Inspired by the old Catachan I painted last week I found myself looking again at my small, rag-tag Imperial Guard force. Blame Azazel and his increasingly compelling Junit challenge but I found myself unwilling to leave them at just eight when a couple more would make for a full squad of ten. Of course I know this is just an excuse, as minimum squad sizes hardly matter in the shadowy Inq28/Necromunda world these chaps inhabit, but that wasn’t going to stop me breaking out the brushes for a quick recruiting drive.
Press-ganged as part of a routine purge to combat overpopulation this former agricultural worker has traded the pesticide fug of the fields for the battle-ridden hellscape of the Imperium’s warzones.
Not so sure on the background for this one; could he be a fanatic who believes his shots are guided by the skull of the martyr he carries, or a man blinded by a malfunctioning lascannon who’s been ordered by his commander to man up and get back out there.
This makes them the third unit I’ve tackled for Junit and the first one I’ve actually finished (with – gulp – not a lot of month left to play with). Still, the end is in sight for the other two squads so here’s hoping I can turn around the rest this week.
Convert or Die 
June 25th, 2018 at 6:58 am
Nice mate. I like the backpacks on both a lot.
June 25th, 2018 at 7:23 am
Cheers dude. Cadians are really improved by adding backpacks I find. They have those little nubs on their backs where a pack should sit but nothing goes there which seems odd to me. Plus it makes them a bit more sci-fi and archaic (that is to say both less and more high-tech than modern soldiers – very 40k).
June 25th, 2018 at 9:19 pm
Yeah, their Vox Caster bit fits on there, and I think the Heavy Weapons Teams come with backpacks that will do as well, but no where near enough to really make them work.
June 27th, 2018 at 7:54 am
Nice work – and I agree with IRO and yourself that the Cadian torsos look so much better with packs – these two specifically are enhanced quite a lot by them – and how odd it is that they have a nub for them but nothing supplied as standard.
June 27th, 2018 at 12:26 pm
I have a pet theory that they planned to release something to hang on those nubs and for whatever reason it was cancelled. Screw up works as a fine explanation for many of life’s oddities in my experience. And of course they did release the backpacks separately in the end, and they come with flying dwarves for free!
June 27th, 2018 at 12:55 pm
Those particular Dwarves are one of the projects I *really* want to get working on once I clear a whole lot more of this half-painted stuff out. Sadly, I failed this month on the Skaven front. While they won’t be “valid” for July, they fit well into both the Neglected and Squad months, so hopefully still for completion this year. If only they weren’t such terrible models to paint…
June 27th, 2018 at 8:11 pm
Yeah, I’m pretty sure my monks won’t get done this month either (just looking at the amount of non-hobby stuff that needs to happen over the next few days and it doesn’t look hopeful for the rodents). That said they’re almost there so I’ll round them up in the first few days of July. At least I’ve got the Space Marines done, I’ll post something about them (maybe tomorrow morning?).
Out of curiosity why are you painting the plague monks if you don’t like them? For me I want them for my Skaven army and, in some weird, stubborn and ultimately probably pointless way, I want my collection to work “by the book” for 8th Edition Warhammer, just as I originally envisioned it (before the march of time rendered that somewhat moot). I want to get my plague furnace painted, so I want a unit of plague monks who can push it, and that means a minimum of ten rats (which happens to be how many I own). This makes them one of the very rare examples of me painting something I don’t particularly like, usually I’m only interested in painting models that I like the look of with their suitability for gaming not even getting a look in. I’ve not noticed a Skaven army on your blog though (although of course I may have overlooked them) so what’s inspired you to want to paint them? Why not just put them aside, finish the stuff you do care about and then get stuck in about those flying dwarves?
June 27th, 2018 at 9:20 pm
Obviously Azazel wants to steal “my” idea of using Plague Monks in a Blood Bowl Underworld team!
June 28th, 2018 at 2:12 am
They’re not actually the monks, but Plague Censer Bearers. I think the sculpts date from 5th or 6th when they started replacing Jes’ sculpts. They’re models that fit into that weird category where they looked like they would be easy then turned out to be a bitch to paint, but will undoubtedly look pretty nice once completed. (Compare them pretty directly in that way to the Conan Black Dragons).
They’ll then be a nice little unit for both KoW (once I make a unit base for them) and AoS – I’ve got a decent sized Skaven army. It’s just unbuilt and unpainted!
Something I really want to do is finish off all of (or almost all of) the part-painted models I’ve accumulated and put aside over the years, so then I can have a nice Tabula Rasa moment, and then start painting lots of “new” stuff. Whether that’s Squat Dwarves or Stormcast or that old metal Screaming Bell… 😉
June 29th, 2018 at 3:27 pm
I know the ones you mean 🙂 No way I’m getting my monks done in time either so we can fail on our Junit Skaven together (and blame our respective underlings of course).
Like you I’ve got a bunch of old half-finished projects I’d like to see done by the end of the year, nothing I’m losing sleep over but all things it would be nice to get off the painting desk so I can start some new things. It’s all stuff that I started out enjoying, and probably will again once I get back to working on them, but which for now just hack me off by sitting there like the Emperor, gathering dust and judging me damningly with their silence.
