Tallarn 30 Corps, 4th LRRS WIP!

[Jahxius the Interrogator]

Right!

 

With the Nudging of Warrior Fish I thought I'd create a WIP project thread for my Tallarn Desert Raiders Army. (Specifically the Tallarn 30 Corps, 8th Iron Fist Division, 4th Long Range Reconnaissance Section.

 

Full Disclosure, this is the first Army I've done since early 4th edition, so much has changed and I'm looking forward to challenge however I have 

taken an oath upon the Golden Throne that this army will be the first I have done that is truly stunning to look at! (At least as far as my relatively low standards require)

 

To that end, I've decided on my first 1000 point List which I will detail below, the aim is to do it unit by unit. Although the standard guardsmen will simply be Tallarn Desert Raider models, my plans are to heavily kit-bash/Convert several other elements to give a light infantry-behind-enemy-lines sort of feel.

 

My specific Tallarn unit is designed to be a quick striking, fast acting strike force. Deep behind enemy lines, they use their high mobility to cause all manner of head aches to the enemy. From blowing arms depot's to ambushing convoys, deep in the deserts, jungles, and plains of the numerous worlds of the 41st millennium, the 4th LRRS is there to annoy!

 

Specific inspiration came from Desert SAS bods during the 2nd world war such as the below:

 

 

That said, a fair bit was also gotten from the other side:

 

 

My First 1000 points is as follows

 

Raid Captain Karn (Lord Commisar)

Father Rasmus (Ministorum Priest)

2 Units of Veterans armed with Plasmaguns in Chimera's

1 Unit of Veterans armed with Meltaguns in Chimera's

1  Ogryn Unit in a Chimera

3 Armoured Sentinels armed with Plasma Cannons

2 Wyverns 

 

 

I already have my Priest, Commisar (Captain Karn), Chimera's, and 40 Desert Raiders. A number of conversions will be undertaken, including converting a bog standard Tallarn Sergeant into the heroic desert raider Captain Karn, and turning the Rocket Launcher Tallarn into melta gun chaps.

 

The Ogryns will likely be "deserted" (is that even a term) up. i.e. Turbans and perhaps even a hookah! (Should I feel daring enough)

 

Something interesting will need to be done with the Sentinels, such as opening up their hatches or having crew's climbing the legs to reach the cockpits. Almost a mini-di-o-rama, if you will.

 

Once I manage the first 1000 points, I'll be rounding it up to 1500, perhaps by adding in some light aircraft (cough cough Avenger Strike Fighter....) :)

 

I plan on making this thread  a highly visual affair, and to kick it off I thought I'd speak a thousand words by posting a pic! Please be advised that A) this is a horrible picture.... and B ) the raiders you see are far from done, much detailing, highlighting, and rebasing is needed, but none-the-less it is a start!

 

I'll be updating the thread as I proceed, expect frequent updates considering I've plan on dedicating at least 6 hours a week to this latest endeavour!

 

Thanks for all who seem drawn to the dribble I will undoubtably be creating, and as always, I'm definitely on the hunt for further inspiration!

 

[Gunmonkey88]

That's an excellent, ambitious undertaking, those three already look great! I'm in the middle of a similar challenge myself so I certainly sympathize with the effort. I'm looking guard to seeing it progress.

[walter h]

Fantastic, this sounds great. I'm gonna follow your progress.

[steellegionnaire85]

Wheeled tauroxes would give more of the light heavy weapons you need and the SAS rat pack feel from the old TV show. I mean you could use them to give it that feel

[hendrik]

good choice of regiment! the scarfs are pretty easy to scult yourself with greenstuff so you could easely "tallarnize" all vehicle crew!same for the ogryns, although personally i feel you should scrap these from your list and replace them by more long range firepower, such as a leman russ to help on taking down tanks etc. In fact, if you drop them , 2 of the armoured sentinels and 1 plasmagun oyou can buy another two executioners, or two HB sponson armed eradicators (to deal with infantry better if there's a lot of cover), or even two normal leman russ battle tanks or  two vanquishers or... my reasoning being that the ogryns are a pretty "meh" unit all in all, while the russes can bring so much more to the table! In addition, if you're clever you'll magnetize those russes so you can field all variants, allowing you to change this 1000 pts list ever time without the need to buy additional units (reg, this list will play a lot differently when taking two vanquishers, than when you're fielding two eradicators. (Buy the demolisher box, and use some plasticard tubing to create inserts for the demolisher barrel to represent the vanquister cannon, the battle cannon and the eradicator barrel! all variants you'll need!)

