Renegade Guardsmen

Two years ago I had an idea to do a 'traitor' Guard project, I even ran a poll. Last summer I posted a "where are they now?" missive, yet the non-Imperial sanctioned troopers continue to languish. I'm a bit offline right now, so this may be more of an eye-candy post. Anyway, here are the Discilian Apostates and the Sentrek Freemen.


The Apostates are pretty standard plastic Cadians, with the headswap exception. When I think "apostate", I think "hoods". The hooded heads are part of Westwind's Arthurian range and I think they fit pretty well. Above is a selection of the different heads.


Next up are the Sentrek Freemen, and when I think "freemen" I think beards and Hollywood Viking-horned helmets. 'Rag-tag' comes to mind as well. I went with Catachans for these guys, but instead of simple headswaps I went even further with conversions and parts/bits swapping. I really like the look I ended up with here.

Lots of WHFB bits are in this mix...




I didn't show off a lot of the Apostates because frankly if you've seen one hooded headswap Cadian, you've pretty much seen them all. With the Freemen however it came out where each figure is pretty much an individual.


There you go, a bunch of renegades taking up space in the "complete models" bits box.

Whatever Happened to the Traitor Guard Project?

It has been almost a YEAR since I was talking about a Traitor Guard project. A year! Well I was all well and good to move along and keep hopping from project to project, and frankly, I the Traitor Guard project slipped my mind. It may have been looking at all those models to paint, but you know what? Lately I've been churning out models at quite the increased rate. So now all those guard models don't seem so daunting, but that wasn't the kicker.

Well the other day John over at John's Toy Soldiers (I just love blogs that have the author's name in the title, don't you?!?) posted a little batrep featuring his, you guessed, Traitor Guard. Now I'm looking at the pics of his figs, and they are gorgeous, and I'm thinking, "Dude, that is totally doable!". For the most part his army features the same choices mine was, ahem, IS going to, he just did them a tad differently here and there. I'm already sitting on enough stuff to get started and fill my compulsory choices too. Not only that, but as he's shown, these figs ooze character, and would work with any rules and in any sci-fi setting.

So I guess I'm going to have dust off the old "Traitor Guard" label. Now there's stuff in the queue, and projects everywhere, but the Traitor Guard is back on!

WIP: Discilian Apostates

First two squads of the first platoon

Sheesh, the above figs are jsut a hundred points? Are you kidding me, haha. Anyway, here's my Discilian Apostates I'm working on for my Traitor Guard army. I should jot down their fluff from my dated Eye of Terror codex, but I'll save that for later. I outfitted each squad the same, the Sergeant has a bolt pistol and there's a flamer in each squad. I also put a Vox caster in each squad, just 'cause the big ole radio pack looks neat.

As I mentioned in my planning post, I went with the Arthurian range of heads from West Wind. Shipping from across the pond wasn't too bad, and I'm happy with what I got. I'm going to need more though, this was kind of a test run. I'll need some heads for the platoon command squad, and maybe some heavy weapon squads too.


Squad One ("cool" name to come)


Squad Two


Dos Sergeants

I like the pose on the right quite a bit, it's kind of like he's shouldering through a door or something. The fellow on the left has a cool hooded head too, but you can't tell from the blurry pics. I took regular marine bolt pistols, cut off the back ends, and placed them in the empty hands where I cut away the existing laspistols.


Blurry flamers

I so did not like the flamers that come in the Cadian box. I didn't like the straps, I didn't like the fuel line going to the backpacks, I didn't like the straight left arm...can you tell there wasn't a whole lot I like about them? I do like the marine flamers though, so I took a regular lasgun arm, cut off the gun at the hand, cut the back end off a marine flamer, then just stuck the two halves together, voilà. They came out not too shabby too!


Vox casters

Again, my pics suck, my camera is old, ugh. It's not like I use decent lighting anyway, ahem. Here's a couple of vox casters, I don't even know what they do, but I'm guessing they'll be important with all the new orders being shouted around.


