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Hi everyone!
I have an Imperial Guard army which I started to collect in 2007.
Here I'll tell you about the development of Zecaris 1st.

I started with classic Imperial Guard Battleforce (two Infantry Squads, three Heavy Weapon Squads and one Leman Russ Standard) and Commissar Yarrick as HQ choice. Fortunately, the Gothic Ruins were included to the battleforce but they'll be shown in my forthcoming terrain blog.
It was very hard for me to choose an appropriate colour scheme for my guardsmen. I used the Dawn of War Army Painter and a bit of my imagination t do this.
I like purple so initially I planned to paint armour Liche Purple and uniform Skull White and Desert Yellow:

But I already had purple Eldar and so I wanted to give my IG its original, militaristic look. I stopped on Catachan Green for armour and Chaos Black for uniform:

The tank colour scheme was inspired by the World War II Soviet tanks - monotonous olive green.
The job was finished in June 2008. But the rmy was still unplayable as it didn't have any junior officers to lead infantry squads.
The battleforce (below) and Yarrick (close to the Avatar) with my Eldar:

The Leman Russ:

The tank was drybrushed with Graveyard Earth to look dirty and weathered (I've done this even for my Eldar tanks). The searchlight was lost later in one of its battles. The red star was taken from the IG transfer sheet.
My first painted Guardsman:

He was the only one painted in the first scheme. He had been repainted in the army colours but you can see that he still had some bits of purple paint. Now I updated him as the rest of the army and he has a different face. I called him Jurgen after the personnal assistant to Commissar Cain.

Very good! For such a simple paintjob it looks good across all of those guardsmen.

My 2 kraks though: I wouldn't be too concerned about painting eyes until you get the hang of reaaaaly small detail painting. If it gets messed up it's both hard to fix, and can end up making a model look less good than it is.

Also, if you don't already, you should water down your paints a little more.

But with that being said, lets see some junior command squads! Keep it up, practice practice practice

-Nikolakhs

I've updated their faces later - I've been working on them for three years. But this will be posted later. If you want to see the result now, look the gallery:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-48316-19528_Zecaris%201st.html
Then I started to water down my paints but only a bit - if I take too much water, the paint'll spread about a model.
And thank you for advice!

Here come the reinforcements!
The army at last gained the commander in September 2008. It's the old Cadian Command HQ kit, all-metal and with a wounded Guardsman (I gave him a plastic lasgun):

It contains Heroic Senior Officer, Standard Bearer, Medic, Vox Officer and Veteran with meltagun.
(Commissar Yarrick is not included in the kit )
Colonel Alan Snape:

I called him so because he reminds me professor Severus Snape played by Alan Rickman (not Severus Rickman as Latin names are for SM):

Maybe he is the Chaos agent
Colonel's bionic arm:

Old regimental standard (now it looks a bit different). I drilled some holes in it to make it more realistic:

The whole army with the Command HQ:

And that's how they look now (July 2011):

And to sum up the points:
Command HQ, Senior Officer with power weapon, medi-pack, regimantal standard, vox-caster, meltagun - 120 pts
Commissar Yarrick - 185 pts OR Lord Commissar, power fist, carapace armour - 95 pts

Hi everyone again!
This Leman Russ Demolisher had been constructed in Manufactorums and brought to the front line in December 2008:

This is the old Demolisher with metal turret cannon and sponson multi-meltas. It's the second tank in my army, so it's marked with number "2":

The white and red thing on its sponson is the Hunter-Killer missile. I also gave both tanks blue windows near the hatch.
The Ratlings of Ratlingshire had deployed in the far February 2009:

I like these old classic models - they are really cute. Unlike the rest of my army, I painted them Catachan Green and Desert Yellow to make the camouflage. Each Ratling is named after one of five famous halflings from the Lord of the Rings:

Bilbo as a Ratling veteran has a bionic arm.
Ratlings riding the tank (WOOHOO!!! ):

A soldier rank: Gyrinx Murzion, Ratling Sergeant Frodo Bagman, Colonel Alan Snape, Eldar Guardian Shaggiel and the Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine:

Kasrkins were bought together with Ratlings but I painted them only in July 2009. They are entirely painted Catachan Green:

And finally, how can I forget about points:
ELITES
3+2 extra Ratlings - 50 pts
5+5 extra Stormtroopers, Sergeant with power weapon, flamer, grenade launcher - 185 pts
HEAVY FIRE SUPPORT
2 Leman Russ tanks (435 pts):
Standard, lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons, dozer blade - 195 pts
Demolisher, lascannon, multi-melta sponsons, heavy stubber, hunter-killer missile, dozer blade - 240 pts

Thanks!

