Reinforcements Inbound - Delayed in transit - 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers

Sifting through the still boxed remains of moving house nearly a year ago, I recently unearthed the box containing several painted and half painted units of my Armoured Pioneers regiment, long feared lost in the warp of home removals. A lot of these guys were painted six or seven years ago, and it was this stark fact that made me realise I really need to start finishing projects before starting new ones.

I know it's a problem a lot of us face.... You lose momentum for one project, gain inspiration for another....shiny new things are released and so stuff gathers dust, looking at all the half finished squads  has made me a bit guilty though.... I really need to get this stuff painted up....

I have a half painted company command squad, a (painted) Primaris Psyker; veteran squad in chimera requiring only two minis painting; Stormtrooper squad (painted) two special weapon squads for the infantry platoon (one dude to paint) and finally half of the required models for the platoons second infantry squad (unpained bar the sergeant)

So here are the finished units, I'd like to hope my painting has improved a little in the years since I did them, but I think they're still just about acceptable as tabletop quality. 

First up, six man Stormtrooper squad with plasma gun and meltagun, the sergeant is rather crudely converted from a metal Cadian sergeant with the powerfist and las pistol cut off and replaced and a Stormtrooper backpack added, I'm well aware Stormtrooper squads can't take vox operators but I needed the backpack for the sarge so it's visual only. I would have thought specialist troops like storm troopers would have communications equipment even if they aren't taking their orders from the 'regular' officers so it's not too much of a stretch.

Primaris Psyker - definatley not one of my better paint jobs! This dude really is a bit crude. I remember being at a loss about what colours to use without him looking like a rainbow mess so he ended up rather drab and uninspired. Still, it's a valid HQ choice....until the new codex arrives and downgrades him to an advisor!

Special weapons squad no'1 - a team of combat engineers with a melta, flamer and demolition charge, lots of forgeworld bits and bobs and backpacks from the heavy weapons teams, I really like these, despite the simple paintwork. I think they (along with the king russ Demolisher) sum up what the Kieler regiment is all about background wise.

Hopefully soon I'll get a couple of hours of free time to finish up the last couple of shotgun veterans and get another unit complete and ready for the tabletop.

Infantry Squad One, 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Squad one in the infantry platoon, kitted out for fire support with a missile launcher, grenade launcher and vox caster - 75pts. They all have forgeworld resin backpacks, a few have respirator heads. The sergeant's chainsword is from the 2nd edition orlock leader weapon sprue and his laspistol hand is forgeworld. I was quite pleased with how the heavy weapons team turned out as you only ever seem to see them in static poses. The gunners right arm is from the old Leman Russ plastic tank commander. The loaders right arm is forgeworld, I cut the bipod down into a folded postion so he could be posed running with it. I also added a bloody boot and shrapnel peppered helmet as detail to the base

Platoon Command squad. 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Here is the command squad for troops choice no1 in my armoured assault engineers regiment. A lieutenant with a power fist, a Commissar, two plasma guns and a vox caster. 115 points. One of the plasma gunners is forgeworld, the commander and trooper have forgeworld backpacks from their upgrade pack. The Officer and Commissar minis are some of my favorites of the more recent IG range. I think the simple addition of the backpacks really improves the look of the cadian models, I think a few backpacks wouldnt have gone amiss on the infantry sprue. Although I suppose gw remedied the situation somewhat with the (? Years later) accessory packed plastic command box.

Leman Russ MBT, 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Here is a Leman Russ I built pretty much standard, the only minor changes are the hull heavy bolter being from the heavy weapons team set. And both the heavy bolter and pintle stubber having gun shield s from the same kit ( the shields fit the stubbers like they're meant to be! )..

In background terms this tank is a bodyguard to my king Russ demolisher, the regiments specialised assault engineering vehicles always having a regular tank 'riding shotgun' against enemy armour etc.

Leman Russ battle tank - 150pts basic. Pinter heavy stubber +10pts. Total - 160pts

Leman 'King' Russ Demolisher. 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Another tank that I picked up for five or six quid on eBay.

It had already received a well executed double track conversion and other bits and pieces including what I think is a space marine vehicle periscope/auspex thingy on the turret, Unfortunately it was missing some of the metal turret pieces and had the hull mount and one sponson armoured over with plasticard; the other sponson had a sentinel heavy flamer fitted.

I found another sentinel flamer in my bits box to match, added a hull heavy flamer and gave it a repaint. I decided to leave one panel in the original green as a tribute to its builder. (In fluff terms it would be a panel that's been hastily replaced after damage)

In game terms I count it as having extra armour (see drivers cab etc)and the double tracks as being a dozer blade ( I much preferred the old catch-all 'rough terrain modification' )

Leman russ Demolisher - 165pts basic, heavy flamer sponsons +20pts, extra armour +15pts, rough terrain mod/dozer blade +10pts. Total 210 pts