Riding Rough

I figured it was about time I showed off a bit with the rough riders squad for the traitor guard army.
Hopefully the pictures aren't too fuzzy on the details, as all the models are now undercoated and ready for the paint job.

My initial plan was to include some rough riders in the army just as something a little different for my opponent to worry about, but looking at their capabilities in the codex and rule books I changed my thoughts on them and consider them to be a kick ass fast assault unit. And it means I dont have to field nothing but lasguns and tanks!

By using the parts from the heavy weapons, guard squad and command squad sprues, I was able to create what you see in this post. I'll try and be as descriptive as I can in terms of what I did, but my memory aint what it once was!


Remember this pic from the old post? I figured I should resurrect it here to show what I started out with. They were all constructed and undercoated Empire knights for fantasy battle. I took off the bodies and heads with clippers, and cut off the lance arms carefully, because I needed them to represent my hunting lances. Also removed were laurel wreaths and sigils from the horses' barding.
Some tricky cutting involved here, and I certainly nicked my thumb and fingers a bit.

WARNING TO ALL- BE CAREFUL AS FECK WITH SHARP STUFF.

The next step was a trip to town with some dosh and I bought the command squad, a heavy weapons squad and an infantry squad. One thought...KITBASH!!!



This is a view of the completely constructed squad. All undercoated up and ready for painting. Each model has had the body of a catachan added, along with a head, back pack, laspistol etc. You get the idea anyway. I basically combined the bits from the kits (as it were) and this ios what came out the other side!
I don't do well at planning these things too much, I tend to just break open the kit and go with my feelings and gut instinct. Of course, I knew what I wanted to achieve in general terms and to have a "vision" of the target is always helpful when it comes to going a bit "bashy."
Any ways, on to the individuals...


Here's the sergeant, on a suitably pompous horse and carrying a power weapon. the officer's cap was added, but only after I had removed the imperial (spits) eagle from it. I stuck the backpack onto the horse'sback end, as I figured that horses can have saddle bags, right? The model certainly has an authority about it (even though he is only a lowly sergeant).


Icon bearer carrying Slaaneshi icon. The codex doesn't feature this at all for rough riders, but I did muse over it whilst gazing at the icon in my bits box. It gives the squad identity, and I can use it as an icon if in can be bothered to include daemons and if my opponent agrees. Again the pompous looking nag, with a shovel stuck onto the barding at the rear. Pretty much all of the models have had additions from the guard kits put on, like ammo pouches, grenades, shovels etc.

Special weapon rider, carrying a flamer hooked onto the back of the horse. Again that them of back packs, cag stuck onto the armour features throughot the squad. Coupled with the speed of cavalry, this guy can get up close and gout flame over his foes, ideal for enemies in cover.

Apologies- crap picture! This fella packs a melta gun which comes in handy against heavy stuff and bunkers, and gives the squad a clearer purpose on the battle field. I'll muse on that later.
Again the back pack and gubbinz.

The remaining riders, keeping in with the theme of the squad. The look and feel is of a group of men that are self sufficient from the main force. They carry their own kit from place to place and rely on noone else. The shovels feature too, for digging in when in advance of the main column.

The squad has a "scouting unit" sort of feel because of this, which I really like.

The armoured legs look kinda weird, but for some reason seem to fit well. I decided to keep the armoured arms holding the lances too, because I figured that whilst you're on the charge, holding the lance toward your target with hails of shells coming at you, the armour would help to protect your lance arm and help to ensure you struck the target.

Beware the horsemen of chaos, for they bring only death and the promise of only more suffering that is certain to follow them!

Any ways, that's it for the unit thus far. Hopefully you agree with my thoughts that they look absolutely nuts. Next step is the paint job, which will be in with the rest of the army, featuring blacks and reds. If I can remember I'll put up pics of the painted stuff when its done to show it off a little.

And to think the hoon in games workshop said that it wouldn't look right, and that I had to use chaos marauder horsemen bits. What a fucktard...

Traitor guard update pics - "work in progress"

WELL, TOLD YOU I HAD BEEN BUSY, DIDN'T I?

Here are the pictures I have been promising for the latest additions to the guard force. I am going to nee to start copying my main man's M.O. and sticking something up each week at this rate!

