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In the grim darkness of the far future, the Advisory Council of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica holds a secret meeting. All their meetings are secret, but anyway: The subject is mushrooms. Hundreds of Councillors have gathered in the dark conference chamber, illuminated by the greenish hologram of a fly agaric. With croaking voices, a number of Councillors from the Applied Biomancy Section detail various fungus species and their psyche-enhancing capabilites. The Master massages his temples, interjecting ’Proceed!’ now and then. Finally, an elderly Biomancer concludes, ’…so we hypothesise that, with enough mushrooms, we could increase the effectiveness of an average Psyker by 1.5434 %’. The Master grimaces, unimpressed. ’You may organise an expeditionary force’, he says, ’but only a small one’. Waving his arm, the Master dismisses the Councillors, and the meeting is over.

The responsibility falls on Primaris Psyker Agaricus, who has a fitting name, but little experience in organising expeditions. Recruitment proves difficult. Agaricus requests aid from various Space Marine Chapters, but none of them have units available ’at this very moment’. An Ultramarine official even threatens to report him to the Inquisition, hinting at the ’weird’ nature of his mission. Disappointed, he visits the Departmento Munitorum Headquarters, where he has to sit in a queue for ages, before a weary administrator tells him that ’you can have one of the Cadian reserves’. Agaricus eyes the list of reserve units with resignation, deciding on the 414th Regiment. It turns out the 414th Regiment has a terrible reputation, including desertations, mutinies, heretic tendencies and (reportedly) recruitment of xenos.

Here we take a look at two humble Guardsmen of 414th Cadian. They are a bit smaller and greener than most Guardsmen, but super ready for the Mushroom Hunt.



More pictures are coming! Feedback is welcome.

this is heresy i can get behind, because it'd be pretty silly to get in front of.

good scheme for the grot- er guardsmen. almost Alpha Legion deceptive disguises.

An oven mitt. Superb.

Well, it's a novel idea

Well done on not going Cadian I did, just for ease, and I am looking to mix in some odd models to break up the monotony. There's a bomb-squat in the veterans unit, a Ratling WHT, and some female infantry mixed in (one might end up as a tank commander or something).
Your Grot squad will do perfectly like that, and you can have them as a command squad, or whatever.

Many exalts. I'm onboard for the Hunt

Hell yes, a shame I can only subscribe once!

This is a beautiful project, i hope that they find all of the mushrooms that their clearly not at all heretical hearts desire.

Don't forget to make a weirdboy sanctioned psyker with a basket full of glowy shrooms!

Looking forward to seeing more.

I am so ready to see a full army of these!

Thanks for the kind comments! I’m glad you noticed the oven mitt, youwashock. It’s an essential accessory for any pitmaster. Also, Hawky, rest assured: There will be a Sanctioned Mushroom Basket Carrier. I’ll dive directly into the next update.

Agaricus travels to Procul 83, where the 414th Cadian are stationed. Procul 83 is a small forest planet, far out in the Segmentum Obscurus. It has nothing of value, only trees and dangerous animals (which is why the 414th Cadian were sent there, most probably). The trip takes a while, but Agaricus is beginning to loosen up. It’s great to be out of the gloomy Council Chambers for once. When the ship approaches orbit, he even hums a little, as he prepares to enter the drop pod. Apparently, Procul 83 doesn’t have a major city, so the Navigator chooses a landing spot at random. ’It’s such a small planet anyway, you’ll find the troopers in no time’. The descent goes smoothly, and the drop pod crashes gently through the treetops. Agaricus has barely opened the Thermal Protection Door, before he sees a representative of the 414th Cadian, striding towards him.



Enjoy! Wablam! The pictures didn't come out as good as I thought they would, but I hope you can put up with them. Let's say we leave something to your imagination.

Oh man, I just love this! Seeing people's unique takes on IG is always fun, and this must be the coolest idea I've seen in a while. The oven mitt gave me a big chuckle! Almost makes me want to do gobbo-guardsmen instead of my skaven ones

This is a great idea.
My thoughts are what would you want as an IG/AM army made from a Fantasy Battle army?
I am thinking Empire could work out pretty good.

Two of my favourite things in one silly package. What could be better?

Wow, very cool!

I love the storytelling you're doing with this, keep it up!

OH wow - these are awesome. You must be a fungi to play against!

In a tricky project like this there's not mushroom for error - be sure to stay out of truffle

Looking forward to the next update! The partial heresies are the best!

Having fun with one's army is just the best. Loving the mitten, little characterful details always make the day better

Loving those old night gobbos being used like this. Following with interest

I can already hear inquisitor screaming: WHERE ARE THE SHROOMSTEALERS?!

