Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've been faffing about starting an Imperial Guard army for ages now. I'm put off by the Cadian models since they look so generic, the metal regiments are so limited and Forgeworld is so expensive. But most of all, besides Death Korps, none of them feel to me like they really fit the Grimdark aesthetic. So I'm thinking about just converting my own regiment. I'm not afraid of doing heavy green stuff work, but I'd need to keep it relatively easy to reproduce. I wouldn't mind the inconsistency between models, since I'm going for a kind of rag-tag, John Blanche look.

If anyone could point me towards any blogs/ material you reckon would be worthwhile for guidance/ inspiration, please do!

if you are looking for alnernate models guard have a lot

wargames factory has cheap greatcoat guard
Victoria mini's has amazing but expesive conversion part and whole squads
kromlech has a few conversion parts
anvil industries
scibor

I actually think there is a form post pinned somewhere with a list of alnernate model companies

Spikey rat pack and legion of plastic are two blogs that come to mind immediately.
http://spikyratpack.blogspot.ie/
http://legionofplastic.blogspot.ie
I'm currently using gaurd parts to make an iquisitorial retinue inspired by john blanchs work. here's a few things I've learned.
1.Sublty and balance is everything, but at the same time use anything. composition is very important to make the minis work especially when using lots of bitz from idely diffrent sources
2.Story and character are everything. With a blanchitsu unit they are not a generic unit of cadians but a group of individuals each with their own story and fighting for diffrent reasons. it's important to think about this so all the disparate pieces can be integrated smoothly.
3.use a simple colour palette, maybe choose two or three spot colours and paint the rest in neutrals like brown, white, grey, or very washed out shades of other colours.
4. get your hands on as big of a collection of bitz as possible. If you allready have one use it to bring flavour to your units
5. This is not an easily reproducable style. It's entire point is intricate story driven minature creation.
Some themes that might work well with a super grimdark aesthetic are penal legions, combined regiments, veterens, abhumans, feudal world troops, etc anything really I suppose, just make it up as you go allong.

i just made a big bulky dude for my inquisitorial retinue, covered in russian prison tattoos, so that could be something for a penal legion. lots of freehand involved though

If I were to start Guard again they'd be all Perry Bro plastics. Fantastic sculpts, tons of character, totally mix-and matchable, great price per model and they're pretty uncommon. The more "regal" guys actually showcase the grimdark too if you paint them dirty and distressed.

You mention you're ok with green stuff, so consider using various models from GW's extensive range of 40K and WHFB humans (and non-GW if you don't care about GW eligibility for tourneys and in-store games etc). Some of the Chaos Cultists and Genestealer Cultists could be particularly amusing if de-cultified.

Even for a rag-tag motley look, you want some uniformity, e.g. presumably the counts-as normal guardsmen should all have recognisable lasguns and ammo, so a few boxes of Cadians/Catachans would still be a good base purchase (or do lots of bits purchases, but they can be expensive).

Think about fluff too, e.g. maybe they fight on poisonous worlds a lot and so all wear gasmasks, or whatever.

PourSpelur wrote:
If I were to start Guard again they'd be all Perry Bro plastics. Fantastic sculpts, tons of character, totally mix-and matchable, great price per model and they're pretty uncommon. The more "regal" guys actually showcase the grimdark too if you paint them dirty and distressed.

Fantastic minis but they don't quite match gw parts, so if your doing that the legs and torso need to be resized

www.ironsleet.com

This is Spikey Ratpack and Legion of Plastic combined plus John Blanche himself is one of their regular contributors. They are currently exploring Terra and it is fantastic.

With regards to grimdark guard, perhaps a good kitbash. Empire Greatswords are a great base. Here are some Migsula from Ironsleet made, Empire Greatswords and Space Marine Scouts make up most of the parts:



It is also possible to do great work with the Cadians. Here is some work by Migsula too:



That should be some great inspiration for you :-)

Admittedly, those Cadians I wouldn't mind going for something like. I guess it could be just a matter of working out a dirty paint scheme and head swaps then.

One thing I should have noted, is that I'm reluctant to use 3rd party bits, because I would quite like to play at stores.

this summer I had a lot of fun bashing Empire Handgunners and Cadians together to make =I= henchmen.

The Handgunner and Outrider sets have lots of grimdark/steampunk/clockwork punk bits to make a retro-tech guard unit. Then add Cadian heads and arms to tie them into 40k.

Those are cool, but I'm looking for something abit more techy I guess. More diesel than steam punk.

I like these, but again, different heads, maybe hoods. I think finding suitable heads would be the issue...

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/311106-unpaintedconversions-field-army-tango-11/

EDIT: I'm somewhat tempted to go for those Steel Legion style conversions with (what are those called around their necks? Maybe I'd do hoods?) these bald female heads:

http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/p/9064684/sma305-heroic-scale-female-heads---bald.html

This is how I built my guardsmen (the image above is not mine though). The pig iron heads were perfect but they are not, for the time being, being producing anymore. It might be possible to find some on ebay.

 trephines wrote:
Admittedly, those Cadians I wouldn't mind going for something like. I guess it could be just a matter of working out a dirty paint scheme and head swaps then.

One thing I should have noted, is that I'm reluctant to use 3rd party bits, because I would quite like to play at stores.

Everything you'll find on Ironsleet is 100% GW too. Those Cadians just have their helmets shaved down with a few conversions too (think the sergeant has a brettonian head with converted horns).

Anyway, good luck!