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Hi if I make a mistake or two sorry because I'm new here and I'm a little bit confused thanks .After actually organizing my warhammer parts so I decided to customize my guardsmen just wanting some tips on what I could do thanks

If you mean giving them individual personalities- Personal trophies and paint nicknames on their shoulder badges. In the past Ive added facial hair to some of them with gs. Use heads from different ranges, most other human heads gw makes are interchangeable (chaos marauders are all that come to mind). I know pig iron studios makes a range of heads that almost match size wise.

If you are asking for how to customize an entire army, that is theme an army and make them personal to you, well that is another story. Id suggest searching the forum for work other people have done, as well as looking in the back of the guard codex, getting inspiration and picking a theme and trying to figure out how to execute it.

Thank you . I've been trying to use green stuff but yah not very good at that . Also It should be in the gallery it is a picture of one my guys his name is Lt. Sherman he was a conversion of catchans and cadians . If you have any tips for me please send them. I looked at some of your pictures in the gallery how did you model the green stuff like that?

Take all your bits off the sprue bung in a box and mix them together at random. This wmeans you don't have preconceived notions of what parts you need to use. Also trade and swap parts with other people.

Llamahead wrote:Take all your bits off the sprue bung in a box and mix them together at random. This wmeans you don't have preconceived notions of what parts you need to use. Also trade and swap parts with other people.

This is a good idea, one that I use to keep things different, just remember keep the arms paired up (as they are on the sprues) otherwise you'll spend most of your time trying to find the left arm that goes with a particular lasgun. I learned that the hard way...

Sorry about being late with sending messages but any ways I have my pieces in a box its just i guess how could you model green stuff to look like say a berret because i want to make some elite commandos while thanks for your tips and if you got more send em on in

I find especially with IG to leave your grunts all the same than change up their sarges, command sections etc.

Nothing but respect for the guys who can model 100 differant minis for that real army feel though.

Mixing lines helps abit, you can use Empire fantasy bits, Bretonian Man At Arms bits, even mixin up the Catachan and Cadian sprues.

I haven't tried to make a berret, but I've been doing custom hats of a different sort. I think a berret should be pretty simple. Here's how I'd go about trying it (I looked at a beret-wearing guardsman linked to in this thread to get an idea of the shape):

Start with a sphere of a diameter similar to a horizontal cross-section of the the trooper's head (maybe a bit bigger). Flatten the sphere into a lumpy circle (thicker on the inside, thinner on the outside), then press it onto his head. One side of the circle should probably stay parallel to his eyebrow line, and the other slump over the side. Let this dry, then make a brim around the non-slumping side (the brim would be covered on the slumping side). Like I said, I haven't tried this, so if can find a proper tutorial, go with that instead.

One important thing to note is that you'll need a large supply of bare heads if you want to do this - Cadian sprues only come with one bare head for five or so troopers, so those won't work alone if you want to make an entire beret-wearing army. You mentioned having some Catachan parts, which could be a decent source of heads. I like using Empire Militia for my troops - they come with lots of heads, many of them bare or with hats that can be easily removed (a lot of them do have some facial hair, but nothing too strange or extreme).


I'm working on a highly stylized guard force at the moment myself. Here are a few suggestions.

- Settle on a theme for your army and one or more ways to express it through their uniforms and equipment. You said they're elite, but that can mean a lot of things. Are they armored shock-troops like Elysians? Stealthy recon experts like Tanith Ghosts? Marksmen? Sappers, saboteurs, and demolitionists? Naval troops who fight a lot of boarding actions? Wilderness survival experts? Hazardous environment troops? Mountaineers? Do they have a unique organizational pattern? For instance, each squad might have one of each of the "specialist" types mentioned here (in game terms, still just a lasgun trooper) assigned to it.

