Seeing as my Bazi Royal Guard are now basically done, it’s time to give them a little support to roll around in. Having picked up the Gage Commando from Empress at Hammerhead (back in the before times), it seemed kind of perfect. Something capable of shrugging off rifle rounds or smashing through obstacles while not quite the overwhelming damage of a fully armoured tank.
Assembly was Empress’s usual ease (and a little bit of shaving down) – I decided to go without the rear-mounted M60 (in Bazi service, it would probably be more likely a PKM) and put a .50cal and a .30cal in the turret. This should make it perfect for covering the other Royal Guard elements, or providing escort to VIPS.
The final touch was the crewman. As you may remember, the knife-wielding gentleman from the main packs for the Bazi Royal Guard was declared terrible and pulled off the painting log. However, his body is still pretty well modelled and so (after an incident with a saw) he is now perfect for a vehicle commander. To replace the undersized head, I pulled a head from the Warlord Paratrooper spure, shave down the cap badge and then did some surgery. Rather than cutting and pinning, I managed to adjust the hand positions just by pushing the arms into a new location. He now has a clenched fist on the turret top while grabbing the side of the
Now, before this is put on the undercoat pile, I just need to do a final tweak to the vehicle crew – sculpting on a headset to make him look a little more prepared for his role.