Cadian 42nd Shock Trooper Regiment: Rise of the Kasrkin

[Dosjetka]

This is a project that I've wanted to do for a while and what better time to launch it then at the eve of ETL III? However, before any more blabber, I'd like to show the picture that really got this started for me:

(Art by Karl Kopinski; source - Codex: Imperial Guard, 3rd Edition, 2nd version)

As well know, the Cadians are some of the best fighting troops available to the Departmento Munitorum. They hail from Cadia, the fortress-world that guards the only known passage into (and out of) the Eye of Terror, and have fought wars all over the galaxy against almost any foe imaginable. Cadian Shock Trooper regiments are requested by Imperial generals and warlords from across the galaxy because the Cadians are loyal to the Emperor alone and they will hold the line in the face of the enemy.

Among them however, are the Kasrkin, elite of the elite. Now, I could try and write some shabby description about how awesome the Kasrkin are, but I think that quoting the famed Dan Abnett from his Eisenhorn series is a much better idea on this occasion.

Kasr Gesh was three hours flight from Kasr Derm. Cruel winter had blown in from the upland heaths, and the gun-cutter was vibrating its way against powerful ice storms. My band was all aboard, preparing weapons. So was Inquisitor General Neve and a six-man squad of Cadian Elite Shock, impassive troopers in winter camo armour, prepping matt-white lasrifles and stubbers in the crew-bay.

'God-throne, they're tough-ass bastards,' Nayl muttered to me as I passed him coming out of the bay.

'Impressed?'

'Scared is more like it. Regular Cadian is soldier enough for me. These are elite. The elite of the elite. The Kasrkin.'

'The what?' It wasn't like an experienced fighter to show deference to other fighting men.

'The Kasrkin. The Cadian best, and you can imagine what that means. Holy Terra, they're stone-killers!'

'How do you know?'

'Oh, please... look at their necks. The Caducades sea-eagle brand. Come to that, just look at their necks. I've seen slimmer trees!'

'Good thing they're on our side,' I said.

'I bloody hope so,' Nayl returned, and moved forward.

Echbar and his Kasrkin charged in past us to engage.
In truth, I may say now that they were somehow more terrifying than the daemonhost. For Prophaniti was a supernatural thing, and one expected it to be horrifying.
The Kasrkin were just men. It made their actions all the more astonishing. Six white blurs, they fell upon the cultists, lasguns barking at close range. They wasted no shots. One shot, one kill. A cultist fled past me, and a Kasrkin swung to bring him down. His weapon refused to fire as its sight-auspex detected my bio-spoor in the range-field. A second later, I was no longer blocking the shot and the weapon spat.
The fleeing cultist tumbled over headlong in the brush.
More cultists had emerged from the other side of the pylon, and I could hear rapid exchanges of gunfire in that direction. Nayl's combat-cannon was making its distinctive metallic whir between bursts of fire. Inshabel's las-cracks overlapped themselves.

'Fischig!' I yelled. 'Lead off round the back of the pylon. See what you can find. Maybe take a damn prisoner before the Kasrkin slay
them all!'

The next few seconds are burned in my memory. I will never see such heroism again, I am sure. Captain Echbar and two of his Kasrkin troopers assaulted Prophaniti from the rear. Their lasguns wouldn't fire because Bequin and I were in their range-field.
Echbar body-tackled the daemonhost, smashing it away from us. Prophaniti hurled him aside, and then incinerated the second Kasrkin mid-leap with its eyes. The third jammed his Cadian bayonet up to the hilt in Prophaniti's breastbone. Fire exploded back from the wound, down the trooper's arm and engulfed him.
He fell back screaming as Echbar came in again, a ragged hole in his cheek and throat. His knife, clenched double-handed, split Prophaniti open down the back bone. The warp-energies that boiled out blew Echbar apart.
Screaming, Prophaniti writhed away through the air.
I knew it wasn't dead. I knew it couldn't really die.
But the Cadian elite had given me an opening by sacrificing their lives. They had fallen in the service of the God-Emperor, which is what every Cadian is born to do.

So yeah, that's the Kasrkin for you.

Now, with the fact that they are "though-arse bastards" established, we can move onto the modeling side of things.

Right now, until I/we receive word from GW, the Kasrkin models that they produced are unavailable. Now, on one side, this is a real damn shame since the models were real beauties. For those of you who haven't seem them or who need a refresher, see the picture below.

On the other hand, not having these models readily available is a boon for people like me who would like to have an army of Kasrkin models but can't (I don't like eBay and trading only goes so far). Also, since they're completely metal, they're mono-pose models, which makes them a bit boring after a while.

