Walkers, what are they good for?

I've just finished painting the last of my DIMOG walkers that I bought from Khurasan so I thought I'd put together a post about all the walkers I have and the problems they pose.

The biggest problem is getting a bloke in there. Most of them do not have enough room for anyone to sit in them unless they were recruited from the casualty wards. Now this may not be too far fetched, it at least gives a reason for the existence of walkers, which is tenuous at best.

The only possible reason for them is a need for something more armoured and carrying more powerful weaponry that has similar mobility in terms of terrain as infantry. So they could only be used where tanks can't go, as anywhere a tank could go, a tank would be superior in terms of armour, weapon size, speed, range, lack of joints to break and also a lower silhouette. So we can only be talking about very rough broken terrain and possible heavily vegetated areas.

On to some pictures, here we have the DIMOG varients from Khurasan...

DIMOG Light Varient with open cockpit

DIMOG Heavy varient

DIMOG Civilian Loader with out of work flight officer

All of these obviously have no problem with fitting a crewman and are probably some of the most realistic style of walkers in the ranges currently available.

Next up we have some Steel Warriors, nominally 25mm scale power armour types, though such figures would have great difficulty getting their legs into the armour, as 15mm walkers they work much better...

View from the front looks a bit tight...

....but the side view shows a protrusion to the rear allowing a seated position entirely within the torso.

Now we have a Critical Mass Protolene Scout Assaultsuit and an (unpainted, sorry) Copplestone 28mm Power Armour Suit (sans arms also)...
Each of these has problems with cockpit size. The Protolene Scout Assaultsuit obviously would require a lower limb amputee to drive it as the articulation between body and legs would not allow the pilots legs to pass through. Alternatively it could be a robot piloted by an AI instead. The 28mm Power Armour also has problems with crew position, although it does look possible for the legs of the pilot to fit in the upper part of the walkers legs, although it would require a saddle rather than a chair.

Now if you want to do it right, by which I mean if you are insane enough to think that walkers are a good idea, you have to be Harook, in which case you can create the fantastic Chicken Main Battle Tank.

The very size of the thing has a morale effect that compensates for its sheer impracticability and as such fits into the Harook philosophy of war quite nicely.

Source of model, unfortunately, is lost within the mists of time, but it was intended as a 25mm model, could do with a new paint job though.

Harook!

“Awwwwwkkkkkkk!”

With the sound of his nest-mates' battle cry ringing in his ears, Flock subLeader Garrak leapt from the smouldering battle-wagon desperately trying to keep up with the rest of the platoon as they stormed towards the enemy defensive line ahead of them.

To the left and right tracer rounds ripped by his head leaving bright violet streaks across his vision. Shaking his head to in an attempt to clear a high pitched buzz caused by the enemy missile that had disabled his vehicle, he raised his assault carbine and returned fire more at less at random as he continued the charge.

The enemy defenders had dug in on the front face of a hill, burrowing into the ground and piling the dirt in front of their holes to form a steep sloped bund twice the height of a Harook. Firing holes had been dug through the bunds and lined with wood so the defenders could fire without exposing themselves. The tops of the bunds were covered with thorny vegetation gathered from local woods mixed with razor wire.

Garrak fired out the last of his magazine straight down the firing hole and bounded to the top of the slope, leaping over the razor wire and thorns with ease. Obviously the enemy had never faced angry Harook before or they would not have relied on such a low protective fence, even juvenile Harook fresh from the nest would have had no trouble clearing the wire.

Garrak landed in the dug out position and his avian eye quickly took in the surroundings – two of the enemy falling back with smouldering armour desperately trying to reload their weapons, one other fleeing into a tunnel leading into the hill side, and one closing from the right swinging up his weapon to engage the intruder.

The Harook hopped closer to the attacker and kicked out with his foot claws in a vicious sweep from the front to the rear, catching the enemy under his chest armour and spilling an interesting looking collection of entrails across the dug out – tasty treats for later, assuming he'd survive the next few minutes.

Leaping forward, Garrak opened his beak wide, yelling a battle squark as he closed with one of the remaining enemy, the squark ending abruptly as he closed his beak over his victims head and plucked the whole thing, helmet included, from the torso of his terrified opponent.

The last standing enemy soldier was drenched in blood that burst from his squad mates body and fell back throwing down his weapon in an attempt to surrender. Garrak quickly reloaded his rifle, and leaving the coward to the rest of his nest-mates plunged into the tunnel shooting rapidly into the dark.

The darkness and close confines of the tunnel was terrifying to Garrak, but his battle fury overcame his cultural phobias and he charged screaming down the tunnel ignoring the self inflicted wounds caused by scraping along the tunnel wall. With his head down in a full charge, Garrak's overall height was reduced by half, and as he burst into a chamber most of the fire directed at him went over his head. A strong blow to his left arm spun him around as his ceramic armour deflected the one round that hit him and he tumbled to the floor at the defenders feet.

Garrak braced himself to leap to his feet and take the lives of as many of these dirt dwellers as he could before they could finish him, but before he could start to move the defenders flew apart in a ripple of explosions as one of his nest-mates following him into the tunnel fired an entire magazine from his micro-missile support cannon at waist height.

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This is the first Harook from Mad Robot Miniatures that I've painted, when I can keep my brush steady in between coughing and sneezing