George's Imperial Guard, Leader, Month 6

Colonel Audacian was growing impatient. He had spent his entire career winning. Conquering worlds, reclaiming imperial outposts from heretics. And throughout he had kept his men alive. An unusual feat for an imperial commander.

But now the imperial authorities had grown suspicious and they were testing his loyalty with an order to send his men to almost certain death.

Audacian stood and watched the massed ranks marching past towards the heavily defended heretic fortifications. He felt the cold stare and the mirthless smile of the commissar behind him.

But he wasn’t going to abandon his men now. Without warning, he raised his sword and charged.

I had great fun painting these glorious lead minis, mainly Mark Copplestone command figures, and the commissar a beautiful gift from fellow Challenger Graeme. Thanks Graeme!

It felt great to crack out some bright colours again (I do love bright colours!) I was inspired by Mike Mcvey's Warhammer 40,000 painting guide from 1993. He used lots of red hats and helmets, so I went for it and thoroughly enjoyed it! I like the contrast with the drab tones from the rest of the regiment. 

It was insanely hot while I was painting and I was slow, even by my own slow standards! So I will be using my final month to add the flags and banners that the original John Blanche artwork deserves!

June Points:

Command Section: 280 points

Commissar: 45 points

June Total: 325 Points

Army Total:

Command section: 280 points

Commissar: 45 points

Support squad: 425 points

2 x Tactical squads: 400 points

Army Total: 1,150

Colonel Audacian and his command! Sinister commissar courtesy of Graeme!

Audacian leads his regiment into battle!

George's Imperial Guard, Rank & File Month 4

The commissar was staring very hard at the back of Colonel Audacian's head.

“They shall know no fear, commander.” Smiled the commissar as rank after rank of guardsmen marched towards the heavily defended enemy position.

“These men know nothing of fear,” replied Audacian, without turning. “But this is an unnecessarily expensive test of my loyalty.”

“Ah, you guessed,” the commissar smiled grimly. “You must confess, your methods are unusual. Such unorthodox leadership was always likely to arouse suspicion.”

“The loyalty of this regiment is beyond question. Just look at what we have achieved.” Replied the colonel.

“Indeed. But imperial armies are not expected to emerge from battle with so few casualties. Loss and suffering are essential as proof of loyalty.”

Audacian knew that to say more was to seal his own fate. So he remained silent and watched as his troops advanced.

I finally benefitted from my productivity earlier this year and was able to work ahead this month. And I can add another tactical squad to the mass ranks!

It’s great fun seeing this Army come together!

Month points:

1 x Tactical Squad: 200 points

Army Total (to date):

1 x Support squad: 445 points

3 x Tactical squads: 600 points

Total: 1,045 points

Another tactical squad marches to battle!

Audacian's regiment prepared to advance!

George's Imperial Guard, Rank & File, Month 3

Colonel Audacian watched as another tactical squad matched past.

They were advancing against a heavily defended heretic fortress. A fully frontal assault. Mass casualties were certain.

Unlike many imperial commanders, Audacian had gone to great lengths to keep his men alive.

Despite having always achieved his objectives, his refusal to sacrifice the guard under his command had drawn suspicion.

And so it had been decided that his loyalty to the Emperor should be tested.

Audacian's regiment was flooded with commissars and he was ordered to send his beloved troops into certain death.

With a commissar by his side and more commissars surrounding all of his officers, Audacian had no choice but to give the command. And now all he could do was watch.

Lots of people don’t enjoy batch painting, but I’m completely addicted! Painting ranks of Perry sculpted guardsmen is the completion of a childhood dream and I’m absolutely loving it!

I had planned on painting more of the Ally Morrison Imperial Army minis for this project, but I’m finding that these classic plastic troopers are a great fit for the John Blanche artwork that inspired me. So I’m painting even more of them! I love the Ally Morrison sculpts and these will be part of a future Rogue Trader RPG project.

If you look closely, I have added a few of the Mark Copplestone lead guardsmen that came a little bit later. Wonderful figures!

