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Ok, so it's the release date of the new Guard codex, time to break out one of the four IG armies currently lying in little bits in my parent's loft and actually assemble it! Hurrah! I started this army a few years ago and then it went firmly on the back shelf. Now it's time to finish it. Here's the concept.

Completely mechanised IG with armour and artillery support, made entirely using OOP metal Cadians and rogue trader-era models.

The armour section of the army will be used as the armour section for my other IG armies, as they are built (or remodelled). The infantry section should be entirely mounted in Chimeras, as much as is possible using the new rules. Here's the infantry models I've got so far. Some are painted, some are primed, some are just bare metal.

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Here's the model count

42 x Lasguns
6 x Meltaguns
2 x Plasmaguns
5 x Flamers
4 x Comm Link Troopers
5 x Sergeants

3 x Heavy Bolter Teams
3 x Autocannon Teams
3 x Lascannon Teams
4 x spare heavy weapon crew, with binoculars and stuff

11 x oop Veterans, made from rogue trader era guard with Catachan arms
1 x oop Captain, rogue trader era
1 x oop Standard, rogue trader era
3 x oop Gasmask Guardsmen, rogue trader era

2 x cadian Lieutenants, the old one with the fat belly and forage cap

4 x old tank crew models
2 x griffon crew models

10 x kasrkin, including a sgt, grenade launcher, and flamer.


I'll review my tank count tomorrow, and also try and decide how to organise them into an effective force.

So, quic thoughts on an effective force - I want to paint the squads with individual colored markings, so I need to roughly know how they're gonna play.

I'm thinking two main platoons

First platoon (for screaming out and driving the enemy off objectives)
3 x Infantry Squads - Heavy Bolters and Flamers, Vox
1 x Command Squad - 2 x Flamers, Vox
4 x Chimeras - Heavy Flamer turrets, hull Heavy Flamers, extra armour.
1 x Special Weapon Squad - Meltaguns

Second platoon (gunline)
3 x Infantry Squads - Autocannons
1 x Command Squad - 2 x Lascannons
4 x Chimeras - Multilasers, Heavy Bolters, HK Missiles

Company Command squad (gunline) - Artillery officer, 2 x plasmas, Standard
1 x Chimera - 2 Heavy Flamers, used by the special weapon squad

10 x veterans don't know which weapons yet
1 x Chimera - don't know which weapons yet

5 x Stormtroopers - 2 x Meltas
5 x Stormtroopers - 2 x Grenade Launchers

This leaves me with three spare melta troopers - I could do another Melta squad, or a second Company Command Squad?

Ok, here's the tank review.



3 x converted chimeras, multilasers & heavy bolters
3 x converted chimeras, 2 heavy flamers, extra armour
1 x converted command chimera
1 x heavily converted chimera, 2 heavy flamers

1 x salamander
1 x griffon
1 x medusa
1 x basilisk
2 x graia pattern hellhounds

1 x leman russ vanquisher, hull lascannon, extra armour
1 x leman russ exterminator, three heavy bolters
1 x laser destroyer, extra armour

AND, in the bits section

5 x leman russ turrets
1 x demolisher turret
1 x leman russ hull
3 x leman russ track sets, one with extra armour
3 x chimera hulls

Here's the only three painted vehicles - not completely finished yet, but an idea of what I'm going for. The Chimeras have automated weapons (no turrets). These are the ones with extra, spaced armour.



Apologies for the image quality, I'll get some better ones once I can get outside...

Looks cool thus far.

First platoon READY!

Red Platoon Command Squad - 2 flamers, vox
Red Platoon, Squad 1 - flamer, heavy bolter, vox
Red Platoon, Squad 2 - flamer, heavy bolter, vox
Red Platoon, Squad 3 - flamer, heavy bolter, vox
Red Platoon, Special Weapon Squad - 3 meltas

Next job is to finish off their tanks - the three in the post above are for the three squads - I need to decide to give the command squad another identical chimera or a little salamander. Then again, I might save the salamander for the other PCS, which may well have meltas...

