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I've been very slowly getting started on an army of Elysian Drop Troops. I love these models and hated to see them go out of print, but I think I have enough in the closet to make a decent-sized army. In fact, this might be one of the last Drop Troopers blogs you see since I doubt there are a lot of people painting these models right now.

The Xhorik 87th Drop Troop Regiment are a highly-mobile specialist force, well-suited to fighting in rugged, inaccessible terrain such as the mountains and badlands of Xhorik Prime where tank-heavy armored regiments would struggle to maneuver.



Some background:


This was the first test model I did a couple of years ago. He was undercoated white because this was during the dark days when GW was not making colored primers.









He turned out OK, but a little lighter than I wanted without quite enough contrast between the fatigues and armor. To remedy that (and hopefully speed up painting), I primed the next two guys with white and then with a sand color from Tamiya, I think.





I liked the second model better. Not only did the sand undercoat help, but I also started the fatigues with XV-88 rather than starting with Balor Brown like I did on the first guy.



The bases have a little pinch of clay, some slate (collected from my yard when I lived in Pittsburgh) and then sand glued down around the slate pieces.

The squad has a mix of accessories and equipment to reflect their status as a veteran regiment that has been on a long campaign. Some have silencers (or muzzle flash suppressors?) and some have non-standard-issue scopes. They are pretty heavily laden with grenades, extra clips, canteens, and packs and pouches of supplies to give the impression they are ready to strike behind enemy lines and operate independently for some time.

In the next couple of posts, I will get caught up to where I am today and then expect a much slower pace of updates as the pace will be set by my glacial painting skills.

For more info on the Xhorik Wars where these guys feature, check out the blog in my signature.

Promissing stuff. I'll check in regularly. I like the paintscheme and you've come up with some interesting fluff.

The rest of the squad built. The heads are Republic Grenadiers from Anvil Industries. They have been discontinued the last time I checked. Another reason that my army size will be necessarily limited. Even if I buy Elysians on eBay, I will never find more of the helmets.







The rest of the squad primed white.

Here is the first full squad painted.


The sergeant (far right) directs the advance. The trooper to his immediate left has a grenade launcher


I modeled this squad with grav chutes to look like they just hit the dirt from a jump. You will see one trooper is missing his chute, which got lost during a move, but I added it later from the next order.

The squad is loaded down with packs, canteens, knives, extra ammo, grenades and bombs. They are ready to be dropped into a warzone behind enemy lines and operate independently or to hold a key position for as long as needed. I elected not to do any weathering other than a little dust on the boots because they are just expendable troopers and I already spent more time on them than I should have. I think it would be cool to try some exhaust streaks on the grav chutes, but I'm not sure if it is worth the time on models that I need to paint dozens of and that die by the handful.

They look really cool. I definitely agree with the head choice. It fits the model better than the GW original

Thanks for sharing.

The darker tunics do look beter. Looks like some amount of time went into that already. On the other hand, they are great sculpts with a unique touch. Always worth the extra mile in my opinion.

Looking good!

Flinty wrote:They look really cool. I definitely agree with the head choice. It fits the model better than the GW original

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Flinty. I truly love the look of the helmets and was quite sad when Anvil discontinued them. Thankfully, they are super guys. When I saw they were gone, I emailed them about my conversion project and asked if I could ever get more. They let me order another 30 or 40 heads out of what they had left even though they were not on the site anymore. I think a closed helmet is a lot more practical for hostile environments or when doing high altitude jumps.

Flapjack wrote:The darker tunics do look beter. Looks like some amount of time went into that already. On the other hand, they are great sculpts with a unique touch. Always worth the extra mile in my opinion.

Thanks, Flapjack. I agree the darker tunics give more contrast to the armor and show the shading better. It takes longer, but since the models and heads are discontinued and my army is a finite size, I don't feel as bad about spending the extra time on them. I know when I am done with what I have, that's it. I won't be painting these guys forever.

insaniak wrote:Looking good!

Appreciate the feedback, insaniak. It means a lot coming from you.

.....

At this point, I had a full squad painted so I wanted to get them on the table. My brother included them with his Space Marine army against my Orks in a battle of 7th Edition 40k. Here is the full battle report:
https://xhorikwar.blogspot.com/2017/02/bat-rep-11-red-brotherhood-vs-da.html

Here are a few fairly poor pictures from the action (photos are not great here, but don't despair, we get better at the battle reports later on):









As you can probably guess from the photos, their role was basically to be a speed bump to absorb an ork charge, die immediately, and give the marines and extra turn of shooting the orks. They fulfilled their mission admirably and without fail.

Next up, I get a few more painted and they take part in their first Horus Heresy battle report...

