Hello there!
I'm back with some pictures!
Sorry for not posting in a long time, but I figured I'd try out some other media like Instagram, which I’ve come to really like. It's a great way to share hobby stuff and get some Inspiration! If any of you wanna check out my Instagram feed, search for "wardenminiatures". I got some different pictures on there so you won't get bored!
Although Instagram is great for sharing pictures, Dakka is probably the better way to post progress on my collection and tell you guys what I've been up to. So here I am with an update on what I've been working on recently:
First off, I got a lot more cadians since the last time I posted. I ordered some off of ebay and I also bought a Start Collecting Box, so now I have enough guys for three full squads and some spares which I will probably expand upon soon. Also, this got me a Leman Russ tank, a Heavy weapon team and a commissar. So let’s start off with the 5 man squad:
As you can see, the leader of the original squad I posted on here now serves as a stopgap sergeant for the small 5 man squad. The troopers around him however are new and the paintjob on certain areas is better (e.g. the bases are more detailed, the Imperial Aquilas are more crisp etc.). I'll try to bump this squad up to full size soon, so I'll need a special weapon and a vox caster. Also, the sergeant might get cannibalized at some point to change his loadout, but more on that later.
Next up, an old sentinel I painted a while ago but have not posted pics of yet:
I got this one from a friend who stopped playing. He just handed me a plastic bag filled with minis one day and I got to work salvaging what I could. This sentinel was a bit beat up and the rollover cage on top was broken. Hence I clipped it off, and replaced it with a custom bit that I built using cardstock and some mesh. I made a mould of this bit so I can reproduce the front screen for other sentinels as well. I even wrote up a small piece of fluff about a distinct sentinel variant that uses this part. If people are interested, I’ll post it on Dakka!
Other than that, the sentinel is pretty much standard, and the paintjob was just a very quick and sloppy drybrush. I think it does the job however.
Next up, an old pewter heavy bolter:
This one also came in the plastic bag o’ bitz, and was in relatively good shape, but had to be cleaned up, reglued and painted. Nothing fancy here, just drilled out the barrel to make it look a bit nicer. Paintjob-wise, this is just as quick as the sentinel.
On the back I added some effects to the lenses/reticules to make the gun look a bit more interesting.
Now on to some new stuff
Here is the first finished squad of Cadian Shock Troops as I’m planning to field them. As I mentioned in the first post, I wanted to make the sergeants stand out from what you see on normal Cadians. Also, I wanted them to be able to contribute to the squads long range firepower instead of hanging back with a pistol and Chainsword, only shouting orders. Since sergeants for some reason can’t take lasguns themselves, the obvious choice was to give them boltguns!
When I had finished the first sergeant, I thought it looked really cool and so I decided to stick with it and make this one of the underlying themes of my army.
The conversion can be done pretty straightforward, but results will probably be better if you have at least some Greenstuff skills to pull it off. As I’m sure you can tell, the Boltgun used on this sergeant comes from the Space Marine Scout Squad box. The Boltguns can be glued on as-is, but since Cadian torsos are a little less wide than the scout’s, some greenstuff may be necessary to fill the gaps. However, filling in the gaps in the armpits is not really that difficult, since it only has to look like cloth when painted over and the seam will disappear between the armor plates anyways.
This conversion/kitbash is a simple way to upgrade your sergeants. Another benefit of this is that the scout arms are a little more armored than Cadian arms, which makes the sergeant stand out from the rest of the squad. This sergeant also has a head that I believe comes from the command squad’s sprue. The eyepatch really makes him look like a grizzled veteran, doesn’t it?
Another underlying theme of my Cadians is that all of the special weapons in the army will be plasma guns. Apparently, plasmaguns are pretty good in 8th edition, so that was what sparked the idea. However, I don’t really play that often and I’m more of a collector and converter, so what was way more important to me was that plasmaguns give me an excuse to paint glowing effects on my minis. Painting those feels really rewarding because they look great, but don’t take that long to accomplish. Furthermore, equipping all squads the same, i.e. one plasmagunner and a bolter on the sergeant, makes the army appear more uniform and gives the impression that they are a well-equipped, well-supplied army, which I think goes very well with Cadians.
Next up, the second squad of Cadian shock troops. As I said, exactly the same loadout as the first, to make the army look more cohesive.
This squad’s sergeant actually was made from a Cadian from one of those 5-man, pushfit sets. The lasgun arm was left off, the other arm was cut at the shoulder, and instead replaced with another scout Boltgun. Goes to show what can be done with some bitz and a little time spent converting.
The squad’s plasmagunner. There’s also some metal miniatures for Cadian special weapons troopers available, but mine were created using the plasmagun from the command squad sprue. I modified it a little to remove the insignia on the right shoulder pad, since this is supposed to be just a regular trooper. Now on to some
WIP stuff:
The Heavy weapons team that came with the Start collecting box was built as an Autocannon. Since these teams have two wounds, I had to have some way of representing the ablative wound. There’s several different approaches to this, like having two miniatures on regular bases with a separate gun, leaving out two spots for 25mm bases on the gun’s large base etc… I chose to go a different route and magnetized the second trooper on the base. That way, when the first ablative wound gets removed, I take off the spotter/loader from the base. Once the second wound gets removed, I just remove the whole weapon base from the table.
Here you can see the underside of the spotter’s feet. Two small magnets hold the mini in place firmly when needed. The weapon team’s base will be painted in the usual earth tones, so the spot underneath the removable miniatures doesn’t look weird once the spotter is taken off.
Last but not least, let’s take a look at
WIP squad number 3:
Again, the loadout matches the other squads. So far, I only got around to basecoating the fatigues of the shock troopers, just like on the
HWT.
Finally, a group shot of my Cadian sergeants with their venerable service Boltguns. Again, I had to fill in some gaps on the 3rd sergeants armpits to blend in the scout arms. All in all, I think the Bolters blend in really well with the Cadians, once they have been painted in the standard Cadian green. Combined with the additional vambraces and gloves, they really make the sergeants look like battle-hardened veterans, don’t you think?
Anyways, that’s all I have to show you for now in regards to my custom Cadian 583rd regiment for now. However, I have been, and still am, working on some other
40k projects that I really wanna show you, so stick around if you like my stuff! Of course, my Ultramarines will be covered, but for all of you who like the Adeptus Arbites, you may have something to look forward to as well!
Thanks for checking this out! Let me know what you think about my Cadians, or leave some suggestions about what you’d do differently! Until next time!