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Ok, I am working on a Russian Themed Guard Army, Basically lots of infantry supported by some tanks. Now the models I am using have lots of Mini-Gun armed figures, these I figure I will use as Heavy Bolters. They do not come with Special Weapons, but they are easy to convert to Flamers or Melta-Guns. It is also easy to give them left over form Plasma-Guns from my Space Wolves. I can also pull off converting some of the guns to Grenade Launchers, I buy get some Snipers, but would rather not do that.

So the question is what do I take with the Heavy Bolters?
 Flamers
 Grenade Launchers
 Melta-Guns
 Plasma-Guns
 Sniper Rifles

How is this choice relevant to given theme? Russian infantry is quite versatile. Also there's no close real world analogues for plasma or melta, and flamers are not widely used. So I'd have to pick grenade launchers (which also exist as attachments to AKs) or sniper rifles, but that's mostly because they are present in any real-world army.

I was thinking more WWI or WWII.
I always look at the Melta-Gun and Plasma-gun as the old AT Rifle.

I use Valhallans for my Soviet-themed Guard (not hard since they're basically Red Army in Space) and use everything but plasmas, since plasma guns don't have Valhallan models. If you want them to be WW1/2 themed, figure they would be taking the cheapest and easiest to produce special weapons imaginable. This would probably point towards grenade launchers, but melta guns are very effective and good to have around.

I was thinking Melta-Guns, Curretnly my Army only has 3 Tanks for Anti-Armor, and they are the easyest to convert. My original thought was all Flamers, including 3 on the Leman Rus Demolisher, but with the Nerf on Vehicle Flamers that has gone out the window.

Gamewise, the best you're looking for pairing with a heavy bolter is probably a meltagun.

Fluffwise, you really have no other choice but snipers. In the 20th century, Russia fielded a much, much higher percentage of snipers than any other army.

Of course, a Russian "sniper" was really more of a "hey, it looks like you actually point at stuff before you fire, here's a gun that actually usually hits what you point it at", with a free 4x scope.

Ailaros wrote:Gamewise, the best you're looking for pairing with a heavy bolter is probably a meltagun.

Fluffwise, you really have no other choice but snipers. In the 20th century, Russia fielded a much, much higher percentage of snipers than any other army.

Of course, a Russian "sniper" was really more of a "hey, it looks like you actually point at stuff before you fire, here's a gun that actually usually hits what you point it at", with a free 4x scope.

I was thinking of taking Snipers Special weapons Squads or Demo Charges.

If I did the Demo Charges they would be the Anti-Tank Dogs.


This is what I have so far in models. I also need to come up with a Second Troop Choice, I was thinking of getting some Beastmen for a Penal Squad.

Company Command Squad (Carapace Armour; Krak Grenades; Flamer x3; Heavy Flamer)
>Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken
>Astropath
>2x Bodyguard
>Master of Ordnance
>Officer of the Fleet

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad (Krak Grenades; Medi-pack; Platoon Standard; Vox Caster; Plasma gun x1)
>Commissar (Power Fist)
>Commander Chenkov

Infantry Squad (Krak Grenades; Vox Caster; Flamer x1)
>Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter)
>Commissar (Krak Grenades; Power Sword)
>Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Sword)

Infantry Squad (Krak Grenades; Vox Caster; Flamer x1)
>Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter)
>Commissar (Krak Grenades; Power Sword)
>Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Sword)

Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolter x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolter x3)
Conscripts Squad (Lasgun x50; Send in the Next Wave)

Leman Russ Demolisher (Heavy Flamer; Heavy Flamer Sponsons x2; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)

Leman Russ Exterminator (Lascannon; Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)

Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) (Lascannon; Co-axial Heavy Stubber; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)
>Knight Commander Pask

Guardsman Morbo

Anpu42 wrote:

Ailaros wrote:Gamewise, the best you're looking for pairing with a heavy bolter is probably a meltagun.

Fluffwise, you really have no other choice but snipers. In the 20th century, Russia fielded a much, much higher percentage of snipers than any other army.