Points:

1 x Tactical Squad: 200 Points

Army Total:

2 x Tactical Squads: 400 Points

1 x Support Squad: 445 Points

Total: 845 Points

Another tactical squad marches to battle!

Audacian's regiment forms line!

George's Imperial Guard, Rank & File, Month 2

Private Knuck stepped over the body of the fallen heretic, shouldering his lasgun and checking quickly that the guardsmen either side of him were still in one piece.

Knuck had been born into the brutal hives of his homeworld and had been raised by gangs. The whole gang membership had been drafted into the guard and now they were lined up, marching towards the enemies of the imperium. Knuck was loyal to his gang mates. They were his family and he would die to protect them.

But Knuck wasn’t too sure about the Emperor. Anyone who feasted on 1,000 souls a day didn’t sounds too great to him. However, he knew better than to say anything, especially now there were commissars crawling all over the regiment.

He was shaken from his thoughts as orders were shouted down the line. In the distance ahead Knuck saw Colonel Audacian signalling the advance. He checked again and counted in all of his friends.

Yup, all still standing.

Then he levelled his lasgun , and charged.

February was going so well. I’d finished painting nine guardsmen and only needed to finish the arms of the tenth, then take photos and write the blog post. But Real Life had other plans for me and I had to play an early Mulligan. *sigh*

Anyway, I’m back on track and painting is helping me through some tough times. Looking forward to finishing more guardsmen!

Rank & File Month 2 Points:

Tactical Squad: 200 Points

Army total so far:

Tactical squad: 200 points

Support squad: 445 points

Total: 645 points

Private Knuck and his squad form rank!

Private Knuck leads the charge!

Audacian's regiment taking shape!

George's Imperial Guard, Rank n File Month #1

 The regiment advanced with colours taut in the wind, shouted orders cutting through the din.

The regimental commander, Colonel Audacian marched ahead of his troops. Sword drawn, he called instructions to his orderlies, remaining calm despite the impending carnage.

The heretic defences were still out of range. But without warning, a hidden bunker burst open and three rhinos sped out. Captured and converted to heretic purposes, they opened fire with deadly bursts from their twin bolters and guardsmen in the front rank fell to the hail of shells.

Audacian pointed at the oncoming APCs with his sword. Orders were barked from the lines and a ten-man support squad dashed into firing positions. Their sergeant, Hakeman, was well known to Audacian for his meticulous aim whilst under fire.

“Hold fire!” Hakeman ordered, even as the three rhinos bore down towards him and his men. “Find your target and await the order.” His men trusted him absolutely and held firm.

Just as it seemed inevitable that the tanks would crush him and his men, Hakeman gave the order.

“Fire!”

Three lascannons fired a volley and each hit its target. Two of the rhinos exploded, fuel and ammunition igniting to destroy the vehicle and the doomed heretics within. The third took a hit to its track, spinning in a wild circle before over-turning.

After a moment’s pause, a hatch was thrown open. Smoke bellowed out, and then the heretics came, in shock, but still driven beserk by their battle lust. They launched into a mad charge towards the imperial guard ranks, firing side arms and readying grenades.

“Finish ‘em boys!” the heavy bolters and lasguns in Hakeman’s squad opened fire, immediately wiping out the heretics and sparing further imperial losses.

Audacian gave a small nod towards Hakeman, who acknowledged him with a salute before returning to the line with his squad. The commissar by Audacian’s side looked almost disappointed that so few of his men had fallen. But he looked back towards the heretic fortress and a small smile flickered across his cold face.

There would be plenty of opportunity for the guard to prove their devotion to the emperor with the ultimate sacrifice.

 

I’ve dreamt of painting these figures for a good 35 years. Since getting the plastic imperial guard box as a seven year old, I’ve always wanted to recreate that John Blanche artwork and now is my chance!

And I must say, I’m bloody loving it! I didn’t make life easy for myself this month: After a hectic December I started January with an army that still needed priming and assembly, far from ideal! So much of the month was spent undercoating the main body of the army.

