Dangerman's Tallarn/Desert Imperial Guard project

[Dangerman]

This has been a project that started a decade ago, died, and has now been resurrected!

THE DESIGN

Back in 2009 on the TauOnline forums I started an Imperial Guard list that was themed off the Tallarn battle group "Desert Fox". This incorporated the 95th Tallarn infantry, 688th armoured division and 212th artillery regiment (This time they'd have fuel for the tanks!).

A 2000 point list was built around 5th edition rules and the models out of the battle force box sets (being economical). As I was purchasing these, GW either changed the composition or discontinued them so I had to go to third party sellers to get them. Without going into that saga, it resulted in a fraud investigation, internet detectives and an eventual refund of ~$300. I had managed to get one Battleforce box, 3 Chimeras and Heavy Weapons team from another supplier.

The genesis of the idea came from this model. I have no idea how it came into my possession (likely in a bulk bits bag purchase, I ended up with two!), but it formed the basis for the eventual colour combination.

The painting template is:

Cloth - Karak Stone

Armour - Tallarn Sand

Leather (pouches, shoes etc.) - Balor Brown

Handles, Grips - Mournfang Brown

Bare metals are Leadbelcher with Nulin oil

All models are washed in a 3:1 mix of Lahmian Medium & Seraphim Sepia, and highlighted accordingly. I used to have a set of old citadel inks that I used to wash models in, with the new shade range it's made painting so much easier. They are all undercoated with a spray of Wraith Bone (couldn't find any white under lockdown). What has made this project so much easier is Games Workshops introduction of ready made air brush paints. The best part is they have Karak Stone. It feels like I am cheating.

All the tanks are to be painted in Tamiya TS-46 Light Sand sprays. It's a lot lighter than the Tallarn Sand, and gives them a nice contrast to the rest of the models. I did experiment with Tamiya TS-3 Cark Yellow as it is closer to Tallarn Sand, but the colour temperature is quite different (cool vs warm).

THE PROJECT LIST

The following is the list that was created back in 5th ed. Since a lot of points have changed value and with 9th ed. coming soon I'll reassess the list to make it playable if need be. But as mentioned above it was built of buying the most economical Imperial Guard sets. In total there will be 100 individual troops and characters, and 7 vehicles to build and paint. I've highlighted what I have in green and what is to come.

HQ

Company Command Squad

Lord Castellan Creed
1 Veteran equipped with Regimental Standard
1 Veteran equipped with Vox-Caster
2 Veterans equipped with Plasma Guns
1 Bodyguard equipped with Laspistol & Close-Combat Weapon (Apparently these don't exist in 8th ed.)
Dedicated Transport: Chimera Armored Transport equipped with 2 Heavy Flamers

Elites
[TBC]

I did have a character in here that was a desert themed Sly Marbo to fit that infiltration theme but haven't included it in here as it doesn't fit a legal list. I do have an old school Tallarn pewter model that I will be converting. Stay tuned for that model. It may form a kill-team style squad.

Troops

Infantry Platoon

Platoon Command Squad
1 Platoon Commander equipped with Laspistol & Close-Combat Weapon
4 Guardsmen with Lasguns

1 Commissar

5x Infantry Squads
1 Sergeant equipped Laspistol & Close-Combat Weapon
6 Guardsmen equipped with Lasguns
1 Guardsman equipped with Plasma Gun
1 Heavy Weapons Team equipped with Autocannon

2x Special Weapons Squad
3 Guardsmen equipped with Flamers
3 Guardsmen equipped with Lasguns

3x Heavy Weapons Teams (Lascannons)

2x Veteran Squad
1 Veteran Sergeant equipped with Laspistol & Power Fist
1 Veteran equipped with Lasgun & Vox-Caster
3 Veterans equipped with Lasgun
3 Veterans equipped with Meltaguns
1 Veteran Weapons Team equipped with Lascannon
Dedicated Transport: Chimera Armored Transport equipped with 2 Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack
1x Scout Sentinel w/ Autocannon

Heavy Support
1x Leman Russ Vanquisher
2x Leman Russ Battle Tank
1x Basilisk

Edited January 12, 2021 by Dangerman
Unnecessary comments removed

[WarriorFish]

The Tallarn are inspired more by Lawrence of Arabia with a large focus on Middle Eastern influence, plus some from the Desert Rats - and of course a bit of Dune (which is plenty enough in 40k anyway). I have removed unnecessary comments as we do not deal in the political here regardless of source or intent - and all the less so for influences that are not there!

