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The planet of Todth was colonized by mankind during the Dark Age of Technology, a world of verdant abundance not entirely unlike a young Earth. It is located in Segmentum Tempestus, to the galactic southeast of Tallarn. Todth was cut off from the rest of mankind by one of the many warpstorms that swept through the galaxy during the Age of Strife. The Todthite colonists survived for many generations in complete isolation from the rest of humanity, nurtured by the material wealth of their world. It was a time of great productivity and prosperity for the folk of Todth. Their colonies grew into cities of unparalleled artistry and sophistication, each a monument to their creator's mastery of engineering and artifice. The psyker gene that proved such a burden to the rest of mankind was strangely absent in the Todthites, sparing them from being torn apart from within by daemonic incursion. The world was for all intents and purposes an idyllic paradise, an oasis of sophistication in a galaxy increasingly descending into complete barbarism...
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The Imperial Guard has always interested me, as I have long maintained that "there's something elemental about an army of dudes and tanks" (I know, my ability to communicate knows no bounds ). Unfortunately, when I started Warhammer 40k back in the days of yore (known to you kids as Second Edition), Imperial Guard were the single most expensive army to play (just imagine all of your Guardsmen being metal models). Being not just a gamer but also a cheapass, I never made the jump into the Guard, instead messing around with Space Marines, Necrons and (later) Dark Eldar. Fast forward to last year, when Wargames Factory previewed their Greatcoat Shock Troopers. Suddenly I had a cheap source of Imperial Guardsmen that tapped directly into my love for Helghasts and Panzercops. Much to the chagrin of my half finished Blood Angel and Dark Eldar armies (nevermind the horde of partially assembled Tyranids that I still regret buying...), I took the plunge into the Imperial Guard.

When I finally got my Greatcoat Shock Troopers I was a little underwhelmed. I wasn't expecting GW quality, but the lack of definition presented a bit of a challenge for me as I started working out highlight/shading patterns for the individual troopers. Beyond that, a lot of the bits and heads supplied with the kits were non-functional, limiting my options a bit more than I expected. Luckily enough, working on a WHFB Beastman army taught me that I love to kitbash things. I gathered up all of the Imperial Guard and Space Marine bits in my collection, and began sprucing up my WGF Shock Troops.

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The doom of Todth came thousands of years later, in the 33rd millennium. As the warp storms surrounding the Todth star system abated it was quickly assaulted by an Ork tribe borne upon a highly unstable space hulk. From on high the Orks rained down upon Todth in improvised landing craft, looting and burning the high towered cities of the Todthites. Lulled by generations of peace thanks to their period of isolation, the people of Todth fared badly in the early months of the Orkish invasion. It was only when the industry of the planet was turned to craft of war that the fortunes of the Todthites began to reverse. Drawing upon STC data, the factories once used to fabricate the infrastructures of the great cities began churning out a cavalcade of potent war machines. Waves of Orks were driven back across scorched plains by formations of BaneBlade and Shadowsword super-heavy tanks, their Trukks and Battlewagons smashed to pieces by humanity's vengeance. Yet still the greenskins came, raining down from the orbiting space hulk with greater frequency. The ruling council of the planet decreed that for peace to be restored, the hulk would need to be destroyed. Newly forged batteries of Deathstrike Missile Lauchers prepared to deliver their payloads skyward...
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Around the time that I started researching color schemes for my Imperial Guard, I developed an increased interest in World War I and World War II (shock of shocks, no? ). For my Dark Eldar, I used a simple but effective grey urban scheme. I knew that my Imperial Guard would have a classic grey/black scheme, so I didn't want to put them on grey bases. Trench warfare was a natural choice for my guys, so I elected to try my hand at creating mud bases.



I achieved the mud base look by using spackle on the base of each of my guardsmen. This also allowed me to cover up the blob-stand connected to the feet of each Shock Trooper model. As it was my first attempt to use spackling, ever, I was pretty happy with the results.


