Guard Theme

[Calgar 2.0]

What have you used as theme for your guard? I'm thinking of making some to run a Castellans detachment, and needed some ideas. I'm thinking possibly something based on German DDR troops, just because of how odd the idea is, or possibly something a bit older (like the Finnish Army). I would like something that can mesh well with the general dogma of the Marines Malevolent (my primary army).

 

East German Army:

 

Finnish Army WW2:

http://i.imgur.com/YMMFlOj.jpg?1

[Otto von Bludd]

My guard is loosely based off the WW2 German Wehrmacht  (headswap + colour scheme) while my Scions, in keeping with the theme, are loosely based on the SS.  Scions are, more or less, to the Guard what the SS was to the Wehrmacht, so it works out nicely and allows the two forces to look  different, yet unified, beside each other on the battlefield.  For the record it is a thematic and artistic choice, not a political statement; I love painting red, black, silver and grey.  Germans know how to make some great looking uniforms.

 

Some poor quality pictures:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/sKG5yDs.jpg

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/UL6eYNp.jpg

 

 

From left to right:

 

Scion, Commissar, Guardsman, counts-as Space Marine Bolter Scout, counts-as Chapter Master Lias Issodon (the latter two being for my "non space marine Space Marine army.)

[Tallarn Commander]

A Finnish army circa the 1940 Russo-Finnish war would be fun.

 

Part of your army could have lascannons, emplacements like the wall of martyrs, and artillery to represent the Mannerheim line.

 

And part of your army could be infantry blobs modelled with white parkas, snowshoes, and skis to represent the more mobile Finnish units. You could give your foot troopers meltaguns (modeled as molotovs of course) and autocannons (modelled as the iconic suomi submachine guns). You could also stick to theme and refuse to include fliers and Russes in your list. :)

 

It would be an underdog list, which seems fitting.

[Kuro_Ryu]

My army is ww2 soviet themed. I've got a project log linked in my sig. I'm currently working on building up a core foundation of infantry which I can add armour and artillery to.

[Shamansky]

When i was starting my Guard regiment i was thinking of russian army and police special forces during chechen counter-terrorist operations. Mixed and improvised uniforms, headbands, caps and bandanas instead of helmets, lots of IFVs and APCs.

http://cs633823.vk.me/v633823214/182a0/NbI93jaqt8s.jpg

http://cs619320.vk.me/v619320214/13309/tGMGLpcE15Q.jpg
http://philologist.livejournal.com/6623414.html

I took ctachan and cadian BF boxes thinking of simple mixing parts. And there was a "Surprise muddertrucker!"-moment. cadian torso has belt on it but catachan models have belts on legs part. so kit bashing was limited to heads and hands. And as it was about ten years ago, there were not so many alternatives to GW parts and catachan guardsmen models are really ugly except for their heads (their heads are really badass), comsquads and HW-teams, i used more and more cadians without mixing later.

[WarriorFish]

Colour wise my Guard are inspired by modern temperate DPM, it's a relatively simple approach but works well (albeit slow to paint...) :) For the theme they take from a few 1800s countries as a rough mix for their approach to things.

[RADU LYKAN]

Starship troopers for my alcari

Fall out/stalker etc for my bethesdans

Enemy at the gates/call of duty maps for my Kursk

Ash waste nomads/Lawrence of Arabia for my aridians

Pre roman Britain for my trinovante

A bridge too far for my saladorians

The hurtgen map from call of duty for my hurtagenians

Am sure there are more but that's it off the top of my head

[Toxichobbit]

My Guard are firmly rooted in 40k. I haven't gone for a real world theme, though I've done armies in the past that are based on historical forces. This time though I wanted to take basic Cadians and tweak them to make them more fitting to what I wanted in a Guard army. There's lots of conversions on the basic infantry, mostly sex changes though a lot aren't noticeable unless you really look (exactly how Guard should be, units not individuals). I'm also improving poses on stuff like heavy weapon crews (loaders actually feeding ammo or loading missile launchers rather than pointing) and adding  plenty of stowage to vehicles. I'm keeping away from very noticeable conversions. I much prefer keeping things subtle rather than making big sweeping changes.

 

Then there's minor adjustments to the paint scheme to make them more realisitc, stuff like a lack of metallic areas (almost all equipment is painted matt green or black ala modern infantry with just small details like grenade pull rings and knife guards in bare metal). I'm also working on stuff like giving everyone weathered armour and weapons but it's going really slowly. Weathering every Guardsman's fatigues and equipment is a time consuming process. Vehicles are more heavily weathered.

 

So I guess you could say the theme is Cadians with personal touches.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

So this thread is actually pretty well timed, considering that I've been thinking of repainting my army. I was going to do my Thunderbolts in a WW2 US Navy color scheme, and I figured I might re-do my ground forces to compliment that.

 

I figure this might be a good thing with the possibility of an ETL like event only a few months away.

[Inso]

I don't really have a theme but I will be using a toned down paintscheme that sort of ties into US WWII field dress and will be using a mix of WWII vehicles instead of GW ones.

 

I haven't got as far as insignia yet.

[Joe]

Physically, I've based my army (or at least, the mental image I've been working on) on the uniform of the French Army in the First World War (after they adopted the Adrian helmet and the grey-blue uniform, as opposed to blue-red). Realistically, this'll mean I have to purchase third-party pieces for my infantry whilst using Games Workshop's existing vehicle range.

