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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:

Greetings Commanders! War dominates the Imperium and the High Lords of Terra have determined that several crusading armies are required to bring humanity back to the Light of the Emperor! High Command has determined that your inability to complete your objective of purging the heretic, eradicating the alien and burning the traitor is a direct result of inadequate manpower and insufficient equipment. As such, new machines of war have been assigned to your regiments. You now have the best weapons the Imperium has to offer. New uniforms, equipment and weapons have also been allocated to your forces. It is now your responsibility to raise new regiments, to crew these vehicles and bring glory to the Emperor's name. Objective: Raise as many units as possible, to be parade ready (assembled and painted) by February 4th. Critical dates: Sign up period - November 26th - February 3rd This is an open event, so participants can pledge or add to their pledges throughout the entire period of the event. Once you have made your pledge and posted your before picture, you may commence building and or painting the pledged unit To enter, post your before picture with your pledge: "In the name of the Emperor and Lord Commander , I Commander <name> of the <regiment>, shall raise a <unit> by February 4th." November 26th - February 3rd : Hobby period Hobby in earnest! WIP and update posts are encouraged! February 4th : End of event Pictures of the completed unit must be posted by 23:59 in your local time Those who successfully carry out these orders, will be provided a medal honouring their service to the Emperor and Imperial Guard. Event notes: You can pledge at any time throughout the event. There is no minimum or maximum pledge. Pledged units shall not be completed beyond primer, or a single solid base coat. Exception: Each participant will be permitted to pledge a single unit that is partially completed (i.e. beyond simple priming or base coating). If you are unsure, post the an image of the proposed unit and the the Commissariat and aide de camp can make the necessary determination. During this event you can pledge for any valid unit from the current Astra Militarum 9th edition Codex. You may also pledge terrain features / buildings for this event. This includes kit bashes, conversions, sculpted miniatures and scratch built miniatures. Badges will be issued at the end of the event that can be added to your signature. These badges will indicate different levels of completed units per FoC or overall. To facilitate pledge tracking, you can indicate the type of FoC of the unit you pledged using the forum emojis Any further questions can be directed to you local Commissar. Carry on troops and good luck!

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.

Greetings frater, I was hoping someone could post a few pictures of the new field ordnance batteries next to the old heavy weapons team on 60mm base. I've got a potential conversion idea kicking around in my head but don't know if the scale difference will be an issue. Any help is appreciated!

Overall I feel like the recent "Muster the Guard" event went reasonably well with lots of participation, but I would like to ask the members of the sub-forum about your feedback in case there are things that can be improved which are within my reach to change. But beyond looking at the past, I also wanted to give you a glimpse of the future and what I have been thinking about for the next Astra Militarum event. After an event mostly focused on painting, I think we need something a bit more generic and with a larger extension focused more on overall hobby progress rather than just focus on getting everything painted. The idea is mostly to get people making some progress in the hobby at their own rhythm but with a bit of an incentive from the rest of the astra militarum hobbyists. I based it a bit on the collect, build, paint and play system from the magazines like Conquest. The duration of the event would be 3 months, with the event getting a new edition for the following quarter if people liked the idea or in alternating quarters to give a break in between events. Badges would be earned per each of the three task types, based on the amount of tasks completed, regardless of the complexity of the task itself, so for example pledging to build 100 models as a task would earn the same badge as pledging to convert a character. The idea is to get people pledging small feasible tasks in order to complete more than if they just go with a single huge task. The focus of the event would be in 3 different categories: Build, which would include pledges for building, converting, sculpting, scratch building and so on; Paint, which would include painting, repainting, basing and other decorative tasks like decals and so on; Discover, which would include reading books from Black Library (or listening in the case of audio books), reading fluff in the codex and so on (potentially writing for those who like to write their own fluff); These tasks would help people to focus on different aspects of the hobby and share their progress from time to time in a way that can help work through the blockers that can happen in this kind of hobby related tasks. I am still trying to determine when this event would start, but I wanted to check if there were any suggestions or recommendations based on what I have just shared.

