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Hi folks,

I'm a lapsed 40K gamer (have only had one game in the last 15+ years and started in the hobby about 20 years ago) but I've started gatting back into things and have started a new army. I still have some old figures but locked in the loft of a house we've rented out so I started over with new Imperial Guard. I'm starting a blog to keep me motivated with the painting - I don't much like doing it and I have extremely limted time for it (6 hour daily commute :( ) but it has to be done and hoepfully this will help me.

The units are mostly infantry at the moment, but I should be able to field some armour come the new year (hopefully the big red guy will bring some Chimeras ). For a bit of variety I have a mix of Cadian and Catachan figures (not in the same units) and I'm justifying that by assuming they represent light and heavy infantry types, since the rules now don't different between guard types this is purely fluff!

So far I've started a light squad, to which I've added a peaked cap head to the Sergeant, and straps to the vox caster - lack of them really bugged me for some reason. As you can see from the photo all the guys are going to have blue trousers and grey equipment (armour in the case of the Cadian types).



I've also started a Penal Legion using Cadian bodies and Hasslefree heads. The heads are a little small and lack ears (eh? what? ) but I think they'll look ok on the table top. Since I'm totally unoriginal, these will be orange and grey, and the Custodian is going to be based on the armour sprue commander figure armed with a cattle prod type implement.



To help me get back into the 40K groove, I've managed to finda few old figures knocking about in the last few days and so I've tried to assemble them just for fun...










Hopefully more painted figures soon, I'm clearing space on the workbench of all my other models (3mm, 6mm and 20mm historical) so I can work in more than a 6" space!

That old stuff is beautiful. Wish I had some old guard and orks lying around.

Ooh. RT Space marines. Nice.

I think you have an interesting color scheme for your IG. I didn;t think blue jeans survived into the 41st millennium.

Main reason the Hasslefree heads lack ears is because those heads are for sculpting purposes.

Thanks folks, I think I have about another 20 beakies locked in the attic of the old house along with a load of Harlequins and an Eldar dreadnought - might be able to get them in the NY. Now I know how to strip the paint from them there's every chance they'll be salvagable which is heart-warming.

Denim, haha yes I thought it looked a bit like that, but why not I guess it's hard wearing, although not so good when wet.

Re. the Hasslefree heads, I realise that's why they don't have ears and while I thought about adding some, I doubt it'd look that good with my skills. Maybe the punishments are harsh in this unit!

I would be interested in acquiring the harlequins if you were interested.

Let's even see if I can get them back first. I have to wait until we do a Landlord inspection of the property.

Simon

Really short of time again this week, so all I had time for was some base coating.




Did make three of these, which have really helped get light into the photos. Now just to get a tripod I can use in the small space of my painting room to solve my shaking hands problems.

You can get a mini-tripod, with legs at around 6" or less, quite cheaply, chief - might be what you're after.

Some nice ideas going on here. I think you should add scars where the Penal Legionnaires have lost their ears; perhaps they have them cut off in order to mark them as criminals.

Was all excited about scragging, and Owain stole my thunder! They're looking great, and it's nice to see someone else who is long lapsed blogging about it. Keep it up fella (I will if you will!)

Dysartes - Thanks for the suggestion and in fact I already have one a mini tripod, but what I need is a full height one with a heavy single foot to stand in the middle of the room on the floor. That way it's the right distance from the models for the lens I have.

Owain - I may do something like that, although to be honest I'm wondering how much people will notice at gaming distances if I left them earless?

inmygravenimage - Can't afford to stop now, I've probably spent as much on GW in the last few months as I did in several years last time - although £10 for 30 marines made things cheaper!

I've been mulling ideas re Ripper guns for my Ogryn Squad (going down the WHFB Ogre route). I was thinking since the IG seem to go for standardisation on weapons (the shotguns sharing stocks and grips with the lasguns) that the Rippers may be made using parts already in production for other weapons. I'm going to try and use heavy bolters with an extra barrel and a belt feed , what does anyone think?

Ok so with the help of a bit of photoshop, this is what I had in mind for the Ripper gun, a kind of double barrelled shot in a Heavy Bolter case.



On Friday my first ever Forgeworld order arrived, so it was a good surprise, well cast easy to work with and the extra level of detail that most GW plastic box kits lack.

