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Hello! So my next project will be adding a small ally det. of IG for my existing armies, the BA, CSM, daemons and eldar. That being said, i am not quite sure, how to paint them, so that they would look quite neutral when used as either loyalist or traitor guard.

I hate the catatchan models, so will be only using the cadian plastics. As a color scheme, i was thinking grey uniform with black helmet, boots and armor plates. Weapons with red. Think this would sit well as either loyal or traitor guard? I rather keep them simple scheme, so i can speedpaint about 40 guardsmen fast.

I will be adding atleast a vendetta and one chimera to my force as a start, but will buy more chimeras later to make an option of making my ally det. mobile for some games or to generally give me some tactical choice when deploying.

So what about the paint scheme on the vehicles? I was thinking of painting them also grey, but adding some black tiger stripes onto the hulls? Also would like to keep the vehicles coherent with the rest of the force, so a bit of red somewhere?

So how does this paint scheme sound like? I know it is simple, but for me to get them done in a small amount of time, it needs to be. If you got a better suggestion for a color scheme, please let me know. I try to stay away from any green scheme though. I have allways liked the scheme of german WW2 uniforms, and was thinking my color scheme would look something like a futuristic version of that.

So how is this sounding?


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So, no opinion on the color scheme? Does it sound too boring?

The Grey and black sounds fine to me (I'm also biased as thats the colour scheme of my current army!), just add bits of colour here and there so it doesn't all look washed out.

It may be a good idea to remove any imperial icons from the models, that way they can fit in with both your BA and CSM armies.

Have not even thought of the imperial eagles hmmm, maybe i will just file them down, or just leave them be. Will have to see if they are easy to remove, but if not, i will just leave them be and say that they have converted to traitors recently

Do you need GW legal, or can you use third party models? You can fix the aquila problem by not having them on the models to begin with, so it looks less strange than seeing a loyal cadian with no aquilas. There are a lot of good options for non-gw guardsmen. A cheap, loyal/traitor option would be the WGF greatcoat troops.

I'd rather have official models, so if i want to use the guardsmen in tournaments, there won't be a problem with the minis.

How about making them look tatty/war-torn? You could say they've been fighting for ages when you play loyalist, whilst traitor guardsmen would suit equally

Yes, that was my plan I was thinking on painting them with the gray/black colors and giving them an extra rough treatment with arthrax earthshade wash to make them look like they had been fighting a long delay war with no chance to exchange dirty armour or clothes and the weapons would have been neglected and dirty too. This would suit a BA relief force well, or the fact that the guard had defected to ally with the chaos forces and in doing so would not have supplies to keep their uniforms and weapons parade clean looking i think i will give the vehicles a little extra weathering and dirt look to them also. Maybe do loads of bullet holes and glance dints to the front armors to show the long use etc.

Traitor Guard could always have JUST turned. You can't file off all your Aquilas overnight!

For the grey/black, here is how it looks:



This was my first test guy, so nothing advanced yet.
Currently I'm painting a vendetta with mainly grey and black/red details, I can post pics when done.

As for the aquilas, every soldier will use what is available.
They just defected to chaos? Raided loyalist armourys? Killed loyalists and looted their equipment? Switched to enemy weapons when their ammo ran out?

There are lots of possibilities...or, to make the aquilas stick less out, paint them in a dull dark color.
Loyalists (and real soldiers) do that for stealth, traitors maybe as an improv solution...

JohnnyHell wrote:
Traitor Guard could always have JUST turned. You can't file off all your Aquilas overnight!

that is so true fluffwise the IG could have been fighting an ork invasion and a chaos force just happened to come by and save them from the ork horde in exchange of serving the chaos gods, so the guard would not YET show the corruption as they were just turned traitor. Maybe i just leave the aquilas to the models, but paint them indiscretelly so that they are not that shiny and easy to spot.


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 MajorNese wrote:
For the grey/black, here is how it looks:



This was my first test guy, so nothing advanced yet.
Currently I'm painting a vendetta with mainly grey and black/red details, I can post pics when done.

As for the aquilas, every soldier will use what is available.
They just defected to chaos? Raided loyalist armourys? Killed loyalists and looted their equipment? Switched to enemy weapons when their ammo ran out?

There are lots of possibilities...or, to make the aquilas stick less out, paint them in a dull dark color.
Loyalists (and real soldiers) do that for stealth, traitors maybe as an improv solution...

nice looking guardsman! That is quite close on what i had in mind. Can't wait for your vendetta pics! I may try to do a bit lighter grey for the uniform, so the armor plates and other black bits will show better, but other than that it will be close to that look. I will also break up the colors by painting the weapons red. Also i was thinking about doing a color coded shoulder pads (red squad, blue squad, gold squad etc.) but have not decided on that part yet.

masquerade81 wrote:
fluffwise the IG could have been fighting an ork invasion and a chaos force just happened to come by and save them from the ork horde in exchange of serving the chaos gods, so the guard would not YET show the corruption as they were just turned traitor.

A fluff-example from Wrath of Iron:
The upper ranks of the PDF have slowly been corrupted and serve the chaos gods, but the common soldiers are still entirely loyalists, just following orders they receive via vox.
Corruption can spread slowly, so not every soldier is tainted instantly.

And to quote the imperial Commander leading the attack on said PDF:
"Better to kill the ignorant than spare a traitor."

My WIP 'INGSOC' Guard Platoon Commander. I think he could be of the traitor legions just as easily as he is a member of 'The Party' (BTW, the blend is still wet so the camera has added some apparent red colour to his coat that isn't there!)

Heh, i love the nod iconography. I think the dulled/black aquillas is the way to go. Still technically there for loyalists, but still sortof defiled for the traitors (imperials like dem eagles to be spit shined!)

This is how I do my guard for dual purpose.