The Oppo: Bonehead's Lost, Damned and in all likelihood Disappointed

[Bonehead]

They're not really conceptualised at this stage, to be honest. They're just general purpose baddies for the moment- tied in to the 'Red Hand Dominate' of the Augustine crusade collaborative setting, but precisely how I haven't decided yet. All I have is a name for the cult- and a very generic one too. They're 'the Immortals'. It's got just enough about it to suggest any number of potential reasons without actually directing you to any particular one.

I do have a couple of ringleader type models- fancier sculpts that I've marked down for better things, basically. These will be the central coven of baddies on the cult side, somewhat like the big baddies from the Gaunt's Ghosts series. I finally remembered that one of them came from the Frostgrave range, and I looked back through them and noted a few more to pick up that will fit in nicely.

As I said, I've got a bunch of metal Cawdor models that I'll be doing up as a different cult, so my intention is to have the traitor guard as the ones more closely tied to the leadership and therefore more deep into the path of damnation-hence the total facemasks- while the various cultist mobs are your classic expendable suckers.

I've been thinking about how to use the Mordheim possessed models I've got to make a different set of cultists and I think they're going to be problematic for that purpose because they're too rare and expensive, basically. So I'll probably repurpose them as the sort of inner circle elites of the big baddies. They were going to be khorne cultists- the Cawdor will be Tzeench and I've got some Scavvies as Nurgle lads- but I think I might try and get hold of some of the metal chaos cultists from 2nd/3rd ed to be that instead.

Anyway, I have done the obvious thing and slapped paint on both sets:

Bearing in mind Dr Ruminahui's advice I've added some tan shades here and there among the cultists and I'll go back and put some in on the rest of them too.

I really had forgotten how quick the cultists were to paint in this scheme- they're halfway done already, it feels like.

I have just a few more and I'm finally getting some decent ideas about how to use them percolating through- I've got some decent rough plans for some more melee-armed models and a couple of heavy weapon teams. Once those are done, it should be on to the Cawdors, cultist wise.

The traitor guard are doing well enough, but they take longer- they come out just great so I don't mind. I think I've finally got the doctored green wash just where I want it now, which is great. A dark, brown-green, but not too dark. Just right to go over the grey and browns of the fatigues without totally overwhelming them. Not that you can really see it in this photo, but trust me it's how I want it.

Got a little way to go on them yet before I can move on to drybrushing the armour and guns. Got to touch in the ornage-brown highlights and then dab in the light grey flecks.

Still, decent progress. Once these sets are both done I'll be well over sixty baddies total.

[Bonehead]

Ok, the cultists are done. I got a picture that's too yellow and a picture that's washed out from flash. You'll just have to sort of work out an average in your heads to get the true look.

I'm happy with all of them. The models that is, not the photos.

They really are washed out, the flash makes it look like the chaos symbols barely show up but in reality they're very stark against the dark robes.

and from the rear:

Small progress, but satisfying progress.

The green lasgun and flamer are intended to imply that some weapons have been scavenged from my green VM army- again hopefully tying the two forces together. The lasgun in this case was carefully resurrected from an old set of scavvy weapons form the fanatic era. The set included a lasgun made into a club. I had to sculpt the cloth tied round the barrel because that was where the hand was sculpted holding it, originally.

The traitor guard are nearly done too; just metallics, lenses and red detailing to go. Should be a breeze to get them done on Wednesday.

Cheers!

 

 

 

[Gnasher]

yeah, they look like a right bunch of satanic nutters!

 

Well done!

[Bonehead]

On 1/29/2024 at 11:03 PM, Gnasher said:

yeah, they look like a right bunch of satanic nutters!

 

Well done!

Thanks! Much appreciated. I'm especially pleased with the one dude's wrong-way-round hands. Easy to miss but once you spot them you know he's under a malign influence.

[renegadeguard]

Looking awesome! any chance of a group shot?

