Praetorian Las Cannons, and a Leman Russ

 This is the last of the batch of Praetorian photographs for a while. I have finished off painting three Las Cannon teams, and experimented with painting a tank. I am going to return to the Praetorian army a little later, but will be focusing on another project from October.

I wanted to try out a paint scheme for the tanks which matched the colour and look of the heavy weapons. I wanted something which looked a little more realistic, without being too camouflaged. After all, it would seem strange to have a camouflaged tank next to red tunic infantry! Anyway, I painted the tank Vallejo Khaki, washed it with Nuln Oil, again some Khaki, and then highlighted the tank and its tracks with ushabti bone to give an overall dusty feel. I still need to add vehicle recognition details, but I'll leave that for later

For the Las Cannon teams I chose a blue uniform to match the old nineteenth century British Royal Artillery uniform. I painted the tunic cuffs and epaulettes red to add a little bit of red in order to tie in with the rest of the army. The Las Cannons where painted in the same manner as the tank. I think the look works well, and breaks up the red tunic of the infantry squads without being too jarring.

Enjoy :)

Leman Russ Punisher.

The front of the tank.

Rear view.

Infantry advancing with the tank.

Las Cannon teams.

Las Cannon teams in a more staggered formation.

Close up view showing the blue uniforms with the red cuffs and epaulettes.

The battle line of painted Praetorians so far, from above.

The battle line from the side.

The next blog update will be something quite different. I am currently working on two projects. The first is Mithril Miniatures Mordor Orc army. The second is an Iron Claw Goblin army.So I am undecided which to opt for at the moment.

Praetorian Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum Platoons.

 I have been painting more Praetorian Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum, and have been making some quite good progress. In the last few weeks I have now completed two full platoons consisting of one command squad, and two infantry squads in each. This has also included a Platoon Commander for each.

Enjoy :)

First Platoon.

Firing line!

Auto Cannon.
Unlike the Heavy Bolters I decided to add the gun shield to give it that slightly heavier look of a small calibre field gun.

The other side of the Auto Cannon.

Platoon Commander.
This miniature is the old metal Cadian officer miniature from a few years ago, but with an added green stuff moustache to give him that British 'golly good chap' look. He was originally one of my Company commanders in my previously painted Praetorian army, and all I have done is re-based him and tinkered with the paintwork. In time he will be promoted back to Company Commander when I get around to converting and painting up a new Platoon Commander.

Second Platoon.
The hcomposition of miniatures in the Second Platoon is the same as the first, so I did not see the point in photographing them. However, the Platoon Commander is different, see below.

Platoon Commander with power fist.
I had a damaged Mordian Sergeant miniature, and so I swapped his head for one of the old metal alternative heads made by GW about 20 years ago. The Power fist is from the Tempestus Scions box set. The pistol holster is from the Mark III Space Marine box (I think!).

Power fist.
I chose this power fist as it looks a little Steampunk to me.

Both Platoons.

Firing line.

"Front rank fire!"
"Rear rank fire!"

At the moment I am most of the way through painting Las Cannon teams, and have made a start on a tank! After those, I am going to focus on a different, more goblin based, project. I wanted to make a start on the Praetorians, and experiment with the newer paint scheme first, before tackling something else. So next blog update will be more Praetorians.

Praetorian Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum test models.

 I have recently been re-reading a few of my books on nineteenth century British colonial wars, and this, coupled with a conversation on the Steampunk genre with a friend of mine, had got me thinking on my old Warhammer 40k Praetorian Imperial Guard (now Astra Militarium) army. So I decided to revisit the army.

This was an army which I always liked and wanted to collect at the time, and back in the 2000's I finally assembled and painted an army. However, I was never pleased with the result, and last year I paint stripped the whole lot!  When considering their re-painting I was always torn between the classic Nineteenth Century British and iconic 40k Praetorian Red Coat look (think of the films Zulu, and Zulu Dawn, as well as a lot of Steampunk and nineteenth century art), and the later nineteenth century khaki colour (more the films Young Winston, the Four Feathers (1939 version), Khartoum, and the whole Edwardian 'Boys Own' era of illustrations). I decided to go for the khaki, as it would be easier to paint, less cliched and Zulu war looking than the red, and also I like the look. But after looking at Google photographs, and watching Youtube painting videos, I thought I might try out a couple of red coated chaps out of interest.

...and then I ended up going for the red coats.

