Reinforcements Inbound - Delayed in transit - 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers

Sifting through the still boxed remains of moving house nearly a year ago, I recently unearthed the box containing several painted and half painted units of my Armoured Pioneers regiment, long feared lost in the warp of home removals. A lot of these guys were painted six or seven years ago, and it was this stark fact that made me realise I really need to start finishing projects before starting new ones.

I know it's a problem a lot of us face.... You lose momentum for one project, gain inspiration for another....shiny new things are released and so stuff gathers dust, looking at all the half finished squads  has made me a bit guilty though.... I really need to get this stuff painted up....

I have a half painted company command squad, a (painted) Primaris Psyker; veteran squad in chimera requiring only two minis painting; Stormtrooper squad (painted) two special weapon squads for the infantry platoon (one dude to paint) and finally half of the required models for the platoons second infantry squad (unpained bar the sergeant)

So here are the finished units, I'd like to hope my painting has improved a little in the years since I did them, but I think they're still just about acceptable as tabletop quality. 

First up, six man Stormtrooper squad with plasma gun and meltagun, the sergeant is rather crudely converted from a metal Cadian sergeant with the powerfist and las pistol cut off and replaced and a Stormtrooper backpack added, I'm well aware Stormtrooper squads can't take vox operators but I needed the backpack for the sarge so it's visual only. I would have thought specialist troops like storm troopers would have communications equipment even if they aren't taking their orders from the 'regular' officers so it's not too much of a stretch.

Primaris Psyker - definatley not one of my better paint jobs! This dude really is a bit crude. I remember being at a loss about what colours to use without him looking like a rainbow mess so he ended up rather drab and uninspired. Still, it's a valid HQ choice....until the new codex arrives and downgrades him to an advisor!

Special weapons squad no'1 - a team of combat engineers with a melta, flamer and demolition charge, lots of forgeworld bits and bobs and backpacks from the heavy weapons teams, I really like these, despite the simple paintwork. I think they (along with the king russ Demolisher) sum up what the Kieler regiment is all about background wise.

Hopefully soon I'll get a couple of hours of free time to finish up the last couple of shotgun veterans and get another unit complete and ready for the tabletop.

Badab war, Tyrants Legion Auxilia Update.

Its been a fair while since my last post, personal circumstances have left me with very little hobby time of late, but ive been plugging away at my legion auxillia as and when ive had the chance.

Here are the first thirteen of twenty total, including the squads prefect and both heavy stubbers.
They're a proper quick and dirty job and well below my usual (low) standard of painting, but im fairly satisfied with the end result for a tabletop unit of cannon fodder.



Ive really run out of steam as far as painting mass infantry goes, when painting becomes more of a chore than a pleasure its time to swap projects. Lucky ive got pleanty of unfinised projects then!

Badab War. Astral Claws Tyrants Legion Update... Legion Auxillaries

Ive mentioned in earlier posts my quandary over what models to use for my legion auxilla squad, GW's Cadians and catachans were out as ive allready painted a horde of each, plus scale is a slight issue, Id mulled over several options, from a box of 28mm ww2 minis converted up with gw bits and pieces to spatans games FSA infantry.
However cost (as always) was a bit of an issue, so when I managed to pick up sixteen plastic rogue trader imperial guardsmen on eBay for less than a fiver posted, I felt pretty pleased. I already have a old metal commander body for the squads Prefect, so for the minimum unit size of 20 I only need to pick up another three dudes.

Also on the plus side, they keep things 'OE' albeit with a nice old school flavour that I thinks somehow appropriate for the background of the legion auxiliary units. As a bonus theyre also pretty diminutive compared to a plastic Cadian guardsmen. So the Astral claws tower over them in a manner befitting their genetically modified demi-god status.

On the downside, they appeared to have been painted with those (humbrol?) Airfix kit paints that come in a little metal tin, and I wasnt sure how my usual 'dettol bath' stripping method would work.



A long soak and a hell of alot of scrubbing later, this was what the they looked like, and I was forced to accept that some of the multiple layers of paint just wasnt coming off!



