7th New Haven Mechanized - Combined Arms Brigade

[The Titanz0r]

So, having lurked on the forum for some time now, I figured I'd start posting what I've been working on since I've been back home. Early this year, I decided to start an army with the intent to play now that I've gotten into the rules of 8e. I had played a bit back in 5e, but stopped for several years. Ever fascinated with and inspired by the Imperial Guard, and with my own experience as an Infantryman in a mechanized unit, I decided to forge my own mechanized Guard army. So was created the 7th New Haven. The working backstory for this unit is that they're the remnants of a regiment that was battered by a prolonged siege with Tau forced. I've attempted to convey that they've scrabbled together whatever equipment they could to continue fighting. The most apparent of this is my using Tau pulse rifles to represent plasma guns in each squad. I also intend to add trophies and kill tallies once I approach completion on the vehicles and such. Anyway, I suppose we should just get to it. Armed with three Cadian Battleforce box sets and some Cadian Forgeworld bitz, I've put together the following:

 

 

Here is a shot of what I have so far of the 7th New Haven. I do believe this is all the infantry I'll use in the main force.

 

 

 

 

My prototype twin heavy bolter chimeras, and mainstay of the force. Created using a modified Baal Predator turret. I was lucky enough to get four of them off Ebay for cheap, to create this conversion.

 

 

 

 

My prototype Leman Russ Conqueror and a basic Punisher. I plan to make two more Conquerors, and fashion them with kill trophies and various bitz.

 

 

 

 

A group of Ogryns with a kit-bashed Priest. This is a pretty good example of how I want to achieve the scrabbled together look.

 

 

 

 

I had to try my hand at kit-bashing some Rough Riders, using the Scout Bikes box. It's a basic conversion I've seen done before, but I had to try my own.

 

 

 

 

Another prototype to convert the Scions to look more like Kasrkin. I've seen this done before, as well, but again, had to try my own.

 

 

 

 

Here's work on a Kill Team I'm putting together. The most tedious work was converting the plasma gunner.

 

 

I had lost the previous images I took of putting together this force. These are just some ones I took quickly. Let me know what you folks think of what I've got so far.

 

[WarriorFish]

Welcome to the B&C, this is a great introduction ;) Lots of models all looking good and some kit bashing to boot :D Do you have a colour scheme in mind for them yet?

[duz_]

Love the conversions! Not sure about this heresy though... 
Can't wait to see some paint on them! :D

As WF said what colours?

Being mech, I assume they'll be using Tallarn or Steel Legion RD's? :)

[Azekai]

Always good to see some hardscrabble Guard... the messier, the better. I like you chimeras!

[The Titanz0r]

@WarriorFish You can kind of see a basic color scheme on the Leman Russ behind the Chimeras. That was one I had painted years ago, when the 7th was in its beginning stages. Back in 5e, I had it in mind to run Veteran squads in Chimeras with Russ support, back when Vets were troop choices and you could do drive-bys with the Chimeras. Never a fan of blob Guard, running mechanized vets was my attempt at creating a playable Guard army for as cheaply as possible, cost-wise. Anyway, the color scheme would be Shadow Grey and Chaos Black. Bluish grey fatigues with black armor would play will with the urban environment I envisioned my troops coming from. The Scions would be more elaborate, and the vehicles would have some kind of camo pattern that I haven't finalized yet.

 

@duz_ I've always been heavy into converting, less so on the painting. Once I get all my guys assembled, I'm really going to have to buckle down and get to the paint. As for heresy, it seems to me there's nothing heretical about bringing the Emperor's Mercy to xenos filth using whatever means are available. I figure it's even a bit insulting to be killing some Tau with their own weaponry.

Game-wise, I was going to run two detachments. A Steel Legion battalion, with the chimeras and troops and whatever is scavenged together. As well as a Tallarn Spearhead, with the Leman Russ tanks and some Sentinels. I'm not sure how efficient it will be, being as the game heavily favors blobs and such, but I'd rather run something that I'd find fun.

 

@Azekai I'm glad you like the Chimeras. I've always liked the profile and the chassis, but hated the turret. Years ago, I had an extra Predator turret that I slapped onto a Chimera, and I liked the way that looked significantly more. However, I was never able to get my hands on any Predator turrets for a good price until very recently. I managed to find four Baal Predator turrets, which were absolutely perfect for converting to twin bolter turrets, that seem to be really good this edition.

[The Titanz0r]

I also just realized I misspelled 'brigade' in the title. How embarrassing...