Initial test heads


Hopefully this gives a better look of the hooded heads

Traitor Guard Planning: Troops

Since I've gone to the shiny, new Imperial Guard codex for my Traitor Guard planning, I've got a mind to really take tons of troopers. Of course, painting hordes of troops is *not* my specialty, but I guess I need to start somewhere.

I'm going to start simply with my two compulsory troops choices, which in Imperial Guard terms means a lot more figs than one would think. Two names really caught my eye in the Eye of Terror codex; the Sentrek Freemen and Discilian Apostates.

I'm sitting on two boxes of Imperial Guard troopers already, one is the twenty strong Catachan troops (yes, with the mondo muscle arms), and the other is a twenty strong box of Cadians. Each of these boxes will form the core of both my troop choices.

Regarding the Catachans, with their bare chests and Guerrilla look, they just scream to become Sentrek Freemen. I thought of just using them as is, but I'm thinking of adding a rather roguish head swap to them and with Pig Iron producing a lot of head packs, I may go there. Unfortunately it looks like the Warstore is out right now, but the Kolony Rebel Heads would work well with the Catachan flak vests and jungle look.

The Cadian figures are much more regimented and militant looking than their Catachan cousins, and for them I'll be going with the Discilian Apostates. The fluff on these guys says they were once part of guarding a religious higher-up who was taken down by the Inquisition. Using West Wind Productions' hooded Arthurian heads from their historically range I hope I'll be able to peg down that 'Cardinal' look.


You've just gotta have Plague Zombies...

Another tidbit that caught my eye from the Eye of Terror codex was Plague Zombies. Basically these were Mutant troop choices that had specific mutations. Obviously I'm not going to be able to pull off true Plague Zombies with the new IG Codex, but where will I find cheap, meat shield troopers? Oh right, Conscripts. I had originally planned to hybridize Guard components and WHFB Zombies to make these, but I don't know if I want to invest the cash for enough Guard parts to make them 50/50 figures. I may however buy some bots here and there to disperse throughout the unit to give them the appearance of Guard Zombies, plus, I should have plenty of Guard heads leftover from all the above swapping. Each of my two troop choices will have these 'conscripts' attached to them.

Traitor Guard Planning: HQ

HQ #1: Commissar Yarrick (using Daemon Prince model)

I've had my Daemon Prince sitting around in the box for some time. First I was going to do Chaos Marines, then I don't know what. I've still got him, and I think I've got the perfect place for him in my budding Traitor Guard army...as Commissar Yarrick!

I knew I would be doing some proxying, thus the whole nature of a Traitor Guard army to begin with, but they would mostly be minor, this Daemon/Yarrick switcharoo is definitely the most progressive out there. The two work better than you think though. Let's look at Yarrick's gear compared to what you get with the Daemon model.

Carapace armor, check, though I'd like to see better than a 4+ save on the big guy, it's still better than flak! Storm bolter, check, look at that cannon on his left arm. Battle Klaw, umm yeah, he's got a big ole claw on that same bolter arm. Close combat weapon, sure, his other hand is holding a sword. Bolt pistol, frag grenades, krak grenades, etc., these are kind of nebulous, so no problem there. The last two, force field and Bale eye are both given as well and don't really need to be modeled, but it's not a stretch to think this big fellow would have both. Many of Yarrick's special abilities translate too, like 'eternal warrior', 'aura of discipline', and 'iron will'. Yarrick's statline is impressive enough so that I would feel comfortable sending my Daemon Prince into the thick of battle with no worries.


HQ#2: Primaris Psyker (using Confessor model)

For my second HQ choice I opted for the Primaris Psyker, and the plan is to use the above Cofessor Kyrinov model in that role. The main issue here is to model the Force weapon, but his holy staff there is mighty enough to fill that role. I can always stick a holstered laspistol on his side, if I need to, but I'd rather not and just assume it's under his robes. For his color scheme I shall look to Gwar and their Song of Words:

Ensign of industry, let it be raised
There the camp of the Black Pope was placed
his legions beneath, through the valleys they raced
Chariots they rode, their skulls were iron plated

Keeping with his new title of Black Pope, he'll have black robes (duh!) and if I can pull the effect off right with his skin, a pale and pallid flesh tone with reddish areas around the eyes. Although I'm not taking a Company Command squad, I think these two choices for HQ will give me the punch I may need on the tabletop (which is my secondary goal), and more importantly give lots of character in the personality department!