Next, I finished a platoon command squad with a melta gun. The idea is to have this entire platoon equipped with grav chutes and to deploy them via deep strike to represent a combat drop into the battle.



I've seen quite a few drop troops armies where they add a long antenna to the vox unit and I like the look of it. It also makes it easier to spot on the table. I think I will get around to that at some point.

You can also see the Tauros is also mostly done. More on that later.

Saw the phrase, "Into hell we go... Willingly!" and decided to stop in.

I was not disappointed.

 Cothonian wrote:
Saw the phrase, "Into hell we go... Willingly!" and decided to stop in.

I was not disappointed.

Thanks, Cothonian. I am playing around with it as a regimental motto for the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops. I like the idea that even though military service is mandatory, joining the drops troops is on a volunteer basis. These units inevitably get the toughest missions and have high attrition rates. And they need to operate with initiative even when far from the the command structure or when recovering from the chaos of a drop behind enemy lines. So of course they are proud of the fact that they choose to go into the most deadly environments imaginable. I'd appreciate any feedback anyone has on it. But if it brought in a reader, then that is one good reason to keep it as is.

I'm here to back the 'lost' Elysians. Bravo!

--Brian

Nice drop troops. Their helmets work really well, and fit the high altitude drop theme perfectly. The orange stripes work great with the bone colours too, keep ‘em coming!

Very nice work The Riddle of Steel.

Some strong contrast without too many colours on the models.

Good luck with the army, just remember to shave off some of the backs of the collars on the FW figures so that they don't all look at the ground (one of the main flaws of the Elysian range).

Cheers,

CB

Briancj wrote:I'm here to back the 'lost' Elysians. Bravo!

--Brian

Thank you, Brian. It is a shame they dropped the range because they are beautiful models and I think paratroopers are extremely engaging and inspiring as a concept. These are the best Imperial Guard models and they have thinner, more realistic proportions. But I also see how they do not really fit with the general 40k Gothic aesthetic and it seems to me that GW made a push over the last few years to get rid of anything that is generically sci-fi or fantasy and replace it with models/factions that distinctly fit in with the Games Workshop universes and style.

gobert wrote:Nice drop troops. Their helmets work really well, and fit the high altitude drop theme perfectly. The orange stripes work great with the bone colours too, keep ‘em coming!

Appreciate the feedback, gobert. I like the colors of them. I just wish I had gone with a faster method of painting, but we learn as we go.

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice work The Riddle of Steel.

Some strong contrast without too many colours on the models.

Good luck with the army, just remember to shave off some of the backs of the collars on the FW figures so that they don't all look at the ground (one of the main flaws of the Elysian range).

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown, that means a lot coming from you. Your Elysians are legendary. I read every post of your original blog on Warseer. I agree with your tip on the heads. I think I did a bit better with the next squad.

These 15 drop troops made their Horus Heresy debut in a small game. Battle report: https://xhorikwar.blogspot.com/2017/12/horus-hersey-battle-2-death-guard-vs.html

Of course, the infantry were useless against space marines. But the new melta gunner provided the highlight of the game when he destroyed a Contemptor Dreadnought with a very lucky overwatch shot! Even though he and another trooper died in the blast, he did his duty and will be remembered as a martyr and hero.



Pictures are not great (we still didn't have good lighting), but it is still fun to see the painted models on the table.

Next up is finishing the Tauros.

My pair of Sky Talons rarely see use, alas. Why pay for a vehicle that, effectively, provides deep strike to units that have...deep strike. I also never understand the weapons load limitations on Elysian Sentinels.

OH WELL.

--B.

Tauros:
It still needs weathering, but I plan to do the whole unit together once I build the Venators so they will look uniform. I really love the look of the four-wheeled Tauros and would love to have more, but unfortunately, they went out of stock many months before the rest of the Elysians were discontinued so I was never able to get more. Although I have to say, this guy has never done anything in a game except die and give up an easy victory point.

This vehicle has such a cool profile. I love the open roll-bar frame.


I gave the driver the alternate helmet that I normally use for officers and specialists. I figured he would be the commander of the unit. That gives this basic Tauros a role as a sort of command vehicle since the other two will have the heavy weapons. It might be cool to add an antenna to help with that effect.



This thing is built for speed and agility. Perfect for a fast-moving force that fights in rough terrain that is too mountainous for most large vehicles. The Tauros can be quickly airlifted by Valkyrie to remote and inaccessible combat zones.



The grenade launcher looks much more intimidating than it is... at least against Space Marines.


I added the regimental color orange to tie it in better with the colors on the infantry and a marking number.