[WarriorFish]

I've corrected it for you; you can change the details of a topic by editing the OP in Full mode :tu:

 

Colour scheme sounds good to me, so time to get painting methinks lest your grey pile get too big ;)

[The Titanz0r]

I appreciate that. I plan on finishing up my Kill Team and get to painting once that's done. I've certainly got a ways to go.

[The Titanz0r]

Alright, so here are a few more shots of my Army so far. First, I'll show the working color scheme I have for the 7th New Haven.

 

 

Here's the basic scheme I'll use for the Infantry, represented on an old Sergeant here. Armor is chaos black with highlights of Shadow Grey and Ice Blue. Fatigues are shadow grey with a black wash and highlights of more shadow grey. I figure the base, wash, highlight method won't take terribly long on all that Infantry.

 

 

 

Here's a working color scheme for the vehicles. It's just shadow grey with chaos black stripes. I'm not sure how much I like it. I plan on trying out some more elaborate camo schemes for the tanks, using tape and hard edges and such. If anyone has any ideas for urban vehicle camo, I'd appreciate it.

 

 

And now, here are some more WIP and prototype shots. I'll start with the first prototype Chimera I did for this army.

 

 

I used the turret from a Tamiya Panzer IV Ausf. J 1/35 scale. I think it works, and I like how it looks. However, it'd be too cost prohibitive to model every Chimera this way. I'd be spending so much on Panzer kits just for the turrets that I may as well get the Predator kits like I originally wanted. The entire chassis would be getting wasted. Still, I may work on this further as a fun little side project.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my Conqueror conversion. It's simple enough. I just took the Annihilator cannons, sawed off the barrels, cut down the Battle Cannon, and slapped on a Terminator's Storm Bolter that I also cut down to fit. Not sure if I should tweak it any more than I have, since it seems WYSIWYG enough to me. I also added a removable Storm Bolter for the commander (It's just held in place with a pin), and a pintle Heavy stubber I put on the back of the turret. I drew some inspiration from Fury for that. I figure some Guardsman could jump onto the back of the tank and add some fire support, if needed (Totally fluff-wise, though).

 

 

 

Here's a shot of what I have so far for my Veteran squad. I plan on adding a mishmash of lasguns and bits, to represent their old, hardbitten nature. Already, there's lasguns from the vehicle accessory sprue and two different Catachan sets. I'm also using a Tau pulse carbine to counts as plasma gun.

 

 

 

Here's a shot of the rear of the Commissar model I'm using to counts as my Veteran Platoon Leader. Simple conversion of cutting off the power sword for a chainsword, and adding a Tau blade to represent the Dagger of Tu'Sakh.

 

 

 

So, as you can see, there is a lot of counts as and WYSIWYG. I'm really hoping nobody gives me any trouble for the various conversions I've done when playing the actual game. That's just what I'd need is for somebody to raise a stink about how several of my unique models don't count because they don't have the proper weapons or uniform. Maybe I should work on some back up models, just in case?

 

Anyway, let me know what y'all think. If anybody wants to know about how I went about converting my guys, I'd be happy to explain. There's certainly a lot of little bitz that you can't see in the group shots, such as pouch and magazine swaps and such.  I'll also get to work on the backstory, if anybody is interested.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like your "shadow grey with chaos black stripes" camouflage scheme.

 

The Chimera with the Panzer IV turret looks great, but what will that "count as" in-game? An autocannon salvaged from a wrecked Hydra, with a 72" range?

[noigrim]

Xenos weapons?

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/648/534/2b9.jpg

[The Titanz0r]

@Bjorn Firewalker I'm glad you like the color scheme. It was supposed to convey a dusk-like urban scheme, but still be somewhat eye-catching without being bland or drab. However, tiger striped vehicles seem all too common. So, I'm going to try my hand at some hard angles and such using painters tape and the like.

The Chimera was more of a proof of concept than a real attempt at a playable unit. I just wanted to see how it would look with kitbashing from real world vehicles, and the Panzer seemed like a good fit. I wanted to give it twin heavy bolters, but couldn't figure out a way to make them fit properly with the dimensions of where the weapon meets the turret. Although, I do like the salvaged autocannon idea. Maybe I should put that on the back burner for a modeling project to make it look like a ramshackle salvage job?

 

@noigrim If you think it's too heretical, you can come over to the 7th and try to make them give up their weapons. You can't argue with their tally of dead xenos, though.

[The Titanz0r]

Okay, here's the Kill Team I've been working on. It comprises ten models, 5 scions and 5 guardsmen. I seem to have gone quality over quantity, so I'm not sure how well it'll work out.

 

 

Here's the boys all together.

