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Well I've been bitten by the bug again...

After a solid year and a half away from the hobby, my love of historical anything has brought me back to the Warhammer universe. Well, that and some good deals locally and on eBay.

Long story short I had a sudden inspiration to actually follow through with a project that had been at the back of my head since I had joined the Dakka community. Ever since I saw the old school Cadian Imperial Guard (none of this Astra Mili-whatever crap) I'd always thought they looked a lot like a futuristic take on WW2 Japanese infantry. I can't really pinpoint what it was exactly, but the idea stuck with me. With the completion of a 1250 point Bolt Action Japanese force I needed a new project. After hunting down a chunk of these old models I had my new goal. A 2000 point infantry army based around the Pacific theater Japanese.

As it sits now I don't really have that great of a start. I've got 3 vox casters, 2 heavy bolter teams, 2 sergeants, the old chubby officer, and 14 lasrifle models. I've got more on order though, something to the tune of 7 heavy bolter teams, a few old school commissars, 12 special weapons troops and 40+ riflemen.

Still working out a color scheme, but I'll be using Vallejo paints for the most part. GW pricing isn't really a good buy for what you get IMO.

List wise this is where I'm sitting right now.

HQ
CCS - lascannon, vox, MoO (105)

Commissarsx2 - powerfist (100)

Troops
Platoon 1 (295)
PCS - 4xflamers (50)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun, vox (85)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun (80)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun (80)

Platoon 2 (295)
PCS - 4xflamers (50)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun, vox (85)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun (80)
IS - power weapon, melta bombs, meltagun (80)

Fast Attack
Scout Sentinel - autocannon (40)
Scout Sentinel - autocannon (40)

Heavy Support
Basilisk (125)

Total 1000pts

Most of the vehicles will be converted. I want to avoid running Leman Russ's as the Japanese never really fielded anything that I could really model it as. They did test a number of heavy gun carriages though, which will be what the Basilisk would be based on. I'll also be converting the lascannons and autocannons to tie in with the Japanese style AT guns from the war. It's the little things I guess.

Any comments or critiques are appreciated!

this sounds awesome!
I want to see a project blog or something!
fmj

As somebody who owns well over a hundred of the buggers, I love me some classic Cadians. Looking forward to what you do with them.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this theme

Sounds like a good idea. I have been throwing the ideas of Stalingrad Russians, WW1 Doughboys and Vietnam Air Cav. Can not decide on which one I want to do. So looking forward to seeing what you do.

Subbed.

Thanks for the interest! Like I said it's been kind of a long awaited idea for me so I hope to do it justice.

I ordered some plasticard today so I should be able to start converting a new gun shield and trailing arms for when I find a bunch of lascannon teams on ebay. I'm also toying with the idea of extending the barrel on my huge supply of heavy bolters, just to make it seem more like an actual HMG instead of a side fed box gun. Any thoughts?

Would also appreciate any feedback on the list itself. Not looking for ultra competitive, but a good tabletop force would be a perk.

A slight update with actual progress! Which would have had pictures if my phone hadn't reset itself....

I've been playing around with a few of the test models I primed trying to nail down a color scheme. So far the closest thing I've found is the Vallejo Middlestone color for the uniforms, and Brown Violet for the helmets and armor. Now it's just a question of what to use as a base color as I'm trying to avoid using washes alone to provide shading on the models. Thinking of just darkening and lightening the middlestone for the base and highlight respectively. Any thoughts?

Should have a few pictures of just a basic colorscheme when I get home

So I managed to get a few pictures last night. They are just off my phone so quality isn't the greatest but they'l do I guess

Obligatory shot of work area that's in every P-Log


These are all the models I currently have in my possession for the project. Many more are on the way! I've also forgotten to grab pictures of my other heavy bolter team and vox caster. They're currently soaking in simple green.


These are a few shots of the first WIP model I've started. This was painted several months ago, and I'm changing several things regarding the design and painting style, most importantly not entirely relying on washes for shading and detail.






I also haven't decided if I should stick with the simplified design that was found on small banners (just the red circle on the white background) or paint the actual rising sun on each shoulder pad. Execution is my only concern on that.

Thoughts and comments are appreciated!

I like the basic red circle on white. Do you have some Kanji written there as well?

If by kanji you mean little squiggles meant to mimic Japanese script then yes

 orkboy232 wrote:
If by kanji you mean little squiggles meant to mimic Japanese script then yes

So the test model I painted originally has met an honorable end....well, not really. I threw him into the simple green bath. I couldn't get over how bad the fatigues looked in person. I've been working on a new scheme for these guy's and I think I've made some good progress. My biggest issue with the original model I painted was the cloth. I went with more of a realistic approach to it color wise and switched from relying on a heavy wash for shading to 3 layers of drybrushing. It looks good in my opinion and should be easy to replicate on a mass scale. I've also gone into a little more detail regarding some of the equipment the guardsman has. The bedroll was painted in a much more vibrant color than the rest to add some pop, as will the off-white shoulder pad. I'm also a lot happier with how the skin turned out. I've always been terrible at painting it so the fact it looks decent is enough for me. I still have to finish painting him (chiefly the gun, shoulder pad details, helmet, boots, and figure out an armor highlight) but I'm taking baby steps to ease myself back into the hobby.

Anyways, onto the crappy phone pics









Hopefully I'll have him finished up in the next few days minus the base. Still haven't figured out how I'm doing those.... someday.

Something of a mini reply. I've been buried at work hence the lack of updates on the test scheme. I did get the first of several different shipments in, so I've now added another 7 heavy bolter teams, a bunch of random lasgun mini's, a few more sergeants, and a mortar team. Some of the models had already been stripped, but everything has gone back into a simple green bath to try and get it as close to bare as possible. I'll do my best to have an update on the test scheme ASAP

Well, I got the test model done. I kind of rushed through the end of it before heading to post pictures but it's done. I might go back later and touch up the boots a little better but all things considered I'm pretty happy. A lot more so than the first one I painted. Once the new models are done soaking and I get them cleaned I'll start up the rest of the first squad to see how easy the scheme is to replicate in a larger amount. I tried to make it easy enough it wouldn't take 4 months to paint 10 guardsmen but testing will need to be done.

Anywho, onto the pictures! Ignore the shine on the model. I just applied satin varnish hence the wet appearance. That will disappear










As always, thoughts, comments, and opinions are welcome.

Once again another update. I received another set of packages in the mail. specifically several old style metal commissars along with another large chunk of guardsmen. At this point I should have enough for two infantry platoons with 3 squads in each.

The biggest issue I'm running into at the moment is trying to decide if I should convert the heavy bolters I've got (there's 9....) into something that more follows the look of the Type 92, maybe adding cooling fins to the barrel, or leaving it bare but in both cases extending it somewhat. I'll also be using them without the gun shields. Any thoughts on this?

As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated

For the HBs you could use a stubber gun. Looks like the old 50 Cal browning. You could always use the barrel of the stubber and put it onto the end of a HB, that way people can not dispute weather it is a HB or not.

That was actually the plan that I had floating around in my head. I wanted to change the clip design on the old heavy bolter to more of a flat belt feed. Extend the barrel and get rid of the cart for a tripod design. Try to make it look like a more heavily built Type 92 HMG


All in due time though. I got a promotion at work so hobby time has been in precious short supply