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Hi Guys,

My Friends and I are playing a "paint to play" escallation league. I'm planning on using Elysian Drop Troops as my vanilla Guard Army.

I'm wondering if anyone's already done this, and if they have, how they got around the issue of the sergeants not having LP/CCW.

Since all my dudes ride in chimeras, lasguns are very rarely going to be used. I was going to just use the bullpup carbine lasguns as shotguns, but I don't know if this is definitive enough.

They're resin so just cut and glue the appropriate bit in place?

 Breotan wrote:
They're resin so just cut and glue the appropriate bit in place?

Don't have guard bits, if that's what you mean. This is my first guard army.

A platoon command squad has a guy with laspistol/ccw arms. But I'd recommend sculpting trench coats on your sergeants & buying a DKoK command upgrade frame.

Are you going to be using strict WYSIWYG?

Could just paint the shoulder differently on the SGT instead of trying to change arms. Plastic GW stuff is going to be out of scale (FW is more true 28mm not heroic). And SGTs with a trench coat will look even more out of place in my mind.

 Scipio Africanus wrote:
I'm planning on using Elysian Drop Troops as my vanilla Guard Army.
I'm wondering if anyone's already done this, and if they have, how they got around the issue of the sergeants not having LP/CCW.

Certainly do
Here's a few of the trusty troops from Lamb's World.








As you can see, I don't worry about the sergeants' armaments. I make sure they're identifiable as different from the rest of the squad, and I don't buy upgrades. As a result, I can simply say that the sergeants all have LP and CCW; regardless of the model.

@Apologist:

Nice work blending of the various kits there. I love the Elysian models & I think they're some of the nicest fw/gw makes. In all honesty my Elysian army is my favorite to play (& NOT flyer spam). Though I may need to consider alternatives since fw nerfed them severely in IA:3-2E.

Those guys look amazing... Is there a link to a blog for them? Very inspiring and excellent use of combined bits. I especially like the Cadian respirators/helmets on the Elysian bodies.

They look fantastic.I hope you don't mind if i copy that colour scheme it's exactly what i've been looking for.

 Scipio Africanus wrote:
Hi Guys,

My Friends and I are playing a "paint to play" escallation league. I'm planning on using Elysian Drop Troops as my vanilla Guard Army.

I'm wondering if anyone's already done this, and if they have, how they got around the issue of the sergeants not having LP/CCW.

Since all my dudes ride in chimeras, lasguns are very rarely going to be used. I was going to just use the bullpup carbine lasguns as shotguns, but I don't know if this is definitive enough.

First...don't cut anything for about two weeks as the new IG codex will be out and you may not have to. If it still isnt ab option, just tell your opponent that ALL the sergeants are configured one way. If you're using proxy minis, consistency is the key. As for the carbines, I think its a good idea. I trimmed regular lasguns down (barrel and top railing) to make mine personally. Again, consistency is your friend and as long as every bullpup lasgun is a shotgun theyre different enough to not be very confusing.

Red_Starrise wrote:A platoon command squad has a guy with laspistol/ccw arms. But I'd recommend sculpting trench coats on your sergeants & buying a DKoK command upgrade frame.

I'm not buying a special PCS for them. Not worth the money.

sparkywtf wrote:Are you going to be using strict WYSIWYG?

Could just paint the shoulder differently on the SGT instead of trying to change arms. Plastic GW stuff is going to be out of scale (FW is more true 28mm not heroic). And SGTs with a trench coat will look even more out of place in my mind.

As it would seem, no. I want to use The Carbine rifles as shotguns using a similar mantra to the pulse carbines (shorter range but better fire from the hip)

Apologist wrote:

 Scipio Africanus wrote:
I'm planning on using Elysian Drop Troops as my vanilla Guard Army.
I'm wondering if anyone's already done this, and if they have, how they got around the issue of the sergeants not having LP/CCW.

Certainly do
Here's a few of the trusty troops from Lamb's World.
As you can see, I don't worry about the sergeants' armaments. I make sure they're identifiable as different from the rest of the squad, and I don't buy upgrades. As a result, I can simply say that the sergeants all have LP and CCW; regardless of the model.

So you're playing them WYSIWIEIA?

warboss wrote:
First...don't cut anything for about two weeks as the new IG codex will be out and you may not have to. If it still isnt ab option, just tell your opponent that ALL the sergeants are configured one way. If you're using proxy minis, consistency is the key. As for the carbines, I think its a good idea. I trimmed regular lasguns down (barrel and top railing) to make mine personally. Again, consistency is your friend and as long as every bullpup lasgun is a shotgun theyre different enough to not be very confusing.

Oh, I hadn't even considered the fact that there was going to be a new codex, No! It hasn't been all the buzz and talk of dakka, and it hasn't been me gleaming the little snippets of info we get to see how many points I'll recieve from codex creep.

