Praetorian Lascannon Conversion

I have started painting some of the models I recently put together and while the original Praetorians are coming on slowly, the Penals have ground to a halt while I wait for a pot of Adeptus Battlegrey. Thats so I can paint their overalls in the style of Gandalf's cloak found here. So I thought I would show what I will be using in the batteries (Heavy Weapon Squads) and as  heavy guns in my veteran squads, either Lascannons as shown or Autocannons.  I liked the conversions using ork wheels but they just weren't Praetorian enough for me. So I came up with this very simple conversion. I really like this, the simplicity without the front panel really helps it look like an old artillery piece to me. I like the wheels but I'm not sure if maybe the wheel rim would look better thicker? That was my gut feeling but seeing it photographed I think the current wheels look really good. Would welcome others thoughts.

eBay - Sometimes you actually get a bargain!

So like many lovers of Praetorians I have been watching eBay for months now getting far outbid, on what I am prepared to pay, on individual models and big collections. I watched one set of 110 Praetorians go for over 500 quid! Now while I would admit that that probably is market value, it does seem incredibly ridiculous! 

My original plan was to use Victoria Lamb models for pretty much the entirety of my troops with some of the original models incorporated into command squads for the company and platoon. I had picked up around 6 or 7 models for reasonable prices considering, (Captain, Bugler, Standard, Sergeants and a couple of troops) but had given up hope of any large number of original troops. 

Then I spotted a buy it now bargain! 80 odd gents with heavy weapons. I wont divulge the details but these guys really were a bargain at less than half what I would have thought to pay. Some need a lot of cleaning but the first troops are ready to go and are below with the characters I already had.  I not trying to be smug, I'm just so happy and excited that I got these fellas after the disappointment of finding I had got rid of the few I had, and general depression of watching people pay far more than I was prepared to over and over again. I hope everyone else out there has the same luck, and if not, well at least you got one less person bidding against you!

This has changed the game for me, still not intending to field fully original Praetorians as I want a big Platoon, but now I can use them for veteran squads, an idea I had hoped to use them for but gave up on because of cost. So while I have not had the time for much modelling, just eBaying, over the last couple of weeks, its definitely paid off!

First Penal Legion Troops Quick Update

Just before I undercoated the 5 penal legion troops, I realised there was something missing. I wanted them to be minimalistic in kit, as befits their lowly status, but even though I love the VL torsos the models didn't look that exciting. So I put some manacles on each arm with green stuff to make them a bit more interesting. If I was a better sculptor I would have tried to make the manacles have clasps, but I think that was beyond me! At a distance I think adding these will really help.

Empress Miniatures and Victoria Lamb Pith Helmet Head Swap Comparison

I started this blog not only to help me and to get advice from others, but also hopefully to help those who, like I did, have no idea about how to go about collecting Praetorians since Games Workshop pulled the plug. Now there are some good thoughts on alternatives to GW on other blogs (Particularly Col Gravis' http://colgravis.blogspot.com/2009/05/praetorian-imperial-guard-alternatives.html) but I hadn't seen this head swap in particular looked at in detail. So to help people who may be considering the same purchases as me, I thought I would post this up.

Empress Miniatures on left, Victoria Lamb right.

I got a pack of the Empress Miniatures British Zulu War heads to try out (this is the 10 head pack with two un-helmeted heads). I have Victoria Lamb's pith heads but as there are only 6 different ones of them, I thought I would look about for some variety. I haven't seen the Secret Weapon pith heads so I can't comment on those.

As you can see from the picture above, the EM heads are noticeably smaller, in my opinion, to the original GW heads. It is also my opinion that the difference is too great to use on either GW plastic Imperial Guard (Cadians for instance) or on the parts available from third parties, such as from VL. The heads themselves look fine but, again in my opinion, the sculpts are not up to the quality of either the original GW Praetorians or the VL pith heads. The VL heads are a great sculpt, and arguably nicer than the originals, while being of an almost exact match in head size with them (Although note the piths are bigger and a differing style). In fact without sounding like a VL fanboy (honestly I didn't even know who she was till last November!) her heads are amazing quality and well worth the price and delivery from Australia.

Its not all bad news though, below is a picture of the Empress Miniatures British equipment available for £4. These are brilliant and will look great adding character to bases or anything else you could think of for them.

