V-Wing

 Look to the skies!

So I'm still slightly raw about this. No sooner did I manage to order in the third variant flyer for my Scions, than GW goes and makes it illegal to have three in one detachment. Rant! Rave! Bloody Ad Mech tourney players buggering up my careful purchases! 

Well, never mind. Nothing is going to stop me fielding an illegal list in the safety of my own home, if I can find some dupe willing to go up against it. I'm already thinking that the house rule will be that Flyer bases just don't exist at all, you can move over them as though they were part of the table and they don't block anything. Which is a much better fix than bloody GW came up with, mutter mutter grumble swearwords. 

Flying Officer Drane 'Shorecrab' Tulemorr
Pilot Officer (gunnery) Bose 'Gorgon' Jossian

Anyway! This final flyer is the Vendetta, the tank buster transport. Weighing in at the same kind of cost as a Land Raider (220 points!), it sports six lascannons, or a pair and then twin Helstrike missiles, which are basically meltas with a bit of range on them. Player's choice, I carefully constructed and magnetised the options here, using spare parts from this kit and the Vulture Gunship, plus the resin lascannons from Puppetswar. 

I had a go at dark red OSL for the interior. Doesn't show up very well in the photos, and actually looks best on the troopers' backs, but nobody is ever going to see them. Time well spent.

Here it is with the flash on. No heavy bolters this time, I couldn't be doing with it. The side doors are also glued in place, although the back ramp opens and closes as normal.

This is likely the final purchase for the Hagan Lampreys, who I am calling done now. They can muster 1500 points without resorting to allies, something like 1750 all told in fact (with the extra flyer, anyway), and that feels like a good stopping point. Inquisitors or Custodes to ally up to 2000, and that's about as high as I go these days. Plenty, at any rate, plus options for the curious!

Dirty white, like the rest of the fleet. Takes a while to do, it was a four-coat process that started with a black undercoat. And if I wasn't lazy, I'd go back over it and neaten up the lines with black again, but I'm rather fond of my battered finish. I also couldn't resist the traditional graffiti. 

As before, I did a bit of WWII style bomber art. Having done both freehand and transfer pinups before, I wanted something different, but wasn't quite sure what. My wife suggested doing something cartoony, apparently a popular choice back in the day. 

The twin lascannon here are jerry rigged from spare parts - the barrel is a bit of round sprue, the muzzle from (I think) marine Centurions.

Here's a very bad shot of the underwing twin las - a very nice resin bit, which I can assure you I have done full justice. Just not with my camera. 

I did wonder about Grimdarking the pig up a bit, but decided against it in the end. A bit of silliness is always welcomed in the game, I reckon, and if real life soldiers put Bugs et al on their planes, no reason some 40K trooper wouldn't assume Porky here isn't some kind of protective talisman from the obscure past. He is at least throwing a bomb - let's face it, the Loony Tunes were incredibly violent. They'd be right at home in the 41st Millenium. 

Here's the whole air wing, ready for action! I feel a campaign coming on. Owning these three is the main reason I have a vague hankering to get into Aeronautica Imperialis - some linked games covering the next major deployment of the Hagan Lampreys, under Commissar Josephus Haart and Brigadier Badger, as they delve into the shadowy past of their recent Mantis Warrior allies. But that's a purchase for another year, I fear, I have plenty to do this year already. 

Just not right now! That's the second time my paint queue has stalled in as many months. Desperation drives one to extreme lengths, so I'm really going to have to dig deep for something to paint for next week...