Here are my two test models, they were made with the two that were In the worst condition after stripping, so hopefully the follwing eighteen wont look this bad paintjob wise! I went for a very basic, almost two colour paintscheme, light grey uniform and dark grey armour with lenses in green and any decoration in blue or gold. The heavy stubber gunner is on a 40mm base I had left over, I also need to buy some more black cat bases for this squad to match the space marines.

Ordo Hereticus - Warrior Acolytes.

The first three of five warrior acolytes for my ordo hereticus inquisitor. Part of a Cadian special duties detachment. In the 40k background, cadian troops are often seconded to inquisitors due to their steadfast nature and excellent (by imperial guard standards) training. Young, ambitious junior officers will often resign their platoon commissions to volunteer for special duties detachments, the risks are many, but for those who survive, service can be a fast track to promotion. It is almost a prerequisite for joining Cadian joint Intelligence to have served on at least one special duties tour.



First a basic laspistol and chainsword acolyte. He has a forgeworld head, plastic tank commander legs and a backpack from the catachan command set.



Next up is this sour faced dude, equipped with a modified bolter. He has a forgeworld head and a necromunda van saar heavy stubber backpack (a rack of magazines)



Thirdly is the squads vox/auspex operator, unlike the others, which are 40k cannon fodder, this trooper will be part of my Inq28 warband, so I spent a bit more time painting him and gave him a base to match my inquisitor. He is based on a forgeworld torso and catachan legs, with a head from the catachan command set and a pack cobbled together from a voxcaster and chimera bits.

"Mount Up!" 1000pts complete - 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers

Here is the core 1000pts of my Kaylan Lancers.
Mechanised company command squad, two mechanised infantry squads, stormtrooper squad and a leman russ exterminator.

Company command squad- 200pts
Stormtrooper squad- 195pts
Veteran squad (assault) - 187pts
Veteran squad (FireSupport) - 175pts
Exterminator - 180pts
Total - 937 points.

Theres still pleanty of wiggle room for me to add a scout sentinel or salamander and still be under a thousand points. 1250pts is the 'end goal' for this force.

Veteran Squad Two - Fire support team. 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers

Troops choice no2 for the lancers, a mechanised infantry squad equipped for fire support with a missile launcher, plasma gun and grenade launcher.



A pretty standard squad, the vox operator is the mortar gunner mini, the trooper with a grenade launcher is the old griffon mortar gunner with added command sprue plastic bits.



I didnt have any 60mm bases spare, my local flgs doesnt stock them, theyre direct only from gw and seem to be quite expensive on the well known auction site that ive banned myself from for now. So I took the opportunity to use up one of the 40mm bases I had over from my astral claws project for the missile team.
I thought they might look a bit squashed but I think it turned out ok ( I dont think you'd fit one of the old wheeled autocannon and loader on one though) not strictly legal. But if anyone was feeling pedantic I could always mount it on a 60mil card template.



The squads apc is also equipped for stand-off fire support, forgoing the point defense of a pintle mount for anti-armour capacity in the form of a Hunter-Killer missile system.

Veteran squad -70pts
Vox caster -5pts
Missile launcher -15pts
Plasma gun -15pts
Grenade launcher -5pts
Chimera -55pts
HK missile -10pts
Total -175pts

When I get some time over the weekend I'll try and get a decent group photo of the lancers so far.

WIP update. consequences of a short attention span

Despite the lack of posts or any finished units to show, I have actually been making pretty good progress by my standards this last week or so, The Imperial guard lancers have been taking up the bulk of my time, and since my last post Ive assembled and almost finished painting the armies third and final chimera.

t still needs a bit of touching up but is most of the way there now, as woth all my chimeras the lasguns have been replaced with firing ports. To complete the first 1000pts of lancers all I need to do is finish the last three troopers of squad two, ive progressed a fair bit from the photo but just ran out of time to have any hope of getting them finished today.