Again, sorry for the quality. One day I'll actually find the macro setting on this bloody camera...

The models looks good... from what i can see, please try and find that macro button! (little flower) i really wanna see the detail you put into your model, what's the history from your models? and (a bit OT but..) does the codex explain how the platoons function? I'm getting easily confused with the PDF i've got (especially the high command platoon).
keep up the good work on the models and nice army list!

Wow...you finished a platoon in four days?

Upgrading my mech company is going to go quite a bit slower.

On the photo challenge, I learned three things from the Cool Mini or Not guide:

1. No flash...set up other light to illuminate the model the way you want it. The flash usually just ruins the picture. I use my OTT-Lite craft lamp (provides something like natural light).

2. No zoom...Somehow it distorts the images. I position the camera at an appropriate distance. I don't have a tripod yet but that will be the next addition. They're only $20-25.

3. Macro setting.

Good luck with the mech company. I'm inspired by your progress as well as some other folks trying mech too.

Gutteridge wrote:The models looks good... from what i can see, please try and find that macro button! (little flower) i really wanna see the detail you put into your model, what's the history from your models? and (a bit OT but..) does the codex explain how the platoons function? I'm getting easily confused with the PDF i've got (especially the high command platoon).
keep up the good work on the models and nice army list!

Thanks - I actually bought the whole metal Cadian lot from Fingers three or four years ago, this is just the first time I've got to paint them. He'd already undercoated and done first colors on a lot of them, so I just gathered all the most painted ones into this platoon. I imagine the next platoon will take a while longer.

There's no Command Platoon any more in the Guard codex. A normal platoon consists of a Platoon Command and at least two Infantry Squads. You can then add Special Weapon Squads, Heavy Weapon Squads, additional Infantry Squads, Conscripts and a Commissar if you wish. All this still counts as one Troops choice, but since Veterans and Penal Legion are both separate Troops choices as well, it's not too restrictive...

yeah,
So these guys are history?

Panic...

Looks great and I have to say that I'm jealous of your old metal Cadians.

OK, been ages but...the old metal Cadians are HISTORY..

Boy, I bored of painting these quickly, so I did a few interweb swaps and I've ended up with an army of oop metal STEEL LEGION instead!

Fantastic. I've also cut down on some of the tanks and squads to fit the whole thing in a single large army case, and allotted the extras to my other imperial guard armies. The complete listing for this one looks like it's gonna be...

1 x CCS with Advisors and Heavy Weapons (Chimera (Multilaser))

Platoon
1 x PCS with Heavy Bolters (Chimera (Multilaser))
1 x Infantry Squad with Heavy Bolter & Grenade Launcher (Chimera (Multilaser))
1 x Infantry with Heavy Bolter & Grenade Launcher (Chimera (Multilaser))

Platoon
1 x PCS with Missile Launcher, Flamers (Chimera (Heavy Flamers))
1 x Infantry Squad with Missile Launcher, Flamer (Chimera (Heavy Flamers))
1 x Infantry Squad with Missile Launcher, Flamer (Chimera (Heavy Flamers))

Extras
2 x 5 man Stormtrooper Squads with Meltas
1 x Veteran Squad with Plasmas (Chimera (Heavy Flamers))
1 x Missile Launcher Heavy Weapon Squad
1 x Sniper or Melta Special Weapon Squad

Tanks
1 x Destroyer Tank Hunter
1 x Basilisk
1 x Griffon
1 x Medusa
2 x Hellhounds
3 x Leman Russ Tanks with all turret variants

That's quite a change!

Maybe you should change your blog title to "Ian's Steel Legion Mechanized IG Blog". You'll pull in the fanatics that really dig the guys from Armageddon.

You are going to need a Yarrick figure, if only for fluff and inspiration.

Gonna swap for some mordians once you've painted a few Steel Legion?
Haha. Nah, I'm just kidding. Steel Legion are way nicer than Cadians... Looking forward to seeing some pics!