By following a couple of Youtube painting guides, it turned out that the red coated look was not as difficult as it seems, nor as complicated it was when I painted them the first time. They also looked quite good, not Golden Demon standard, but good enough for gaming, which is the plan. I am enjoying using the painting guides for a change, and also following GW's suggested sets of colours, which I am finding quite useful.

So anyway,  I am going for the red coats scheme, with blue for artillery troops, and rifle green for  special weapons. I do still plan on painting a platoon of Praetorians, and a heavy weapons squad, in the khaki, just for variation.

Below are the links to the Warhammer/GW Youtube videos, (just ignore the rather silly conversions of  'Praetorians' they used!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlnyTUil-og

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04qmyJ810d0&t=1012s

My plan at the moment is paint a couple of platoons, a few Las Cannons teams, a tank, and a few odds and ends, just to make a start. I am looking to start either a 1980s Iron Claw Goblin project or a Mithril Miniatures Orc project soon, and so I am not too concerned about completing the Praetorians yet. I want to dip in and out of this project, and as I am planning to replace my old tanks with newer ones, and I am looking to do this gradually rather than spending a lot of money on tanks for an army for 40k which I might not be playing for a while at the moment.

Enjoy :)

Praetorian Infantry Squad.

Sergeant and Grenade Launcher.
The lighting was a little bad (English Summer!) and so they look a little darker than they actually are.

Rear rank Lasguns.

Front rank Lasguns.

Heavy bolter.
I don't really like the gun shield on the heavy bolters, and they are a bit of a faff, so I left them off. Also, they are slightly reminiscent of the nineteenth century Maxim gun. 

A couple of random test miniatures, a bugler, and flamer. I wanted to pick a colour for flamers, and so I selected yellow and decided to see how it looks, which I like.

Las cannon.
As mentioned above, I have opted for a Royal Artillery blue uniform for the Heavy Weapon teams which are not part of infantry or command squads. To tie-in with the rest of the army I have painted the epaulettes and jacket cuffs the same red as the infantry tunics, and the same off-white for the belts/pouches.

Rear view.

Special weapon squad Melta gun.
To add a little more colour and nineteenth century Britishness to the army, I wanted to have some troops in a Rifle Green. I thought having the Special Weapon squads might fit as they fulfil a light infantry role on the battlefield. As they are small squads, and small in numbers, they should not detract from the whole look of the army.

Rear view.
I went for a more muted look, with black for the epaulettes and belts, and a more subtle use of red on the cuffs just to tie-in with the rest of the army (which was also used in for the British Royal Rifle Corp in the latter part of the nineteenth century).

Khaki test model.
I was going for the Sudan 1898/Boer War look with this, with a khaki uniform and white belts. I also painted the Lasgun khaki because it just seemed to fit.
I used Vallejo Khaki for the uniform, shaded with Nuln oil, and re-highlighted with khaki.

Rear view.

A close up of the base.
I have used a lot of GW's Bracken and human skulls on the bases. I chose the bracken to give a harsh terrain and scrubland feel to the bases, rather than a plain desert look. 
The actual bases were a three stage process:
1. Citadel Colour Technical Armageddon Dust.
2.Citadel Colour Contrast wash over the above.
3. Dry brush of Citadel Colour Layer Ushabti Bone.

The next update will be more Praetorians, As mentioned, I am looking to start either an Iron Claw Goblin, or a Mithril Orc project soon, and so I am also sorting out both of those as well.

More Unreleased Slann, and the Warhammer Armies Slann Regiment from page 115.

One of my ongoing interests is collecting 1980's Slann, especially the unreleased ones. I already have some unreleased Slann, as well as a good number of the Slann from the general releases. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to buy a batch of unreleased Slann from someone, some of which I have wanted for a long time. It has also enabled me to start, and nearly complete a slightly mad Oldhammer project.

The crazy project is simple. On page 115 of the Warhammer Armies Book (1988) is a photograph of a Slann regiment, and I am going to collect my own version of it. I have done this before with an Empire Regiment from Warhammer Armies here:

http://goblinlee.blogspot.com/2022/04/helblitzen-regiment-project-part-two.html

However, there is a caveat. As a long time Slann collector it always concerned me that there are several miniatures in the photograph which I had never seen in blister packs at the time or seen listed in catalogues. This always puzzled me until I found out that the Citadel sculptors sometimes made miniatures which never made it to release for some reason. That could have been due to casting problems, that they were just conversions which were given a test casting, or that they might just never got around to releasing them. Several of those in the photograph seemed to fit into that definition,
and so I put the idea to the back of my mind, until a few weeks ago.

