| 27 July 2010
So this is the first stirrings of a completely original Imperial Guard army I want to sculpt up myself. It's a daunting project to even contemplate, but I'm so dissatisfied with the current models available that I feel this is the only way for me to ever really play the army I want. Not only that, but it's kind a of a dare to myself, to see if i have what it takes. So here's the low down on the concept:
1. I want it to not be the heroic scale that 40k uses. I hate that, especially on guardsmen who are supposed to be a bunch of average Joe's. The Elyssians and Death Korps come closest to the look I like, and I have a drop troop army half built/half still on the sprues, but really, the models have soured to me, and I'm tired of all the heavy converting. With the amount of work I'm putting into it, why not just make my own?
2. I want to get something that looks more practical from a military standpoint to me. None of the IG models really have any kind of 782 gear gear, no pouches anywhere to hold their magazines, grenades, rebreathers, and the dozens of other pieces of kit that are absolutely essential.
3. I want a lot of unique models. Yeah, the multi-part plastic of the Cadians and Catachans are pretty flexible, but I hate both those sets (see above). And even if I were to settle for the forge world ranges, those are pretty small potatoes when it comes to variety, unless you want to own and field every potential unit. Infantry squads look pretty much the same from one to the next, which is not something I'm cool with.
4. There are a lot of poses that I know are probably pretty impractical, but I'd love to see them actualized. Like a guy who has let his spent rifle swing by the sling and is firing his pistol in a two handed grip. How is there no model for that? That and so many other poses are just screaming in my head "Let us out!" So I'm gonna try it.
Anyway, that's what I'm going for. I won't be able to start for at least 2 weeks, probably not really get into it until mid-September, but no worries, that gives me plenty of time to get the sketches done (one down, only a couple dozen more to go). And who knows, if they turn out good enough, maybe I'll be able to sell them some time down the road. So if you read this and have any thoughts, please, let me know, I'd love to hear it.
Joe (theirkin) Zimmer
Comments
There are dozens of scale appropriate WWII figures that could easily be converted to Imperial Guard, or kit bashed if you want to avoid sculpting complicated bits like hands, faces etc.
If your looking for something more appropriate for the 40k tech, Mercs Minis has some awesome minis that would work great as storm troopers. http://www.mercsminis.com/
Also those Mercs Minis are incredibly nice models.
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