I haven't included the tanks here, I want to wait until they're painted up. No sign of the rough riders either, because I am showcasing them (so far) in the next post.




Penal legion squad

Quite simply a matter of removing the arms from empire militiamen, rebasing them on larger bases and adding catachan lasgun arms and weapons. Haven't figured out their colour scheme yet, but will most likely aim for black and red so they fit in with the rest of the army.







Missile launcher teams

Mainly just plonked onto bases to join them together as one is supposed to do nowadays. There's the classic metal models there on the far right, with kit bashed models for the rest. Mainly made with spare troopers and spare parts from the heavy weapon squad kit. The heavy weapons teams all need to be sprayed up in black, but the other stuff just needs touching up with the right flesh tones and bolt gun metal now.






Lascannon teams

As per the kit really. I like the idea of kitting out heavy weapon squads to have a purpose, so 3 lascannon have a clear objective in game terms - tanks, bunkers and heavy hard men all marked for destruction!


By applying the right orders from the command squads squads like this can really hamper your opponent's day!






Commissars

Don't they look cool? Made using parts from the Empire militia kits combined with heads, weapons and arms from the imperial guard kit I have managed to come up with a bunch of nasty fellas for the chaos guard with the trademark trench coat and some cheesy weaponry. Note the commissar in the background running and screaming orders. Nice!






Psyker battle squad with "minder"

Made by simply sticking empire militia onto larger bases, with a kit bashed guardsman as their overseer. The will be painted up in drab colours with really pale flesh tones. Bless 'em, they're not well...




Command squad

Finally! I have added the comm link, the heavy flamer and the medic to the squad, as well as a weapon swap for the commanding officer. The standard bearer wears his trophy of the ultramarine shoulder guard.


Just to the left are the advisers, but more on them in a bit.







Speak of the devil! The advisers. From left to right we have the astropath (slash primaris psyker), the master of ordnance, 2 bodyguards and finally the wimpy pilot.


Priests

One pinched from the loyalists to make up the maximum 5. Difficult to kill and handy in assaults.



Stormtroopers
Yes, I know they are beastmen! But I intend to use them as a stormtrooper squad as they add tremendous chaos character to the infantry.




Chaos ogryn

Nuff said...





Well, that's about it for the infantry now. I have decided that the army is big enough, with plenty of scope for mixed and versatile force tactics. I can mix and match squads and officers around to create dozens of original force organisations to create armies that may well suit individual scenarios. Along with the 6 (SIX!!!) tanks available to me as well I can provide a withering hail of deadly firepower to accompany the vast numbers of scoring troops units.





I am now considering the next army project, and am once more leaning towards the chaos marines in my twisted machinations...


I'll muse on that separately... (muahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!)

Problems solved, but progression has been painful...

Well, just a quick one before I flit off again. AGAIN no pics yet (please be patient they will follow soon)

The traitor force now stands at 3000 points all thrown in (HOLY CRAP!!!)
THIS IS HOW I GOT THERE:

1. I stole a priest from the loyalists.
2. I have solved the dilemma with commissars (the pics of the finished articles will help to explain that) for now lets just use the wordS "trench coats" as a clue to tease you with.
3. I have added a full compliment of advisors to the command squad (again, the pics will help when they're done)
4. The army now boasts 3 leman russ battle tanks, a hellhound a sentinel and 2 chimeras (raided the loyalists didn't I!)
5. I managed to kit bash a psyker battle squad and a penal (hehehehe- PENAL) squad too from fantasy battle stuff.
6. The rough riders are built and tooled up, but the squad isn't complete yet.

Next purchase for me will be a Catachan battle force, and I'll be looking to expand the infantry platoon and start on the second platoon/ veteran squads too. Oh and some black spray paint too... lots of black spray...

I will try and get some pics done, but may need a wide angle lens or something to do it...
Only 2000 points away from the target too!
That will be spent up with the second platoon and some ordnance and tanks, as well as maxing out the squads where I can, such as the psykers, ogryns etc. I also still want to get a tech priest with 5 servitors.

ON THE REVOLUTION!!!!

Then its just a matter of painting it all up and figuring out how the hell I ship it from A to B!