The codex won't change the army list, except for adding it (unless upgrades I want become unusable, for example, vets can't take forward sentries anymore or something to that effect.

I'll be using Elysian Drop Troops to represent a reconnaisance in armoured force kind of army, something akin to british WWII paratroopers with their Stuart Light Tanks (Chimeras, because theTaurox model is meh).
I really like the elysian special weapons and heavy weapons, they give the idea of an army that isn't hardy enough to go toe to toe with their enemy, so they set up an ambush. The Snipers and meltaguns especially convey this idea in a way I like.

If anyone's interested, my list:

CCS: 4x MG, Camo Cloaks, krak grenades.
Chimera with Camo Cloaks and Dozer Blades

4x Vet Squads with Forward Sentries, 3x Meltaguns and HWT with ML
2x Vet squads with Forward Sentries, 3x Sniper Rifles and HWT with ML.
6x Chimera with camo cloaks and dozer blades

3x 2x Sentinels (Scout) with Camo Cloaks and Autocannons

I don't see any issues whatsoever. If you let your opponent know what's a proxy for what, and make it fairly obvious who's the sergeant or whatnot, then you should be good to go! After all, they are an Imperial Guard army, despite some visual differences. It's just like using Death Corps of Kreig or Tallarn with the vanilla Codex.

Unfortunately a new codex may well invalidate many commonly used builds. As an avid Elysian Drop Troops player (since IA:3) I was thrilled by the boost my boys got in IA:8 but then horribly horribly saddened with FW/GW in IA3:2E totally nerfing so much of our stuff by changing how it works or how it's used that it very much castrated the effectiveness of the way I run my army.

As such, I still only play IA:8 Elysians which technically ARE a different force. You could still look at buying the DKoK command upgrade frame though. It gives you:

five Command Shoulder Pads, one left hand Las Pistol, one right hand Las Pistol, one Individual Las Pistol, one left hand Plasma Pistol, one right hand Plasma Pistol, one individual Plasma Pistol, one holstered pistol, one right hand Power Sword, one individual Power Sword, one left hand Chainsword and one individual Chainsword.

Should give you enough to equip 2+ sergeants & then if you're careful about which other arms you choose (closed fist, demo charge, pointing) you could do hand swaps &/or put the iconic sgt equipment on their belt as well.

I have DKoK & EDT & tbh there's minimal difference in the size of their hands/arms. Just aim to have both arms match & you're good.

Hotrod wrote:I don't see any issues whatsoever. If you let your opponent know what's a proxy for what, and make it fairly obvious who's the sergeant or whatnot, then you should be good to go! After all, they are an Imperial Guard army, despite some visual differences. It's just like using Death Corps of Kreig or Tallarn with the vanilla Codex.

That's what I've been thinking.

Red_Starrise wrote:Unfortunately a new codex may well invalidate many commonly used builds. As an avid Elysian Drop Troops player (since IA:3) I was thrilled by the boost my boys got in IA:8 but then horribly horribly saddened with FW/GW in IA3:2E totally nerfing so much of our stuff by changing how it works or how it's used that it very much castrated the effectiveness of the way I run my army.

As such, I still only play IA:8 Elysians which technically ARE a different force. You could still look at buying the DKoK command upgrade frame though. It gives you:

five Command Shoulder Pads, one left hand Las Pistol, one right hand Las Pistol, one Individual Las Pistol, one left hand Plasma Pistol, one right hand Plasma Pistol, one individual Plasma Pistol, one holstered pistol, one right hand Power Sword, one individual Power Sword, one left hand Chainsword and one individual Chainsword.

Should give you enough to equip 2+ sergeants & then if you're careful about which other arms you choose (closed fist, demo charge, pointing) you could do hand swaps &/or put the iconic sgt equipment on their belt as well.

I have DKoK & EDT & tbh there's minimal difference in the size of their hands/arms. Just aim to have both arms match & you're good.

At the end of the day, if I can still give Vet squads camo cloaks and 3 meltaguns with a missile launcher, I'm not complaining if they change things in the codex. this isn't a competitive army by any means (although it can go toe to toe with daemons (it'll usually get tabled), SM (it'll usually do the tabling) and potentially competitive guard (hit and miss))

Are the DKOK bits ideal for Elysian models? I mean, I really like the idea of using shotguns personally (It's so awful, it has to work!), but if the new codex drops and I'm not allowed to give the vet sergeant a shotgun, these would make a mighty-fine fallback.

Thanks for the suggestions, by the way.

PS:



Found this kit, I noticed the guy with the pistol has a closed fist, I was thinking I just give him a SM Combat knife and he's good to go. (also comes with a single meltagun, which means I don't need to buy 18 MG special weapon teams for 16 weapons any more.

I can do a size comp for the arms tonight if you'd like, to give you an idea, but they seem pretty close in size without holding them up to each other.