I've done a quick video on how to magnetise the Field Ordnance battery Hope its useful to some of you - its probably not the best way of doing it, but it works and its hidden so that will do nicely for me. Cheers

Hi, Here are some pictures of a Death Korps of Krieg Veteran Guardsman that I painted from the Kill Team Octarius box set.

Fellow Hobbyists and Guardsmen, The Elysian Drop Troops Discord community are proud to present our fanmade Codex: Drop Troops. This 180-page, fully illustrated document is a free, open-source project created by the 600 members of our community. We have chosen to release the Codex in "Alpha" state to accommodate an extended playtesting and feedback phase. This will allow us to refine, polish and develop the Codex to create a balanced and fun faction to play both as and against. You can download the PDF for free here: https://mega.nz/file/z99ExLRA#y789cuUb0jsG45cBucRmsWasie_QYXeKFHyurhdziQE Feedback and playtesting survey here: https://forms.gle/XuYweaXGHV87zSzq9 Discord Community invite here: https://discord.gg/VBHqShKV3T Thank you!

Just like it sounds, I want to make a 2k list I can just pick up and play when I get some time. Plan A is pretty simple. Sentinels rush the objectives, infantry behind. Mortars and basilisk give fire support. Snipers fill in the gaps to help deter deep strikers, flyers go tank hunting. The russ can either push a flank or give cover to an advance as needed. Keep the psykers in the middle of the advance to protect the push against enemies and put some mortal wounds on. Plan B is go a bit cheeky. Tank commanders and basilisk hold back line. Demolishers push one flank with the vultures supporting. The tempestors drop in on objectives and hold them while the vultures and russ move on. Would it be better to swap the two vultures for 3 Valkyrie? What about ditching the scions? It would only afford another tank if I swap them and the valks, or 3 more dropping the whole detachment. It could open up to get some sentinels to grab objectives too, but thats the same job as the tempestus. Ive never used them so advice is welcome. I lean towards option B. A seems like my current army and TTS is an option to get something different. Would that list have a shot or stick with plan A?

The Imperium Immortalis from Shieldwolf Miniatures have finally hit retail: https://www.shieldwolfminiatures.com/science-fiction-by-shieldwolf/imperium-immortalis/ Cheaper than FW overall, although the infantry and cavalry are still likely more expensive then doing some conversions. Might be worth it if you are looking for some characters though as they are reasonably priced and the ogres are also somewhat cheaper than most other resin ones I have seen around.

