Making Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons Mobile

I have never understood how some of the heavy weapons in 40K are supposed to be carried.

Space Marines have powered armor to help heft huge heavy weapons around the battlefield, but even with two men, I have a hard time believing a Guard heavy weapon team is going to be lugging along a lascannon, the thing is huge.

I decided to add wheels and a carriage to mine, so these poor bastards can roll it into position, and I think it looks good with the theme of my Ardwick 23rd, like a WWII anti tank gun.

I made an axle and legs from square sprue and used some tank road wheels from a Dragon 1/35 Russian T34 tank model that I bought at the flea market that was missing a few parts. I mounted the power pack on the side of the lascannon behind the shield and added an aiming scope to the other side and a ring on one of the legs to give it the look that it could be towed and a few plate details of thin plastic card and some PVA glue rivets here and there.

Using this method is a great way to stretch out your heavy weapons plastic sets as you can make carriages for the bigger guns and use the provided tripod for something lighter. I also used a standing figure as the second crewman to conserve the squatting models for other gunners.

I used the same dark green for the gun that I have been using on the helmets and armor bits with a bit of rust and weathering.

John

Another Converted Ork War Trakk

A year ago I bought a bunch of old Robogear models and have modified them to be used as wartrakks with twin linked rokkits. Here is that older post. I have fielded them in every game I have played with the Orks and they are usually highly succesful. Here is the unpainted set from a year ago:

This is one of the two I hadn't done yet:

and 'ere he is today:

In the paintscheme I decided to go very traditional, like painting a WWII Sherman or something, with no real Ork markings on it and lots of green. The basecoat was Catachan Green, then a huge wash of Sepia, then all the highlights with Knarloc green and some with Rotting Flesh.

The wash came out great and it almost looks like it was airbrushed, certainly along the raised areas. The red bumper is made of bitz from the Black Orc Sprues.

I liked the rokkits to be white and normal, like they came from an old F-15 Eagle that the Orks dug up somewhere.

I had to add a small ork glyph...

Here is the post to my previous wartrakk that also has a magnetized Grot rokkit on it. Here is the post about the first Wartrakk I ever converted. If you are interested in making Robogear models into 40K one, be sure to read this post!

All in all, real simple stuff, no artwork, but very, very enjoyable nonetheless! Hope it inspires!

Mike

Rocket Girl looks pretty tough

I did a post a few weeks back on painting up models that you like and somehow try to find a way to fit them in a unit. One of the groups of models that I like is Schaeffers Last Chancers who are going to be part of my penal units, here is the link to that article.

Penal Units cannot have heavy weapons, so what to do with the great Schaeffer models that have special weapons, like Rocket Girl?

She is a slender Imperial Guards woman with a massive, Space Marine like missile launcher. I decided to make her into a heavy weapons squad for a command squad.

I gave her a buddy who I kit bashed into a radio operator using some wire and bits of sprue.

I put them on a base I built from some stone, plaster, sand and a single cog from the photo etched sheet in the GW resin basing set. It was fun finding a good position for the two, making it realistic and balanced at the same time.

My paintjob on these guys stinks, don't ask me why, I just couldn't make it work. Does everyone have that? Sometimes a model just doesn't work for me. It bothers me to no end, but I did want to tell people to go out and buy Rocket Girl, she is a great looking model.

Mike

Mechanized Rough Rider is Painted

Here is a quick follow up to the post last week on my version of the Mechanized Rough Rider. I painted him up with the German WWII Desert look. The main colors are Foundation Yellow with the Ogryn Flesh Wash and an extreme highlight of Sunburst Yellow

Painting the back was fun

And here is our servitor

I kept his human side in the same tones as my other finished IG models, kind of deserty looking clothes.

The bad resincast (see 1st post) was more obvious unpainted then painted, I didn't want to cover up all the cool tracks so I tried my best to make it look OK.

I used a 40mm resin base for this model, following the Forgeworld Krieg riders that are also based on 40mm

Hope you all like it!

Mike

New Backpacks for the Ardwick 23rd Imperial Guard

I have been working a bit on my Ardwick 23rd Imperial Guard.

you can view previous posts on them here and here .

My backpacks from Max Mini arrived and I wasted no time in using them.

I wanted everyone to have a backpack and gear, I imagine these guys as rugged footsloggers loaded down with full kit, so a backpack was important to get that across.

Great castings and price, 10 backpacks and some other bits per package.

It took a bit of clipping to the mini to fit well. ( it is the fully molded cheap verison, I think it will work better on the normal 10 in a box guys.)

After some paint, a wash and some highlights, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

John

Mechanized Rough Riders!

I have always wondered why Imperial Guard Armies don't have more servitors in their midst. In the world of Dan Abnett servitors do everything, including fixing vehicles, cooking food and cleaning. So I figured it would be pretty benign adding a unit of servitors to my new IG army. I decided on the rough riders because in my vision horses don't jive with the future, they would have all been eaten already I think. So here is the first of a group of 5 that I will build.

