Current 1000 point army breakdown

Here’s a better look at how I’ve got things organised at the moment:

HQ 1 : Company Command Squad
Captain Chard (bolt pistol), a Master of Ordnance, 2 vets, a mortar team, and N-zero-RK (a proxy for Nork Deddog).

* * *

HQ 2 : Lord Commissar
Lord Commissar Witt.

* * *

TROOPS 1 : Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command: Lieutenant Bromhead (bolt pistol), 2 flamers, and a mortar.
Squad 1: Grenade launcher and an autocannon.
Squad 2: Grenade launcher and a heavy bolter.
Squad 3: Lascannon.
Squad 4: Flamer

* * *

TROOPS 2 : Veteran Squad
Sergeant (plasma pistol), 3 meltaguns, and a chimera transport.

* * *

TROOPS 3 : Veteran Squad
Gunnery sergeant Bourne (a ‘Harker’ proxy), 3 plasma guns, and a missile launcher

* * *

FAST ATTACK 1 & 2
2 scout sentinel squadrons (1 walker in each) with multilasers.

1000 points at last ...well 999 to be precise.

I’ve done a little reorganising, painted a few more models, and finally got the army up to 1000 points. I dare say it’s not a very competitive army at this stage (as I’ve had to include a lot of special characters just to make up the points) - but at least it is something I can use in a 1000 points game. Anyway, here’s a quick photo of the army as it stands at the moment (with a more detailed rundown to follow):

The one model that 40K folks might not recognise here is the robot looking figure that I will be using for an ogryn (I’ll eventually do a squad of these guys):

I remember that the imperial guard used to be able to field robots back in the day, and since I don’t really want to use any abhumans in the army I thought I might proxy them for some robot-looking figures. So for this one I have used most of the parts from a plastic mech figure that you can get from EM4 Miniatures (well actually you get a box of 5 mechs for £2.50). But to make it look a little more 40K-ish I’ve used most of an old powerfist to make one of its arms, and modified a grenade launcher somewhat to make the ripper gun arm. It also has an aerial from a vox-unit added to the top.

Sentinel Pic's

Here is a closer look at the latest sentinel (pictured in the previous post):

Unlike the first one, this one came with two weapon options (multi-laser or heavy flamer), and so I thought I would have a go at magnetising both configurations (to make both options available to me when creating army lists). So here’s another look at it with the multi-laser attached:

As before, the large flat areas needed tidying up a little after the dip (and a slight highlight added to the corners) ...but once again, I think it hasn’t turned out too bad.

Back up to 750pts

I’ve done some painting/assembling over the past few days, and (as the title suggests) I’ve managed to get the army back up to 750 points:

It’s probably not a very good 750 point list, as I've had to throw pretty much everything I have got painted together to make it, but at least it is something I can put down on the table (even though I’ve yet to play the current version of the game).

Ebay Goodies

I know that in the last post I mentioned that I didn’t need to buy any new miniatures for a while, but I’ve been browsing the ‘guard’ section of ebay for the past few days - just in case I happen to spot a bargain.

So I guess it’s no surprise that these arrived in the post this today:

...which I got for the bargain price of £2.01 (plus £1.50 P&P) - which should be great for creating a few more special weapon guys / conversions without breaking the bank.

New Codex?

It's been a while since I've done anything with my imperial guard, though I have recently taken a look at the new codex - and it seems that my old 750 point(ish) army now comes in at around 600 points.

While this is good for the battlefield (i.e. 150 points worth of 'more stuff' to throw at the enemy can't be a bad thing), I can see how many folks might think that it's not so great on the wallet.

Fortunately, I still have a number of unpainted guards lying around (and also another sentinel still on the sprue), so I don't really need to buy any more miniatures for a while - but those figures were supposed to get my 750pt army closer to 1000pts - but now that looks very unlikely.

Anyway, regardless of all that, I really like the idea of the new Master of Ordnance advisor in the new codex, though I really don't want to spend almost £10 on a pack of miniatures to get him.

So, since I have a lot of bits and pieces lying around, I figured I would have a go at making my own plastic version …and here's the result:

The body, legs, left hand, and backpack are all from the regular Cadian guardsmen sprue, and the right hand (shown here pressing a button) was from the heavy weapon sprue (which was originally on an arm that was supposed to be pointing out in the direction of the enemy).

The head is that of a space marine scout, and the arms are some really old guardsmen arms I've had lying around for quite some time.

The small scanner/radio thing in his hand is a space marine auspex (I think that's what it's called) with some of the top pointy things removed - and the centre one replaced with the aerial from the catachan radio backpack.

