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So I have randomly acquired a sealed set of Forge World upgrade parts for Cadian veterans with shotguns among a big eBay box of mostly Horus Heresy stuff. Problem is, by the looks of things there are only four torso and arm sets (plus one loose shotgun), so not enough for a ten man squad, and I also can’t see shotguns as an option for any unit n the Index anymore. One thought I had was just to make a command squad with them and proxy for lasguns, but I thought I’d ask you good folks here if you had any ideas what else I could do with them or what unit they could represent. Feel free to conjecture right out of the box because I’m really interested in any possibilities and don’t mind some proper kitbashing. I’ve got a bunch of old-style plastic Cadian infantry I can use to do something with them. I’ll add a photo later of what I’ve got in the pack. Thanks in advance!

Another day, another thread for a new novel. Deathworlder - Victoria Hayward Every time I pick up one of these new Astra Militarum books, I fear the worst kind of generic military page-filler. While not every book has been great, they've all proved me wrong - you'd think I'd have learned by now. I should probably get around to completing the set with Catachan Devil, huh? I think this is the first novel where I really buy the horror of Tyranids. They're usually an afterthought or are reduced to flavourless "chittering masses" for the protagonists to fight. Here, probably in part because I didn't recognize most of the variants and could imagine something scarier than the tabletop models, they're genuinely threatening, dangerous, and downright gross. I hope you're ready for a few passages describing things getting digested. This isn't a world getting stripped of life, it's a world curdling into a slurry for things beyond the stars to slurp up in stage by grotesque stage. Hell yeah Frater. With such descriptions in mind, the book is more of a trek through a putrefying hell than some protracted battle against endless foes. The 'Nids clearly aren't paying any special attention to the protagonists and the journey is more of an effort to go around them where possible than some non-stop battle; the bioforms are a deadly part of the environment more than a horde of individuals. Which isn't to say it's all shock value, the characters get lots of time to introspect throughout, and their tactical decisions often require much deliberation as well. Speaking of the characters, the Catachans are already well drawn by the end of their introductory chapter. It takes some books upwards of a hundred pages to pull that off, meanwhile Deathworlder makes you understand each Catachan within a few passage. Our Cadian tag-along, Anditz, takes longer to solidify and his introductory chapter is probably the book's weakest moment. Worry not though, he becomes more and more compelling as things go. By the end you want to see him pull through just as much as the Catachans. Our two other side characters are also great, Wrathe is believably cordial despite her machine-cult fanaticism, and the cultist Lamya is a fun look at how someone who drank the Tyranid Kool-Aid reacts to their actual presence. None of them are anything super novel, but Hayward's strength comes in giving each believable layers to their surface-level tropes. The Catachans having plenty of respect for patience, tactics, and teamwork despite what other regiments see them as is probably the book's central example. Not much to critique, IMO. Once they reach their goal things start to get a little shaky, with a few attempts at pathos that seem random when every character has emotional investments to be pushed on already by that point. As an example, Major Kahn notices a dead married couple towards the end of the book which stokes further hatred in her (despite not knowing what wedding rings are.) Considering she was already pretty fired up by both the loss of her regiment and many dead civilians throughout, it seemed almost out of place. This happens a few times in the last quarter - I think the scenes are written well but they read like a late addition to an already complete novel. I also think it could have ended with something more bleak, but that's an issue I level at 99% of Black Library books, and I know it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. 8.5/10, honestly great stuff. My mind was never blown, but I was constantly thinking "excellent, well handled" throughout. Another new author I want to read more novels from.