I just got the Cadian Veterans pack for now as I've enough painting backing up, but here's the work so far. Some heads are off as they make painting some of the models harder when fitted. The missing 2 squad members are Meltagun troops and I just haven't assembled them yet.



Since the pack only has enough shotguns for 5 troops, and I needed a sixth I used the cut off grip and stock to make another shotgun in some kind of holster - not sure if it really works or not.




here was my take on a Vet Sgt.



Also found time to work on these guys:



The two finished ones will be dullcoted once the bases are done to take away the shine of the floor polish wash I use.






Picked up these click together guard last week too, they aren't great being a solid version of one of the other Cadians, and the ring for the clip in arms is rather large. I bought them to bulk out my final squad so they may not get much table time anyway so it's probably not worth worrying about.

I don't think I've seen the clip-together Cadians before, Lavuran - where were they from?

What brand and type of floor wax do you use I've heard it being mentioned for washes before and was wondering?

the clip together Cadians were made by GW. They produced a whole bunch of boxes where you could get 3 or so guys for an army to try out new paint schemes or to bulk out squads.

Floor polish is Johnson Klear (sold as Future in some places).

As said the clip together guys are GW, you get five lasgun troops for five pounds so slightly cheaper than the regular ones if you don't want all the extra bits i.e. if you just want normal troops. I think I may remove the mounting lug on mine, file off the stupid mounting ring and fill the hole.

Thanks a lot mate I'll have to give it a go at some point!

wow, they almost look the same as my guard. well done.

IS THAT A SQUAT!!!!

I love you.

But really, that is freakin awesome, if you have any extra bits of the squats, about one whole squats worth, then please, learn how to make moulds and sell them on the internet. Since GW discontinued them, you could call them anything and sell them as generic gaming pieces.

Those clip-together Cadians look a bit chunky. Not as smooth as the regular ones...

The metal heads look a bit small on the gaurds body. The Harden Vets look good though.

Haha I love the penal legionnaires! They look better than mine

Llamahead: I mix some black paint with the Klear in an old glass jar until it's the consistency I want, the advantage of which is I can reseal the jar and it lasts ages!

Scrazza: Thanks

Brotheralexos: Alas he's the last of his kind, all I have left in the bits box are some broken Squat arms.

AnotherSpaceMarine: The seem to have been made from the same scultps as the normal IG except with the addition of a pouch under the left arm, but I'd avoid them tbh the amount of work I will need to do doesn't really merit the saving (which is small anyway).

jackvolerich: Agreed but I needed 9 baldy heads (since I wanted the RT look of the penal legions) so choices were limited.

r3n3g8b0y: Thanks

Quick post before I have to stop painting to have time with the family:

Light Company RTO: Base needs to be finished but I'm debating changing from the gray/ash bases. Also sorry for some of the fuzziness, camera batteries were almost out- need to charge them before tomorrow.





Another Penal Legion guy:





Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry I broke the picture links the other week, I screwed up a firewall setting so my webserver wasn't visible on the net - doh!

I've redone my basing scheme to add some rubble - good tip from the net to use bits of chopped up sprue!

The first Veteran



First Penal trooper to be completed on the new base:



Penal squad is about 50% completely painted but only one has a completed base.

I'm trying to get my guard army done before I head abroad for a year in a few months. Would be a good way to meet wargamers when I arrive if I have an army ready to go.

Nice stuff, dude. What happened to that guys face? Reminds me of the troll from LoTR.

cool. The color scheme and paint job are really nice. Simple and effective.

I can definitely tell that you are a RT-2nd era gamer by the bright colors you paint your miniatures with! Not saying it's a bad thing, quite to the contrary! I like the brighter colors, they are very interesting in the world of IG-muted-colors.

captain.gordino: It's some manly scars...or possibly some overly heavy wash application. btw what's the gaming scene like in Calgary? Just asking as I may head back there later this year depending on where I get work on my year abroad.

The Good Green: Thanks, simple is the main thing because I paint slowly and need to see things getting finished to avoid losing motivation.

FoxPhoenix135: Bright colours are what brought me back to 40K. I spent most of the time since last playing WH40K on 20th century "historical" wargames and I'd become rather tired of the muted tones of real uniforms . I felt like I really needed to return to something where I could be creative in my colour schemes, and that's actually increased my enjoyment of painting which I normally class as the necesary evil of wargaming.