9th Cadian 'The Praecursors' - Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum

These are a bit on hold at the minute as I want to push forward my WFB undead, but I'll post them up anyway.


The fortress world of Cadia is renowned for its fighting armies that are constantly being sharpened upon the brutal forge that is the Eye of Terror.  

Amongst the Shock Troops garrisoned there, the 9th Cadian Regiment (motto: 'Alis Grave Nil') is considered a specialist cadre used specifically for reconnaissance, forward observations for heavier battlegroups, and to seize advanced objectives or probe enemy lines for possible bridgeheads.

Because of this, the 9th (or the 'Praecursors', as they are known) are a lighter, more flexible army with more unconventional troops at their disposal.  Whilst the army does naturally have armoured divisions, it has a significantly lower proportion of artillery and supertanks than other Imperial Guard regiments.

Conversely, it has a much larger average of light infantry and veteran units as the regiment is keen to utilise speed and experience over firepower.  As befits a reconnaissance regiment, it also provides a large number of scout and communication vehicles and often deploys drop ships, grav chutes and teleportation technology.

The specialised nature of the regiment has seen it work closely with the Imperial Navy, particularly in securing target locations for large scale assault drops and 'paint markers' for off-world bombardment of planets.

Through their close ties with the Navy, the 9th actively recruit abhumans that work in and around the dockyards.  The regiment particularly favours the infiltration techniques of snipers, especially ratlings. Indeed, it is well known through Imperial Army circles as having one of the finest marksman/covert ops training schools.

The employ of a large amount of abhumans has earnt the regiment the semi-derogative nickname 'The Rat-Marines', and they often find themselves mocked as being motley by more rigid, disciplinarian regiments.  Despite this, the 9th's battle colours are impressive, having served in a number of major theatres, particularly in the 3rd Battle for Armageddon, where they distinguished themselves supporting Adeptus Astartes units in the final assault phases.  The entire regiment also earned honours in the Battle for Fortress Carcasson, where they succeeded in destroying the Hive Fleet Scarabus.  The current Commander of the regiment, Venerus 'Tusker' Holt is a veteran of the last tyranid incursion.

I like the idea of a lightweight fast moving army and I like using drop troops, so I've made the fluff fit!  I also doubt I will ever afford a super battle tank, let alone get around to painting one, so a regiment that's thin on armour suits me!  I also have a few ratling and sniper figures I would like to use and I am formulating a plan for some snazzy looking rough riders.

I had worked out some specialisations for the regiment, but I've decided to leave that open for the minute - as a flexible advance force, I think that the 9th would make a tailored force to suit the missions.

I currently have enough men (still in pieces!!) for a couple of platoons, plus command, but I'm taking it one step at a time and doing a platoon (20 men, plus command unit) and a couple of support units first, otherwise it's gonna become overwhelming and too daunting a task to paint.

And on to the troops:

I currently have my first squad in various stages of paintedness. Most of them are just base coated, so I'll only pop pics of the more finished troopers (although they never seem to be completely finished):




"Any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of 10 was born on the wrong planet!" - Sgt Mall Alonov - 812th Company, Alpha platoon.

The pic aint great - I think some fluff got onto his armour and the tranfers on his pads reflect the glare. I think I'll matt varnish them to reduce that. The transfers are a bit of a pain TBH - the curvature of the pad means the decal gets wrinkled or you have to cut it for it to lie flat. It's taking up a lot of time at the mo getting the transfers on....


I also have two other troopers more or less 'finished':



I've painted them using the old GW guide for Cadians, as it seems the easiest way to paint them quickly -

Black undercoat

Basecoats: Armour - Dark Angel Green, Fatigues - Scorched Brown

Drybrush: Armour - Catcachan Green, Fatigues - Graveyard Earth

Highlights: Armour - Lighter catachan mixed up (Edging armour/weapons), Fatigues - Khommando Khaki

They come out a bit browner than the GW models, but I think I like the earthier feel - it goes well against the green too.

It is tempting to go to town with each model adding mud and dirt, scorch marks, bullet holes, etc; but I'll never get them done if I do that, so I've decided to spend more time only on the heavy weapons of a unit, as they lend themselves to more modelling opportunities. I'll pop up pics of the heavy bolter & crew I'm working on shortly.