The Vox Roland cursed the name Ildor IV, he cursed it again and again as he huddled as close as he could to the bottom of a half filled shell hole. Nothing had gone right since the crusade for this world had been declared. The Officers and Priests had all said that this backwater world would be broken quickly. That had been over eight months ago and there was no sign of these heretics "rolling over". They had fought for every single meter of land on this damned planet, and it looked as if these people were planning on doing that until every last one of them was ground to dust. The problem boiled down to the very "backwards" way of thinking these heretics had. Their cites were not of the imperial style, they didn't build them tall into hives instead, they chose to build them all universally low to the ground and stretched out for miles. Roland had thought that this would make things easy, without the large Hab blocks that normal Hive cities had that would have had to have been taken one floor at a time. Really all they had done was trade one problem that the regiment had trained for, with a problem they were not ready to deal with. "Emperor damned street to street fighting" The Guard sergeant muttered as he crawled up to the lip of the crater he was taking cover in. Somewhere at the end of the street the heretics had set up a Heavy Bolter in the ground floor of a bombed out shop. "What was that Sarge?" Roland looked over to his corporal. Brigham must have jumped into the crater when the bastards opened up on them as they were crossing the street. "Nothing, you see where that accursed gun is firing from exactly?" "Didn’t have time to look, was trying to find cover as soon as the bolts started to fly." The corporal was lighting one of his lho-sticks as he looked over the lip of their meager cover. "Smart bastards though, waiting as long as they did." They had been smart, Roland thought, the squad had been crossing the open street in small groups at first. Only two at a time until about half had gotten across without issue. He’d been stupid and dropped his guard when he allowed the rest to go at once. "So, what’s the plan?" "Not sure yet. Regiment won’t be looking for us for at least another six hours." The sudden question had brought Roland out of his self-critique and loathing. He sighed outwardly and looked back over the lip of their cover "We could get support if we called up the chain over the Vox" Brigham let out a low chuckle before sinking back into the crater on his back. "Well, good luck with that Sarge" Roland couldn't blame the corporal for his defeatist mindset with that specific plan, especially as he looked at the body of his Vox man lying on the ground about twenty meters from him and in between Roland and the building the Enemy Weapon team had fired from. "Damn" "Yeah, any other plan?" The corporal's voice had a hint of hope in it, sounding like he was hoping Roland would be able to pull the squads asses out of the fire. "Nope, still on this one" "What?" Roland turned to look down at Brigham's surprised face "Did you see were Tina went? She make it?" "I, ah, I think so Sarge. I think she's a bit farther back down the street… Where you going with this?" "I’m trying to get us some back up" The Sergeant looked back over the lip of the crater. Twenty meters wasn't that far, he could make that with a quick sprint, and it looked like there was another small shell crater on the opposite side of Hoffman's body. He crawled back to the opposite side of the crater and looked back to Brigham "You may want to keep your head down, I don't think they are going to like this" The old Corporal gave him a confused look before sliding down farther into the shell crater. "I hope you know what you’re doing Sarge" "So do I" Roland peeked over and saw a few more dead bodies from his unit. From what he could see, none of them looked to be Tina, the squads weapon specialist. He quickly ducked his head back down before calling out "Tina! You still alive out there?" Before anyone could actually answer, the enemies’ Heavy Bolter opened up on to the general area they thought the call had come from. Luckily, the enemy gunners had poorer ears than their aim, as the sound of bolts roaring past Roland's cover told him. After one or two short bursts the weapon stopped firing and the street was once again quiet. Roland was surprised to hear the voice of Specialist Tina Krauss far closer than he thought she'd be. "Still alive Sarge, though with a few more bursts like those that might change" She didn't sound wounded, that was good, and it seemed like the gunners watching the street couldn't hear her talking. "Good to hear Specialist, it looks like I'm going to need your help here. Going to need some suppressing fire real soon, how are you for ammo for that launcher?" "Ready and willing Sarge, one and a half drums left, that enough for what you’re planning?" "Plenty, keep an ear open for Corporal Brigham's signal, when you hear it I want you to lay a few rounds into that shop where that damned gun is firing from. You don't have to hit, just get their attention, alright Specialist?" "Loud and clear Sarge, I'm ready when you are!" The troopers enthusiasm was good, but her loud reply must have carried far enough for the enemy gunner to hear and again they opened up with burst after burst at seemingly random positions they must have thought Roland's unit was taking cover in. "Mind filling me in on what you’re planning?" Brigham had moved over beside Roland while the bolts flew past their heads. "We can't stay here, from the sound of it that's just one gun, if we stay sooner or later they are going to get reinforced with infantry that can come out to displace us. Regiment is not coming unless we can get a hold of them. That Vox is our only hope of getting some support, maybe another squad to flush that gun out from the side or some fire from the regimental mortar section. Either way someone's got to get to that Vox set." The bursts of Bolter fire was slowly starting to ease off, and