The paint job was pretty simple: base coat, wash, two layers of dry brushing.

I love the way this model turned out, but I am still searching for a role for it in battles. In Horus Heresy, it cannot hold objectives and it cannot do much damage. In the old Drop Troops army list, it could take a homing beacon, which would give it an interesting role as a forward recon unit that marks the drop zone for the rest of the army, which seems like it would be in line with the flavor of this unit. But for some reason they removed that option in the Taros Campaign army list. Still, it looks too cool not to use!

Yeah, my two Sky Talons have no Taurosii to carry. It is very sad.

Looking good, nice touches on the markings and alternate helmet.

--B.

I love these guys. Nice models and great paint job

cool models man, how do you pronounce "xhorik" lol

Briancj wrote:My pair of Sky Talons rarely see use, alas. Why pay for a vehicle that, effectively, provides deep strike to units that have...deep strike. I also never understand the weapons load limitations on Elysian Sentinels.

OH WELL.

--B.

B, I agree the Sky Talon looks cool and I love the idea and the art depicting it in action. What is cooler than a Valkyrie dropping off a Tauros that hits the ground running as the Valkyrie lifts back up into the air? But like you said, totally impractical in a game unless your have a 10 ft x 10 ft table gaming area maybe... or if you were using some complicated map-based campaign rules where fliers have a mobility advantage over ground forces.

I understood the Sentinel weapon limitations to be similar to the infantry: they can only take the short, compact weapons that don't get in the way when being lifted and dropped. But I still think they could have made stubby, compact versions of other weapons like heavy flamers (sort of like the bullpup lasgun variants).

Briancj wrote:Yeah, my two Sky Talons have no Taurosii to carry. It is very sad.

Looking good, nice touches on the markings and alternate helmet.

--B.

B., I am surprised they still sell the Sky Talon when they don't make the Tauros anymore. You can occasionally find them for resale, but they are quite pricey these days. Thankfully there are plenty of third party "equivalent" type models that could work for friendly games, although I have not found one quite as cool looking as the original four-wheeled Tauros. Thanks for the feedback.

Snake Tortoise wrote:I love these guys. Nice models and great paint job

Thank you so much, Snake. There is plenty more to come soon so please stay tuned.

STG wrote:cool models man, how do you pronounce "xhorik" lol

Thank you, STG. My brother named the system as part of our campaign. We pronounce it "Zorik" but I don't think that is consistent with how the eastern European/former Yugoslavia languages pronounce names like Xherdan and Xhosa. I think they say it more of a "J" sound. But the Imperial forces that conquered the system in the Great Crusade were obviously descended from uncultured Americans who thought it was like xylophone. Anyway, since the campaign was taking place on Xhorik Prime, I decided to make a regiment that was mustered on that planet. Because the terrain of the planet is mostly very rough, large land forces with tank companies are not always practical and there is a need for an air-mounted force that can respond quickly to threats from orks or abhuman raiders in remote areas. This particular regiment was mustered for a campaign and off the planet (they are not PDF) and were returning to Xhorik Prime to be disbanded when a large ork incursion on their homeworld meant they were sent directly back to the front line to support the space marine and PDF forces.

More nice work there The Riddle of Steel.

Cheers,

CB

I like the paint scheme and use of alternative heads, they look really good. And it's nice to see Elysians for the very reasons you've illustrated - scaling and general sci fi style. I've been thinking about using the sci fi troopers from Heresy Miniatures as Imperial Navy Marines myself.

I wonder if Anvil would cast more of those Grenadier heads if you asked them? Probably safer not to if you don't want to end up with yet more Guardsmen though! I ended up painting 120 of them..... :S

Looking good. I'm not 100% sold on the alternate heads, but the color scheme nails it for me. I look forward to seeing some of the specialized air mobil vehicles, some of which I've never seen outside of the Taros book. I'm sure you'll get to them, glacial or not! I'm going to go check out the "Imperial Militia" in the other blog too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Kozar commander from the blog is outstanding!

Captain Brown wrote:More nice work there The Riddle of Steel.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you, sir.

kestral wrote:Looking good. I'm not 100% sold on the alternate heads, but the color scheme nails it for me. I look forward to seeing some of the specialized air mobil vehicles, some of which I've never seen outside of the Taros book. I'm sure you'll get to them, glacial or not! I'm going to go check out the "Imperial Militia" in the other blog too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Kozar commander from the blog is outstanding!

Thanks, Kestral. I appreciate your honest opinion on the helmets. They change the feel of the army quite a bit, so I can appreciate it not being to everyone's taste. You are right that I will be getting to the flyers eventually. As I am sure you noticed, the militia in the blog are just these guys for use in the Horus Heresy rules.