[Bonehead]

Another milestone is reached

Bakshi checked the west corner of the third floor as soon as he could. After taking it back for what, the third time? The Fourth? Bakshi was surprised to see the little stash under the rafter was still in place. There were a few more holes in the wall below it than had been the case previously. It had cost them one of the new guys to learn that while they had the building itself back, they didn't have all the surrounding ones. He made a quick prayer of thanks to the Winds, nicking a finger and spilling a few drops of blood.

We'll get it at night, he thought. Another one of the new guys can earn his spot.

In the meanwhile he had enough to be going on with.

'Kady! Drummont! I want at least one floor of this miserable future spoilheap blocked up well enough to shoot out of without getting wiped in seconds!' Bakshi called to his sergeants.

They both managed to convey a definite impression of worry and hesitence through their expressionless masks.

Bakshi cut them off before they could speak.

'Do it at night, yes, you damn idiots, I wasn't born yesterday. We have the land to the south and east and clear paths through to us, which is more than the green fools had when they held this dump this morning. You can bring material in without worrying about snipers. Get something sturdy and block the damn holes. Rocks, I don't care.'

They saluted and hurried away. Men bustled.

Bakshi leant on a wall- one of the ones without holes, he was careful to be sure- and worked his shoulder. He'd used it pretty heavily swinging his chainsword in the final push of the morning and it was letting him know about it. He mentally offered the pain to the Winds as well.

Bakshi's eye fell on the men waiting ready beside the various dubious fighting postions around him in the shell-pocked tenement. At least they know their jobs, he thought. All of them ready, no-one letting the morning's victory dull their edge. Even the new guys were taking their queue from the old hands; gathering any useful material and pocketing it, scavenging armour plates, boots, ammunition.

Boots.

Bakshi closed his eyes and stared to the heavens. His mask made him no less readable than any of the others, which he was temporarily grateful for. As far as anyone knew he could have been offering another prayer of thanks to the Winds.

'Corraghane,' he called.

The man in question looked up. 'Sar?'

Bakshi winced in the merciful privacy of his mask. Corraghane's voice was becoming harder to understand by the day.

Where are your damn boots, Corraghane?' he demanded. 'It's not like we have a shortage, there's dozens of dead Yantar bastards you could be taking them from on this floor alone.'

Corraghane's mask remained blank and apparently so did his mind. He'd never been a complicated sort of man, but recently... Bakshi sighed inwardly, invisibly. It wasn't a good time to lose is temper and make an example.

'Booosh?' was Corraghane's eventual reply.

'Your feet are bare, Corraghane. The floor is covered in shrapnel, glass and brick shards. Where,' Bakshi paused to allow his soldier to keep up, 'are, your, boots?'

Corraghane stared down and then returned his gaze to Bakshi.

'Bews?'

Bakshi ground his sharp teeth. 'Boots, Corraghane. Like the ones I and every other bastard in here are wearing.' Bakshi pointed at his feet.

Corraghane blankly followed his gesture. He scratched his scaly neck.

'Boom,' he offered.

Bakshi knew a pointless exercise when he saw it, which put him one step above the useless loyalist morons that had been trying to hold this place with no artillery or sniper cover and not enough men this morning.

'Never mind, Corraghane. Get back to it. I want you and your boys covering the north until further notice.'

'Sar!' Corraghane saluted.

Ten weeks, thought Bakshi. Ten weeks I've had this platoon. Forty men shuffled in and out. And I swear to the Winds themselves that ragged idiot knew what a shoe was for nine weeks and six days of them. Oh well, at least he still knows which end of the rifle is which. Everything else is just noise.

 

And, right on time, it's the traitor guard. Next five men finshed and ready, marking another squad of ten done.

And I like the scheme more every time I finish a set. It's just very satisfying to get done; it looks great for how easy it is.

