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I've been enjoying my various Xenos armies for some time now, and I realized after a year and a half of gaming i have yet to have a single model from the IoM.

I was going to get spacemarines, but I play against too many space marine armies and their equivalents so i turn to the Imperial Guard, good 'ole honest men with enough armor to make anything go away.

Well, i have finished the first book in the "Gaunt's Ghosts" series and I’m half-way through Ghostmaker, and i wished to create a bare-bones, complete fluff army of the Tanith First and Only.

Obviously the army would be 'led' by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt which would count as a Commissar Lord, and Colonel Colm Corbec would be the Company Commander in the command squad. Though I’m tempted to field Gaunt as 'counts as Yarrik" (no claw, would be modeled like Gaunt) given Gaunts lack of desire to Execute his Ghosts.
I'll have a full scout platoon (led by Doyl), at least one heavy weapons squad featuring 'Try Again' Bragg (who would have the only heavy weapon that isn’t a missile-launcher or a heavy-flamer) as a sergeant, but for the rest of the army, i am at a complete loss.

It was stated that some of the Armor assigned to Tanith survived, but i have no idea how many Lemon Russ' (or what configuration) they would have. The entire army would need Camo cloaks/netting, though I’m unsure the amount of Vets to include. In addition, i believe there were no ratlings, Ogryns, or Psychers in Tanith. . . though Milo has some strange abilities it seems.

Can anyone give me any tips on army composition? Or which character would fit in what slot in the army?

There really is no Tanith armour, there's no sentinels and you mght get away witha few chimeras.

As to characters doesn't Gaunt have a place in the IG codex? There's also a new speical character in the codex who's a sergeant and is armed with a heavy bolter and is pretty much made to be Bragg. Maybe Sly Marbo as Mcoll.

If you want tank support, in the book the ghosts frequently get support from other regiments with tanks, read more of the books to get more information, they get a lot better...well, up until His Last Command at any rate...

well based on book art alone, they essecially look like Cadian troopers, with a LOT less helmets and the ENTIRE army sporting Camo Cloaks and Tanith Knives, including Gaunt.

Wow, and i completely forgot about Gunnery Sergeant Harker,who'd be perfect leading a Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries.

But no, Gaunt is only mentioned for one paragraph in the fluff for the Tanith First and Only. I heard at one point GW had a few promotion Pewter models on sale at one point, but i cant find any trace of them

Who the hell is Doyl?
At any rate you may want to read the rest of the GG series before making an army... the current regiment is very different from the one at the start of the series.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1490651&prodId=prod1140078

You may already be aware, but there are a full set of GW Gaunt's Ghosts models out there. They regularly crop up on e-bay and the like and usually go quite cheaply.
Few listed atm.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40k-Imperial-Guard-Gaunts-Ghost-Tanith-Commisar-Gaunt-/300526279516?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item45f8c31b5c

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40k-Imperial-Guard-Gaunts-Ghost-Tanith-Trooper-/300526278479?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item45f8c3174f

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/40k-Imperial-Guard-Gaunts-Ghost-Tanith-Mad-larkin-/300526279001?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item45f8c31959

Yeah, despite what others may say, you really can't make a Tanith army (or Light Infantry army) with the current Guard 'dex. You can get camo cloaks on your vets, sure, but there's no way to get infiltrate or move through cover on troop choices. Or on anything that isn't a Stormtrooper.

Ogiwan wrote:Yeah, despite what others may say, you really can't make a Tanith army (or Light Infantry army) with the current Guard 'dex. You can get camo cloaks on your vets, sure, but there's no way to get infiltrate or move through cover on troop choices. Or on anything that isn't a Stormtrooper.

Umm.

CCS (Corbec, Rawne, etc )
Lord C (Gaunt)
Ratling x2 (Snipers, larkin, etc)
Marbo (Mkoll)
Vet x2 with Forward Sentries, Flamer and ML (F&O Normal Squads)
Vet x1 with Forward Sentries Sniper x3 and ML (F&O Scouts)
Vet x1 with Demo, MG, etc (Verv Siege Specialists)
Infantry Platoon x2 with PCS, PIS, SWS, HWS, etc (Verv and Belladon or 'front line' tanith units)

Not all of the TF&O should have Infiltrate and Move through Cover. The Tanith are noticeably more 'stealthy' than Verv and Bella but not as good as the scouts. Scouts and 'Pure Tanith' would be Vets/etc.