So, what am I going to do? I'm going to use GW/FW Imperial Guard pieces (I'm thinking of using the basic rebreather heads from Forge World), Green Stuff and plastic card to make my own Kasrkin models (though sticking as much as possible to the original sculpts) to then have a whole army of elite Kasrkin squads (with attached vehicles, of course). My secondary goal is to also have a hefty amount of background fluff to go with this army/regiment to make it that slight bit more unique, which I will build up over time.

So, my current to-do list is as follows:

• Pick up at least one box of Cadians to get started with (basic armour additions to the model, establishing which details to add, etc.);
• Order the Infantry Rebreather upgrade kit from Forge World to see what additions can be made to the helmets (extra auspex nodes, sights, etc.);
• Establish the colour scheme for the army (classic Cadian green armour with red-and-beige patterns and beige fatigues or another scheme, like a desert camo scheme or a ice waste environment scheme?);
• Get a decent army list written up and torn apart by the locals here;
• ???
• Profit??

I'll be visiting my local indie store within the next few days to pick up supplies, which means that I should be able to get a decent start very soon

Until then, the Emperor protects!

[WarriorFish]

Excellent! What a stirring read, this is what Guardsmen are made of! I like you plan, it should be a very characterful army especially with all the modding and converting you'll be putting in. The FW respirator heads are exactly what you want, there's also the special weapon respirator pack that has a melta and plasma trooper in a couple of cool poses. They also both have fancy targeting array on their helmets.

 

How are you planning on doing the carapace bits? GS, plasticard or a mix of the two? I've often thought about doing something like this myself and I've reasoned that while somewhat fiddly it shouldn't be too hard to model some of the armour with plasticard for example on the legs?

 

If you're going full Kasrkin then I think the classic scheme you've shown has got to be the way to go! I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you do, hopefully with better results than your Regiments entry ;)

[Reyner]

Looking forward to this, always loved Cadians and the loss of Kasrkin sucks.

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

Excellent! What a stirring read, this is what Guardsmen are made of! I like you plan, it should be a very characterful army especially with all the modding and converting you'll be putting in. The FW respirator heads are exactly what you want, there's also the special weapon respirator pack that has a melta and plasma trooper in a couple of cool poses. They also both have fancy targeting array on their helmets.

 

How are you planning on doing the carapace bits? GS, plasticard or a mix of the two? I've often thought about doing something like this myself and I've reasoned that while somewhat fiddly it shouldn't be too hard to model some of the armour with plasticard for example on the legs?

 

If you're going full Kasrkin then I think the classic scheme you've shown has got to be the way to go! I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you do, hopefully with better results than your Regiments entry

 

Mate, you never go FULL Kasrkin ;)

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Sounds like a great project.

 

Will you be using Codex: Militarum Tempestus, or are you going to convert the hotshot lasguns to make them look more like regular lasguns or shotguns to make them veterans?

[Dosjetka]

WarriorFish: Thanks! I've had a look at the FW support weapon troopers and, to be honest, I'm pretty certain I can achieve a similar result without forking out the extra cash, however much I'd like to own more resin

I'll be using Green Stuff for the armour bits and plastic card for smaller details (along with GS, of course). Using plastic card should do-able, but it seems rather fiddly and I prefer the practice that sculpting the armour will give me.

I find that the classic colour scheme is intriguing and will be rather challenging (always a good thing), though I stumbled across a gorgeous desert camo scheme that I'd love to try out...

So I'm a bit torn, to say the least

Reyner: Cheers mate, I hope to impress and I couldn't agree more with you!

AngelsAbsolute: Oh, but I am going full Kasrkin. That's the whole fun part

Nicodemus: I hope that it'll look as good as it sounds! I'll be using Codex: Astra Militarum (Veterans with shotguns and the Grenadier doctrine in Chimeras, a Scion Platoon in Chimeras, some sort of HQ, Hell Hounds/Bane Wolves/Devil Dogs and some Armoured Sentinel support) and I'm looking forward to it All models will be converted to look like Kasrkin and will broadly be equipped the same (full carapace armour, grenades, backpacks, fully enclosed helmets with extra sights, etc), though they will have have to have different weapons to fit in with the rules.

