Scorpio Pattern Avenger Gatling Cannon

[Mushkilla]

Not sure if this has already been done. But I managed to convert and magnatise some extra avenger gatling cannons using the forge fiend kit.

 

This was originally for my Imperial Knights from the Renegade Box set (which comes with two knights only one has an avenger gatling cannon), but also works well for my renegade knights that want to run double avengers.

 

The design is supposed to cut down on the Daemonic ascetic and make them look more like Heresy era weapons / Dark Age of technology weapons. That way they can work with my knights regardless of whether I run them as Imperial or Chaos (my knights are pre heresy themed). Outwardly this follows the regimental standards policy on skulls as neutral allegiance markings.

 

The conversion is relatively easy, chop off the end of the forge fiend hades autocannons and the magna cutters and glue them together, add a magnet and attach to the thermal cannon/battle cannon pieces (it helped that I had already magnetised these). I apologise in advance for low quality pictures.

 

 

The guns: 

 

Disassembled:

 

Mounted:

 

 

 

Hopefully both loyalists and renegades find this useful. If you want more details just let me know.

[Stray]

Awesome work, they look really legit!

 

Avengers are a pig to get hold of normally needing two whole Knight kits for a pair, so I may give this a go Mushy!

[Mushkilla]

Awesome work, they look really legit!

 

Avengers are a pig to get hold of normally needing two whole Knight kits for a pair, so I may give this a go Mushy!

Thanks Stray!

 

The other nice thing with the forge fiend kit is the tentacles/power fists and Ectoplasma Cannons can be used to convert helverins into warglaives. Although it's much harder to pass them off as none heretek at that point. Still it effectively means with one forge fiend kit you can make two avenger gatling cannons and convert two helverins into warglaives. Much cheaper than buying two extra knight boxes and a box of warglaives if all you want is the weapon options. I'll post some pictures of the warglaive conversions once I work them out.

 

Ohh, I forgot to post a size comparison between the regular avenger and the scorpio. The barrel is a bit shorter but other then that they are almost the same size.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Looks great - I'm glad you shared.  I'm thinking of doing the same thing with my next knight, so its good to see yours as a proof of concept.  As well, I wouldn't have thought to use the magnacutters as a heavy flamer - I'll likely do the same if I don't think using a chimera heavy flamer or kitbased infantry flamer models will work as well.

 

Mine will definitely be heretics, though - none of this "middle of the road" faffing about. :P

[Mushkilla]

Thanks. I've been playing them more as renegades these last few months (with the index). My two other armies are daemons and adeptus mechanicus. I was putting of finishing off the paint job on them because I kept switching houses. In some ways I much prefer the freeform house system in the new chaos knight codex. But I also imagine there's an admech release round the corner so I'm on the fence.

 

Their theme is more heretek/xenarite/radical than full blown chaos worshipers. Closer to the radical inquisitors/magos in Dark Heresy. Not disloyal just misguided. After all the imperium has always depended on the Empyrean for its survival; warp travel being the most poignant example. But why stop there?

 

Actually I had a more daemonic prototype, but I felt it clashed too much with the aesthetic of the rest of the knight. Definitely, wouldn't be able to pass a imperial, even pre heresy.

 

http://i.imgur.com/duxTlDk.jpg

[Mushkilla]

So after watching the Jes Goodwin talk (the one that Stray linked in the other thread) on designing Chaos Knights. I decided to take things a bit further. Particularly, that the new knights chaos knih. By trying to give my knights a subtlety more beatial look, rather than full blown Daemonic (as then it becomes harder to tie together with the rest of the model range without heavily converting everything.

 

I removed all the mechanicus insignia (including the little gargoyle things, as the new chaos knight doesn't have those), extended the faceplate jaw in the same style as the new chaos knight and then slanted the exhausts (which surprisingly make the model look like it would move a lot faster).

 

http://i.imgur.com/FqcusCh.jpg

 

It's actually quite fun going from the standard imperial knight and gradually descending into chaos. I've also decided to get another forge fiend so I can have matching gun barrels on the double avenger dispoiler. Also as its all magnetised including the faceplate I can somewhat revert to the loyalist knight. Although at this point, once it's painted and covered with chaos stars there won't be any going back.

[Stray]

I love that so many people are embracing the other side of the (very popular) Knight coin.

 

There have always been many knight players, but Renegades have been woefully underrepresented really. Up until now, the rules didn't help. Competitively, Renegade Knights were just about the worst performing faction in the game (statistically, Grey Knights did better! Yeah...)

 

But the aesthetic was always amazing.