Also, in most books and campaigns, TF&O doesn't work alone. You can easily incorporate some of the armored elements as 'allied elements' or even just leave Tanith as the Ratling/Marbo,Vet with Forward and have Vets with Carapace as the Bluebloods, LRBT as the Armored units, Artillery as etc.

I happen to have a small Tanith force built I just need to sculpt those capes and paint them.

So here's what I have and how I plan to field them for what it's worth:

First (and only, pun intended): this is a purely "fluff" army containing all my favorite characters and as such I plan on using MANY house rules

In the Gaunt Ghost novels the regiment never had a strict composition and Mr. Abnett changed it throughout the books:
- 40 platoons of 50 soldiers
- squads (yes 2000-3000 guardsmen so 200-300 squads) in most books they have this organization so I went with it
- companies ==> platoons ==> squads (in the latest books only, much more orthodox)

In the squad organization you have
- first squad: Gaunt
- second squad: Corbec
- third squad: Rawne
- ...

And the squads are composed of:
- leader, usually a sergeant
- flamer
- sniper
- heavy weapon: missile-launcher or machine gun (.30 cal/ Heavy bolter)
- scout
- radio

And so my army is composed of:
- Gaunt: 3rd edition army book special character, sticks with First Squad
- first squad: company command squad (led by Ban Daur) with camo-cloaks
- second squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries
- third squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries
- fourth squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries (led by Varl, even if it isn't fluffy)
- Scout Mkvenner: Sly Marbo

To that I added the special characters that were published way back in white dwarf as unit upgrades: Corbec, Rawne, Larkin, Bragg, Dorden, Milo and Mkoll
And gave everyone the upgrade, from the 3rd edition codex, light infantry: for +10 pts a unit gets infiltrate and move through cover.


Here's the detailled composition:

- Gaunt: 3rd edition army book special character

- First squad: company command squad
Ban Daur (company commander)
Milo (character, standard)
Dorden (character, medic)
Brostin (Heavy flamer)
Beltayn (radio)

- Second squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries
Corbec (character)
Bragg (character, heavy bolter)
Larkin (character, sniper)
Mkoll (character)
Raglon (radio)
plasma gun (from the box set)

- Third squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries
Rawne (character)
Mikal Dorden (radio)
Dremmond (flamer)
Banda (sniper)
Missile launcher
Named troopers: Feygor, Caffran, Cridd, Leyr

- Fourth squad: Veteran Squad with Forward Sentries
Varl (Sergeant)
Radio
Flamer (Lubba)
Sniper (Mert)
Heavy Bolter Team
Named Troopers: "Shoggy" Domor and Bonnin

- Mkvenner (Marbo)

It rounds out to around 900 pts

Hope that helps!

this sounds quite interesting,ill be keeping an eye on this.

If you want to add many characters form the novels I suggest this wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaunt%27s_Ghosts_characters

WARNING: it, of course, contains spoilers, if you haven't read through much of the series than you SHOULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, read it.



And I really mean it, don't spoil yourself some of the most important parts of the series

pretre wrote:Not all of the TF&O should have Infiltrate and Move through Cover. The Tanith are noticeably more 'stealthy' than Verv and Bella but not as good as the scouts. Scouts and 'Pure Tanith' would be Vets/etc.

Certainly. But, even with vets, there is no way to model the abilities of the "pure Tanith" to do that light infantry thing. Vets cannot get move through cover, and you can't take a (renamed) Harker more than once to apply his "Catachan Devils" rules to more than one vet squad.

Also, in most books and campaigns, TF&O doesn't work alone. You can easily incorporate some of the armored elements as 'allied elements' or even just leave Tanith as the Ratling/Marbo,Vet with Forward and have Vets with Carapace as the Bluebloods, LRBT as the Armored units, Artillery as etc.

