorial ;)

[Kierdale]

I have a tutorial link in my wip thread but as it is a link to a filthy xenos site I will work on a home grown guard tutorial ;)

I was hoping you'd say that ;) (since mine is based on what I remember of your technique anyway).

 

After completing this Punisher for Big Guns I'm determined to get the alternative weapon loads (sponsons, main guns) also painted before moving on to another project otherwise I fear they'll never get done.

It will mean doing the plasma cannon and I'm tempted to go for a purple plasma effect (similar to my commissar's whip/cat o' five tails) rather than the blue I've used before. Also a good chance to redo the eight or so other plasma weapons in the army :)

[WarriorFish]

I did hear somewhere that plasma should be blue, but purple is a sort of blue (a bit) and looks nice. Should fit your scheme well too :)

[elmo]

I did hear somewhere that plasma should be blue, but purple is a sort of blue (a bit) and looks nice. Should fit your scheme well too

 

Rule of cool... use a colour which stands out from your models colour scheme. I have seen the standard blue, the up and coming more common purple and a bright green.

 

Blue or purple should fit your scheme well.

[hendrik]

plasma comes in a variety of colours in real life, purple actually being one of the most common. so go for it!

in fact, you can even create plasma in your standard avarage microwave (it's highly toxic, dangerous, and will ruin your microwave, we've tried it, but it looks cool!)

here's a video of someone else doing it, creating a yellow/purple plasma

 

DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF (without proper safety preparations!)

[Kierdale]

Purple it is then!

 

My tank is finished...but for the crew. They'll be done tomorrow so, family and fate willing, I'll have some photos up by this time tomorrow. :)

[Kierdale]

Model finished.

Photos taken.

Editing taking bloody ages :(

 

Post tomorrow.

[WarriorFish]

Huzzah! Good job Kier, something for us to look forward to tomorrow :tu:

[Kierdale]

First up the last of the WIPs...

Pre weathering-powders.

Those were taken with my mobile.

I'll put the completed tank in a new post...

[Kierdale]

The path of the righteous tank is beset on all sides by the presence of the xenos and the tyranny of heretical men. Blessed is he who, in the name of the Golden Throne, shepherds his fellow man through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am Rectitude when I lay My vengeance upon thee."

[Kierdale]

Leman Russ Punisher `Rectitude`

One of the oldest tanks, if not the oldest armoured vehicle, on Kierdale’s Shrineworld, the Leman Russ Punisher designated `Rectitude` has a long and glorious history dating back to the war against the Greenskin which reunited the planet’s noble houses under the ecclisiarchy.

On the day centuries ago that the nomadic friar Kierdale returned to the main temple of the Cult of the Emperor bringing word of his visions of the coming Ork invasion, bishop Nicholas Symon sent out a call for the noble houses of the planet to unit under the ecclisiarchy’s banner and face the Greenskin menace. - The priesthood had mediated betwixt the houses for millennia while the planet had been cut off by warpstorms and though the majority of houses rallied to the church’s banner not all did.

Compared to the vast regiments of fortress worlds such as Cadia, those formed from the households that believed the wanderer’s prophecies and swore loyalty to the priesthood were small, but their zeal great. The punisher whose tale we now tell was one of many, at that time recognized by a different name (one now lost to the ages), rapidly crewed by house Brookwood soldiers and, as part of the 1^st Armoured, ventured out to meet the alien invaders. Though ill prepared the regiment quickly adapted, as the Ambush at Sidewinder Gorge illustrated.

The Greenskins had made planetfall in Dunfane land. That house Dunfane had not heeded the ecclisiarchy’s call to arms, the house having a rough history with the preachers of the Cult of the Emperor and not wishing to further bend their knees to the priests, was seen as an ill omen. An omen proven true as blitz bombas filled the skies over the stubborn house’s cities and Stompas marched upon their cities vomiting fire. However, the newly formed guard regiments - the first cohesive fighting force on the planet since the coming of the Storms - were not able to ambush the Ork forces, hitting them from the rear as the humans planned, for a considerable Waaargh had made planetfall: the horde was comprised of not one clan but Snakebites, Deff Skulls and Blood Axes, led by the Snakebite warboss Gobsnaga Skarzog.