BEWARE!!!
Here comes the BANEBLADE!
The first Banebblade of the Zecaris 1st regiment was constructed and painted on the Manufactorums in July 2009. It was called Nemesis:

We'll flatten anything standing in our way!

I used a Tank Commander miniature from the Baneblade kit as my IG Junior Officer. I believed him to have Polish origins. He got red moustache and was called Andrzej Agonsky and nicknamed Pan, which is equivalent to Mister in Polish.
A close-up of revamped Pan (February 2010):

The Adeptus Mechanicus Shrine. We'll make the Emperor proud!

This was a fantastic piece of art. I enjoyed painting it but still wonder why does the tank need it on its back.
Baneblade in action. Ready to unleash eleven barrels of HELL!

The entire army with Baneblade:

I added an antenna and made Pan the commander of Infantry Squads. But he still had no retinue...
As for the points, it costs 500 in Apocalypse and counts as three Heavy Fire Support choices.
Failure is a weakness of the enemy!
FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

Hello Dakka!
I present you my Bane Wolf, painted in February 2010:

As a chemist myself, I couldn't simply go round the new Imperial chemical tank. Painting it, I was inspired by Soviet style, especially by its exaggerated version from Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. There the Soviets had a unit called Desolator:

Though this dude isn't a tank, he is still fond of toxic chemicals and chemical weapons.
The side views:


It has writings "Desolator" and "Chemicus". The Imperial Eagle is painted red unlike the ones on Leman Russes and Baneblade, and the skull crests above the writings are Snot Green. I gave my Bane Wolf number 3 as it's the third vehicle (normal non-Apocalypse vehicle) in my army.
Top view:

The barrels with chemicals are painted Snot Green to match the weapon's toxic essence. According to DoW 2, the chem cannon shoots greenish-yellow gas, so I assume that it was chlorine.
The points:
FAST ATTACK:
Bane Wolf, heavy flamer - 130 pts
Comments and criticism are welcome!
Thanks!

KEep up the good work, and practice practice practice!

Also, for tabletop work, you can give the faces and hands a wash of "Devlan Mud". you may need to water it down a bit, but it does a great job of filling in the recesses. This way, you do not have to paint eyes.

When the wash is dry, go back over the face with a light drybrush of the original skin color.

Your photos show much progress! Glad to see another gentleman from the slavic side of the earth on Dakka.

Thanks!
As for the eyes, I painted them later in 2010-2011, you can see new eyes on a Snape's comparison photo with Alan Rickman and on Lieutenant Pan's close-up, and in my gallery, of course.
I would like to try the Army Painter Quickshade on my models.
Link: http://usshop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=1

Hello again!
The Imperial Guard Veterans landed on the battlefield in August 2010 and were my second Troops choice along the large Infantry Platoon led by Lieutenant Agonsky. Totally I bought 15 Cadian Shock Troopers (10 usual and 5 push-fit) and used ten of them as Veterans, four as Platoon Command Squad. The fifteenth guardsman had turned by almighty power of the Warp into a statue.
So, the Hardened Veterans:

For many years, these veterans fought with Eldar and defeated many of them. So they carry a number of Eldar trophies on their belts. The veterans are made from Cadian Shock Troops plastic kits and the trophies are actually grenades and other stuff from Eldar Guardians sprue. Some of these veterans also have bionic hands, Eldar helmets on their belts and writings such as "mad vet" on their shoulder pads. I wanted to make them feel really cool.
Also they have new-type faces, with eyes and eyebrows.
This Veteran Sergeant has a head and a holster from the Baneblade sprue:

This veteran's head belonged to an Imperial Guard sergeant. He has a writing "BURN!" on his right shoulder pad. And he is a real pyromaniac :

This veteran with grenade launcher has also a sergeant's head. I gave him also a moustache to give him more French/Spanish look:

The Platoon Command Squad atop the Imperial Bastion (Pan himself is absent as always ):

Close-up:

The Medic has a head from the Baneblade kit. The guardsmen's right shoulder pads are painted in different colours. The flamer's is Blood Red, the grenade launcher's is Enchanted Blue, the vox officer's id Snot Green. The Medic has a white shoulder pad with red cross.
The Guardsman's statue (actually a piece of terrain, but I'll post it here):