 

With that out of the way, this looks like a good start. You might want to wait and see for 9th to come out as to tweaks but the core should work the same broadly speaking (ignoring Detachment/army structure changes e.g. Platoons no longer exist). The colour scheme looks nice and Tallarn and doesn't sound like too much work as an extra bonus. Is your intent to keep the theme Tallarn but not their rules, if you use Creed?

 

8th is rather dangerous - though 9th looks like it'll reduce this - so small squads of Guardsmen can find it tough going to survive. Chimeras are good for the theme but it remains to be seen if 9th gives them a boost they need to fit into lists easier. Suffice to say that much has changed but the core strength and ways of Guard has not - that is mostly boots on the ground, and big guns on tracks

[Dangerman]

 

 

The Tallarn are inspired more by Lawrence of Arabia with a large focus on Middle Eastern influence, plus some from the Desert Rats - and of course a bit of Dune (which is plenty enough in 40k anyway). I have removed unnecessary comments as we do not deal in the political here regardless of source or intent - and all the less so for influences that are not there!

 

That makes a lot more sense with the style of the Middle East/North Africa theatre at the turn of the 20th century, and greatly eases a concern I had with the style of this project. Apologies for the political comment.

 

 

 

With that out of the way, this looks like a good start. You might want to wait and see for 9th to come out as to tweaks but the core should work the same broadly speaking (ignoring Detachment/army structure changes e.g. Platoons no longer exist). The colour scheme looks nice and Tallarn and doesn't sound like too much work as an extra bonus. Is your intent to keep the theme Tallarn but not their rules, if you use Creed?

 

For sure. I'll see what 9th puts out. As for Creed, that was a hang over from the original list. I had no idea how to build an IG list so I deferred to someone on TauOnline who played IG a lot. I needed a superior tactician who could call in reserves from unexpected places (e.g. desert raiders theme of Tallarn), so Creed fit the bill there. That being said, I could have taken Cap. Al'Rahem. But he seems to have gone AWOL in the 8th ed. 'dex.

 

Hopefully 9th doesn't bring too radical of design changes to Guard models. I'm already having small design issues with the redesign of the Chimera & Leman Russ sprues. Nothing that can't be modified. Aside, thank god they fixed the track fitment on tanks!

 

 

 

8th is rather dangerous - though 9th looks like it'll reduce this - so small squads of Guardsmen can find it tough going to survive. Chimeras are good for the theme but it remains to be seen if 9th gives them a boost they need to fit into lists easier. Suffice to say that much has changed but the core strength and ways of Guard has not - that is mostly boots on the ground, and big guns on tracks

 

I have a infantry blob of about 70 models, mechanised vets of 20, and 4 heavy vehicles. Looking at the Astra Militarum 'dex a lot of the points values have lowered. I'm going to Battlescribe what I have and see what the points come to. This was originally 2000 points, and on first glance I seem to have an extra 200 points. If I have room to spare I'll get more tanks.

 

[WarriorFish]

I can highly recommend Battlescribe for forging lists, very useful to playing with what you can do quickly and easily especially with Guard who will have plenty of units in a list and all the more so with the various point and rules adjustments 8th has got - would be a nightmare to process otherwise!

 

Be aware that 9th will increase points across the board, so you probably don't need to worry about model count too much. As for new models that's likely some time off but your current models will be just as good as they are now :) While you may not have the grounding in 8th, the barracks has a topic where we are musing on the changes and such which might prove informative :tu:

 

So I wouldn't worry about more than the basics of army structuring for now, once 9th is out you can start reviewing rules and the like. Where does your army stand with regards to the painting? Pictures are always welcome, and a requirement to appease the commissariat ;)

[Dangerman]

This is the finished HQ command squad with Commissar (to appease the commissariat). Still haven't decided on a logo to go in the middle of the flag that will update once I can on a design I like. The commander has the wound dressing kit that I repurposed as a map, and added binoculars. This is to fit that theme of a superior tactician. The vox-caster model has an extra antenna added to emphasise it's place in the command squad. All models are based with a desert sand mix.