A degree of Clarity

I figured that, given my last few posts, I needed to clarify how the traitor guard are shaping up. With the rough riders built, and some new guys added to the army,It's only right I let you lot in on what I have and what plans I have for the future of the army.

The idea really is to build up a massive force with all sorts of different troops and vehicles/ weapons. The army at first was quite restrictive, and sat at a mere 1500 points.

1500pts? I hear you cry! That's about right for a game!

However, the 1500 points was restrictive. By having a massive army at my disposal, I can better pick and choose depending upon my opponent and the scenario plus, if I EVER decided to play a stoopid apocalypse game again I could field pretty much a guard regiment!

The army currently sits at just under 1900 points, no mere paltry force either!
The troops I have also carry a variety of special and heavy weaponry, as well as a few junior and senior officers with nice kit.

Here's a quick lowdown:

HQ
Command squad with advisors (namely ordnance guy and pilot guy with a couple of bodyguards)
Priests (coutns as HQ, but does not take up a slot in the organisation chart)
Psyker

Elites
Ogryn
Beastmen (stormtroopers)

Troops
Infantry platoon - command squad, 3 infantry squads with heavy and special weapons, heavy weapons squad, conscripts
Veterans- grenadiers with multiple special weapons, chimera

Fast Attack
Rough Riders

Heavy Support
Leman Russ

As you can see, in terms of manpower the army is vast, but cheap on points ( oh the pitiful value of human life!)


The MASTER PLAN
Well, I have been musing about it for a while now, and the army needs more of everything!
The ultimate plan is to include the following options and squads to "complete" the army:

HQ
Techpriest enginseer
Astropath for command squad and chimera
Commissar Lord (chaos equivalent)

Elites
Psyker battle squad
Complete ogryn squad up to 10 models

Troops
Max out infantry platoon with: 2 infantry squads, 4 heavy weapon squads, 3special weapon squads and 6 chaos equivalent commisars
3 more veteran squads in chimeras
penal legion (chaos equivalent) squad

Fast attack
Max out rough riders
Sentinel squadron
Hellhound squadron

Heavy support
2 more leman russ
3 ordnance battery tanks
hydra flak tank battery
(with this last one, the plan is to have maybe one of eac or something to start with, and build it up later)

Of course, in terms of time and expense, this army will take about a decade and a remortgage to build(!), but I have been thinking about "short cuts" along the way to help save me dosh. Here's a couple of em...

1. Rob the loyalists!- that's right, steal the tanks and vehicles, plus whatever else I can use from the necromundan guard. Very sad day for them, but the chaos legions require more for the cauldron of war! I do wat to do soething with the tallarn models though, so they may well find themselves chaosed up too- I haven't decided yet. I figure that if I dont use them anyway, I may as well focus everything on one guard army!
2. Raid the warhammer boxes again- raiding the boxes I may find models suitable for use as chaos commissars,or penal legion troopers, plus that elusive psyker battle squad. I have already had a bit of success there with the rough riders, so I figure anothe raid may prove fruitful!
3. Minimise on metal models- kit bash the effing hell out if it. I am finding that converting via plastic kits is quite easy and inexpensive if it goes "the way of the pear."
4. Know when to stop!! This is probably the most critical thing. I got caught out when I was but a young whipper snapper playing warhammer, and collected somewhere in the region of a 15000 point orc and goblin army in the space of 8 weeks! All that beer money gone! If the army looks like it is stretching into the realms of silliness, then I will stop and focus on scenery instead. Remind me of this if I get carried away again later! That said, my orc army is the envy of everyone that sees the 8 boxes its stored in...

On top of all this though, there is still the hanging question about including daemons in the army. I reckon that as long as the other player agrees, I'll simply include from the appropriate codex and chuck them in!

Well, that's it for now. I was gonna throw in pics, but couldn't be arsed. I will chuck in the odd one or two once I have painted some more units up ans showcase the guard as they stand. I may even set them up on a battlefield and let you all gawp at it that way....

Be cool y'all, and check out the last couple of posts to make sure you at least have some vague idea about what I am wittering on about...

Traitor Guard Work- Update

The Opening Gambit part...