Its paintjob is rather simple. I painted it Adeptus Battlegrey and drybrushed with Skull White.
Finally, I had a normal Imperial Guard army with two Troops choices! In tribute of such important moment , I'll sum up the points of my infantry:
TROOPS
Infantry Platoon - 307 pts

Platoon Command Squad (Junior Officer and 4 guardsmen), Junior Officer with bolt pistol and power weapon, medi-pack, vox caster, flamer, grenade launcher - 87 pts
Infantry Squad (Sergeant and 9 guardsmen), flamer, grenade launcher, vox caster - 65 pts
Infantry Squad (Sergeant and 9 guardsmen), flamer, grenade launcher, vox caster - 65 pts
Heavy Weapons Squad (6 guardsmen) - heavy bolter, missile launcher, lascannon - 90 pts

Veteran Squad (Sergeant and 9 vererans) - sergeant with plasma pistol, vox caster, flamer, grenade launcher, one of the Veterans' options (30 pts) - 125 pts

Comments and criticism are welcome!
Enjoy!

i must say i do love your vehicles, simple yet effective. Oh and the giant red stars are i nice touch

I remember that Battleforce!, it was awesome to get a LR in the box, I wish they never stopped doing that.

Black Bear wrote:i must say i do love your vehicles, simple yet effective. Oh and the giant red stars are i nice touch

Thanks!
As for the star, I also think so. Actually this red star means Zecaris' sun but I liked to compare Imperials and Communists - both Imperium and USSR are rather harsh regimes.

dsteingass wrote:I remember that Battleforce!, it was awesome to get a LR in the box, I wish they never stopped doing that.

I was lucky to buy it! It included even pieces of terrain! And I have old Ratlings too!

Hi Dakka!
Today it's air time!
The Valkyrie airborne assault carrier has arrived in September 2010:

It greatly differs from the rest of my army in color scheme. Modern aircraft is mostly white or grey, so I decided to use Astronomican Grey as main color. But despite that it still has some gerrn parts in its tail. The Imperial Eagle is painted red like on Bane Wolf, and the Valkyrie has red stars on its wings.
Top view:

The pilots:

They are painted to resemble those sexy female German Valkyrie pilots from Starcraft: Brood War. Sadly, I couldn't upload the pilot's portrait, but those who played will remember. Jawohl!

The large flying base seemed to me so empty, so I decided to decorate it with Eldar bitz left from my Fire Prism and Wave Serpent. It's the Falcon grav tank hit by Valkyrie:

Valkyrie prepared:

The next will be the Imperial Commissar attached to Lt. Agonsky's command squad since December 2010:

I called him Pushkin after famous Russian poet, as he declaims Imperial Creed like his own poems I also like his bloody power fist - it's like Khaine's hand.
Platoon Command Squad with Commissar:

Let's find out whose book is heavier:

And finally, the spent points:
TROOPS
Infantry Platoon (307) + Commissar with bolt pistol and power fist (52) - 359 pts
FAST ATTACK
Valkyrie, lascannon, rocket pods, heavy bolter sponsons - 155 pts
Comments and criticism are only welcome.
Enjoy!

Hi Dakka again!
Here will be my last Imperial Guard reinforcements at this moment.
Firstly, this is the Deathstrike Missile Launcher painted in February 2011:

To be honest, I was disappointed with the size of the missile. Here is the Epic Deathstrike:

And this is the modern Russian Topol-M, as long as 3 Chimeras:

But despite that, I wanted to have this powerful weapon in my armoury and on the battlefield.
Side views:


The writings on both sides are "pulsus" and "mortis" which mean strike and death in Latin.
Deathstrike with Bane Wolf:

Secondly, this is the Sentinel finished in July 2011:


An ordinary armoured Sentinel with autocannon, it's the most useless model in my army, as it did explode (!) in several games.
I did also a painting update and gave all my armies (IG and Eldar) new faces, with detailed eyes. The revamp started in February 2010 and ended in July 2011, as there were so many models with faces in the Imperial Guard.
Newly-painted Veteran Sergeant with old Sergeant for comparison (February 2010):

First updated models - Lt. Agonsky, Veteran Sergeant (it has been already painted in new style) and Eldar Guardian Shaggiel (who doesn't resemble Shaggy from Scooby-Doo any more ):

Revamped Command HQ (July 2011, without Yarrick):