And here are the last two batches of five together to make the whole squad:

I've only got five more torsos so it's probably going to be a command squad for the platoon- the sergeant of the last lot is going to be the lieutenant, I've decided, so it'll be one more sergeant with a laspistol, a radio trooper, a pair of specialists with flamers, probably, and a trooper with a chaos icon of some kind as opposed to a banner.

Hope you like them, and happy Wednesday.

 

Edited February 2 by Bonehead
Spelling and grammar

[Bonehead]

On 1/31/2024 at 6:47 PM, renegadeguard said:

Looking awesome! any chance of a group shot?

Thanks! Totally missed this earlier. I'll see what I can do to oblige you!

[Bonehead]

Recieved some minor reinforcements this week.

The first lot include an old realm of chaos sorceror to use as an icon bearer and some original Confrontation scavvies- but they're in the meths jar waiting for paint stripping.

This is the second lot:

Two 2nd ed cultists -missing their guns and still absurdly expensive- another scavvy -I think this particular pose is especially useful because it's so open that I can cut the arms off and add new ones for pose variation- and finally a delightfully sinister robed and horned figure. Got no idea where the hell he's from, but I like him so who cares.

On which subject, he'll make an excellent member of the central cabal of chief baddies, who are slowly being gathered together. Rather than having a particular plan I'm just grabbing any culty-looking types that tickle my fancy. So far, we have this lot:

Obviously the big man is the..... big man.... but the others are yet to be fully determined as far as their roles and rank. I reckon the redemptionist guy is bob on as the head of the Immortals. The various sorceror types are probably the next rung up on the ladder to damnation.

Got my eye on a few more 2nd ed cultists on eBay, but man those prices are pretty grim. I might see about bulking them out with some converted Dark Eldar mandrakes or something similar.

Anyway, cheers all

[Bonehead]

And these are the other ones. The paint stripped alright off three of them but there was so much on the realm of chaos lad he's having his third bath in meths now. Scrubbed him twice and there's just more colours underneath. No wonder he was cheap.

Always loved those old scavvy models though. Very glad to have them joining the party. I think I've got somewhere around 20 models for the nurgle cult now.

Obviously on the left is another of the old 2nd ed cultists. It loots rough in the photo, but he's good to go.

[Bonehead]

Quick update: had a few lucky wins on eBay and we're up to 10 2nd ed cultists, plus one Fanatic redemtionist zealot who fits in nicely.

I've also got some 3rd party models on the way and I'm looking into some of the old Flagellant models too. The Khorne cult might well end up being a decent size.

Some of these have got just the dumbest looking guns I've ever seen on a GW model; the ones with blank tabs seem to be waving some kind of cut-down shotgun with a wooden bit on the back and a face sculpted on it. Definitely getiing hacked off and thrown in the bin. I'll replace them with something less offensively daft looking.

In general they'll need giving the old Bonehead touch- that is, needless conversions to make each model an individual. Few head swaps, weapon swaps and a bit of reposing. Not to mention the bloke with the missing arm could use a bit of help.

 

 

[Bonehead]

Never let it be said that I am either quick or efficient. Over two weeks since @renegadeguard asked, here's a shot of everything finished so far.

While I had them all out on the table, I took this shot down at ground level that gives a good impression of the whole set as a frenzied mob:

Very happy with how, now that there are more than 50 of the Immortals, they can really give the impression of a great big horde. I do need more weapons being waved overhead though. And probably more mutations. No, definitely more mutations. The ones I've included really don't read clearly against a mass of models. I need more obvious ones. Not a lot of them- these are new travellers on the road to hell- but subtle ones might as well not be there.

I grouped them roughly into 'squads' based purely on having three leader models and three general categories.

First up: melee-armed nutjobs.

Next: rifle/shotgun cultists in generally shooting poses.

Got to be honest, I love the the flamer guy to the left of the leader. The 'wall-eyed fruitcake burning the world' vibe is strong.

Finally, rifle/shotgun cultists in looking around, advancing, more passive poses:

Need one more flamer guy out of my few remaining models.

