Imperial guard mining colony army?

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.

**Desubot**

Heya

not sure if this goes into pm or not but anyway

The second i saw those GSC models in the DW box i instantly wanted to make a mining PDF of ambiguous loyalty (for le flexibility)

the only real question i have is what the heck gear would a mining colony reasonably have.

probably every flavor of autoguns and cannons, i want to say various flavors of las cannons / mining laser counts as.

and all the mundane vehicles like tarox and chimeras

but heavy equipment is where im struggling at. was thinking things like giant mining lasers and various retrofitted equipment making them look all jankey and cool.

any suggestions would be nice.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Neat idea. First off the IG will always struggle in 40k so consider looking at this the other way, what load out will be effective then justify it. If you start with 'what makes sense' then you might end up with a cool, funky army that can never win.

That being said, some ideas.

Storm Troopers as tunnel rats popping out of the ground. Ghoul models maybe? Maybe go all the way with an Ellysian list?

Sentinels as miners riding some sort of umber hulk/ambull/sand worm. Plenty of fantasy creatures around for this conversion, the squats had Ambull riders in one of the older Rogue Trader era books.

Skaven plauge monks (with head swap and tails clipped off), Hobbit Goblins or dwarves as conscripts, think of them of mutants or genetically engineered menials.

Lots of melta guns and flamers, easy to make from mining gear

By that logic, hellhounds (and variants) as tunnel defenders.

Maybe make counts as Leman Russ of Ork Dreads? they look like something built out of trash, they have four arms, just like the father of us all, and you can put the proper weapons on each arm, main gun, 2 sponsoons, hull gun. Might be too much but it would be interesting.

**General Annoyance**

Sentinel Powerlifters, perhaps? Or does that come under the mundane vehicles bit?

They're bound to have a few Leman Russ tanks if they are a PDF, and I guess a Devil Dog's Melta Cannon could be re purposed to blast through cavernous rock. And being a PDF, Hydra's sound like a necessity more than a possibility.

Hope this helps

I think moving this to P&M might get you more suggestions too

G.A

**Desubot**

Well the plan was to use cat yellow sentinels with retrofitted auto cannons or las cannons.

so the chassis for the most part can be used.

its the weapon parts that are going to be difficult.

Jesus Kyoto some crazy ideas

But yeah i think meltas flamers and las cannons would be the weapons of choice that would be available to a mining colony
as well as various auto weapons
do you think they would have short range demolishes for the same purpose?

also thinking about using the sky talon valkery since it looks super cool.

**General Annoyance**

Demolisher Cannons could very well be a possibility - this Mining Colony sure as hell doesn't sign any Health and Safety forms

The Sky Talon can carry two Drop Sentinels, which can be armed with Melta Cannons, so I'd definitely consider that.

**Elbows**

I'd definitely go the construction route and then outfit them with random weapons. For flavor I'd avoid making six of the same armed sentinel etc. Sentinel "Lifters" are a thing in the fluff as well.

Look up some "mole" mining machines for drop pod style rules. Things like the old squat drilling machines (I think Forgeworld had a book with something like this at some point).

A drilling pod/machine like this:

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-US/Warhammer-40-000?N=102643+4294966006&Nu=product.repositoryId&qty=8&sorting=rec&view=table&categoryId=cat2140034

You could make vehicles like the above (plenty of armour and protection but minimal firepower).

Some silliness like the below?
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-NO/Hades-Breaching-Drill

Have some heavy armour guys wearing large lifter or hazardous duty suits (think eFrames or a type of exoskeleton). A predisposition for demolitions and explosives (tactical or strategic elements allowing you to detonate ambush templates on your opponent).

Maybe have some guys armed with demolition power hammers of some sort (think: Red Faction: Guerilla). Lots of ways to go.