I know it doesn't look exactly like the Master of Ordnance miniature, but I think I will be good enough proxy in most games.

What I’ve been up to (part 2)

Here’s a quick look at one of the other things I’ve been working on lately… another (hardened veteran) melta-gunner.

It’s pretty much the same as the last two I made, and consists of a normal Cadian torso, legs, and head (with the heavy weapons backpack included too), Catachan arms, and a space marine melta-gun.

So I can now put all three of these guys into one hardened veterans squad, and possibly ‘infiltrate’ or ‘deep strike’ them close to enemy armour.

What I've been up to (part 1)

It’s been a while since I updated the blog… but I have been working (off and on) on a few pieces here and there, and so over the next couple of days I thought I would add a few pictures and things.

But first off, I did manage to pick up a cheap Tyranid codex on Ebay, and I also picked up a single tyranid warrior sprue (I think together they cost less than £10).

I then used the tyranid warrior (and a few other bits and pieces) to create the following…

…a Ravener…

…and a Zoanthrope…

For the Ravener I used mainly tyranid warrior parts – aside from the middle talons (which are from the genestealer sprue), and the lower talons (which are from a hormagaunt – but shortened somewhat). The only other thing I used (aside from a bit of greenstuff here and there) was one of the armour plate thingies from the biomorph sprue - which I used to fill the gap between the armour plates upon it's back (between the upper and lower torso pieces).

For the Zoanthrope I used the spare head from a tyranid warrior with an adrenal gland underneath to represent the exposed brain. I also had to extend the armour plates on the top of the head a little (using one of the additional armour plates you get on the genestealer sprue) to accommodate the extra length of the head & brain.

The upper torso is a plastic gaunt (that has been cut in half to remove the legs), and the abdomen is the front half of a devourer gun. I also added two more of the aforementioned armour plates to the top of the creature's back, and widened the neck a little by gluing a toxin sack to each side (I'll use these to represent some kind of gland that poisons the air with the 'toxic miasma' effect).

It's main arms are made in two parts - the top part being the upper halves of spinefist arms, and the bottom halves being the lower part of a gaunt's legs. It's secondary arms are already present on the original gaunt body.

The whole thing has then been pinned into the nest-like egg-sack thingies, with the pin being hidden with a few more (greenstuff) tentacles. All the areas were also tidied up with greenstuff (to fill in any holes, make the joins less obvious, extend armour plates, etc.) during the course of making the model.

So at this moment in time I have around 400 points of tyraninds (though with only one ‘troops choice’ thus far) to borrow to anyone I know who wants to learn the game.

A Quick Update

Getting a cheap Tyranid codex on eBay is proving to be more difficult than I though, but in the meantime I’ve been working on a few bits of terrain and a game board.

In truth I don’t see myself ever building/playing massive armies, and so I’ve decided to just make a small board out of two 3 ft. x 2 ft. cork notice boards (for a total playing area of 3x4) and I’m planning to cover the join (where the frames of the two boards meet) with a raised road section.

And since I already have a few Hirst Arts moulds (which I’ve used to make a few pieces of D&D terrain in the past) I’ve been building a few bits and pieces from some of the spare blocks that I have lying around.

So here’s a quick snapshot of part of an imperial perimeter wall or something (apologies for the quality of the picture - it is the only one from a batch of about 10 that I took that is in focus):

Pretty much everything here is made from plaster of paris blocks that I’ve cast from the Hirst Arts moulds - with the exception of the imperial eagle (which was left over from the chimera) and the pinheads (used to represent the rusty bolts) and two small bits of a paperclip (to represent the steel rods in the reinforced concrete).

A Basic Tyranid Force

I’m still looking for a cheap Tyranid Codex on eBay, but just from looking on the GW site I’ve been able to put a small force together that contains all the compulsory unit types (i.e. one ‘HQ’ and two ‘Troops’ choices).

I’m guessing that this force will be somewhere in the region of 200 to 250 points, and as I said in the last post, these are not really meant to be a well balanced force or anything like that… just a few models for a quick skirmish game to help learn the rules.

HQ : Broodlord

Troops : 6 Genestealers

Troops : 8 Termagants

Someone/thing to Fight!

Since I don’t really know anyone who plays the game, I thought I would try and build up a small Tyranid force so that I can run through a few solo-battles if the mood takes me (just so that I can try the rules out, and maybe give me a better understanding of them) or to loan to anyone who wants to try the game.

I also thought that since the witch hunters book has lists for ‘traitor’ allies - I could also use a predominantly Genestealer force with some of my Guard figures to represent a genestealer-cult type army to give me yet more choices of what kind of army I can field.