Next up are some third party models from Anvil Industries. Originally, I was thinking of using them as Storm Troopers. But now I've changed my mind and plan to get some of the metal Kasrkin for my Storm Troopers so that re-purposes these guys into veterans with carapace armor. I like that idea a bit better since they have the same helmets as the regular troops, but have more of their body covered with the armor plates and less of the fatigues exposed. Also, they are clearly lacking grav chutes so I should try to stay in character and rather than deep strike, either have them ride a Valkyrie or start on the board.

There are ten of them. Pardon the odd way they are split in the pictures as some are duplicated in different shots.













I just love the sculpts from Anvil. They are great models, but they are just a bit smaller than the GW scale. They actually look great next to (original) space marines, just verifying my claim that space marines have always been "true scale" and it was just the guardsmen that were out of scale.

What do you think? Do they fit the bill as veterans in carapace armor for the Drop Troops?

Yes. On all points.

You ignored my previous comment!! Bloomin ingrate!! Kids today

The armour works nicely, they look great! Anvil is a great source of parts.

Ragsta wrote:I like the paint scheme and use of alternative heads, they look really good. And it's nice to see Elysians for the very reasons you've illustrated - scaling and general sci fi style. I've been thinking about using the sci fi troopers from Heresy Miniatures as Imperial Navy Marines myself.

I wonder if Anvil would cast more of those Grenadier heads if you asked them? Probably safer not to if you don't want to end up with yet more Guardsmen though! I ended up painting 120 of them..... :S

Thank you, Ragsta. It is good to hear that others also appreciate the merits of the Elysians. I think with the unfathomable variety of cultures across the Imperium, there should be an endless variety of Imperial Guard regiments. I wish GW would implement a mix-and-match style of regiments similar to what Anvil has done to enable customizable regiments. The humble Guard are long overdue for some love.

That is a good idea to ask Anvil again. You never know and the worst they can do is say "no". Last time I asked, they were very accommodating to send me some heads after they went out of print.

Briancj wrote:Yes. On all points.

Thanks for the opinion. I will continue as planned!

Ragsta wrote:You ignored my previous comment!! Bloomin ingrate!! Kids today

The armour works nicely, they look great! Anvil is a great source of parts.

My apologies, Ragsta. I guess I missed the click on the Multi-Quote attempt. I really do appreciate the encouragement and feedback. I just checked out your blog in your signature link, but didn't post on it because of the whole "dead thread" thing. But lots of really cool stuff on there. You need to revive that blog and get it going again.

Here is a shot from their first battle report:


You can see how the Space Marines tower over them in height and bulk. Like I said, they are a better scale than Cadians or Catachans. In game terms, they performed as expected. Dropped in right on target, took out maybe two marines and then got killed. But that is better than the infantry squad that scattered into an enemy unit, resulting in a mishap that sent them to the far corner of the battlefield and effectively out of the battle.



Full battle report at the link: https://xhorikwar.blogspot.com/2018/02/horus-heresy-battle-report-3-raid-on.html

Very nice work, good to see the Elysians still getting some love!

 LavuranGuard wrote:
Very nice work, good to see the Elysians still getting some love!

Thanks, LavuranGuard. I really love the models, but I didn't fully think through one detail when I did my conversion. The original models have their lower faces exposed and their breathing masks on their chests. But when you give them closed helmet heads, that makes the breathing masks somewhat redundant. I had seen others use various helmeted heads (Elysian version, Cadian version, etc.) and those breathers were still on their chests. It was not until I saw Apologist's beautiful Lamb's World troopers where he scraped the breathing masks off that I even thought of that as an option! https://apologentsia.blogspot.com/


The Drop Troopers were in another Horus Heresy battle report. Full write-up on my blog: https://xhorikwar.blogspot.com/2018/03/horus-heresy-battle-report-4-encounter.html

We still didn't have great lighting at this point in our battle reports, but we have since gotten better.

The infantry squad was able to drop right on top of the objective. The downside is that they were face to face with a tactical squad of Death Guard...


After the infantry squad is destroyed, the platoon command squad moves in to contest the objective, with some support from the Tauros. The Death Guard had been thinned down by some allied White Scars Outriders.


Here, the drop troopers prepare to make a last stand and give their lives for the Emperor!


The poor, lowly guardsman. His lot in life seems to be to die by the dozen, while contesting an objective, slowing down or distracting an enemy, or maybe - rarely - killing an enemy. But it was quite a bit of fun to have them drop in and hit right on the objective. And the models looked good on the battlefield so that is always a win.

Next up: two drop sentinels with magnetized weapons!