When in doubt, buy, buy, buy.

Good advice from Cadian 127th.

As I'd never actually qualify for the 6MMMRC in the first place, I am only breaking my own rules.

 
These guys will make fantastic Sword Breathern.

And of course this


Because the "baddies" don't get enough love.  Except the Slanneshi ones.  But this is PG rated blog, so there'll be none of that here.

I do not yet have one of these:


But I still have two months to train the kids that this is what Daddy wants for his birthday, so I hope to score one of these before the end of the year as well !

So the rule was no 'new' purchases and all of these break that rule; which was intended to focus resources on completing all of the existing projects.  Oh well.

Service intermission

Obviously my normal pattern of posting on Tuesday and Friday has stopped for the minute.  It's nothing bad, just changes brought about by a change in family circumstances.

Normal service will be restored as soon as possible.

Here is a picture of some iggies, just 'coz the interweb needs more.

Drawing Inspiration

There’s a post over at Fallen Princes where Inspiration is the name of the (background to the) game.   He’s quoting Byron, no less !  There’s a bit of serious literature it will be hard to live up to.  But it did prompt me to offer up what I find as inspiration.

I have received some favourable feedback for the background and exposition pieces that I have put up on here over the years.  A lot of the more recent posts I’ve done have been sort of self generating; feeding off the fluff that other bloggers have created for their iggies is huge fun; collaboration like this is what this hobby is all about (for me).  So one huge inspiration is the work of other people who are, hypothetically, whirling away through the blogosphere even as you read this.

Forge World’s Imperial Armour books are a main source for models upon which to build 72 Army Group.  But this is heavily cut with my reading of military history and own experience in BAOR; this is one source of expositions about how and why the Departmento Munitorium would function.  Military history tends to be written on a mico and macro scale (more on this later), so this fits in well with the pieces I’ve published on the blog.

I harbour a long running and deep seated antipathy for Dan Abnett; he owes me a lot of sleep.  His (IMHO) excellent books about the Inquisition and the Sabbat Worlds crusade are a clear inspiration and pool of ideas, fluff and so on.   So it would disingenuous to list inspirations for an Imperial Guard blog and not mention him.

The mini’s themselves are a clear source of inspiration; to get variety into my ‘army’ has always been a goal – the Hulin Rifles are Vicky Lamb jock bits with Pig Iron bodies.  Seeing nicely done minis go together is inspiration in and of itself – there will be Void Dragons accompanying the Craftworlders who hunt down the Emperor’s Children – adding Corsair garnish to the Craftworld salad and Cabal croutons.   All inspired by ‘The Doom of Mymera’.

The DKK Assault Brigade army list merely vindicated my existing army – itself based on 19 Krieg Armoured Regt from IA1.  So it’s not all driven by FW.  And not all driven by Dan Abnett – I’m adding Blood Pact, not First and Only.  And obviously not all driven on reports from Op Granby or writings by Beavor, Hastings and Holmes.  But of course, there’s a little bit from here, a little bit from there and Lo! And behold; another new snippet about the Devos IV campaign gets posted.

From outside of the 40K/military history bubble, there’s any amount of concepts and ideas pulled in from other places – the profiles of all the officers owe more to FRPG than 40K; there’s the obvious draw of converting Star Wars models to fit the world.   I think that there is a lot of other literature out there, some sci fi, some not, which could all feed more posts that further explore the worlds of the Dynorwic Cluster.

Occasionally there might be a thing that happens during the day or someone I meet or have met years ago, all of these things can inform what I write, even if they do not make it into the finished passage.   

So, I draw inspiration from where ever I can get it.   I commend the ‘background’ tagged posts to the house. 

First Blood in Raging Heroes TGG

Many thanks to Mr Lee for an incredibly fast first look at a Raging Heroes TGG model. This one is obviously a gun servitor.  One thing I am really enjoying about Mr Lee's work here is the sort of Piquard/Borg thing going on.  One could almost imagine her comrades 'rescuing' her and undergoing the painstaking process of de-servitor-ing her (she'd need new prosthetic arms though).  And post recovery, her turning out to still be dedicated to Nurgle at some critical point months later.  Who knew ? 

In order to fit into the Devos IV story, she's actually been done to match the other zombie/servitors who are a used by the Warpsmifs of 'The Cleaved'.

Trawling the boxes.

Ok, this is the first trawl of the bitz box.  First up is this arco-eviscerator.