Also half painted and missing a head, hand and pack is an alternative Astral Claws centurion based on the master of the watch. I have a specific idea for this guy, but need some equally specific bitz to complete him, and im trying tostay off ebay at the moment so he prob wont see the light of day anytime soon (note that I started painting this centurion - which I cant finish - when I allready have a perfectly serviceable centurion completed, instead of finishing the last members of the space marine cohort - no wonder I never get anything done.


Lastly are the troopers of a Cadian Special duties detachment assigned to the ordo Hereticus, the vox/auspex operator just needs his ruined wall base painting.



ill be cracking on with the last three old school cadians as soon as I get the chance, finishing them will mean I hita special goal... to have a codex/foc legal guard army, at a playable size (just shy of 1000pts), all from one regiment. Up till now ive had to mix and match finished units from my three regiments (militia/lancers/engineers) to make a legal force. The plan is for the lancers to end up at 1250pts so theres plenty of room for a couple of sentinels and maybe a salamander/giffon/hydra or two.

P.s ive finally worked out how to put page breaks in text on a post (im a technophobe - very imperial) so im slowly going to go back and break up some of the massive chunks of texts in my earlier posts to make them more readable.

Stormtrooper Squad - 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers.

Looking at all the squads of half finished guardsmen I have shamed me into finishing off the last couple of members of my stormtrooper unit for my Lancers. Again I seem to be making life hard for myself by picking models with alot of fiddly details. Nice models though I definitely prefer the updated versions with masks over the original line with exposed faces. I have a second squad, five strong with the other sarge mini, a flamer and a melta that need painting up at some point.

The 31st Kaylan lancers stormtroops are not the schola prognium recruits of dedicated stormtrooper regiments, they are all kaylan veterans who undergo specialist training. In theatre, the stormtrooper units range ahead of the mechanised infantry alongside the regiments sentinels and salamander scouts. Acting as a forward reconnaissance and strike force to locate enemy positions, sieze bridges and destroy targets such as anti tank guns, command posts etc.

A ten man squad with plasma pistol, plasma gun and grenade launcher comes in at 195points.

Company Command Squad, A Company, 17th Hive Chosin indentured Militia.

Command squad in its entirety...

Captain & Vox operator...

Meltagunners...and lower image are the regimental advisors-two bodyguards.

Although Commissar Antaris is the guiding hand behind A' Company. Command nominally falls to Captain Bakarr.
A giant of a man with a brooding temperment, he had been given command of the Company because of his reputation in civilian life.

Bakarr had been the leader of 767, one of the largest 'contracted security guilds' (basically the largest most organised gangs) in house Antrim, organising protection teams on the great tanker land-trains and mine holdings and plotting attacks on the houses rivals.

Ruthless and never afraid to lead from the front, Bakarr was lightly wounded several times but had a reputation for escaping death in the face of impossible odds.

His vox operator is Corporal Schieo another 767 veteran of the inter-house trade wars, schieo's loyalty was to Bakarr first and foremost; having been brought up from a feral sub-level juvenile by the tough and brutal family that was the 767 outfit.

Captain Bakarr also has two troopers that serve as his most trusted aides and bodyguards. The first is Jorpal Thjornsson, a former smeltery worker in the Sire Estiff Mustafa contructorium, Journal found his calling in life in the hell of close quarters combat. As a squad sergeant he was a devil, both with a chainsword and the enemy and with any member of the 17th who crossed him with his fists. Mentally unsuitable for command Bakarr made him his personal bodyguard.

The second aide is the infamous 'Mutt' Maro, universally known across half the lower hive as mutt the bounty killer, almost a legend amongst the underclass of hive Chosin, mutt had carved out his career on the bounty of the southern continent's biggest outlaws, mutants and desperados, said to be able to shoot the tail off a running felid; or crush a man's skeleton with the strength of his bionic arm...

Trooper Bretz is mutts current main preoccupation in the command squad, a vile psychopathic murdering rapist only given a stay of execution because of his formidable fighting talents, even fitted with an explosive collar, Mutt still doesn't trust him with a meltagun.