As I had mentioned, many of the bits supplied with the Shock Trooper models were useless for my purposes. Most of the unhelmeted heads were actually larger than their helmeted counterparts (this may have been some misguided attempt at offering aliens, though they just look like humans with face masks and really big heads), the pistols were a complete joke and the clip/knife bits were largely too fiddly to look right on the models. In the end, I began adding Cadian and Catachan accessory bits to my Guardsmen in order to give them a bit more visual interest.



I also began employing some Marine, Guard Command Squad and Scout bits to build up better Platoon and Squad commanders.

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The destruction of the Ork Space Hulk was a catastrophic mistake. As the powerful missiles hit home the hulk began to break up, its orbit destabilizing as it did so. Thousands of Orks perished in fire as their vessel plunged into the atmosphere of Todth, but several larger sections of the ancient stellar barge slammed into the planet largely intact. Massive gouts of dirt and debris were kicked into the skies of Todth, soon plunging the world into a sickly twilight. Worse still, the Orks now had an overwhelming presence on the planet's surface. All thoughts of artistry or restraint were lost to the Todthites now, throwing the full weight of their engineering prowess into outfitting the armies needed to battle against the alien despoilers who now had them on their heels. The war degenerated into a bloody stalemate, with neither side able to claim the decisive victory needed. In their fevered minds, the Mekboyz of the Orks began to dream of giants. Giants that would storm across the trenches of the Todthites, that would smash down their city towers and trample their tanks into scrap. When the first Gargants of the Orks appeared in the Orkish forces, it signaled the end for the Todthites. Their armies were scattered, driven to death or surrender by a seemingly invulnerable foe. When the Orkish conquest was complete, the greenskins refrained from slaughtering the planet's human population. Instead they enslaved them, marching them back into their own factory complexes to create materials for the Ork Warboss who now claimed the planet as his own.
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A bit of a disclaimer to any German speaking readers out there: I am going to shamelessly butcher your language. I don't do this out of disrespect, but to my silly Anglo-American ears, there's a uniquely evocative quality to the sound of the German language. Also, most of my Guardsmen are wearing stahlhelms, so there's also that.

As I work on this blog, I plan to keep posting updates about the history of Todth and the particulars of the Jagdmacht itself. I had to wait four months for my Shock Trooper models to arrive, so it gave me ample time to spin a back story for my regiment. At current, I have 44 Imperial Guardsmen painted and based. I haven't actually played a game with the army, so my build list has changed a few times over the past year as I get new ideas and discard old ones. Right now, I'm looking at running five Infantry Squads and two Veteran Squads in my 2,000 point list.

Infantry Squad One

(Squad Sergeant is converted from Space Marine Scout bits applied to the Greatcoat models)

Infantry Squad Two

(Squad Sergeant is converted from a SM Scout CCW arm and another arm with an added Chaos Space Marine Bolt Pistol)

Infantry Squad Three


My Autocannon Team is built from a mix of Cadian Heavy Weapon Team, Cadian Shock Trooper and Greatcoat bits. For simplicity, I decided that some units in my armor will sport lighter "Cadian Pattern" armor where appropriate. As these two guys are from the artillery corps, not the regular army, they have the lighter Cadian armor equipped. The gunner himself has one of the Shock Tropper "welding mask" heads. I tend to use these on my gunners, tank commanders and some special weapons troopers. Here's a closer look at the Autocannon Squad.




Being a cheapass (I mentioned that, right?), I decided that I wanted to be able to get two Heavy Weapons from each of my Weapon Team kits. I accomplished this by picking up a couple of extra bases at the FLGS, and by generously converting from the bits available to me to create a second weapons team. My Lascannon Teams (which I will post later) incorporate Mortar and Missile Launcher bits to make up the pieces that they're supposed to share with the Autocannon.

Infantry Squad Four

(The squad sergeant has a SM Scout Bolt Pistol and a Shock Trooper command arm, AKA the Pointy Finger of Pointing Death)

My next challenge is to get my three Lascannon Teams knocked out, then begin work on my Platoon and Company Command Squads. That should just about take care of my regular infantry, leaving me with Veterans, Tanks, Chimeras and Vendettas to paint up. Hopefully you've enjoyed this glimpse into my Guard regiment.

