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A few days ago I had my very first Dust tactics game with two of my mates and we had a lot of fun playing several scenarios from the 2nd edition core box. Thus I decided to scratchbuild several of the walkers from Dust tactics to add more variety using bits and left over AT-43 Red Block walkers. Several projects are already in the making which you can follow here

As a starter I am showing you today some WIP pics of my Sturmkröte & Königskröte heavy axis walkers, which we will use as count as Könisluther and Sturmkönig axis walkers. These walkers are inspired by Kow Yokoyamas Maschinenkrieger work, which I am huge fan of and thus I tried to generate simelar rounded and ball shaped areas, using simple parts like clear plastic spheres, drops, eggs and Kinder surprise.

The basic walker bodies are now done and all seams will be filled with milly putt in the next step as well as some sclupting for the gun mantles etc. Then the body and legs will be given a rough coating to mimic the effect of cast metall, simelar to my Imperial Guard Karl heavy mortar. After this the walkers will be assembled and I need to build the gun barrels. So stay tuned!

Work so far:




Dust Tactics Fluff: Following the introduction of the new Königsluther and Sturmkönig heavy walkers by the Germans in late 1948, the first front line battle reports of the new units combat capabilities became available in December 1948. Both walkers shared the same basic quadroped design, but in comparison to the newly encountered allied Fireball & Punisher walkers, the rather edgy outline of the German walkers proved inferior to the rounded armoured body of the allied walkers in close up fire urban fights. Also the block and weld-technique of the angular shaped german armour plates was very time consuming and thus the monthly production output was rather very limited.
Thus in January 1949 the German Oberkommando ordered a group of team of German researchers to develop a version of both walkers that was much quicker to produce using cast hull and body parts, but maintained the basic weaponry of the Königsluther and Sturmkönig heavy walkers.
Already in late February 1949 the first prototpyes were shown to the German Oberkommando and were called Rundpanzer I and II, due to the rounded cast iron armour. However as General Max von Steiner remarked during his inspection those cast round bodies of the new Rundpanzers looked like ugly fat toads (toad = Kröte), hence that nick name stuck with the new designs ever since that day. Thus the Sturmkröte & Königskröte heavy axis walkers were born.
Mass production began in March 1949 and the first walkers were transferred to the front lines in April 1949 to participate in the spring offensive Operation Schneewitchen (snowwhite) on the western front.
Quickly the Sturmkröte & Königskröte were able to prove their combat powers, both walkers benefitting from better all-around protection especially in close urban environment battles and also better camoflage due to the round shapes which blended much better with the soft hills of the Ardennes, making detection for allied spotters very difficult.


Hope you like it!

Cheers
invivos

Well been some time since the last post but on it goes now! Today I show you the "Archer" Medium combat walker for the Allied forces.



Since I have a big stock of old leftover At-43 walkers I intend to recycle these entirely for games of Dust Tactics. My [i]Archer uses the legs and hip from a Red Blok Sierp walker. The chassis was scratchbuild using parts from a Revell LVT-(A)1 Amtank 1/35 scale, the turret is also from the same tank kit. Since I own two of these tank kits, I intend to build a second Archer walker in the very near future. The Archer was build with a modular layout in mind, hence the gun can be easily exchanged e.g. against a flamethrower. Main part of the gun is plastic rod and a GW flying stand rod.

Meanwhile it has seen quite some real combat action in games of Dust Tactics serving currently as proxy for the Pounder walker. It was painted with a winter/spring camoflage theme in mind. I will also create a special game card and some story fluff for it too, so stay tuned and I hope you enjoy the pics!

Some more WIP & painted pics and along other dust tactic projects can also be found on my blog, please see my signature below. Stay tuned for my next project: the Gator!

Cheers

invivos

I like it, very cool stuff

Nice i want to see more too.

Thank you for the nice feedback And here is my newest work:

It´s the Gator, allied amphibious medium walker, is my newest project to support my allied troups. The Gator was originally inspired by the Wildfire walker quad 50 cal. MGs, however it has in the meantime far evolved from that concept.



The basic walker shape and 50.cal gun mounts were inspired by amphibous tanks from ww2 and Vietnam like the LVT and the PBR river boats. The Gator is basically a walking boat, it can enter any river or sea and then move on propelled by its legs and its ship propeller. The turret mounted twin MGs can rotate 360° each allowing the gator to continously monitor its environment. There is ample space to store personal goods or cargo in its pontons and it even has a limited ferry capacity. The Gator´s role is to scout ahead of main forces especially in swamps or traverse rivers. When it spots enemy units, it can call upon artillery support or engage light targets with its 50.cals.

I still need to add some details to the hull and some cargo goods. Then the Gator will also receive its own Dust tactics unit card. Hope you like it, stay tuned!

Cheers invivos

love the walking tank makes me think of the "ring of red" PS2 game

Today I can show you not one but TWO finished scratchbuild walkers for the German Axis army in Dust Tactics

The Lothar II artillery walker and the Heinrich II Anti-Aircraft walker!

1) The Lothar II:



Fluff: The German artillery walker Lothar II is a major improvement over the original Axis Lothar walker design. Boosting a now internally mounted and controlled MG48 machine gun, improved armour protection and a crew of two (instead of one in the orginal Lothar), the Lothar 2 is an ingenious versatile artillery piece. German commanders have already placed numerours requests to replace the older Lothars in the field with the new Lothar 2 types as soon as possible.



Construction: The Lothar II walker is based on an old AT-43 red blok Odin walker with additional rocket launchers, visor and machine gun. Actually it is a rather simple conversion to do, but it turned out to look really great Gamewise it counts as a Lothar (I) walker

More pics and some WIP pics can be found on my blog (see signature). Hope you like it

2) The Heinrich II



Background: In 1949 German Oberkommando ordered a complete re-design of all major Axis walker types to increase armour protection, ease of maintenance and combat efficacy. The Heinrich II was the first of those refitted walker designs to be introduced, benefitting from an all new walker design with sloped armour, while keeping the proven 20mm quad machine cannons as weaponry. Added search lights improve the Heinrich II´s anti air and anti ground combat capabilities, while its quad guns now also benefit from improved protection by being mounted in armoured sponsons. Shortly after its combat deployment the Heinrich 2 has already become a deadly and much feared sight by Allied plane pilots.



Construction: The Heinrich 2 walker is based on an old AT-43 Sierp walker with scatchbuild weapons mostly made of plastic rods and plastic spoons. I chose the plastic spoons because they match the round body of the Sierp very well and add to the overall curvy design. Gamewise it counts as Heinrich (I).

As before some more pics can be found on my blog and I´ll also add some WIP pics soon.

Hope you like the two walkers

Cheers
invivos