Spring Cleaning Challenge: Imperial Guard (PROJECT COMPLETE!)

There’s a story to my Guard that will come out over the series of this project but for now suffice to say they’re from an Argi-Planet that has a serious issue with rebelling against the Imperium.

They never fall to Chaos just succeed from the Imperium and as a result of this the Imperium never gives them any real equipment. Almost everything they use is produced on world and in their traditional style. All their armour, weapons and clothing are kept as traditional as possible to try and satisfy their desire to rebel for Patriotic reasons.

There’s a story to my Guard that will come out over the series of this project but for now suffice to say they’re from an Argi-Planet that has a serious issue with rebelling against the Imperium.

They never fall to Chaos just succeed from the Imperium and as a result of this the Imperium never gives them any real equipment. Almost everything they use is produced on world and in their traditional style. All their armour, weapons and clothing are kept as traditional as possible to try and satisfy their desire to rebel for Patriotic reasons.

I’ve posted the handful of minis that have been painted so here’s part of the rest who haven’t.

Next Update will be some Fluff about the minis, I’ll try to break up Pic Dumps with some Fluff where I can.

All the Branches Have a Trim Colour which for the infantry is Pink.

Ok so that’s the Uniforms but what about the equipment.

The Men all Cary MK III “Tribal Pattern” Las Muskets that are muzzle Loaded with 50, 100 or 200 Round Magazines. The Magazine is simply placed in the barrel, the Musket butt of the Musket in then tapped on the ground to seat the magazine which magnetically clamps into place. Extra Ammunition is kept underneath the Barrel of the Musket where a Ramrod would Traditionally be held.

The Las Musket has Four Firing Modes. Safe, Full Auto, Semi Auto and Single Shot.

The Firing Mode is selected with the Hammer. Being drawn back slightly is Fully Automatic, Halfway is Semi Automatic and “Full Cock” is Single Shot.

The Nipple (yes that’s what it’s really called) has a gas vent that moves the hammer. For Full Auto the Valve is slightly opened allowing a small amount of gas to move the hammer a short way. For Semi Auto the valve is opened further which moves the hammer back further enabling it to move far enough to return to the semi auto position.

The Mode can be locked via a Selector Switch near the Trigger Guard. This way if the hammer doesn’t rebound enough to engage the Semi Automatic it will default to safe rather than Fully Automatic.

Every Man carries at least one spare Selector Assembly, if theirs malfunctions it can be easily removed and replaced in less than five minutes using a small tool that is also carried with the man.

Each Man also carries a Grenade Pouch in the form of a stiffened Leather Box on their Right Hip. Each Carries Four or Five Grenades in there along with the spare Selector Assembly. The man’s Company is written in Roman Numerals on the Box.

On their Left Hip they carry a Forage Bag that can be filled with personal property.

I’ve found some more minis although they lack bases so I’ll have to sort that out before I start painting.

I also found some more semi painted examples, a Commissar and a Tank known as a Grasshopper.

The unpainted Grenadier is carrying a Sniper Rifle equivalent, a Bren Gun taken from a WWII Warlord British Sprue.

The NCO is a Regimental Sergeant Major. Three marks on the Upper Arm and one on the Lower arm. He carries the Carbine and Wears the Turban.

The Commissars assigned to the Regiment are all from the same pool as any other Commissars of the Imperium, the only difference being that their Black Coats are trimmed in the Colour of the Branch they Serve with.

The Tank is a Flame Throwing Variant that Counts as a Hellhound

It Carries a Tribal Ariel in the Shape of a Twin Snake, the Symbol of the Tribe, and a Telescopic Device that Assists the Vehicle when Operating in a Scouting Capacity.

Lacking Any Official Astra Militarum Tanks these Men must make do with what they can. What Other Regiments would Consider Training Tanks not fit for Combat are Transformed into Scouts.