Looks good, Mon.

You could do with getting a desk lamp and shining some light on the figures. Might make the pictures a bit clearer if you can put the lamp level with the figure. Or a bike light maybe.

Yeah - the pics on these have not come out as well as me undead. I've worked out why an' all - the spotlamp I was using this time had an opaque bulb in it which softened the lighting! Works for that romantic snap but not for miniatures!

A bike light is a good idea.

Christ, getting into photography lighting now...

Couple more pics - unfortunately, taken at the time of the others with the 'mood' lighting (well it was valentines!)...

The heavy bolter base (currently under construction), as promised:





Having problems focusing the damn camera now! It's sposed to have some fancy pants 15 face auto focus so you don't have to have blurred shots unless you want to. Gonna have to have another play around with the settings!

Anyway, these bigger bases are giving me a chance to put more stuff on them - I bought the barbed wire rolls from a model shop. The next base I do, I'm gonna make a tank trap next to the gun out of plaster of paris and an ice cube tray.... I also need to delve into the bits box to make the bases more interesting. I'm thinking of twisting old plastic sprues to look like broken concrete or twisted metal lying around. I've also got some airfix bits that c an be scattered around to look like debris.



Planning on making 812 platoon a tactical one - one heavy bolter in each squad, with a mortar/hvy bolter in the command stand to provide covering fire.


And, as support for the platoon, I'm also painting this, as it fits nicely into the 9th Cadian's narrative:




812's mechanised scout detachment! I hope to get a unit of three in the end, but at the mo, this will provide a bit of mobile clout to the troop.

Fair play - looks like you have been busy. They look good!

Been casting envious glances at your IG. Seriously tempted. Only thing scaring me off is the cost. Pricey army.

Yeah, I'm glad I got em all plastic when they were cheap!

Got a few plans for them in the next few months - Rough Riders with a twist and my first full company, now I've got a couple of the old orderly/ensign figures from the old command packs.

Best thing about them is that now I have a system, they don't take too long to paint. Thankfully for me, it seems like you don't have to be a brilliant painter either like you might have to be to get the most out of Eldar, say.

The longest bit is the transfers, fiddly little buggers....

Yeah, i tried using them on my marines. Gave up in the end and did freehand. I fancy a small mechanized force.

Loads of tanks would be brilliant but they'd take ages to paint and cost a fortune.

That's why I've made my regiment a reconnaissance one, so I can have a load of quick vehicles - scout tanks, chimeras, grav chutes and rough riders.

Ok, bit a bit of pricing up for what I want Chaos wise, and tried the same for IG, and its scary, scary stuff for what I would get. Still fancy em though!

Ebay? S'where I got a fair bit of mine - bought 4 heavy weapon stands, a basilisk, a Leman Russ and a few for my command stands off there.

I probably should do, but have an irrational dislike of eBay

A couple of quick schnaps I rattled off this morning before I left the house - very ropey pics, so excuse the quality.

Alpha squad of 812 was always a bit of an experimental first for me - as a tester, I've used figures I'd gotten off ebay which were already glued (apart from the sarge which I knocked up meself) and aren't in the greatest of poses and what have you.

I've tried to paint them at a tabletop standard, so they look alright when a foot or two away form the eye but not amazing when looked at close up. I've not bothered with eyes (as yet), except for a couple. This way, I might possibly get a whole platoon finished soon....





Had to take two similar pics to focus the all the men!








Private Riff 'Bull' Bullingdon of Alpha Squad, 812th Platoon, prepares to charge the enemy with a fixed bayonet and a determined look!

Damn - just noticed some green has got onto his fingers! Will tidy that up! He does look alot better to the natural eye (and a bit further away!) than this close up suggests (honest!).

Sod it - only took one more pic, so I may as well pop it on too, even though it's not come out very well:




So, I'm reasonably pleased with how they've turned out. They only took about 4 days to paint up if you take out all the fiddling about I did with transfers, etc, so I should hopefully be able to knock up bravo squad in good time. I'll put the backpacks on the next squad and take my time with poses and mould lines and stuff.