 

 

 

Here are the 'scions' I've kitbashed to look more like Kasrkin (Kasrkin being infinitely cooler than Tempestus Scions).

 

 

 

And here's the regular Joes that somehow found there way into fighting with a bunch of stormtroopers.

 

 

For the list, I only have ten guys.

 

Tempestor with Plasma Pistol (Leader)

Scion Gunner with Hot Shot Volley Gun (Heavy)

Scion Gunner with Plasma Gun (Sniper)

Scion Gunner with Plasma Gun

Scion Gunner with Plasma Gun

 

Guardsman with Vox (Comms)

Guardsman with Melta Gun

Guardsman with Melta Gun

Guardsman with Lasgun

Guardsman with Lasgun

 

It's fairly basic and comes to exactly 100 points, if I did everything correctly. My FLGS is starting the Kill Team Organized Play soon, and I'd like to try my hand at it. Does anyone have any experience with Kill team? Can any of y'all tell me what I have is competitive at all?

 

 

Other than all that, the next step is to get started on the painting all this nonsense. I just need to prime and base these guys and then get at it. An urban theme base with liberal use of Astrogranite should do nicely, I think. Wish me luck, comrades. I'm going to need it for all the painting I've got in store for me.

[WarriorFish]

I like the plasma gun conversions :tu: Astrogranite is good for urban rubble bases, I use it on my Chaos - bit of a wash and drybrush and its done :D

 

I've only used my Guard KT once (second game tonight) and I've got a few more numbers but otherwise similar in a Stormie with Guardsmen support list. I think your list looks a bit better with more special weapons, but I'm not yet sold on melta. At the least I think it'd be better on Scions for that vital extra pip of ballistic skill as the negative hit modifiers can mount up in KT quite easily.

[The Titanz0r]

Here are some more shots after a bit of down time.

 

First, here are my final Conqueror prototypes, fully magnetized. You can see some of the trophies and stuff, for which I was going for a veteran look.

 

 

And here's a rear shot, showing the stowage and such.

 

 

And here's the first of a few Sentinels for the 7th New Haven. I'm attempting to make it look as though he's squashed an unfortunate Fire Warrior, while stalking the field for his next kill.

 

 

 

Next, we have my Kill Team, which one second place at my local store's narrative campaign. I lost only one match, against Genestealer Cult, in a 'Take Prisoners' game. There was no chance I could win.

 

Here's my team, which only needs a final highlight and a few touch ups.

 

 

 

I'm quite proud of these guys. I feel like I achieved a decently weathered look for these vets of a long, urban campaign.

[WarriorFish]

Good to see some more models coming, and some finished ones! Like the colours, the dice gods will surely look favourably upon such a painted army ;)

[The Black Guard]

Lovely colour scheme!

[The Titanz0r]

In assembling the Hellhound, I found that the track guards don't actually fit properly, because of protrusions with the Hellhound's side. So, to model some kind of extra armor, and to differentiate it from other vehicles that have track guards, I tried some makeshift armored side skirts to counts-as Track Guards. It's pretty haphazardly thrown together, but if I keep it this way instead of doing it again more carefully, it can seem like the crew threw it together between battles, to protect their vehicle. This is something I'd really like some feedback on, since I've never worked with plasticard before. I want to model some side skirts onto the turret, as well, taking inspiration from the Panzer Kpfw IV Ausf. H. However, I can't figure out how to reliably affix it to the turret.

 

 

 

 If anybody has advice on how to improve this, I'd appreciate it.

[WarriorFish]

Like the old FW kits, if you want spaced armour on the turret too smaller bits of plasticard would work too. Alternatively bits of spare sprue could do the trick? Depends how much of a gap you want?

[The Titanz0r]

I decided that it's not worth it to try to put armored skirts onto the turret. The shape of it is too wonky, and there's too many fiddly bits that it would get in the way, and the armor itself would obstruct. I would have preferred to have the old Hellhound kit, which I think both looks and is shaped better, but oh well. Anyway, I added a few bits onto it to keep in with the theme of my army being on an extended campaign, taking trophies and such from each battle. I also found that the actual track guards don't fit on this Hellhound kit, frustratingly enough. The hull of the Hellhound sits over the track guide just enough so that the guards don't sit properly, and hang over the side. I took the track guards that come with the accessory sprue and cut them down, so there's at least some armor on those treads.

 

 

I have no idea what the big skull is supposed to have come from, I don't think it's a 40k creature. However, I'm quite amused with the idea of a big, screaming skull spewing fire out of its mouth.

