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Tank aesthetics


Ldorte

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Hello peoples, as we have such a vast array of heavy machinery available to us in the Guard via both the GW and FW websites, I thought it would be interesting to know what everyones top 3 tanks/armoured vehicles from the range are from a purely aesthetic standpoint. Feel free to give an explanation as to why you like it and perhaps even which regiment you think it suits best.

 

I'll start with mine:

 

1. Malcador Defender

A mobile pillbox with a cannon strapped to the front, what's not to love? It really does look like some weird WW1 experimental tank thanks to the profile and because of that it sits at number 1 on my list. As far as which regiment does it suit the most? It would absolutely has to be Death Korps of Krieg!

 

99590105216_MALCADORHEAVYTANK1.jpg

 

2. The Gorgon Transport

It is an absolute tragedy that you can no longer buy this ridiculous model, the sheer absurdity of a gigantic, slow and open topped troop carrier is so 40k it hurts. Which is exactly why I love it. I actually quite like the idea of one of these as part of a Tallarn regiment where the open top might come as a relief from the heat for the troops rather than slowly cooking inside of a chimera, plus the imagery of one of these crashing up and over the top of a sand dune much like a ship over a wave is fantastic.

 

 

Resin-Models-Imperial-Guard-GORGON-ARMOU

 

3. The mighty Chimera.

 

The simple boxy design is just nice to look at, especially once upgraded with an autocannon turret.

 

99120105046_ChimeraNEW01.jpg

 

Please let me know what your favourites are and why.

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The Malcador Defender is one of my absolute favourite 40K tanks, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to see someone who shares my enthusiasm for it. It's 40K's interwar retro-futurism at its finest and I adore it.

Gushing aside, I'm generally fond of a lot of the "mid weight" FW tanks, specifically the Salamander, Trojan and Colossus Bombard. Maybe it's the obscurity/less glamourous nature of them, maybe it's the lovely FW paint jobs, but I do love them so.

 

My personal favourite superheavy, however, has got to be the Mars Pattern Baneblade.

Marsbaneblade.jpg

Those lovely "cast" gun mantlets, the guns themselves and the general perfect level of detail on the model is just wonderful. It may be a pig to build compared to its plastic successor, and it may be much more expensive (and rare due to being OOP) but dear lord I love this thing and I want one.

From a purely aesthetic perspective:

 

Hydra

Leman Russ Executioner

Stormblade or maybe Gorgon heavy transport

 

We really don't have any ugly vehicles except for the armored sentinel. I hate that the armored sentinel looks just like the imperial AT ST from star wars.

My personal favourite superheavy, however, has got to be the Mars Pattern Baneblade. It may be a pig to build compared to its plastic successor, and it may be much more expensive (and rare due to being OOP) but dear lord I love this thing and I want one.

 

I've read about the nightmare of putting the original FW Baneblade and its variants together. Like, makes the Fire Raptor feel like a Tamiya kit kind of awful. 

 

For me, I think my top three would have to start with the Macharius. Such a lovely tank. 

 

Second would be the FW plastic Baneblade variants with the Stormsword in the top spot of those. That giant plasma destroyer just looks sooooo good. 

 

Personally, I've never cared for the design of the Leman Russ tank because it looks like some goofy toy for little kids and it's only gotten worse over the years as more of the Imperium vehicles began to look more like real world modern military vehicles. The FW Mars Pattern of the Russ looks a little better because the body is a little longer, but it's still suffering from the same problem. HOWEVER! If you remove the ridiculously tiny turret (that would never be able to mount a gun that big in it) and go with a tank destroyer aesthetic like the Thunder Siege Tank or the now OOP Stygies tank destroyer, it works so much better. 

 

S18ihCU.png

 

I wanted one of those real bad and couldn't even locate one from less... official... sources, so a while back I started building my own from sheet plastic, a healthy amount of bits, and a very badly assembled Russ I got when I bought a guy's entire tank company. 

 

gjAbeK6.png

 

lpuAC2D.png

If Tauros and Tauros Venator can be named here, then those are among of my favorite.
I also like the design of super heavy tanks, first of all beacuse they are modeled with their side armour plates not touching the surface onthe contrary to every other imperial tracked vehicle (except Rhino and other space marines' tanks based on Rhino's chassis). Those Leman's, Chimera's and Land Raider's aromour plates hitting the ground on every damn hubble are all just a stupid designer's fail.

In no particular order...

  • the Hydra: there's just something about quad flak guns spewing all the ammo into the sky. I do like the old forgeworld kit with the closed turret more than the current kit.
  • the Bombard: giant siege gun firing shells the size of guardsmen. Biggest gun one can get without going for titanic units.
  • the Trojan: models of vehicles which are not frontline units are rather rare. Also repair and resupply all the things.
  • the Cyclops: d'awww - baby tank. Also: This demo charge on tracks has more armor than the average trooper.
  • sentinel variants: I just like our walkers.

1. Stormblade. It's the best looking super heavy and my favorite.

 

2. Leman Russ Vanquisher. The barrel length makes it a better tank visually.

 

3. Sentinel. If you don't think these are cool you've got a screw loose or you're a lizard person.

I'll give you that scout sentinels look cool, but the armored sentinel looks like it was plagiarized from star wars. It's one of the reasons that I run scout sentinels instead of armored sentinels. The other being that scout movement and they're faster speed in general makes up for them being flimsy vehicles.

Macharius superheavy tanks top my list. Twin battle cannons scream, "THIS is what 'more dakka' looks like, feeble-minded xenos!" to all Orks, while the shallow sponsons look much better than a Leman Russ' poorly proportioned ones, or a Baneblade's cluttered messes of sponsons.

Oh boy... IG and aesthetics :whistling:

 

I really despise the WW1 influence, so it is not that big a surprise that i like the most modern looking tanks - which is the chimera, closely followed by Armageddon pattern Basilisk.

However, something on the Macharius line struck a chord in me - and among the Macharius tank family, the Vulcan is my favourite.

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