Roland could see his Corporal going over his line of thinking. "But why you Sarge? I could make the run for that set." He had to admit the Corporal made a good point, and Roland was very close to ordering the man to make the dash out of his own fear. When a single bolt shell landed just behind the lip of their crater it broke that line of thinking and he shook his head, he was going to do this. "No, I’m faster than you, we are not going to get another chance at this. We have to make it count." Brigham sighed, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke as he did, and gave Roland a look that told him he was being an idiot. "Alright, let me know when you’re ready, I’ll have Tina start up right before you go" "Good, give me a 10 count before you do, we need to time it exactly. The more targets and distractions they have the better chance I have." Roland did his best to get on his feet without exposing himself to the line of sight of the enemy weapons team. "Emperor be with you, you stupid bastard" with that Brigham began to count. Roland couldn't really argue with Brigham, that was one of his stupider ideas, but it had to be done. When Brigham got about halfway through his count Roland started to pray under his breath for the Emperors protection and checked his laspistol to make sure it was charged. "Now Tina!" half a heartbeat later Roland heard the telltale Ka-Chunk! sound of Specialist Krauss's grenade launcher firing from behind and to the left of his crater. Even before the first round had landed Roland was dashing out of his cover at a low sprint. The enemy gunner had already started to open up, but it looked like he was in a panic and firing wildly. Ka-Chunk! The second round from Tina was already on the way as the first one hit home. Roland could see it hit the back wall of the bombed-out shop where that gun was. It was too far to the left to really do any harm to the men manning the gun, but by the way the bolts stopped flying for a split second after the impact Roland was sure it had shaken the crew. Ka-Chunk! Roland was about halfway to Hoffman's body when the second round hit. This time it was high and showered the crew of the gun with bits of rockcrete and dust from what was left of the shops second floor. A bolt shell kicked up dirt and asphalt right in front of Roland a split second before exploding, he quickly shifted direction slightly to throw off the gunners aim. In the back of his mind Roland could tell that the gun crew were having trouble picking who to focus their fire on. Ka-Chunk! The third round hit right in front of where Roland thought the gun crew were set up. Oddly enough, the frag round was joined by the red streaks of lasgun fire. He hadn't ordered that but his unit must have seen the mad dash and started to provide covering fire. He was just within reach of the Vox set when his luck turned, he lost his footing just as he reached for the bulky Vox. This caused him to slide forward on the ground and become an easy target. The next thing the Guard Sergeant heard was not a bolt shell striking him, as he had thought, but the last frag round from Tina's suppressing fire hitting something metallic and a split second later causing a large secondary explosion in the bombed out shop. He opened his eyes, he had apparently closed them when he thought he was about to be cut down and saw the bottom floor of the shop at the end of the street in flames. The bolter fire had stopped and the sounds of men burning could be heard over the sizzle of flames. "YEAH! THATS WHAT I"M TALKING ABOUT!" Tina's voice carried over the now quite street followed by a loud cheer from the rest of the unit. "That was a very stupid plan Sarge" the voice of Corporal Brigham cut through the sounds of cheers and Tina's normal boasting. He was standing over Roland and had his hand out to help him up. "It worked didn't it?" Brigham just shook his head as he helped pull Roland upon to his feet. Roland looked back to the former enemy position. "Round must have struck their ammunition store." "Most likely" The Corporal was already lighting another lho-stick. "Lucky for you, that last burst was pretty close." Roland had to agree, any later and that gunner would have turned him into red mist. "You’re my new Vox-man Corporal, get a report to Regiment on where we had contact. I'm going to see how bad the damage to the squad is" From what he could see it wasn't as bad as it first looked. Counting Hoffman it looked like two others had been hit in the opening ambush. One more was wounded, it looked like he had been hit by some shrapnel from a stray bolt round. Specialist Krauss was still smiling from ear to ear by the time Roland had picked his way across the debris strewn street. "Good shooting specialist" "Thank you Sarge, my aim must have been guided by the Emperor's hands themselves!" A small cheer ran through the soldiers at the sound of the pious words. "Indeed" raising his voice so the whole of the squad could hear him "Gather the fallen's tags and gear, we're not leaving anything for the heretics to steal, do it at the double as we're leaving in ten, we still have to link up with baker company an-" Loud laughter echoed through the street, interrupting Roland mid-order, it sounded like Brigham and was positively dripping with irony. When he turned around to look at just what was so funny he saw his Corporal looking at the Vox set that Roland had very recently risked his life for. Brigham held it up for the rest of the squad could see it. …And the two neat Bolt sized holes through it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So let me know what you all think, I knocked this out over a weekend to help take my mind off other much larger writing projects I'm working on. just wanted to get a small story story done, it's the first time I've written anything like this in the 40K setting. also, I wrote this in my novel writing software, and it seems like that does not play well with the forums, so hopefully i was able to catch all of the formatting errors.