Vekal and Rouse are the other two meltagunners, both combat veterans with very different backgrounds. Rouse as the boss of a sump side hijacking gang. Vekal as one of house Antrim's personal retainers

Company command squad - 50pts basic. x3 meltaguns +30pts. x2 bodyguards +30pts. Officer w/ bolter and Powerfist +17pts. Vox caster +5pts. Total - 132 points

The officer is the old metal catachan captain.
The vox caster is a 2nd generation 'fanatic' orlock mini with a Cadian comm link. ( I thought this more chunky than the catachan vox and therefore more suited to being the company's master vox)

The first bodyguard is the original alternative metal Catachan sergeant, which I think is a great (Perry?) Miniature you don't see that often. Mutt the bounty killer is a necromunda bounty hunter.

The meltagunners are an orlock leader. Metal catachans, and the reprobate is 'animal' from the last chances....as a unit from mixed sources I think they work together pretty well and apart from my amateurish painting... bring across the rag tag nature of a hive militia.

Infantry Squad One, 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Squad one in the infantry platoon, kitted out for fire support with a missile launcher, grenade launcher and vox caster - 75pts. They all have forgeworld resin backpacks, a few have respirator heads. The sergeant's chainsword is from the 2nd edition orlock leader weapon sprue and his laspistol hand is forgeworld. I was quite pleased with how the heavy weapons team turned out as you only ever seem to see them in static poses. The gunners right arm is from the old Leman Russ plastic tank commander. The loaders right arm is forgeworld, I cut the bipod down into a folded postion so he could be posed running with it. I also added a bloody boot and shrapnel peppered helmet as detail to the base

Platoon Command squad. 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Here is the command squad for troops choice no1 in my armoured assault engineers regiment. A lieutenant with a power fist, a Commissar, two plasma guns and a vox caster. 115 points. One of the plasma gunners is forgeworld, the commander and trooper have forgeworld backpacks from their upgrade pack. The Officer and Commissar minis are some of my favorites of the more recent IG range. I think the simple addition of the backpacks really improves the look of the cadian models, I think a few backpacks wouldnt have gone amiss on the infantry sprue. Although I suppose gw remedied the situation somewhat with the (? Years later) accessory packed plastic command box.

Leman Russ MBT, 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Here is a Leman Russ I built pretty much standard, the only minor changes are the hull heavy bolter being from the heavy weapons team set. And both the heavy bolter and pintle stubber having gun shield s from the same kit ( the shields fit the stubbers like they're meant to be! )..

In background terms this tank is a bodyguard to my king Russ demolisher, the regiments specialised assault engineering vehicles always having a regular tank 'riding shotgun' against enemy armour etc.

Leman Russ battle tank - 150pts basic. Pinter heavy stubber +10pts. Total - 160pts

'Traitor' Guard Veteran Squad, Brotherhood of Sin

When I bought a job lot of chaos bits recently, these were a lovely surprise, you couldn't really see them in the eBay photos under a pile of csm bodies and boltgun arms but lo and behold there were ten van saar gangers with greenstuffed gas hoods and a leader with a power fist from the old plastic eldar sprue.

In my opinion they were really nicely converted. Paint wise however they looked like they had originally been khornate cultists in a dark crimson scheme, but had been horribly overpainted at some point in a bright green nurgle type paintscheme. They took a lot of carefully stripping back, as I had to be carefull not to damage the Greenstuff heads.

In the end I was still left with a lot of red in the crevices. The only minor changes I made were to swap a plasma pistol back to a laspistol on one mini to make him into a 'regular' trooper.

One miniature had a multimelta (now carried by one of my havoc's) now he has a lasgun and a slightly oversized mace, and I added a skull to the leaders power fist for a bit of character.

I repainted them in a homemade purple mixed from blood red and regal blue. I think the green cabling works really well with the purple bodygloves and dark grey firearms to give them a corrupt, decadent, but well equipped and organised feel.