- Based on your theme, decide what custom parts you want to be common throughout your force and figure out a quick and/or consistent way to produce them. For an example, take a look at the lasguns on the troops in my gallery - it's a straightforward conversion that I can repeat many times very quickly (some of the other conversions weren't so wise, but I'm doing them anyway). Hats are a fun choice, and maybe that's all you'll want to make different from standard Cadians. I like to change the guns because most of the "standard" army types (Cadian, Catachan, Mordian, Tallarn, Krieg, Steall Legion) have slightly different guns from one another. Their standard guns also imply something about their tactics. Scopes suggest marksmanship, bayonets suggest massed infantry charges or trench warfare, some forces might carry autoguns instead of lasguns because they're ill-equipped or because they need weapons that can be silenced. Melee weapons, if your troops carry them, can be similarly distinctive - like the Catachans' machetes (fanasty kit parts could give you some neat options here). Grenades can also be distinctive - stick, "pineapple", canister, dynamite sticks with fuses, etc. Guerrillas might have molotovs or pipe bombs instead of grenades. Backpacks, belts, and bandoleers are all also good places to express your army's theme. If they operate alone in the wilderness, they might carry backpacks laden with food, canteens, shovels, bedrolls, and tents. Sappers might carry loads of grenades, plastic explosive packs, and wire cutters. Shock troops would probably want plenty of extra ammo. Recon teams would probably have combat knives or other stealthy weapons, and would definitely have observation gear like telescopes, binoculars, and cameras. Mechanized troops might not carry much at all, since they have vehicles to haul their spare equipment in.

- Try to keep your conversions internally consistent, and consistent with your theme. Your lieutenant looks nice, but I notice that he's carrying a laspistol, a sword, and a short belt of very big bullets/bolts. The bullets are a neat-looking bit, but what is he going to do with ammunition for a weapon he doesn't have? If he's supposed to be using a heavy slugthrower "counts as laspistol" weapon, you might want to modify the gun a little more, or replace it altogether. Note that in being "consistent" you could be "consistently inconsistent" - if your troops are scavengers for some reason, they might be armed and armored in wildly different ways.

I have a bad habit of over doing the personalization to the point where it almost looks silly. (specifically my old Dark Eldar army).

The trick is to find a balance between having a uniform look and the occassional model that really stands out.

So you should look at it this way: create something unique about each platoon, squad, and occassionally individual guardsman.

For my army, this is what I have done:
Each platoon has a different shoulder pad patch (one a Diamond, one a Club, one a Spade). Plus, I keep my Heavy weapons grouped by Platoon (Diamond = Autocannons, Spade = Heavy Bolters, etc.)

Each Squad has a different marking on the base. Diamond platoon has Red-X-Red stripe marking. Each squad has a different centre colour.
Spade Platoon has a Green-X-Green stripe marking. Each squad with a different centre colour.

For individualizing troops, I tried to not go overboard...to some success.
But some guys aren't wearing helmets (catachan heads),
on some of their lasguns I painted wood stocks and others boltgun metal,
you can paint the faces differently (stuble, different eyes, skin shades),
a few silly ones (guardsman with 10 grenades, profusely bleeding guardsman, vox caster guardsman*),
battle damage, slung back lasgun,
kneeling,
alternate weapon,
extra writing on the armour (aka "Born to Kill),
various backpacks available through different kits/available bits

...the list goes on.
But reign in the uniqueness. maybe 30% of your guys should have something that really stands out. Like I said, find a balance.

Also, at some point I was bored and wrote a different name on the bottom of about half my guardsmen's bases...if you want to keep track of that one guy who managed to kill a Warboss or stood his ground when everyone else in his platoon was wiped out.



*see that? That's a joke.

I'm not great at taking pictures of my models, but I've made 42 individual guardsmen so far (individual because of their poses) (link to thread here). The conversion packs from fw are pretty useful, especially the respirator and vets w shotgun packs. Mostly, just mix up the parts, cut things up, buy hw teams and vehicle crewmen sprues at the same time as your squads. The ammo packs are also pretty useful. Oh, and sit at a desk for hours on end with a scalpel, some files, some greenstuff, some glue and heaps of blutack. Dream up ideas in your spare time.

And as for names, I name all my officers and sergeants, as well as promoting (and naming) models to corporals for outstanding work in the field of battle. I've got a lieutenant with mutton chops called Lt. Price and a sniper with a mechanical leg called Cpt. Macmillan. The rest of the names are from people I knew in cadets.

Well what I found best when I was doing my Imperial Guard was to use colors for the best effect, as well as basic patterns. My hardened vet unit has two red bands with a white down the middle, as well as tribal-looking tattoos all over their armor. Best way to tie them together too is to cut a tiny triangle of plasticard or whatever you have and glue it to the antennae of the vox-caster, it's a perfect flag and brings everything together.
-B