As the column of tanks advanced through Sidewinder Gorge, intending to fall upon the greenskin rear as the xenos assaulted the Dunfane city of Whitecrest, they themselves were ambushed. Bombs planted by Blood Axe commandoes brought down crags to the rear while rokkits took out the lead tank, trapping the rest between steep mountainsides on the left and a drop into the depths of the gorge to the right. More rokkits came down in salvoes from commandoes positioned high above, forcing some of the tank crews to abandon their vehicles and attempt to flee. It was then that Snakebite boar riders, unimpeded by the rough terrain and wrecked vehicles swept through the gorge, burying hatchets, tomahawks and slugs in the backs of the fleeing humans. All was in disarray until the screams of the dying and the victorious cries of the alien brutes were eclipsed by the screeching of metal as a tank was pushed into the ravine and the river below. The sound of tortured metal and resulting thunderous splash were then replaced by a high pitched whine. One of the few tank crews with mettle drove aside all that blocked their way, and opened fire with their gatling cannon. The gorge was soon awash with fire and sparks as thousands of rounds ricocheted off the rock walls and the wrecks of their comrade tanks. The punisher’s heavy bolters soon joined the fusillade, and the tank’s commander opened his hatch to begin raking the high ground with the tank’s heavy stubber. The example set by that one punisher rallied the remaining tanks, chopping up their ambushers and those guardsmen who had fled their mounts, Leman Russ battle tanks and Demolishers blasting apart the ambushed tanks, sending shrapnel scything through Ork, pig and coward alike.

The crew and tank was commended for their bravery, for leading the survivors in breaking out and routing their ambushers, and for their mercilessness with regard to the crews who fled. The punisher took part in several other engagements before it saw combat alongside the nomadic friar Kierdale himself and his retinue.

Ever guided by visions, friar Kierdale foresaw the fall of the port of Blacksand to the Greenskin and with all haste made his way there accompanied by his ragtag band of volunteers: junior priests and other mendicants like himself, hired swords and filthy abhuman beastmen. On his way he crossed paths with a detachment of the 1^st Armoured on their way for rearming before returning to the lines. It was his oratory which persuaded several of the crews, including that of the punisher which would soon be named `Rectitude`, to disobey orders and accompany him to Blacksand. The small force arrived just in time to fortify the city before the Ork assault began. With tanks defilade they poured fire into the advancing Xenos ground and air forces, the punisher whose tale we now tell even succeeding in downing a pair of Ork flyers by volume of fire. But, the mission had been unsanctioned and ammo was short. Soon the armour was forced to withdraw deeper into the city, conserving ammunition and -making nonstandard field replacements of sponson armament against Mechanicus advising- using heavy flamers as the fighting became house-to-house.

For reasons which none will ever know - for the crew perished that day - the crew of the Punisher ploughed through a building just in time to save the good friar from a mega armoured Ork Nob. Though the alien chief managed to snip off the priest’s right arm with a klaw, the Leman Russ drove straight into him, flattening him within his ad-hoc armour before he could finish off the friar.

Though father Kierdale fell that day and the crew of that Punisher paid the ultimate price: the tank was later found, the hatch pried open and the crew’s heads taken by Snakebite braves, the Imperium won the day and the priest was given the best medical care available, his arm replaced with a powerful prosthetic usually reserved for frontline officers. Bishop Symon called upon the houses to replenish the planet’s regiments and over the coming months the Greenskin commandoes began to target not only the guard bases but also the priesthood’s fanes and monasteries. This caused the bishop to requisition guard forces to defend his houses of worship, an action which stifled the regiments’ ability to take the fight to the Orks. While the generals and brigadiers bridled against bishop Symon’s actions they were powerless to give voice counter to the priesthood’s demands.