So my work colleague, who got me back into the hobby, is switching workplace. We will still see each other outside work and game 40k, kill team and whatnot. So he had a party yesterday and I painted up this heroic looking fella for his Imperial guard as a surprise gift. I bought a catachan serg and sculpted him a shirt and removed some details. The paint scheme is the same as his figs made up of cadians. The powerfist was painted the same as my Deathwatch and his wristwatch got the same green as my deathwatch wristcomputers. Painted him in a day and left the base untouched so he can do it the same as the rest of his army. The pics are not the best but i thought I´d share nevertheless.

Defenders of Hyades Hyades is a Jungle World in the Nimbosa System of the Segmentum Obscurus, not far from the Death World of Fenris. It is a holding of the Navigator House Belisarius and is protected by the Space Wolves Chapter of Space Marines, due to the ancient alliance between these two Imperial factions. Hyades is unusually rich in naturally-occurring promethium, which is why the wealthy House Belisarius invested heavily in the exploitation of the fuel on Hyades and sponsored the settlement of an Imperial colony on the planet. Hyades is a hostile planet with large predators and an indigenous, ape-like, reptilian xenos species called "Reptos" by the Imperial settlers. The jungles also grow at an exceptional rate, requiring that they be burnt or cut back at all times to avoid them encroaching on the human settlements. Even so, Hyades is not considered a Death World by the Administratum and has developed a robust industry on the back of the promethium mines of House Belisarius. Hyades has its own Planetary Defence Forces (PDF), of which, a large number are drawn from mercenaries and retired soldiers of the Astra Militarum. As a result, the Hyades PDF is unusually professional. At it's peak, the PDF was led by a mysterious man named Commander Cadmus, who turned out to be one of the Fallen Angels of the Dark Angels Chapter of Space Marines, a ten-thousand-year-old Traitor to the Emperor from the time of the Horus Heresy. The PDF took severe casualties during a battle between the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, and Thousand Sons Heretic Astartes, as well as tribes of the primitive, native "Reptos" who were involved in collecting Space Marine gene-seed for the Thousand Sons. Though a skilled and disciplined fighting force, the Hyades PDF ultimately proved to be no match for Space Marines, much less elements from three Chapters of them. The Fall of Cadmus Upon arrival on Hyades, Lady Gabriella Belisarius and her Wolfblade bodyguard, Ragnar Blackmane, a Space Wolf Space Marine serving as a bodyguard for House Belisarius as part of a penance for his Chapter, began their routine inspection of the planet's promethium quotas. Meanwhile, Interrogator-Chaplain Vargas of the Dark Angels had entered the Hyades System in search of one of the Fallen Angels, one of the ancient Astartes of the Chapter who had turned Traitor during the Heresy. Unknown to Gabriella Belisarius or her Wolfblade, Commander Cadmus, an off-worlder in charge of the planetary defences, was the Fallen Angel. Commander Cadmus set in motion a series of events which led to a short conflict between an incoming patrol of Space Wolves and a Battle-Barge of the Dark Angels, the Vinco Redemptor. As the battle raged, Ragnar Blackmane worked out an uneasy truce with a Kill-team of Dark Angels to capture the ancient Traitor Cadmus and rescue Gabriella from his clutches. As they closed in on their target it was revealed that the Thousand Sons Sorcerer Madox had masterminded the conflict between the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves as a diversion to collect Space Wolves gene-seed for a ritual to bring about the destruction of the Space Wolves Chapter, the Thousand Sons' ancient rivals. Although Cadmus was ultimately defeated and a large Chaos Fleet was destroyed through a joint effort by the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels, Madox escaped from the planet and a massive Thousand Sons offensive began against the Space Wolves' homeworld of Fenris as the Traitor Legion sought to destroy their oldest rivals once and for all. The Black Shields of Hyades In the aftermath of the conflict, a contingent of the remaining veterans in the PDF were distraught at the treachery they had been embroiled in through the machinations of Cadmus. One of their leaders had spoken to a Veteran Space Wolf of their guilt and received an interesting story in return.. of rare space marines with incredible guilt over their own or their chapters actions. It was so overwhelming that they had forsaken their chapter and wished only to earn redemption via the destruction of the never ending foes of the Emperor. The marines were called 'Black Shields'. Most Space Marines know and acknowledge their own worth in the battle against the Emperor's enemies - not the Black Shields. They are noted for being very reckless, yet at the same time self sacrificing, since they