Favourite Minis - a bit off topic

A favourite range of minis from the GW has to be the Mordian Iron Guard. These are now on the collectors pages of the GW site but are not out of production. I find the poses and facial expressions better than the current Cadian plastic range which is reminiscent of modern infantry. The Catachians with their simets and US marine combats are too jingoistically yankee for my taste. Perhaps my preference is just nostalgia on my part as the Mordian Iron Guard were the first IG regiment I collected. I still have one squad left. The remainder have over the years been given away or sold on ebay. Whenever I can use them as veterans such as in an Inquisitor Lords Retinue, or as a veteran squad I do. The formal dress uniform of the Mordian Iron Guard is a bit a a Dan Dare type of futuristic army. Other IG minis I admire and feel are suitably scifi are the Steel Legion naturally and the Vostroyans. The plastics as on the box are unfortuately too retro for my tastes. Unfortunately because metal minis are so expensive now and getting ever more expensive as the GW refocuses it range on its plastics.

Penitent Engine Progress

OK, here is some progress with this. I envisioned the penitent engines to be recyclable. Strap in a penitent and throw him of her into battle until redeemed through glorious death for the Emperor. Repair the engine and strap another penitent in. These machines would be functional easy to repair and crude and battle filthy. The scheme I chose uses only metallics and washes except for flesh and banners. I have used magnets to hold the 2 parts of the body together making it easier to assemble and paint. The arms are to be attached with wire or possibly magnets if I can find small ones strong enough. Here are the pictures.

Steel Legion Meltaguns #2

I posted some time ago about a Steel Legion meltagun conversion that I attempted here . I was not too happy about the pose but as a first attempt I thought it could be OK. Later blogger stats revealed that the post was getting quite a few hits and the unease that I felt about the conversion was shared by Tyrus and Dizzy here .

The consequence is a revision and here it is with what seems to be a more convincing pose. Note the mini is not yet painted. Same mini by the way, different arm. More later.

The 40k Universe is a Horrible Place or the Belisimite Dogs

The 40k future where there is only war to sustain humanity is a bleak and vile anti utopia, an idea germinated from the black future visions of the 1970s when it seemed that the world would shortly end in a nuclear holocaust. Yet when getting down to construct an army for the board killer lists abound with space marines, or chaos space marines or mechanised IG battle forces. The dark elements of the 40k Universe are sanitized out of the picture with the squeaky clean elite units of the Imperium. Yet billions of unknown souls toil hopelessly living in polluted hive cities to serve vast planet spanning industrial factories. The IG is essentially an infantry army using hordes of poorly equipped and trained guardsmen thrown into battle unprepared in the face of unpredictable threats as the elite forces of the imperium are stretched to respond to recognized attacks.

Hence one of my battle forces is the IG Belismite Dogs. Work started on this with the previous IG codex. I am slow I know . But today I feel it is getting close to shaping up. Here is a first picture of the grimy fluff.

There are 3 troop choices, and 2 elite choices, one HQ

Battle Sisters Rhino Progress with Magnets

Magnets and more magnets. With this second Rhino, 2 sets of magnets have been used. Firstly the floor magnets to hold the imperial dozer blade in place, making dozer blade switchable with the first rhino here. A second array of magnets gives it the ability to hold the Sisters Rhino Ram as supplied. The ram itself is a little bit too small for magnets so this time 4 steel staples have been superglued into a groove scored in the ram. Gives a little bit of flexibility in advance of the expected the Witch Hunters Codex in 2011. See pics below. Apologies for the blurriness of the last image. I had nothing to rest the camera on.

Penal Legion More Progress and some causality

The second penal legion squad is progressing towards completion. I like the idea of the penal legion squads adding some randomness to the force they are attached to. In a competitive gaming environment where players select a power list to ensure a win by blowing or munching the enemy away typically the only factor that determines the winner is the chance of dice rolls. When this happens you can be certain that the winner is simply the luckiest player not the best general. Power list games often result in a draw. That's the law of averages. Adding a variable element to your force allows a player to rise to the occasion and show some generalship. What made Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Alexander the Great stand out was their ability to turn adverse circumstance to their advantage repeatedly and win despite conventional wisdom that they should lose.
Adding the handicap of not knowing exactly how your force will perform allows the player to demonstrate generalship. Winning through power listing shows the soul of an accountant. 

Here are the 2 squads :