Oh and the guy with the pistol is actually pointing. But the arms aren't set when they're one handed vs the ones gripping rifles and the like, so they're fully mix and match.

 Red_Starrise wrote:
I can do a size comp for the arms tonight if you'd like, to give you an idea, but they seem pretty close in size without holding them up to each other.

Oh and the guy with the pistol is actually pointing. But the arms aren't set when they're one handed vs the ones gripping rifles and the like, so they're fully mix and match.

Reposing a single finger is easier than sculpting a hand.

I'd appreciate a size comparison if you wouldn't mind, But I've gotten a lot of idea from this threat already, so it's not necessary. Thanks for your help, mate.

Pretty close I'd say.

Yeah looks pretty close. I've got some DKoK command sprues and a few loose Elysians, and the size is entirely comparable. If you can bear it, i'd go with that option.


I'm doing the same with my DKoK, using them as a counts-as IG force. I just really dislike the Cadian models *shudders*

I really miss the old school cadians personally. GW didn't really need to alter their look so severely. Really just their lasguns needed updating.

AngularDeath wrote:Those guys look amazing... Is there a link to a blog for them? Very inspiring and excellent use of combined bits. I especially like the Cadian respirators/helmets on the Elysian bodies.

shingouki wrote:They look fantastic.I hope you don't mind if i copy that colour scheme it's exactly what i've been looking for.

Ta. Not to threadjack, but there's a blog on Dakka here if you'd like a closer look.

 Scipio Africanus wrote:

Apologist wrote:As you can see, I don't worry about the sergeants' armaments. I make sure they're identifiable as different from the rest of the squad, and I don't buy upgrades. As a result, I can simply say that the sergeants all have LP and CCW; regardless of the model.

So you're playing them WYSIWIEIA?

I... have no idea what that means Uh... possibly?
My broader point is that as long as the sergeants are identifiable, I worry more about models first, then rules. Never had a problem at an event. I like the idea of using the DKoK arms though if you're dead set on having laspistol and ccw. From experience, even a space marine combat blade looks huge on Elysians!

If anyone's interested, my list:
CCS: 4x MG, Camo Cloaks, krak grenades.
Chimera with Camo Cloaks and Dozer Blades

4x Vet Squads with Forward Sentries, 3x Meltaguns and HWT with ML
2x Vet squads with Forward Sentries, 3x Sniper Rifles and HWT with ML.
6x Chimera with camo cloaks and dozer blades

3x 2x Sentinels (Scout) with Camo Cloaks and Autocannons

Nice tidy little army. What's the thinking behind the missile launchers? Can't help thinking mortars and heavy bolters would fit your theme better.

 Apologist wrote:

Ta. Not to threadjack, but there's a blog on Dakka here if you'd like a closer look.

How dare you! Thief!

I'm following that blog now. Impress me more.

I... have no idea what that means Uh... possibly?
My broader point is that as long as the sergeants are identifiable, I worry more about models first, then rules. Never had a problem at an event. I like the idea of using the DKoK arms though if you're dead set on having laspistol and ccw. From experience, even a space marine combat blade looks huge on Elysians!

WYSIWIEIA = What You See is What is Easily Identifiable As, so your sergeant is easily identifiable as your sergeant.

Nice tidy little army. What's the thinking behind the missile launchers? Can't help thinking mortars and heavy bolters would fit your theme better.

I like the models for the missile launchers more (in the elysian kit) and they're more versatile than mortars, and I already pack 7 heavy bolters.

comments in bold.

Considering using one of these as a Vanquisher, based on the German Elephant.



thoughts?

Thought of scratch building something closer to the look of the elephant? Seems like it would be pretty easy to do.

It would look more like an antiarmor vehicle and less like an artillery tank (that I am brainfarting on the name of)

It would take some work to convert a basilisk like that. You might be better off buying a thunderer & just changing out the gun. In game terms what you're looking for is more of either a medusa with bastion breachers & enclosed crew compartment or a destroyer tank hunter.

sparkywtf wrote:
Thought of scratch building something closer to the look of the elephant? Seems like it would be pretty easy to do.

It would look more like an antiarmor vehicle and less like an artillery tank (that I am brainfarting on the name of)

I'm not sure I understand. The elephant is an anti-armour vehicle.

 Scipio Africanus wrote:

sparkywtf wrote:
Thought of scratch building something closer to the look of the elephant? Seems like it would be pretty easy to do.

It would look more like an antiarmor vehicle and less like an artillery tank (that I am brainfarting on the name of)

I'm not sure I understand. The elephant is an anti-armour vehicle.

I think Sparky is saying it'd be less work to scratchbuild the elephant than convert the basilisk to look like an AT gun vs a piece of artillery with indirect firing capability. Hence why the earth shaker elevates so much more than the elephant's gun.