This past week I’ve been working on painting the weapon platforms that came with the various fortifications that I’ve purchased over the years. This includes the Quad-guns and Icarus Lascannons that came with my recently painted Aegis Defense Line and my Ultramarine Bastions (which are still a work in progress), and also includes a few classic Rapier Laser Destroyers that I’d picked up to use as “counts as” thunderfire cannons.
The guns feature that garish blue/yellow combination that is so prevalent throughout my entire army, and a healthy dab of red (which is the standard color that I’ve been painting their weaponry). Actually, the scheme for the weapons is almost exactly the same as those I did for my IG weapon platforms for the Ultramar Planetary Defense Force. I know this because I grabbed a spare lascannon & autocannon and used them for my templates for how to paint these guns.
Since they’re going to be used, for the most part, with the defense lines, I also wanted to integrate a little yellow into the models in order to make them tie in a bit better. This is really only true of the lascannons (note the yellow housing of the servo-skull on the back), because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, and had already painted the red housing on the quad-guns. Now that it’s done, I think the yellow is “fair.” I’m not in love with it, but I don’t hate it either.
The lascannons are fully articulating, as I was able to glue them together without much difficulty. The autocannons, however, are fixed positions, because I had the darnedest time gluing them to the central pivot. It should be noted though, that none of them are glued to the bases. This is because I wasn’t sure which stands were supposed to go with which guns. Sure, there isn’t much of a difference between the two taller bases, but there’s also the flat, tri-pod style base, and there’s the “comms relay” as well (which I’ve still left to paint). I figured this would also give me a little flexibility if I wanted to use one of these guns on the back of a chimera as a ghetto-hydra for the Imperial Guard as well.
On the matter of the Rapier Laser Destroyers, I’ve had these kicking around for a few years. No, these aren’t the original ones I had from the days of 2nd edition, but when I found a guy on the Barter Bucket selling various bits and such, I had to pick these up. I didn’t have a use for them at the time, but they were old models that reminded me of the days when I’d first started playing 40k.
After I started playing with the 5th edition Space Marine codex, I toyed around a bit with Thunderfire cannons to great success (in fact, you can see these models back before they were painted in this batrep). So, with three of them, I decided these would make good stand-ins (because there wasn’t a chance that I was going to drop $60+ a piece for the official GW models). Besides, it gave my army a little more retro/throw-back vibe to go along with the classic paint scheme.
Then, at the end of 2011, Forgeworld released new versions of these guns. Naturally, they’re a little bit larger, and a little bit cooler looking. And since, there are now official rules again for the rapier, there is a chance that there might be a little confusion on the part of my opponents as to exactly what the model represents. I expect though that there won’t be any issues, as long as I’m clear up front with what’s going on.
By the way, if you have a thunderfire cannon kicking around, and you don’t want/need the techmarine that comes with it, I’d love to pick him up off you. I just like the way his harness looks, but I’m unlikely to ever purchase the actual model.
As always, thanks for dropping by…
Warhammer 39,9999 
Very ‘Optimus Prime’ on the weapons 🙂
Roll out!
Or Ultramagnus. Exactly what I thought the instant I saw them! 🙂
first thought in my mind was the circus music
Dun dun dunnna dunna dun dun dunnnn dun, dun dun dunnna dunna dun dun dunnn dun, dun dunnna dunna dun, dun dunna dunna dun, dunna duddun dun dun dun
Yes i just typed that out…..anyway they look great for your flashy men in blue well done!
but in all seriousness, you should get a little VW Beattle model and convert it into a Land Speeder storm…have all these Ultra scouts piling out =)
I get the feeling that y’all aren’t taking my paint jobs seriously.
Where do those tripod bases come from? Are they GW? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before.
Those tripods come with the Bastion kit. They’re designed for the Icarus Lascannons. What’s awesome is that they are the exact same size as the mount for a Razorback (or Land Raider turret). So, you can take your Whirlwind missile launcher off your Whirlwind, plop it into the tripod base, and have part of a Marine Air Defense system without paying Forgeworld prices. You can also plop heavy bolter turrets or lascannon turrets in them as standins for Tarantula sentry guns, again without paying FW prices!
Oh, and if you don’t want to buy full Bastions, you can buy the Bastion Upgrade sprues from GW. You get floor bits, a tripod, an Icarus, and a comms relay.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know they still sold any real bits to speak of. Too bad they’re $19.25 each.. 😦
Huh… that’s pretty cool. (Replying to both of your comments, not just the one above, but I seem not to have the option of replying to your second.)
Thanks for clarifying. I wasn’t sure where they came from myself, though I assumed they were either with the Bastions or the Defense Lines. Using them as missile platforms and tarrantulas is a clever idea though. I’m glad I didn’t bother to glue them in place. Thanks!
That’s a lot of emplacements. The color choices are bold, strong contrast, but it works. Well done.
Finally, someone that doesn’t think they look like a space robot cartoon!
what do they form when assembled, i’m going with mecha Godzilla!
It’s the bright yellow that makes it look garish. A darker and/or more muted yellow would blend more into the other colors. However, the Space Marines are strongly reminiscent of the medieval armored knights and plenty of them sported garish heraldry. When the goal is to be easily recognized on the battlefield it’s good to use bold color choices.
Is that the reasoning behind why the Ultramarines (and indeed, most marine chapters) seem to have completely forsaken camo for bold color schemes?
There have been references to chapters that see camouflage as cowardly, preferring to trust in their armor and the Emperor’s will to protect them. I don’t know if the tie to medieval knights is explicitly stated anywhere but if you compare many of the common marine color schemes against medieval coats of arms you’ll notice many similar conventions. Particularly when you look at the half and quartered schemes. Try a Google Images search for “medieval heraldry” to see what I mean.
On a related note, search “hounskull” to see the likely inspiration for the Space Marine ‘beakie’ helmet, which was originally the most common helmet.