Looking good, enjoying the Killzone look you have going on!

Thanks! I could have tried to put more of a spin on it, but frankly I like the Killzone/Jin-Roh aesthetic so much that I felt no need to change it. Not like Helghast armies are popping out of the woodwork or anything.

Concerning the German, here a more accurate translation:
"Mein Imperator, mein Leben!
Kommen Sie zur Jagdstreitmacht / zum Jägerkorps.
Melden Sie sich noch heute bei Ihrem (örtlichen) Rekrutierungsbüro / beim Rekrutierungsbüro."
Don't know what the last sentence should mean.

Hm, ...

Duty is mandatory?

Exercise is required?

Loving the look you achieved using those models, combined with the color scheme based upon the helghasts. Nice work, I am definably subscribed.

Thanks for the assist, fellow Dakka-ites who actually know the German language and don't just hamfist their way through the problem with Google Translate. The poster was supposed to say

"Join the Jagdmacht! Report to your local recruiting officer! Service is mandatory."

I know that Kaiser/Imperator would have been a better translation of "Emperor," but I also thought that the Imperial Creed might actually prohibit the use of any title other than Emperor for the God Emperor of Mankind.

Just a quickie. Last Tuesday I got to play with my Guard for the first time. We were only able to get in three turns before I had to leg it, but I brought 1,250 points of Guard against 1,250 points of Orks, and got pretty well hammered.

Still, we played a game with five objectives, which quickly brought to attention the fact that neither myself nor my opponent had any Objective Markers. With that in mind, I took some time last evening to knock out these...



Clockwise from the 11 o'clock position we have an ammunition cache, a fuel dump, a dead Imperial courier with satchel, a small shrine to a Defiant Martyr and a wounded Jagdmacht Tank Commander. All bases are spackled, for eventual conversion to mud bases (to match my army). I used square bases for my objective markers in order to make them stand out from the units on the table. Most of this was made from stuff in my bits box, or pieces that I accumulated over the years for terrain projects.

Heeresdienst ist verbindlich.

Vielleicht?

I'm not fluent by any means.

I've always thought of Ausgabe as something to do with work or school.

ANYHOW, sweet looking army here. Like the KZ look.

Ok, does anyone want to tell me what this reads as before I slap it onto a poster?

"Wer schützt sie vor Schaden? Sie werden!"

SkaerKrow wrote:Ok, does anyone want to tell me what this reads as before I slap it onto a poster?

"Wer schützt sie vor Schaden? Sie werden!"

Wouldn't use that as it doesn't make sense.
May I suggest to post in english what you wanted to say and have it translated?

"Join the Jagdmacht! Report to your local recruiting officer! Service is mandatory."

know that Kaiser/Imperator would have been a better translation of "Emperor," but I also thought that the Imperial Creed might actually prohibit the use of any title other than Emperor for the God Emperor of Mankind.

GW translates to Imperator in localization, so it seems the man with the highest endurance in sitting upon golden toilets is fine with this.
Remember some imperials use also additional/different names to refer to the Emperor.

Did you consider Kroothawks translation:

"Mein Imperator, mein Leben!
Kommen Sie zur Jagdstreitmacht / zum Jägerkorps.
Melden Sie sich noch heute bei Ihrem (örtlichen) Rekrutierungsbüro / beim Rekrutierungsbüro."

Should work as propaganda poster.


Service as mandatory would be: "Heeresdienst ist Pflicht."
Maybe as : "Heeresdienst ist Pflicht, denn euer Leben gehört dem Imperator."

Thanks 1had. It's kind of disappointing that online translators are so daft. I mean, obviously they're no replacement for true knowledge of the language, but you'd think that cross referencing them wouldn't give you absolute jibberish.

The second statement was supposed to read "Who will keep them safe from harm? You will!"

your guys kinda look like death korps

Love the Killzone feel to this blog.

I would also like to see the stroy progress abit more

SkaerKrow wrote:Thanks 1had. It's kind of disappointing that online translators are so daft. I mean, obviously they're no replacement for true knowledge of the language, but you'd think that cross referencing them wouldn't give you absolute jibberish.