Tau Empire wins the poll, err, so does Chaos!

Traitor Guard

Wow, first off let me give a huge thanks to the blogging community out there, most of you came by my site via a 40k connection, such as From the Warp, but others from elsewhere, like our 35 member strong citizenry! I thought it'd be neat to open up a poll publicly, but I never dreamed it would get such a response, and in the end, it helps cement that, "Hey, I'm part of a gaming community" vibe too.

So, with fifty seven votes we have the breakdown as such:

Dark Angels: an impressive 19% of the vote
Tau Empire: the majority win with 43% of the vote
Chaos Cultists: a surprising 35% of the vote
Write-in: just one vote for an Adeptus Arbites army

But then there were the comments, and the comments were nothing short of insightful and well thought out. Too much so really, because it made an easy decision into a hard one. I was going to just do whatever army popped up in first place, and hope that I got a number of votes at least in the double digits. I got so much more!


Tau Empire

As if my title didn't give it away I am going to have my cake and it too. Actually that should read: have your cake and eat it too. The response for a chaos cultist army was too overwhelming to ignore, period. I wasn't as influenced as much by the negative Tau comments (as constructive as they may have been) as I was for all the enthusiasm for some good ole cultists. Time and money are both very real factors for me however.

The Cake: Our revamped 40k campaign will be kicking off this month! It's an exciting time, and we've got new players and a new direction so it should be a blast. I just played Dark Angels, so they're going to get a rest on the tabletop, but coincidentally take the forefront in the queue so I can just get them finished and over with. I can't whip up a cultists army that fast due to the aforementioned time and money factors, and since I'm sitting on a ton of Tau Empire...I will be playing them in the upcoming campaign. The one catch is, and it's a big one; I will not be adding anything to my existing army, I will fight with what I've got put together and paitned already, I need my energy at army building in the next phase.

Eating it too: I've got a couple of Guard boxes already, plus a bag full of Bull Ogres, so it looks like the Chaos Cultists WILL see the light of day! Obviously I will need to do some slight to heavy conversion work, but it will be worth it in the long run. I have plans for two platoons of troopers right off the bat, plus some Ogryn and definitely Ratlings. I'm a flavor and fluff kind of guy, and if the army happens to be competitive, great, if not, it's no big deal. A couple of questions came up using the very old Eye of Terror codex, and it's dated, true. Very dated actually, so much so in fact that I'm going to pull an audible and just use the new Imperial Guard codex. This way I can take advantage of cool new stuff like Valkyries and Commissar Lords. This means there will be some slight proxying of course, I'm thinking specifically of subbing Chaos Hounds for Rough Riders. We've got a laid back group, as I've said a thousand times, so there shouldn't be any problems. I'm going for a slight tag label change too, instead of 'chaos cultists', we'll now be looking at 'traitor guard'.

So I give a hearty THANKS to everyone out there who left comments (or didn't leave comments), and to everyone who clicked their vote in. I also voted, but I'm not telling what for!

Last Chance for Voting!

Tau, Chaos Cultists, or Dark Angels? You decide!

New Army Decision Time Counting Down

Dark Angels?

The countdown is on, and as I write this I am astounded at the response in votes so far with a whopping twenty eight! As it stands, the Tau are well in the lead, but anything can happen, and there's still three days left to go. The Cultists are definitely keeping the race interesting, and a few out there are still rooting for the Dark Angels.

Above are my Dark Angels. Not shown are ten Sternguard who are on the painting table and their Dreadnought, which is currently a work in progress.


Tau Empire?

