Bloodbath reporting as ordered Sir.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

well, here I am. Swapping my power armour for a lasgun and combat boots!

 

this was an easy choice as I was actually in the U.S. Army, I will be in semi-familiar territory.

 

I wish we had lasguns........

 

 Now the purpose of this thread is simple, to figure out what the AM is all about, how to build a fluffy army, and how to incorporate them into my over all mega army idea.

 so, let's start with the idea around my army. I had this vision of an Inquisitor pulling his weight and and gathering a force of humanities warriors together for some good, ol' fashioned Grimdarky only war action. I want a solid block of Guardsmen to for the bulk of this dream.  let's look at options;

 

1. Cadians-run of the mill, but very easy to get bitz for. also have a lot of fluff (renown) units to pull from. I like the look of them, if a little vanilla.

 

2. Catachans-these are the briuser of the IG, I think. buff dudes who have a definite "Vietnam Era" vibe in the look of of no shirts with flak jackets all open and stuff. I am not so excited about these guys though, not as much uniformity as I would like in my army. on the plus side, they have lots of bitz that would be awesome to add character to a cadian force. *I am not afraid to paint lot's of skin, so thats not the reason.* I mayu add a platoon of these guys though, just to break it up a bit.

 

3. Valhallans-nope. Don't like their look at all.

 

4. Mordians-see valhallans

 

5. Vostroyans-too gawdy.

 

6. Praetorians- too hard to find in numbers, also see Mordians.

 

7. Tallarn- these must be the step children of the IG. don't care for them much.

 

8. Death Korp of Krieg- these guys are awesome. but they are way to in vogue right now. plus I want to stay away from an all forgeworld army(heck, I ain't made of money.)

 

9. Elysians-Dammit, why does all the good stuff have to be forgeworld? I love those wheeled things, super cool. but, again, cost ineffective. probably a small unit of the in the future. I need the wheels!

 

10. Armageddon Steel Legion-I am the most excited about these guys. the only problem is that they have recieved no support after 3rd edition. why does GW do this? oh well, I've been converting long enough to pull this off, i guess. but do I want to do that much work on an army? maybe?

 

 so now I know that I like Mechanized Infantry, so yeah, lots of Chimeras. oh and armor, lots of armor. oh, and Artillery, lots of artillery.

 

well, this seems to be growing into a full blown obsession. Like I care!

 

the only hard and fast theme idea I have for them right now is an Urban Warfare theme.

 

while the Big 'ol =][= is going to be pulling the strings there will be some heavy Ecclesiarchy influence, especially in the fluff.

 

 

so, let the advice begin.

[march10k]

a task-organized mech infantry company (mine is nine chimeras containing a CCS, 2 PCSs, and 6 infantry squads plus four tanks [two solo demolishers and a squadron of two russes]) works really well...plopping down 13 tanks at AV12+ and saying "well, I'm deployed" tends to cause the other guy's eyes to pop...but lately I've been going for 3-4 chimera-loads of vets and then fill up on tanks and sentinels...

[Adeptus-Alaska]

oh man, I forgot about sentinels....those are so cool.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Welcome, Bloodbath.

 

Oh ear you on DKoK. I actually find it annoying that it seems everyone and his dog has a DKoK army now. If I'd known they'd become so popular I'd have gone withy plan B which was a custom feudal world regiment kitbashed from Cadians and Fantasy Empire bitz. Well actually if I had that much clairvoyance I'd have focused on my Blood Angels and held out for Solar Auxillia!

 

But I digress. I say that if Steel Legion is what excites you then go Steel Legion. You have to paint a tonne of troops so you need to be excited about them. They fit the mech theme too.

[Father Mehman]

Welcome to the Guard, Bloodbath! We have cookies and punch on this table and cake on the other. No we don't! This is the Emperor's Imperial Guard! Look alive !

It sounds like what you want would be considered a Combined Arms Force or Regiment. As you know, infantry and armour regiments are separated so no one force can pull a Horus and start stuff. Every once-in-a-while you get some joker General that does it but I like to live in my pink cloud and say that's rare . Anyway, you could either combine some armour and artillery with your infantry or add armour and artillery to your infantry.