 

I play in my FLGS anyway, so I don't have to worry about Geedub telling me I can't bring my stuff in.

[Minigiant]

I am currently working on my Household Cavalry themed Praetorian army. Only Rough (Death) riders and tanks. Death Rider models with Curious constructs pith helmet heads

[VulkansDynasty]

I approach my guard from a "tactical" stand point, mixed with 40k-ism. Each unit is painted based on the battlefield role, with armor plates as the unifying item. So the squad I've been working on for the Ioria Campaign has grey fatigues and muted blue squad markings to denote their forward infiltration in urban environments theme. However their weapons, and armor are still the same green color as my other guard. 

 

I intend to carry through this idea throughout my army, with green on green for a forest theme, green over grey for urban units, and the "dressier" guys will have the crème and green of the "cadians". I dislike camo for my Guard, as nothing makes sense to be camo in 40K, the only place that may make a difference is in a Guard on Guard, or Guard on Cultist environment. Every other foe has many ways to "see" my guys, so camo would be purely ascetic, and since it's a pain in the butt to paint over a large scale, I'll just stick to solid colors. Also I dislike putting too much contemporary looks on my Guard, I stare at camo patterns all day at work, and when I play with my plastic soldiers, I want them to just look cool, and not camo.

 

After typing this...I may need to go back and paint another chimera for my urban force in green and grey instead of the one I did in tan.....hmm.

 

Otherwise, OP, I would suggest you paint them up with what you like the look of best, and what you can replicate.

[Mard]

I've based mine off the PS3 game Valkyria Chronicles
I always likes the paint scheme for it and though at the moment I'm only working on the Epic scale army, I plan to make a small 2nd ed or Kill team army at normal scale for them in the future

http://i1316.photobucket.com/albums/t613/John_Hammond/BAC%20EVENT/BACUPDATE1_zpsgvqh5ojw.jpg

 

[duz_]

My Cadians I had originally painted with a Robocop inspired theme.

I was going to switch to Starship troopers scheme.

However having tried various iterations of that and felt uninspired by their overall design. Especially compared to my Mordians I will most likely repaint them in Vietnam era jungle fatigues. That way I can use them as regular infantrymen or conscripts.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I'm probably going to work on a scheme that blends well with Raven Guard, since I have a Force of them that I'm sort of working on. And with the Castellans of the Imperium detachment, Raven Guard is the only Vanilla marine force I'd have to work with, so there I go.

[WarriorFish]

I've based mine off the PS3 game Valkyria Chronicles

I always likes the paint scheme for it and though at the moment I'm only working on the Epic scale army, I plan to make a small 2nd ed or Kill team army at normal scale for them in the future

You know, I thought they looked familiar but never put two and two together! I based my Knight on the same, hoping you get round to that KT idea soon :)

[our_baz]

I run a similar approach to @minigiant. I've used the Household Cavalry as inspiration for for my guard uniform.

As a slight change from the norm, I run two different uniform styles, I use the Cadian models to represent combat dress and Mordian models to represent Ceremonial dress. A scheme which I also follow through onto my Orgyn's

Finally for my scions I run a standard black spec ops uniform, with a red skull depicted on the helmet.

For amrour I use a "Urban Dazzle" camo pattern. To tie with the combat doctrine of my regiment.

[The Mad Hermit]

With my Guard, I've always wanted to go for a look and feel inspired by the old olive green BDUs that I was issued when I first enlisted in the military

 

I was among the last classes in basic training to get those

 

everyone else after us got woodland camo BDUs

 

since I wasn't thrilled with the results using GW's Ogryn Camo paint I've since taken to using RMS Olive Green with a light drybrushing of RMS Pale Olive to simulate it

 

if I want a more worn feel I go a little heavier with the drybrusking but I also do a lot of straight-up edge highlighting

 

the armor bits are done in either RMS Olive Drab or GW Deathworld Forest, as they are practically indistinguishable to my eyes

[Calgar 2.0]

Excellent posts everyone. I've decided to go with an East German style guard regiment, and have parts on the way to make them. Still need to figure out  how to make the stupid helmets they had, though. I'm presumably going to have to sculpt the helmets and learn how to cast.

[WarriorFish]

Maybe some third party Russian WWII helmet heads might be what you're looking for? For example these sets?

[Calgar 2.0]

So, just an update. I have completed the first quad for my regiment, a dismounted light infantry squad of the Pommern 10th Mechanized.

 

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac207/calgar_20/20170213_020402_zpsgwvfjdj1.jpg

 

They consist of Victoria Miniature's combat legs, and Mad Robot Miniatures Combat webbing torsos, fatigue arms, beret heads and Kurgan battle rifles.

[Cpt_Reaper]

When I finally restart my guard their theme is a mix of the Grand Army of the Republic and Imperial Stormtrooper Corps.

 

The particular force I'm painting will be the 501st Legion. However they share a home system with my Astartes Chapter.

[Inso]

That's a nice mix of components... and using the MadRobot beret heads means that the ones Warrior Fish linked to would fit in nicely style-wise.

[Zeller]

WW1 French. The main infantry force is a horizon blue color. Storm troopers will be french foreign legion wearing the khaki color. I'd like to add a platoon of Bengal soldiers as well. Recon units have a separate paint scheme based on french armored cars of the period, russes on FT-17, arty based on field guns, and valks on biplanes. Should look cool...someday.