Macharius Tanks and Thunderbolt fighters

Long time no updates.  Many things have happened but I was just too busy.  Anyway, here are the painting updates

Macharius Tanks

I am going full steam painting Epic as I want to get the DKOK/Baran army (baring the Crassus transport as they belong to another army) completed by April 2015.  I manage to get the Macharius done within the first 10 days of the year, they also led me to believe that I will enjoy 15mm tank painting very much as they were about the same size.  Alas, I have too many minis at hand and 15mm Flames of War and moderns will have to take a back seat.

I am not very sure how I will be using the Macharius in the DKOK list (they are not allowed in Baran Siegemasters).  I bought them simply for collection purposes.  Currently I am thinking of simply letting them join foot slogging infantry to provide the crucial firepower while my Leman Russ will join the faster Death Riders cavalry.

Here's the official fluff from 40k wikia.

The Macharius is a Super Heavy Tank named after the legendary Lord Commander Solar Macharius and referred to as a 'second generation' Baneblade, fulfilling the same battlefield role.^[3a] The Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars tightly controls the information necessary to build true Baneblades, allowing only a handful of Forge Worlds permission to build these deadly machines to the same standards as those during the Great Crusade. For Forge Worlds seeking to secure large military contracts but lacking the necessary STC data, or who experience a shortfall in Baneblade production, the Macharius is a viable alternative and has become a common sight in the regiments of the Imperial Guard

In the mythic past it is known that the Imperial Army once fielded many types of heavy tanks during the Great Crusade, though the knowledge of their design, construction and even the name of some of these tanks has been lost. It is the job of the munition-adepts of the Adeptus Mechanicus to rediscover this lost data, a tireless effort which can last years. During one such mission Magos Nalax of forge world Lucius, through diligent study of his world's vast archives, discovered fragments of a blueprint for such a tank. The task of reconstructing the missing data became his life's work, cross-referencing data with components used on the Baneblade and other vehicles, until finally he presented a complete plan before the Fabricator-General on Mars for final approval. The process took two hundred years of careful study and consultation with other forge worlds before acceptance was given and Lucius sanctioned to begin production, though Nalax would not live to see his dream realized.^[1][2]

Ironically by this time Lucius had successfully lobbied for the right to build Baneblades and was already constructing them. However they soon found themselves swamped by the Departmento Munitorium's demands for the vehicle, and when the world of Krieg was returned to the Imperial fold it was Lucius that was charged with equipping their newly-raised regiments. To meet these demands Lucius turned to the Macharius, and in 852.M41 the first of these heavy tanks rolled off the production lines for the Death Korps of Krieg. Since that time other forge worlds have been granted permission to build Macharius tanks of their own, and its usage has spread to other regiments.

Thunderbolt Fighters

Next were the Thunderbolt fighters, completed today.  They will be used to provide AA services, but their main purpose is to bulk up my forces whenever my support slots were fully used up with other things.  This is because, being planes, they do not have any pre-requisite to be unlocked.  The only limitation is that planes must take up less than 25% of the IG army points.

My planes color scheme was based on this pic

 Anyway's here's the fluff

The Thunderbolt heavy fighter is one of the two main fighter aircraft patterns used by the Imperial Navy, the other of which is theLightning air superiority fighter. The Thunderbolt is the mainstay weapon system of Imperial Navy fighter wings and is a rugged, well-armed and armoured heavy fighter with all-around capabilities, a good maximum speed and above-average maneuverability, powerful nose-mounted weapons and hard points located on the wings for missile or bomb load-outs. It is an aircraft that is well-liked by those who fly and service it and it has served the cause of theEmperor for many centuries.

The Thunderbolt's primary combat role is as an air superiority fighter. It seeks out and engages enemy aircraft in dogfights or hunts enemy bombers to establish air superiority. The Thunderbolt's greatest strength is its versatility, since it has good performance as a high-altitude escort fighter while it is also serviceable in the roles of a low-altitude fighter-bomber, night fighter or even as a reconnaissance aircraft when necessary.

Whilst the Lightning air superiority fighter is faster than the Thunderbolt, with a better climb and dive rate, it is also a great deal less well-armoured, less versatile in the same range of situations as the Thunderbolt and far more finicky, demanding a great deal of attention from its maintenance crews. Like the Lightning, the Thunderbolt is equipped with a Promethium-fueled rocket engine, maneuvering thrusters and an ablative ventral surface that provides it with a limited trans-atmospheric operations capability. However, this capability was provided only for transportation and deployment from an Imperial Navy starship into a planetary atmosphere and was not intended for space combat, which means the Thunderbolt is not a true starfighter, a role normally filled by the Fury space superiority fighter. The rocket engine and thrusters allows a Thunderbolt to deploy from an Imperial Navy starship in low planetary orbit into an atmosphere and can then be used at the end of combat operations to allow a Thunderbolt to return to its mothership after using its twin air-guzzling turbofan engines to reach its maximum operational altitude. Because of this operational capacity in a vacuum, all Thunderbolt pilots are required to wear full, vacuum-sealed flight suits and helmets. The fighter's rocket engine is also used to allow the Thunderbolt to make extremely rapid launch rail take-offs from its mothership or a ground base. Once airborne using the rocket, the Thunderbolt engages its turbofans.

Imperial Navy fighter wings can possess a wide variability in the number of aircraft or starfighters they contain. They normally consist of between 10-20 aircraft or starfighters although some are much larger. Each Imperial fighter wing, in addition to its numeric designator, also takes a name that is usually that of a real or mythological flying creature. There are thousands of fighter wings in service on the Imperial Navy's myriad starships, space stations and ground bases in use by the various Sector and Segmentum Battlefleets all across the galaxy.