007 – Special Weapon reinforcements

Meet the latest recruits to the ranks of the Praetorian guard.

3 more Melta-guns and 4 more Grenade Launchers should give me more punch in the shooting phase and more versatility in how I kit out my squads. I’ve also completed the first test case Plasma Gun guy and I think he came out ok. Loosely based on the conversion by Col. Gravis, he makes a good case for the theory that it’s possible to make up for a lack of any modelling skill whatsoever by applying plenty of Green Stuff, painting it silver, and retiring to a safe distance.

I’ll post a step-by-step of how I got this guy out of a regular lasgunner at some point, when I get round to throwing together a few more.

Mike

PS. Did you notice the better quality photos this time around? I have no fancy kit as yet, but a sheet of paper made a decent background and I’m happy with the results, even if the flash did cause a few shadows.

004 – October Hobby Update

There’s been precious little activity on my painting table this week. Attending a Halloween party at the weekend took up most of my weekend (went as Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas, accompanied by my girlfriend who painted herself blue and made a very convincing Sally!), and work commitments took up too many evenings.  All I’ve managed to get done is half a Leman Russ track. Hoping this week will be more productive!

A great idea that I’ve seen on other blogs and that I intend to shamelessly rip-off, is of trying to keep all hobby purchases “financially neutral”. That is, before spending any money on more models or paints, I will aim to have offset that spend by selling something hobby related on eBay. While it would be nice to be swimming in cash right now, the reality is that I wouldn’t say I have enough to particularly dip my toe in, and so this could be just what I need to restrain my more… impulsive purchases (read “oooh Super Heavies, Titans, other shiny things, gief!”). At the very least it’ll hopefully mean I don’t accumulate more unpainted models than I have already!

Here’s the cashflow situation for October:

Income

Old Empire Steam Tank – £17

Bretonnian Archers Regiment – £8

Halfling Archers Regiment – £27

Total £52.00

Outgo

Grenade Launcher + 3 Lasgunners – £8

3 Melta Gunners – £13.60

Total – £21.60

This means my net cashflow is an income of £31.40. The fun part is now deciding what to spend that on! 😀

Mike

002 – Praetorian Guard – A Starting Point

As a starting point, I thought I’d share with you the state of the Praetorian army so far, and show off a few pictures.

Unfortunately I had to resort to taking these shots on my phone, as my camera has gone temporarily missing. They’re not the highest quality, so I’m going to replace them with better shots soon, but you can get the gist of my force as it currently stands.

The models have so far been chosen just because I like them, with no motivation as to whether they are good on the tabletop or not. I don’t (yet) own the Imperial Guard codex, so I don’t know how these troops should best be organised into a playable army, or even whether I will need some extra models before it is a “legal” force. Any advice you, the gentle reader, can offer would be appreciated.

Guardsmen

I have 39 guardsmen with lasguns (another 10 or so are unpainted). I believe this is enough to make up 6 full squads, once I add in heavy and special weapons. I’ve made sure to take time over painting even these most basic troops, since they will form the majority of my army so set the standard for the rest.

 

Command & Special Weapons

I think this is the section of my army that is currently lacking. I have 4 sergeants, one musician, 3 flamers, 1 grenade launcher and 1 melta-gun. I have a couple more grenade launchers still to paint, but no plasma-guns at all since no models were ever made for the Praetorian range. I intend to try and convert a few of these soon so I have all equipment options covered. Does anyone know which type of special weapons should I be focussing on most?

  

Heavy Weapons

I have 6 teams of 2-man heavy weapons, 3 Heavy Bolters, 2 Missile Launchers and 1 Lascannon. I also have a bunch more to paint, including a couple of Autocannons, 3 Mortars, and a couple more Lascannons. Should painting more of these be a priority?

  

Storm Troopers

I have used the Cadian Kasrkin models since they’re much nicer than the standard troopers. I’m quite pleased with the way I’ve integrated their paint job with the standard Praetorian colour scheme.

 

Ogryns

I finished painting these models only last week, and I’m really proud of how they’ve turned out. They are mostly the old style Ogryn models, with some Ogre Kingdoms parts and even a converted Blood Bowl star player in there. I’ve sculpted the Praetorian helmets with green stuff (as my first ever real sculpting attempt) and I think they turned out excellently. I think they’re going to need a sergeant at some point, perhaps one of the newer models, and I’ll try to remember to show a step by step guide to the sculpting when I get around to him.

Sentinels

These were the first models I completed for the army, several years ago before I took a long break from the hobby. The paint job isn’t that amazing so I’m feeling the urge to re-touch them at some point, but I think that urge has to take a back seat to expanding the force for the time being. There are 2 multi lasers and 1 flamer armament , but my gut tells me that mixing the guns on a unit is a bad idea?

Vehicles

Currently completed I have a Basilisk and a Chimera. Also on the workbench is another Chimera and two Leman Russ tanks. I’ve got my eye on a Hellhound too, because they sound uber-cool. I’ve kept the paintjob on my vehicles “factory-fresh”, because my army concept (more on that later) is of a newly raised regiment being sent off-world for the first time. All my vehicles are therefore meant to be brand new off the production line and have no weathering or battle damage effects, just a shiny red paint job. This colour will also make them go faster. There’s no actual evidence for that… but it is scientific fact!

Missionary

I’d like to include this guy in my army if there’s any way to squeeze him in as a “counts as” or similar. He’s the old Uriah Jacobus model from the original Sisters of Battle range many years ago, and I love the model. Not only that but I believe his paintjob is among the best I’ve ever done. This photo definitely doesn’t give him justice.  Is there any room for a shotgun armed Missionary in an Imperial Guard army, maybe in a command unit?

Next steps…

So there you have the army so far. I really don’t like to play with unpainted models or proxies if possible, everything has to be painted, so I’m working hard to my target of having a full playable army by the new year, perhaps 1000 points or so.

Stuff I have unpainted to possibly add:

Lieutenant/Captain type character, 2 Leman Russ, 1 Chimera, Tech Priest + 2 Servitors, 6 More Heavy Weapons, 2 More Special Weapons, about 10 more lasgun armed Guardsmen

Stuff I think I’ll probably treat myself to in the next couple of months:

Ogryn sergeant, Hellhound, Plasma Gunners

Does anyone have any advice about what I should tackle next? Do I already own a useable force with what I have painted so far? Any opinions/comments would be much appreciated.

Mike