The regimental standard has changed and now is red with the golden star, instead of white with the red star. It also has writings on its back side:

Revamped Col. Snape, that damned Chaos cultist in disguise, with meltagun Veteran:

And finally, let's sum up the points:
FAST ATTACK
Armoured sentinel, autocannon - 60 pts
HEAVY FIRE SUPPORT
Deathstrike Missile Launcher - 160 pts
Comments and criticism are welcome!
Thanks!
Farseer Petriel

Hi Dakka!
I've tried Army Painter Quickshade varnish on my models:

I've already quickshaded only one Imperial Guardsman to try and this was infamous Jurgen, my first painted Guardsman.
The left Guardsman is without Quickshade and the right one is with it:

Comments are welcome!
Thanks!
Farseer Petriel

Farseer Petriel wrote:Hi Dakka!
I've tried Army Painter Quickshade varnish on my models:

I've already quickshaded only one Imperial Guardsman to try and this was infamous Jurgen, my first painted Guardsman.
The left Guardsman is without Quickshade and the right one is with it:

Comments are welcome!
Thanks!
Farseer Petriel

I've never used quickshade before, but I'd hit that guy with a quick spray of dullcoat. Also, if it's anything like using washes, I'd wait on painting the details until after the quickshade.

You've got a great start to an army here! All you need now are some more troop units!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Rawson

I really ilke your models, especially the vehicles, thanks for showing them.
My only qualm is that some of your guys eyes look a bit off, its no biggie, but i suggest you give the heads a brown or black wash, it will really bring out the detail in those faces and make the eyes look a better.

You are coming along awesomely man..looking great! But i have to agree with Rayvon, but i think it's your eyes, they are a bit buggy every so many minis, maybe give the faces a bit of a wash, or cover up the extra white in the eyes.

Rawson wrote:

Farseer Petriel wrote:Hi Dakka!
I've tried Army Painter Quickshade varnish on my models:

I've already quickshaded only one Imperial Guardsman to try and this was infamous Jurgen, my first painted Guardsman.
The left Guardsman is without Quickshade and the right one is with it:

Comments are welcome!
Thanks!
Farseer Petriel

I've never used quickshade before, but I'd hit that guy with a quick spray of dullcoat. Also, if it's anything like using washes, I'd wait on painting the details until after the quickshade.

You've got a great start to an army here! All you need now are some more troop units!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Rawson

Rayvon wrote:I really ilke your models, especially the vehicles, thanks for showing them.
My only qualm is that some of your guys eyes look a bit off, its no biggie, but i suggest you give the heads a brown or black wash, it will really bring out the detail in those faces and make the eyes look a better.

dsteingass wrote:You are coming along awesomely man..looking great! But i have to agree with Rayvon, but i think it's your eyes, they are a bit buggy every so many minis, maybe give the faces a bit of a wash, or cover up the extra white in the eyes.

Thanks!
As for the eyes, they really look better after the Quickshade. This wonderful varnish works as a wash on the models.
And are new eyes worse or better than the first ones - simply black points?
As for the troops, the IG don't have enough types of them - infantry platoons, veterans and penal squad. I want to make each of my units a unique look, to mark them out from the rest of army. For example, only Ratlings have Desert Yellow on their camouflage, and only Kasrkins' uniform is completely green. Initially I was planning Vostroyan Veterans but Vostroyans aren't sold in Russia now (they were in the times of the fall of Medusa V), so I decided to give them Eldar trophies to distinguish them from other soldiers. I would like to see penalized soldiers in orange boilersuits, but orange uniform is very noticeable on the battlefield (I don't talk about the Avatar of Khaine )
I often choose my next units for aesthetic reasons, and that's why I like the Eldar - they always leave the opportunity to paint them in different bizarre colours (my Eldar blog - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/396433.page). But my Guard was supposed to be another. First of all, it's the human army with a human face. I don't want to give them very 40k-ish but very useless Gothic accessories - IMO they should look very modern and realistic, so they already had many restrictions in ways of painting them.

I think your color composition is very well done, better than I can do! For rank and file troops, the eyes should be visible up close, but not from tabletop view as a general guideline, and then probably only very slightly. Otherwise your ability to start these projects and finish them makes you a bettr man than I am. Keep up the great work, and keep up the photos!