Originally I had thought they could be one of the new cultist squads in the 6th edition CSM codex, but after having checked out the rumors and scuttlebutt on the excellent faet212 blog, it doesn't appear that lowly cultists will be allowed such luxuries as powerfists, plasma pistols, or even meltaguns.
So instead they will become the mandatory troops choice in an 'traitor' guard 6th edition allied detachment; the Brotherhood of Sin.
I had thought about getting some more van Saar models off eBay and trying to model them to match. The plan being to end up with two veteran squads, and a command squad as a standalone miniforce. But the van saar models seem to fetch a premium, especially the more unusual ones like the plasma heavy and meltagun leader.
So instead I think I'll find an interesting mini to proxy as a primaris psyker / lord Commissar for the HQ choice. And a vehicle (or two)

Ive been looking at ramshackle games Gnu armoured transport and thinking it would make a great proxy chimera for traitor guard. If you haven't checked it out. I would recommend taking a look at their website. The new releases page has the best pictures of their recent range of resin vehicles and figure. I haven't actually bought anything from them yet. But I'm very tempted by a lot of their cool looking stuff that has a lot of 40k potential. Especially if you were building blood pact or similar and wanted a whole range of armoured cars/tanks to represent the urdeshi made vehicles in Dan abnetts excellent series of gaunts ghost books.

Veteran squad - 70pts basic. Champion with plasma pistol and power fist +25pts. Meltagun +10pts. Total 105pts.

Leman 'King' Russ Demolisher. 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers.

Another tank that I picked up for five or six quid on eBay.

It had already received a well executed double track conversion and other bits and pieces including what I think is a space marine vehicle periscope/auspex thingy on the turret, Unfortunately it was missing some of the metal turret pieces and had the hull mount and one sponson armoured over with plasticard; the other sponson had a sentinel heavy flamer fitted.

I found another sentinel flamer in my bits box to match, added a hull heavy flamer and gave it a repaint. I decided to leave one panel in the original green as a tribute to its builder. (In fluff terms it would be a panel that's been hastily replaced after damage)

In game terms I count it as having extra armour (see drivers cab etc)and the double tracks as being a dozer blade ( I much preferred the old catch-all 'rough terrain modification' )

Leman russ Demolisher - 165pts basic, heavy flamer sponsons +20pts, extra armour +15pts, rough terrain mod/dozer blade +10pts. Total 210 pts

Veteran Squad 1, Assault team, 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers.

Troops choice no1 for the Lancers.
A Mechanised infantry squad geared for close assault with a flamer and meltagun.
The only minor conversion is the demolition specialist, formerly a lascannon gunner with a forgeworld demo charge added, I thought his little remote control and glareglasses suited the role perfectly.

The chimera was built pretty much built out of the box. I've never liked the side lasguns on the chimera kits. They never look like they could traverse low enough to shoot at anything except flyers. Instead with my chimera I used a simple office hole punch to make some card discs which I could model open or closed; keeping the function of useable firing ports.

Veteran squad - 70pts basic. NCO w/ Bolt pistol +2pts. Vox caster +5pts. Meltagun +10pts. Flamer +5pts .Demolition specialists +30pts. Chimera w/ stormbolter +65pts. Total - 187pts.

...p.s in the background you can just about make out my WIP hive milita veteran squad, using the old last chancers ox as a sergeant Harker stand-in.

E Company Command Squad, 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers.

Here is the company command squad for my Lancers regiment

the officer is the old Colonel Schaeffer mini.
The master of ordinance is the old spotter model from the griffon mortor carrier with an added laspistol, and the two vehicle crewmen count as bodyguards... in fluff terms they are the major's armour liaisons / adjutants.

Their chimera is the new model with the old metal crew member...to try and tie it in a bit with the rest of the squad.

Company command squad - 50pts basic. Officer w/ plasma pistol & power sword +20pts. Vox caster +5pts. Master of ordnance +30pts. x2 bodyguards +30pts. Chimera w/ stormbolter +65pts. Total - 200points.

31st Royal Kaylan Lancers. Leman Russ Exterminator no7.

An old Leman Russ Exterminator, which I picked up on eBay for about a fiver inc postage. I gave it a quick repaint and am quite pleased with the result.