The second statement was supposed to read "Who will keep them safe from harm? You will!"

Google translate is alright for simple sentances, but I like to use Leo.de for any real translating I might need to do (nur auf Deutsch).


As for the other, maybe: Wer gibt ihnen die Sicherheit? Sie werden/müssen! (Who will give them safety? You will/must!)


Don't get to hung up on the translations. The army is more important. Keep those pictures coming man.

Thanks a bunch Luther . Right now I'm working on painting up some Lascannon teams. Should have them done (with images posted) within a couple of days.

Luther wrote:
As for the other, maybe: Wer gibt ihnen die Sicherheit? Sie werden/müssen! (Who will give them safety? You will/must!)


Don't get to hung up on the translations. The army is more important. Keep those pictures coming man.

Sorry, "Wer gibt ihnen die Sicherheit? Sie werden/müssen!" suffers from the 2-words-answer, like the one Skaerkrow wrote,
it is not used that way in German.

->Wer gibt ihnen die Sicherheit? Sie werden/müssen! should be:
* Wer sorgt für deren/ihre sicherheit? ( insert pic of cute and innocent imperial citizens and a recruter looking at you )
* SIE ! ( insert bubble of text next to recruter pointing at you ). If you intend to have it as "promotional" poster.

-> "Who will keep them safe from harm? You will!" Should become:
* Wer wird sie beschützen? Sie ! ( using the same pic of course ).

In both cases "werden" and "müssen" aren't neccessary at all. Because this text should have a pic as background. Pure text would need
a detailed description of the threats the interested reader is expected to feel his duty to deal with.

Agreed on the second point. Let the pics come... .

Dude, these are great, fantastic models there as well! I am definitely using them as storm troops, they fit the bill perfectly (you could make a cheap steel legion army with them for that matter...)
But yeh, they scream storm troopers (and the price is much better than GW)

I am watching this with interest...want to see some tanks soon though!

"Service is mandatory." = "Es herrscht Wehrpflicht!" (has the added advantage to be virtually impossible to pronounce byEnglish speakers )
(Your translation meant "Surrender is mandatory!" )

"Who will keep them safe from harm? You will!"
"Wer schützt Ihre Liebsten? Sie!" (Actually "Who protects your beloved? You!")

Ack. My bad. I thought that 2-word answer might be off. My German needs work. :|

Thanks for all of the kind words, guys!

Imperial Monkey wrote:I am watching this with interest...want to see some tanks soon though!

My Leman Russes, for the time being, are based on some 1/48 scale Tiger I models that I rather enjoy. They aren't heavily converted at the moment, though that will change when I build up a few to accept sponsons.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
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Once an idyllic landscape of green and blue, the savagery of war and the blight of unchecked industry soon reduced Todth to a sickly pall of yellow and grey. Shelter, such that existed, was found only in the work camps and factories, where defeated humans cobbled together terrible war engines for their Orkish masters. Crude rebreathers served to prolong the miserable lives of the captive populace, though few survived to see even their fortieth years. Much of what the Todthites had known was forgotten, and the nobility that had been instilled in them by years of enlightenment twisted over time, becoming an uncompromising hatred for the Greenskins and all things alien to their world. For the Orks, Todth was an incredible resource, functioning as nothing so much as a Forge World for Stompas, Wagons, Trukks and Koptas. The weapons fashioned in the Todthite foundries were usually superior to (or if nothing else more reliable than) the gear hammered together by the Meks and Spanna Boyz. Over the next several centuries the world would change hands dozens of times, with new Warbosses riding the momentum of their Waaaghs to claim Todth and bend its efforts to their own ends. Unbeknownst to the slaves on the assembly lines, the efforts of the Todthites had accounted for millions of Imperial and Xenos deaths, granting their Greenskin overlords the steel of arms needed to besiege entire worlds....
>--------------------<

Got my first two Lascannon Teams done ahead of schedule.