I also have noticed I need to neaten up all the base rims, so don't worry, I'll get it done.

Ok, next up is the first of two squads of traitor guard, in generally advancing poses:

And lastly, the other squad in mostly firing poses:

I've decided that the sergeant among these lot will be the platoon leader, so I'll put together a sergeant in a shooting pose.

There, I hope you all enjoy that!

[Bonehead]

OK, been doing the Rogue Trader guard for a little bit. But this week I ran out of finished models from that army to paint, so I cracked on with building more traitor guard.

I remembered I needed particular models for once, so here I have actually put together some models for the platoon command squad.

A flamer bloke, a radio man and a banner waver. I like the banner the way it is but I'm nevertheless considering changing it; I'll explain why in a minute. I probably won't, but the thought is tempting. I've also remembered that despite having the bits from Zinge Industries I've been forgetting to give my shotgunners shell bandoliers. I'll hopefully sort that out before painting these.

A rear view, just because I always kind of miss it when a poster doesn't give one.

Also in baddies news this week: Some proxy cultist models have arrived.

These are from Heresy Miniatures. I think they're caleed something like 'tunnel cultists' but if you google them you should find them no problem.

On the left of the lower image is a more conventional robed sorceror type- He'll be joining the coven of leadership-type baddies. One of the second-level guys, I think. Not a full-on mr X but a trusted subcommander. Someone more likely to actually be seen on a battlefield, making sure the plan is going the right way. Once he has a head, that is.

In the top image you can see the standard bearer model of the set- the banner actually has a fly on it so that'll definitely not stick around as these boys will be joining the gw cultists in the khorne cult. I think I'll give that model some kind of big two-handed weapon like a chainaxe or massive chainsword. Obviously the banner will go to the nurgle cultists.

In the lower image again, you can see a lad with no arms or head next to a drummer; he's the 'champion' model and has separate arms and head supplied but should be pretty easy to just give a knife and pistol and make another general purpose cultist minion. I'll probably swap in one of the GW cultists' heads to reinforce the links within the mob. The drummer himself is more problematic. I've really got no use for a musician in a mob of blood-crazed psychopathic death cultists, but on the other hand he'll be a massive pain in the arse to convert. That drum is just very big, and the metal is a harder mix than the old GW stuff. I'll sort something out though.

Now, I did mention the banner guy earlier. The champion model from Heresy came with a pretty grim and therefore perfect 'totem' looking thing on one of his arm options: basically a perfectly chaos-looking ribcage with skull on a stick. I don't really see banners as being a khorne thing- or not for these lot anywhay, they're firmly in the grip of the fight/frenzy aspect of the deal. But I think it will make a superb icon for my eventual Guard HQ unit. This sorceror will probably go in that unit as a dark reflection of a sanctioned psyker too, so it seems appropriate.

On the note of the HQ, I think I've got a plan for my army commander: I'm going to try to make a version of the old Forgeworld Renegade officer with the mutated head and chainsaw arm. Not for  alittle while yet, I don't actually have any more VM parts to make more traitor guard once the platoon command squad is done. I'll order more probably in a month.

In the meanwhile, I'll try and finally finish up modelling the last redemptionist based models and get started on almost certainly the khorne cult.

Cheers folks

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like the new builds you have, and I like the banner.  I think it works fine - from what you've shown us, your traitor guard are still a disciplined military force that still contains much of the trappings one would associate with such (mostly consistent uniforms, unit markings, etc).  As such, even if they are khornate, the banner works fine - after all, even bloodletters use banners.  That said, bones on a stick would also work, but would emphasize more the force they are becoming than the force they were... so really, its a judgment call. 

[Bonehead]

Yeah, you're dead on as usual there. I think saving up the bones + stick for the HQ should serve to show that the army may be an effective fighting force, but they're rotten at the core. 'The fish stinks from the head,' the czechs say, and I have to agree. The closer to command you get, the more steeped in corruption they'll be.

