91st Pyran - Imperial Guard

[Keeperofthepies]

I've been bitz hunting and conceptualizing for about a year now, and I'm finally getting around to assembling some units. For my Imperial Guard army, I've picked the Pyran Dragoons. I haven't seen an army of them done yet, only a handful of models. I also liked the idea of having an infantry army with rough riders and possible fire support, giving it a Napoleonic feel. There isn't a lot written about the Pyran Dragoons, so this army is based on my idea of what they would be like. How did I come to this concept though?

My concept is based upon a picture and the name.



A dragoon, originally, was a mounted infantryman. They were literally an infantry force given mounts for faster transportation. Over time, the concept of the dragoon evolved from mounted infantry to a cheap, light cavalry unit. As we can see in this picture, the Pyran Dragoons definitely ride cavalry, unlike some other Imperial Guard regiments named as "Dragoons".

Like I have mentioned, the army will consist of infantry (dismounted dragoons) and rough riders (mounted dragoons). I'm thinking that light fire support such as mortars (small, modern) would be quickly and easily transported by horse, so that's how I'm justifying their addition.

No commissars for this army. It's written that "The officers of the Pyran Dragoons are drawn almost exclusively from the Nobility of Pyran." and "In extremely rare cases a guardsman with a powerful noble patron may be raised from the ranks to Lieutenant. Whilst this is a great boost to the man and the standing of his house, an officer raised in this manner is subject to snubs and cruelty from his new peers. With a long standing tradition of 'An Officer and a Gentleman' Guardsmen of the Dragoons may also treat such a one very poorly. It is not entirely unknown for these newly promoted officers to soon meet with 'accidents' when they lead their men into combat for the first time. " - Based upon the lore, I don't think men of such prestige would tolerate having commisars assigned to them. Maybe in the grand scheme of things, such as the war for Armageddon, but not at the individual company level.

Well, I'm done justifying my conceptualization of the Pyran Dragoons for now. I'll be posting my first veteran squad within the next few days, and I'll explain them when that time comes.

[Pickle_mole]

Sounds great, good luck and cant wait to see what you come up with!

[icecream boy]

I'm looking forward to this, I always love seeing new IG armies spring up here and there.

[PariahZero]

Sounds like a good plan, cant wait to see any painted!

[Corvussanctus]

I'd like to see your solution for the riders, for i'am desperate for a good 18th-century comversion too.

[Colonel Gordon]

They look great. Like your idea !

[Mannerheim]

Great idea, but I have to pinpoint that the Commissars are focedly attacched to each Imperial Guard Regiment, by the Departmento Munitorium of the Administratum, irrespective of the officer's will.

[Kravunhive]

You have so much room to expand on these guys as there isn't anything really known about them other than the source you've mentioned. To create the mounted dragoons, go for Empire pistoliers maybe using cadian torso's instead of the empire ones. For the unmounted dragoons i'd be tempted to use cadian's mixed with pistolier heads.

Obviously this is your army so you do what feels best. I'm keen to see what you've come up with. Good luck!

[Keeperofthepies]

Alright, so I took some pretty bad pictures of my vets. The idea for my vets is that they're a sort of honor guard, upholding some of the traditions of the founding regiment of the Pyran Dragoons, the Tyler Grenadiers.

"The Pyran Dragoons Imperial Guard were founded in M34 as the Tyler Grenadiers as a counter to Chaos incursions following the Sinto Uprising in the Justicar sector. The regiment was finally deposited on Pyran as the war swept into the Armageddon Sector. The regiment broke the main chaos army and were able to claim right of conquest on the last world they had been on."

Again, following the name, I will be playing my vets with grenade launchers and the grenadiers doctrine. I don't exactly intend for my lists to be tournament winning, so don't worry about whether or not I'm spending points wisely.





This squad was converted using cloaks, arms, and heads from the Empire Pistoliers/Outriders kit, which I am also using for my rough riders. The conversion is pretty simple, you have to cut the backpack dock on the back of the torso and the flap at the top right of the front of the torso to fit the capes. The arms fit pretty well, but you'll have to greenstuff some gaps. I've cut the feathers off of the heads



The grenade launchers were pretty simple. You only get two of the "aiming" arms, one on each command sprue of Empire Outriders. I think I'm going to further cut them down and just add the barrels from the grenade launches.

Great idea, but I have to pinpoint that the Commissars are focedly attacched to each Imperial Guard Regiment, by the Departmento Munitorium of the Administratum, irrespective of the officer's will.

This is a problem I've been thinking about, and apparently it's written that Commissar Yarrick said of them "By the Emperor! Those men do war honour!" I still don't really know how to deal with this in terms of their lore, I could probably include one and get away with just saying that he's in more of an observation/advisory position rather than leading.

I'd also like to cite Gonder's "Posh Guard" as inspiration for using the Pistoliers heads: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4306879

[icecream boy]

I love 'em. Such simple conversions and they look suitable 40K despite the abundance of Fantasy parts. The only criticism I have is the grenade launchers, they look too long for my tastes.

[Deamon-forge]

damn looking nice simple but very affective. and with the grenade launcher as above, shorten the barrel a little i think.

[SDKFZ]

Yepp, they look very 40k to me. Nice and simple conversion but with a great result !

Best of luck with the rest !

/ SDKFZ

[Mannerheim]

Nice conversions, but for me the gatling style lasgun dosen't work. I think that they 'll look coller leaving the stock of the gatling, but using for the body and the barrel of a normal cadian lasgun. If you want to give an even more napoleonic flavor to the lasgun, you can elongated them, cutting the muzzle and adding another piece of barrel. At the end they look like the vostroyan's lasgun. Painting them as they was made of wood and look like a musket!