Imperial Guard Mega Update (Pic Heavy)

As part of the mega recap, next up is the Imperial Guard of the Warick Rifles.

As you know, there was a little.... erm.... clean up operation that saw the mass paint stripping of my older Imperial Guard elements. Namely, all the old metals and such that was painted very badly in winter camos.  Not wanting to let all that war material go to waste, I grabbed some Blue Spirit (living in Norway means the brand name is most likely irrelevant to you folkes, sorry!), which is an Isopropynol cleaner they use in washing car windscreens.

Plonk everything you want to strip into an Acid Proof bucket and then pour the stuff in. Wait 10-15 minutes, take out one and scrub.

 This stuff works beautifully on both metal, resin and plastic, as it soaks into the pain and under the layers, seperating them and making it easier to scrub off the bulk.  As you can see, the plastic tank hulls had some staining, but for all intents and purposes, they were stripped good and proper.

Just don't leave them in too long...

So began the reconstruction work.  Firstly, bringing in some components from Victoria Miniatures.  Stoked about being able to field demolition veterens with carapace, I decided to make some "Regal Engineers" that would rush forward and kill a tank or three.  Later I'm hoping to get a Hades Drill for them.  Then the real fun will begin.

Anyone know where I can get some Tartan Paint?  Sorry... that was bad.

Plot twist:  I'm not sorry.

I decided to play with some polyfiller for the bases, couldn't resist throwing random bits of debris and shell casings in there.  The metal arms were a bit of a bitch to file down to reduce the unfortunate bend in them.  Looking forward to the resin versions!

Note the torsos and arms are from Victoria Miniatures, but the heads I believe are from Max Mini, resin made.  Got that same Tommy feel the army has and those skulls denomenate rank.

As an aside, I also attempted to nail together some Rough Riders.  Using the horses and bulk elements from the Fantasy Empire Outriders boxed set, I added in standard IG cadian torsos. 

The aim was to throw on some of those Victoria Miniatures rough rider arms.  Sadly my experience with resin poles at that point was not so much. So dismayed, the project was shelved while I worked on things I knew I could finish.

As a tester for the new vehicle paint scheme, I decided to repaint the 4 Armoured Sentinels I have, rebasing were needed.

I also decided that it was time to put together the Taurox kit I'd got with the new codex weeks earlier.  It's an odd but adorable kit, with tons of options and detail.  It still reminds me of a toy, rather than a kit, but maybe I'm just getting old. O_O

Unsatisfied with the turret arrangement, I converted it so that the twin linked autocanon was inside the housing, as opposed to flanking the turret.  I hope you agree, it looks more Twin Linked. :)

For my test subjects I began by using Army Painted: Army Green, or as Rory called it "Mint Green."  I wasn't too happy with the result, the tone was too light, more "heroic" and less realistic, which is what I was hoping for.

 After some experimentation with inks, I decided upon a mix of Army Painter Soft and AP: Hard inks to bring the tone down.  Aggrax Brown is just as effective, maybe more so, but I needed tons of the stuff.  

AP: Soft Coat applied

 

AP: Hard coat applied.

The Sentinel squadron after the painting was finished.

The washes in my opinion was a step forward, and allowed me to proceed in territory I was more familiar with.  After the washes dried, I edged them with the paint version of the spray, moving into wear and tear with metal colours and rust. 
Finishing off with details like vision slits and pneumatic metals, I varnished with AP: No Shine (Watch this one, can speckle white).

Using the opportunity, I tried the shading and redoing of the green on my Leman Russ squadron. It had a mixed effect which required multiple go overs.

Eventually I was satified and varnised them too.  I recently got my hands on Decal Base and Decal Fix by Valeyo, as I've always had an issue puting on transfers and decals.  Always.  I have nightmares about it.  But these liquids not only make it easy, like really easy, they also set them on hard.

The final plan is, that once I have sourced some Pigment Fixer, I can dash Pigments over them as a final effect layer.


Anyway!  Random Knight!  Yay! Another side project!  Armour is still loose, though there is nothing stopping me from painting this as is and using it.  The Armour plates I'm considering toying with some press GS moulding.  It's been a while, but I have the Green Stuff.

Meanwhile: New Infantry Platoon!

As you probably know, I made a Platoon of 4 Infantry Sections and a Heavy Support unit, all with the following uniform.  Helmets from Weird War 2.

 

Standard Uniform of the Faircroft Theatre

For a while now, the Warrick Rifles have been needing more infantry to replace those older figures.  Something to allow 2 infantry platoons, 3 sections in each just like the WW2 British Army I loosely base it off.  (A recent trip to Bovington Tank Museum got me the right books for the job!).

So what I needed to kit bash together was a new 5 man command section for the new platoon, yes that is three Flamers and a Melta Gun.  I already had 1 squad ready, time to buy two more. 

The new platoon, as opposed to the old, was originally planned (and assembled) to be a more mobile and advancing force, being armed with solely Melta Guns.  It would be covered by the 1st Platoon and its own special Anti Tank Section, which I had painted a week ago.

Platoon 1.

So, then we have the Old Guard.  Really old figures from when Warhammer Fantasy had High Elf archers with lower parts that were perfect for robed legs!  Sadly now OOP.

As they were replaced by the new Tommy Platoon seen above, I have a big choice to mate:  Conscription or Promotion?

The thinking is, should I reduce the range in the pics above to simply being a Conscript squad?  Conscripts are cheap, useful and can deal out some amazing combos with Primaris Psykers, Priests and Commisars. 

Or, do I want to add an Allied Detachment from the Death Korps of Krieg?  Promote them to the stabby, fearless humans of Krieg (Count As)?  In this instance I can remodell those huge count as missile lanchers to be Rapier Laser Destroyers! And it would allow for some amazing combos and new units (Fliers!)

Either way, a fresh lick of paint is in order...

Again, thanks for reading!
R