Glad you like the new models; got another couple sorted today so they'll be up for paint next, once the bases are done.

[Bonehead]

Just a quick bit of progress for you; The platoon command squad is ready for basing and then paint.

Also modelled up a couple of the Heresy miniatures tunnel cultists to match the 40k ones; while they're going to be an exclusively melee unit in theory, as befits old big K, the shotgun pose was right there and had to be done. They're only expendable suckers anyway, who cares.

They're going to fit right in with the 2nd ed guys. Like I said before, I'll do a couple of head swaps and that'll blend them in even more, but they already look bang on alongside.

Hmm. I really should have got a photo to demonstrate that point. Bear with me....

There. Pretty good as they come. With a couple of headswaps it'll be even better. Getting rid of that plastic uruk-hai head is probably going to have to happen too.

[Bonehead]

Another quick little update.

Had a load of internet problems recently and they've disrupted work- my actual jobs that is- a whole load so there's been not enough time to finish painting the command squad. They're coming along reasonably well- it would just be metallics, skin and detailing but I've had the first instance in this army of that annoying thing that happens sometimes when you bollocks up the drybrushing and actually remove paint down to the primer. I think there was too much moisture on the brush and it lifted the existing paint.

Whatever, they'll get done in the next week hopefully.

So as a quick tide-over until they get finished, here's what's on the building bench.

I finally managed to scrub enough paint off the realm of chaos sorcerer that you can see the detail. Disappointingly this revealed that his pointing finger has been squashed flat. Regardless, he's another of the circle of senior cult bad guys. I'm pretty sure I can get him to fit in nicely with the others. I did snag one more that I've been looking for and that should probably do it for the council of malevolence, unless I find something especially suitable.

Alongside him is a wyrd from the og necromunda range- he'll fit in nicely with the scavvies. Next to him is yet another wyrd who I honestly bought because he was at a very knock-down price on account of the missing hand and snapped pole/staff/thing. I figured the head of the pole will make an excellent banner/icon for a command squad, and the guy himself was just a bonus. I'm honestly thinking that he may fit in better with the small collection of genestealer models I have than the chaos cult. But it may be that I change my mind.

Obviously, on the right you can see that I'm putting together some cultist weapon teams. It's not exactly a simple job, to put it mildly. The first issue is that obviously there aren't any crouching redemptionist models. I do have two crouching cultist bodies from Anvil; so that's gunners for two teams at least, but making loaders out of redemptionists is proving tricky. Problem two is the guns: the tripods are reserved for lascannons for the traitor guard, so the heavy bolters need converting to manage with some kind of home-made stand. Not to mention that the lower part of the gun is actually moulded onto the stand, including the trigger mounts, so I'm having to try and make replacements out of bits of sprue and plasticard.

With this team you can see that the current plan is to have the gun just mounted on top of some crates and for the loader, I think I can model a belt of ammo in the redemptionist's hands. I will have to cut off the left arm and reposition it and put a new right hand in though.

This is just a terrible plan, it's going to take forever. Then I have to do it two more times. Bugger.

Oh well, at least I've got a stomach bug to take my mind off it...

 

[Bonehead]

I see that GW are doing a plastic malcador, and I have a traitor guard army under way. It seems like I really ought to do the decent thing and respect tradition here.

Plus I like how the traitor guard have a certain heavy infantry feel to them- I've been thinking about how I'd model up a sort of baddie equivalent storm troopers and come to the conclusion that I basically have already done it. So it makes sense to give them a big lumbering heavy tank too. That'll also nicely contrast against my RT guard with their more modern/maneuvrable lighter vehicles. They get chimeras, centaurs and lots of variants thereof; the less well-connected baddies get big dumb russes and malcadors. Makes sense to me anyway.

What do you reckon? And just as importantly, how should I paint it if I do get one?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I say if you think it will look good with your force and you'll have fun painting it, go for it.

