Hardened Veterans & More...

I finished 5 of my first 10-man Vet squad. The next five will have some helmets without camo to offer some variety in the look of the unit. I want these guys to look like they are allowed to fine tune their uniforms to their own tastes.

I have started some work on the squads Chimera, as well. I wanted to go open topped, with a canopy of some sort. This variant is designed to be more of a fast attack transport than an AFV. I'm not sure about the wire "supports", I'm still considering something a little more substantial...maybe some lengths of sprue(?)...not sure.

The multi-laser has been converted to an automated turret that responds to the HUD of the driver.

Finally, I was inspired by the Sentinel stand-in that a fellow blogger did HERE. Although I tried his method, it wasn't enough for me so I am revamping the concept and have started clean with the cockpit/engine.

I will be using some of the frame from the AoBR Def Kopta but it will be scaled down and cleaned up a little. I am still deciding between a gyrocopter design or a helicopter deisgn, the main difference being the tail rotor.

More pics to come. C&C is welcomed and appreciated.

The war goes on,
Hessler

Hardened Veterans 01

Well it was great taking some time off and I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. I painted up the first of a 10-man Vet squad; the 1st of 3 such squads I will be painting over the next months.

This veteran trooper, armed with a shotgun, is wearing a camo pattern from the Boadasil Campaign. Like all Sadoukadi veterans, has has adapted his camo to reflect the particular foliage and season of the battle. In this case it was late autumn during the battle for the Salinese Valley, just outside of the capital city of New Carson.

It was there that elements of Battlegroup Hessler, under the command of Col. Stephen Hessler, first clashed with the forces of Chaos. Using an elite, handpicked force of veterans and mechanized troops, Hessler brought the Emperor's wrath to the dogs of Chaos in what would turn out to be the first of many bloody, hard fought battles.

Anyways...hope you like. More to come as I continue to re-connect with my paintbrushes.

The war goes on,
Hessler

The IG Laboratory Bubbles To Life...

I have to admit it, lately I have been in more of a building mode than painting mode. Although I did get my 2nd squad primed, I was drawn back to the creativity of the workshop. I must confess, I really love the hobby aspect of this obsession of mine. So here is my latest creation...

These are 97% Pig Iron, bodies are the Ferals and the heads are the Kolony Militia with covered helmets. For the sake of something "official", I transplanted some DKoK lasgun barrels onto the ends of their weapons...I never really liked the Pig Iron weapons so there you go. In case anyone is wondering, I did try some Cadian heads on these and they were too big.

To me, these models scream Veterans with camo cloaks. I picture them as the vanguard of a Death World unit, infiltrating hazardous terrain and environments while looking for any and all targets of opportunity.

I think I will go with a Vietnam style camo/color palette. I might try my hand at some water effects to add that "I've spent the last 30 days in the rainy jungle" look. Here's a close up...

Also, just for kicks and giggles, I thew together a few more officers...

This one will either serve as my Platoon Commander or possibly as a Sgt. for a Vet squad. He just has that "veteran" look about him.

I've never had cause to build this "classic" greatcoat officer so I made one, just so I can say I did. He needs something more...just not sure what.

I raided a few different kits for this Vox Operator. He will serve well, whether at the Platoon level...or higher.

Guess that's it for now. Cheers to my fellow bloggers across the pond and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans. Here's to turkey and more turkey.

The war goes on,
Hessler

Works In Progress

As I try to strike a balance between building models and painting them, I find it easier to go back and forth between the two. The logic is to feed both sides of the addiction at the same time, therefore keeping them both in check. I have been tempted to adopt the painting points system that many of my fellow bloggers use but I'm not quite there yet.

Rough Riders
I have wanted to do some rough riders on scout bikes for a while but was never quite liking the marriage of motorcycle and hunting lance; at least not the idea of the medieval style lance that is held under the shoulder. What I have come up with seems to be a satisfactory answer but I really would like some feedback. Please let me know what you think of the design. As the title says, it's a work in progress...

Veteran Squad
I have also started another squad of veterans, this time based on the Forge World Veterans upgrade kit. I managed to assemble everyone except the special weapons.




Thanks for looking, any C&C is appreciated.

The war goes on,
Hessler

Hardened Vets (1)

With the release of the latest codex, my interest has once again been drawn to the Imperial Guard. From a gaming perspective, the new codex offers some interesting units and tons of Independent Characters. From a hobby perspective, it offers a brand new set of tools to customize and create cool and unique units and minis.

The Concept...
One of my favorite units from the previous codex was the Hardened Veterans. I love the fluff...grizzled, battle-tested veteran troops with access to special training & weapons. The new codex eliminates the one thing I disliked...limited squads. Now I can field an entire army of veterans as troop choices. Very cool!

For my first veteran unit, I went with the Grenadiers option and decided to add some short range punch with 2 meltas, a flamer and a missile-launcher. I also modeled an alternate HW with a heavy bolter. Some possible deployments would be dropping them from a transport or by exploring some Scout/Outflank options.

So anyways here they are, in all their glory...

The Recipe...

• Torso: SM Scouts
• Legs: SM Scouts
• Arms: SM Scouts
• Heads: IG Catachan
• Weapons: SM Scout shotguns, missile launcher, heavy bolter
• Additional Weapons: IG flamer, GW melta(mail order),various bits

The Process...
The basic body assembly should be pretty straight forward, the scout bodies don't allow for a ton of posing options but one can still get a little creative. The bulkier SM Scout bodies are perfect for the carapace armor that Grenadiers wear. The Catachan heads are a little big compared to Cadians but they fit in we with the scout bodies. The tubing around the neck also gives a re-breather feel to the figure, to represent an "airborne" quality. I shaved off the top rail of the shotguns to make them seem a little less "huge".


The sergeant is a pose I saw in a forum somewhere and I finally had the opportunity to recreate it. The plasma pistol was a simple hand swap. I took the chain sword, arm and all, from a SM model. It did require some cutting and filling but it came out pretty decent. Since this build I have found some better head choices for this guy, but oh well.

I also attacked a Cadian vox-caster and used some parts to represent integrated comms on one of my veterans.


I guess that's it for now. Next time I will go over the paint scheme that I used for these guys and how I approached the overall look of this unit.



The war goes on,
Hessler