show no hesitation or fear when putting themselves in the path of danger. On the battlefield, they fight without a care for personal injury and in a Black Shield's mind he is as good as dead already. As such, they will always volunteer for the most dangerous missions without a second thought. The story hit a chord, and after discussing it for several days, the veterans came up with a way to absolve their guilt as part of a regiment of mercenaries and veterans from all corners of the Imperium. Offering redemption in the fires of constant battle and volunteering for missions only an astartes would enjoy. The veterans took it to the Planetary Governor with a solution to the predicament of rebuilding the reputation of Hyades in the imperium, and meeting the Imperial Tithe after the significant losses incurred during the conflict. Failure to deliver the Imperial Tithe is met harshly. Even the slightest breach in protocol will often result in the execution of the Planetary Governor and a swift and thorough regime change. The Planetary Governor understood this and eagerly agreed to the solution on offer, offering ongoing supplies and equipment, along with a small contingent of local recruits. So it was, that in late M41 a new regiment was formed from veterans of the planetary defence force, 'The Black Shields of Hyades'. These troopers dedicated themselves to the destruction of the Emperor's enemies, whether Xenos, Traitor or Heretic. Recruitment and Training The Black Shields of Hyades are regularly reinforced by grizzled mercenaries or dissatisfied veterans recruited from other imperial guard regiments. Due to the high risk missions they regularly undertake, the need for new troopers is constant.. but they have a growing reputation as a battle hardened regiment of veterans, where actions speak louder than words. Once reconnaissance is done and the decision has been made to act, they strike hard and fast, taking the fight to the enemies of mankind. Dispatching recruiters far and wide, the Black Shields have taken influxes of recruits from all backgrounds and corners of the Imperium. One consequence of this diversity is that is has enabled the Black Shields of Hyades to adapt to situations more readily than other regiments, with diverse strategems discussed in training and later employed on the battlefield. Similarly, strong willed leaders have risen to the top, as the diversity would otherwise lead to disagreements when assimilating recruits from so many backgrounds and cultures. Supplies and equipment are regularly transported from Hyades. Being a mining colony on a hostile jungle planet, they make use of the surplus equipment on hand which has been generously bequethed to them by House Belisarius. Equipment like Hades Breaching Drills from the mines, small armoured Centaurs for clearing the vegetation around a settlement and the Valkyries used to transport miners over the jungle. They also contribute a yearly tithe of recruits from the local population. These Hyadens make about around a quarter of the regiment's total numbers. Naturally skilled in hunting and tracking in their Jungle environment, the Hyadens tend to produce formidable marksman that grow up practicing on the fast and agile "Reptos". A small group of Black Shields also ride genetic and cybernetically augmented Wolves, trained and bred from descendants of blackmaned Fenrisian Wolves (a particularly vicious breed). The original wolves were left behind on historic visits of the Space Wolves chapter and Blood claw packs occasionally travel to Hyades to train and test their hunting skills in hostile Jungle environments. The large wolves, though small in number, have since adapted to their jungle environment, and are a another terrifying jungle predator that the locals need to watch out for. ---------- The Black Shields have recently seen action with Captain Kaedes and the Raptor's 6th Company in Task Force Green. They share similar combat doctrines with the Black Shields and the 6th have found their assistance invaluable when operating behind enemy lines in ambush and reconnaissance missions. The Raptors homeworld is deep within the dense stellar drifts of the Sutters Spiral Nebula on the northern border of the Segmentum Solar, not too far from Hyades, which is in the far south of the Segmentum Obscurus.

Hey guys, the Astra Militarum have always been a bit of a gap in my 40k knowledge, and I am hoping you can help me out. I am aware that the Death Korps of Krieg make use of limited infantry-deployed chemical weapons in the forms of gas canisters and otherwise prohibited shotgun shells, and that a wide number of regiments deploy Devil Dog tanks. However, are there any instances in the lore of post-Imperial Army mortal forces deploying large scale chemical or rad forces, or similarly amoral and potentially self-destructive weapons? Thanks!

Hi You can view the battle report in full here https://cadianshock.com/genestealer-cult-vs-astra-militarum-2000-pts/ Here are some pics from the battle, note the GSC had a lot of Guard vehicles. The xeno vehicles are the grey ones!