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Hey guys,

I'm painting my Penal Legionairres atm (pics to come) but I'm curious about what to do for those who still have Cadian armour...

I've been wondering how to mark out their penal status... I've though about striking off the aquilas from their armour, but then I figured that since the whole point of a Penal Legion is to fight for the Emperor's forgiveness, removing the Aquilas might be a little counter-productive, on the other hand, one could say they're earning the right to bear them?

But I think that what's even more important to a Guardsman is the Regiment... And since Whiteshields don't bear a regimental insignia or number, perhaps I should do the same to my Penal Legionairres?

I dunno what to put on instead, I thought about a white X... Would that suffice as a mark of shame? Or is there something more specific I can put on?

The theme of this Penal Squad is that they've been radicalised by a "priest" who is a Penal Legionairre himself... a bit like in Alien3, where the Prisoners developed their own religion... So I'm thinking about ways they might have made themselves appear penitent...

I may also try adding some armour chipping and stuff.

If you intend to make them look as Penitents, maybe you could give them like robes and cowls. On the other hand if you have already built the models you may be able to get away by painting their fatigues white as if they were pilgrims... Hope that helps...

Their fatigues are orange, what gives them away as penitents are chains, nooses, stitched mouthes, scrolls, codicies and banners.

Possibly a Prison number? #1001, something like that?

I like the prison number idea, perhaps putting their crime on the other shoulder. Heretic, betrayer, theif, murderer, coward, alien encounterer, ect.

The Last Chancers models all have a penal legion tattoo on their shoulder (or a patch on their sleeve, where appropriate) and a manacle on their left hand.

I wouldn't worry about doing anything specific to the armour, although a penal legion tag or registration number would be appropriate if you feel the need.

I think you should have a logo stamped onto each of the mens shoulders, something that would allow other guardsmen to identify them.

A bar code would also look good. These are probably more used than numbers.

I've put barcodes on the rear of their heads Codename 47 style...

They're identifiable from afar by their fatigues, only a few of them have armour (trying to make them look tattered). The reason I am wondering about armour is because I figure they wouldn't be worthy of showing regimental numbers?

Though, now I think about it, Penal Legionairres come from different regiments... So I guess they'd display the Insignia of their Legion.

Im working on Penal Legionairres right now, too, they're strangely fun....anywho. For the armour, I just painted the standard flak jacket in the same colours as my regiment. It keeps them tied into the unit while the orange makes them look like, well, prisoners! The extra things I do, though, are tattoos and script on the armour. I've given most of them a number tattoo across the forehead, a bunch of tattoos on the arms, and on a few of them, I did a barcode effect across the chestplate. The orange is definitely enough to give them a penal look, though.

They'll get the oldest crappest equipment, the repaired and worn out leftovers from everyone else, plus whatever they were allowed to keep from their equipment before their penal disgrace. So lots of fading, rips, patches, rust, scraped paint, etc. Their officers will be better equipped, but not much - being assigned to the penal battalions is no honour for any officer.

Henners91 wrote:I've put barcodes on the rear of their heads Codename 47 style...

They're identifiable from afar by their fatigues, only a few of them have armour (trying to make them look tattered). The reason I am wondering about armour is because I figure they wouldn't be worthy of showing regimental numbers?

Though, now I think about it, Penal Legionairres come from different regiments... So I guess they'd display the Insignia of their Legion.

Pictures or it didn't happen!

No seriously though... I would like to see some pics of what you have so far.

Heh FoxPhoenix, I'll go and see if I can borrow my sister's camera to show off the 4 models I've finished so far ;D

You can always add the name or code of the ship/penal planet they come from, perhaps even the prison if you want.

That way, when they die, they know where to ship the armour and equipment back to for re-use.

You might also want to make it a different colour to the main army armour, so that prisoners can't sneak off into the main body of troops - so adding "PRISONER" with the prison/prison planet/prison ship number (not prisoner number, as I would not think each prisoner would have their own armour) on the back of the armour might be pretty cool.

Okey dokey, I managed to wipe my sister's blood off of the Lens and got some pictures done

*Insert shameless self-promotion* I also took pictures of the rest of my army that I hadn't bothered to upload

Anyway, the Penal Troops I've done so far:

As I said, the idea is that they're Penal Troopers who've been radicalised by a nutty preacher and are driven to seek redemption... so they're supposed to be covered in icons of penitence, etc. I made the squad by kitbashing some Cadian, Catachan and Empire Flagellants bits:

The Nutty Preacher (Penal Custodian):



The finished Squadmates:






Whole Squad (WiP, they number 11 in case I want to use the Preacher as a priest elite choice):

Nice, These guys will be very striking on the tabletop. I particularly like the crazy looking preacher.

I daresay the noose around one trooper's neck is quite ingenious.

Owain wrote:I daresay the noose around one trooper's neck is quite ingenious.

Thanks, but it's right out of the Flagellants box, the only stuff I added that was of my own creation were some of the bandages to cover up differences in size between fists and arms (I had to do a lot of cutting on this squad).

GW was obviously on a similar brainwave to what I intended for this squad when they made the Flagellants: A bunch of misfits fighting for penitence who ultimately accept that they're dead men walking (hence the noose)... Probably even moreso if they are outside of the Emperor's grace!