Inq28 - Ogryn Bodyguard Horgg VanDerHuge

Got a few weeks to kill while I await the various bits to start trickling in for the Geno Five-Two, so I thought I'd pull out the Inq28 models and work on them for a while. Any self-respecting warband needs at least one meatshield, which brings us to Horgg VanDerHuge, Ogryn bodyguard!

I wanted to ensure he was very slovenly as Ogryns are wont to be, so after laying on the basic colors I went over the model with a number of different grey, brown and rusty washes to give him a scruffy appearance. I tried to do a little grey stippling around the jaw and chin to try and approximate a 5 o'clock shadow, but it's not particularly convincing in the pics. Pretty sure I need to hit that area again. I don't recall what range this model is from, I'd picked it up a few years back at GenCon, I want to say at the Mike McVey booth?

  

A big ol' Ogryn ought to have a big ol' gun, and it's hard to go wrong with a minigun right? Still working on the fluff for the models, and I'm finding their stories are growing out of the paint scheme. Somewhere along the way Horgg worked alongside (or perhaps fought against) the Ultramarines, and he proudly wears one of their shoulder plates. He also has a pet grot, which has spun off an idea of doing a couple different warbands - The puritanical Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Helios (pictures to come), and an opposing radical Ordo Xenos inquisitor whose warband includes a number of Xenos/Abhuman mercenaries (many of which to be unveiled soon).

Definitely challenging to just paint one model at a time, but to be honest I'm quite enjoying it!

Imperial Guard - Thargadd's Thumpers collaboration project, part III

Thargadd's Thumpers are complete! I have to say that doing this collaborative project with Colonel Scipio has been a joy - it was a really fun project to work on and has inspired me to do a whole series of fluff posts for the various units in the army (kind of a Codex: Mordian 7th). So, here goes:

Thargadd's Thumpers - Mercenary Ogryns

The Ogryn Mercenary unit known as "Thargadd's Thumpers" has been instrumental in a number of the Mordian 7th battle plans, and boasted an impressive kill tally far in excess of commonly held expectations. It is suggested that the large number of abhumans fielded by the Mordian 7th regiment and the surprising successes they enjoyed may point to the benefits of including them in wider numbers throughout the guard, but many Imperial commanders still feel that the use of abhumans is somehow distasteful and look down on commanders who use them. At the conclusion of the Flotis campaign, Thargadd and his surviving followers were posted to the 122/7th (Pioneer) Company, Second Battalion of the Palladian Guard under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

 

Sergeant Ogryn Thargadd served with considerable distinction in the Flotis campaign, destroying an Ork Dreadnought single-handed in close combat during the Battle of Blood Hill. It is said that Commissar Arden designed their banner personally in recognition of this valor. With Ogryns not being known for their fastidious nature, the banner has taken a beating during the campaign but Thargadd takes pride in it nonetheless.

 

The Twins, Horkk and Harkk enjoy a bit of sibling rivalry as brothers and keep a constant running tally of "enemies smooshed" in an effort to outdo one another. The fact that they have difficulty counting past six doesn't seem to dull their enthusiasm however.

 

Grogg and Narkk round out the unit. Grogg is the units "Keeper of tha Booze" and is entrusted with the rotgut the Ogryns are given as part of their pay. Woe betide the person who gets between Grogg and his booze. Narkk is the sharpshooter of the unit, having actually hit what he has aimed at slightly more than half of the time, and he likes to boast about his prowess.


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Quartermaster Antius was bored. He'd been checking and rechecking manifests for days, following a foul-up by the Munitorum. It appeared that dozens of transport containers has been mis-routed on the muster world they'd recently left, and it was only now, while they were in transit through the Warp, that the scope of the problem was being discovered. He resignedly moved down the row of containers to where he had left off the previous shift.

Narkk was bored. They'd been cooped up in this transport container for longer than usual, and while they were pleased to find pallet upon pallet of rations (most of which had been enthusiastically consumed) after three days even the Ogryns thought it was getting a bit whiffy. Horkk and Harkk were bickering over who had cultivated the biggest lice and Grogg was grumbling irritably about his booze ration running low.  "Hey boss, when ya think they's gonna let us get back ter fightin'?" he asked. Sergeant Thargadd pondered this, idly picking his teeth with the point of an eldar shuriken the medicae had dug out of his chest in an earlier action. "Dunno. It's been good ter have a bit of a layabout but it's time to thump some skulls..." He went back to rapping his knuckles on the bulkhead door.

"Container M7 157/182514. Great, another one that's not ours. At least it's flagged as being rations." Antius deftly unlocked the container and lugged the door open, suddenly gagging at the noxious stench that was released. "Throne, these rations have definitely gone bad..." He gasped as a shadow loomed out of the container at him. Suddenly finding himself lifted from his feet by the front of his tunic he gazed into the largest, ugliest face he'd ever seen. A half-metal skull with a green bionic eye glared balefully at him and a blast of rancid breath from behind slabs of crooked yellowed teeth made him gag."Where's our booze ration? Yer think we can just sit in the dark and eat with nuthin ter wash it down with? It's been three days an' yer better see to it or my boys an I are gonna get reeeal ugly!"