Both the heads and accessories can be purchased from Empress Miniatures (I have stuck the address below) and are found in their Anglo Zulu War/Terrain and Accessories section. There is also a cool looking resin tent in that section.

http://www.empressminiatures.com/

I must stress I have seen no other products from Empress and some of the models look like they would make cool additions to a force. They also have some very reasonably priced terrain pieces with walls and buildings in their Buildings and Accessories section. I am purely offering my opinion on the suitability of their heads to use on a converted model.

In my opinion if you need Pith Heads you absolutely cannot go wrong with the ones available from Victoria Lamb here:

http://www.victorialamb.com/store.html

I have also found delivery to be surprisingly quick from Australia (Less than 10 days).

Or alternatively, based on others opinions, look up the Secret Weapon pith head swaps.

First Penal Legion Troops and looking for some Colour Scheme Advice

So here are the first 5 penal legion troops of my planned two squads. They are just catachan parts with Victoria Lambs penal legion torsos. They will all have bald heads but I thought the bandanna, plus the brodie helmets added a bit of character.
It has taken a lot longer than I had hoped to get these together as just haven't had any time, and they also needed a bit of tlc to get the parts together looking right (needed to shave off all the catachan belts for a start!). Still need to fill in some gaps with green stuff then going to add just a knife (or an empty sheath for those holding them) as don't want too much going on.

Now I really need some advice on colour scheme as I said in a previous post. At the minute I am planning a few different colours of uniforms but with the dark red being a theme throughout (either berets, cuffs, stripes, collars etc. on those troops who don't have red jackets like the main bulk).

What do I do with these guys??? I don't want to put them in red prison overalls as I'm not sure it would work and definitely not american orange prison overalls. Was thinking either grey, black or desert colour (like I am planning for tanks/heavy weapons) but not sure if they will look slightly disjointed because of this, or whether it will even matter? The advice of those much more experienced than me at collecting a guard army (everybody!) would be greatly appreciated.

Paratrooper Concept Storm Trooper with Hot-Shot Las Sten Gun

So I knocked up this guy as my concept storm trooper. I want them to resemble WW2 British paratroopers and will be painting them as such with red berets matching the colour of the Praetorian jackets. I thought trying to do hot shot lasguns would be a pain, but I wanted them to have something to differentiate them. I therefore knocked up this las sten gun which I think will look ok painted.

Any thoughts?







As an aside I have the first 5 of my penal troopers nearly built and should start painting tomorrow, I have used Catachan parts with the VL penal trooper torsos and bald heads. I'm wondering what colour to paint them? The best armies I have seen have a consistent colour scheme throughout. I don't think mine will though! All the standard troops will be red but as these are in prison overalls (and effectively disgraced the Praetorian uniform!) I'm wondering what colour to do them?? I'm torn between black, grey or desert to match the vehicles and bases.

Test Praetorian Model Finished

So I finished the test guy off (well as much as I am prepared to do, I'm not very good at highlights so haven't really done any). Thanks for recommending adding some green, have given him Dark Angel cuffs, edges and collar and think it really makes a difference, so this will definitely be the colour scheme for the army. Didn't have any bestial brown to undercoat the helmet but painted it bleach bone and really like the colour especially how it complements the now dusty, African plain esque, base.

Any further thoughts on improvement? I was contemplating painting the belt green as well but keeping the straps white, but quite like it as it is now. I wouldn't be ashamed if the rest look like this (with some pouches etc. added, and I'm thinking a helmet badge as they look so good on other peoples conversions).

All I need now is for Victoria Lambs Victorian legs to become available so I can put a big order in! In the mean time I have 2 squads of Penal Legion that should be arriving soon to do, I have a test Paratrooper in the works I just need a head for, some tank conversions and a Commander model I'm too scared to touch yet! So plenty to get on with while I wait. Wife's away at the weekend so might have something new to post up soon, Aussie to UK postal service dependant.

Intended 1500 Point Praetorian Army

1500 Point Army

Command HQ

Company Commander			50
	Boltgun	2	2
4 Veterans
	Regimental Standard or Plasma Gun	15
	Plasma Gun	15
	Plasma Gun	15
	Plasma Gun	15	60
Carapace			20
Astropath			30
162 Points

Elites

Guardsman Marbo			65
Storm Trooper Squad 1 (Airborne Assault)			85
	Meltagun	10
	Meltagun	10	20
Storm Trooper Squad 2 (Airborne Assault)			85
	Meltagun	10
	Meltagun	10	20
275 Points