**Desubot**

Definitely lots of power picks and power fist/drills

probably some ogryns and conscripts as well with pick axes and cheapo rifles.

not sure what i can even use those eframe exoskeletons for though.

im trying to stick with codex AM or even possible renegade or any of the current fw books. also since they are going to be in what appears to be void armor i could possible go 30k too. im gona keep the Aquila to a minimum or non existent on most things.

i have a hades drill too. super cool

also going to be scratch building a ton of cranes and wenches on all the vehicles probably all of them with dozers and extra plating.

edit also this army isnt really meant to be a super competitive army though i will try to make it relevantly balanced.

edit2: so i i think kraut had a mockup that i cant find any more :/ but basicly its a bunch of these guys but less elite eee

from the ammo bunker who got it from /tg

**Kid_Kyoto**

Those guys are really awesome. GS cult bodies, Skitarii heads, Storm Trooper arms and bolters?

Pricey. But very nice.

**Desubot**

Yeah very pricey :/ so im gonna just stick with autogun arms. the head and bodies aren't that bad. like 50$ for 30 ish on ebay.

**General Annoyance**

Might I suggest these guys?

You can swap out the arms and legs for the Fatigue versions if you think that heavy armour doesn't look appropriate, but I think the helmets and body armour fit the bill very nicely. An alternate light armoured body can also be found in the Fatigue range

They also offer some pretty neat conventional firearms

Anvil seriously stepped up their game since the last time I visited their site - hoping to get some custom IG Veterans myself from them

G.A

**Desubot**

You might

Im trying to keep it 90% GW as every game store within 100 miles have died besides the GW :/

besides i really like the GSC aesthetics.

im in a gaming dead zone lol.

on the bright news if i go renegades i can also get counts as laser destroyers on a cart since that would be something mines may use.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I would say you need some Demolisher Tanks. Mount a dozer blade up front and it would be a pretty good "Grimdark" bulldozer vehicle. Leman Russ Executioners and Annhilators could be mobile plasma/laser drilling vehicles.

Vet teams could be armed with plasma cutters as impromptu plasma guns or fusion cutters as Meltaguns.

Also Heavy Weapon teams with lascannons could be miners using a laser drill. Missile Launchers and mortars could be teams lobbing explosive dynamite at the enemy.

Bullgryns with shields and power mauls could be heavily armored diggers.

Chimeras and Taurox can be heavily fortified "mine carts" or repurposed drilling vehicles (Chimeras with multi-lasers).

Finally lasguns can be personal-sized plasma cutters or laser drills (replacing the worker's mundane pickaxe) that got repurposed as a shooting weapon. Think Deadspace and the plasma cutter from that.

**oldzoggy**

I had the same idea. its just that those Gene stealer hybrids are such a pain to get to.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Heavy stuff it all has to look kinda civilian for me.

-FW Rapier cannons look like ideal mining gear.

-FW hades digger is and looks like a digger

Automatically Appended Next Post:
You might also like the humble arvus lighter. Just for the looks of it.

**Desubot**

Totally forgot about plasma cutters lol.

as well if the hades is anything to go by, then the imperium probably uses regular old melta weapons for mining anyway.

so that will be simple to just use.

plasma cutters i could probably scrounge up some where.
the IG units will definitely be ether grenadiers or demolition dudes.

I think i have enough for now to start a list. also got like 30 GSC.

oh god arms everywhere. cutting off all the arms and removing icons is going to be fun

**kveldulf**

I'd suggest using Victoria miniatures penal guard guys - at least for bits.

http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/penal-guard-10-man-resin-squad

**locarno24**

Indeed. Death Korps siege regiments are a nice rules-set - you have grenadier-esque engineers, either as troops or able to pop up behind a drill, plus rapier crews are engineers too (with the same statline). It's a shame regular siege regiment troops don't get carcass shot for their shotguns (because reasons, apparently), but otherwise they're good, cheap troops who're a bugger to shift because they ignore casualties from shooting.

I'd strongly advocate siege of vraks for the army list...