Barrels are Strapped Haphazardly to the Vehicles Hull and they Feed the Main Gun. While it is not the Safest Thing in the World it is the Only Way to Bring Enough Fuel to Have any Use. Many a Grasshopper lies Burnt out and Wrecked due to Nothing More Deadly than a Boltgun.

Smaller Tanks Feed the Bow Flame Thrower and are More Heavily Armoured than the Other Barrels.

I wanted to use a Cheap and Easily Available Kit but I didn’t want anyone to be able to tell what kind of tank it was at a glance.

A Panther is a Panther no matter how many 40K Gubbins you slap on it and it wouldn’t look right.

For those interested this is a Light Tank 38M Toldi II (B40), a Hungarian Light Tank form WWII. A perfect tank to convert. The Hull Flamer and Tanks are from the Cadian Sprue and the Turret Flamer is from a Forge World Land Raider Sponson Kit.

The Artillery is organised in 10 Gun Batteries.

Each Regiment is Given a Single Battery Crewed by the Artillery and is often broke up into three Divisions and a Command Gun.

The First Division is Called A Division and is Made up of Three Lascannons.

The Second Division is Called B Division and is Made up of Two Lascannons and One Autocannon.

The Third Division is Called C Division and is Made up of Two Lascannons and One Autocannon.

The Command Gun is Variable but Usually a Heavy Bolter or a Mortar. It is known as the “Command Gun” and is always attached to the Regimental Command Squad.

While the Artillery Man the Big Guns of the Guard it’s the Grenadiers who Carry the Man Portable Weapons to Battle.

At the Squad Level The Grenadiers Carry a Portable Missile Launcher and are Aided by a Grenadier Assistant.

At the Platoon Level the grenadiers Form into Six man Specialist Teams that Contain Three Special Weapons and Three Assistants. These men carry the Sniper Rifles, Grenade launchers, Flamers and the rest.

Upon Promotion to NCO Rank the Grenadiers have three options.

First they can Refuse the promotion and Take a “Veteran” Status that gives them NCO privileges but no increase in rank.

Secondly they can take the Promotion and move to be the assistant to a Grenadier Platoon Commander. Grenadiers are always dispatched in piece meal to different Battalions and a Grenadier NCO will always join the Regular Infantry’s Battalion Command Squad to give advice on their deployment. From there they can work there way up to RSM of Grenadiers where they give advice to the Planet’s Marshall.

Finally they can chose to take an available position as a Drill Sergeant at a Grenadier Training Academy. The pay is less, the prestige is not as good and he can be recalled at any time but at least the risk of death is greatly decreased.

The Grenadiers are not organised on a Tribal Basis, they all wear the Black Caps of the Grenadiers, inverted Colours of the Infantry (Blue Jacket and Green Pants) and wear the Trim of their Branch (Pink for Infantry, Yellow for Cavalry, Red for Armoured, White for Recon and Black for Everyone Else).

The only Squad level Weapons the Grenadiers Currently have access to are Portable Missile launchers but that is slowly being rectified as the Artillery slowly slacken their grip on Mortars and Heavy Bolters.

Those Grenadiers who have Achieved Veteran Status can choose to join the Assault Squads. The Danger is greater but the honour and medals that come from joining an Assault Squad can set a man up for life if he’s ever lucky enough to retire.

The Assault Squads are formed from Veterans and have greater access to Weapon Modifications. They can elect to carry Shotguns and can have the Platoon Specialists attached to them with Flamers or Plasma Guns to help them clear the enemy from their trenches or Bunkers.

The Shotguns are just cut down rifles. The Las Ammunition is swapped for a more dispersed Scatter Gun style ammunition. When fired from a full length Rifle the effect is essentially the same as firing a standard Las Round but when the Las Musket is cut down to the Second Barrel Band the shot spreads and becomes an effective shotgun, it also retains the firing mods of the full rifles.

Some Veterans take it even further and cut their guns shorter to get a wider spread.

While the Minis were drying I decided to work on the Fluff some more so that’s the next post.