So, to start with here’s a look at the Broodlord figure I have made from various plastic parts.

This picture shows a plastic genestealer body with the head removed and replaced with a (slightly larger) termagant head. You can also see that I have extended the right leg a little (as it looked to be a little smaller than the other one) and I’ve also made an incision at the waist and bent the torso into a more upright position. In addition, I have given the illusion of a little more height by having the right foot resting upon a bit of sprue. I have also shown where I have pinned the model for some extra strength. The one at the waist is not really pinned, but rather just glued into the gap (to stop the gap from closing).

And here's the mini with the relevant arms added to match the Broodlord pictured on the GW website. I've also filled in all the gaps with a bit of greenstuff.

And finally, here’s a size comparison shot with a regular genestealer.

As far as painting these guys, I’m just going with as simple a paint scheme as possible (purely for speed) - which is something akin to the monster from the Aliens movies.

Senior Officer Conversion

Up until now I’ve only painted a few metal figures for inclusion in the army, but I’ve since got to thinking that I would like to have the entire lot made out of plastic if possible.

So after the success (at least in my eyes) of my last officer conversion (which I now plan to use as my junior officer in the 1st platoon command squad), I’ve decided to do something similar for the senior officer in my HQ command - and here’s the results:

Once again the legs are regular cadian legs, as is the hand holding the boltpistol (from the sergeant arm). The boltpistol itself is from the space marine weapon sprue I purchased a while ago, and the torso is from the imperial guard tank commander (that came with my Chimera). The head and arms are from a (Warhammer Fantasy) empire militia sprue (the hands originally held flintlock pistols) with the left hand being replaced with a misc. closed hand (I cant remember exactly what it was from) with a hole drilled through it to allow it to grip the powersword.

Hopefully this has given me a reasonably unique looking figure to represent my captain without going too overboard.

More eBay Stuff

A couple of things arrived in the post today…

As you can see one is the Witch Hunters Codex (which cost me £3.19 + £1 p&p) and the other is the small rule book from the new Assault on Black Reach boxed set (which cost me £9.99 + free P&P).

To be honest I’m not really interested in the Sisters of Battle elements of the codex, as all I really want to do is use an Inquisitor as an ally for my imperial guard (which this book will allow me to do). So it would be fair to say that I didn’t really want to spend much money on the codex (as only a few pages in the book are going to be of any use to me), so I’m rather happy with the price as the book itself is in great condition.

As far as the small rule book goes, I know £10 (all but a penny) might be a bit much when you consider it is only half the size of a regular magazine - but I’m on a tight budget, and it has worked out a lot cheaper than buying the £30 hardback. Admittedly, this small booklet only contains the rules (i.e. no background information, modelling tips, etc) …but that in itself is plenty for me to be getting on with.

So yeah …I’ve finally got a copy of the rules in my hands* …so maybe now I can finally start getting to grips with the game itself (at last).

*as I said at the very beginning of this blog, the only experience I have with the game is back in the Rogue Trader days (1st edition).

Finished Officer

A couple of days ago I mentioned the fact that I had managed to break my plastic officer conversion (and mess the paint up a little). However, I did manage to save him in the end - so here's a close up photo of the finished miniature (after 'dipping' and a coat of matt varnish):

600pts = More Veterans

It looks like I can easily increase the size of the army a further 100 points by including a few more veterans.

So here is the first of my new veteran conversions (similar to the melta-gunner I did previously):

And here is another veteran made up from various spare parts I had lying around:

This one is mostly made up of catachan parts (body, legs, right arm, left hand and canteen) with a cadian head and ammo pack thrown in, along with a row of marine pouches. The left arm is from a (fantasy) chaos marauder sprue I think (I’ve had this lying around for years with the intention of making a few D&D barbarian type figures) - which has allowed me to have the miniature look as though he is reaching for the lasgun’s power pack.

More Conversions

Here’s a picture of some of the other conversions I’ve been working on in between painting the chimera.

I was thinking of maybe doing an alternate HQ command squad that was a little more suited to close quarters fighting. Therefore these two guys would replace the regular guardsmen (i.e. swapping lasguns for laspistols and a close combat weapon at no extra cost) and I would also replace the mortar with 2 flamers.

Unfortunately I’ve also managed to break the plastic lieutenant I posted a few days ago. I somehow managed to drop him after the initial dip - which has also messed the model up a little too. Hopefully I’ll be able to save him (fingers crossed).

500pt Army

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’ve been working on a Chimera transport, and so I thought I would get a photograph of it now that’s been varnished.

I might add a few more decals to it later on, but for now I’m probably going to call it finished.