The new bit here is the cable and socket from Zinge Industries.  There's another mantic ghoul based one to make and then nine GW ghoul based ones.  Having bought the Zinge cables, there are no more bitz to buy, so this invaluable addition to some =I= warband and his ten fellow arco-eviscerators are a 'win'.

Next:

This guy is a random Crusader, the only bitz here are the Empire greatsword arms and Ad Mech head. I'm liking the attitude.

Then a Spaze Muhreen:

Random SpaceWolf.  He was the standard bearer whose standard is now the Saranian army banner. He needs a bit of TLC; twiddly bits on the axe shaft and some pack badge on his near white shoulder pad.  Which SW transfer goes on a white shoulder pad, I wonder.

And now the Iggies.  First the NCOs:

Two bolter armed sergeants.  Note bolter ammo pouches worn on the back.  These guys are the leaders for the next bunch;

Squad Rapier:

One squad of three MLs.  Some of the spotters/loaders have extra ammo pouches for the squad leaders' bolters.  Most of the figures are wearing extra pouches from Pig Iron.  No extra bits bought for these.

And the next squad, Squad Dvina:

As before, all of these Iggies are wearing the visor and microphone head from the vehicle accessory sprue.  The build details are as before.  These missile squads will be local air defence for the foot sloggers, hence the mix of binos and auspex.

Dvina and Rapier are both AA missile systems, hence the names for the squads.

There's lots of stuff in there, it's going to be a long time before the boxes are empty-ish.  There's more Iggy bits, Edlar bits, vehicle bits.  All the left over stuff and flotsam and jetsum of my existing armies. It's going to be long but interesting trawl....

........For instance; I have a collection of DKK small arms left from all of the DKK project-y stuff.  So two boxes of early war Warlord Games Heer and sufficient VL Tannenberg heads gets me a platoon of Paladian Guard  See how easy it is to use up the bitz from the box and get another unit ?

In other news, packing away the armoured assets today, I fitted the turret rings to all of the DKK tanks.  By way of explanation: FW Mars Alpha Leman Russ hulls have a big hole like the old Leman Russ kit.  FW Leman Russ turrets have a re-modelled peg to fit the new Leman Russ kit.  So when you buy a FW tank kit, you get a sort of doughnut piece.  The wizards at FW have made it to retain the FW turret in the old Leman Russ hull, which means its actually a gnat's bollock too large for the opening in the FW hull. So they need shaving down, a decent chamfer at the bottom and then a gradual shave up the sides.  So fitting thirteen of these two years after they were painted is another tick in the 'completing the project' box.

The Raging Heroes (so badly named - hero is the male, they should be Raging Heroines) TGG girls have all gone to their various new homes for assembly and painting. I'm hoping to hear some news about the first bunch of Blood Pact soon.

And trawling through the boxes has elicited more bits for the Blood Pact.  So those are now set aside for that purpose.  My existing Cadians are going to be re-painted to match the camo-cadians - greater homogeneity for the overall army.

What with the Valkyries now actually 'flying' on their flying stands, it does sort of feel like the army is starting to feel a bit more complete.  Sure, there's bucket loads still to do, but each extra miniature cobbled together from what's left in the boxes is one step closer to eventually binning one of those big boxes and having some more space for boxes of completed minis.

More Picts of Iggies

Summer is here and it's been hot and sunny all week (mid June), so I was looking forward to getting all three tables out and seeing just how much IG there is lurking in the corners of the garage.

But it's Saturday, so it's raining (sad face).  But it's not the end of the world (any world), as I can still fit two tables up in the garage and see how far I get.  I'm starting out with the DKK, cos they don't get out much.

As it is, they do fill me with a sense of joy and fulfilment as I get them out and line them all up.

The odd coloured tank is the commissar's ride.  A small bit of 19 Armoured Regt massing there.

Behind a small bit of 262 Line Regt.

They stretch off into the distance...

King Russ (still without tracks).  The banner behind belongs to the Valhallans.  He's the only Valhallan on the table. The ASL Sentinels are behind him.  Sentinels are bonkers, IMHO, but if you play guard, you gotta have 'em.

Phyladi Alpha and Phyladi Beta, flanked by Chas and Dave, whose job it is to prevent pesky undesirables from reaching the Warhounds.  This pict shows the 'hedgehog' hydrae and the Ad Mech AA Whirlwind as well the DKK & Dneipr Engr Assets.

902 Div HQ with Gen Commandant Welbahn standing on a mule for a better view.  Note the Mordian 7th Iron Guard mechanised platoon in front and the Death Riders to the bottom of the pict.

