Rogue Trader IG; the Necromundian 9th

[Wulf]

Time for me to start my first – and probably only – blog:

The Necromundian 9th Regiment, F Company, the “Death Blades”.

I’ve always had a weakness for the old Rogue Trader-era Imperial Guard artwork and models ever since I started out with 40k some 15 years ago. The picture in the 40k Compendium (the red one) of rank upon rank of the Death Blades advancing over a vast field with Land Raider and titan support in particular has always appealed to me greatly. That picture alone has inspired me to make a Rogue trader-era Imperial Guard army!




So now having the opportunity to realise this project is a bliss. I have managed to get hold of close to 150 troopers - some plastic, some metal - and I will be making 1750 pts worth of all infantry.

This is the first squad. I’ve since started of on a whole platoon (40 men!) at once. Not that fun to paint so much in one go but it gets the job done quicker. Tattoos, penants, camo etc as seen in the artwork will be reserved for my veteran squads.

Any thoughts, critiques or suggestions are most welcome! Anything in particular you think that I absolutelly must include in an old school army ?


Thanks,

Wulf







(I failed to find the size limitations for posted pictures and hope that these are ok)

[jasevx]

great to see the old stuff reappearing, what are you going to use as your vets?

[cyrus]

wow, haven't seen these figures for a while...

[Wolf Scout Ewan]

I like those. I have been buying them on ebay recently too.

Nice paint and bases! Good work!

[doghouse]

Mate, I love those guys! I had loads of them but they have disappeared over the years. Brings back some memories seeing those guys again.
On a slightly less sentimental note, fantastic job! You've captured the Necromundians perfectly and the paintjob is brilliant!
Company and platoon markings are spot on!
Didn't they had an inverted vee shaped scar across the bridge of their nose running down either side of their face though?
Don't forget to include some white shields.
I'll definately be watching this!

[Lord Zso Sahaal]

Nice work ive only been in warhammer 40k for about 7 years but i have looked at some of the old stuff and its really good to see the old models reappearing. Fantastic paint work by the way keep it up.

[DigitsDavid]

Very nostalgic! Great to see some older figures being used in the project logs. Sure I'm going to enjoy this just as much as the Legion of the Damned thread!

[Agamemnon2]

Nicely done! I always like seeing those goofy old guys. I have two dozen of them myself.

[Crazy Ivan]

I know next to nothing of the Rogue trader era, but these look very good! Keep it up good sir! Will you be adding some banners? Those in the artwork look ace.

[squiggoth]

Woah, they look awesome!
The models have aged very well, and your paint job does them justice. Great stuff so far, let me be the first to add five stars.

Anything in particular you think that I absolutelly must include in an old school army ?

Bob Olley's old Ogryn sculpts - you know, the ones that looked like very big Duke Nukems. And some of those ancient Ratlings (the ones with the pot-bellies) wouldn't go amiss either.

[tancrede]

i'm always happy to see old minis well painted. and your ones are really good looking !
i will keep an eye on your work, now...

[jdp]

Very old school indeed!

I love to think back to the good old days when we fielded the imperial army with loyalist beastmen, penal units with exploding collars, human bombs, units of commisar trainees, robots, landspeeders, speeder bikes, rhinos and landraiders. Of course a unit of eggs on legs is required because it was all about the sentinels in the old days, at least for me .

The paint job is very nicely done, and the dead eye on sarge is a nice touch that would have beeen easy to miss but is spot on.

Keep up the good work!

[zealot!]

consider yourself awesome. 5 stars.

[Skeld Ironthrews]

My Imp guard are almost all those era minis too, glad to have another person using the traditional guard.

[hallowed_are_the_ori]

WOAH, old school

Nice work

[Wulf]

cyrus, Wolf Scout Ewan, Lord Zso Sahaal, DigitsDavid, Agamemnon2, Skeld Ironthrews, tancrede, zealot! and hallowed_are_the_ori

Wow! Thank you all so much for your kind words. Didn't expect that to be honest. This forum is packed with so many good painters and modellers so I'm really glad you like what I've got going.

And I'm happy to see others that like the old school IG. They have passed the test of time so much better than the orks etc in my opinion. The only adjustment that I've done, as might not be obvious in the pictures is to change the angle of the head somewhat on all models. They tend to look down in the dirt otherwise.

great to see the old stuff reappearing, what are you going to use as your vets?

