# Imperial Guard Artillery Battery



## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

So I spent my weekend on drill and really got my first taste of the artillery again since really getting into 40k. This taste of the real deal made me want to expand from my current one Basilisk to three and create an actual battery.

I base my IG off the concept of naval marines and troopers so I would either want to do Basilisks similar to US Marine Corps Pallidins or make some trailer pulled type earthshaker pieces. 

Now with this thought in mind I want to do a bit of conversion (I like this part of the hobby best (converting and painting) and take my knowledge of the actual military and how we behave in the field and bring it to the 41st millenium. 

So with all these conversions I want to make a hydra or two to use as my anti aircraft guns (unusual but you can find them in many a garrison in iraq if you look around) but more importantly some manticores to use as MLRS (multi launch rocket systems). I want to build a few ammo trailers, convert a chimera into a radar fcs, and a chimera to use as a fire control center. 

All of my heavy weapons teams are already dug in troops and all of it is done up as urban warfare. 

Once I get pics I will post them for you guys.

My reason for this post is to ask you what would be economical ways to get some of the parts I need to scratch build a lot of these fun pieces?


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## humakt (Jan 2, 2008)

I would think the trailers could be created using plastic card and formed plastic construct (T bar and I bar specificaly). This would likly be the cheapest option. The wheels will be the biggest problem and you may have to either get modern wheels from a similar sized model or get some wheels form a bits supplier.

Sounds like an interesting project.


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## fynn (Sep 19, 2008)

for the gun platforms, you could either try and aquire some 1/35th scale german 88mm gun platforms to use as a base, for the earth shacker, or if you like the more useral style of towed arty, look at the base units for the big 105/155 arty models to use as a base for puting a basi gun on, left over guns from the 88's or 105 can be recycled for other ig arty/AA weapons.
the maniticore, well you could either build it in the style of the FW version, or use a chermira base uit, build the front up in to a armoured cab (but not too high or big), then use plastic card to build the launch system on the back


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

Wheels I think I can figure out. 
Plasticard will definitely be required. I agree about the 1/35th scale ww2 models.
My questions really come down to not just how do I do it but what else should I do?

My IG force is themed as Imperial Navy Marines/ Naval Troopers/ Armsmen however you want to see it. 

So they are pertty fast reaction these are going to be the big guns they bring down and set in their base camp or keep on the move for quick heavy fire power on the call. 

What else would help fit this concept?


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

If you want a ready reaction arty section then I would go with sp guns rather than towed emplacements. I personally like the soviet 2S7 Pion 203mm sp artillery. See pic. I think the gunshield on the Basi makes it look odd. The other alternative is to re model the basi itself. Maybe lower the gun in the hull and omit the shield.

For hydras what about a phalanx system on a chimera. Instead of quad autocannons model a minigun phalanx setup. You could make a good minigun with plasticard rod and tube so the barrels are similar in size to autocannon barrels. 

If you want to add a command chimera just play it as a std chimera and model the coms gear on the deck above the passenger compartment.
Maybe a techpriest and servitors and an attached inf squad for close in defence.

Just my thoughts.
My first basi is a chimera hull with a baneblade turret in a fixed position on top. I use it as an enclosed basi but i am not entirely happy with it.
I do want some more arty though. I did make an emplacement some time ago modeled on an old soviet design.


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

That could work, those are ideas I can sink my brain into further. 
I don't want to buy forgeworld as I would prefer to model stuff similar or go my own route with. 
I am unsure how much of my army will be actual GW pieces or % of pieces because some of the tournament play is getting to me these days. So there are a lot of options here.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

With anything like this I think first of you need to make firm design decisions on things like whether you're going to have your counts-as Basilisks be self-propelled or towed pieces. There are some lovely, imposing 1/35th scale howitzers (the German 17 cm. Kanone 18 or 21 cm. Mörser 18, for example) that would look great, but assembling a battery's worth would not be cheap. Then again, if you're going to be doing things like making ammo trailers etc - which would I'm guessing be purely for fluff/diorama purposes - would it be safe to say you're prepared to shell out some cash on this project?

It's worth doing what I did for the Disciples Of Decay and sitting down with a piece of paper and planning out exactly what units you want, then work out a shortlist of real-world vehicles that could work as counts-as models for each one. Often real-world gun barrels tend to be thinner than their 40K equivalents, so using (say) a Nashorn tank destroyer wouldn't work so well as a Basilisk without at least some conversion work since its 88mm gun barrel is just too thin to look right for a beefy great Earthshaker cannon. I wondered about using something like the 203mm 'Long Tom' M110 self-propelled gun for a Basilisk; the gun's certainly imposing-looking enough, but it's pretty damn big at 1/35 scale. 

A rule of thumb to work out size is this: take the vehicle's length in metres and take that number to mean centimetres (i.e. divide by 100), then multiply by 2.86. That gives you the length in centimetres at 1.35 scale. For example, the Panzer II I mention below is 4.8 metres long in real life; so that's 4.8 x 2.86, giving you 13.7 centimetres. Which is the length of the 1/35 Panzer II model itself, so this rule of thumb seems to work. 

For the Traitor Guard army I'm going to be starting proper work on soon, I'm going to be using 1/35 scale vehicles for most of the armour to give a distinctive product-of-a-Chaos-forgeworld look, and I found that Tamiya do a very cheap Panzer II which can be picked up for less than £8. Bargain! Especially so given that their other Panzer II models are like three times as much, I have no idea why that particular one is stupidly cheap; it's pretty much exactly the same size as a Rhino, to give you an idea of scale. And perfect for things like Trojan-style ammo-crane utility vehicles, recovery vehicles and the like; plus, being German, it fits perfectly aesthetically with the other German armour I've chosen to be Medusas, Colossi etc.


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

Now I am really getting useful stuff. 
Here are some pics of the troopers from my army.
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=588395#post588395


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