They look great. Impressed with the transfers, never managed them!

They are fiddly as hell transfers - they need to be mitred some way to make them fit a curved pad. They also flake really easily, so I've sprayed the unit with Army painter's matt varnish, which protects them a bit and helps to hide the shininess of the decal.

Oh, and private riff does not look too keen on going over the top.

Lol! Nor would you be, the way my men die!

Just a quick WIP update.


Here is the second (Bravo) squad of 812 platoon. As I want the 812 to be a flexible tactical platoon, they're similarly armed to Alpha squad, except that they have a grenade launcher as well, and as they were bought from GW, I have the water bottles and packs on them!


I've only base coated three of them so far, but you get the picture:




Bit dark, but prob because most are only undercoated. You'll notice that the heavy bolter hasn't been based and sprayed yet - I'm hoping to make some plaster of paris dragon's teeth tank traps, but the ice cube tray I was gonna use has gone missing!


I've also started work on the command stand, with the platoon standard bearer conversions. I didn't want a full flag for every single platoon - it seems a bit daft that they would do that - you wouldn't be ableto see anything for all the flags! I prefer these older guys - they're a bit more subtle than a full flag and make them look a bit different:






The lasgun bearer is the first platoon standard and the laspistol one is going to be the second platoon's, which I plan to make more close combat based. Reckon I should put a little triangular banner coming off the back of the standard (maybe with a little motto?) or just leave it blank?

Finally, my first Rough Rider:

... Quad bikes FTW!!










The bike is from Ramshackle Games. It's a very rough mould to be honest and needs a lot of filler in it. I also need to cover a few bits up with card or more odds and sods from my bits box as well as try and jazz up the lance somehow to make it look more futuristic (any ideas?).

Also, the scale of it is pretty big, probably 32mm, so just out, but I quite like the oversized rugged feel of it - it kind of suits Imperial Guard who seem to like everything large:



Still, it only cost me £2.50 for the bike and handlebars with hands, so alot cheaper than buying the actual figures!

Thats a great find for the rough riders!

To make their lances look more futuristic, how about sticking some wire and a bit of plastic to look like a battery near the tip?

I like the platoon banner bearers, not too ott, although I might be tempted by some kind of pendant maybe

Love it - the bike looks awesome!

Ta! Still a long way to go yet to sort it out. I'll get the rest of the squad next payday - bit of a waste for rough riders really as they're very easy to kill and wont be on the field much!

Unk wrote:

To make their lances look more futuristic, how about sticking some wire and a bit of plastic to look like a battery near the tip?

I like the platoon banner bearers, not too ott, although I might be tempted by some kind of pendant maybe

Think I will put something trailing off the back of the standards with their number and platoon motto on it. Think it would look daft having standards the same size as the company HQ, so I'll make it a small affair!

Nice idea with the lance. I've got some old PC parts that I might see if I can scav. Whatever I do, I'll have to be able to make 3 more of them. Think wires & battery are the way forward.

I was gonna make this bike a comms vehicle: the arials and set on the back were just made with a cut up vox caster from the squad sprue (the light thingy on the front panel is the cut off voice speaker bit off the top of the caster!) , but I think I'll put something similar on the back of all the bikes - I've got a few vox's spare.

Gilly wrote:

bit of a waste for rough riders really as they're very easy to kill and wont be on the field much!

Same as the rest of the army then...

I like them, though. Gives a different look to the army, and is probably more in keeping with a modern force than a load of guys on horseback.

Not much of an update (been concentrating on other things) but these have finally arrived. They takes ages from Ramshackle games because they mould them to order.




Have to say though, these castings are a lot better quality than the first bike - no holes on the model, no bits mis-shapen or unfinished and hardly any flash.

I'm thinking about tidying up the top of the handlebars (you can see it better in the one I've made up) - was gonna put a bit of shaped plasticard over the messy handlebar bits and cover up a bit of me gluing handiwork and stick an aguila on it to personalise them a bit and make them look more 40k?

They're sweet. I really like em. Can't wait to see them all painted