Fighting Tiger Transports (Part I): Rhinos
In looking at the photos below, you may be saying to yourself, "There's something wrong with these Rhinos: they're backwards!" I wanted my Rhinos to resemble those amphibious landing craft used by Allied troops in World War II (like in the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan). Notice how the front ends jut up and the back ends slope down. I always get asked why my Marines are driving in reverse, but it's not hard to figure out if you just look at which way the exhaust pipes are pointing.

In keeping with the tiger theme of my army, each Rhino is named "Man-eater." Most are used by my Tigers of Rudra, and one (Man-eater III) is mostly used by my Veterans.

I added tank tracks and various plastic bits for extra armor. Each Rhino has a smoke launcher and an optional pintle-mounted storm bolter in addition to the standard storm bolter. When these photos were taken, I had equipped Man-eaters I and II with side-mounted hunter-killer missiles, but I've since taken them off to save points.

By the way, the pawprint insignias on Man-eaters I and II are pre-printed, self-adhesive decals I picked up somewhere and painted over in the appropriate colors. 

New Rhinos
Over the last few months, I've been beefing up my Tactical Squads (I now have 50 Tactical troopers) and to go along with that, I thought I'd add to their mobility by including some new Rhinos. As I've been expanding my army, I've been in a "less is more" mindset about tiger stripes, so just as the new Tactical Marines have fewer stripes, so too do their rides.

First up is Man-eater VII (man-eaters IV-VI are Razorbacks). Like the Rhinos above, it's built "backwards" using the original model that came out waaaay back in the dark ages of 1st Edition ("Rogue Trader") Warhammer 40,000. I chose the older version and built it "backwards" so that it would fit in with the Rhinos I already had. Likewise, it uses Imperial Guard track sections for extra armor and is painted in the same colors (Fiery Orange and Chaos Black). The difference is in the stripes--or rather, in the amount of stripes.

For the new Rhinos, I only painted stripes on the hatches. It was a lot easier to finish the tank, and I think it looks much less "cluttered" or busy than the original ones.

When the 3rd Edition Codex: Space Marines came out and I read all the cool vehicle upgrades that were available, I went a little nuts equipping Man-eaters I, II, and III: they got extra armor, smoke launchers, pintle-mounted storm bolters, hunter-killer missiles, everything but fuzzy dice to hang from the rearview mirror. All those goodies cost points however (and get your Composition scores gigged at tournaments), and over time I stripped off the extra weaponry. The new Rhinos have only extra armor, smoke launchers, and searchlights (the "G-kit", named after its chief proponent, Paul "Fireberd Gnome" Hill).

Man-eater VIII serves as a transport for a squad of Tactical Marines from Ghuyarashtra, the southern continent of Veda, so it matches their mustand-and-brown paint scheme. In crafting this tank, I thought I'd do something a little different. In addition to the two aerials on the back, I took the spare Razorback gunner that I had not used in building Man-eater VI, and positioned him in an open hatch. I gave him a standard searchlight bit, and now he looks like he's sweeping the battlefield with a powerful hand-held lantern, looking for enemies. 

Lately, I like to build models in sets, so I assembled and painted the two new Rhinos at the same time. They're basically the same pattern, with just enough variations so that they don't look like clones of each other. Take a long look at the photo below and I think you'll understand what I mean. The front spikes (just decoration, by the way), the extra armor, the smoke launchers and storm bolters and hatches are the same design and are in pretty much the same positions. Even the pattern of the stripes is the same, limited to the same areas. 

The differences are the colors used, the areas toward the rear of the transports, and a few minor details. Colors are obvious, and they're painted that way to coordinate with the squads they carry: you'll never catch orange-and-black Fighting Tigers coming out of mustard-and-brown tank, and vice versa. The back of Man-eater VII has a built-up cabin area similar to Man-eater I (see below). The back of Man-eater VIII has those aerials and the Marine in the hatch. As for little details, Man-eater VII has a black-and-white cargo box and a mounted searchlight; Man-eater VIII does not.

In comparing the old and new Rhinos, you can see that I've tried to make them complementary even if they aren't duplicates. The new Rhinos incorporate elements of the old Rhinos so that they'll look like they belong together on the tabletop. I'm very fond of the old ones (we've been in a lot of battles together) and would never get rid of them, but I like the cleaner look of the new ones better. 

I hope that together, the old and new Rhinos will help bring ruin and destruction upon the enemies of the Fighting Tigers--and look good while they're doing it!
 

Next page (pg 8): Transports, Part II Previous page (pg 6): Troops, Part II

Related Pages
Painting Fighting Tiger Vehicles
Fighting Tiger Troops
Tactics: Fighting Tiger Troops
 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, May 2003 

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