Troops

Penal Legion Squad 1			80
Penal Legion Squad 2			80
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad			30
	Flamer	5
	Flamer	5
	Flamer	5
	Flamer	5	20
Infantry Squad 1			50
	Commissar	35
	Power Weapon	10
	Power Weapon	10
	Bolt Pistol	2
	Grenade Launcher	5
	Vox	5
	Autocannon	10	77
Infantry Squad 2			50
	Power Weapon	10
	Bolt Pistol	2
	Grenade Launcher	5
	Autocannon	10	27
Infantry Squad 3			50
	Power Weapon	10
	Bolt Pistol	2
	Grenade Launcher	5
	Autocannon	10	27
Infantry Squad 4			50
	Power Weapon	10
	Bolt Pistol	2
	Grenade Launcher	5
	Autocannon	10	27
568 Points

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank			150
	Lascannon	15	15
Leman Russ Battle Tank			150
	Lascannon	15	15
Leman Russ Battle Tank			150
	Lascannon	15	15
495 points

Grand Total

1500 Points

Couldn't not have the awesomeness of tanks so infantry only went out the window! I'm not sure if its a bit light weight now in numbers because of it, but heavy weapon squads were so fragile and expensive in comparison it seemed better to take 3 tanks than say 4 and 1/2 Lascannon squads. Also I really want to make tank conversions, so tanks won! 

Intention is to deepstrike Paratroopers, hopefully with Astropath at least one on 2nd turn, next to any heavily armoured vehicle threat. Use the platoon to whittle down troops, and screen the Russes from assault, with the PCS to watch for anyone outflanking and the CCS taking on heavily armoured troops. The Russes can then either take out troops or try to take on light vehicles/heavy vehicles depending on threat and success of Paras. Drop Marbo into the mix to stir up enemy lines and outflank with Penals to cause a bit of chaos and split attention.

I'm a little worried that with just the big 4 squad combined platoon, CCS and PCS plus Russes on field at game start any shooting turn 1 against me will cause lots of damage because of lack of targets. But then guard is there to die and the infantry squad should generally only lose flashlights, so not a big deal. 

As always comments and suggestions very welcome, its just a plan at the mo. Also if you spot somewhere my maths has failed me, please let me know.

Just planning how I will augment up to 2000pts but suspect will be a combination of either: swap 1 Russ for executioner, couple of vet Squads, 2 or 3 Chimera, Rough Riders, possibly Ogryn. Going to do some number crunching but I will wait and see how this performs a few months down the line and see what is lacking.

Painting Praetorian Imperial Guard Test Model Part 2

So I may have gone a bit wash crazy! Totally overdid the black wash on both the jacket and the boots I think, but then again I keep telling myself its just a test model so next time I will water the black down. Straight ogryn flesh onto the bleached bone of the face and hands. Don't think I will bother painting the helmet next time before putting white on as the belts look quite good straight on black.

Here he is almost done, belting and helmet painted white, scorch brown around the helmet and used black wash to pick out the helmets grooves but not entirely happy with that. 

Finally a bit of drybrushing boltgun on his belt and strap clips and painted in the white of his helmet strap. As I said, he is not going to win any awards and he is a bit to dark because of the heavy washes, but I'm pretty happy for my first model in over ten years and if my platoons look all to this standard I won't be too ashamed.

As I said before any help or critiquing is very welcome, I know I'm not the best painter and want to get better.

Painting Praetorian Imperial Guard Test Model Part 1

I decided to go with black undercoat so I can try and get some shading with my painting and my undercoated Praetorian replacement Trooper is looking good before I'm let loose with paints on him!

I decided to try the Mechrite red in the new foundation range as the red jacket colour as I figured it would cover the black well, and I used scorched brown for his leather boots. I gave the trousers another coat of brushed chaos black as well to look darker (sounds stupid but they definitely did!) and more even.

I then did some (very slap dash!) highlights in blood red on the jacket, some 50/50 black/codex grey on the trousers, followed by another highlight of just codex grey. Boltgun on the gun with scorched brown for the wood and I undercoated the face and helmet with bleached bone. Golden Demon winner I am not! The highlights were literally just thrown on without particular care but look good at a distance (not on my DSLR!). I think I am going to undercoat the braces codex grey before white so the white isn't too bright, but before that I am going to wash black over the neck down, ogryn flesh on skin parts and maybe some red on the jacket depending on how he looks post the black.

 At the end of the day he is a test and I don't even have all my paints yet (damn post xmas deliveries!) so I'm more interested in the overall colours being right than an amazing painted model but any pointers/critiquing would be really very welcome. Also any advice on highlight colour for the brown boots and gun wood? I'm guessing just a lighter brown like snakebite?