As I mentioned, I managed to buy at four of those unreleased miniatures in one go, as well as another which is unlisted. This got me re examining the photograph, and over several evenings I think that I have managed to identify all of the miniatures used, with one possible exception. Leaving aside that exception for the time being, I found to my surprise I now only require one Slann to complete the regiment.

Anyway, below are the Slann from the batch which I purchased. Also there is a quick run through of the miniatures which I think are used in the regiment. If anyone has any better information please feel to let me know. I don't intend starting painting this regiment yet, but it has definitely got me thinking about the Slann again. Anyway, all of the Slann in the regiment appear to be from the slotta based C32 Slann releases sculpted by Trish Carden (at the time Trish Morrison), or conversions of her work from the range. There is a great reference for all the released Slann at the CCM Wiki page here:

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Slann_-_Collectors_Guide#White_Dwarf_96_.28December_1987.29_-_C32_Slann

Enjoy :)

The batch of Slann.
All of the Slann here, except for the bottom left one, are unreleased. The bottom left one was uncatalogued, but not particularly uncommon in blister packs.

This Slann is armed with a dagger, and has a boss for a shield. The body appears to be sculpted from the Slann 'Unlisted with club '. The dagger is the same as the one used on the Slann 'Toltec'. 

Side view.

Rear view.
Unlike the 'unlisted Slann with club', this Slann appears to have more of a flower headdress and less of a fur cape.

Slann with sword.
He appears to be a conversion of  'Itzadodyl' , with the addition of the sword from 'Nanuazin', and the feather headress from 'Allda'.

Rear view.

Slann with, erm, something!?
I think it is a type of double handed weapon or Slann Scythe in the shape of a birds head. Alternatively, given an interesting paint job it might be used as a standard. Anyway, this Slann appears to be located at the rear right of the regiment.
He appears to be a conversion from 'Cupacocoa'.

Rear view.

Slann with skull on a stick and dagger!
This Slann may have been sculpted to be a Mage/wizard, or maybe a standard bearer/totem bearer?
He appears to be a conversion from Alligator Warrior 'Pek'.

Rear view.

The Slann 'Unlisted with club'.
This miniature, as mentioned above, was unlisted in any catalogue or release sheet, but wasn't uncommon (but by no means as common as the other C32 Slann) to see in blister packs at the time.

Rear view.

The Slann regiment from page 115 of Warhammer Armies (1988).

My interpretation of which Slann were used in the regiment.
From left to right, and starting with the front row:

Hacienda, Lumholtz, Huemal,Unlisted with club, unreleased Slann.

Toltec, unreleased Slann, Zipanzuma, Naxlatl,Unlisted with sword.

Unreleased Slann, Huastecan, Unreleased Slann, Unreleased Slann with axe (missing from my collection, see below), unreleased Slann.

Nanuazin, Allda, Potzalco, possible TSF18 Space Slann 'Scoitz',* unreleased Slann.

*Concerning the possible TSF18 Space Slann 'Scoitz', I have only identified him by his head. It is possible, and likely, that there is a conversion of him using the same body. I have a vague recollection of seeing a conversion of the Scoitz miniature with two heavy swords, similar to Nanuazin's one.

The unreleased Slann with axe is the only miniature which I am sure of missing. I have only seen it pictured twice, once in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition rule book, page 232 (pictures in the centre of the above photograph), and secondly converted into a standard bearer in a White Dwarf (I can't recall the issue number, it's from about 1987). 
Needless to say, I would like to acquire this miniature, not only to complete the regiment, but as I have always wanted one anyway.

Regimental Leader, the Slann hero on a Cold One.
The hero is quite straightforward. It is a converted 'Hacienda' miniatures, riding the Cold One 'Runner', neither of which are really that rare (well, for Slann anyway!), and a long spear with a spear tip from the Slann 'Quinenz'.

Unreleased Slann.
As an aside, this is another unreleased Slann miniatures which I have. This one is based on the body of 'Zipanzuma'. He has been given an extensive (looted?) chain mail coat, and an unusual looking axe. Given the extensive use of unreleased Slann in the Warhammer Armies Slann regiment, it is possible that this miniature may have been used, rather than the ordinary Zipanzuma model. I will investigate the photograph again, and maybe swap them around, just so this unreleased model is with others.

Rear view.

Next blog update may be on a number of things. I am currently sorting through my old 40k Praetorian army with an eye to repainting and reorganising. I have also been sorting out my early Rogue Trader collections, namely the Orks, Tyranids, and Imperial Army. Also, I have been looking again at my Slaves to Darkness era Daemon armies. As of yet I haven't settled on a project.