Imperial Guard - Platoon Command Squad and Rapier painted

Looking at the painting chart, I realized that there were only two units left in the non-Apocalypse/non-Terrain section - the platoon command squad and the rapier laser destroyer. Simple enough to choose what to paint next!

 

I'm a huge fan of the rapier, and have owned a good half dozen of the old ones over the years. I was definitely excited to see Forge World sculpt an updated one! It's quite a bit larger than the old metal one, so it ended up on a 60mm base. I went back and repainted the body in black to match the current vehicle livery, and painted the two crewmen at the same time as I did the command squad, simples!

The command squad was a lot of fun to paint, with each model being very different from the next. I ended up cheating somewhat by repurposing the old company command banner bearer (as I've replaced him with something more fitting) so really there were only four models to paint. At this point, I have just a hair over 5000 points painted up and I think it's time for another group photograph!

In other news, this is post #399. Gonna have to come up with something fun for post #400 - I think it's high time for another giveaway!

GenCon Bound! ...And some more guard.

As of this moment, I am now on vacation! Taking tomorrow off to get everything squared away and packed up for the trip out to Indy - it's going to be an absolute blast! Gonna get in a couple games of Deathwatch and Only War (40k:RPG), some MERCS as well as some Shadowrun (we're going to be starting up a home campaign soon) and I'm going to play some OGRE with one of the guys from Steve Jackson Games. ...Not that the Kickstarter for it has arrived yet. The one that funded in May of 2012.

 

I did spend a little time working on the Rapier, and laid down the base fatigues and armor plate colors. I'd originally thought I'd do the armor plates on the Rapier and Thudd Gun in grey like the flak armor on the guard, but in retrospect I'm thinking they'd look better in the vehicle black and red. Thoughts?

If you're going to be in Indy for GenCon and want to meet up for a pint, drop me an email and we'll figure something out!

TOEMP #8 - A (Strength 10) Blast from the Past... And some other random nonsense.

Well, after a couple rather non-productive weeks and a failed challenge, deadline-wise on #7, I wanted to get back in form. The challenge this go-round is fairly open as far as unit types to paint, so I decided that I'd crank out one of the final Heavy Support choices for the Mordian 7th - It had been too long since I'd painted any guard, after all!

Although no longer available in the current Guard codex, the Rapier Laser Destroyer is a quad-barreled lascannon mounted on a tracked unit. In the original RT-ere rule set it was rather deadly, and the fine folks over at the Tempus Fugitives website have created a set of rules for it that my local opponents don't seem to mind playing against. I decided on a more red-dominated scheme on this, to represent it being provided to the army and maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus forces that are part of the 7th.

Speaking of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I ended up re-primering the Archmagos Veneratus after a disappointing initial paint scheme, and I have gotten the base reds back on to the model. I'm hoping to get it finished off over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, if all goes according to plan. Of course, as is my modus operandi, over the last week or so I did hare off on another small side project as well...

Now before anyone goes into shock about the non-GW models, rest assured that they will be put to use in the 40k universe. These models are the next batch of adversaries for my upcoming Rogue Trader campaign, which I'm planning on kicking off over the new year. These six will represent the group's main villains - Haderach Fel and his group of cronies. I did finish up one model so far, as the fluffy bustled dress and sniper rifle combo was just too much fun to resist! The models are from Fantasy Flight Games Anima Tactics range, with a few 40k-stule weapon swaps here and there. Scale-wise they're all a touch taller than the standard 40k model, but not egregiously so. Well, the one guy in the back on the 40mm base is about 7.5' tall apparently, but I'm going to work that into the story, so it'll work out just fine.

This model will represent Lady Irina Demephon, a mad noblewoman with a penchant for dashing ship's captains. ...Dashing ship's captains brains out with high-calibre rounds, to be more specific!

Lastly is the first of several Battlefleet Gothic miniatures in the works - One can't play Rogue Trader without a selection of spacecraft, after all! This will be the player's initial vessel, the Eclipse Du Normandie - a Dauntless-class light cruiser.

I'm looking forward to running the game of Rogue Trader, as I think there's going to be a lot of good crossover opportunity for modeling and painting between that game and 40k. For example, the Eldar Corsairs that I'd built will be pulling double duty - As a Troops choice for the Eldar army, and as members of the Stygian Reavers, a group of Eldar pirates that will be a thorn in the side of the players in the RPG!

Stay on target!

The original Mordian 7th army list included several units that aren't in the codex any more such as the Thudd Gun and the Rapier Laser Destroyer. Granted, the Thudd Gun has made a reappearance in the Siege of Vraks books and I have to admit that I LOVE the new, larger model. I have one on order from Forge World, but as the order also included some pre-order models, I don't expect it to arrive any time soon. In the meantime I managed to dig up an old Rapier model which I'd updated a little in order to add it to the army:

It's definitely a home-game unit, as there really isn't anything in the current codex for which I feel it would make a suitable proxy model. The Adeptus Mechanicus army list by the fine folks over at Tempus Fugitives include rules for it however, and those will be what I'll use for home games:

0-1 Rapier.............................95 points
Crew: 2 Guardsmen
Range: 48"
Strength: 10
AP: 1
Type: Heavy 1, Twin Linked

The Ad-mech Codex includes a Techpriest in the unit's points cost, but when I use it for the Mordian 7th it'll just have the two guardsmen crew. This will be a multi-army unit used in both the 7th and the Ad-Mech army I'm slowly putting together...