Say you have the 140th Bauhausian Janissaries- your infantry. Then you could either combine them with, say, the 24th Cocteau Armoured and have the 164th Yulunga Minutemen (Yulunga being both the planet they were combined on and also a really good song ) or add them together and have the 140/24th Combined Guard Group. Wow, my Goth-fu is strong today.

That's my two cents on the matter for the time being.

[steellegionnaire85]

You could have your cake and eat it too. I know you said praetorian are unavailable but if you use Cadian bodies Victoria miniatures has praetorian heads and other bits. You could build an army that is customized to your liking. Just a thought.

 

Also, I love my steel legion army. I have had them since 3rd. They are had to come by these days, and are a pain to convert if you want to be able to use all of your heavy and special weapons options.

 

If you use Victoria miniatures they have all kinds of different bodies heads and legs that could work with the cadian or catachan box sets. Just a though.

 

Happy hunting keep us informed on your progress.

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the Guard! :D Looks like you have a good idea of your force - a combined army of all the different types of units does well and gives you lots of different models to work with. Hybrid armies are common for these reasons but they also form the groundwork for any army type, which you will no doubt expand to eventually as all Guard players do ;)

 

As mentioned you can mix and match bits and forces if you like. Cadian troops are easiest due to the plastic support but don't forget you can make your own regiment up as many of us do and add some simple conversion work. This can make a big difference to how an army looks with relatively little effort, have a look at a couple of WIP topics that demonstrate this :tu:

 

We could do with a few more urban colour schemes I feel so I'm looking forward to seeing your models! :D

[SW1]

Welcome to the meat grinder ... Erm ... Guard.

 

You can do anything you like though a rag tag combined look can work, focusing on a single regiment is the normal way to go.

 

Lol ... So I'm going the opposite way with a mishmash of models instead.

 

Looking forward to seeing how you go with this project. :D

[CommissarZac]

Welcome to the guard.  I recomend Tanks, tanks, and more tanks.  Oh and don;t forget, tanks.

[march10k]

Zac, you forgot to recommend tanks!

[Altasmurf]

Well if money is only a partial concern then Steel Legion is probably your best bet, as you seem to like their look and they're pretty easy to make it look like they belong in an urban enviornemt. Now if money is a concern your best bet would be the cadian or catachan plastics, even kit bashing them can create a great looking force that has a unique style. But one more option if money is tight is actually the old metal catachans. They are all over ebay and can usually be picked up for a good price. As an added bonus every special and heavy weapon has been made for them so no extra converting required.

 

As for an urban warfare theme, that can incorporate all sorts of units from the codex

- Any infantry squad type with flamers or meltas

- Hellhounds

- Demolishers and Punishers

- Wyvren

- Ogryns, ratlings, storm troopers

- Taurox

ect.

 

The key is probably going to be more what kind of army style are you looking for. Combined arms approach, artillary company, rapid assault, air cav, ect. Is there certain style you feel will capture the Urban assault look you want?

[Vel'Cona]

Welcome back to IG!  There are plenty of painting resources around for mechanized/urban armies, so it's just a matter of nailing down a scheme you like and deciding how much you want to convert.  You may have luck farming out the old Steel Legion metals on Ebay or bitz trading sites, but it could be a long road.  Another option is to use third party manufacturers, though I'm not a huge fan of the quality inconsistencies many of them have.

 

Look forward to seeing a progress thread or army list in the future!

[Adeptus-Alaska]

well, I intend to pull from my RL Army experiance. I cut my teeth in the armored cavalry, then saw some time in artillery. I wrapped up my career as a Ranger so I got to do some really cool stuff and bring the pain in a lot of cool ways.my favorite table at the FLGS I normally haunt has a really cool Urban vibe......then buildings are added and it's a tough table to fight on. a lot of folks who have not conducted MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) in real life have a hard time with it. the last time I played the table was with Black Templars and it did not go well for the Ork player. I forced him to slog through wrecked buildings as every road and "intersection" was dominated by something big, nasty and mechanized! My vindicaire provided overwatch and my Templars went "house to house" clearing them out.

