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So I'm new to Warhammer in general and my friends have got me really interested in building an army. I have decided to go with IG for my first army and have read the codex front to back and feel like I have a basic understanding of the structure behind it. One of the biggest things I am having trouble rapping my head around is what, and I'm talking about the physical minitures here, defines them as a veteran squad compared to a basic squad?

All the awesome conversions you will do!

Some people load up the veterans with all the extra gear they can find to represent people that are ready for anything. Backpacks, ammo belts/pouches, grenades, ropes, random accessories of any sort.

When I had IG I used Catachans as veterans - they looked sufficiently different from the Cadian models. The biggest, toughest guys that have seen it all and ditched every piece of equipment except what they need to kill with.

edit: or you don't do anything to them, except maybe a different unit patch or helmet marking. Point it out to your opponent at the start of the game.

HerrHat wrote:
So I'm new to Warhammer in general and my friends have got me really interested in building an army. I have decided to go with IG for my first army and have read the codex front to back and feel like I have a basic understanding of the structure behind it. One of the biggest things I am having trouble rapping my head around is what, and I'm talking about the physical minitures here, defines them as a veteran squad compared to a basic squad?

As above, nothing actually makes the models veterans, nor is there veteran models. Some people kit-bash (making models using more then one different model kits), some just add extra bits to them like diiferent weapons, some people add Green Stuff to them, and some people just point to a standard Infantry Squad and go "Dems my Veterans".

I'm new to wargamming, too, and I haven't decided what my veterans will look like yet. As veterans have carapass armour, I'll probably try and Green Stuff extra armour on them, I'm thinking I'll buy the Respirator upgrade from Forge World, too - I like the look of the Cadian "closed"-helmet.

Good luck in your choice.

The models are defined by a squad of 10 guardsmen with WYSIWYG weapons and equipment. There is no special set of models other than obvious things like having 3x plasma guns that other squads can't have. Some people choose to model them with extra gear for aesthetic purposes, but there is no requirement to do so.

 Crimson wrote:
All the awesome conversions you will do!

That is like soooooooo true
Some folks like to green stuff more onto their vets to denote what kind they are. Some will add cloaks to denote Forward Sentry Doctrine, some will model a dude holding a bundle of dynamite to denote the Demo Doctrine. I did this to denote that my Vets had the Grenadiers Doctrine

As you can see they all have the PA power pack on them and there are 10 plasmaguns and depending on whom i face 3 to 6 plasma pistols.
Expensive points wise for a squad of guardsmen but they earned the nickname of "the poor mans Marines"

Awsome! Thanks for all of the replies and now i have a bunch of ideas for how to make myself a veteran squad if it's this easy!

A fast, simple, and easy way if you don't want to go in for long modeling projects would be to give them an extra distinctive marking somewhere. Regular Guardsmen have black helmets, Vets have red, or something like that.