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Kaban War Machine


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If you all haven't read the book "Mechanicum" set during the Heresy you need to read it ASAP.  One of the baddies they fight is something called the Kaban machine, described as a huge spherical robot on tracks with weapon tentacles and cannons.

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Kaban_Machine

 

I bought a box of those Kataphrons to try making my own for a scenario.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Kataphron-Battle-Servitors-Breachers-2017

 

I'm also planning some kind of mechanical t-rex for a scenario in honor of the great GRIMLOCK SMASH

https://youtu.be/BtGdfulu5KI?t=255

 

I feel like this would be a good model to start from. 99120116001_Ballistar01.jpg

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I think it’s too big for that, it took on two Knights in the book.

 

Also Titanicus was a really good book if you haven’t read it, well written and well paced. Warlord by David Annandale wasn’t bad but I thought it was like a short story that was stretched out to be a novel. It’s like the publisher told him to take a simple short story idea and just bulk it out for printing.

I’d like to use some Necron bits for a narrative campaign too, I love converting and making rules for stuff that doesn’t exist and this game has a lot of opportunity.

 

So I wanted to add some Warhounds to my Aurora traitors but now I think those Kataphron destroyers might be a good opportunity to use as proxies. According to the wiki the Kaban machine was ~10m tall which is roughly the height of a Warhound. If I convert those 3 models on 60mm bases it would look like the Dark Mechanicus gifted Aurora a squadron of Kabans as a reward for spreading the scrapcode.

Yikes, I thought these Kataphron Destroyer models were much bigger, I'll have to spread out the tracks and build up the body to create a suitable Warhound proxy.  The Kaban machine was described as being "nearly" 10 meters tall with a spherical body and shoulder armor covering the weapon mounts while a Warhound is listed at 10.5m.  Maybe a ping pong ball as a body?  I've got plenty of bits to add but I need to figure out how to make tentacle arms.

 

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Kataphron tracks seem a little bit small.

 

A ping pong ball or maybe polystyrene balls. I have been eyeing some on Amazon for some time, there are quite a few different diameters available.

 

Tentacle arms >>> electric wire, sufficiently rigid ones, will give you the shape you want, you just need to "dress" them appropriately (plasticard tubes maybe)

Brass rod? I haven’t worked with it and finding a model train store in my area at this point is really hard. The tracks themselves might be on the small side but they don’t have to be huge. I could technically cut them in half top to bottom and hide the gap with a track guard. The bottom can be connected with plastic and just jam a bunch of Astrogranite texture paint in there.

 

I could check the track sections of the IG Stormtrooper Taurox, I 3D printed wheels and axles for them because I hated their track sections on that model.

Terrifying, I know.

 

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So I think a spheroid roughly 1.5" in diameter will bring it up to almost the height of a Warhound without looking too rotund.  A ping pong ball is 1.57" and I can superglue the plastic to that unless I can find a source of plastic balls that will work with plastic glue.

Ping pong mockup looks good, that's an AT building roof plate spreading the Kataphron tracks. If I build up the exhaust and gun arms slightly to bulk him out that should look fine. I took the Warhound off his scenic base for height comparison.

 

 

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As these were gifts from the Warmaster to Legio Aurora for their service I guess I need to work them into some lists!  Proxied as Warhounds:
 
2000pts

Warlord
Plasma/Gatling
Laserblasters
 
Warlord
Volcano/Gatling
Laserblasters
 
Reaver
Chainfist/Powerfist/Turbolasers
 
Warhound
Plasma/Megabolter
 
Warhound
Turbolaser/Megabolter
 
Warhound
Plasma/Turbolaser

This looks very nice. I have a question: do you know where to find similar cables but of varying diameters? 

 

I'd recommend a tube tool/roll maker and Green Stuff for this, means you can vary pose, length, ridge frequency etc., until you have exactly what you want!

I was just going to glue extra bolters or lasguns on there, the tentacle weapons probably weren’t the heavy cannons, they were mounted under shoulder armor if I remember the story right. I just think it’d be cool to make a squadron of them counting as Warhounds.

 

I have some extra grinder drill attachments from SM Centurion models that I could put on longer ones, I have small plastic rod I can bend to shape. I need to check if plastic glue works on ping pong ball plastic, if it does the model will be much sturdier.

 

This looks very nice. I have a question: do you know where to find similar cables but of varying diameters? 

 

I'd recommend a tube tool/roll maker and Green Stuff for this, means you can vary pose, length, ridge frequency etc., until you have exactly what you want!

 

 

That would indeed be a solution. I was actually thinking of some metal cables like the ones used in this conversion (found on https://bonecron.blogspot.com/2018/11/plague-doctor-knight-conversion.html)

 

IMG_20181102_000323.jpg

Yeah, that's what I've been recommended previously - although couldn't honestly say I've used it in a long time! (I think I'd received a broken one from somewhere, and hence utilised!). They'll have those different sizes in any case depending on instrument and preference, so might be great for variety.

The quake cannon does have an official model, but not for the Warlord titan. It's on the Banesword too, though, so you can extrapolate from that.

Here's a link to the ludicrous fluff behind it, and with a picture: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Quake_Cannon

 

Just a heads up: Kaban machine is singular. There is only one :wink:

There was only one in Mechanicum, I have no reason to think Krom destroyed the plans after it was built.  "Knowledge is power."

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