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Hello Dakka.

Recently I have been working on a veteran squad for my guard army. Originally I was getting this new squad for tactical flexibility (still is part of the reason though) but then I suddenly felt that I should try to make this squad look awesome, so thats what I tried to do.

This squad has an 'airborne' look to it, I have put full-face helmets on each of the veterans (helmets from the Pig Iron website) to do this, and they have their own Valkyrie .
To add appeal to the squad I decided to characterise them, which turned out quite well IMO.

Heres the loadout of this squad:
Veteran Sergeant:
2 Bolt Pistols (ive always wanted to do that )

Veterans:
5 Lasguns
1 Shotgun
1 Flamer
1 Meltagun
1 Grenade Launcher

This is the squad


The Squad (different angle)


The Squad (another different angle)


The Sergeant


The Melta-gunner


The Shotgun Veteran


The Shotgun Veteran (front)


The Shotgun Veteran (other side)


The Marksman


The Rookie


The Female Veteran


The Female Veteran (from behind)


The Medic (he's not a medic in-game, its just to add character to this model)


The Medic (from behind)


The Comms Veteran


The Comms Veteran (from behind), I made that compact vox-caster from the original, neat isn't it?


The Flamer Veteran


The Flamer Veteran (from behind)


The Grenade Launcher Veteran



Im very pleased with this squad , this one is by far my best painted squad and I think I did a good job in adding variety and characterisation to the models.

Let me know what you think

I'll admit, I was hoping to see some kind of IG veteren-launching-catapault device, but these are pretty cool too. I like the helmets, and they are nicely painted.

I'll admit, I was hoping to see some kind of IG veteren-launching-catapault device

lol

Yeah, I probably should have given a slightly more specific name

I think the helmets look good too, I was really pleased to find that they fitted so well too.

Im glad you think my painting is good, took a while for me to get to that standard

I see a few mould lines here and there (arms of the grenad launcer and flamethrower fellows stand out the most), but the painting seems just spot on to me. I like the idea of visored helmets on guardsmen, and the J-Lo you got on that one model is alright too.

The lighting in your pictures make things seem a little yellow. Have anywhere else you can shoot?

I would like to see more of these guys! Keep up the good work!

I like them!

One thing how did you make for the female one?

@Rearden Pro: Thanks, im glad you like the helmets, and I agree with you, the female character is quite J-Lo
And yes, I could find a better place to take the pics, obviously an orange table isn't the right place for it
You shall be seeing more of these guys, Im glad you think they're good

@indiana1000: Glad you like the models!
I made the female guardsman, but the body and legs were made and moulded by someone else (some master sculptor somewhere). You see I was looking for a way to make this veteran to be different character-wise, so I decided I ought to make this veteran female (to add variety).
Now it was quite lucky how this all turned out; I looked up how to make female guardsmen, found a forum on dakka where they were selling female guardsmen sculpted by a hired sculptor. I tried conatacting this person but he did not reply, so I nearly gave up with trying to make this veteran female.
Then I stumbled upon a forum where a person was trying to sell his female guardsmen he had bought from the other guy, so I contacted him and we arranged a purchase, then he posted the model to me. I think its a great piece, worth it IMO.

Nice and characterful, and I always like that PI helmet

The paint scheme looks a bit flat. Have you tried adding some shading and highlights?

I really like the helmets too, when I first saw them I really wanted to add them to a squad, and now I have

Im afraid im not too good at highlighting, I feel that if i tried I may end up ruining the model is there an easy way of highlighting?

I could dry-brush the armour to bring that out a bit, and I could also add a suitable colour wash to the clothing, i've heard that that works quite well.

Im glad you like the squad, characterful was exactly what I was going for

Drybrushing is a good idea if you're worried about messing up highlighting. With a little lighter a color, it should come out just fine.

A wash over the clothing may do you good, but be careful! I got a little over-zealous with my washes when I did my first few Cadians. They were the first models I ever stripped.

Ever think about trying to make a little mark of white in the corner of the visors to give them that sort of sun-glinting-off-the-shades-y look?

That would definitely look good, but im just not to sure how to do it right. Im guessing you just add a little corner of white? Or is there more to it?

Games Workshop has some articles on a similar subject here and here. On Dakka there might be a thread or two around too, if those aren't enough.

Love the visors...the colors of the figures work well together, nice job!

@ReardenPro: Ok, I will see whether I can get good at that kind of highlighting

@Element206: Thank you , im glad the helmets turned out so well.

The lady doesn't look like a lady. It's almost impossible to tell with helmet.

Yeah I know, thats why I included a picture of her from behind, to emphasise her more visible 'assets'

And I couldn't just not give her the helmet, it wouldn't have suited with the rest of the squad. And the female head I got was a bit to wide and unrealistic (because of the wideness).

Baby got back!!!! I love the female trooper....boom boom...lol

Baby got back!!!!

She sure does

Im pleased she turned out so well

Gice some washes and highlights and they are gonna look great! Nice helmets btw

Thank you, im glad you like them

Yeah, I will get to adding some washes and highlights at some point, hopefully soon

Sweet, love the helmets

Thanks

Cool idea, was planning to put my storm troopers in to val's too.

@kevlar'o: Thank you.

Yes, stormtroopers work very well in Valkyries, you can just zoom past the enemy line, drop of your troopers, and use the valkyrie for fire-support for the squad

Veterans work well too as well

Update: im going to be getting some more paints soon; so I'll be getting the wash for the clothing of the veterans, what colour wash works best on kommando khaki?

Thanks in advance

I like them a lot,good work.Those pig iron heads are great and i will have to invest in some myself very soon..

The possible start of a new theme " death from above"

Fantastic look! Nice Sergeant.

Thank you for your comments Im glad you like the models.

@TNM: I like the sound of that, im pleased you think it could actually be the start of a new theme the new 'death from above' for the imperial guard

@Shattered Soul: Thanks. The sergeant is quite cool, I think the dual bolt pistols make him look like a real veteran IMO

@Pedro Kantor: Thank you. What will you be using you pig iron helmets on?

Go Flat Colours

From an old Paratrooper: Thats nice work there! I do cringe when I see the shotgunner's combat knife on his shoulder armor, but thats just me, otherwise