Quite true, but...I don't recall many circumstances where the Ghosts were that mixed at the Company level, which is what 40k is.

You could. try using the SM codex and using a lot of scouts >.<

Ogiwan wrote:

pretre wrote:Not all of the TF&O should have Infiltrate and Move through Cover. The Tanith are noticeably more 'stealthy' than Verv and Bella but not as good as the scouts. Scouts and 'Pure Tanith' would be Vets/etc.

Certainly. But, even with vets, there is no way to model the abilities of the "pure Tanith" to do that light infantry thing. Vets cannot get move through cover, and you can't take a (renamed) Harker more than once to apply his "Catachan Devils" rules to more than one vet squad.

That's what I'm saying though. Even pure Tanith shouldn't have infiltrate and move through cover. Some elements should, but not the whole thing. One unit of 'Scouts' with Harker and the rest as Tanith line troops would just be vets with Camo Cloaks. The whole original group weren't all as cool as the scouts.

Quite true, but...I don't recall many circumstances where the Ghosts were that mixed at the Company level, which is what 40k is.

Fortis Binary, mixed with Vitrians after initial push failed.
Vervunhive, final defense had numerous mixed situations. The fallen gate especially was a mix of Tanith, Verv, Armor and Artillery.
Hagia, Tanith is given Chimera and transports and accompanied by an LRBT group to retrieve holy relics.
Umm. Planet in His Last Command, Tanith is mixed with Belladon and supported by Armor during the compartment wars.

In the later Omnibus' there is some mention of the tanith first and only working with a regiment of heavy armor. I won't give anything away as this is in the last few books of the whole series. But you could always add some leman russ battle tanks from that regiment or even the artillery unit that they met during the confrontation with chaos cults that had the serpents on the barrels.

Either way, you could slip in a tank or bask, as both those units came to love and respect the TFaO.

Of course, if you're going pure tanith, the only big explosions youre going to be getting are from tread fethers, i.e. missile launcher teams. Oh, and tube charges. Demo packs anyone?

gpfunk wrote:In the later Omnibus' there is some mention of the tanith first and only working with a regiment of heavy armor. I won't give anything away as this is in the last few books of the whole series. But you could always add some leman russ battle tanks from that regiment or even the artillery unit that they met during the confrontation with chaos cults that had the serpents on the barrels.

Either way, you could slip in a tank or bask, as both those units came to love and respect the TFaO.

Of course, if you're going pure tanith, the only big explosions youre going to be getting are from tread fethers, i.e. missile launcher teams. Oh, and tube charges. Demo packs anyone?

The Tanith do have asome mortars... few admittedly but some.
Though they do seem to overuse demo charges...

As other posters have already stated any armour that would be fielded in your army would be from alllied regiments (which the IG codex explicitly states is not uncommon and there are great examples of this in Gaunts Ghost).

Feasibly if you replaced the helmets with bare heads and used green stuff for the camo cloaks you'd end up with some very nice looking Tanith.

Don't forget to make Dorden your medic, and include a couple of female troopers. (Have you read past Necropolis?)

Emperors Faithful wrote:Don't forget to make Dorden your medic, and include a couple of female troopers. (Have you read past Necropolis?)

Also don't forget that dorden never carries a gun, I can't even remember if he carries a knife. I'm sure no one would have a problem with you saying "this model has no guns".

Dorden wasn't the only medic though, didn't they have some "corpsmen" that acted like first aiders?

Trickstick wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:Don't forget to make Dorden your medic, and include a couple of female troopers. (Have you read past Necropolis?)

Also don't forget that dorden never carries a gun, I can't even remember if he carries a knife. I'm sure no one would have a problem with you saying "this model has no guns".

Dorden wasn't the only medic though, didn't they have some "corpsmen" that acted like first aiders?

They have 3 full medics (4 after Necropolis) and about half a dozen corpsmen give or take.

I've considered the same ideas on moulding the tanith first along with numerous veterans squads. But i haven't been able to work out how to make their torsos.

I was thinking of doing an army based on after the gereon campaign, i hate saying this cos might spoil for some1. Cos the regiment changes so much over the novels. Also is there a link or can you post the details for the white dwarf special chars???

