Showcase: Legions Imperialis Iron Warriors Land Raider Transport Detachment (inc. painting guide)

On today’s post I talk about hotdogs, ebay and hollowness as well as the usual how I painted the Iron Warriors’ Land Raiders and a 2200pt army photograph.

Models were kindly supplied to me by Games Workshop. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m starting to find that Legions Imperialis has the hot dog dilemma. Have you ever bought hotdogs that come in a pack of 8 and the buns come in a pack of 6? These Land Raiders have the same problem. You get 6 Land Raiders in a box and you only get 2 bases of Terminators in a Legiones Infantry box. 

I had 4 bases of Terminators already in my collection and wanted another two bases. Legion Imperialis Land Raiders can transport 2 bases, but Terminators are ‘bulky’, so each base counts as two bases. With 6 Land Raiders it makes sense I need 6 terminator bases. I didn’t want to buy another Legiones Infantry box just for 2 bases so I managed to find them on eBay for £12 (including postage), I feel like I overpaid but needs must. 

The Land Raiders are lovely little things. Nice and chunky miniature tanks, they have great detail all around including the underneath. I remember the Epic 40,000 Land Raiders from the mid-90s and they were hollow with no under-carriage detail. These modern Land Raiders are made up of lots of pieces and quite fun to build. Invest in some decent needlenose tweezers and needle-applicator plastic glue because some of the parts are incredibly small and fiddly. 

How to Paint Iron Warriors

Painting them is fast. If you want, you can spend a lot of time painting damage, and highlighting every rivet but for me I had to lose the 40k scale mentality when it comes to painting Epic Scale. A base coat, wash and dry brush is more than enough for these miniature tanks. Unavoidably, I do have to take my time with the hand painted hazard stripes. Those hand painted stripes really help sell the quick paint job as something more than it actually is. I also like the wash of Gore-Grunta Fur over the metal tracks, it makes them slightly more interesting than a big metal block. My bases are a rusty brown colour (a Forge World fell to disrepair) and I imagine those metal tracks churning up rust dust and it just sticking to the treads. 

Rusty Tracks Paint Recipe

• Leadbelcher basecoat
• Nuln Oil wash
• Runefang Steel dry brush
• Gore-Grunta Fur wash

I’m determined to hit around 3500pts with this collection. I really want to add a Thunderhawk Gunship and 3500pts grows my 30% allies allowance and means I can add a Dire Wolf Scout Titan. Let’s hope I can grow this collection before Games Workshop retires the range.