[WarriorFish]

Good stuff, sounds like you've a good plan ahead of you. Your models look good too so I'm keen to see more especially as I love the Tallarn! :D

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

God, it's a shame that the only guardsmen that are really available these days are the plastic cadians (catachans are in plastic now too, I know, but they're not readily available). 

 

I applaud your theme. I'd suggest tauroxes for transports, though, Taurom primes are better (though only available to Stormtroopers/Scions). Some elite infantry couldn't hurt (you could use whatever models you want, personally I like Kasrkin) to fill that role and get the wheel kits for the tauroxes. Nothing Beats the Taurox prime for a fast moving raiding force (the Taurox Prime is a Fast vehicle afterall, and heavily armed like the old WW2 SAS Land Rovers).

[Jahxius the Interrogator]

Hi all, thanks for all the comments, 

 

Given the current obscurity of the Tallarn models, I could run them as a Militarum Tempestus army mounted in T-Primes.......

 

I really love the concept of adding wheels to the Taurox's and turning them into desert strike vehicles!

 

Would be interesting to know what people may make of that! I can't see it being too much of an issue.

[WarriorFish]

It would be cool, but Chimeras would also fit the theme so don't feel like you have to choose ;)

[hendrik]

in fact, tallarn was known to host the biggest tank battle ever in the imperium... tanks are definetly an option!

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Battle_of_Tallarn

[steellegionnaire85]

You could use your tallarns and get some of Victoria miniatures with the rolled sleeves and slouch hats to fill the gaps in your army that would build the fluff they also have berets as well so you could build up a nice force that way. It would fulfill the SAS feel

[hendrik]

you can always use cadians. just remove the shoulderpad and helmets, and a 3 minute GS job:

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/20150601_094547_zpszantkc6o.jpg

this gets the look across imo. offcoursez you could go further and ake sure the rest of the uniform matches aswell!

[WarriorFish]

That's great hendrik! Any chance of a tutorial please?

[Jahxius the Interrogator]

Sweet Potato Fries Hendrik, that is awesome! I second a tutorial!

[walter h]

I second , Jahxius the interrogator.Warrior fish as well.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I think we're all in agreement, tutorial.

[hendrik]

ok, now i'm not that used to making tutorials so perhaps someone more BnC code minded can rework this post into something nice. either way, here's how i did it:

 

1) cutt off the excess pieces of the helmet allong the lines shown. you should end up with a "cube" shaped head, the face remaining the only original surface.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/20150612_175039_zpsf1wplqoj_1.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/e410df84-79ea-43c7-942b-0fa20c960d21_zpshwu3q8sw.jpg

 

 

2) roll up some green stuff, and flatten it evenly. I'm using a plasticard sheet with saliva on it to prevent the greenstuff from sticking to the plasticard, but your average sculpting lubricant (water, maybe oils?) could work just as well. basicly just make sure the greenstuff doesn't stick to it! use some more 'lubricant' to make sure there are no fingerprints left.

use a blade, or some scissors to cut out two pieces of greenstuff fabric.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/2ccb0007-e516-4c26-88ed-956b551a6d75_zpspq7vxkai.jpg

 

3)You'll start by sculpting the upper scarf piece first, as that's how there are worn as well. place the greenstuff fabric on the head and carefully wrap it around the upper part. i also flatten the greenstuff on the top. Always work from the front to the back! the front side is the only side that matters, and you can get away with more in the back where the fabric would do all the overlapping anyway.
use more 'lubricant' to smooth it all out. use whatever sculpting tool you're used too (i used to use my cutting knife for all this, but recently got a simple scultingtool just for the sake of it. you could even use a simple toothpick) to create some small lines in the fabric.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/6249ac51-37e8-4497-8a2c-c2c0ea289224_zpsobansjxb.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/273c0a00-8c58-41e4-bcea-b1b3756e913a_zpsk2ciaeoo.jpg