 

As for what colour to do paint it, some options are:

 

1.  The infantry armour colour

2.  The infantry fatigue camo, but larger (and perhaps in a different pattern, say triangles or jags instead of blotches)

3.  A combination of the armour and fatigue colours (so, for example, the base tan with dark gray jags) or

4.  Some wholely different colour.

 

I'm personally inclined to 2 or 3, with chaos symbols all over the thing in red and/or white.

Edited March 20 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Tallarn Commander]

I like Dr. Ruminahui's suggestion Number 2: your Traitor Guard infantries' autumn camo scheme with something other than blotches. And maybe a couple giant red dripping bloody hand symbols as well as Chaos symbols.

 

There is something to be said for painting you Traitor Guard tanks in the same scheme as  your infantry. 

 

Edited March 20 by Tallarn Commander

[Bonehead]

Well, that's two votes for autumn camo, so autumn camo it will be. I do really like the idea of doing it in big jags as opposed to the irregular blotch pattern. Chaos symbols in red and/or white seems like a no-brainer. Probably red.

I probably ought to do a bit of practice. I'll have to fetch out my old russes and see about trying to strip them. And finding new turrets, come to think of it, I seem to remember having repurposed the ones they came with. Maybe some 3rd party stuff. Anyway, tips for stripping paint off of plastic models will be welcome.

Meanwhile, actual progress to report! Shock horror etc. Been unexpectedly busy with work and had a lot of gigs the last couple of weeks. Picked up a lovely sore throat off the band at the last one so I've been croaking and coughing around the house, grumbling and drinking lemon and honey. Ideal conditions for a bit of modelling time, in other words.

Platoon command squad progress update:

Just a quick one here; they're nearly done so I'm holding off until they get finished before doing better shots. You can see they're close, with the big colour areas done and the skin undercoat on. Next I finish off the arms and faces, and then it's the red detailing and the goggles. Pretty sure the banner's just going to get a big red hand and maybe some google special random words in a random language for my own amusement. Perhaps a unit number.

Finally we get all the other little bits of detail like the banner gubbins and then the bases. Hopefully not a long time investment.

Damn, just noticed the radio man has his upper face exposed and I've missed it. Well, there's time. No worries.

Anyway on to the real achievement of the day; I've actually got a cultist weapon team into a state I can really live with. Check it:

I'm really pretty damn pleased with how the loader guy looks: it was ten kinds of bastard getting that ammo belt to look even remotely alright in his hands, and I have to admit it probably isn't really easy to read both with the photo angles and the belt itself being semi-transparent, but I'm pretty happy. The best bit was his head, which I happily found in my cultist bits box looking just about perfect for the job. Barely took any filing and it fit so well I don't need any green stuff. Result!

As you can see with the gun itself I had to bung in a load of bits of sprue and plasticard to get the lower body of the it sorted out and also provide a mounting point for the pleasantly ropey-looking bipod I bent up out of finest paperclip.

I think it came out looking very much good enough overall. That is, a long way from perfect, but on the bottom, so who cares. It does seem fitting that the cultists would be fobbed off with a gun resting on a bipod made out of some old bent-up rebar propped on a crate, without any cover to speak of. The crate's from Anvil, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, that's one down, and I know what to do for the next, and I'm percolating ideas for the third. I reckon I might get to use up a few more redemptionists than I thought on the gun crews, which basically puts me a step closer to having finished building and painting them. Happy days. I think I'll probably end up with two more redemptionist-based cultists along with a few more modelled out of frostgrave models to finish up the immortals. Then on to the Russes, maybe.

Cheers everyone

[Dr_Ruminahui]

That heavy bolter conversion is super slick - excellent job.

 

You may have mentioned this earlier, but I seem to have missed it - have you moved away from your cultists being cultists and have them now being some form of "light" guardsmen?

[Bonehead]

On 3/20/2024 at 10:00 PM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

That heavy bolter conversion is super slick - excellent job.

