3rd Armoured Division Savlar Chem-Dogs

3^rd Armoured Division Savlar Chem-Dogs

I’ve always been a fan of tanks and can count around 20 various Leman Russ variants in my collection. Over the Easter vacation and somewhat inspired by the ‘Spring Clean’ initiative on Beasts of War, I decided to finish off my command tank that had been sitting on a shelf collecting dust having been built and undercoated black, but then put aside as I built a Flaming Eagles Kill Team.

Then, having read and been further inspired by the many projects being created under the banner of ‘Spring Clean’, I thought why not record my effort to build and reinforce the Astra Militarum tank division that was slowly coming together. In my Spring Clean, I happened to have a three Solar Auxilia tanks from Forge World, bought at Salute 2017 with the intention of building a Solar Auxilia force… that never happened. However, the aesthetic of these models lends itself to the Savlar Chem-Dogs and with my chosen paint scheme of brown and blue, and my rough and ready painting style, I’m hoping to create something a little different.

Ever since reading about the Savlar Chem-Dogs in Codex Imperial Guard (2003), I was intrigued by this bunch of scavengers that are allowed to keep any equipment and resources they win in battle. They seem like a load of cut-throats and mercenaries, that are just about kept on the side of the Emperor’s Law by Commissars ‘sensitive’ to their troops needs and the needs to complete the mission.

I don’t regard myself as an expert or even a professional painter. I managed to win Gold and Silver Medals at the International Model Engineering Exhibition in the late 1980s when fantasy miniature painting was just taking off, and I look back at those models with fondness, although the standard then I suspect would certainly be no match with today’s expertise. Still, I’d hope that these tanks will be good enough for the table top, and with that in mind I’ve set about this project trying to keep to using only Games Workshop components to ensure that they are ‘tournament’ acceptable.

So, first up will be a Solar Auxilia Dracosan Armoured Transport, and this will be followed by a couple of Solar Auxilia Basilisks. I will try to detail my work-in-progress for the Dracosan, but so as not to bore everyone and to repeat myself, I will probably just record before and after shots of the Basilisks and anything else I find in my Spring Clean to add to this project.

Hope you enjoy my project…