 

 

4)smoothly attach the second piece of greenstuff to one side of the hear, somewhere around the ears. and work it around the face. one it's "wrapped around", use your sculpting too to put the mouthpiece in place, working along the direction in which you attached the fabric in the first place. doing so you will move some greenstuff around, making it "fall" more naturally, eg following the conours of the neck. once you've reached the back cutt off all excess greenstuff.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/5f0c47a1-77aa-45f8-96e8-bd60e9008f39_zps6kyfv5lg.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/1b15833e-b63b-4dec-b338-2d4d74e6ce9f_zps81vz38tv.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/010c68f0-19b6-4cbe-ac03-03adaa905725_zpsjejdp8om.jpg

 

5) use the sculpting tool to make some small lines on the lower section ot the scarf to represent wrinkles, just like you did with the upper piece. by inserting your sculpting piece into the opening made for the face you can decide in how much of the face you want to show. preferably you'll want to be able to see the upper teeth of the face, just to suggest an easy method of breathing. The back end should recuire minimal workup to look good.

 

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/9c476ff8-832c-4807-b51f-91cdf1f4992b_zps2xfxfrfg.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb281/amorfatipictures/c2d572fe-aa6d-477c-913c-089ee89009e0_zps0idfkjvz.jpg

 

 

 

To differentiate them even more from standard cadians i've decided to shave off the shoulderpads. i did this by cutting them away and then using some greenstuff to reshape the cloth. if you're really motivated to could attack some small shoulderstrips to them (I did on mine). note that you should do this before you do any work on the head! To get a more authentic tallarn feeling i would recommend cutting away the lower sleeves, and trying to resculpt these as bare arms. however i've got no experiece with that so this will be up to someone else to try!

 

if you've really not feeling confident about your greenstuff skills (i know i was for a long time!) first try this conversion by gleuing a space head on a piece of sprue (preferably T shaped, to help with holding it).

 

now this method does make you're dessert troops look differently from the old school tallarns, but it can be easely used to tie in the otherwise cadian vehicle crew in with your tallarn (eg the sentinel pilots, tank commanders, wyverns opperating crew)

[WarriorFish]

Very nice, and simple too! I will give a Tallarn Veteran squad some thought, see what else I could do to Tallarn them up :) Great work hendrik, I will see about sprucing it up and adding it to the resources topic :tu:

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Very nice tutorial Hendrik! It may improve my green stuff skills. I might try adding some shemaghs to some of the next cadians I get, to try and add some more non standard equipment. 

[Vel'Cona]

That's really cool, and surprisingly more achievable than I would have guessed. That said, not sure I have the patience to do this 50+ times!

[hendrik]

That's really cool, and surprisingly more achievable than I would have guessed. That said, not sure I have the patience to do this 50+ times!

to be honest, once you get the hang of it, the conversion takes less then two minutes... painting them will definetly be a bigger challenge!

[WarriorFish]

Nonsense, paint them white and tickle with a wash - maybe an overbrush or drybrush on top if you're feeling fancy. Easy! :D

[SW1]

If you want bare arms I'd use Catachan models as a base or attach Catachan arms to Cadian bodies?

[WarriorFish]

Catachan CS box has great bare arms :tu:

[Jahxius the Interrogator]

Thanks for the amazing Tutorial Hendrik!

 

Well after a busy weekend I managed to piece together all but one Leman Russ. I still need to add all the stowage and wrap greenstuff cloth over the barrels, but I'm still undecided on the exact placement of elements.

 

 

Once the last Russ is finished, I'll need to start putting together my Captain. The Idea is that he is  Commisar who has "gone native" I'm thinking of removing his hat 

and creating a headdress similar to the SAS desert rats in my original post. I'll probably have to brush up on my dremeling skills!