Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom

[InfoMorph]

"Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend, then rip out one hundred roots"

-Commissar Scanos, of the Solidarian Peoples Defense Force

 

Hello one and all, and welcome to my triumphant return to Warhammer 40k

 

Here you will find my project log for my new Imperial Guard army that follows a loose socialist/communist aesthetic. Here I will develop both the actual army and its fluff! I started with IG back in 4th Edition and played pretty fanatically, but as the story goes life got in the way. I had always planned to return to the hobby once I finished graduate school and I finally did that back in May.

 

First up was an initial graduation present to myself, which quickly got followed by many more unpictured guardsman as I had left over bursaries that I did not needing to pay back. 

 

 

My previous IG army was a heavy infantry battalion kitted out with Pig Iron Production gasmask heads, but this time around I wanted a lighter looking infantry army. Inspired by images of the early Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, North Vietnamese Army, and Soviet Red Army infantry I decided I wanted to try and capture the uniformed aesthetic of various revolutionary socialist armies. Enter Victoria Miniatures and her fabulous capped heads.

 

 

 

After picking up a paintbrush for the first time in ten years here is the result. An initial shot of the first twenty or so guardsman (sans special weapons/sergeants). I will post more detailed photos of the process, but I have (and will continue) to file off those damned cadian shoulderpads to try and create a lighter looking soldier that fits with the peaked cap. The general colour scheme will be drab green uniforms with dark webbing and red accents.

 

 

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride as I figure out how to paint and take better pictures

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the first squad's painting and assembly.

[Quixus]

Psst there are filthy xenos hiding among your guardsmen.

 

Good job on the squad and welcome back.

[InfoMorph]

Indeed! I happened upon the xeno armoured fist on sale at my FLGS and got real excited.  I am planning on incorporating the genestealer cultist heads in a bit of light, aesthetic heresy... *commissar cocks bolt pistol*

 

What will be my three company commanders have been built as well as two sergeants. I found two sprues of old metal bolters at the FLGS and have been trying different ways to get the damned cadians to hold them.

 

I stole the book arm from the the metal powerfist commissar and spent twenty minutes trying to file the arm down to something more reasonable. Very excited to paint this model, but I want to wait till I have a stronger technique.

 

 

 

I found two sprues of old metal bolters at the FLGS and have been trying different ways to get the damned cadians to hold them.

 

 

 

You can see the genestealer cultist head here with a cap from Victoria miniatures. My plan is to get another box or two of the conversion sprues to bash up some conscripts, but gotta plow through the first 500 points be fore that happens.

 

[InfoMorph]

Got lucky with the humidity and was able to prime some models. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the coverage right on a few models and they have a bit of a doughboy effect. Not the end of the world, as the saying goes "Quantity has a quality all of its own".

 

I took a break from building guardsmen to take a crack at some heavy weapons. I remember in 4th and 5th edition of having an excess of 18 templates a turn from several teams of mortars. Templates may be gone, but the humble mortar is cheap as chips and can be shot without being shot at.

 

Nothing too special going on here but this them post washing. I will still need to finish them up but I wanted to show some progress from the day.

 

I think one thing I'll come to regret is leaving a rough finish on the shoulders of some of the models. Working in smaller batches filing down all those cadians will I think help keep a more even finish. I have heard of some people using watered down PVA or liquid greenstuff to fill in those minor rough patches on models. Anyone have any luck with that?

 

While waiting for the washes to dry I took a moment to start basecoating my sergeants. To break up the colour a little bit I've based them off Soviet NKVD officers with their blue hats and trousers. What might not be quite clear is a greenstuffed armband that will be painted red. Now that sergeants can carry bolt guns I think the bright blue hats will help me remember to shoot them in addition to adding some nice accents.

 

Next in line to paint are some more heavy weapons. This time autocannons. I always found the tripods a bit flimsy looking given the size of the weapons they support so I ordered a boatload of gun carriages from Anvil Industry. They bulk out the guns nicely and I find are a good middle ground between low and high tech aesthetic. Not pictured yet are a the loaders with which I'm trying a few minor conversions to break up the poses of pointing and yelling.

 

 

 

Overall I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of hobby things. Gathering lots of inspiration from the various projects listed here!

[Kierdale]

Nice work.

I like your rank and file. The arms without shoulder pads is a nice touch.