 

Maybe more than any other model range, Knights have a wealth of incredible centrepiece miniatures. They're gorgeous and just beg for extra care and attention from the hobbyist. I think with Renegade/Chaos Knights, you can take that aesthetic and your own creative choices so much further still.

That's what's always made me stick with the faction despite the poor support, and I think it's what will really rope in so many others to stay and play beyond the initial attraction of the new rules.

 

Good times.

[Mushkilla]

There have always been many knight players, but Renegades have been woefully underrepresented really. Up until now, the rules didn't help.

Competitively they might have been terrible. But to be honest in my local meta (infantry and flyer heavy) they (index chaos knights) did better than my Imperial Knights, by simple virtue of double avengers, Trail of Destruction and summoning. I'm talking pure knights here (with a cheap daemon/admech battalion for CP). My Imperial knights just struggled against hordes, they just couldn't clear chaff reliably enough. That's the big problem with 2d6, 2d3 and d6 number of shot weapons they are just so unpredictable. If you think about it rolling a 6 on a thermal cannon number of shots is a 500% increase in fire power over rolling a 1. You just can't build a battle plan around that. That's the difference for me, chaos knights are ironically more reliable with their access to fixed number of shots and re-rolls to hit.

 

Maybe more than any other model range, Knights have a wealth of incredible centrepiece miniatures. They're gorgeous and just beg for extra care and attention from the hobbyist. I think with Renegade/Chaos Knights, you can take that aesthetic and your own creative choices so much further still.

That's what's always made me stick with the faction despite the poor support, and I think it's what will really rope in so many others to stay and play beyond the initial attraction of the new rules.

I've alway been a big fan of converting models (being a daemon player). But I didn't realise how much I missed it until I started converting my imperial knights to chaos knights (I guess that's why I never finished painting them in the first place). 

[Stray]

I've always felt a little bad that Imperials can't use the double weapon options tbh.

 

It's fluffy, and it's great that there is a specific difference between the two sides (albeit a small one), but from a balance and value perspective, twin avengers are just so, so good compared to the regular Crusader types (situation depending).

 

It feels weird 'defending' the Imperials given the sheer volume of toys and options they get compared to every other faction in the game (sorta a major argument for not truly being able to take competitive 40K entirely seriously as a concept), but still... Kinda feel we owe a little something to our Imperial Knight brothers, with their Human deity worshipping, loyalty to the point of stupidity, bone burying and wagging tails...

 

...

 

...Actually that might be dogs.

[Mushkilla]

I've always felt a little bad that Imperials can't use the double weapon options tbh.

 

It's fluffy, and it's great that there is a specific difference between the two sides (albeit a small one), but from a balance and value perspective, twin avengers are just so, so good compared to the regular Crusader types...

It reminds me of the 5th edition chaos codex where the only thing that made chaos marines different was that they carried a bolter, bolt pistol and chainsword (giving them an extra attack). Regular marines just didn't have the martial experience to carry three weapons.

 

To be honest now that the avenger has gone up in points and the battle cannon and thermal cannon have gone down I think there is more choice than there was. I mean double thermal cannons is 110pts... 11pts more expensive than a single avenger... A single thermal cannon is only 10 more points than an ironstorm rocket pod. I still won't be handing in my avengers any time soon, but it's food for thought none the less.

[Mushkilla]

An interesting tidbit from the Chaos Knight codex. It looks like the weapon load outs have somewhat been enshrined.
 

Ordo Hereticus has produced grimoires in which war engines have been declared Questor Traitoris and subsequently redesignated. In part this is necessary because Fallen Nobles soon abandon the age-old doctrines of armament obeyed by loyalist houses, choosing instead to arm their Knights with whatever combinations of weaponry best suit their preferred methods of murder.

Not to say imperial knights can't side step this by getting a new datasheet (STC) with dual avengers. But currently that load out goes against imperial doctrine and mechanicus sacred STC design.

I do like how pragmatic the Chaos Knights seem in their approach to war.

 

EDIT: another quote.

 

 

 

However, their weapons vary wildly. Gone are the traditional patterns of armaments that have served the loyalist houses for millennia. Instead, every Knight Despoiler is armed however its pilot chooses, or with whatever agglomeration of weaponry could be scavenged to outfit the war engine.

[Stray]

There's a certain Lady Solaria who should probably expect a knock on her door any day now...

[Mushkilla]

There's a certain Lady Solaria who should probably expect a knock on her door any day now...

 

The thing is she has a habit of jumping out of battle barges from high orbit just before the Ordo get to her.

 

EDIT: Apparently that's a chaos thing too.

 

 

 

So ferocious are Knights Rampager, so utterly bereft of discipline or restraint, that they are often dropped from a low-flying macro-hauler directly into the thickest fighting of a war zone.