40k Modern Army

[adeptus_sleepus]

So I have finally decided to branch out and build a separate army rather than just adding to my Imperial Fist. I decided that I wanted to build a Guard army and definitely add some of the sweet Imperial Aeronautics flyers, more specifically the Thunderbolt. For the troops I also wanted them to be unique so i decided to do a modern IG army, The Veterans will be U.S. Army Rangers, The shock troops will be Delta force, and the infantry squads will be modern Us army infantry men. To accomplish this I will have to order a lot of custom heads. Berets from Madrobot mini's, ballistic helmets from Pig iron production. So far I have built the Thunderbolt (my first scratch build) and have gotten the first vet squad mostly finished just waiting on some parts, and will soon have the company command squad up as well, so that I can at least run them as allies till the rest of the army is finished.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/12/b7708ebaa7fb81f05e8553dfcb3dea0b_61367.jpg

http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/12/28851073dc0fd0b2f2ba098933d44df1_61367.jpghttp://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/15/452d905da5c992c6538f58daa1f83d57_61367.jpghttp://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/15/dd85c1d720f2e6805b15d6d12c8af547_61367.jpg

[deathspectersgt7]

A good start.

[Dark Rage]

A cool idea, looking forward to the progress.

[adeptus_sleepus]

Thanks, glad you guys like it. So far the plan is initially to  build one vet squad and one CCS, with plans to add another vet squad, and one infantry company, with 2inf squads, and  2 heavy weapons team one with all autocannons and one with all lascannons likely.

[recon0321]

Sounds interesting looking forward to this great idea

[adeptus_sleepus]

So this is where the army is at for now, until my special weapons and the new heads show up. A shame that progress must be halted for now.http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/16/c1fba9ef781e392da58ce37e2ae2d380_61367.jpg

[Squeaky]

Nice desert yellow, is that the MARPAT camo? I dont really know US camo patterns but anyway cool stuff sounds like a promising project and I like how its shaping up already have to keep my eye on this ^_^ keep it up mate.

[recon0321]

Looks great as a former marine I vote for marpat! May I ask what heads your ordering? And how you plan on painting them

 

I think a Elysian army would fit well their buggies are awesome

[Hyaenidae]

Looks like Multicam to me, Leatherneck. Y'know, proper camouflage, not something that looks like it was inspired by a broken Atari game. ;)

 

*looks at his ACU's and shakes head sadly*

[recon0321]

Holy crap just zoomed the photo! I will go report to the chaplains for proper purging of my soul

[Squeaky]

Holy crap just zoomed the photo! I will go report to the chaplains for proper purging of my soul

 

Yeh... i feel a fool xD thats not pixels! oops 

[War Angel]

Are you insulting MCCUU? Te uniform so good that even the army wants to use it?

 

That is some nice looking multicam though. I would ask how you did it but I can imagine "hours of patience and pain" is somewhere in your list of how.

[recon0321]

Semper fi brother!

[adeptus_sleepus]

lol, lets see if I can answer these questions in order.

1) it is MultiCam not Marpart, as someone in the Army I couldn't bring myself to paint a marine camo on my troops, though it was one of the finalist for the top three camos i picked from. Also as far as UCP goes, I was not going to paint my troops in ACUs I would end up hating them then, lol

2)The heads that I am using for my veterans are the beret heads from Mad Robot Minis and once I get the heads in I plan on painting the berets a nice sandy tan, to give them a Ranger look. Since the concept of the IG veterans being a more elite form of your regular shock troops, fits the rangers well.

http://madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/images/Berets%20Painted.jpg

3) for my regular troops though i am using ballistic helmets from pig iron productions

http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/bmz_cache/c/cb9da2320535277ecced4d440ff3e042.image.733x550.jpg

4.)The process I followed to paint the camo was a great tutorial that I found done by Dan Eldredge http://wfarcadia.blogspot.com/p/painting.html

He also has tutorials for both desert and jungle MarPart, m81 jungle, that strange Airman tigerstripe and everyone's favorite ACU's

I am using Reaper master Series paints so i did have to do some converting from the citadel paints that Dan used, but there is a great conversion chart over at dakkadakka that lets you know which paints work as substitutes for each other.

And as far as actually painting the camo I have found it to not be nearly as difficult as i had initially imagined it would be, I find it very satisfying to just be able to paint random shapes on the model and have it end up looking good.

[Hyaenidae]

I definitely like where you're going, though I'm not positive about your 'Rangers' actually running about with their berets on the field. To each their own, I guess. Looking forward to more, man.

 

Are you insulting MCCUU? Te uniform so good that even the army wants to use it?

 

The Army didn't want to use it, just one Good Idea Fairy who loved you boys pattern a bit too much, and had the rank to push it (probably the same madman who thought the black beret was a good idea). I'm not a fan of the digitized pattern in general, though I'll admit that the Devildogs did better than most in it's usage and development.

 

I'd swap back to my old, battered BDU's in a heartbeat, if I could. It worked, and I ain't one who cares for re-inventing the wheel. And ALICE packs. God, I miss ALICE packs. I don't have enough fingers on two hands to count how many of those stupid plastic frames I've busted.

[adeptus_sleepus]

1000heathens, yeah at first I didn't want to give them berets, since in real life the rangers would never actually wear the berets in the field, but then I remembered well... It is 40k, and as long as something looks cool, it doesn't have to make any sense, plus it is just a quick and easy way to have a visual distinction between my units while still establishing the theme. 

 

Though I have been waiting on the heads to show up for over a week now so I may end up going with a different option cause I want to get these guys finished.

[adeptus_sleepus]

So happy to have new pics and updates to post. The heads that have been holding up this process have finally showed up which means I'm as happy as a pig in :cuss.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/s/i/at/at2/2014/2/25/ad320f5d87107514774b1297843fe408_61367.jpg

[MRCHAOS]

A good site for backpacks you can use is http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/store/home.php?cat=70&sort=productcode&sort_direction=0&page=2 the US Vietnam VNM Butt Packs look great on Cadians as a daysack [Edit] Lol I forgot to put that I love seeing Guard armies with a modern twist and your's is looking great, I my self have a army's worth on sprews still, with a tonn of bits from the above site as well as Pig Iron heads, Im just put off knowing that we have a new Codex coming in 3/4 months and possible plastic Storm troopers

[deathspectersgt7]

LIke the Berets,adds flavor to your units.

[adeptus_sleepus]

Wow, Thanks for that link MrChaos, some of those packs look like they would go perfect as assault packs for this unit. I am pretty much done with this first unit painting, the only thing left is the face, but since i am not very good at painting flesh I have been avoiding it, lol. I have started to assemble my CCS, so that at the very least I will have a HQ and at least one troop so that until such time as this army is done, I can still enjoy playing with them as allies. I look forward to seeing these guys on the field with my Imperial fist and having my thunderbolt coming in for some close air support.

[Kierdale]

Very nice work!

 

How about starting a thread down in the IG forum too?

[recon0321]

Have you seen the 3rd party boonie cover heads? Think there max mini or pig iron

[Hyaenidae]

No Boonie Caps!

 

Well, unless you're making an army of Fobbits, then yeah. Go for it. Give 'em fleece jackets too.  :P

[recon0321]

Lmao! Good one heathens! Too bad they can't model fleece jackets lol....

[BassWave]

Well perhaps if you use a light coating of fine flock, one could simulate fleece...

 

The camo is impressive, and I agree that modeling berets onto the rangers adds that level of appearance over function that stays true with the over all philosophy of 40k.