The commissar I kept traditional in paint style, and on the leather parts (Boots, Belt and Riding crop) I used an enamel black to emphasise the shine. Added a light dry-brush of Ushabti Bone to 'dust' up the coat.

The HQ has a dedicated Chimera for transport in the original list. I may change that in the future, but will wait to see what 9th brings. This hasn't been built yet as I don't want to make it too much of a HQ variant Chimera (extra antennae and comms equipment) then to change it back to regular infantry transport.

[WarriorFish]

Consider the commissariat appeased... for now ;) The colours work really well together topped off with the execution, fine work indeed! An army painted up like this will look fantastic on the table top and surely earn the favour of the Dice Gods :tu:

[GuardDaddy]

There is a good Tallarn Desert raiders facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/900849349937861

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the command squad.

[Cap'm Heckus]

I like the dust on the commissar’s coattails. Nice touch

[Dangerman]

A bit of a smaller update. You'll recognise the chap with the helmet from earlier, but here is an assortment of characters I have painted up for this project.

In this group is the original test guardsman with a helmet I added (that's a spare part from an upcoming kit-bash conversion), a Sniper made of spare parts, a blood spattered chap who's seen enough (was originally the HQ command squad bodyguard), and an OG Tallarn pewter model.

The old list that was made up had a Sly Marbo type character in it. This was that model representation. In doing so the character had a weapon upgrade to the 'newest operator rifle'. It's a SM scout bolt gun body, original butt-stock, and AM grenade launcher barrel. The other half of the lasgun I have kept, so the model has all it's original parts.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the guardsmen. Is the sniper named "Desert Vulture"?

[Dangerman]

Good job on the guardsmen. Is the sniper named "Desert Vulture"?

I haven't seen that comic before, but I can definitely see the resemblance!

-------------------------

Finished a full infantry squad. The unique mount for the Autocannon is from Mad Robot Minatures. I stumbled upon their casts a few months ago, and decided that a quick moving Tallarn force needs heavy weapon mounts that are mobile. There is a base for those guys, I'm still in the process of basing it. I've also ordered a batch of other parts from Mad Robot to kit out my veterans.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The autocannon carriage is a good idea. Will you get the squad a motor vehicle or beast of burden to tow it?

[Hiroitchi]

That autocannon reminds me of 2nd edition Guard when heavy weapons were on wheels. That is well executed bruv.

[Dangerman]

That autocannon reminds me of 2nd edition Guard when heavy weapons were on wheels. That is well executed bruv.

I went back and had a look at the 2nd Ed. heavy weapons teams, and they are exactly that. When I found the resin casts they did ring a familiar bell.

-------------------------

Time for an update. Having dragged myself away from Hearts of Iron 4, I have finished two veterans squads. I had originally finished them but stumbled across Mad Robot Minatures casts of desert torsos and Shemagh heads (this is where I also got the heavy weapons platforms). I shifted 6 infantry models out into another squad and made up six more with these casts. There are two Shemagh head variants, one with goggles up and the other with them down. The regular infantry models have the goggles up and the heavy weapons crew has them down. Got to have appropriate PPE operating heavy weapons. Every model except the metal GW casts (Sgt. & Meltas) and the Vox-caster have the desert torso on the model. I had already made up the Lascannon squad so that required some persuasion with a hobby knife to separate the arms and legs from the torso.

I have ordered another batch of casts from MRM for some backpacks for these veterans as they looked a bit bare on the back.

The Vet squad is comprised of: Sgt. with Laspistol & Power Fist, Veteran with Vox-caster, 3x Vets with Lasguns, 3x Vets with Meltas, 1x Vet Heavy Weapon team with Lascannon, and Chimera with 2x heavy flamers (dozer blade is optionally magnetised).

