"Oi, Rowe, get yourself moving, they need us back at the front" Sergeant Argall shouted, "Lieutenant Vayce is in trouble and the Sentinel's as well".
"I'm coming, I'm coming" Rowe replied as he finished his ablutions, buttoning up his uniform.
"Move your arse man, my brother is in trouble up there".
With a clang side doors were slammed shut and the engine coughed into life. Argall checked the ammo load on his autocannon as the SteG-4 armoured car lurched forward into motion, loose scree scattering from its tyres as they found purchase.
"Squadron command, this is Scout One, we're inbound, situation report?" Argall voxed.
"Scout One, we have greenskins pushing up the road, heavy armour, armoured infantry, we require support over".
"We're on our way sir. Skirting back along the track North-northwest at marker 52B, ETA three minutes".
Argall bounced in his turret seat, Rowe in the driver's fighting with the steering as they slid down the track infront of them, trees whipping past on each side. Argall clutched the Aquilla pendant he wore next to his tags, praying to the Emperor that his brothers Sentinel walker was alright, a bump dug the corner of the wings into his palm and drew blood. Darkly he wondered if that was a good or bad omen, he was snatched back from his thoughts as Rowe shouted.
"What's the plan, were coming up on the treeline now".
"Stop at the treeline, we'll recce, then move round to support where needed".
"Aye"
Second later they slid to a halt on the mushy track, the leaf litter causing a loss of traction and warning lights to flash manically on Rowe's dashboard in the driver position. Argall threw open the turret hatch and hauled himself up, magnoculars raised, he was met by a whirlwind of noise as rounds cooked off in an explosion nearby.
The great burning wreck of an Ork tank blazed away to his left, another tank dueled with a Leman Russ hitting it squarely and engulfing the tank in flame and smoke. The twin Vanquisher's were jockeying for position trying to get a firing line, as Ork infantry charged up the slope from the south, grey-black smoke trailing from the crude rockets they were firing wildly. Most importantly, all four sentinels were moving towards their squadron, two leaking heavy greasy black smoke, but they were all there.
Sighing with relief, he dropped back into the turret, closing the hatch behind him.
"Out of the track, hard left and we'll begin taking on those rocket firing types, keep the speed up so they can't get a bead on us".
Rowe nodded and buried the accelerator, causing the armoured car to shoot forward. He dropped a gear and slammed the brakes as they emerged from the trees, pulling a near U-turn and the autocannon began firing as the car found it's traction again and shot forwards.
"Greenskin bastards!" Argall shouted as he squeezed the firing paddle of his cannon, the rounds shredding the closest foot troops and an unfortunate Ork Buggy which was closing through his arc of fire...
*****
It's been a while since I've done anything Imperial Guard* related and I wanted to just do something different from the Custodes, Japanese and Tyranids I've been painting a lot of this year. I also wanted to test out a 3D print STL I downloaded for a Weird World War Two project which is still on the cards.
So this is a Staghound Armoured Car, the STL was listed as one for Dust1947, which is an alternate history world war 2 setting. As such the turret comes with various sci-fi weapons like a laser cannon and a mortar as well as the regular cannon the historical car was fitted with.
When she came off of the build plate, I was pleasantly surprised at the detail on the model as she looked quite sparse in Chitubox (the software we use), just with a slight misprint to one of the mudguards, but I could say that was general wear and tear**.
The turret printed well, just the weapons had bent on the print bed, and weren't usable.
In a flash of inspiration, I decided to quickly convert this to a a 40k model of a SteG-4*** and rooting through the bits box, grabbed an autocannon, a couple of Lasguns, some stowage and a sentinel searchlight and antenna.
It was then just a case of adding the details to the vehicle, replacing the weapons with the 40k equivalent and then layering on some medical gauze for camo netting, to match my Vanquisher and Leman Russ tanks.
With a first pass of Death Guard Green spray and details being picked out:
On with the homemade Doombull Brown wash and the Fire Dragon Bright follow up for rust:
I also picked out the searchlight after this, to make sure it was nice and bright to shine the light forwards:
Finally, I dusted off the two other tanks and took a Squadron photo:
I'm pretty pleased with how well I could follow my previous posts and get the scheme back, having not touched this paint scheme for just under THREE YEARS!
Now there are no official rules for an Armoured Car in 40k, however thanks to Reddit, I have a full copy of the vehicle design rules for 3rd/4th edition and so i am sure I can use those to make something suitable.
I will come back to the squadron at some point, but need to get a couple of other things cranked out first, namely get the Custodes finished, and I want to get enough Feudal Japanese minis finished to begin playing a Lion Rampant campaign I have planned for when I finish my gaming table.
Until next time, have nice day...
*I still say it, that they will always be the Imperial Guard, NOT the Astra Militarum (Space Army - stupid name).
**A damaged mudguard is nothing in the scheme of armoured/working vehicles. You should see the state of some of the railway flatbed wagons I work with currently!
***For those who don't know, the SteG-4 was an armoured car created by Dan Abnett in the Gaunts Ghosts novel series, I believe they first appear in Honour Guard (book 4). A four wheeled fast moving vehicle armed with an autocannon, this model fitted perfectly with the description.
In the novels they're used by the enemy who have overrun the sabbat worlds which produce them, but I imagine that there are many still in Imperial service despite this.
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