Of course, a Russian "sniper" was really more of a "hey, it looks like you actually point at stuff before you fire, here's a gun that actually usually hits what you point it at", with a free 4x scope.

I was thinking of taking Snipers Special weapons Squads or Demo Charges.

If I did the Demo Charges they would be the Anti-Tank Dogs.


This is what I have so far in models. I also need to come up with a Second Troop Choice, I was thinking of getting some Beastmen for a Penal Squad.

Company Command Squad (Carapace Armour; Krak Grenades; Flamer x3; Heavy Flamer)
>Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken
>Astropath
>2x Bodyguard
>Master of Ordnance
>Officer of the Fleet

Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad (Krak Grenades; Medi-pack; Platoon Standard; Vox Caster; Plasma gun x1)
>Commissar (Power Fist)
>Commander Chenkov

Infantry Squad (Krak Grenades; Vox Caster; Flamer x1)
>Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter)
>Commissar (Krak Grenades; Power Sword)
>Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Sword)

Infantry Squad (Krak Grenades; Vox Caster; Flamer x1)
>Heavy Weapons Team (Heavy Bolter)
>Commissar (Krak Grenades; Power Sword)
>Sergeant (Melta Bombs; Power Sword)

Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolter x3)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolter x3)
Conscripts Squad (Lasgun x50; Send in the Next Wave)

Leman Russ Demolisher (Heavy Flamer; Heavy Flamer Sponsons x2; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)

Leman Russ Exterminator (Lascannon; Heavy Bolter Sponsons x2; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)

Leman Russ Vanquisher (IA) (Lascannon; Co-axial Heavy Stubber; Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle Storm Bolter)
>Knight Commander Pask

Guardsman Morbo

Looking at your models, if you're going to pass off non GW mini guns as heavy bolters, why not just pass them off as plasma guns?
Just say that they have hyper velocity rounds that tear through stuff at the same profile as as a plasma gun.
The reason why I'm suggesting this is that heavy bolters are kind of useless. For the same price you can get an autocannon which can threaten a lot more stuff.
Plasma guns now have longer reach so their usefulness has increased. Plus your guys already kind of look like vets with their armor.

What models are those by the way?

One more thing occurred to me. Drop the extra bits from the tanks (dozer blade, armor, missile, bolter). Those things cost points. In WW II Russia wanted to stamp out as many T34s as it could and use their volume to drown the German tanks. Mass production does not yield to putting a lot of extras on the tank. You get the turret weapon and maybe a hull mounted one. Plus, Pask sounds like a guy who got a lot of training and wasn't just some tractor driver who got jammed into a tank after a 2 hr crash course on how to drive it. So keep everything basic and use the saved points to buy more guardsmen. That's the Russian way.

In WWII, main soviet infantry weapon was Mosin rifle, bolt-action. Machine guns were uncommon, so heavy bolter would be a special weapon. Ailaros is correct about the snipers. I can't name any well-known WWII grenade launcher off the top of my head, but there was a lot of standard-issue hand grenades. So fluff-wise interesting idea would be to get a bunch of various grenades instead of special weapons, GK style. There's even a number of quite famous stories we read in school a while ago, about war heroes who would take 3-4 grenades from their comrades, crawl into a trench under advancing german tank and explode them all at once, saving their platoon. I guess this also says that there was not a lot of melta equivalents back then.

bogalubov wrote:

Anpu42 wrote:

Ailaros wrote:Said Stuff[/b]

Looking at your models, if you're going to pass off non GW mini guns as heavy bolters, why not just pass them off as plasma guns?
Just say that they have hyper velocity rounds that tear through stuff at the same profile as as a plasma gun.
The reason why I'm suggesting this is that heavy bolters are kind of useless. For the same price you can get an autocannon which can threaten a lot more stuff.
Plasma guns now have longer reach so their usefulness has increased. Plus your guys already kind of look like vets with their armor.

What models are those by the way?