EDIT: Hell Hounds, never forget the Hell Hounds.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Battle-Brother Ludovic

[WarriorFish]

That desert scheme looks great, the chipping and weathering works very well so it'd be a great idea to steal take inspiration from. The dice gods would surely look favourably on such an army! Your list plans sound good, make good use of infantry and orders and you'll be blasting your opponents off the board and looking good while you do it :)

 

Also yes: never forget the Hellhounds. My opponents certainly can't ;)

[BFeeder]

The Kasrkin miniatures are great, it's a real shame they stopped producing them. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your conversions

[Daemon2027]

I'm a big fan of the Kasrkin models. I have a box of them, just ever been sure what to do with them. I would say go with the classic scheme as shown in the art work you posted. Looking forward to see this develop.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

My vote would be for the classic scheme. The desert one looks pretty good, but the classic is dead 'ard.

[-Volsung-]

There UN-limited possibilities for realistic camouflage schemes you could come up with when it comes to painting Cadians of any kind, whether Kasrkin or a simple depot technician.

 

I personally prefer something purist, with Catachan Green in it, but the desert camo does look good. You an also try for mix camo, where one squad would have desert camo, and one squad might have green camo. Or perhaps a squad might have both. Sometimes, oversees, you see military units wearing desert camo, and you'll see a random one or two guys in forest green camo, because they might not have found his size or  just happens. 

 

Send us pic! 

[Dosjetka]

* shakes staff, bones rattle, inactive thread is imbued with otherworldly power and reactivated *

 

Right, it's about time this project moves forward. I've got twelve Kasrkin (the 10-man squad and the two-man special weapon blister) incoming. While I hop up and down with impatience, I have come up with a simple 500-point list:

 

 

++ Patrol Detachment (Imperium - Astra Militarum) [25 PL, 499pts] ++

 

+ No Force Org Slot +

 

Regimental Doctrine: Astra Millitarum/Imperium

 

+ HQ +

 

Tempestor Prime [3 PL, 45pts]: Display Astra Militarum Orders, Hot-shot Laspistol, Master of Command, Power sword, The Blade of Conquest, Warlord

 

+ Troops +

 

Militarum Tempestus Scions [5 PL, 132pts]

. 7x Scion: 7x Hot-shot Lasgun

. Scion w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun

. Scion w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun

. Tempestor: Chainsword, Hot-shot Laspistol

 

Militarum Tempestus Scions [5 PL, 132pts]

. 7x Scion: 7x Hot-shot Lasgun

. Scion w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun

. Scion w/ Special Weapon: Meltagun

. Tempestor: Chainsword, Hot-shot Laspistol

 

+ Dedicated Transport +

 

Chimera [6 PL, 95pts]: Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Stubber

 

Chimera [6 PL, 95pts]: Heavy Bolter, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Stubber

 

++ Total: [25 PL, 499pts] ++

 

Created with BattleScribe

 

Unfortunately the Militarum Tempestus doctrine removes the option for Chimeras so I've decided to forgo using that doctrine.

 

From a modelling perspective, I need to order some greenstuff, a set of FW Cadian rebreather heads, and get ready for doing some conversion work!

 

Thanks for looking! :tu:

[WarriorFish]

Welcome back to the barracks :tu: The Chimeras should add some vital longer range firepower, as your Stormies are very short ranged. While they'd have strong shooting this would just encourage your opponents more, but at 500pts options are limited so this is a good core to start building up on I reckon :) I'll need to double check how the Scion regiment bit works as I've not looked into it in detail yet, but I'm sure someone can clarify in the meantime.

 

What are your plans for future additions? Plasma is an obvious choice, along with multiple smaller squads to deep strike in.

[Soulhunter1995]

Definitely looking forward to seeing how this thread progresses  and you`ve also answered a mental question of mine about if you had to take the regimental doctrines as I was curious...for reasons  (Hides the chaos mark under his sleeve)

[Arganias]

I love Kasrkin, I really hope Forgeworld picks them up with special rules for them that help them integrate properly into a Cadian army, and I don't even play Cadian. I am also glad I am not the only one who remembers the Kasrkin from Eisenhorn and how awesome they were; I feel that that it really encapsulates their elite status and grim determination.

 

No offense to the Tempestus Scion models, but I think Kasrkin look like hardened veteran soldiers while the Scions seem over designed. I used Kasrkin to represent the Stormtrooper company that are permanently attached to Elysian units.

 

I look forward to seeing where this thread goes!

[Hfran Morkai]

Another fan of Kasrkin here so can't wait to see what you do with them and possibly inspire me.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I love the old Kasrkin models, so much that I ave 40 some odd of them. Right now, I'm working on getting 3 more squads of Guardsmen so I can use my Kasrkin in an attached Battalion to use the MT Doctrine.