Normally Leman russe's wouldn't be present in a lancer regiment, but an exterminator can be classed as a scout tank according to imperial armour (although probably without the sponsons)

The 31st Royal Kaylan Lancers use their exterminator's as a force multiplier. Bringing them to bear at the largest concentrations of enemy troops as a shock weapon.

Leman Russ Exterminator - 150pts basic. Heavy Bolter sponsons.+20pts Pintle storm bolter +10pts...Total 180pts.

Chief Commissar Antaris. A Company, 17th Hive Chosin Indentured Militia.

Chief Commissar Vladimir Antaris is discipline master of the 17th regiment.

Formerly a training instructor for junior cadets, Antaris was a loud and brutal man, greatly feared by the men and responsible for over two dozen summery executions during the 17th's period of service. Chief Commissar Antaris generally attaches himself to the the Company Command Squad, all the better to keep a firm hand at the tiller.

Lord Commissar - 70pts basic. Power fist +15pts. Total 85 points.

Squad Vannick, 2nd Platoon, A Company, 17th Hive Chosin Indentured Militia

Sergeant Vannick Is a native of Tor-Nova hive in the central Cluster and fought in an ecclesiarchy militia during the archenemy uprising. Wounded in the eye early on in the fighting he was Lucky enough to be evacuated to the southern continent by the sisters hospitaler.

Devoutly religious he immediately volunteered for the indentured regiments when he was discharged from care.

Vannick's men make up a large proportion of the company's devout, and are far too clean and do-Gooding for the lieutenant's liking.
He has put Vannick in serious harms way on more than one occasion, but the old goat always comes back; maybe the Emperor does watch over him?

Same deal as before, plastic catachans, a few with Cadian heads, metal catachans and an orlock thrown in for variety.

Infantry squad - 50 pts basic. Sergeant w/ Bolt pistol +2pts...Flamer +5pts....Vox caster +5pts Total - 62 pts.

2nd Platoon Command Squad. A Company, 17th Hive Chosin Indentured Militia

2nd platoon 'the sumpers' are commanded by lieutenant 'Angel' Ferrera a savage former gang leader from the western slope. Originally a corporal, Ferrera rose to platoon command in the field after lieutenant Yoiup lost both legs to a fragmentation grenade.
His promotion was a gesture to try and placate the gang elements in 2nd platoon; who had long resented taking orders from a fancy pants mid-hiver like Fernandos Yoiup.

Alfus kroner was a former unlicensed tech... some would even say a heretek. Tall, thin and pale with a cranium pock marked with black market implants, Alfus is fundamentally untrustworthy. But very usefull at keeping 2nd platoons ramshackle equipment running.

On the vox caster is Big Daine Zeba, a loud bully who tries to pick on the weaker troopers in the 17th.

Troopers Veroigin and Kussle man a tripod mounted lascannon, with which they have accounted for five archenemy armour units.

2nd platoons Commissar is Andrei Dapplow a teenage cadet given emergency promotion to meet the desperate need for discipline officers following the mass conscription at Chosin. Overly fond of harsh discipline and summary execution, probably to hide the fact he was absolutely terrified and out of his depth. Dapplow was wholeheartedly hated by his men. Reported killed at the battle for spire kop, rumours abounded that Dapplow was actually fragged by the men when they realised the end of the war was near.

Lt Ferrera is the old Orlock leader from the original box set. Back in the day I had cut off his Boltgun for a shotgun. So ironically I had to go back and find another bolter to graft on.

The vox operator is plastic catachan with a sentinel pilot control arm as a basic auspex. And a shoulderpad from the new chimera kit.

The trooper is 'brains' from colonel Schaefers last chancers, the lascannon gunner was made from bits from the plastic catachan command sprue and his loader relaxing on a rock is an old metal tank rider.

The commissar is an old rogue trader mini; his bolt pistol arm is from the new chimera kit... it's a little too big scale wise, but i think it just about passes muster (why a repressed teenage junior Commissar might have an overdeveloped right arm I don't know!).

A Company. 2nd platoon Command squad - 30pts basic -officer w/ boltgun +2pts -Commissar +35pts -Vox caster +5pts -Lascannon +20pts Total 92 points.