In the end I had about a week for the actual painting. Again, not ideal! I’ve had to skimp on some detail, but I’ll come back to that later!

Once I got going, I decided that this is one of the best things I’ve ever done. These miniatures are absolutely fantastic and it’s an honour to be coating them in thick layers of original Codex Grey!

I’ve largely stuck to the schemes and details from the box art and painting guides in White Dwarfs 109 and 110. The slight deviation is the regimental numbering – I’ve decided to mark the type of squad, rather than regiment or platoon number. As this is a support squad, they get an “S” (turns out an “S” is harder to paint than I imagined!)

Now that I’ve finished all that priming and got into more of a groove, I’m excited to crack on and to get more done in February.

For the emperor!

 

Points:

Support Squad (3 x lascannons, 2 x heavy bolters, 4 x lasguns, 1 x sergeant): 445 points

 

And finally, my offering to Jaako, the Goblin Overboss: Chorsheema the Impaler, Goblin Champion. Sculpted by the late, great Bryan Ansell himself!

Sergeant Hakeman leads his support squad into battle!

Hakeman and his troopers take up firing positions!

Time to finish off those heretics!

Chorsheema the Impaler, Goblin Champion (sculpted by Bryan Ansell) 

prepares for his flight to Finland!

George's Imperial Guard - Intro Post

 

Colonel Audacian watched as his regiment assembled. Boots crunched in perfect synchronicity, a gratifying vindication of hard hours spent on the drill ground.

Imperial and regimental colours flapped in the wind as the vast columns took up their positions.

Audacian was proud of his regiment. He was proud of every soldier who stood before him. And unlike many imperial commanders, he went to great lengths to keep his troops alive.

Through skilful diplomacy and radical battlefield tactics, he had minimised casualties. Their campaign had seen them liberate planets from heretics and conquer new worlds for the Emperor. And all at low loss of life.

But Audacian was woken from his thought by the serpent whisper of the commissar who stood by his side.

“The time to let blood for the Emperor is nigh.”

The commissar almost seemed to enjoy the thought of the guard suffering mass losses.

Audacian had noticed the steady increase in the number of commissars attached to his regiment. They would arrive, unannounced, and follow officers and NCOs at all times. The commander himself was now under constant surveillance.

Perhaps his refusal to sacrifice the lives of his men had roused suspicion. The imperial administration expected officers to be ruthless.

And now he faced an impossible situation. He had been given a direct order to mount a full regimental frontal assault on a heavily defended position. With commissars now everywhere, he could not see a way to avoid this suicidal strategy.

Audacian felt the commissar’s hard stare. He cleared his throat, drew his sword and ordered the advance.

 

I was 7 when my dad and I first stumbled upon a Games Workshop. Already obsessed with toy soldiers, I insisted that we go in. Weeks of pocket money was invested in the plastic imperial guard box set and now it feels only right that 35 years later I get round to painting them!

Inspired by that superb John Blanche cover art, I’m planning massed ranks of infantry, with plenty of banners! White Dwarf issues 109-115 will provide lists and painting guides (Although in the spirit of Rogue Trader, points values are secondary to narrative!)

Speaking of narrative, I do love a bit of fluff! I will certainly be taking the opportunity to expand on Audacian and the sinister commissars!

I also want to thank the wonderful community for stepping forward and providing essential miniatures for the project. Graeme, Joseph, Auke and Glyn – thank you! You are all heroes and the Emperor will smile upon you!

I can’t wait for this challenge. There are a lot of brilliant projects to look forward to. Best of luck to everyone!

 

Points:

1 X command section: 280 points

2 x tactical squads @ 200 points each: 400 points

1 x white shields squad: 200 points

1 x support squad: 445 points

5 x commisars @ 45 points each: 225

1 x land speeder: 200 points

 

Total: 1,750

Audacian's regiment! Awaiting stripping and priming!

That classic box art and the inspiration for this project!