One more thing occurred to me. Drop the extra bits from the tanks (dozer blade, armor, missile, bolter). Those things cost points. In WW II Russia wanted to stamp out as many T34s as it could and use their volume to drown the German tanks. Mass production does not yield to putting a lot of extras on the tank. You get the turret weapon and maybe a hull mounted one. Plus, Pask sounds like a guy who got a lot of training and wasn't just some tractor driver who got jammed into a tank after a 2 hr crash course on how to drive it. So keep everything basic and use the saved points to buy more guardsmen. That's the Russian way.

They are from Warzone, Prince Albert makes them

Link: http://www.princeaugust.ie/target_games/tg2420-1.html

And my WIP Project is here

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/461799.page

For inspiration, here's some blurry photo of some snipers I converted for my Valhallans:

Tactically, Plasmas are probably the best, but if you want to stay true to the Russian theme, I would go with snipers.

Counts as Ratling snipers wouldn't be a bad idea. They are better then giving a regular guard unit sniper rifles.

As for Meltaguns, they will be the best choice from a competitive stand point. Maybe make them look like Anti-tank Rifles and they just 'Count As' meltaguns.

Ok, guardsman Morbo is just awesome. The news monster said so.

Anpu42 wrote:

Ok, I am working on a Russian Themed Guard Army, Basically lots of infantry supported by some tanks. Now the models I am using have lots of Mini-Gun armed figures, these I figure I will use as Heavy Bolters. They do not come with Special Weapons, but they are easy to convert to Flamers or Melta-Guns. It is also easy to give them left over form Plasma-Guns from my Space Wolves. I can also pull off converting some of the guns to Grenade Launchers, I buy get some Snipers, but would rather not do that.

So the question is what do I take with the Heavy Bolters?
 Flamers
 Grenade Launchers
 Melta-Guns
 Plasma-Guns
 Sniper Rifles

While I may be mistaken, I think that in world war 2 russian use of flamethrowers was either exceedingly limited or none at all...they didn't have enough fuel to use for such weapons, and when they wanted flames they'd use the "molotov cocktail" invented by the Finns....I would go with sniper rifles, even if you have to buy them....russian's were notoriously good snipers in the cities

I will need to figure out to make Sniper Rifles.
I might go with the Melta as they are easy to make.

Niner009 wrote:

Anpu42 wrote:

Ok, I am working on a Russian Themed Guard Army, Basically lots of infantry supported by some tanks. Now the models I am using have lots of Mini-Gun armed figures, these I figure I will use as Heavy Bolters. They do not come with Special Weapons, but they are easy to convert to Flamers or Melta-Guns. It is also easy to give them left over form Plasma-Guns from my Space Wolves. I can also pull off converting some of the guns to Grenade Launchers, I buy get some Snipers, but would rather not do that.

So the question is what do I take with the Heavy Bolters?
 Flamers
 Grenade Launchers
 Melta-Guns
 Plasma-Guns
 Sniper Rifles

While I may be mistaken, I think that in world war 2 russian use of flamethrowers was either exceedingly limited or none at all...they didn't have enough fuel to use for such weapons, and when they wanted flames they'd use the "molotov cocktail" invented by the Finns....I would go with sniper rifles, even if you have to buy them....russian's were notoriously good snipers in the cities

Its hard not to miss when you have a good rifle and the ranges arn't all that great. Its not like they were sniping foes from great distances.

And yeah, the Russians did have a limited amount of fuel for the use of Flamethrowers. They weren't common, but they did use them.

Grey Templar wrote:

Niner009 wrote:

Anpu42 wrote:
I said stuff

Said Stuff

Its hard not to miss when you have a good rifle and the ranges arn't all that great. Its not like they were sniping foes from great distances.

And yeah, the Russians did have a limited amount of fuel for the use of Flamethrowers. They weren't common, but they did use them.

Flmaers: I could model some with Molotov’s and use them as count as Flame Throwers.
Sniper Rifles: I could just add Sniper Scopes