Here’s a post about the painting the first models I bought in this interaction of the hobby.

I’ve decided to go with an Astra Militarum army (formerly known as Imperial Guard). I used to play Space Marines, but I find the notion of regular humans fighting against monstrous creature to be especially heroic. So, I started with a box of Cadian Shock Troops.

The default colours for the standard troopers is pretty cool, but I wanted to try my own design to personalize them.

The models come on plastic sprues like this:

There are an awful lot of steps between the sprue and the next stage, but I didn’t take pictures of them all. I see that a lot of people assemble their miniatures first and then paint them. I found it easier to paint the body parts in the sprue. I see that a lot of people assemble their miniatures first and then paint them. However, I still had to do lots of touch up after assembling them.

I decided to paint these troops having grey fatigues and black armour.  At first I was worried they’d look like German WWII troops, but they still look kinda futuristic.

It would have been natural to paint the helmets black too. But yellow is my favourite colour right now, and I thought that would really make them stand out. I used Yriel Yellow first, but I found it was too bright. In the end I used Averland Sunset and liked the final colour. It’s a little more orange and subdued, but still yellow like I wanted.

Employing a little bit of out of game strategy, I realized that the kit came with enough parts to make the “characters” for two different squads, including two sergeants, vox-casters, and special weapons. To fill out the two squads completely, I bought two boxes of “Cadians”  which are much more bang for your buck and easier to assemble.

I’m pretty happy with the results. At this point I’d consider them “table-top” ready. They could definitely use some touch-up, but they’re ready for a game. I don’t have any HQ units yet, so I can’t play any games at all yet.

It didn’t dawn on me that I have 20 models built already. I’m getting an idea of what an infantry-heavy model will look like, and I like it!

In terms of points they’re very cheap too. A 10-man squad costs 50 points. With a vox-caster and flamethrower, the squad is only 60 points. I’m tempted to call them “veterans” for an extra 10 points and improved ballistic skill. It can all be changed in the future.