Repaired, refitted and recrewed by house Burnett forces, before the Punisher was sent back to the front lines the recuperated father Kierdale, flanked by his beastmen bodyguard, requested to see the tank. He proclaimed that it was haunted by the spirits of its former crew, claiming that they believed their job was not yet done. Blessing the vehicle he named it `Rectitude`. The remains of the Brookwood crew were then entombed within bronze simulacra upon the hull Indeed it is said that the skull which is mounted beneath the driver’s vision slit today is that of the driver who steered the tank that fateful day, recovered by veterans of the 41^st regiment of foot in a punitive raid, an event which forged strong ties between the 1^st Armoured and 41^st of Foot.

House Burnett saw to it that Rectitude be assigned to the guard forces which accompanied the prophet and it saw combat alongside Kierdale in half a dozen more confrontations with the Greenskin before the climactic battle on the plains which would later be named the Kierdale Downs.

The Orks had constructed a fortress from the wreckage of their own vehicles, those of the guard and the cities they had plundered. Demanding all the forces the priesthood would allow, the guard command sought to put an end to the drawn out conflict. To crush the Greenskin and drive them from the planet once and for all. The crew of Rectitude were given special orders for the care of the prophet himself.

A hundred Leman Russes formed the vanguard ahead of dozens of Chimeras, watched over by Basilisks, Medusae, Wyverns and more massed artillery. A sea of roughriders scouted before the combined army while Vendettas, Valkyries and Vultures filled the skies.

Never again in the millennia to come would such a volume of blood be spilt upon the planet’s soil. Again and again it seemed as if the guard would be pushed back and broken, the commanders cursing the priesthood under their breath, knowing that many of their comrades had been requisitioned for garrison duty at monasteries across the planet. Forces which could have won the day faster. Earlier.

Finally father Kierdale’s own chimera charged forth from the mass, pushing aside wrecks with its Aquila-shaped prow, the priest himself screaming his wrath at the xenos from the pulpit atop the APC, driving the Greenskin before them, Rectitude close behind, cannon blazing.

The guard, filled with righteous zeal, flooded forward behind the priest, tearing into the Orks. It was later claimed that a lucky shot by Ork lootas caused Rectitude to stall and fall behind, an event which would be remembered in sorrowful hymns for while the guard tore down the Ork fortress, Kierdale and his retinue perished confronting the Warboss himself. Rectitude’s commander himself testified to having seen the prophet fall before he opened fire upon the melee with his punisher cannon.

In the aftermath of the war it was discovered that, on that same day, bishop Symon had been assassinated - by Ork commandoes if the oversized knife buried in his chest was any indication - and house Burnett took prominence, installing one of their own scions as head of the priesthood. In remembrance of their savior, the lord and house renamed themselves Kierdale, and have remained in power ever since…

In the current day Rectitude is commanded by Harlech IV, a middle-aged noble, officer, vassal of house Kierdale, and devout member of the Imperial Cult: the tank crews under his command are the first onto the pews when the ministorum priests give their pre-battle benedictions. Harlech IV himself has been knonw to lead his crews in prayer to the bronze simulacrum mounted upon Rectitude when a priest is unavailable.

Lean, with a ramrod straight back despite years of combat within the confines of Leman Russes, Harlech IV has a most distinctive appearance with his pickelhaube helmet and exceedingly bushy handlebar moustache and beard. Besides being a veteran tank commander he is also an expert fencer, skilled with the epee and heavier saber. Risking through the ranks initially as a member of the 121^st `Lord’s Own` lancers (a roughrider unit, in common departmento munitorum vernacular), Harlech IV is still a skilled rider in his off-duty hours. Indeed it is remembered in the annals of the 1^st Armoured that at the Battle of Lathaggna he dismounted, catching one of the planet’s native equestrianesque beasts and scouted before the armoured column through the mists (a department mistake had seen no sentinels assigned to the taskforce), voxing back orders to his tanks.