Hi Dakka!
Today I've gone Quickshading!
I've treated my infantry with Army Painter Quickshade varnish. I didn't quickshade vehicles, Eldar jetbikes and large terrain pieces.
I put my minis with medical forceps into the can of Quickshade and hold it for a while:

Then I take my soldier out and wait for waste drops of Quickshade to fall down:

Work in progress:


Sadly, my Imperial Guard Heavy Weapon Teams can't be put into the small can, so I'll quickshade them with brush, like vehicles.
A close-up of newly-treated troops:

The work is compete, with my infantry shining and glittering:

The largest miniature possible to be quickshaded was the Eldar Support Weapon.
I've quickshaded the following units in my army:
ELDAR
Avatar of Khaine
Seer Council (with Gyrinx)
Warlock on "jetsteed"
Howling Banshees
Fire Dragons
Guardians (with scatter laser platform)
Dire Avengers
Warp Spiders
Support Weapon
IMPERIAL GUARD
Command HQ
Commissar Yarrick
Stormtroopers
Ratlings
Infantry Platoon (except Heavy Weapons Teams)
Veterans
TERRAIN
Pieces of ancient Eldar ruins

Comments and criticism are welcome!
Thanks!
Farseer Petriel

Hi Dakka!
Quickshading is proceeding!
The soldiers require some time to dry up:

A close-up of quickshaded troops. Notice a thin film of varnish on the Guardsmen's bases:

Next will be full photos of finished qucikshaded troops.

Comments and criticism are welcome!
Enjoy!
Farseer Petriel

Hi Dakka!
Here are my finished quickshade Imperial Guard models. I think they look much prettier now - they became more grimdark. But they are glossy now, so I'll use dullcoat on them next time.
So,
Command HQ with Commissar Yarrick:

Ratling snipers (with new eyes):

Stormtroopers:

Infantry Platoon:

The unfinished Heavy Weapons Team with lascannon - Heavy Weapons Teams are very large to fit into the can of Quickshade.
Only lascannon's point and crewman's back have been quickshaded:


Comments and criticism are welcome!
Enjoy!

Awesome work!
I like how the quickshade turned out!
How did you do the stars on the vehicles?
Did you freehand them or usef a transfer or something?
Keep up the good work

Those vehicles are looking pretty good. Its a simple color scheme, but it does the trick.
I noticed that your faces are getting better too! Good job!

Leonid wrote:Awesome work!
I like how the quickshade turned out!
How did you do the stars on the vehicles?
Did you freehand them or usef a transfer or something?
Keep up the good work

tona7 wrote:Those vehicles are looking pretty good. Its a simple color scheme, but it does the trick.
I noticed that your faces are getting better too! Good job!

Thank you guys!
The stars are actually transfers from IG tank transfer sheet. Sadly there are only one red star, one black and one yellow.

Yeah dood, I'm liking the eyes more and more! One thing you might try is connecting the top eyelid to the bottom eyelid with the pupil or dark blob inside the whites.
Forgive my hasty, crude sketch here but:


You see how the eyeball on the left looks buggy? By connecting the eyelids with the eyeball it gives it that natural look.
Also I've found that no matter what I do, if I try to point both eyeballs straight, they make the mini look like he is in a daze or just smoked something, by pointing them slightly Left or Right of center in the socket it helps it look "correct" to your own eyes.

that is such a cool and helpfull siuggestion...i always try to not do eyes....

by the way petriel...a very nice looking army... i like your dark aproach to the cadians!


vik

dsteingass wrote:Yeah dood, I'm liking the eyes more and more! One thing you might try is connecting the top eyelid to the bottom eyelid with the pupil or dark blob inside the whites.
Forgive my hasty, crude sketch here but:


You see how the eyeball on the left looks buggy? By connecting the eyelids with the eyeball it gives it that natural look.
Also I've found that no matter what I do, if I try to point both eyeballs straight, they make the mini look like he is in a daze or just smoked something, by pointing them slightly Left or Right of center in the socket it helps it look "correct" to your own eyes.

Thank you for advice! Now I understand why some of my eyes look buggy and some don't.
For the first time, I painted eyes black only, but then I've decided to do eyes for all minis who have them.
I think it's a right decision but it's very hard to paint eyes for over 50 minis.
Now I'll try to connect eyelids on next models.

Viktor von Domm wrote:that is such a cool and helpfull siuggestion...i always try to not do eyes....

by the way petriel...a very nice looking army... i like your dark aproach to the cadians!


vik

Thanks!
I thought that standard 8th Cadian camouflage is too light-coloured.
It was very hard for me to choose a colour scheme for my IG. But I like the result.