It looked like it wasn't going to be a boring shift after all...

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Thanks for reading - I hope you all have a great holiday!

Imperial Guard - Thargadd's Thumpers collaboration project, part II

It's been just crazy at work this past week, over 70 hours in the last 7 days. Oof. As a way to unwind after the loooong days I've been working on the new version of Thargadd's Thumpers that I'm painting up for Colonel Scipio of Palladian Guard fame! He recently posted some pictures of the build of the Palladian veterans that he's building and painting for me, and I am absolutely blown away with how cool they are looking. Check 'em out!

Obviously there's still quite a bit left to do, but the main colors have all been blocked in and the highlighting and shading has begun! I'm really enjoying working on these new Ogryns, they really have a ton of personality. I'm giving some serious thought to getting another set to replace the current unit Ogryns that I have had for ages, though it seems like a bit of a disservice to replace the 'original' Thargadd's Thumpers who have served so well over the years...

In any case, I'm hoping I can get these guys finished up over the upcoming weekend, as it's supposed to be warm enough to get them sealed. We're in the midst of a Colorado winter here which means alternating days of snow and bitter cold followed by sunshiny, warm days. It keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!

Imperial Guard - Thargadd's Thumpers redux/collaboration project

Greetings all! Just a quick post to kick off the first collaboration project that I've participated in. Colonel Scipio of the rather excellent Palladian Guard blog recently posted about doing collaborative projects with other bloggers, and it definitely captured my interest. The idea is to do a miniature exchange project wherein we would each paint a unit in our personal army's colors and second them to the other person's army. We emailed back and forth a bit to discuss some ideas and we settled on Colonel Scipio painting a unit of Palladian Veterans that had been left behind/seconded to the Mordian 7th following a combined action, and me painting up a unit of Thargadd's Thumpers, the mercenary Ogryn unit that is a mainstay of the glorious 7th - not to mention that it would be amusing for the models coming from the Yank to be a unit of loud, obnoxious, violent cretins! :)

Since we're on opposite sides of the pond, we decided it would make the most sense if we sourced the models locally. I've wanted to paint up a unit of the new Ogryns for a long time, so this was a perfect opportunity for me! Sadly part of the plan was to incorporate the Nork Deddog model into the unit, but to my surprise the new Ogryns are noticeably larger than the old ones, and the Nork model looked rather weedy in comparison.

I wanted to add a bit more character to the unit, seeing as they are a bunch of mercenaries I thought a few extra trophies, gear and weapons wouldn't go amiss. Sergeant Thargadd was given a back banner during his time with the Mordian 7th regiment, and I thought it would be amusing to have it be naught but a tattered rag after the period of hard campaigning.

We're supposed to be getting snow and cold weather for an extended period starting tomorrow, but as it's supposed to be relatively warm today I'm really hoping I can get these guys primered!

Imperial Guard - Re-engaging with the army

With the World Eaters coming to a close, I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. The long-term intent has been to paint up a Heresy era army for each of the "Big Four" traitor legions - the Thousand Sons, the World Eaters, the Emperor's Children, and the Death Guard. However, I'm finding myself rapidly tiring of painting space marines and I've decided that since the next Tempus Fugitives event (for which the Heresy era armies are designed) isn't for another ten months, I have plenty of time to work on something else for a while. The weekly painter's challenge going on over at Dark Future Games has got me looking through all the shelves of half-to-unpainted models and the guard jumped out at me. ...Literally, one of their boxes fell of the shelf and I had to catch it before it started an avalanche in the Closet of Doom!

I pulled out all the models that have been built for the Mordian 7th Regiment, D Company to see what there was to work with. It has been well over a year since I've even looked at the models, and I was somewhat surprised at how little there actually was left to paint. Just a medium-sized infantry platoon and a couple tanks!

First things first - as I'd mentioned in a prior post, the Beastmen had gotten their base colors blocked in earlier in the week, so I finished them off. These would be my entry for this weeks Kill Point challenge over at DFG, and I'm quite looking forward to fielding them soon!

While I was at it I began re-basing some of the models from the previous rendition of the Mordian 7th, in order to get them to match up with the current theme. Thargadd's Thumpers, the Ogryn squad got the treatment first. The Ratlings and Psyker battle squad are up next - plenty of abhumans and such in the 7th, no wonder they are looked at askance by many other Imperial commanders!

Still lost in the depths of the Closet of Doom are a number of un-assembled Chimeras in boxes as well as a Rapier Laser Destroyer. The army feels a little light on tanks, which is something I'll need to rectify. Another couple Leman Russ battle tanks and perhaps a new Macharius as a centerpiece for the army aren't completely out of the question...

The advent of 6th edition has seriously rekindled my enthusiasm for the game, and since the Guard have always been my first love, I think it's high time I started working on them again!