Welcome to the thread: I'm hopefully going to post up a combination of my homebrew Lore for the regiment, modelling/converting logs and guides, and painted models showcases featuring troopers, officers, grenadiers and vehicles. Just to keep things on-topic, let's keep it restricted to Rogue Trader Imperial Guard for the moment. I had imperial guard models since 2nd edition; I got into the hobby via having a copy of the old Rogue Trader 40k Compilation which had the first Genestealer cult articles and lists in it and the brood brother models made with 1st ed Imperial Guardsmen really appealed to me. They weren't available however- apparently the moulds got broken. So I started off with some Cadian models and collected a medium-sized (at the time) force. Some time in my teens, Warhammer World opened and I was extremely happy to discover I could mail order things- even RT era things- in the shop. So I ordered a load of the metal RT era troopers- the ones with poseable arms. Eventually I worked out which ones I liked best and narrowed down my force exclusively to the models sculpted by Mark Copplestone. There was something about the heavy look of the armour and boots in his sculpts that appealed to me. I originally had all my RT guard painted in the same ice/urban blue-black and blue-grey scheme I'd had my cadians in, which was pretty similar to the original RT IG colour scheme. Sometime a couple of years in I decided I didn't like that any more and went with a scheme inspired by the enemy marines in the massively influential video game Half-Life; at the time I think I must have put several thousand hours into that game. There's one trooper in particular that pretty much just is the beret guy from HL. That scheme has persisted to the present, although very few of the original models have survived unmolested: fairly early on, I decided to ditch the RT era lasguns, which is a decision I'm still happy about, as it happens, and make autoguns for the troops as similar to the MP5 submachineguns and shotguns that the HL marines had as I could make them. This is the decision that put me where I ended up now- that is, saddled with a self-imposed directive to convert pretty much every trooper. Each autogun is converted from a RT bolter, a length of space marine power axe or chainsword handle and the magazine and barrel from a necromunda autopistol. Pretty work intensive, but not a bad go at the mp5 while still keeping some recogniseable 40k features. The shotguns are from the same necromunda weapon set as the atuopistols, but cut down a little. Having comitted to converting all the guns, it wasn't long before I was converting all the arms too: I'd already done a lot of head swaps due to there being only four basic Copplestone trooper sculpts -and two of those needing some heavy converting just to make them 'standard'. Things just sort of snowballed from there. I'll show some more detailed stuff about why this all is if people are interested, as well as how I do it, I guess. I reckon there's a rich vein of posts to be mined to get where I have the troops today, which is a long distance indeed from where they were. I'm going to say right here in the first post that this will be a thread I update slowly: I don't get a lot of time for modelling and painting anymore on the one hand, and on the other I want to comment on modelling and converting individual troopers because that's the kind of thread I like best and I want to create something I would like to see myself. Please feel free to make requests and offer comment; I'd really appreciate it. In the meanwhile, here are some 'action' shots of my guardsmen, mostly set up for Apologist's 'War of the false Primarch' collaborative blog, which you should definitely check out if you haven't. Thanks everyone

Archon Studio has been mostly focusing on hard plastic terrain and similar stuff, but they made some infantry and vehicles some years ago in hard plastic which were only available through kickstarter or gamefound until recently. They have been slowly releasing some of the stuff to retail and things are starting to appear on retailers from other countries in addition to their own webstore. Although I have not bought anything from them, most of their stuff seems to have reasonable reviews and now that their focus is starting to be more on retail, they might start expanding their current lines, so I thought it was a good idea to share in the sub-forum in case of interest. This is their shop: https://archon-studio.com/shop/20-rampart The Wolverine tank seems to be a mix of a leman russ and a chimera in terms of weaponry and gear, but the reviews I have seen indicate that it is a good tank/transport kit. Most of their city defenders seem to be one off miniatures with little customization, but since they are plastic they might be good for conversions, although they are apparently slimmer than GW stuff. EDIT Some pictures that I didn't have the time to add when I wrote the rest:

Game 1 Loss to Sisters with a Knight Great opponent coming into this with no recent games. A good learning game to start the day and get on my feet. That said it was a total rout. With more time he'd have wiped me off the board. At the outset terrain placement is a big problem. Thank the emperor I didn't bring a baneblade. Movement was hugely constricted. Obscuring created weird avenues of sight. Challenge. Learning when to reserve is a key weakness for me. I continue to have a bad matchup against sisters. I think it shows a lesson I've not come to terms with yet. In 10th edition it's worth more reflection on where I lose. Solution. Using reserves and having the patience to play a conservative game is necessary. I tend to be much more willing to do the reckless all out attack when the time comes, but far less able to see when I need to tuck back. Which is odd - I used to be the opposite playing blood angels for years. I'd be hiding in and around terrain, not assaulting with an assault army. Now I tend to be overly belligerent with a shooting army. Anyway, the amount of first turn melta sisters (and a knight) can put out is devastating. Solution. Learn, learn, learn terrain. I need to be fluent in the rules or, as here, the pace of the game is completely dictated by what I don't really understand. So, I wanted to hold my lemans back. But, I also realized terrain placement meant none of them could move out when the time came. I'd be pinned in a far corner while the opponent sits comfortably on 4+ objectives. Solution. As I continue to learn deployment I think the redeploy warlord trait is just crucial. I suspect you wouldn't see it used by the top players as they see the board immediately for what it is, whereas I already make a mistake in reading what I can do. The warlord trait is therefore a very helpful tool, even if a bit of a crutch at my level of play. Solution. Blitz Division. Born soldiers is the best regiment. But, it's not the best in all scenarios. It's good in the shooting phase. I think my over reliance on it opens up bad match ups. Having Rogal Dorns or lemans coming as if it were turn 3 opens up a lot of the table. This means (1) more lines of sight on the enemy; (2) more opportunities to deny opponent line of sight in return fire. It's hard to call this a great regiment... but I need to start thinking more about my bad match ups. Especially as I'm less reliant on scions for any real damage these days, utilizing strategic reserves for hard hitters is more interesting. Give and Take. There are always counters - vanquishers don't work when Tau have drones, or there's some body guard rule. But, that doesn't mean I should abandon units that ignore invuln saves. Rarely is there a panacea unit that does everything just right. Well, if there is it's spammed and winning all the tournaments. That aside, I think an overall issue is balance. Something like Born soldiers - getting that 6 to hit as an auto wound is very very good. But, where does my army fall flat on its face? Can I give up born soldiers and still be "good enough" at shooting, while bargaining some other rules to smooth out the weak points in my army? Game 2 Victory over Tyranids Hadn't played Tyranids in a long time. I really had no idea what this list was about. Ah, got the exact same table again. Great. Awesome. But here he didn't have a lot of long range melta. He therefore didn't want to get out and exposed to my firepower. I tried to keep lines of sight on the three center objectives. Declaring the terrain obscuring again dictates the entire game. Terrain is such a huge piece of the game it's weird that players kind of handshake on what it means. Like if I can see through the terrain, he's dead right now. If I can't see, then he can maneuver around it and kill me. Hopefully 10th edition has a better terrain design. Annoyed with the terrain himself, he said he didn't want the final piece placed... I was fine with it. Still that left a huge gap for my scions to come on in for a neighborly bug barbeque. This game was unusually slow, I'm not sure why. Time ran out I think as we barely started turn 3. But, with barbicant's key kasrkins, and a whole handful of scions, his whole HQ and center section was crippled. The lemans also moved up for line of sight. Turn 4 and 5 would have been nasty. Still that little parasite bug came in and dropped rippers all over me. The bullgryns got infected repeatedly rolling a couple of 6's on that parasite and were really devastated. Game 3 Close Victory over Custodes If you don't count my paint