The Lascannon fits nicely on the MRM heavy weapons mount with the armour plate that comes with the GW kit. In mounting the power pack I tried to have it still separate, but the easiest and most effective solution was to fill in the underside and glue to the side of the Lascannon where the cables plug into. If you look closely the Lascannoneer has an under-folding stock Lasgun strapped to his backpack.

The three infantry models incorporate the MRM Shemagh heads and the Sgt has the Desert veteran head from MRM. You can see the detail closer on these models with the desert torsos on the standard veteran infantry model.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Dangerman

[GuardDaddy]

these are stunning - please keep posting WIPs'

 

Game play note - Lascannon and Melta are hard to use together due to range difference (long v short), especially in 9th where if anyone in the unit moves the Heavy Weapon takes -1. 

 

For no points change plasma would swap into the melta spots, you could then use the models in a special weapon team (again no point change).

 

If squad is equipped like that due to model constraints and because they look so damn cool..... then fair enough :) I'm with you on that!!

[Hiroitchi]

Amazing work man. Always impressive to see.

[Dangerman]

these are stunning - please keep posting WIPs'

 

Game play note - Lascannon and Melta are hard to use together due to range difference (long v short), especially in 9th where if anyone in the unit moves the Heavy Weapon takes -1. 

 

For no points change plasma would swap into the melta spots, you could then use the models in a special weapon team (again no point change).

 

If squad is equipped like that due to model constraints and because they look so damn cool..... then fair enough I'm with you on that!!

 

Thanks for the gameplay tip! I do have some Plasma models in the "to do" box  and a couple already painted so swapping them in is not an issue. Hadn't thought of the range use.

 

From memory the reason why the meltas were there was due to the mobility of the unit. But this was all drawn up way back in 5th ed. so things have changed a bit!

Edited July 21, 2020 by Dangerman

[Dusty_scions]

Excellent stuff!

 

I have a similar themed Scions Force (some pics in my gallery if you fancy a look). Thanks for the tip on mad robot minis, I had missed them.

 

For my desert heads I was using maxmini but I think they have gone out of business, so good to have a lead on replacements for the inevitable extras I will need as I grow the army into 9th.

 

Looking forward to seeing this project, thanks for sharing

[Dangerman]

Time for some armour!

This is the first Leman Russ (of three) that I will be adding to this project. This Leman Russ was purchased in the first group of models for this project back in 2010. With reviving this project using an older design Leman Russ needed to have a bit of extra attention paid to it. It had to be special. It was decided to make this Leman Russ a Vanquisher variant. It had to belong to a tank ace, adept at outflanking their armoured opponents to land that killing blow.

I am aiming to keep this project as accurate as possible to Tallarn warfare and lore. Using the design influences of notable desert fighters (Berbers, Taureg, Afrika Korps, Lawrence of Arabia, Desert Storm) to influence the design choices on the infantry and vehicles. This tank had to fit into the lore of the Tallarn so I took a dive into armoured desert warfare and the 40k wikis to use their references to develop a story for this tank.

Let me introduce the 4th Company Command tank, "Amudarya's Fury", from the 3rd Armoured Regiment. Hull 401.

During the Tauros campaign the 3rd and 12th Armoured regiments were decimated in the fateful campaign. A part of the 12th Armoured Regiment was the 4th Tank Company, commanded by Captain Amudarya. A skilled commander and mobile warfare tactician, he was the sole survivor of his company.

[From Imperial Armour Vol. III - Tauros Campaign, p. 262]

With the reorganisation of the 3rd and 12th regiments into the newly organised 3rd he was given command of a new tank, a Gryphonne IV designed Vanquisher. His exploits heroic in the face of insurmountable odds on Tauros ensured he would command a tank of greater importance. To enact the Emperors will upon the heretic and xenos. As a tribute to his fallen comrades Captain Amudarya requested that the tank company he led would bear the same unit designation as those that fell on Tauros. Each hull carrying the same company designations and name of it's fallen tank commander.

As to not make the mistakes of previous Tallarn campaigns, all of Captain Amudarya's tanks under his command carry extra fuel (barrel strapped on) and water (Jerry cans) to ensure their effectiveness in battle.

At the end of the day, the Emperors foes will only face Amudarya's Fury once. The last image of their heretical life, if they are even blessed to witness 401 in it's glory, will be...

