The battle-group rode slowly through the confines of the imperial refinery. Towering silos and mountains of scrap littered the land-scape, making it a literal metal rainforest. The unit of Predator battle-tanks had been prowling the area for heretic forces. So far they had encountered light resistance from a unit of AT-18 battle tanks; vastly inferior to the ancient Predators. Until now they had suffered superficial damage and no losses. This was to quickly change.
An enormous lumbering shape loomed out from behind a mountain of scrap. It has tracks easily as wide as a Space Marine was tall, and was wider than two of the Predator's side by side. A hull-mounted Demolisher cannon protruded from it's blue hull, and it fired, vaporising a burning AT-18 wreck to the left of the predators. Fellblade.
"Fire, now!" came the commander's voice over the vox, and all three tanks began pelting the Fellblade with Lascannon and Autocannon fire. The autocannon shells pinged off the thick frontal armour, and even the Lascannons failed to do anything. In return, one of the large tank's side sponsons opened fire, sending a quad-beam of green Lascannon fire at the leading tank. All four beams hit the tank; two penetrated the driver's cockpit, killing him instantly. The other two managed to ignite the ammo storage bin on the turret, sending it sky-high in a blaze.
"Fall back to pint 16.z", the command was laced with adrenaline, and both surviving tanks continued firing whilst reversing, to ill effect. The Super-heavy was fully visible now; struggling to fit in the narrow alleys, and knocking over barells and piles of junk. It drove over the wreck of another AT-18, crushing the far smaller tank like a can underfoot. The Fellblade's presumed commander popped out of the turret hatch. He was decked in ornate blue and gold power armour, topped with a massively horned gold helmet. He outstretched an arm, lightning dancing off the tips; Psyker. The sorcerer pulled his arm back, and the sound of screeching metal was heard. The tracks of one of the tanks was ripped free, sending the tank veering to one side, and slamming into the other; the side-ways impact ripped one track unit off the other tank, and both were immobilised.
The Fellblade's massive domed turret pivoted and took aim of the two stuck tanks. the crews were attempting to exit the tank, but then it fired; vaporising both crews and battle tanks with the energy of it's anti-armour shells, creating a massive fireball that could be seen for miles.
That's it guys, this monster is finally complete. Feast your eyes on it's gigantic blue glory, and fear it's immense fire-power.
In ways, I'd say this was easier to paint then a normal Baneblade, probably due to most surfaces being flatter. Also, because they were flat, there were plenty of spaces to do free-hand work, as you can see. To finish off the tank, it was weathered using a combination of Tamiya Weathering Stick, and Forge World's Dark Sand weathering powder. The areas around the tracks (tracks, wheels and lower armour) received the most attention.
As a little Easter-egg/bit of fun, I added this impact blood splatter to the front lower glasis. The blood effect was done with Tamiya Clear Red, mixed with some Badab Black and Aggrax Earthshade. I painted on a pair of hand-prints, and streaked the paint down to represent dripping. I image some unfortunate sod survived the fire-power and then smacked by 100+ tonnes of renegade metal.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the cheer size of the fellblade, or any Baneblade-based super-heavy, when compared next to the rank and file, and even the battle tanks. I took this scale picture for the benefit of a follower, and I am amazed by how intimidating and massive a tank like this would appear to people if it were real-scale. I'd be scared!
So, where now? At the moment I have nothing planned for my Thousand Sons that is quite so big. But do not worry, something big will come eventually, once I've decided what I'll do, and when I've got the money. Until then, share if you enjoyed the post, and keep an eye out of the numerous other things that will be coming this way soon.
The Fellblade Proeject: Part Twelve (Battle-ready)
by Matthew Davies | Sep 17, 2013