The little tank, body and one of the arms is from a 28 mm model from the Polish Company Micro Arts. The spear is an old brush, the rocket is from an Ork Sprue and I added guard arm from the Basilisk set. It came out pretty nice.

The model looks really Mechanicum, but who cares? There is no Mech Army yet and in the end they could easily have built these to serve the emperor in different armies.

I do want to note the the resin cast of the tank had major flaws, I am not sure how to fix it.

I bought these 3 months ago with some bases (they came out fine) and hadn't really looked at the sculpt. In my next order I will make a note that they should check their products before sending them out; I would say quality control is crucial in the resin casting business.

The sculpt of the face is really quite beautiful

Hope this inspires!

Mike

Later Added:

I sent an email to Jan at Micro Arts, this was his reply

Hi,

I talked with guys from our production team and they said those were
from the old mould. Curently we have a new one and the quality is much
better. I told them to check each piece before packing so I hope this
will fix the issue. We're also thinking of making a mould in a different
way so that you have the mould line on the bottom of the mini.

We may add some free parts for you, no problem :)

Regards,
Jan

MAS

Host a Warhammer Hobby Night

Every once in a while I try to get Mike and Christian over for a Warhammer hobby night, to work on some models, brainstorm and BS.

Here's what you need to do.

1. Invite people-

   Make sure to tell them when it starts and when it will end so they know when show up and when to leave. I called up the regulars and I decided to invite a stranger: Scott from the Bay Hammer blog.

2. Get food-

  People like to eat and drink. Tell them not to eat before they come over, if there is food there is no reason for them to leave early or show up late.

3. Set up a work place. 

  A table with chairs and good lighting, paper towels water cups for cleaning brushes some tiles for painting and some tools.

4. Set the mood.

  I put on the Soundtrack from Dawn of War II, good background noise.

5. Bask in the glory.

  Pretend to act humble when everyone tells you how great everything was and how much fun they had.

I had a good time and it was good to have everyone together talking about Warhammer stuff.

You should give it a try sometime.

John

More Progress With My Guard Headswap

You may have seen my previous post about the gas mask / helmet head swap for my Imperial Guard unit.

I have decided to call them the Ardwick 23rd.

The name is a nod to Dave Taylor and his Genswick 33rd, I really liked the dish shaped helmets, Ardwick is a suburb of Manchester ( the first industrial city ) I figured it would have a lot of pollution, to justify the masks, and it is in England, I used the WWII British uniform as inspiration, and the 23 is from my street address.

I have finished 5 Guardsmen and a heavy weapons team which can swap the gun out between the auto cannon, las cannon, and heavy bolter. The bald spots ( without basing sand ) on the base are where the bits for the other gun options sit, but it seems to give the look of old pavement.

Besides the pointer crewman, all the pouches bags and canteens are molded on to the standing figures.

I plan on adding some backpacks, so I ordered a bunch from MaxMini and I have been thinking of using some gas mask heads without helmets ( Tox heads ) also from MaxMini and robed flagelants for penal legion troops or perhaps psykers.

John

Play with models you LOVE, Part 2

Here's a perfect example of trying to squeeze in models that have no place (up until now) anywhere in my games but are so cool and fun to paint: Schaeffer's Last Chancers.

I have had these models for ages and I have fingered them many a time, looking at them with respect and admiration but having NO clue what to do with them. I bought them as a set from GW Direct for 35 bucks and there are a bunch of models.

And then comes the new IG codex with a penal legion. Perfect!

Here is the group that I have done so far. I am envisioning an IG army that fights in hot and sandy areas so I have painted these guys in different shades of brown, making sure they all look different. The color that binds them is the red on smaller artefacts on their body. I decided not to paint their eyes as to give them models a more rugged look.

Great thing about these models is that each of them has it's own character. They are really excellent models and the sculptor (does anyone know?) did an oustanding job making the models active and imposing.

Here is the Australian, I based him already, the rest still need their base.

Here is the Cossack, my favorite one of the bunch. Love his bag.

Here is the Crazy Guy with wiring all over him, his sculpt was fun to paint.

Here is the Chinese officer, he would also make a nice Kommisar.

And here is the Indian

Not all of the models in this set can be used in the Penal Unit, because this unit doesn't have heavy weapons or other special things. The Indian for instance has a plasma pistol, so I will find a different unit for him. There is a great model of Rocket Girl, a woman with an awesome missile launcher that I used to make a normal Heavy weapons squad. More about her later in the week or so.

Hope this inspires! Here is the link to this illustrious group of models (scroll all the way to the bottom):

Schaeffer's Last Chancers

Mike

The Last Chancers have their own novel, written by Gav Thorpe. It's actually quite allright and makes it more fun to paint these guys up.