Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce you to my new modelling articles series called I Hate Right Hands. Why such a weird title? I'll explain later. Nevertheless the series is supposed to inspire you, give you ideas and advice which hopefuly will help you build your own IG Veterans... and not only that!
Today Craig at the Cadian 8th Standard Bearer has got hold of the new plastic Cadian Command Squad and was so nice he posted really nice shots of the sprues (From what I've seen those are actually first quality shots of those posted at all, be sure to check them out!). He did it just as I was staring at my veterans and pondering how to turn those 2 5-man squads with 3 plasmas into 2 10-man squads.. with 3 plasmas or more. Here are the shots of those two veteran squads as they are now:
Notice the sergeant of one is missing, that's because I've already torn him to pieces as I never really liked him anyway! Also one guy is missing an arm. I never really figured out what to put there..
But, onto the main part...
Veterans, as it stood in the old codex, used to be the best Elites choice in the army, at least looking at it from a competetive point of view. With the Veterans doctrine you could field 3 units of them, and to be honest there was no reason not to (Again, I'm talking competetivness-wise, not fluff!). Outfit them with 3 plasmas/meltas, grab the Drop Troops doctrine and watch as MEQs cower before the plasma bombs from the sky. This way of using them worked wonders but had one major drawback. They pretty much never survived the following enemy's turn. Sometimes even their own, if I was lucky with to hit rolls and damn sure I usually was "lucky"!
But now, the new codex is more or less out. And veterans actually get a boost! They're Troops now, ergo scoring. They retain their 3 special weapons. They can take a heavy flamer. They're cheaper point-to-point than they used to be. Just a few drawbacks. You can't customise the squad size anymore (So you can't really cut them if you need a few points) since they only come in packets of 10. Also, they lose the free Deep Strike, but that's the case for the entire army.
There's no point in arguing wether this is for the better or for the worse. The fact is, if you minmaxed them like me, now you need a few more! Or you might be a new Guard player. Or you never used them before. Or you need additional squads as now you can take up to 6 of them.
Whatever your reason is, I'll try to help you, with every possible aspect of creating your own squad. Fully photographed with in-depth description and some step-by-step work as well! I'll be starting later tonight with the first post on the basics of converting.
If you have any requests for me to do something specific, feel free to say, I'll try to cover it as well! As you have maybe noticed, there's a new panel on the side which will provide links to all the parts. Here's a short description of the things planned so far:
-Part one: The Basics
Probably a short article with general pointers on how to convert your veterans, different approaches, a few ideas and such. Also on how not to get your fingers look like they fought in the Macharian Crusade, like mine do now.
-Part two: The Dark Box of Wonders
The article on importance of a well-maintained bits box. Ideas on what to do with all the odd stuff as well as where to get bits from, including things like ForgeWorld, WFB items and more!
-Part three: Don't Eat the Green Stuff
The title says it all, how to use green stuff effectively, what can you do with it and some simple tutorials.
-Part four: We've Seen Lots 'o Fights
Imperial Guard sure is huge and has loads of equipment, but that doesn't mean every guardsmen gets 10 spare flak vests and 10 lasguns in case he misplaces/gets something damaged! And veterans are people who surely went through a lot of occasions when these things could have happened..
-Part five: Don't Drink the Paints
The painting guide! General pointers, painting the 42nd Cadian colour scheme and how to paint the veterans to make them stand out!
Additional resources:
-Part 1.5: The Halan pattern Plasma Gun
A short tutorial on how to make the plasma guns in use by the 42nd Cadian regiment.
The finished squads:
-The 301st
-The 302nd
More as I come up with it, not sure what else I might think of, but there might be plenty...
Stay tuned!
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 23, 2009
at Thursday, April 23, 2009
and is filed under
Converting,
Guardsmen,
I Hate Right Hands,
IG,
Modelling,
Veterans
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