Sergeant Vilas stood in his bouncing turret basket as the column of tanks roared along the road ahead.
Dirt and dust from the hardpan were kicked up and he could hear it pinging off the side and under armour above the engine noise.
Riding head and shoulders out of the cupola meant there was a risk of enemy sniper action, but it provided him with better vision against incoming enemy infantry who may attack the column. The wooded and overgrown farmlands either side of the highway were perfect ambush territory to a rushing unit of armour, even if the scouts had said the land was secure. Better to not take chances was Vilas experience.
"Once again, so our orders are clear" Captain Marek's voice was tinny through the vox earpieces, "we turn at waypoint marker 12.68, cut a path through the brush and engage any enemy armour, whilst providing support for our infantry".
A chorus of affirmatives rang from the commanders of the armour group.
"Remember" Marek continued, " We're coming in behind the infantry, so watch your positioning and firing lines. I don't want any black cross incidents, otherwise I'll kick your arse, even if you are dead. Is that clear?"
Another round of affirmatives along with some chuckles sounded in Vilas' ears.
Black Cross, Vilas thought darkly not chuckling, the name given to an incident of Imperial units firing upon one another. Emperor's sake, let's hope we don't have the Commissar's attention because of one of those, he remembered the consequences of the fighting back at Avernus.
Those dark days of city fighting had touched off more then one black cross, and more then one execution because of it.
He pushed the dark thoughts from his mind and scanned the flanks again.
*****
Another tense few minutes passed and they slowed down at the waypoint. They could clearly hear a vicious firefight occuring nearby which could only mean that they were arriving into a definite hot zone.
A pall of dark smoke and a large explosion told them that the enemy armour had committed, they turned as ordered and cut through the brush.
As they crested the ridgeline the valley bowl was revealed to them. What had once been a local orchard was now a cratered mess, smoking from explosions, torn up land and destroyed trees looking like the entrails of the earth had been exposed.
The Cadian 37th were dug in in a long line, anchored at one end by the ruined remains of a walled farmhouse. They were fighting hard to hold off a wave of traitor guard. The infantry of both sides had hunkered down and furious lasfire streaked across the bowl in brightly coloured lines.
Enemy armour had been brought up, and impressively two vehicles were smoking wrecks. Though several more were still throwing high explosive shells at the Imperial soldiers.
Taking all this in with a glance, and with an ear listening to Marek's commands to the armour group. Vilas ordered his crew to target a scruffy half track which was shelling a heavy weapons squad. He checked the firing solution his gunner called out, even as he flipped the switch and began broadcasting his identifier signal from his
"Fire" he ordered, voice ringing in the buttoned up metallic turret, and the tank shook with the force of the main gun. The breach flung backwards and his loader expertly swayed out of the way as the empty shell casing was ejected and flung into the used hopper.
The smoke which filled the turret was sucked out through the louvres behind him and Vilas kept his eye trained on the scope.
The shell landed true and struck the half track mid way along its length. The vehicle shunted several feet to its side before flipping over, track sections flying off. Greasy black smoke erupted from thebwoubded machine before it blew up, sending armour shrapnel flying in all directions.
"Good kill, let's find another" Vilas congratulated his crew and swung his scope's to find another target.
*****
Where does time go?
It doesn't seem like I modified this Leman Russ all the way back in July 2020...but it was all that time ago.
This tank modified for a friend from a battered old example of the Leman Russ Battle Tank had sat gathering dust for a couple of years and I finally worked on it last year alongside his Valdor Tank Hunter.
I found the pre-weathered photographs when going through some archive folders and deleting stuff. I figured I'd make a post about it, the actual painting side is quite simple;
Abaddon Black basecoat.
Ulthuan Grey and Khorne Red markings.
Leadbelcher Metal Details.
With a few Mournfang Brown leather details for the crew stowage.
I believe that at the time of these photos that I'd taken the step to wash the track units with Carroburg Crimson and Earthshade already.
Remember the bottoms of tanks were generally unarmoured when compared with the rest of the vehicle.
The tank does look somewhat toy like in this state, very flat and not at all realistic.
That's where the weathering coat comes in and kicked the realism up a notch.
Compared to my own Generic Armoured Tank this one is very simple to do in that I just took the drybrushing stage and went ham at it.
I used Stormvermin Fur and drybrushed downwards only in a vertical motion to simulate the dirt and dust being washed down the vehicle by the rain.
I see this effect all the time on the rail vehicles at work, as well as general road dirt from travelling, so added some Baneblade Brown and very light Ushabti Bone in circular drybrushing around the motion at the bottom of the track units.
Finally, here is the finished Leman Russ alongside the Valdor Tank Hunter.
I have a couple of other tanks to work on for this small squadron and then give back to my friend:
Decisions, decisions about where to begin, any thoughts on that then leave a comment!
Until next time, have nice day...
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