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I have decided to ignore Space Marines for my new army and do something very foolish - Imperial Guard (I am not calling them Astra Militarum)

I will magnetise the tanks as usual but for the Cadian troops I am looking for assembly instructions. I understand I can make:

1 Sargent
1 Vox caster
2 special weapons (1 flamer 1 grenade launcher)
Up to 10 with lasguns

I don’t want to magnetise models, especially when the ETB kit is cheap and quite good, so I was thinking I assemble the box exactly as above and pad out with the ETB kit accordingly. That way I have the options for squad sizes etc. However the question is whether I should assemble the grenade launcher guy or go get some plasma guns and assemble as that instead at a later date? I’m trying to avoid metal minis.

Or perhaps someone knows an alternative model range for the arms with a plasma?

It's entirely up the army you want to build. Personally I wouldn't bother with expensive plasma on a BS4+ Guardsman.

For alternate plasma, try Puppets War, Kromlech or Anvil Industries.

sent you a pm.

Long time Cadian player (Eye of Terror Codex!)

I wouldn't buy Cadian Infantry. They're bland, and have effectively useless options out of the infantry box.

I would strongly suggest 3rd party minis. They're much more exciting, cheaper, and when you run into the "Those are Cadian models, why aren't you using the Cadian rules?" person... you don't need to worry about it.

You get a much better value out of 3rd party minis, in my looking-back-on-my-collection view. I don't regret it, but if I was going to do it again, I'd go 3rd party.

I do like Plasma on my Grunts, and GW does sell 5-packs of Plasmaguns on their website. They used to, anyway. The "3-base" Heavy Weapons set is a tremendous value, as you can very easily make more than 3 teams from the contents.

Heavy Bolters are looking like amazing all-round weapon choices, and Lascannons will always do good work. Missile Launchers are easy enough to mount to standing dudes. Same with Mortars... always fun to hide out of LOS caming an objective.

Welcome to the Guard!


PS: Sergeant with a Bolter is always a good option. From helping him stand out with a unique weapon to in-game effect, hard to beat for one point. Vox Casters are a point-waste in the current rules... look cool but I wouldn't pay in-game points for them. GL / Flamer are typically overshadowed by longer range, greater effect Plasma. I wouldn't bother with GL or FL in typical squads.

There are two sets of arms in the IS box with a left hand attached to the left arm... all the others are moulded to the lasgun. Save those for your Plasmagun upgrades!

1 platoon at a time, using 2 infantry kits, 1 command kit, 1 HWT kit at the minimum, you can also use tank crew parts to make some cool poses.

If you are hell for leather bent on GW and want some cadians that look less boringly cadian remember you could buy 1 cadian and 1 catachan squad and mix and match a few arms, legs, and torsos to create a fairly unique looking blended army. Not every guy need be "a bit out of uniform" to give a squad a personality that the straight from the box cadian stormtroopers lack.

I would however, go with the 3rd party like he said, if only to get all the spec weaps without having to buy in resin stuff.

Dukeofstuff wrote:
If you are hell for leather bent on GW and want some cadians that look less boringly cadian remember you could buy 1 cadian and 1 catachan squad and mix and match a few arms, legs, and torsos to create a fairly unique looking blended army. Not every guy need be "a bit out of uniform" to give a squad a personality that the straight from the box cadian stormtroopers lack.

Alternate opinion: the Catachan plastics look like they were sculpted out of potato; while not cutting-edge by any stretch, the Cadians hold up reasonably well and you'll end up with a better-looking army by sticking to the latter.

OP, it's deffo worth picking up a Command Squad box and a HWT box before starting to build any Guard – the bits are all compatible with the basic Infantry kit and it really opens things up, options-wise (including Plasma/Melta guns if that's your bag).