So here’s a list that I’ve made to make the most of the miniatures I have painted thus far. I’ll probably tinker with it a bit now and again by swapping out mini’s here and there (like including the plastic officer I posted in the previous entry) …but now that the Chimera is done this is what I can field right now.

HQ CHOICE
- command platoon –
Junior Officer (with bolt pistol)
2 guardsmen with lasguns
2 guards in a mortar team

1st TROOPS CHOICE
- infantry platoon –
…command squad
Junior Officer (with bolt pistol and scanner)
2 guardsmen with lasguns
2 guards in a mortar team

…infantry squad 1
sergeant with laspistol & close-combat weapon
6 guardsmen with lasguns
1 guardsman with a grenade launcher
2 guardsmen in a heavy bolter team

…infantry squad 2
sergeant with laspistol & close-combat weapon
7 guardsmen with lasguns
2 guardsmen in a lascannon team

2nd TROOPS CHOICE
- armoured fist squad –
veteran sergeant with plasma pistol & close-combat weapon
8 guardsmen with lasguns
1 guardsman with a plasma gun
chimera transport with a turret multi-laser, hull heavy bolter, pintle heavy stubber, and extra armour

FAST ATTACK
Sentinel with multi-laser

I'm Back

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog (or even worked on any more imperial guard miniatures) as I kinda decided to put things off until 5th edition came out.

Well, I still haven’t got hold of the new rules (or even played a game of 4th edition for that matter), but I thought I would get back to work and paint a few of the models I purchased earlier in the year …and at least complete a small 500pt army.

So the first thing I needed to get finished was the Chimera. I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t much enjoy assembling this vehicle - and getting the tracks to look somewhere near right was just plain frustrating. In the end I’ve had to put the track guards on the vehicle just to cover a gap where the tracks do not meet.

Anyway, while working on the Chimera I’ve also painted up a few more troops (basically adding what I needed to fill out the ranks of my new 500pt list) and I've been working on a few more conversions just for the hell of it.

Here’s a quick pic of two of them:

I was actually quite surprised to see that there are no miniatures currently available to represent the basic officer (i.e. with no upgrades). So, as you can see, I have attempted to make my own by using a spare set of cadian legs and hands (the hands were cut from the sergeant’s arms), the head and torso from the tank commander parts, and the arms from the really old plastic guardsmen miniatures from back when I was a kid.

The guy standing next to him is another trooper to add to my veterans squad (though most of those mini’s will be used as regular toopers for my armoured fist squad in the 500pt list). He’s made predominantly from catachan pieces (head, body, and legs), but i’ll admit that I really don’t like the proportions of the catachan miniatures - and so I’ve elongated the body just a little to make the mini look a little less squat. The arms are basic cadian arms that I have cut/filed the armour off in order to make the waistcoat look more like a jacket. He’s also got a few packs and a cadian helmet on his belt too.

Standard Bearer Conversion

This one was a little more in depth than the last:

For the right arm I started with a regular sergeant arm and cut away the laspistol and the hand. Then I took a grenade throwing arm and drilled/cut out the grenade so that the flag pole would fit snugly into the hand. Next I cut the hand from the arm and glued it to the aforementioned sergeant’s arm (tidying it up with a bit of greenstuff).

For the left arm I started with the other regular sergeant arm and cut/filed away the sergeant stripes and cut away the chainsword. I then took the laspistol (which I had left over from the right arm conversion) and after cutting away the right hand, glued it in place. I then had to do a bit of tricky filling/sculpting with some greenstuff to make the trigger finger look right, and also reshape the handle.

The banner itself is straight from a bretonian (WHFB) command sprue - though I had to cut/file away the hand attatched to it. I also added a purity seal from the marine (tactical upgrade) sprue I have lying around – just to make it look a little more like the one pictured in the codex.

Veteran Sergeant Conversion

Today I picked up a chimera transport from the local GamesWorkshop store (Walsall), and so I thought I’d get to work on my armoured fist squad.

I’ve already got most of the troops painted (just regular guardsmen), but I thought I’d forgo a heavy weapon team (to give the squad increased mobility) and just include a special weapon with this squad (either a meltagun or plasma gun). However, I think I would like this unit to pack more of a punch than that, and so I plan on including a veteran sergeant with a plasma pistol to lead them into battle.

The model is predominately cadian pieces with catachan pouches and grenade. The plasma pistol was made by cutting off the laspistol from the sergeant’s right arm and replacing it with a plasma pistol cut from a space marine arm (from the tactical upgrade sprue I purchased last month). It required a bit of greenstuff to get it looking right, but overall I’m happy with the result.