Hail Hydra! Anti-air Support for the Brood Brothers

The Hydra Flak tank is a newer (though not exactly new) vehicle based on the ubiquitous Chimera chassis for the Astra Militarum. It appears to draw inspiration from several real world anti-aircraft tanks such as the Gepard and Shilka, though it uses an open topped turret more reminiscent of earlier vehicles. I honestly liked the look of the vehicle, and thought it would fill a niche as an anti-flyer vehicle in my Astra Militarum Brood Brothers detachment, so I decided to take the plunge.

Two Random Infantry Guys for the Brood Brothers - and Why They Matter!

While I was painting the crew for my first Imperial Heavy Mortar, I was also painting up a couple of Guardsmen - Brood Brothers guardsmen to be exact. I've even given these two guys names - Mutt and Jeff (pictured below). I know - not terribly original, and not so unusual, but why two? Well, therein lies the story of trying to create a reasonably modular army for Warhammer 40K and trying to maintain squad identity through the use of squad numbers on their paudrons (shoulder armor).

Brood Brothers Second Squad Transport has Arrived!

In August of last year I posted an entry detailing some of the first vehicles I'd gotten together for my Genestealer Cult army. Included in it was a Chimera numbered "21" that served as transport for my first infantry squad. A few weeks ago I finished up my second squad of infantry, and I figured that they needed a transport of their own. Ultimately I'd like to have dedicated transport for all of my Astra Militarum / Brood Brothers squads, and I'm planning at least two more squads so far, though if I'm honest the final tally will likely go higher than that, because the Four Armed Emperor loves the poor bloody infantry!

Ratling Squad - Reporting for Duty

In our post COVID-19 world, time seems to have taken on a fairly relative quality. Though it seems longer, a couple of months ago I posted a write-up on the first of my ratling conversions for my Brood Brothers Astra Militarum detachment. I still have some post varnish detailing to do, but I'm happy to report four more converted ratlings have joined the fold and I can now field a squad of five of the little buggers. I plan to do five more total to get a full-sized squad of ten as you can never have too many sniper rifles in the character happy world of Warhammer 40K.

The Cult Brings in the Artillery - First Heavy Mortar Done!

Among the many heavy support options currently available to Astra Militarum players is the Imperial Heavy Mortar from Forgeworld. These can be a fairly spendy option if you're going with a Death Korps of Krieg force and have to buy the resin crew, but as I wanted a battery of three of these for my Genestealer Cult, I was able to save a few buck and buy the mortars bare without crew. As I've been building a lot of Cult Brood Brothers lately, I have a lot of spare bits lying about. It also isn't too hard to find Astra Militarum bits online for reasonable prices, so assembling unique crews for the mortars shouldn't be too difficult.