Genestealer Cult - Forgeworld Rapier!

Because Warhammer 40K has been around a long time, at least in the world of miniatures wargaming systems, there are a lot of "oldie but goodie" units out there that you don't see a lot on the tabletop but may hold a nostalgic place in many long-time gamers' hearts. One of these for me has been the Rapier, currently known as the Rapier Laser Destroyer. Until recently you could pick one of these up on the Forgeworld site for your Astra Militarum army, but it seems to have disappeared recently, though you can still get a Space Marine version for Horus Heresy forces.

As this is an Astra Militarum unit, the Genestealer Cult Army can steal, errrr, requisition one of these beauties for their force, so I decided to do a conversion for my Brood Brothers detachment. The current rules for the miniature are interesting, but not particularly powerful. However, as I'm well past the max/min phase of my Warhammer 40K playing at this point, the "Rule of Cool" tends to dictate what I field more than anything else. The resin kit is really pretty nice and fits well, but do realize that you're likely going to need to treat some of the pieces with hot water to get them bent back into the proper shape! 

The Rapier had always reminded me a little of the Soviet 203mm howitzer from World War II (pictured above). That particular heavy gun ran on tracks rather than wheels, although it was towed, not self propelled. When I received my rapier I was quite pleased to see it came with a gun shield, which I though evened out the look of the vehicle nicely

I ended up using AK interactive modulation paints on this one to build up the Soviet Green color. I then used Ammo of Mig oilbrusher and black wash for the weathering. The chipping is AK interactive chipping color. The tracks are Ammo of Mig shadow rust, medium rust, tracks wash, gunmetal and steel.

The figure is painted with mostly Vallejo paints for the uniform and webbing. The skin on the commander is painted with Ammo of Mig, though I decided to go with Reikland Fleshshade for a lot of the detailing this time (two coats). I ended up putting a surprising number of decals on this particular moden (translation, I went a little crazy). The Genestealer Cult symbols on the Rapier and crewman are from Scumb4g Kustoms. The gun number is from The Mighty Brush, and this is my first shot using their decals. So far so good, I have some cool other sets that will show up on future projects. The little placards are actually from a (very) old set of 8.8cm German ammunition box decals for various scales - but they look good as generic warning scrawl.

I have a few more decals coming that I hope will make the targeting screen look a little less blank, but until then I'm just leaving it black. I'll post updated pictures once I get the screen updated. My only regret now is I didn't pick up a couple more of these little beauties. So many of the venerable Forgeworld kits have been going out of production, though a couple appear to be making a comeback - if you jump on them before they go back out of stock!