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Writer's pictureBlaxkleric

“The Land Raider Is A Heavy Tank…”


“…And transport, used primarily by the Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines.”

These 6mm scale plastic models of two Land Raiders used to be produced by “Games Workshop” as part of their now long out of production (OOP) “Epic” range, and were found whilst I was delving through a second-hand box of “Adeptus Titanicus” from 1988. Unfortunately, due to the miniatures being previously owned, they had both already been undercoated in a somewhat overly thick, black paint.


However, rather than strip them/re-prime the “single most destructive weapon[s] in the Adeptus Astartes' arsenal”, I simply decided to pigment them as part of the Black Templars chapter, and therefore just treated them to a watered-down layer of “Citadel” Abaddon Black once they’d been glued to a couple of small “Flames Of War” stands by “Battlefront Miniatures”. As with the trio of slightly smaller Rhino vehicles I recently finished, I then ‘picked out’ the Land Raiders’ doors, hatches, heavy bolter, twin-linked lascannons, tracks and support struts with a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

"Games Workshop" WIPs - A Robot [Ultramarines], Land Speeder [Space Wolves] and Robot [Imperial Fists]

With the latest of my entries for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge completed, I have made some more progress on the rest of my “Epic” backlog, by slowly working my way through a number of Assault Marines, Devastator Marines, Terminators, Bikes, Robots and even an (intact) Land Speeder. Whilst some of these tiny figures have arguably had to form part of my burgeoning Black Templars force, due to being already ‘gooped’ in black paint, a fair few others have been bare plastic – and thus enabled me to start populating my all-encompassing Adeptus Astartes army with space marines from some of the other chapters.


I’m hoping this will lead to a really colourful mix of units on the tabletop, and wherever possible I am trying to match-up the various “autonomous military unit[s]” with the specialist teams they are specifically associated with as part of “Warhammer 40K” lore, such as the White Scars forming the backbone of my Bikes. In addition, I have also been successfully trawling “eBay” to procure some more of the slightly larger Mark VII power armoured space marines to intermingle with the vast legions of ‘beaky’ marines I already own.

"Catalyst Game Labs" WIPs - A Panther, Marauder and a Wolfhound

Alongside my “Epic” collection, I’ve also been working on some more “Battletech” mechs by “Catalyst Game Labs” for my Weird War Two campaign. I was initially planning on methodically completing the large and super-large models I already own. But the American company’s sudden release of its range’s second wave of miniatures has somewhat scuppered this, as it’s provided me with an opportunity to add a few more small-sized war walkers to my ‘Early War’ forces first.


Resultantly, I am still planning on continuing with my excursion into the Pacific theatre, courtesy of some Japanese-flavoured Marauders. However, alongside these “iconic early BattleMechs” I am also working on some expansions for both my German Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht forces. Most notably, a Wolfhound and a Panther…

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undercoat2670
Jan 01, 2022

Great looking Land Raider. I like the old school design enormously. You are going for a wide variety of different Space Marine chapters in your epic aren't you? I like those mechs too, really interesting designs, I can't wait to see those done.

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Jan 01, 2022
Replying to

Thanks Undercoat. I certainly plan on fielding a colourful mix of chapters for my Space Marine force; albeit the Black Templars are actually my favourite. As I'll be using homemade rules with them I didn't think it would prove problematic either.


Lots of Mechs coming in 2022, and I attempt to clear out my current collection from Waves One and Two of the range. There certainly are some large models coming.

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wsd50
Dec 28, 2021

Nice work on the Land raiders mate (also the Rhino's in the last post that I missed sorry 😧), I used some of my Land Raiders as simple security robots in 28mm, they actually work rather well as that too 😉


Nice progress too on the Mech's, hopefully you can get a couple of those in before the end of the year?


Cheers Roger.

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Dec 28, 2021
Replying to

Yes. There is a definite similarity between Microtron and the Wolfhound. I still own my old Mego model - along with numerous other Micronaut stuff. Marvellous toys. My magnetic Baron Karza was my fave. 😀

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planetmut
Dec 27, 2021

The Land Raiders look excellent, great job on them! The amount of damage those things could take and yet keep on going was amazing. The robots and Land Speeder are looking good so far too.


I really like the designs of those mechs, and it must have been a (pleasant?) surprise when the new models were released?

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Dec 27, 2021
Replying to

Cheers Matt. I've just found a number more Land Raiders, so expect one to crop up representing each of the main Chapters I'm trying to cover with my Space Marines force. The robots are almost finished, and hopefully the Land Speeder won't be too far behind them.


I am delighted that the Battletech second wave has finally reached our shores. Just need to find a window in my painting schedule to cram them all in, LOL!!!

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wargamesterrainworkshop
wargamesterrainworkshop
Dec 27, 2021

The Land Raiders turned out well Simon, and nice progress on the other epic models. Look forward to seeing the Mechs progress

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Blaxkleric
Blaxkleric
Dec 27, 2021
Replying to

Thanks Dave. Just the beginning when it comes to my "Epic" stuff. I have loads of it on the painting table currently, as I try to work through it. Love it!!! Lots more mechs too - Catalyst Game Labs really caught me off-guard with the sudden arrival of their second wave for "Battletech". LOL!!

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