Warhammer 40,000: Heretic tankery

Earlier, I built a Renegades and Heretics vanguard detachment to give my Chaos army some anti-tank and sniper options. Another time-honored way of fighting tanks is with other tanks. This didn't use to be what tanks were for, and it still represents a misuse of armor today, but in Warhammer 40,000 it makes a lot of sense. Renegades and Heretics get to pick from a delightfully long list of Imperial vehicles, from Basilisks to Macharius super-heavies. I could have Leman Russes, but I kinda want to do something more exotic. As it happens, I've been building some 28mm Warlord Games World War II tanks, mostly for fun but also with a view to possibly using them in 40k. I've been making German tanks for the Imperial army, so Soviet ones seem appropriate for Chaos! I've also been daydreaming about Warlord's KV Platoon box for a while now, so maybe...

While I was finishing up these models, GW dumped the entire army in Legends! That kinda seals the deal for me: I'm sticking with 8th.

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If we're going to be using tanks like the Panzer IV as Leman Russes, the KVs need to be something bigger. So they'd be perfect as Malcador heavy tanks, presumably named after Malcador the Sigillite and therefore very theological, which I like. The KV-1 seems like it would work quite nicely as a basic Malcador.

To stay with the anti-tank theme, I wanted my Kirov pattern Malcador to have a hull-mounted lascannon instead of the heavy bolter. However, that brings up the scale problem. While GW minis are theoretically 28mm scale, they're actually a lot bulkier (hence "heroic" 28mm), and especially the weapons and vehicles feel like they're a lot bigger. Even though the KVs were massive tanks, a GW lascannon on one would look absolutely ludicrous. So I decided to use Anvil's portable phase cannon as a lascannon substitute, and simply cut a firing port for it in the front armor. I think it worked out quite nicely!

Here's the finished article in orange! By the way, I found the Imperial Guard camo schemes that inspired these orange vehicles in White Dwarf 143, and I can now confirm that Fiery Orange is an official Imperial camouflage color straight out of the Codex Astartes.

So the basic Malcador is really just a bigger Leman Russ. Sadly, Renegades and Heretics don't get the dedicated anti-tank variant, but they do get the Malcador Defender. And that's really something. The Defender comes with a demolisher cannon and seven (yes, seven: 7) heavy bolters, and a +1 to hit when firing Overwatch. With 21 heavy bolter shots and the demolisher, I simply cannot imagine who would ever charge this vehicle. It's so completely mad that I have to have one. Even if I swap the two sponson heavy bolters for lascannons, this thing still has a monstrous five heavy bolters. So far, my experiences with eighth edition 40k have lead me to believe that more is definitely more. So I am very proud to present a Warlord Games KV-2 in its new life as a Renegades and Heretics Kirov pattern Malcador Defender.

I may have been reading Tank Girl at the time.

Still, though, this is the best vehicle model I've ever built. The turret has two heavy bolters left over from an old-style Immolator on the sides, and a turret ring and mount for two Anvil phase cannons that I built from copper wire and green stuff.

The various spikes and chains are from the Chaos vehicle upgrade sprue that was left over from the Hellforged Predator I built earlier. The crew and enthusiastic hangers-on are Daemonettes and a Seeker from the Wrath and Rapture box, variously outfitted with Victoria Miniatures arms, and a Bren and Kalashnikov from the same company.

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Frankly, I'm so proud of my Malcador Defender that I'm going to have to field it at least once. My original idea was to add the two KVs to my vanguard detachment, but then Scythe happened. For those who aren't familiar with it, Scythe is a fun board game set in an alternate history 1920s Central Europe with mechs in it. I had a great time painting the mech miniatures, and it left me wanting to build mechs in 28mm scale. So I ordered a Soviet Mastadon heavy walker (sp) from Warlord Games' Konflikt '47 range, and I love it.

It's a beautiful model! I strongly recommend getting one, and I am absolutely buying more of their walkers. I was thinking about fielding this as a Malcador as well, but it's a bit of a stretch to say that the KV-1 main gun and this monster are the same weapon. Since I think I'm going to want to field some Warlord walkers as Leman Russes on the Imperial side, I'm calling this a Kirov Leman Russ Vanquisher.

I'm also somewhat happy with how my Daedric turned out here.

So with three Heavy Support choices, all I need is an HQ to make a spearhead detachment. The cheap option would be another Renegade Commander, but I think we can do better. Now, we've already used Imperial Assault figures on both the Chaos and Imperial sides, and it just so happens I've got a Diala Passil model. I have no idea who she is, except that she's a Twi'lek Jedi; now she's a Renegades and Heretics Malefic Lord.

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If I was being sensible, I'd be done here. But I like painting vehicles, and I like painting orange; so I got a SU-76M from Warlord Games as well. The crew are one of the original Warlord models with a Statuesque Miniatures head, and a female loader from Brother Vinni.

I tried to make the fighting compartment look suitably grimy before gluing the crew in.

And here's my first Chaos Basilisk, Kirov pattern of course.

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This all adds up to a 868-point spearhead detachment:

Renegades and Heretics spearhead detachment (1 CP) - 866 points

HQ - Malefic Lord - 80 points

Heavy Support - Malcador Heavy Tank - 190 pts
+ battle cannon (22), lascannon (20), 2 × heavy stubber (4) = 236 points [316]

Heavy Support - Malcador Defender - 200 pts
+ demolisher cannon (20), 5 × heavy bolter (40), 2 × lascannon (30), heavy stubber (2), hunter-killer missile (6) = 298 points [614]

Heavy Support - Leman Russ Battle Tank - 107 pts
+ vanquisher battle cannon (15), lascannon (20), heavy stubber (2) = 144 points [758]

Heavy Support - Basilisk - 100 pts
+ Earthshaker cannon (0), heavy bolter (8) = 108 points [866]

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I seem to have accidentally built a Renegades and Heretics army - just when GW decided to scrap it. I have no idea how they'd do on the battlefield, but I've had a great time building the models and painting them, and that's what I'm doing this for. I wish GW would do renegade Imperial Guard properly for once.

I highly recommend Warlord Games vehicles! They're excellent quality, fun to assemble and especially the hard plastic ones are top-notch.