Pablol - Imperial Guard - Month 6 - Field of bones

 Bones bones bones

Behold my pile of shame. I shouldn't have saved the best for last as June was much too busy. Off to the field of bones.

I spent the two first weeks of June painting walls at a nursery and couldn't really do any painting at night. My friend was commissioned to make an artpiece for this nursery and the time table was pretty tight. The rest of the month went finishing other work projects that were on hold for the two first weeks and preparing for my holiday that starts now. Summer has also finally started and the few free nights were spent out with friends.

This is one of the walls of the public art commission I was working on.

Sadly an army is nothing without a leader. Though I'm glad I saved most of these models for later as I feel like during this challenge I've finetuned my painting a bit and feel much more confident working on these centerpieces now compared to the beginning of the year.

Here are the last three models for the Mortar team. One is a Cawdor and the two are masked up Orlocks. I was really struggling to find any Cawdor gangers all of this year. I bought some last year, but didn't realise I would've needed a few more and passed on a few deals.

I started painting the Techpriest already in May. So far it mostly just has the main colours blocked in. I've never really liked any of the original Techpriest models so I had to find something else. The old 6th edition Grave Guard models have the capes, eerie poses and perfect Blanche hats. I even extended the hat a bit higher to give it more authority.

I armed the Techpriest with a Bolt pistol and a power axe.

The last Lasgun servitor is pretty straightforward and will fit in well with the rest of the squad. I had chopped both it's arms off sometime around 2005.

The Imperial Preacher was also ready in May and got some paint while I was working on the last month tanks. He's based on a 6th edition flagellant with a flail that is replaced with an Imperial eagle. I also gave him a backpack and some equipment.

Probably the only Rogue Trader model is this headless psyker that I converted into an Inquisitor. I really like his pose. He'll lead the Cadian command squad.

My army leader will be this command squad. The power fist Catachan Lieutenant is a really cool model, but his Bolter hand is a bit stiff and at a bad angle for photos. I think this position with the Plasma pistol gives a better dynamic front pose.

The rest of the command squad:

The standard bearer is only missing it's flag.

The Cawdor heavy is missing the end of his weapon.

The Cawdor leader is as is.

The Bretonnia pilgrim will fill the last spot of the command squad.

I even got a bit gready at some point around April and May and started painting these Ratling snipers that I never managed to finish.

Last but not least I have this tank commander to go on the Leman Russ Demolisher.

Most of these models are already based and ready for paint, so I'll be working on them as soon as I get back home from my holiday. Luckily I have one more deadline to motivate me to finish this army. Ropecon is one of the biggest roleplay and miniature events in Finland and it's during the last weekend of July. They have an Armies on Parade themed army gallery called Show of Force. I'll try my best to have the army finished by then so I'd be able to show it there.

A great thank you for the Old World Army Challenge and all the motivating comments and messages throughout this year. I don't know if I've ever managed to build and paint this much in 6 months. Next year I'll hopefully be better prepared and have less to build and more time to paint.

Good luck for everyone else! Can't wait to see and read about your completed armies!

Pablol - Imperial Guard - Month 5 - Wild card

I started painting two Leman Russes, but only managed to finish one in time. I was close to finishing both, but ran out of time. 

The second edition Imperial Guard codex has two Leman Russ variants:

The Leman Russ Battle Tank has standard stock equipment with no options. I was missing a few parts on this model so I made molds from blue stuff and cast replacements from milliput. I magnetized the battlecannon and the heavy bolter sponsons, because future editions have weapon options. I added some small plasticard details to the Heavy bolters, because they looked a bit bare.

The Leman Russ Demolisher has a demolisher cannon and a few side sponson options. In case I want to make another Leman Russ Demolisher I made milliput copies of the weapons. The demolisher cannon is attached to the turret, but the side sponson weapons and the Lascannon are magnetized. I had to cut the Lascannon from another Leman Russ hull, because this tank came with a Heavy flamer.

Both tanks needed quite alot of seam filling and a bit of damage repair. Undercoating the tanks also helped to see what details still needed to be fixed.