Team One





And Team Two




So, I had a problem accepting the fact that I could only build one Heavy Weapons team per box (I mentioned that I'm a cheap ass, right? ). With that in mind, I grabbed some spare bits and decided to stretch each of my first two Heavy Weapon boxes into a mostly stock Autocannon Team and a coverted Lascannon Team. I used some standing Cadian legs for my spotters so that I could build four gunners, and snagged some extra heavy weapon arms from (I believe) my Chimera kits. The heads are from the Wargames Factory Shock Troopers, naturally. I've decided that the larger "welder's mask" style heads are used primarily by the Artillery/Munitions arm of my army, so they pop up most frequently on my Heavy and Special Weapons troopers. The Lascannons themselves are built by taking the Lascannon bit and affixing the Bipod to the rear, with the butt-plate from the mortar (extended with a bit of extra sprue and covered in green stuff) attached to the chin near the front of the Lascannon itself. Finally, I took the blast shield from the Missile Launcher and used it to create something of an iron sight on the cannon itself. For the price of a couple of bits and extra bases, I was able to get my Heavy Weapon sets to pull double duty. I'm pretty pleased with the Lascannon conversions, they remind me a bit of anti-tank rifles.

Didn't do anything too exciting today, just painted up two of my objective markers and started working on the three others. I really need to settle on a list soon so that I can make sure that I have everything painted in time for the GT in July.

So here's a look at one of my Leman Russ tanks for the Jagdmacht (which I'm calling Sturmwagens for the time being)...







The tank itself is mostly a Lindberg 1/48th scale Tiger I. I upgunned the turret with the tube from an office pen and added a muzzle brake by drilling out the cap from a craft knife blade refill container. The hull mounted Lascannon is a recut of the Space Marine Hunter Killer missile, and the Smoke Launchers are from he 4th Edition Chimera kit. I added a Guard symbol to the top of the turret as well. Personally, I really like the way that the conversion came out. Yes, it's very easily recognizable as a Tiger I, which is a blessing and a curse. My only concern is, while it's a centimeter longer than the listed length of the official Leman Russ, it's also a centimeter shorter as well. I don't want anyone to accuse me of modeling for advantage, so I'll have to be a bit careful about how and where I use my figures.



Unfortunately, I have next to no experience at painting vehicles. I did a few (old) Dark Eldar Raiders at one point, and they turned out terrible. While the Sturmwagen turned out better than that, it still feels as if its missing something. Can't put my finger on it. Might be too clean, but I haven't found a technique to weather it that didn't seem as if it would turn out looking juvenile.

Not sure about the tank for now.
How are you gonna go with these guys, mechanised? or mainly footsloggers? If you go for the mech. option the read Gunheads from the Black Library
http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/gunheads-ebook.html (although this is the ebook version)
It is brilliant for anyone looking to do mechanised forces, I loved it!

Not sure about it in what way? Paint job, the model itself, scale? Just curious.

I'm trying to avoid going heavily mechanized, since I'm trying to avoid at least some of the IG hate that seems to fly around for some reason.

Wow! They look ace! I like the red glowy eyes and I'm a huge fan of the converted tank. As I'm planning a scratchbuild Leman Russ myself it gives me a little inspiration.

Great work!

Personally not a fan of the size or shape of the cannon barrel.

Other than that, looks ace.

Thanks Josh! I'll have to keep tabs on your gallery to see how your scratch build turns out.

Well, the stock gun on a scale model is far too small to be a Leman Russ Battle Cannon. Do you have any suggestions on better alternatives than what I came up with?

SkaerKrow wrote:Not sure about it in what way? Paint job, the model itself, scale? Just curious.

I'm trying to avoid going heavily mechanized, since I'm trying to avoid at least some of the IG hate that seems to fly around for some reason.

If you want to fix it in terms of scale, put it on a base that is thick enough to bump it to the proper height. In other words, maybe put a couple monster bases under it then cover them over with grass and putty. I don't think anyone will care about the length as it actually puts you at a disadvantage.

I'll probably bring a couple of extra bases along to do just that, in case I get into a particularly competitive game. I wouldn't glue them on said bases as they'll likely look pretty silly, but I wouldn't mind using them for someone that felt they were being short changed.