For various reasons I’ve had the Imperial Guard on the brain recently. It started out as a recurrence of my long-running, but never fully realised, ambition to tackle the Guard as I see them, the under-equipped, under-valued troops of the Imperial war engine who survive, or more usually don’t, thanks only to their grim determination. The Iron Sleet Invitational, focussed around the Imperial Guard, threw oil onto that particular flame and boosted the whole thing to new heights so expect to see the fruits of that particular labour soon.
This chap isn’t part of that per-se, but rather a remnant of a previous exploration of my ideas on this front who never saw completion. So, whilst I think about the question of what it means to be a solider in the 41st Millennium, I allow myself to tidy him. He’s sketchy but for the moment that’s what he is – a sketch that links to my ideas for this yet to be realised project. Pretentious? Perhaps a little, but there you have it. In time I’ll return to him and tidy up the looser paintwork of my younger years but for now I just wanted to use him as a way of progressing my ideas before tackling newer projects (a claim which is both a woeful excuse and only makes me sound even more pretentious, surely the worst of both worlds, but again with my time very stretched at the moment, this is how things stand).
I’m rather fond of the way he’s pointing – there’s something malevolent about it, as though he’s picking his next victim more than conducting triage, which given the production-line treatment of those wounded in the Imperium’s wars may very well be what it feels like.
Should any of my inquisitorial agents require surgery this man is ready to assist. Should I ever get round to building my long planned Imperial Guard regiment, he’s ready to enlist as a medic. In the meantime; the Doctor is in!
Convert or Die 
October 17th, 2017 at 8:37 am
He’s a gruesome chap! Very strong image mate, not pretentious at all, but a good way to explore moods and themes. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!
October 17th, 2017 at 2:37 pm
I get the impression that he’s the kind of doctor that patients take one look at and start claiming to be suddenly feeling a lot better and not actually in need of treatment at all!
And yes indeed, I was falling (once again) into the trap of trying to make everything into a masterpiece and then criticising myself for falling short – truth be told it was actually quite liberating to let my hair down, accept the quality of my previous paintwork and just finish him off rather than going back to mess around with every detail at this stage.
October 17th, 2017 at 11:40 am
I like what you’ve done.
October 17th, 2017 at 2:19 pm
Thanks! 🙂
October 17th, 2017 at 5:02 pm
If I were one of his patients in the recent big battles I would have perhaps thought I’d taken a wrong turn and ended up in the Death Guard rear area. Oh noes! Not the face! Not the face!
October 17th, 2017 at 5:27 pm
Ah now he doesn’t look nearly friendly or cheerful enough to be Death Guard! 🙂
October 17th, 2017 at 5:35 pm
Heh, yeah that’s true, though while Nurgle is cheerful, I never really thought of the Death Guard as sharing that bonhomie thing. Maybe they are and do though when Mortarion isn’t around ranting about his master plans being foiled again and telling that story about how 10,000 years ago the Emperor screwed up his Sweet Moment of Ultimate Victory against Necromancer Dad.
October 17th, 2017 at 5:36 pm
… you are probably right though.
October 18th, 2017 at 9:07 am
Aye, too true – my mental image of the Death Guard is that they’re not the cheeriest of fellows (although I love the idea that actually this is just Mortarion and the others are all standing around thinking “Put a sock in it mate, we’re trying to have a bit of a party here and you’re killing the vibe”). I think the daemons and the mortal followers are all having a right hoot though and the legionaries themselves are trying hard to be serious and stoic whilst giggling Nurglings get under their feet. 🙂
October 19th, 2017 at 2:50 pm
Could just be Mortarion and his inner circle … you never know and the rest of them are waiting to have all-night keg parties where they compete to see who is standing after the drinking the most quantities of the most virulent strains of poisonous fermented beverages and such organized by Biologus Putrifier First Class Frankie, who everyone thinks is one hell of a great guy.
I’m sure you are right about the nurglings. Between what I read in the codex about them repeating bellowed orders in squeak voices, how happy the ones I found as bits and am putting on some of my other models I haven’t painted yet, and that one striking a pose while wearing his adopted marine’s helmet, who seems to either not mind or not notice because he’s busy trying not to turn into a land octopus, well, one thing you have to say about them is they are upbeat.