Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello all. I've been lurking on Dakka for I don't know how long and I have decided to clean up my act and start a thread of my own. I haven't done any serious hobby-related stuff for months and this plog is a way of easing myself back into things. Since I'm currently away at college, my resources are limited (few bitz, no paints, bad lighting, little time, etc.), but here goes.

As the title suggests, I'm an Imperial nut. Several aborted attempts at Guard and inquisitorial armies are collecting dust in my basement, but I'm going to give both another try. The basic idea for this army is that during a banishment campaign, Imperial High Command identified several warp/realspace overlaps created by Chaos forces and dispatched several recon units to locate and destroy them.

So here we are: 11th (Wenlock's) Rangers. These guys are scout/recon troops and count as Penal legion squads. Still WIP, of course.


And some close-ups:
Sgt. Acklee

Grunts



And the Inquisitor who accompanies them, Constantyn Faseult. He will also double as my -I-munda leader.

R to L: Warrior, mystic, Faseult, and a haemonculus (counts as the Inquisitor's Sacred Incense)


More to follow in the next day or two.

nice. but the space marine torso on your inquisitor really unbalances the miniature. Your guardsmen however, look fantastic.

I really like the modern look of your guardsmen, very nice

Well this afternoon I decided to buckle down and do some work. Unfortunately, the focus of my efforts was not my upcoming research paper but rather these guys. The task I had been dreading for some time is GSing sleeves onto the bare-armed guardsmen, and this proved to be a real pain in the ass, but they seem to have turned out OK.

@Ghosty: I see what you mean, but I actually like the effect it creates. I'm going to make sure the head is nestled very deeply into the torso, so that the armor looks big rather than the limbs looking small.

@Steempunk: Thanks! There's going to be a second, more old-fashioned regiment in the army later on, and I hope the Rangers' modern look will contrast nicely with them.

And now, pics.

New recruits! These guys will eventually be marksmen for my Scout Sniper squad, but I haven't been able to get my hands on sniper rifles yet.

1st Ranger squad. These boys are supposed to look like they're scouting around and just making contact with the enemy.

The new addition, which involved quite a bit of re-posing. Guardsman Erskine, examining some tracks.

2nd squad. They're getting stuck in, so lots of running and shooting from the hip.

Two fellows I'm working on for this squad, and in the background, a sneak peek! Soon to be my Bastonne stand-in.

And the Inquisitor's retinue has received some work. The haemonculus:

Two more guys. On the left is the basis of a hierophant, and on the right, a lightning rod psyker who will count as Faseult's psychic hood. Head will be changed, though.


And that's all she wrote.

That's a lot of bits! Very cool, very fun work. I like it, and I'll enjoy seeing it develop.
The incense looks intense, and great work on Erskine's arm. I dig the thumb.

Well, it's the middle of finals week at my university and on top of it I got very sick for a few days, so I haven't been able to do too much. But just to prove that this log wasn't a flash in the pan, here are some pics.

Here's Inquisitor Faseult. I used the goatee head from the IG metal heads, which is very dashing. He's about ready to be pruned and glued, but I still have to mess around with the pistol.

His acolyte. I'm going to have to do quite a bit of work on this guy because I don't want him just to look like a scout with a different head. He will eventually be holding a pollaxe.

Another crusader. He'll get some different arms, but I intend him to be a bit more modern-looking than the others.

And another guardsman.


There won't be any updates for a while because I've got about 20 pages of essays to write by Friday morning and then I have to drive back home from Chicago, which is roughly 1,000 miles. But once I get home I'm going to get to work on this army and try to test out a color scheme. Hope you like 'em.

@ The Good Green: thanks! I'm terrible with gs so the thumb was a real pain to do, but I'm glad you like it.

Very lively army and dynamic poses!

I like the use of empire bits.

@ Skohm: yeah, I tried building a Cadian army a while back and quickly got bored of the repetitive poses, so I'm trying to keep things a little more life-like and variable. Glad to see it's working!

@Fiestamonkey: thanks, I love the Empire stuff but most of the body parts are so small and rickety-looking it's a pain to use them.

Well, I found out today that I misread one of my essay prompts, so I have to re-write 12 pages on the Prose Lancelot by tomorrow night :/ That will delay my departure for home a bit, so I'm afraid it'll be a bit longer before I can put any new pics up.

WoW! just WoW!
great stuff!

Very cool, did you say they counted as penal legion squads? If so why! They look more like vetrens of a long campaign not some imperal "scum"

I think he's using them as penal legion, rather than, say, stormtroopers as an elite light infantry unit that can do some serious damage. I really like the idea and the execution. Nice one.

Well I recently came home from a circuitous back from Chicago and a stop-over upstate. I've been pretty busy fixing things around the house for my parents, but I've managed to squeeze in a bit of hobby time. I found a box of Pistoliers I never did anything with and I am converting them into rough riders. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera upstate so I can't post any pics for a while, but I've tried to make them look like the reivers and moss troopers drawn from the English-Scottish Border country in the 15th and 16th centuries. Also got to work on the rangers a bit more.

Very cool, did you say they counted as penal legion squads? If so why! They look more like vetrens of a long campaign not some imperal "scum"

I think he's using them as penal legion, rather than, say, stormtroopers as an elite light infantry unit that can do some serious damage

Flinty's got it right. I saw someone on Warseer who used penal legion rules for a recon squad in his Ultramar PDF (this is a great plog btw, so do check it out; it's by a guy called Straightsilver), and that gave me the idea to do something similar.

Many thanks for all the comments, by the way. They really help me stick to this project.

My dad has been using my hobby table for something, but as soon as he clears up I will be basing and priming some rangers in preparation for painting. I was planning on making moorland bases and giving them brown armor and grey camouflaged fatigues, but I'm open to suggestions. IN fact, suggestions would be welcome, because I have a bit of a problem. My regiment, Wenlock's Rangers, are the spiritual successors to Rodger's Rangers, the light infantry unit that operated along the Northern Frontier during the French and Indian War.

Uniform:
http://www.acidus.com/images/ranger.gif

THough my miniatures don't look anything like these men, I'd like to incorporate the dark green uniform somehow. But I'd also like to keep the grey-brown color scheme I'd envisioned when building the rangers. Typical indecision on my part, and I'd appreciate some suggestions.

Update time! I'm afraid it's not as large as I would have liked, but I've had next to no time or space.

Got some work done on a few rangers, mainly mock-ups.
Guardsman and an as-yet unnamed sergeant

Two spotters for my scout sniper squad. The one on the left will be reloading and the other one is picking out a target. ALl the scout snipers will of course get camo cloaks, which I am dreading to sculpt.


And now for something new: the prickers. Here is the heidman:

Two troopers



Lot of work to be done on them. They will of course be holding lances and will be kitted out with lots of pouches and saddlebags etc. Sorry about the crappy picks. I had to use a flashlight to provide enough light.

This week should give me a bit more time to work, so I hope to be priming a few rangers and testing out color schemes. I'll try to update within a day or so.

Update!!

Well of course I broke my word and didn't provide an update "within a day or so." But I've managed to do a bit of work nonetheless.

Some primed rangers, including one with a test scheme. I've decided to change it slightly and am waiting on some new paints.

More guardsmen.

Some PIPs: inquisitorial agent, servitors, and a preacher

Close-up of the sage, whom I began painting last winter and have yet to finish


I'm still having trouble with taking good pictures, but recently it's just been too damn hot to set something up outside. Also, I tried to resize them so they weren't as huge as the pics in my previous posts.
Hope you like them.