Basilisk Ready

The sleek profile of the Vanaheim pattern gun shield definitely gives the Basilisk a better look. I cannot wait til I have finished the entire lot in Iron Warrior colors.

The hull mount have been magnetized now to allow for the swapping of different weapons.

These Chimera chassis were much easier to put together. No track wheels to contend with and all the tracks were already predetermined. No more guess works in the amount of track needed.



I had placed a pair of magnet on the inside in order to secure the platform and the vehicle. I am hoping this will allow for easy retro-fits in the future. Already, it can be easily converted to a Salamander Scout Vehicle with no mounted weapons. Perhaps, It would be easy to convert to a Colossus in the future as well. I know I can place a Medusa cannon with ease.

The Hydras take to the road...

Now, I will have mobile anti-aircraft cover for my moving columns. These large caliber guns can be just as deadly to aircrafts as to soft targets and lightly armour targets.

As you can see the main things missing are the driver hatch and the hull mounted weapons. While I prefer heavy bolter over heavy flamers, there are definitely times where having one is better than the other.

Arrival of the Basilisks

The Basilisks have finally arrived. They are also being guarded by those Hydras against aerial assaults. There are two full ordinance batteries here, 3 vehicles in each. Aside from the standard gun shield, these models will sport the stylish Vanaheim pattern gun shields. I will leave both the gun shield and gun platform capable of being swapping out in preparations for future load outs. In particular, I am hoping for the potential upgrades to a Colossus siege mortar in the future.

Magnetizing the guns

One thing I am never satified is how static things become when you glue things down. For my AA guns, I want my battery to be able to swivel and dynamically track their flying targets.

For this, I got help from K&J Magnets. I got their strongest magnets as I needed the arching guns to stay in place after moving them. As you can see there are two magnets here working together. Just one was not strong enough to hold the guns in position. The magnets I am using are D601-N52, Disc 3/8" x 1/32", Grade N52

One of the problem I had encountered was that the joint was not wide enough to accommodate the size of the magnets. Luckily, my friend had a great Dremel that helped me drill and sand out the parts. Just remember to do it outdoors as the Dremel will kick up some find particles from the resin.

Building the Hydra

The Hydra complete kit comes with the older Chimera kit. If you never built one before, it is definitely 3 times more work to build from the older design. First of all, you have to place about 11 track wheels on each side of the tank. Then you would have to evenly space out the actual treads of the tank, for which there are even extra treads provided. All this adds to a lot of headache in putting together this simple tank.

The only thing I am missing now is to place some proper Chaos iconographies on them and to provide them with the proper hatches. Unfortunately, the kit does not come ready to serve the Traitor Legions. Minor work is required. Speaking of which, I still need to file off or scrap all the imperial eagles from the models.

Prep work before working with resin

For those of you who have never gotten stuff from Forgeworld... the worst part of the experience is not dealing with warped pieces... It is the need to wash away the releasing agent they use to get the resin out of its molding.

Luckily, I have an electric tooth brush that I had salvaged from somewhere. I think it is definitely better than scrubbing by hand.

What you see there are the Hydra pieces turrets from the complete Hydra kit. Since the other pieces are the normal Chimera model pieces, there is no need to clean them.

Anti-Aircraft and Drill arrived

Before any artillery emplacement can be secured, we must also have control of our air space.

Our techmarines have been hard at work assembling the Hydra anti-aircraft guns. As soon as they are in place to defend our base camp, those Basilisks can start to arrive.

At the same time, the deployment of those Hades Breaching Drills will provide us a two-prong attack on our designated enemy position. While our enemy takes cover behind their fortified walls, our breachers will allow us to take the fight to the enemy.

I wonder if anyone would let me use the exact rules for Imperial Guards and substitute the attached squad to be Iron Warriors.