June 30th, 2018 at 3:23 am
Well, August is Neglected Models again, and September will probably be Units, so there’s a good chance I’ll get them done for one or the other of those two months.
June 30th, 2018 at 1:17 pm
Hmmm…. That’s useful to know, I’ll try to plan ahead and factor those challenges into my schemes, cheers 🙂
June 30th, 2018 at 4:32 pm
September sounds like it should be an assembly month…Septembler?
June 30th, 2018 at 4:49 pm
Assembling models isn’t something I need any further encouragement with. 😉 Getting them painted however…
June 30th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Haha, it’s a good thing Azazel is running these challenges! Ever since “Junit”, I keep trying to think of catchy names.
June 25th, 2018 at 7:05 am
These guys look wicked. Ha ha, if you have already completed one unit, why are you so desperete to complete 2 more for the challenge? XD
June 25th, 2018 at 7:23 am
Because I’m a sucker for punishment! Nah, the main impetus is for the plague monks. The space marines I’m really enjoying so I know I’ll get them finished soon one way or another. The monks on the other hand I’m finding a real slog so I’m trying to use the deadline as a goad to push me into getting them done once and for all.
June 25th, 2018 at 7:32 am
Ooo, thats a good idea… I have a load of projects, some of which im not really motivated to complete… So mayby i should save those for Azazel. Good idea!
June 25th, 2018 at 7:52 am
Go for it – I’m finding it’s a great way to clear my desk of unfinished projects 🙂
June 25th, 2018 at 7:43 am
Brilliant mate – I like the idea of the blind one! As a long-term Guard player, I’m convinced his accuracy won’t be negatively impacted 😉
June 25th, 2018 at 7:51 am
So long as no-one turns him to face towards the Commissar as a “joke”… 😉
June 25th, 2018 at 9:22 pm
Looking great there! What’s that first backpack made from? I sort of get a Kastellan vibe from it, but I’m not sure that’s right.
I’ve always liked using blind heads for Models with guns. I tend to go even further with it, giving them Special or even Heavy Weapons, particularly in my CSM. I have one Black Legion Plasma Gunner who I’m pretty sure lost his eyes to his own Plasma Gun overheating on him. Maybe the Chaos Gods guide his shots?
June 26th, 2018 at 8:03 am
The backpacks are from the kharadron overlords 🙂
Yeah, blind heads can be cool for chaos marines (here’s one I painted a couple of years ago; https://convertordie.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/in-the-service-of-the-gods-part-7/ ). I feel they make them look a little more sinister as though they’re using some unnatural and inhuman sense to search out their prey. Whereas with Imperial troops it adds to the sense of pathos and wastefulness of the Imperium, that even a blind man cannot enjoy a peaceful life but has to go out and fight.
June 27th, 2018 at 1:06 am
Nice. The Kharadron really do have some great bits. Thanks!
June 27th, 2018 at 9:25 pm
Yea, I was wondering where those backpacks come from as well. Actually, I thought they were part of the mini, because I don’t really know anything about Warhammer, but once I heard they came from something else…then I wondered!
Looks like the Kharadron Arkanauts are some pretty useful models and could also be great for Necromunda squats or a Bounty Hunter or two…!
June 27th, 2018 at 9:38 pm
Necromunda squat bounty hunters you say… Didn’t the tyranids eat them all… 😉
https://convertordie.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/no-job-too-small-part-2/
June 27th, 2018 at 10:23 pm
What they all got eaten?! How come no one told me! 😉
June 26th, 2018 at 11:15 am
They are wonderfully characterful and the monochrome paint job works a treat.
June 26th, 2018 at 9:26 pm
Cheers mate 🙂 I actually toyed with adding some red to these to tie them in with the space marines and my future adeptus mechanicus project but in the end I stuck with the old scheme. Without wanting to sound too up myself I want it to drain some of the life out of them, to emphasise the fact that these are dead men walking, that they are mortal and transient in the face of the Imperium’s vast scale; in territory, time and the magnitude of its wars.
June 27th, 2018 at 10:22 pm
Nice, not sure why, but the “former agricultural worker” is my favorite one. Other than a hated Summer job on a farm, never been a farmer type. Can’t grow a plant to save my life. Love the models and the colors.
June 29th, 2018 at 3:30 pm
Cheers 😀 I like doing space peasants for my guard, so I’ll undoubtedly be making more like him. I’m a country boy, not from farming stock but I grew up surrounded by farmers and livestock. Sadly we never got to dress like these guys though…
July 2nd, 2018 at 9:37 am
Group shot required!
July 2nd, 2018 at 9:48 am
Found it – all good!
July 3rd, 2018 at 7:36 am
I had the same thought process as yourself, for anyone else who’s after a group shot you can find it here; https://convertordie.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/rodents-of-unusual-size-and-the-junit-round-up/
July 11th, 2018 at 7:35 am
[…] from Convert or Die has had a productive month. First up he completed the Disposable Heroes, a rag-tag squad of Imperial Guardsmen that exist in-between 40k, Inq28, Necromunda (and probably […]