This shows the bulk of the ASL in front of 36 Tactical Lift Wing with Elysians squadded up ready to embark.

2nd Corbanian Regt behind the Cadian Recce assets.  Inquisitor Dredd is there with three of his most suitable henchmen and a Rhino from the Ordos motor pool.

Another view of the Corbanians.  Elysians and ASL also in this pict. I need to put the numbers on the Valks.

And a slightly longer shot.  I'm disappointed that:

1. It wasn't sunny and so these picts are all a little dark
2. The picts were shot in doors so there's no angle wide enough to get a decent view of the whole lot
3. There's only two tables out so there are lots of iggies not on the table; Valhallans, Moss Troopers, Necromundans, penal squad, Liaison teams, etc

So my aim of getting them all out didn't happen.  We'll see what the weather's doing tomorrow.

Update: So I put all of the infantry away again (sigh).  But did get done:

1. Based the three armoured sentinels
2. Assembled (Based) twelve flight stands
3. Made a random crusader and an arco-eviscerator for a future =I= warband.
4. Trawled the boxes and have half done seven IG ML teams. 
5. Found the tracks for the King Russ/Panthers. 

Belligera Rex

Paint and Pictures by Karitas.  This was entirely done out as a Legio Gyrphonia asset before being turned to the red side.  A labour of love by it's creator - cheers dude !  Anyway, it occurred to me that it hadn't actually been shown off at all, so here it is in all it's skully glory:

The red is actually slightly darker IRL, I think it's the lights cutting through the paint to the yellows and greys underneath.  Perhaps. Anyway, I'll leave you with the tale of woe that led to the creation of this fearsome beastie:

As a part of the Imperial response to WHAABurket, eight hundred years ago, the Titan Legion Legio Gyphonicus, sent a small maniple as part of the larger Mechanicus contribution to the war effort.  The one Reaver and pair of Warhounds were pivotal in keeping the Orks within the San Cantor hive area.

For reasons not remembered, the Fabricator General of the Adeptus Mechanicus ended the campaign in command of all imperial forces.  A substantial Mechanicus garrison was intended to secure the Devos System as it was a major trade port (and indeed, food producer,) for Agripinna and hence the Fleet Obscura.  The Legio Gyphonicus would return to collect their damaged Warhound as soon as they finished their next urgent assignment.

The Garrison was left with one damaged Warhound, the Canis Fidelis, to guard whilst the main Skitarri force was redeployed to face another threat somewhere else.   The Ork menace from the San Cantor rubble field resurged, along with a requirement for reinforcements for the Skitarri armies elsewhere in the sector.  With over half of their military capacity and entire supporting arm stripped, the remaining Adeptus Mechanicus contingent, now supported entirely by (and effectively becoming an elite arm of,) the PDF, set about their task.

In the event, only by calling upon the damaged Canis Fidelis were the Orks contained.  The Fabricator Captain of the remaining mission, Magos Ptolomy Inx was slain by storm boyz at the climax of the battle; the Canis Fidelis was rendered immovable as it assaulted the crater formed by the Rok, where the heart of the San Cantor Hive had been.

The Legio Gyphonicus sent an Ark to collect the Canis Fideliseighty three years later, but the location codes had been wiped as a security measure by the PDF.  The crater, irradiated remains of the Rok and the rubble of the Hive all combined to hide the Canis Fidelis from its potential rescuers. 

The Machine Spirit of the Canis Fidelis was not happy.  It had seen its fellows from the original Devos task force maniple repaired and then taken on to their next mission.  It knew that the Fabricator General had left.  It experienced pain as it walked back to the Rok for the last time to face the greenskins again.  It felt its Princips and Moderati die and watched as the stormboyz slew Ptolomy Inx.  It felt abandoned.

Canis Fidelis became, in its immobile state, an object of veneration, indeed, a god, to the scavvie population of the San Cantor ruins.   A population of mutants and scavangers formed from the remains of the Hive population and remnants of the Adepts and Servitors whose last command from Ptolomy Inx was to serve the Warhound, keep its location hidden from enemies and serve its needs.  Through these minions, Canis Fidelis knew that the Legio Gyphonicus had returned to rescue it and had given up when their first search had failed to locate it.

At some point the abandonment turned to anger.  Canis Fidelis had passed.  Encouraged by its worshippers, Belligera Rex emerged.   Driven to constant war by the remnants of the Orks, Khorne soon found converts in the ruins of San Cantor.  As the wrath built within the Machine Spirit of Belligera Rex, so did its need to become operational once more.  It’s minions were set collecting code.  It would walk again.