Well, I know I've been musing alot about the traitor guard regiment I am building lately. Last weekend I took a great big stride forward and added to units. I've got pics (the models are unpainted at present) to show too, so you guys can see how they have been made and the simple conversion work that I have done to really make them part of the them!


Elitist

Well, I did actually buy two units. A heavy weapons squad and a regiment of warhammer ogre kingdoms leadbelchers. I obviously planned to used them as ogryn, and being plastic kits, I figured I could convert and kitbash a little to get the reults I wanted.
Using the warhammer kit also sparked off another idea, but I'll get back to that in a minute or two...



This pic shows the finished unit of 4 ogryn, complete with an icon and ripper guns. I am well chuffed with the results here, and can't wait to paint them up!
I did of course make up a complete heavy weapons squad for the infantry company, along with a couple of additional heavy weapons teams for the platoon squads.
I will feature them later, but this is all about the why's and wherefors of the ogryns!


This is the bone 'ead (unit leader) and a close look at his ripper gun. All the rippers were made from autocannons, cut down and pieced back together. As he was the boss, his ripper has a gargoyle head and some spikiness. Note on his back the beer barrel, the pony tail and the large stone mallet, all from the 'belchers kit. This guy also has a spare ammo drum on his belt. Simple, yet well cool!



Unit Icon bearer, carrying the spare Khorne bloodletters' banner. Note the chopped down autocannon for a ripper gun. The plan is simply to use him as an ogryn, and include the rules for icons if the other player agrees and I can be bothered to field daemons.


Another closer look at my version of the ripper gun. DAKKA!!!!


And finally...

WTF?
Well, as the above heading suggests, I thought about what stuff I have stashed away that can be cut up revamped and used for the twisted purposes of 40k as a chaos player with a guard army.
The force currently has no fast attack options. Any fool can field tanks (and I will, rest assured), but the one thing that I notice always seems to be missing from guard armies is horse riding grunts!

A work in progress, I think you will agree there! Imagine if you will catachan bodies and heads, armed with lances and assault weapons. Guns strapped to the barding of the horses. Getting there yet? A sergeant with a cheesey weapon to top them off and we have CHAOS ROUGH RIDERS!!!!

I noticed that the main reason noone has any is because they only seem to be for sale on line and the shops only ever sell the Mongolian looking Attillans, which dont fit in with the feel of Cadian or Catachan armies. Why? Its only plastic kits people! Sort it!

The image in my head is of such awesome looking soliders that I may dispense with fast attack tanks altogether and just buy more imperial cavalry and catachans!
There's a mighty fine image for you: big game, 30 horsemen armed with hunting lances and assault weapons charging the lines! (movement phase takes two hours, just for the guard!)
The hunting lance is a fine piece of instrumentation too, counting as I5 S5 in assault, AND counting as a power weapon. STICKY!
So why don't more guard armies feature them?

And why wouldn't a Commissar ride to war with the men? (oooh! Summary execution on horseback...)

Come to think of it, why not have a preacher on horseback too?

Saliva glands overload at that!!!!!
Steady though, back to the plan...

Finally

I also thought about the commissariat option some more, and I do have ideas forming about their chaos equivalents. It's just finding the right models to use. Perhaps using warhammer chaos warriors or something...
Additional thoughts for expansion besides the downright crazy are mainly about adding more troops units to the infantry platoon, and the possible inclusion of a chaos techpriest with daemonic servitors (heheheheheheh), oh and tanks- LOTS of tanks...(at least 2 or 3 more)

I figure that my time as a chaos space marine player is over, though I will doubtlessly field them from time to time. I have entered a new phase as a guard player. But this will be on my terms as a traitor, so screw the emperor and pass the ammo!

Well that's that! I'm off to find my medication and straightjacket now. Hope you liked the post, comments please! FEED ME YOUR THOUGHTS MORTALS!

Traitor Guard- Musings on the New look list

New look list?
What?
Yep, that's right, I've been looking at the list and trying to figure out ways to represent specific unit types and models in the army, without losing the "guard factor"
Here's some of my thoughts, plop in some remarks and gimme the lowdown on your take of them...