I did'nt have time to put up my studio so this month will have to do with smartphone photos.

I'm quite happy how the tank came out, but I noticed that the Vallejo colour in the new clear bottle is a bit different toned from the old colour I've used with the two previous tanks.

Leman Russ Battle Tank 205pts

Hope everyone managed through this month! Good luck for the last month!

On my last month to do list I have:

- A bunch of characters and my command HQ

- One lasgun servitor to complete the 5 model unit

- Three guardsmen to complete the heavy weapon squad

- The second Leman Russ to finish

- A second Chimera

Pablol - Imperial Guard - Month 4 - Rank & File

This month was a struggle. I had a flu and during that week I worked with too many units and tanks without any proper focus on my April goals. The rest of the month there were too many parties and busy weekends until I realized I was badly running out of time. The ambitiously started April turned into a damage control month and here's what I managed to finish:

A squad of five servitors. One of them, the only 2nd edition model is a substitute until I finish a third lasgun armed model. I think servo armed models were only available in Space Marine forces back in 2nd edition. The colour scheme didn't quite end up having the 2nd edition feel I was looking for, but they're ok. The jumpsuits could've been a brighter colour or I should've just properly committed and painted them red. Atleast I'm happy how the servitors weapons turned out. They give a bit more of a 2nd edition feel with the clunky lasgun muzzles.

Next up we have a heavy weapon mortar team thats still missing the other three models. I'm quite happy with the mortars as they're all milliput recasts. They lack a bit of detail compared to the original, but three metal mortars would've been past my budget. 

Last but not least we have two tank crew members. A converted Van Saar juve and an Other World Miniatures barbarian. I started working on the juve before OWAC, so he's got a 3rd edition auspex in his hand. The pilot helmet is from my favorite 40k models, the three third edition tank crew members. The techno viking got a spanner and bionic arm.

All three are unfinished units, so I won't add any points this month. I'm very happy with the tank  crew members and the cultist regiment is also slowly expanding. Hopefully the Tech Priest I'm working on will make the servitors look better with the rest of the army. Atleast he will be red.

Large photo

Still no tanks! This was my last Rank & File month, so I've only got the wild card and leader month left.

Good luck for everyone!

Pablol - Imperial Guard - Month 3 - Rank & File

This month was simple and straightforward. Scrolling through old White Dwarfs I realised that no 2nd edition Imperial guard army is a proper one without infantries from atleast two different regiments. So for March I managed to finish a Command squad and an Infantry squad, but sadly I'm one tank behind on my vehicle schedule.

The Cadian infantry squad sergeant with a Mordian head and all his eagles filed out came with a big lot of Cadian shock troopers. I liked the head so all I needed to do was sculpt new eagles for his chest and shoulderpad. This was my only sculpting for this month. I'm happy that the Catachan lieutenant's outfit blends really nicely with the Cadians because I don't have any other Cadian leaders.

I wanted the colour scheme for these models to be more serious even though they're carrying red lasguns. After going through some options I decided to go with a grey scheme like the Imperial officers in Star Wars. I think the Cadians shock troops have certain similarities to the 90's Starship troopers Mobile infantry and they're also influenced by German WW2 military outfits.

The Imperial guard squad is armed light and their only additional weapon is a Plasma gun.

The Command Squad has two flamers. 

I'm quite happy how this part of the army came out. They look mean with their outfits designed for urban conflicts.

Command Squad 60pts

Lieutenant: Power sword, Bolt gun 9pts

Special weapons: 2 Flamers 14pts

Imperial Guard Squad 100pts

Sergeant: Power sword, Bolt pistol 8pts

Special weapon: Plasma gun 6pts

Total: 197pts

I'm at (270+165+197) 632 points so if I can keep up the same pace I'll be way past the 1000 point mark at the end of OWAC. April will be tank month with some characters and hopefully a bit more infantry to keep my army list legal.

Eagerly waiting to see everyone elses progress now that we're all halfway through!