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I like the gas mask and longcoat aesthetic of the Death Korps, but I also like being able to eat, due to still possessing some amount of money. So I decided to do a Guard army based on the Wargames Factory Shock Troops. For those unfamiliar, they're Death Korps knockoffs available in plastic, 18 men for $20. I'm a huge fan of the GW vehicle designs, so I went with official kits there, but with Shock Troops heads on any visible drivers.


This is the full 2000 points. The Hellhounds are only in this shot as I'm still not sure whether they're part of the Armored or Recon platoons.


Company Command and elements from the veteran 1st Platoon. Note that the commander's Chimera uses the wheel kit from Chapterhouse.


4th Platoon. When I get a mail order in the infantry squads will be acquiring autocannon teams. The commissar is Death Korps, the one FW model I allowed myself in the army. He came with another, so if I add a second they'll both be awesome.


8th Armored Platoon. Calabrene regiments combine armor, mechanized infantry, and ground-pounders, in contrast to the single specialties preferred in the Cadian model.


Recon elements are attached to companies on an ad hoc basis. Calabrene doctrine favors entrenched positions, but an unexpected flanking element can break the stalemate that often results.


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Fluff

Calabrene is a minor world of little significance. Its surface is wracked by constant dust storms, which sweep across a barren waste devoid of water or free oxygen. Aeons ago, it was the site of a terraforming attempt which mostly failed, with only enough breathable air to fill the crevasses that dot the planet. The settlers hung on, building city-states beneath the surface, isolated from one another by toxic wasteland and clinging desperately to the tiny habitable regions they possessed.

The world pays its tithe of men to the Imperium, but that is the single point the city-states can agree on. The men that are sent to the Departmento Munitorum are already hardened veterans, survivors of countless battles in the constant low-level war raging at all times between the fractious cities. Battles are conducted far from the cities themselves, whether at arm's length in trenches cut in the howling waste, or in clashes between massive tank companies roaming the desert. None of the soldiers think to question the tactical utility of such warfare,and the officers come from the ranks of the nobility. They are thus aware that the planet's resources are at breaking point, and only the ruthless culling of the population ensures the continued survival of the rest. The fact that this culling produces high-grade soldiers for the Imperium is but a happy side effect.

Calabrene regiments are considered hostile environment specialists, as every engagement fought on their homeworld required perfect familiarity with their respirator to survive. They are adept at both defensive infantry warfare and rapid armored advance. Their one blind spot is air superiority, as the gales of Calabrene make air transit almost impossible.

Another unique aspect of Calabrene forces is their attrition rate off the battlefield. Since a regiment is made up of a random selection from dozens of city-states, each of which raises its citizens to hate all the others, discussion of home and family is forbidden. Any soldier who tries to incite political activity is subject to summary execution, and any who merely divulges details of their prior life, regardless of intent, is subject to immediate reassignment to a penal battalion.


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Here is a closer look at the various units I have painted already. I've been using Testors enamel paints, and I have not applied the dark wash or Dull-Kote that I intend to finish them with.



Here we have the first infantry squad I've finished. These are footslogging Infantry; the mounted Vets have different helmets.




Individual shots of the three kinds of models in this squad: rifleman, flamer, sergeant. Dang, these shots are washed out; I swear they look better in person.


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Here we have the three sentinels shown above, pictured individually. Two are identically constructed, and I decided the third represents an older mark still in service with the replacements for its former squad.


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Finally, we have the painted Chimera. I'm currently working on the Vet squad that gets to ride in it. This one is pretty sloppy looking; I intend to make another pass and clean up all the spots where the primer is still showing through.

I love the masks on the squads. Also have you though about weathering those transports? Awesome work though, keep it up!