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Hey guys

I wanted to do an army of drop-troopers, using the army lists of IA8: Kastrol-Novem.
But I'm not too keen on the official colour schemes in the books, which are rather dull, either brown or the one shown in IA: 3 (grey).

Is anyone aware of any other regiments which are 'drop troopers', or perhaps even another Elysian colour scheme (I haven't had a chance to see them in the latest IA book yet)?
Or if anyone has done drop troopers of their own, or has ideas for their colour, I would be interested to hear about it (or see it)!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The simplest, easiest way to go about this is the following;

Make your own.

Look at various colours and see what goes together and what does not - look at RL camouflage patterns to see which colours are used together. Look at historical uniforms and the colours used for them. Find examples of specialist troops and their uniforms, such as parachute troops, mountain troops, pioneers, commandos.

40k is your oyster, create what you want

There are the Harakoni Warhawks.

VI th legion wrote:There are the Harakoni Warhawks.

Yeah, these guys are pretty cool if you don't want to make up your own fluff, there's even some background info on them in IA8 although it's not much. You can find the most about them I think in the old 4th edition IG codex.

IIRC, they look like armoured cadians with plenty of equipment and a different helmet plus some sort of grav chute.

Shameless plug for my own here, but there's also the Machani Carrion Crows.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/425607.page


But in cannon fluff, just the Elysians and the Harakoni, so far as I know.

Jakka wrote:
But in canon fluff, just the Elysians and the Harakoni, so far as I know.

There's far more.

The Phantine Skyborne immediately springs to mind. "Planetstrike" also has a blurb in there about a Cadian Drop Regiment(likely based upon an old color scheme from the doctrines Codex and elaborated upon).

Basically, there's tons of Drop Regiments. It's just the Harakoni and Elysians are the only ones which have been discussed in the more "mainstream" fluff, and the Phantine Skyborne only made an appearance in the novel "Guns of Tanith".

Kanluwen wrote:

Jakka wrote:
But in canon fluff, just the Elysians and the Harakoni, so far as I know.

There's far more.

The Phantine Skyborne immediately springs to mind. "Planetstrike" also has a blurb in there about a Cadian Drop Regiment(likely based upon an old color scheme from the doctrines Codex and elaborated upon).

Basically, there's tons of Drop Regiments. It's just the Harakoni and Elysians are the only ones which have been discussed in the more "mainstream" fluff, and the Phantine Skyborne only made an appearance in the novel "Guns of Tanith".

Good to know, thanks.

Thanks very much for the replies guys!

@Sparks_Havelock - thanks yes, that was certainly an idea. I may well go with my own regiment name and design in the end, but I'm not completely in the loop with IG background and it was more a case of looking for ones other than the standard Elysians.

@Jakka - That's certainly an interesting (and bloody!) background for the force. Are you still continuing with developing them?

Thanks guys a lot for pointing out the Harakoni Warhawks. I had a quick look on Lexicanum, they sound really interesting although I'm not too sure about the colour scheme (tan armour with black fatigues). Having said that, I found this wonderful drawing when searching which might serve as a good basis for a colour scheme:



@Kanluwen - Thanks the Phantine Skyborne sound like a great idea, and their background is interesting. Might well go with those and make up my own colour scheme if I don't go with the above.


Out of interest, as I already have IA:3 (and its excellent section on IG airborne troopers) is it worth getting IA: 8 as well? Is there much of a change as far as rules are concerned?

Well, IA3's list is considered "outdated" and the FAQ is basically "Refer to IA8"

Thanks, that was the answer I feared

Is there anyone who has both books and would care to comment on the differences?
I've had a quick flick through IA: 8 and while it's a lovely book, the story content doesn't really appeal to me.
In that sense, 50 quid for a book I'm just buying for a few pages of rules (especially if similar to IA 3) is a bit too much, and I'll just keep using the older book.

Well, the major thing is that the IA: 8 list can also be used in addition to the Imperial Guard update PDF to field a Detachment 99 force.

You've also got the Elysians having new pieces like the Tauros and Tauros Venators, the Vendetta Gunship. Drop Sentinel squadrons are selectable as part of a platoon or as an Elite choice, etc.
It's basically "the same thing" but updated for the current edition Guard codex. There's also a few special "characters" in the back of the book and some cool scenarios which add in a bit more.

Drop troopers be a scary idea....if you've read the gaunt books. the ghosts do a drop? use them?

Kanluwen wrote:Well, the major thing is that the IA: 8 list can also be used in addition to the Imperial Guard update PDF to field a Detachment 99 force.

You've also got the Elysians having new pieces like the Tauros and Tauros Venators, the Vendetta Gunship. Drop Sentinel squadrons are selectable as part of a platoon or as an Elite choice, etc.
It's basically "the same thing" but updated for the current edition Guard codex. There's also a few special "characters" in the back of the book and some cool scenarios which add in a bit more.

OK thanks for that mate.
I think I might just use the standard IG codex for now (standard infantry, stormtroopers, Valkyries etc.) and then maybe drop in one of those rather nice looking IA: 8 vehicles at some point.

Thanks a lot for all of the input !

3 things.

One, as specialized, independent, and more tactically reliant soldiers, Drop Troops will vary their camouflage according to the theatre of operations. Their job as a drop force is do operate behind enemy lines and execute surgical strikes on key objectives. As a result, Drop Troops operating with in a Valhallan AO may employ a white-based colour scheme, while those operating in sync with a Catachan force may choose an earth-tone palette.

Two, it's thoroughly encouraged to create your own regiment, but basing it off either the Harakoni or Elysian forces gives you a great basis for your FOC. Harakoni's are largely about Guerilla strikes, using heavy Stormtrooper and Veteran support, and tend to employ heavy usage of Carapace armour, with light air support, focusing more on ground-tactics once landing has been made. Elysians use much larger forces, focusing on overwhelming footslogging platoons, tactical positioning, and in work in concert with heavy air support.

Three, get a Vulture Gunship. They're absolutely filthy if you specialize them, and they have the hardpoints to be multipurpose effectively as well. Slap on Lascannons and MRP's, you have a dirty Anti-tank, anti-Horde platform. Hellstrike Missiles and TL Lascannons? Dirty as gak Anti-Tank. And Finally, my personal favorite firing platform in all of existence: TWIN LINKED PUNISHER CANNONS. That's Three Heavy Bolter shots, and 20 rerollable Punisher shots unleashed a turn. Just show the stat sheet, and most squads will break right there.

Pacific wrote:

@Jakka - That's certainly an interesting (and bloody!) background for the force. Are you still continuing with developing them?

Thanks! It's slow going now that I've written most of whats been bouncing around in my head, but I am still working on it.

I think the Jouran Dragoons are also a Drop Troop army as well. I could be wrong.