 

Also, I finished assembling the Russ tanks for my Spearhead. Three Conqueror tanks lead by a Punisher Tank Commander seems like a decent force. I'm also perplexed with the design of the Leman Russ itself, after working on four of them for the past few weeks. As big as the tank is, there's surprisingly little surface area to work on and convert. It took some creative fiddling to get bits and stowage onto it to make it look like they're in for the long campaign. I took various skulls, helmets, and other things from a few different factions to make it look like trophies from vanquished foes across their numerous battles.

 

 

 

I've only got two more Chimeras and one Sentinel to assemble, then it's onto the long, tiresome road to painting it all. There's a narrative game day coming up at my FLGS in a few weeks, so hopefully that spurs me into action.

[WarriorFish]

You can always add them later if you want :) Good to see more armour coming along, and the extra gubbins are already looking good :tu:

[The Titanz0r]

I'd like to add a minor update, as I'm still slowly but surely on my way to completion. Aside from basing (which will finish after painting), I can safely say I've finished assembly on the 1,500 points I have of the 7th New Haven Mechanized. Let's see a group photo!

 

 

Aren't they pretty? I'm trying to not feel daunted by the painting that will come with all this.

 

Elsewise, I've got a small addition I want to add to the Chimeras, just to give them a little more character. I acquired some wire and mocked up some barbed wire rolls, to add to the front of the transports. It's a bit tedious to put them together, but I think it adds just enough more character without overloading the look.

 

 

 

 

I've also got a few games under my belt, and while I can't say I've won a lot, I've had a good time playing this rolling thunder of an army. I will say, that nearly every game I've played has been incredibly close, losing by only 1 or 2 points or fighting to a draw. Frustratingly, it mostly seems like the luck of the dice has caused several of my losses, as I can't figure out anything I'm doing tactically wrong (aside from the few mistakes and ignorance that comes with just starting to play).

 

Things I've found so far are that my opponents seem to prioritize the Sentinels, which seems a poor choice, and the Leman Russ tanks, obviously. The Tank Commander is a bullet magnet, as is expected. Curiously, the Chimeras seem to take priority over my infantry, which seem only a tertiary target most of the time. I've had my Infantry squads remain on objectives for entire games, only getting shot at when there's no other targets for my opponent.

 

The Conqueror tanks have been stellar so far. The ability to re-roll any failed hits for what equates to a Battle Cannon is very strong. I really don't see why they're not more popular (outside of being Forgeworld). The Tank Commander performs as I expected, with 40+ shots at BS3, re-rolling 1s with 'Gunners, Kill on Sight.' I've annihilated an entire mob of 30 boyz before, with one turn of shooting. He can really send hate downrange. The Sentinels are an unexpected survivor in almost every game I've played. Despite taking some real heavy shooting, they manage to stick around with only a few wounds remaining. I've had a Sentinel last several turns with only 1 wound left, even charging into Space Marine characters. The Hellhound either performs excellent or poor, there doesn't seem to be an in between. I've had games where he absolutely slaughters infantry and characters, and games where he gets three hits and then immediately dies. My Armored Fist squads are admirable objective holders. I've taken to keeping two of the squads loaded up in two Chimeras to move them wherever they need to go, while deploying the other two on objectives in or near my deployment zone. Using the Chimeras as blockers and mobile cover seems to work pretty well. My opponents generally target the Chimeras over the Infantry, even though the transports never really do anything once they drop off their troops. The troops themselves are a real powerhouse. With a rapid fire range of 18" they can really pour fire on, while staying relatively safe themselves. The two squads I keep with my Warlord being especially strong. When Laurels of Command activates, it's FRFSRF and Take Aim netting me 32 Lasgun shots, 2 Overcharged Plasma shots, and 2 Bolter shots out to 18" with re-rolling 1s, on two squads if I get lucky. They're a real strong firing line.

 

Overall, I enjoy this list that I've gotten together. Hopefully, once I get more experience, I can start turning those close losses into close victories. In the coming weeks, I'm going to start getting that paint on my guys. I bet they'll perform better once they have their colors.

[WarriorFish]

The dice gods do like painted armies ;)

[GuardDaddy]

Agree with points about sentinels.

 

I wonder if they win the 'most irritating unit' award in 40k for our opposition!

[The Titanz0r]

Agree with points about sentinels.

 

I wonder if they win the 'most irritating unit' award in 40k for our opposition!

 

That's why I'm adding more when I make the jump to 2,000. I'm going to swap the Lascannons for Autocannons, and see how that goes. It's hilarious watching my opponent stress out about a lone Sentinel, wandering back and forth in the midfield, just taking potshots.