[This post was originally posted to Otherverse Games & Hobbies as part of a series called Plastic to Painted, or P2P. You may see logos or references to this site and series]
Is Ammo Delivery Service Part of the Gig Economy?
Unless your quartermaster wants to get BLAM-ed by the commissar for “insufficient logistical planning,” every Imperial Guard unit probably has a Trojan or three working hard in the background ferrying food, supplies, and ammo back and forth to the front lines. Even the commissar needs to eat after all.
The Trojan Support Vehicle is an Imperial Guard logistics vehicle based on the Chimera chassis. Common throughout the Imperium and built on hundreds of worlds, the Trojan is primarily an unarmored towing tractor and supply vehicle not intended for front-line deployment. In addition to carrying supplies and ammo, it can tow additional supplies in specialized trailers or schlep artillery pieces into position.
Of course, sometimes desperate guardsmen will up-armor or mount guns to their Trojan in the hopes of utilizing the chassis as a poor man’s Leman Russ. Perhaps not the wisest of ideas with the Techpriests and Adeptus Munitorum frowning on such shenanigans, but if the attack is successful, all is *usually* forgiven.
There is some real-world historical precedent for such actions of course. A good example would be the Soviets in WW2. They took the cute little T-20 Komsomolets artillery tractor…
And stuck a 57mm artillery piece on top to create a very expedient light anti-tank chassis called the ZIS-30
On the 40k tabletop, the Trojan Support Vehicle has occasionally had some rather cheesy strategies around repair and rerolls through the editions. Currently… it’s kinda useless on the tabletop (pending a shocking reveal in the new codex). Don’t let that stop you from finding a model to paint up to add some flavor to your armored regiment. Thankfully, unlike the Atlas, the original Forgeworld resin kit is still available for the Trojan. At least at the time of writing, they’re still in stock and not complete unobtanium.
For a Forgeworld kit , the Trojan is actually quite easy to prepare and assemble. The main body is made up of two fairly large chunks of resin, so warping is less of a concern than with some kits. Some greenstuff gap filling was required, but that’s practically genteel compared to the hackery required to get some of their kits to fit together properly. I made the choice to glue the hatch covers shut (they can be positioned open if you want to create a diorama) and to magnetize the crane, mostly for ease of transport/storage.
My Steel Legion Trojan often has its work cut out towing around an Earthshaker Cannon to new positions on the battlefield. In a larger game, it can often be found hiding behind my superheavy Baneblade, sneakily repairing the armored behemoth as it takes battle damage.
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Ian
Something of an expert on printing, kitbashing, and hunting for models to keep his beloved abandoned GW factions alive a little longer. Usually finds the bandwagon about 10 years after it left the station. Can usually be found repairing old cameras or rusty hoopties in his spare time. Voted most likely to ask “Can I use this soda-can carnifex?” at an official tournament.