Are you talking about the Tanith? Or one of the many regiments involved in it?

The narmenian armoured regiment fights with the ghosts at one point (i wont say when cos of spoilers) they are mustard drab in colour i believe their commander General Grizimund is actually available as a tank upgrade from Forgeworld. they also fight along the Pardus tank regiment, these are more of a traditional imperial camo green colour IIRC.

I certainly recomment reading at least until The Armour of contempt though (book 9?) as this regiment is a more complete one at this point.

The tanith also make good use of Tred Fethers (small man porable missile tubes) so you can have heavy weapons teams but just missile launchers.

Ugly Green Trog wrote:The narmenian armoured regiment fights with the ghosts at one point (i wont say when cos of spoilers) they are mustard drab in colour i believe their commander General Grizimund is actually available as a tank upgrade from Forgeworld. they also fight along the Pardus tank regiment, these are more of a traditional imperial camo green colour IIRC.

I certainly recomment reading at least until The Armour of contempt though (book 9?) as this regiment is a more complete one at this point.

The tanith also make good use of Tred Fethers (small man porable missile tubes) so you can have heavy weapons teams but just missile launchers.

They also use mortars... not much but they have 'em.

Trickstick wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:Don't forget to make Dorden your medic, and include a couple of female troopers. (Have you read past Necropolis?)

Also don't forget that dorden never carries a gun, I can't even remember if he carries a knife. I'm sure no one would have a problem with you saying "this model has no guns".

Dorden wasn't the only medic though, didn't they have some "corpsmen" that acted like first aiders?

Every Tanith Carries a Knife, its one of their most prized possession. Dorden just never has to use it in combat because he is a non-combatant by choice

AD YEAH wrote:I've considered the same ideas on moulding the tanith first along with numerous veterans squads. But i haven't been able to work out how to make their torsos.

Catachan torsos wouldn't be far off.

hmm i dont think the rambo style muscles suit the tanith though, I would go with cadian torsos with catachan legs as it does say that the tanith wear matt black fatigues and body armour whereas the catachans wear none, heads could go with a mix of some beardy empire/bretonian heads for some of the tanith as they need a more wild look, mixed in with some bare guard heads/catachan heads for the rest of the regiment, I know max-mini also does some beret heads, the Tanith wear their forage cap almost always over their helmet.

Ugly Green Trog wrote:hmm i dont think the rambo style muscles suit the tanith though, I would go with cadian torsos with catachan legs as it does say that the tanith wear matt black fatigues and body armour whereas the catachans wear none, heads could go with a mix of some beardy empire/bretonian heads for some of the tanith as they need a more wild look, mixed in with some bare guard heads/catachan heads for the rest of the regiment, I know max-mini also does some beret heads, the Tanith wear their forage cap almost always over their helmet.

I second this but with added green stuff camo capes. also when painting the models, the tanith have black hair and tattoos on there faces (only little ones)

They dont have stantard bearers but they have milo's pipes (not sure if its like bagpipes or panpipes) but it rouses the men and restores moral

dullblade35 wrote:

Ugly Green Trog wrote:hmm i dont think the rambo style muscles suit the tanith though, I would go with cadian torsos with catachan legs as it does say that the tanith wear matt black fatigues and body armour whereas the catachans wear none, heads could go with a mix of some beardy empire/bretonian heads for some of the tanith as they need a more wild look, mixed in with some bare guard heads/catachan heads for the rest of the regiment, I know max-mini also does some beret heads, the Tanith wear their forage cap almost always over their helmet.

I second this but with added green stuff camo capes. also when painting the models, the tanith have black hair and tattoos on there faces (only little ones)

They dont have stantard bearers but they have milo's pipes (not sure if its like bagpipes or panpipes) but it rouses the men and restores moral

Considering the Tanith 1st are pretty much Welsh/Scottish/Irish/Generally celtic badasses i would say they are a lot like bagpipes.

There is one mention of them having a regimental standard, aboard one of the big floating things in the Guns of Tanith I think. I dont believe it is ever carried or unfurled in battle however, It was described as black with the tanith crest in silver IIRC. So you could just about get away with using one,