 

You may have mentioned this earlier, but I seem to have missed it - have you moved away from your cultists being cultists and have them now being some form of "light" guardsmen?

Thanks mate! I appreciate it.

The cultists are going to remain cultists, in big unruly expendable mobs. I'm doing the weapon teams really mostly because I have a couple of the crouching bodies and gunner arms to go with them and I don't want to waste them; and I've really run out of ideas for how to model up the ordinary cultists if I'm honest. In terms of how they work in-game, I haven't thought that through for a millisecond. I'm not a fan of the current edition with all the cards and special rules to remember so I'm more or less making things up as I go along. I figure if I do play a game I can just treat the cultist weapon teams as if they were more traitor guard. My main concern is that they look ramshackle and under-equipped; the real pro baddies wouldn't waste quality gear on the suckers.

Talking of pro baddies, here's an almost finished set of 5 more:

I didn't finish the banner yet because I realised I need to have a bit of lore for the regiment decided on before I can pick the right symbols and names, although a big red hand is a pretty easy decision.

So I'll be asking for some ideas: I'd like a name for a home planet and a regimental type sort of name: I'm toying with 'the X Dragoons', but I'm not married to it. I've been trying to remember some good historical troop names but so far I can't think past Hoplites (light infantry so no good) Cataphracts (heavy troops yes, but cavalry), and Dragoons. Some more ideas would be really helpful. They are canonically part of the forces of the Red Hand Dominate, which you can read about here: https://apologentsia.blogspot.com/p/augustine-crusade.html While they've had a sort of parralel evolution in terms of colour scheme with Edd's Vrag-Rana that you can find down the link they're not really the same: those guys are elite forces generally used to bolster shakier and amateur armies, or as special forces. These guys are just a good old-fashioned regiment of damned and perfectly happy about it demon-worshipping heavy infantry. Veteran, professional, increasingly peculiar and thoroughly committed to shooting up loyalists.

Ok, side views:

You'll have noticed the old model who worked his way in there: that's the platoon leader, the guy in the just-finished set is his replacement as a squad sergeant.

Now, this squad being done means I finally have a whole platoon, if quite a small one. Time for a group photo:

I think I'll be adding another squad to bulk out the platoon a bit.

The next platoon will probably get missile launchers and grenade launchers. I think I'm going to arbitrarily give them no plasma guns; it gives them a flavour. The RT guard don't really have any grenade launchers while they're pretty plasma heavy and the Green VM guard go hard on flamers and only have lighter heavy weapons like mortars. I'll also need a company HQ with some support squads: definitely a set of lascannons, but what other heavy weapons suit the look? Autocannons are my thought, there's a real brutality to them that I like. Suggestions welcome, regardless.

I hope you like them!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like your new guys - especially the zombie faced sargeant and the officer with the chainsword on his shoulder - the pose is so natural looking.  That said, it does feel like a lost opportunity to have a power weapon or some other weapon of greater "status".

 

As for the banner, I'm of two thoughts - one is the simpler route, which is basically a normal type banner with your army symbol on it.  Perhaps more interesting, but more time consuming, complicated and harder to pull off, is to design and put on the original flag of the unit, then "deface" it with your big red hand.

 

Some historical unit type names include (in addition to the ones you've listed) hussars (cavalry), cossaks (cavalry), huscarls (bodyguard), praetorians (bodyguard), varangian (bodyguard), lansknechte (infantry), as well as various others that refer to the weapon used - rifles, lancers, musketeers,  grenadiers, etc.  Grenediers are an interesting example where the meaning has shifted with technological change - originally an elite unit that threw early industrial grenades (think those black bombs you see with big wicks off the top like those from old cartoons) to an elite motorized or mechanized infantry trained to fight alongside armored units.

 

In terms of cultist heavy weapon squads, personally I would keep the character of the two forces distinct and not use cultist models for AM/IG traitor units, as it makes for a much cleaner break between the two.  If that's the path you take, to use the kneeling legs, give them a heavy stubber instead the heavy bolter, as that's a unit the cultists can actually take.  That said, they are your minis and I'm just some guy on the internet, so be happy doing whatever you want to do!