In addition to the six regular crew (commander Harlech and the tank’s driver, sponson gunners, gunner and loader) commander Harlech IV is rarely seen unaccompanied by sergeant Cavendish. Harlech’s batman since his days with the Lord’s Own, Cavendish has not given up his bugle despite his superior’s move from horses to main battle tanks. He simply blows harder.

This pict shows the shield of Rectitude. Following the customs of the shrineworld garrison regiments the azure indicates a support role (while some tankers might view this label unfavourably, those of Kiedale’s shrineworld take pride in the Blue, for they know that without them the Red, Yellow and Green would crumble). The or indicates the tank’s command role within the 1^st Armoured. The torse (vert, an actual wreath as opposed to the twisted fabric found upon many the heraldry of many other regiments) is a common campaign medal.

Also visible in red ink upon the top of the driver’s hatch is an eulogy to the tank’s first driver (whose skull, it is said, is set beneath the view slot).

Upon the left and right sides of the front heavy bolter mounting (and upon the flanks of the tank’s sponsons) are bronze effigies of the original crew, with handwritten paean in white.

[WarriorFish]

Excellent work Kier, the tank is glorious with all the extra details - with a story to match! Do you have a close up of the shield?

[Kierdale]

But of course! I took some other close ups (couldn't stop myself) while I was at it...

These white warning decals I must get more of. They show up far better than the red ones.

Not easy to see the little skull and crossbones with `Warning` there. Those skull-and-crossbones might make good kill markings too...

Some warnings about the ammo bins behind the hatch.

And another warning with script, beneath the exhausts.

I did see a sheet with, in large red writing, something along the lines of "Caution: Blast" or "Beware of the blast".

Very tempting...for both the Demolisher barrel and any future artillery....and perhaps my noise marines...

[WarriorFish]

Very cool thanks Kier, great use of other transfer sheets :D Are they WWII or modern kit ones?

[Kierdale]

Neither, actually.

My nearest hobby shop (Yodobashi Camera, actually a huge electronic appliances shop, though they have a good hobby section) stocks a lot of decals made my independent companies for detailing other kits. I think they're mainly designed for super-detailing Gundams and other mechs. I find it very hard not to pick up a sheet whenever I'm there for more serious shopping, as they're usually no more than three quid a sheet.

 

The red lion within the skull on the tank's left track guard is another example (while the skull is GW).

 

I'll be putting Rectitude into GW Nakano's Spring painting contest in a couple of month's time. Hopefully the staff don't notice/mind the non-GW decals.

 

Oh, and I got the first green painted onto the alternative weapons/bitz last night. :tu:

[WarriorFish]

I thought they might be a bit different, don't really have that much variety round here for transfers. I'm sure they won't mind a few non-GW transfers, that'd be very silly :lol:

[walter h]

Awesome backstory, the work on the tank is beautiful. I wonder if the bugler might have a wireless mic

[Kierdale]

Thanks, I thought about perhaps giving the bugler a vox set on his back but then again the tank already has comms and I wanted to keep the idea of him being the commander's batman rather than a comms officer. Now I think about it a backpack with supplies (read: tea and cup) would be good...

[WarriorFish]

As long as you paint the cup with the Union Flag ;)

[Kierdale]

I've decided to add more stowage (including a backpack with a mug if I have one. I'm sure I do) before submitting it to the painting comp.

 

And the alternative weapons are coming along well. Greens done. Working on the metallics.

I'll do the plasma sections (including redoing all other plasma in the army) last.

 

After this I think I want to do my enginseer or a Primaris Psyker...

[WarriorFish]

You might have all the magnetised bits done for the completion too - there's certainly enough time :)