HQ

Company Commmand squad- as per codex, complete with regimental advisors (after all, chaos fleets will bombard, they will have some sort of warp tainted astropath and traitor regiments would surely have access to some sort of ordnance support)

Lord Commissar- NAH! Replace that with a Chaos Space Marine Character. Maybe a deamon prince or a sorceror.
Failing that, Model to represent some sort of oratory maniac with same rules as the commissariat models.

Primaris Psyker- Yep, as per codex, but obviously all chaosed up and bonkers!

Ministorum Priests - Cult Fanatics, same rules and weapons

Techpriest Enginseer- YEP, as per codex, but all chaosed up!



ELITES

Chaos Ogryns- Heheheheh!

Psyker battle squad - as per codex, but chaosed up

Storm trooper squads - Nope. Replaced by chaos beastmen. Same rules as codex, just beastmen instead. Strength 4 and bizarre warp weapons (same effect as hotshot weapons). Will NOT respond to orders from command units.



TROOPS

Infantry Platoon - as per codex, but instead of commissars, using chaos space marines. Same rules as commissars and same weapon options, just a chaos space marine instead.
It just made sense to me that the guardsmen would do as they were told out of a mix of fear, promise of rewards (that never come) and the sheer size and brutality of a chaos space marine.

Conscripts - replaced with the plague zombies. Same points and stats, only slow and purposeful, fearless and feel no pain rules.

Veterans - as per codex

Penal legion- done away with. It just aint likely that the lost and the damned have a penal system (huhuhuh said penal...), rather more of a bang your dead, sacrifice, slavery sort of system...



FAST ATTACK

Sentinels - yep

Rough riders - yep, only on chaos beasties

Hellhounds- yep

Flyers- NOPE. Too hitech, and not enough techies in the traitor legions to maintain. Flyers captured are stripped for weapons, ammo and intel, as well as the odd sacrificial pilot or 2...



HEAVY SUPPORT

Leman Russ - Standard, demolisher, exterminator, eradicator, punisher. The others are rare variants now and so it would stand that they are well protected by the loyalists and steps are taken to ensure purity of the machine and its crew as part of maintanence rituals.

Ordnance- Basilisk, Griffon. The other types are rare and well preserved by the loyalists, and the legions of chaos would tend to use their own warped and strange equivalents.

Hydra Battery - as per codex

END

Well, that about covers everything I guess- except for the ADDITIONAL EXTRAS!

Additional stuff:
Daemon Squads- summoned into play by standards, which are chaos icons. As per chaos daemons codex troops options. Counts as troops, but doesn't use force organisation slot.
Daemon squads will NOT respond to orders from command units.

Chaos Spawn- Counts as elites, as per codex chaos space marines.

Chaos icons- as per codex in terms of rules for ld tests etc, only can be used as focal point for summoning. ANY SQUAD may be issued with a chaos icon for 5pts. The icons may only be used for summoning and have no bearing on orders or ld test benefits.

Well, that's it!
Tell me what y'all reckon.

The Lost and the Damned- Traitors and heretics ALL

This shot doesn't show any troops (eh? I hear you cry- where's the traitors?) Well, first I thought I'd show off some of my bits- scenery bits that is! i got a barricade and a small ruin, along with a few objective pieces I made out of bits from the battlefield accesories set. The pieces I am most proud of though are my crucifiction victims (slightly topical, given we just got past "zombie jesus day"- aka Easter). Massive boards with the nature of their crimes daubed on in white paint- they really stick out on the table top and provide that little extra character to games. There's also a resin generator I found lurking in a bits box. I simply slapped on the colour and didn't worry too much about shading, highlinting etc. The results, I hop you agree, are pretty frikkin nutty!




The army in all its chaos glory!! There's around 100 models in the army in total, making use of force selections from both Codex imperial guard and codex chaos space marines. Models not shown here include a greater daemon and summoned lesser daemons. I also use them with my chaos space marine armies, so they spend their time with the others in storage. Watch this space though, they'll be shown soon enough!!



Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh! BRAINS!!!
These likely lads are all conversions, made using a comination of necromunda, 40K and warhammer zombie model parts. In game terms, they are guardsmen, with lasguns and an obvious odour problem. There's 20 of them here, and I would tend to wnat to use them as a "mob" of 20 troopers. A great big lump of fodder really, but full of character. For the previous edition rules, they would serve as plague zombies or nurglesque mutants with firearms.