score, I lose. If the Cadian command squad with the ogryn bodyguard dies in the final turn, I lose. If he makes a couple of key saves, I lose. If I didn't get first turn... probably lose. He really had me, but I squeaked it out. Great opponent, lot of fun to play. Custodes are so durable I was using vanquisher leman russes against his bikes. Ultimately he was afraid of my shooting, and played conservatively. I often feel that a hyper durable army can play recklessly. I really have no effective counter assault in this list (something like rough riders next to lord solar would be a totally different story - don't go charging units near that non-sense). My scout sentinels had some use in drawing him out onto the objectives - just a bit too tough for his shooting and he needed to get into combat with them... which is where I had lines of sight. Challenge: I don't know all their tricks, but I know they can really augment pile in, charges and consolidate. If they get to my lines custodes bikes will bounce all over me. This means I can't shoot them effectively. Charges mean significantly augmented movement - they can be anywhere on the board. Counter: I can use a strat to shoot into combat, but (1) only one unit can do it; (2) rolls of 1 go on my tank... with anti-tank guns. Also, if I fail to do damage, that enemy unit gets to hide from shooting while in combat, and lives to charge another. Counter: While lemans can shoot into combat and out of it, blast weapons still have limitations. Multi-melta sponsons can sometimes help a lot (though they're expensive). If it's ten thunderhammers charging you, there's not going to be any shooting back. If there's something dumb like a rhino transport trying to tag you in combat, there's defensive value here. Also, 3x heavy bolters and a stubber into the combat... that's not going to kill custodes. Counter: Just fall back? While necessary at times, this looks a lot like bad deployment and planning on my part. Also, if it's obvious the tank is dead, sometimes just shooting at what it can shoot at might just be better (acknowledging that falling back could instead mean using my whole army to shoot at the charging enemy). Counter: Why not get some practice games in to learn other armies. I even have custodes I need to paint up. It's hard to get too excited about rules in the twilight of the edition. But the larger principals of failure points in gameplay are likely going to play out again and again until I learn. And here's the list: - Happy Hunting -

Death Korps of Krieg Display Board 2023 - Adepticon and Beyond. So, I'm catching up from work these past two months. 100+ hours in, but never finished. Anyway, step one, I'm building a blimp display board this year. Last year was great. I got a lot of really great feedback at Adepticon and on B&C. People were really kind. But, the question is how to improve it? The problem with going to a new army is that I have to paint a new army, and make a new display, and learn all the rules. Huge, if not insurmountable, time commitment in my context. But, doing Krieg again... we'll it's more of the same. So it's got to stand out. Time to make a Zeppelin. Inspiration & Options. WW1 "dirgibles," "airships," "zeppelins." Now, in practical hobby terms, the Rob Hawkins hobby blog did it 10 years ago - "Rivet Wars Diorama: The Blimp." It's really great. I've also seen on various forums people attempted zeppelins in 40k via the mechanicus terrain (it being roughly cylindrical in shape. You can buy skeleton frames made of laser cut MDF. But they didn't fit my size expectations. Also, the cost was more than what I'd be ok with to test it out. If I didn't like it, it'd never get used. Construction of the shape. First, I attempted to use a 3-liter bottle filled with expanding foam. it was roughly a usable shape from the start. Expanding foam however, can only be added to a certain depth in one use or it will not set properly. So, go slow with the expanding foam can if you build it this way. I think it'll work just fine. I just didn't get a good effect and gave up on it. Second, I switched to cutting circles out of foam with a proxxon wire cutter table. That works great. 