Edited March 26 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

I'll say right off the bat that I really like 'Landsnechte'. Not super great with germanic languages despite allegedly being a fluent speaker of English but I'm pretty sure I can decipher it. It sounds perfect. Plus, I don't think I can bring to mind a single other IG collection or piece I've ever come across with the name. Basically it's a slam dunk. I'm 99% sold on it. Just need a home planet name to go with it. I've been leaning vaguely toward a peculiar sort of Hungary/Ireland mashup with the names for no better reason that having talked to Irish and Hungarian online friends the day I needed to think of names. I think Ireland has been done quite a lot, so perhaps some ancient Hungarian history needs looking into.

Anyway, thanks for the good review on the new guardsmen- the sergeant is a favourite of mine too. Lucky really, it was total pain getting the helmet to fit over the zombie head. I had one glued on before I noticed it was at a truly daft-looking angle and I had to basically cut it to pieces from around the head and get another helmet to start again with.

Luckily the result is the important thing and it came out fine. I do like how it basically suggests that under the masks they're all grotesque gargoyles. Definitely going to do more. Think I'm going to try and get some beastman/tau/kroot hands as well so I can have more mutations.

As for the cultist weapon teams, I don't mind them not being legal in the modern game because I'm defintely not going to play it. I built them partly because I've been percolating an idea of the Immortals as being a cult that has cropped up in several places and risen in not terribly effective, but disruptive insurrections. The forces of the Red Hand Dominate are using them over the long term as a means to disrupt loyalist organisation outside the Red Hand's own territory. The Immortals would need to be given a few more basic heavy weapons in order for them to swallow the lie that their unknowingly sacrificial spoiling actions are in fact going to be supported by Red Hand forces.

I just gave them the heavy bolters because I had them from the kit that I bought to get the traitor guard's lascannons. I haven't got any heavy stubber models that would fit the cultists models I have. So it was just laziness and inertia. And like I said before; I've more or less run out of other kinds of modelling inspiration for the robed cultists. This is the last gasp of getting them finished; damn if I can be bothered to do them again.

I'm most likely to play the cultists in a game of 2nd ed or 4th/5th ed- which I do actually enjoy. I've got the 2nd ed Chaos codex (or rather my buddy Will currently has my copy, but you get the idea) and the FW Vraks books which were 5th ed so I can use them in the LOTD armies from those. 2nd ed cults were a fun 'tier 3' army with lots of character, good for narrative games. Traitor guard was just rebadged regular guard. Those are the kind of games I prefer; non-optimised, characterful armies with only the players' own homebrew characters, writing their own stories through the games.

On the subject of cultist weapon teams:

Got a motley crew of idiots put together today. One final Frostgrave wizard body finally found a pose I could live with, and one more redemptionist got taken apart and glued back together with parts from the bits box. Pretty happy that both of them are adding to the 'mob waving weapons overhead' feel, if nothing else. Then we've got another tunnel cultist- this one was originally the standard bearer with the fly on the banner top. Not the most natural pose, but it basically looks alright. He needs a holstered pistol to complement the axe, but otherwise I reckon he's good to go. Finally the second heavy weapon team; basically the same setup again, but holding the ammo in a box rather than as a belt.

As you can see, they took more greenstuffing on the rear side than the front.

I've got three redemptionists left and a very vague idea about how to do a final weapon team with two of them. I'm going to try and do a final close-up cultist with the last one. I want to try a tentacle mutation, but I may have to give up on the idea depending on my sculpting. Only one way to find out.

Anyway, once the robed cultists are finished, tanks. About time something other than infantry showed up.

[Gnasher]

@Bonehead Have you seen these? They look along with the new female robed bodies right up your street!

 

https://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/male-robed-cultist-bodies-mixed-poses-5