The IG guy I was allied with was furiosly taking notes and started following suit. we won an epic win. it was the first game I have ever seen that the Guard didn't die in the dozens. he actually made it to the end of the game with about 80% of his force, and he did quite a lot of the fighting.

whoops, ADD sidetrack!

ahem, so, should i take tanks Zac, I'm not sure if that was your advice......it may have been a little unclear

so after some thought, I am going to take the easy way out and go Cadian. I know they're a little Vanilla, but I really do like them the best. If I can find a decent ASL lot online, I'll of course snatch them up........and some ochre paint. but for now, It's cadian. I will add some Elysians for a little "coolness" support and so me Catachans for bitz and body type variety.

now my next step is to wait for my 40K core books to get in, read them make some paper markers for my son and I and start practicing.

My next purchases are going to be the Codex(es), then a Command Squad, advisors, Nork(cuz he's cool), and a Chimera

it'll be slow to start up, but Guard Train has no breaks.

[Chefzilla]

As the resident Treadhead, allow to me welcome to you the Guard. I second Commisarzac and if I may paraphrase Frederick the Great, "Tanks add dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl."

 

Toujours Pret, trooper!

 

Now don't forget to finish your PMCS and we roll from the track park at Zero Dark Thirty.

[WarriorFish]

I've had plenty of battles where I suffered fewer losses than my enemies - including elite armies! Guard can do anything you put your mind to :)

 

Apart from apply the breaks that is, but only because there are none as previously mentioned... ;)

[Adeptus-Alaska]

 

 

Now don't forget to finish your PMCS and we roll from the track park at Zero Dark Thirty.

wow, that takes me back. I kinda miss bein a TC!

 

 

 

Apart from apply the breaks that is, but only because there are none as previously mentioned...

oh no, no brakes. but we do stop sometimes......the line will be held.

[CommissarZac]

Lets not forget to have your 5988E turned into your unit's Enginseer by COB.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

so, is the Astra Miltitarum section where all the Army guys hang out.....if so, I guess I'm home!

 

 

i really do miss the Army.....but not Staff duty. yeah, definitely not Staff Duty.

[deathspectersgt7]

Meatsacks !!! Well I look forward to what you put together . I might do some Cadians up in USMC Korean War colors soon.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

DSS7, Oh I look forward to that. and never forget, strip away all the power armor and Astartes are just gooey meat sacks themselves.

 

 

 

we don't need power armour to hold the line, just the positive, loving and self esteem building words of our Comissars!

 

 

just saying.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

but yeah, their will be marines eventually.

this is the first step to an Apoc army. It will be inquisitor led. and incorporate many of the unfinished abandoned projects I had......like the Deathwatch.....who remembers that!

I will also have some Admech, some knights, some assassins, and an Ecclesiarch compliment with sisters!

[Father Mehman]

so, is the Astra Miltitarum section where all the Army guys hang out.....if so, I guess I'm home!

i really do miss the Army.....but not Staff duty. yeah, definitely not Staff Duty.

Welcome home! I would give you a fruit basket or something but we haven't seen a real piece of fruit for years. We're in the Imperial Guard now. So hooray for MREs and potable water !

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

 

Now don't forget to finish your PMCS and we roll from the track park at Zero Dark Thirty.

 

Welcome to the Guard. I'm new as well, but don't forget to come see me for your weather and drop zone brief, and I'll kick the tires and get your Air Support up.

 

Air Assault!

[march10k]

As the a resident Treadhead, allow to me welcome to you the Guard. I second Commisarzac and if I may paraphrase Frederick the Great, "Tanks add dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl."

Toujours Pret, trooper!

Now don't forget to finish your PMCS and we roll from the track park at Zero Dark Thirty.

Fixed that for you...

Bloodbath, if you've served, you already know what you're doing...move out and draw fire!

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Seems like we Military types are drawn to the guard... They're so much more versatile than other armies.