Gorgeous conversions!

Ok, this is great.

Ah, thanks for all the encouragement! It's time for another update.

Agaricus looks up at the gigantic, two-legged construction, towering above him. The hatch creaks open, and he discerns a pair of red-gleaming eyes in the shadows within. ’What’s your business?’ asks a squeaky voice. Agaricus says something vague about imperial affairs, forgetting for a moment that he technically ranks higher than the whole planet. ’Take me to your commander’ he adds, more decisively. Right then, a number of blue-dressed soldiers emerge from the undergrowth, lasguns pointed in his general direction.




I hope you like them! Next update will be about mushrooms, more specifically.

Tau Guardsman?! Call commissar!

Oh Bravo. Bravo!

Backstory of the 414th Guard Unit:

The Departmento Munitorum in this new age of strife has found the "near limitless" masses of man to be stretched to a discernible limit.
They are guided by one main tenet in all things:

"There is no right or wrong in our profession. The present changes the past from moment to moment. Only pray for the future to vindicate your actions."
— Litany of the Adepts, Canticle of the Administrator

The "Pioneer Corps" are practical in the extreme and have noticed that the "Labor Corps" have had great success in using conquered races slated for extermination to assist in building proper Imperial structures and settlements.
To have an already "broken-in" trained force would be an unforgivable loss of the Emperor's resources to be eliminated when construction was complete.
To have a ready-made "expedable" AM/IG force, akin to the Planetary Defense Forces (PDF) it alleviates the manpower shortage while meeting the other goal of exterminating xenos populations.

The main difficulty is finding the appropriate "enlightened" Commissariat that see the big picture and not shoot them on sight.
Col. Schaeffer was engaged to help select the disciplined command needed for this kind of "special" leadership: to take the unworthy (the almost literal walking dead) and fashion them to die (to achieve the emperor's forgiveness) in his service while taking as much of the enemy with them they can.

It was identified that extensive use of "abhumans" sprinkled throughout the force helped with enforcing discipline and gave them greater purpose.
Variatus strain (Beastmen) make excellent Sgts, Homo sapiens gigantus (Ogryns) for enforcement and general "morale adjustment", Homo sapiens minimus (Ratlings) are ideal for manning most long range weaponry and are known to occasionally perform target practice on those that forget which direction the front line is, Homo sapiens rotundus (Squats) tend to perform the engineering since the Mechanicus want nothing to do with anything considered xenos which may be necessary due to alien hand configuration (or unsanctioned modification of holy STC specified weaponry).

DONE: This is my best attempt at "justifying" the existence of this kind of force and not having any 40k puritan's head implode while drawing from a fair bit of 40k background.

I like the idea of having that "I" on the shoulder pad: this would be a fairly "pure" Munitorum action using Xenos:


I had made a ton of edits to clean this up... I have one question though: every effort should be made to remove enemy allegiance colours.
While the Tau orange makes it really apparent, "realistically" it would be immediately painted over at the very least to avoid "friendly" fire, right?

 Talizvar wrote:


I had made a ton of edits to clean this up... I have one question though: every effort should be made to remove enemy allegiance colours.
While the Tau orange makes it really apparent, "realistically" it would be immediately painted over at the very least to avoid "friendly" fire, right?

Yes. Following historical precedent, one tries to equip foreign nationals in your country's service with similar, if not the same, uniforms and gear. It also simplifies resupply. Similarly, during the Napoleonic Wars, while the Spanish and Portuguese armies remained independent commands, the British supplied uniforms and gear in the current Royal Army style, but dyed in Spanish and Portuguese colors. OTOH, in the ancient world, since uniformity was rare, less well provided forces (such as Gauls, Britons, and Germanic tribes) would use plundered gear as is, so having some of the aforementioned war bands kitted out in plundered Roman armor is accurate and would not have confused their comrades since everyone wore/used what they had and there was no "uniform" look. It comes down to what best suits your purposes.

Your home-brew IG regiment is clever and entertaining. Orks, while not mushrooms, are a fungal lifeform ... Perhaps they could be of use to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica?

I may have made a great tactical error in not stating clearly I offered my above "research" to fill-out the OP's army lore, not to hijack it.
I am in no way involved with the 414th guard other than wanting to see this become a full army because it would AWESOME.

A shared error; I did not notice that you were not the OP.

 Talizvar wrote:
I may have made a great tactical error in not stating clearly I offered my above "research" to fill-out the OP's army lore, not to hijack it.
I am in no way involved with the 414th guard other than wanting to see this become a full army because it would AWESOME.

Loving the Tau that snuck in