As part of the planned Armies on Parade force, I'd opted to include an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and her warband. The Inquisitor is only primed so not interesting to look at but I did crack on with the 5-man Stormtrooper team over the last couple days!


I wanted to keep with a dark moody theme for the Stormtoopers armor and fatigues, and gave them some pretty strong spot colors to help them pop. I tried to steer clear from the strong red and blue spot colors of the Deathwatch, so went with some fiery yellow and jade greens instead. These blokes have been sitting in a quarter-painted state for YEARS, it really feels good to finally get them finished! Was a little damp outside this afternoon so they have yet to be sealed, but I'm quite pleased with how they turned out!


In addition to the Stormtroopers, I wanted to include some more flavorful characters. You can't have a warband without an Assassin, right? The Inquisitor's personal Astropath Brother Vicente provides communication and psychic oversight, while as befitting Inquisitor Phocris' Radical-leaning nature she is often accompanied by her personal Jokaero, affectionately known as Euclid. These three models were painted months and years ago, so were just given a little touchup here and there and had their bases repainted to match the current scheme. Job done!

Next up, the Inquisitor herself!

Back during challenge #4 for the Tale of Even More Painters, I'd finished building a squad of Storm Troopers utilizing bits from the Marine Scout and Storm models, various Cadian bits, some Forge World heads and the odd length of guitar string. Following my brief foray into the Eldar, I figured that I'd swing back over to the guard for a unit and painted them up:


I enjoyed using the Scouts from the Land Speeder Storm kit - they afforded some interesting poses, I particularly liked building the trooper who's vaulting over a section of wall. I'm not 100% happy with the hellguns however, in retrospect I think I should have utilized the shotguns that come with the scouts as the basis for the weapon as they would have turned out a bit beefier. To make up for it, I added chainswords to various models to remind me that they do in fact carry both a pistol and a CCW.


Part of the current challenge is to utilize a technique that you don't ordinarily try. Since I need the guard to look as uniform as possible, I figured I'd try something new on a Dire Avengers squad instead. First off I primered the models white, which is something that I haven't done in the better part of 20 years! I decided that I'd also go with an ink wash base which is rather atypical as well - I don't use a lot of washes, mostly just on metallics.

It should be interesting to see how they turn out, nonetheless!

I managed to finish up the Valkyrie for the Tale of Even More Painters challenge #4 -Since most aerial assets used by the Imperial Guard are generally 'on loan' from the Imperial Navy, I decided to go with the sandstone color scheme I used on the Thunderbolt.


I went with a grey color scheme on the underside similar to the Thunderbolt as well. I plan to add some waterslide aquilas and various decorations, but I couldn't find the Micro-sol and I need to wait until I get more before I start that process.


I have an Apocalypse game coming up in a couple weeks, so I spent some time building several units that I need to make the points requirement, first up is another flyer - a Vulture gunship armed with twin punisher cannons. The model was just too cool to pass up!


Next up is a squad of Stormtroopers - made from a mix of Scouts (half 'vanilla' scouts and the other half are from the Land Speeder Storm kit), Catachan lasrifles and FW Cadian upgrade bits. I'm not 100% happy with the way the Hellguns turned out though, I'll likely sell these guys off once I get them painted and do a rebuild using the shotguns from the Scout sprues as a basis for the weapon, adding the scopes, cabling and lasgun muzzles. These turned out a bit more like Hellcarbines, I think.


Last up, and what will likely take the most work to finish in time for the game - the six remaining King Russ variant tanks. I decided to go with one squadron of 3 Vanquishers (led my a Knight Commander Pask proxy), and one other squadron including a 'vanilla' Leman Russ, a Punisher, and an Eradicator. I'm still figuring out how/whether I will add side sponsons to the tanks - they're designed to utilize the Predator sponsons, and I'm trying to figure out how to best use those in conjunction with the various weapon options included in the new Leman Russ Demolisher kit.


When all is said and done the addition of these models will bump the army up to just shy of 7,000 points. I think that should probably be enough Guard for most purposes!