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

Hah! The Worf effect!

That model had hair originally - took me ages to file it off!

Well, I'm back and to put Don's mind at rest, I've been at the grindstone all weekend, catching up. I've got a few things on the go, but there's not much finished at the mo, so there aren't many pics to put up. Hopefully in a week or so, there'll be a bit to look at.

In the meantime though, some progress with me Valkyrie. I'm kind of showing its progress stage by stage, so I've got a few quick pics to add:

I've managed to get some new tail fins for it, as well as a flying base (total cost £7, inc postage from the US). I've also got the canopy for a fiver, but that hasn't arrived yet. All in all then, the whole thing has cost me £30 in bits (not counting the magnets and stripping). £3 cheaper than getting it from Dark Sphere, so it's probably been a rip really, but I suppose it's still £15 odd cheaper than if I'd bought it from GW.


I noticed that the GW flying base is quite thin - if I'd stuck the clear flying stem onto the base I think the whole base would start to buckle and sag in the middle under he weight of the model.

Instead, I decided to cut the middle out to allow the stem to fall through, allowing the weight of the model to be carried by the stem. It also reduced the risk of the base snappping off at the stem-to-base join at a crucial moment.


The base then looked like this, with a couple of cheap resin craters set on it:






The model built back up, ready for spraying:





After an undercoat spray (base was sprayed separately after a bit of green stuffing - it still needs the last bits painted over:










With rocket pods fitted. Just finishing off magnetising the Hellstrike missile alternative loadout but not photographed them yet:

Cool! Shame it hasn't worked out much cheaper, but its looking good so far.

I really like it, nice and gritty, what sort of paint job are you thinking of?

Aye a £3 saving is hardly worth the effort, but I've learnt some new stuff in the process.

I was thinking of painting it grey but really rusted down. Grey would make a nice change from the green my other vehicles are gonna be.

Still not sure if I should:

- buy a spray of grey (£8, but GW don't do colour sprays anymore so will have to get Army Painter - might be issues in getting the colour right if I need to touch up areas)

-get the GW 'hand flamer' air brush (£18 + £7 propellant - not dual action but should cover it well enough and lets me use GW paints)

- or just shell out on a proper airbrush and pump and be done with it (£80 but I can use thinned GW paints for all undercoating from then on which should save money in the long run).

Supaglue wrote:

just shell out on a proper airbrush and pump and be done with it (£80 but I can use thinned GW paints for all undercoating from then on which should save money in the long run).

Have looked at a few plogs recently where they have airbrushed stuff, and they have had some very impressive results, although aren't they a bit more than £80? I thought they were in the £200+ range.

Depends on what yer willing to spend. Decent ones with an air compressor are going for about £80 to £100 on ebay, but sky's the limit really. Think I'd just get a starter one (but still dual action) before I went mad. Thing is, the air compressor is the real expense, so you could always get a better airbrush later on.

Oddly, the price of them has rocketed up with the rise of nail bars coz they use em for 'nail art'.

I really wanted to get some painted stuff up but I've still not finished the stuff I am doing and I need some bits to carry on my valkyrie.


I have snapped a pic of the chimera I bought and built over Xmas though in a vain attempt to show that I've not been slacking:




The chimera on the left is my old Hellhound model. I've stripped off the tanks and extra stuff that was on it and added the ball turret lasguns on the back (I was one short - it's on order: cost me 2 bloody quid...).

I plan to use it as a normal chimera just with a (large!) heavy flamer on the extra-armoured turret and get the newer Hellhound model (which is pretty nice).

Until then though, it'll have to stay as my HH... I'm sure you guys will understand! I'm also not sure I'll ever have a heavy flamer loadout, but maybe it'll come in handy for city fights? It's not like I can change the weapons on it the amount of glue I used!


The new chimera on the right has magnetised hardpoints so I can chop and change more.

I reckon you should just leave the HH out altogether

Looking good though, good thing with using the same chassis for vehicles, easy to swap.

Not too much to report on the painting front really as I've been concentrating on scenery, but I've managed to win on Ebay a forge World command HQ for a tenner less than the £30 it would cost new. Managed to put them together:




Close up detail:

Colonel & Master vox operator:





I know the basing is unorthodox, but we only play friendly games, so I quite fancied making the HQs stand out a bit. The bases are from Dragon forge in the US - both bike stands and round bases are of the same 'Wasteland II' style, so they all tie in. The wires are made from nylon thread.

The comms guy is actually a bit static for my liking - I was going to have him kneeling so it looked like he was ducking for cover whilst the Colonel was just stood there, a bit like Robert Duvall from Apocalypse Now, but I didn't have any spare legs. Oh well!

Scanner operator:





As far as I'm aware, you can't have scanners anymore, but I'll either just use him as a standard man or as an objective marker.




The melta gunner is going to go into my vet squad rather than the command (hence the non resin base). I've shaved off the Aquila on the shoulder pad so I can mark him up like the rest of his vet squad. I still need to put a few bits onto him so he fits in with the others of the unit.

Here's the whole command squad as they stand (half undercoated black so they wont come out too well in a pic):



Front left to right: Regimental Standard, Plasma Gunner, Medic, Bodyguards (Phil N' Grunt) & cigar smoking Heavy Flamer.

Rear: Vet Trooper, 2nd Vet Trooper (with scanner), Colonel & Master Vox Operator


All I need is an Officer of the Fleet, an Astropath and a Master of Ordnance and I'm done!

Obviously I wont necessarily having them all on the table at once, but it's nice to have the miniatures for different options.

I should also just pop a kwik pic of the Valkyire to show the start of the next phase (you all saw it at the last meet up though). This stage is a heavy drybrush of scorched Brown that will provide a base underlayer for the rust effect that will come through the grey main coat. Next I need to add some rust pigment and some bestial brown with a sponge.

They look great mate - and I wouldn't worry about odd bases, defo use the guy with a scanner, it makes no odds to us what base he is on or what he is up to (well, within reason...)

Looking forward to the rust effect too

Nothing wrong with the bases, the more fun bases the better!