If you haven't voted yet, please do, and leave a comment as to why you voted as such, there's been some great responses so far. Everyone's been making such valid points it's impossible to decide, I guess that's why there's a poll!

Above are my Tau, which have had very little exposure here at Mik's Minis. If I had my druthers, I'd add a human auxiliary unit or two, and maybe some new XV8's. As you can see though, I've got plenty, so the latter is just a 'maybe'.


Chaos Cultists?

Here's the makings I've been sitting on for my Chaos Cultists army. I guess technically they're called the Lost and the Damned from the outdated codex. I've got parts for two or three traitor guard units, with leftovers to add to a box of fantasy zombies to make Plague zombies. I've also got a bag of Ogre Kingdoms Bulls to make into Big Mutants. The Daemon Prince you see there will be the centerpiece of the army alongside this fig which I'll use as my Arch Heretic, I don't have the Confessor yet though, I'll need to pick him up.

Refer to my last post for the breakdown of the pros and cons if you need to. I've resigned myself to go along with whatever the community decides, so this should be interesting. Our new campaign will kick off probably in early June (I hope). As always, thanks, now get out there and do your civic duty, citizens!

40K New Army Decision Time

Return to Trucidos?

Hello fellow readers! I won't fill myself with delusions of grandeur thinking I have "thousands of dedicated readers" as I've alluded to in the past, but according to my little "citizens" box on the right, there's a whopping twenty nine of ya, which is about twenty seven more than I would've dreamed of. So I call out to you to help me.

You may remember our local 40K campaign on the planet Trucidos. If you don't then it is because it fell flat rather quickly and all but ground to a halt. Well, we're revamping the idea, have signed on a few new players, and made the campaign parameters more forgiving if someone flakes out or drops off the map. But it's decision making time and I need to know what army to take with me when I hit dirtside (always loved that term!).

The choices are simple, just three, four if you include a write-in, but the write-ins would have to be overwhelming to really make their mark. We've got Tau, Dark Angels, and Chaos Cultists. The latter being an Eye of Terror army, which I know isn't exactly fifth edition, but we're a pretty laid back bunch and its allowable.

So I decided to whip up a poll (ala 25mm Warrior) and leave it up to you. The three armies are detailed below and not coincidentally make up your choices. Like I said, there's a fourth options, if you think I should do [insert another 40k army here], vote for that, comment after this post detailing what and why. Thanks in advance!


Tau
pros: I already have the army, I have a large painted army in fact, easily 2,000 points. You might be able to click my Tau label to see some of them, but they've never been showcased here 'cause they haven't seen that much action, maybe it's time?

cons: I would have to add a few more XV-8's just to get the right weapon configuration combinations (maybe, I've got eleven so far), and maybe add a Sniper Drone or two or other new stuff that's come out since last I played them, but that's pretty minor. Also, not having used them in a while, I'm rusty on their tactics.


Dark Angels
pros: Well, they're close to being complete and I'm sitting on enough of a painted army to make a solid go at a campaign, I would have to add nothing. Plus, they're marines, which function great and look even better.

cons: I just played them in the last campaign, in fact, they've been getting nothing but the spotlight on the tabletop to the chagrin of everything else. I'm not tired of looking at them, but a fresh change of pace might be in order.


Chaos Cultists
pros: This is a fun army, full of character, and decidedly the bad guys for once. I also am sitting on a thousand points already of models that are raring to go. I've also got some neat ideas to represent troops too, like the Sentrek Freemen, and plague zombies. I am leaning this direction, it'd be fun, but see the cons below.

cons: It's a thousand points of...models. I'd have to build and paint this army from scratch...from the ground up and I already have two completed armies, so do I need another one, a THIRD one? I dunno, I do know that I'm not "Mr. Army painter guy" and it might take a while. This could be a problem if we're going to kick off the campaign this summer. That's about all the cons I have, oh, and since I'm using an older list, it would obviously not be "public" compliant, but I rarely (if ever) find myself around a table with strangers, so this is hardly a consideration in and of itself.