My options are some what limited of course to what I can get my hands on. As I have primarily ordinary plastic guardsmen they will be used a lot. For my vets I will use the standard plastic guardsman but converted to fit som of the poses of the artwork and with tigerstriped camo, grass on helmets, warpaint/tattoos, kill banners on their lasguns etc. That should distinguish them enough and also makes a perfect excuse to go all out in painting and modelling. I simply don't have the drive to give that treatment to 100+ normal infantry.

Mate, I love those guys! I had loads of them but they have disappeared over the years. Brings back some memories seeing those guys again.
On a slightly less sentimental note, fantastic job! You've captured the Necromundians perfectly and the paintjob is brilliant!
Company and platoon markings are spot on!
Didn't they had an inverted vee shaped scar across the bridge of their nose running down either side of their face though?
Don't forget to include some white shields.
I'll definately be watching this!

Thank you so much! I've been admiring your work for years. Your chaos warrior/marines are brilliant - and I love what you've done with your Space Sharks. Talk about old school!

They do indeed have facial markings. But it was simply too daunting to put it on each and every trooper so I'm saving it for the veterans.

I put some real thought and planning into the tactical markings. The RT Compendium is some what self contradicting in some aspects - and in the picture the troopers depicted with blue stripes are actually support squads, with devastator blasts on the side of their helmets and not tactial arrows. But I've worked out a system that will cover all aspects I think.

I've thought of white shields aswell. They would look very cool! They wont be in my first batch though. There are simply too many totally awsome things you can add - but you can't. The restrictions on doctrines makes it so unfortunately. One solution would be to simply paint one of the infantry platoons as white shields. But that would be confusing for the opponent as they will look very much as "conscripts".

But I will expand beyond the 1750 pts mark eventually. And outside my playable semi-competative list. But even then I'm considering something else entirely for the conscript codex entry. It has hooves...

[Wulf]

I know next to nothing of the Rogue trader era, but these look very good! Keep it up good sir! Will you be adding some banners? Those in the artwork look ace.

I agree that the banners look fantastic. I will add one to everry Platoon HQ - they won't have any impact game-wise of course but will add to the over all look of the army.

Woah, they look awesome!
The models have aged very well, and your paint job does them justice. Great stuff so far, let me be the first to add five stars.
Bob Olley's old Ogryn sculpts - you know, the ones that looked like very big Duke Nukems. And some of those ancient Ratlings (the ones with the pot-bellies) wouldn't go amiss either.

I simply love the old ogryns. Unforunately they don't fit into my 1750 pts army and it would be difficult to get hold of enough for a squad. But I plan to try and get hold of one or two and add them to my Command HQ as body guards, simply counting them as guardsmen with grenade launchers (Obviously they then are the weakest ogryns ever but who cares. )

Very old school indeed!

I love to think back to the good old days when we fielded the imperial army with loyalist beastmen, penal units with exploding collars, human bombs, units of commisar trainees, robots, landspeeders, speeder bikes, rhinos and landraiders. Of course a unit of eggs on legs is required because it was all about the sentinels in the old days, at least for me .

The paint job is very nicely done, and the dead eye on sarge is a nice touch that would have beeen easy to miss but is spot on.

Keep up the good work!

Yep. That's the idea. To get as much cool stuff into the list as possible but still having a playable army. My two special weapon teams will be penal units including a human bomb each (demo charge with a twist!)
And sentinels are coming too...
I'm also considering using mark 1 Land Raiders as Leman Russes. A hull mounted heavy bolter and slightly adjusted barrels for the lascannons (that together have a 360 arc of fire - just as a turret mount) should do the trick.


This response is really inspiring. Thank you – and keep it coming.

[squiggoth]

I simply love the old ogryns. Unforunately they don't fit into my 1750 pts army

Tsssk, a Guard army without Ogryns is like, erm, a shiny new Plaguemarine army with no Nurglings. Oh wait, hang on a second ......

and it would be difficult to get hold of enough for a squad. But I plan to try and get hold of one or two and add them to my Command HQ as body guards, simply counting them as guardsmen with grenade launchers

Hehe, nice idea. You might also want to consider fielding them as weapon teams with heavy bolters ... a bit static but at least they've got sort of two wounds.

(Obviously they then are the weakest ogryns ever but who cares. )

Well, the old ones look rather malnourished compared to the later models. Go for it!

[Skeld Ironthrews]

I'd like to see a return of Guard beastmen, use them as conscripts or veteran assault squads.

[Sojourner]

I'm almost tempted to do a similar thing with Necromunda 8th just as a contrast. Back in the day, the Necromundan regiments were the generic guard just as Cadians are now, IIRC.