----------------------

For the technical stuff:

Hull is painted in a Wraithbone undercoat and covered with a Tamiya Light Sand (TS-46) spray. The hull is then weathered by a wash of lightened Seraphim Sepia (3 parts Lahmian Medium to 1 part Sepia) and paint chipping by using a sponge lightly covered in Leadbelcher.

The Vanquisher barrel is from a new Leman Russ kit, which required sawing off the barrel after the bore evacuator (bump on the barrel; to keep harmful fumes out of the cabin) and slotting in the Vanquisher barrel extension.

The 401 hull number is an Archers fine transfers 1:48 scale Red/White German tank hull numbers. I chose the red/white german decals because they sand out better on the Light Sand than black or white and give the Tank a bit of needed colour. These are dry transfers where the back is slightly tacky and the transfer applied by basically rubbing it onto the tank with the back of a paintbrush. A lot easier than wet transfers that GW uses.

As for the design I added the bronze skull Aquila on the front to designate this as a tank for a notable commander (Cpt. Amudarya), extra Jerry cans on the back, and the fuel barrel for the "will not run out of fuel again" lore element. I will likely add a flag to the top of the arial to designate this as a Command tank, because that hatch is not coming off.

[duz_]

Looks great!

 

I'm wondering though if some recess / pun washing with some agrax would give it even more pop?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the model and the backstory for Amudarya's Fury.

[Dangerman]

Looks great!

 

I'm wondering though if some recess / pun washing with some agrax would give it even more pop?

 

That's a good idea. I'll try that on the other two Russ's in the panel gaps and vents.

 

Excellent work on the model and the backstory for Amudarya's Fury.

 

Thanks!

[Dangerman]

Dangerman hasn't posted in a few weeks...

Because he's been building and painting Tanks!

I've finished constructing and painting the armoured contingent of this army. The next two Leman Russ's are of the new pattern design with the low profile turret. In keeping with the narrative of the total loss of the 4th Tank Company and "Amudarya's Fury" the next two tanks carry the hull numbers of the lost company and carry the names of their commanders. Let me introduce Hull 411 'Tayma's Terror' and Hull 421 'Abu-Ras's Revenge'. Hull numbers are organised by Company-Platoon-Tank, so 411 and 421 are the lead tanks of the 1st & 2nd Platoons. This keeps the narrative in line with these tanks operating as individual units in gameplay. These two will also get comm's units as they're the lead tanks of their platoons (just waiting for the bits).

In applying the hull number dry transfers I accidentally knocked off the top of the '4' on 411. So rather than using another '4' I decided to add some hull damage.

Here is the tank company so far. I added the black diamond with white skull on 401 to designate this as the lead tank of the company in addition to the '0' designation in 401 as the lead tank in the company.

But, this is not all. I had a spare Chimera with all the boxed sets I've acquired. As that is the base chassis for a Basilisk I thought it would be a good project to modify that chimera chassis. In the local model store I was looking for kits that I could kit bash with a chimera to make a Basilisk. First thing I saw was a Tamiya 88mm flak cannon in Afrika Korps yellow, perfect. The scale of 1:35 is about right for 40k so that was the basis for the Basilisk cannon. As I have been basing this project on notable Tallarn regiments, I chose the 212nd artillery regiment for this build. This is the kit bashed Basilisk.

It has the 88mm cannon gun, mount, shield, and stabilisation legs. Those legs do fold up. I requisitioned the ammo boxes from the kit to add to the model which work out nicely. The ammo is a bit smaller than usual Basilisk ammo, but this is a ultra-rare variant that has special high velocity shells with an exotic explosive with the same effect. I think that works.

Here is the full barrel elevation. The model will get a camo net, but I haven't found the right fabric yet. There are a couple of crew that are currently sitting in the queue of Guardsmen to paint!

Here are some WIP pictures to show the parts from the Tamiya kit (yellow; except the track covers), ordinary modellers polystyrene (white) and GW parts (grey)

And that is all! Thanks for all the support you have all given me.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Dangerman

[WarriorFish]

Busy indeed, great stuff on some more tanks :tu: The Basilisk has come out very well too, a good bit of kit bashing there :)