1" x 2' x 2' foam sheets (menards, home depot, lowes). I also got a circle cutter jig made of MDF. It's not strictly necessary, but it's helpful. Gorilla Construction Adhesive (for use in a caulk gun) is the magic glue. It doesn't dry fast and it's not super strong. But, it dries regardless of air supply. It also doesn't dissolve the foam creating noxious fumes. A hot glue gun can work, and it is very fast, but it is a fumes hazard and may melt the project to some degree (I suppose more or less depending on the heat of the glue gun). With the rough cylinder cut, it's time for shaping. For the rear and front cone shapes I used a knife to cut a rough cone. Then I used an electric sander with 120 and 220 grit to soften it up and shape it more. This can be easier without the whole blimp constructed. I think it's better to make a front cone, middle cylinder, and rear cone. Put them together only at the end. *Note: the electric sander kicks and gouges into the foam very easily - proceed with caution or it makes a lot more work. *Note: I used plastic bags and rubber bands to secure the end of the caulk gun - that way the gorilla construction adhesive didn't dry out when i stopped the project for the day. Worked great. Construction of the fins. I used Basswood sheets, 1/8" x 4" x 24." I didn't want to cut any more than necessary as the tiniest mistakes really show. So, the 4" width was very close to the radius I needed to install the fins. The 24" length was too long, but not a hard cut to make. Later on I came to realize styrene sheets might have been better because the stabilizers I installed were a real chore - breaking constantly. Not great. Gluing styrene to styrene is easy enough. Gluing styrene to wood or whatever doesn't work well. Maybe there's a better glue to consider. In hindsight I also should have been cognizant of the glue used to secure the foam discs to each other in making the overall shape. So I did it wrong - I glued the foam discs together and then went ahead and cut out foam for the fins to fit in. Don't be dumb like me. Glue doesn't cut easily with the hot foam knife. Plan the glue so perfect cuts can be made for the fins to attach. Actually the rear cone could have just been cut in 4 equal pieces, really. Transportation. Ultimately moving this thing is a disaster. I believe designing this in three separate sections would have been better. I think a center hole through the length of the ship, with a rod installed along the length would have been a better way to make this and also be able to transport it. Seams from the three sections could be easily hidden.

Hello folks - welcome to 2023! If you read my last blog entry, which by the way was too long ago, you will know that the reveal of new Astra Militarum aka Imperial Guard minis had me quite excited, and I talked about trying to resist starting a Guard army, especially if other regiments were to get the same update treatment as the Cadians. The new stuff is fantastic, and following that last blog entry there were some other reveals too, such as the Lord Solar (BraveStarr) on his steed, the Rogal Dorn Battle tank, a new Castellan and new fancy Cadian upgrade sprue, so in true fashion for someone who has a plastic crack addiction, I broke, but not in the way you might think. Upon reading the title of this blog entry you may have thought I caved in and got the Cadia Stands army set when it released? Nope, I did not. Nor did I pre-order the new Guard stuff when it went on general release, although that was a factor. When the new Cadian Shock troops, Field Ordnance Batteries and all the other stuff that was in the army set went on pre-order, I saw the prices of everything and quickly released that the Cadia Stands army set was ridiculously good value. Not only was it good value, it was still available on Games Workshop's website and also with a couple of Third party retailers! I did some quick maths, let out an excited laugh and ordered the army set for £110. I took my wife to the theatre that same day, so its fine. I couldn't help it, and I don't care. Its been a rubbish start to the year in RL terms, so this was a nice treat to myself, retail therapy I guess you could say. So far, I've built and magnetised the Filed Ordnance Battery, and I'm halfway through building the Sentinel. Its a actually a really nice set, the shock troopers and command squad sprues are jammed with all sorts of options, so I'm looking forward to getting those built and I have an idea for my own custom regiment, the Joroduun Aces - more on those later. Anyway, looks like I am indeed doing a Guard army, though whether it will see a tabletop is anyones guess, as is the question of will I ever get it built and painted. I can say one thing for certain though, I fully intend to pull my finger out and do some serious hobbying this year, and not jump from project to project if I can help it. Oh and by the way, that half built Wyvern - it lives again! It was actually in the garage and half built as a Hydra, but with a broken peg. I've repaired it and re-done it as a Wyvern, as I thought it might be more use. Just needs track gluing on and then paint. So then, Imperial Guard it is. I'm off now to go and pray to the miniature gods that we see some plastic Tallarn, Catachan, Valhallans etc, then I can really have an old school Guard army. Thanks for reading.