Leman Russ- Rollin on down the line! This chaos leman russ hass all the tyrimmings added from the chaos accesories sprue, along with a couple of chaos beastman shields. I added spears to the back end and to them I stuck on pennants. The bright red fits the colour scheme of the army itself, and looks sweet! Note also the gargoyle heads on the heavy bolters! Spiky and unfriendly, this tank adds a much needed punch to the army.



RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!! And other choice language!...
These beastmen have also all been converted, adding shooty weapons. I even converted the lasguns into single handed "carbine" type weapons. The banner serves as a guards company banner, as well as a summoning point for daemons. :)
In the old revision these would be fielded as a single unit of goat headed mutants.



Guard Platoon. Pretty standard stuff. Chaos Icon as Platoon banner, along with a heavy weapon squad packing mortars. The platoon commander carries a bolter and the missile launcher also adds an extra oomph to the firepower of the whole army. The old revision would not have allowed me to use the mortars as a single unit if I fie;ded this army as "Lost and the Damned".



Good old armoured fist squads. No, wait a minute, they did away with those. These guys are a veteran squad in carapace armour riding in a chimera. Note the use of beastmen shields, ork and space marine armour plates and the lovely spiky tank!! I kept the pennant thing going too on the rear of the tank, adding to the theme of the army. All the guardsmen had transfers added too, with iconography and chaos symbols all over the place.


More Necromunda models! This time a house Cawdor gang, used as Chaops cultist veterans wearing camelioline clothing. Unusual basing with the mesh, but that's because I can still use them for Necromunda if I want. They are the army scouts, packing a little aggressive punch with the heavy stubber.


Priests! Well, heretic ones anyway! 3 with shotguns and one with an eviscerator. They are the same in game terms as their imperial counterparts, but the rosarius is now a cursed emblem of chaos, but confers the same effect on the individual.


Old revision- BIG MUTANTS. New edition....erm......Chaos Ogryns. Big, mean and nasty, these are individuals who are blessed by the fickle gods with immense size and a brutal mentality. These were converted from minotuar models, Ork Warbosses, Orks, cold ones and even a daemon pirnce! They were good fun to make and the colour scheme kept in with the rest of the army. Handy assault troops these are. Tough to kill and good for drawing fire!


Chaos Space Marine Veterans- Alpha Legionnaires no less! These guys are geared up to make fleshy goo piles out of most enemies, using power weapons, a flamer and a plasma pistol. Kitted out with everything nasty, these troops can infiltrate to luanch the early assault and wreak havoc amongs the enemy formations. Alpha legion tactics are exaclty that- according to previous codexes and sources I have in books and stuff. I wanted to reflect that the marines were the enforcers of the army's leadership, through fear of reprisals for failure, but also the army's specialists. They actually clash with the colour scheme, but for chaos troops thats nothing new really!

Regimental command squad- spot the necromunda model! In this army, he is a rogue psyker. The command squad also features 2 body guard models and the banner bearer carries the standard of the cursed regiment!

The guard element of the army contains no commisars- all executed when they turned away from the emperor's light.

The army also contains no vox casters or other items or troops I would consider to be "Imperial" in nature. This also means no advisors. Its very basic in its nature, but with the addition of a few chaos troops, like daemons and marines, the character and power of the army dramatically alters to suit the chaos themes!

Karaxus- Daemon Prince and leader of the army. MAJOR conversion here and the army's centre piece model!

He's actually made from 2 seperate models- a daemon prince and a dragon ogre. The axe is also the dragon ogre weapon, but according to the codex, the daemon prince cannot carry a daemon weapon or anything other than a close combat weapon.

That said, he can also use psycic powers, and that coupled with his "eternal warrior" ability and wings make for an assault nightmare for all but the toughest troops. A true monster in every sense of the word, this character can certainly dish out the hurt!

He is also useful for Apocalypse games as an HQ choice. All will be explained.

The Apocalypse force I am planning contains a massive infantry contingent made up from elements of the traitor guards, death guard and black legion, with all three providing tanks and elite options.

Maybe I can do a feature on that too later.....

MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!