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Hey Guys,

So I was wondering if magnetizing imperial guard infantry would be worth it. Things such as special weapons in squads, seargents, heavy weapon teams and things of that nature. I already plan on magnetizing my tanks. Thanks for any replies!

I'm a huge fan of magnetizing but for the most part I don't do a lot of infantry. Generally regular dudesmen only cost a couple bucks per so I tend to just glue special weapons in place. I do have some sergeants and what not with swapable arms for power weapons etc. Being a bit more expensive, I have recently magnetized some heavy weapons teams. It's relatively easy to make a couple of their guns swappable but if you want all 5 or so options available it takes some work but is doable. Honestly I don't recommend it unless, like me, you aren't willing to glue mortars down but just can't bare the thought of not having the option of at least one squad having them with wysiwyg.

^Agreed. I tend not to magnetize small infantry unless I know I'll be swapping weapons frequently on a small number of models. The time and effort require aren't worth it imo.

It really varies for me. I tend to magnetize frequent switchers, but options I'm not going to change (Salamander Tac squad flamer, multi melta, combimelta) I just glue on and save myself the hassle.

I suck at magnetizing... apparently :( Just tried to magnetize the weapons and entry point doors on a land raider with horrible results. I couldn't get the magnets to line up correctly... they were close but not close enough. In the end I just glued the suckers on.

tilarium wrote:
I suck at magnetizing... apparently :( Just tried to magnetize the weapons and entry point doors on a land raider with horrible results. I couldn't get the magnets to line up correctly... they were close but not close enough. In the end I just glued the suckers on.

Sponson weapons can be a bit tricky. There's more than a few tutorials floating around so you could give them a look. As a general rule I glue one magnet on, let it dry, put the other magnet on the first, then glue the piece to the second magnet (being careful not to glue the magnets together). This avoids any guess work in alignment as well as polarity, though I still make sure the polarity matches other similar items so, for example, a left arm is the same as all other left arms so i don't have to worry about which sergeant this left arm belongs to.

You need tiny magnets and a tiny drill to poke a hole into army sockets of the small plastic men -- it can be tricky but your opponent will think that's dope when you can easily adhere to WYSIWYG.

I've been doing this for my DE Wracks lately and I'll do so for my Eldar too. Unfortunately for my Astra Militarum I run beautiful but outdated METAL Vostroyans that will be extremely difficult and time consuming to magnetise or convert period.

Also Vostroyans don't come with alternative weapons you can convert with. :(

I see it as a matter of time and cost. figuring out how to magnetize certain models can be really complex and slow down your build time considerably. for some models it's just not worth it compared to the cost of buying extras and glueing them into the alternate configurations you want. if it's a kit that has a lot of options, though, having all the options magnetized on a single model can be a huge money saver.

I magnetize all my vehicles and any kit that has lots of options that I might actually want to use, like space marine centurions and chaos helbrutes (so many arm choices!).

for marines, I found it was only worth doing for special weapons and characters. the heavy weapons were so varied in how they fit together that it was easier to just buy a few extra marine bodies and glue the heavy weapons on permanently instead of trying to squeeze magnets into odd places.

that said, even after magnetizing things I don't always paint up options I don't think I'll be needing right away. they're there if a codex change later on should make them relevant down the road, though

The answer, in addition to what everyone is saying here, also depends on your local scene and your intentions. I don't play tournaments and I don't play with anyone who's super strict about WYSIWYG, so if I want to say my missile-launcher equipped Exarch is toting a Reaper Launcher today, no one cares. If things aren't like that where you are, maybe you should magnetize. Even if you think you'll always choose option A, next codex option B will suddenly be better.

I magnetize vehicles now (never used to) just because it's fun and relatively easy.

With what I am going to say, keep in ming that I was a Tournament only player for a very long time. The first things that I magnetized were Land Raiders and Storm Ravens - a little bit of cardstock (usually in the form of M;tG cards) sandwiched between the pieces used to make the tracks makes magnetizing the sponsons really easy; just put another magnet or washer on the inside of the card.

The only infantry that I've really magnetized were Suits for a Farsight Enclaves army. The Combi-bolters on the tac squads are probably the only other thing that I would try to magnetize, but I'd likely just convert more for a sternguard&Kantor playstyle. As for guard special weapons, you may want to just keep accruing them - you would be amazed how few of them stay in your box during a game.

I skip most infantry... takes way more time to put everything together. It can calso be costly... those dam magnets are not cheap lol

As a mainly Guard player *and foot guard at that* I find that with special weapon you wind up with enough bodies to not magnetize if you go horde. Vets are a different story though.

HWT are prime candidates for magnetizing, though mortars and rocket launchers will prove harder that the tripod mounted options.

Since the death of power blobs magnitizing sergeants isn't really needed imo as sticking power weapons on them seems like just feeding points to the enemy. I personally model my sergeants to be very distinctive so I might just be bias in that regard.

All in all the only things I'd say are a must are vehicles but you're already on that. Welcome to the Imperial Guard trooper the Emperor asks only that you hold the line and die standing!

I have magnetised roughly half my bodies.
HQs mostly,
Sergeants too,
Heavies/specials,
Jump packs and voxes,
I went mad and did some heads too, to put vets helmets.



I have 5 like this, plus a couple of HQ torsos.
The majority of them only have the shoulder magnets, though.

But, the amount I've spent on magnets might have gone towards more bodies instead. Magnetising means I have fewer models to carry around, more choice, but more chance of bits dropping off

Thanks for all the great comments! I decided that i'm going to magnetize any tanks along with heavy weapon teams, sergeants, and characters. I know it will be a lot of extra work, but I dont think I could stand it having them not magnetized knowing that I could have had them magnetized.