Tag Archives: Infantry

Hobby

Regimental Advisors

I ordered this set of Regimental Advisors through an independent Tabletop Hobby store. Although I saved a few bucks, it took a month to be delivered, so I won’t be going back to them.

After reading about the Regimental Advisors in the Codex and some tactics blogs, I decided I had to have them as options to add to my Company Command Squad.

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Regimental Advisors in the back row flanked by a command squad and Basilisk

 

Astropath

I feel like I’m going to add this character to my Company Command Squad (CCS) in every game I play. He’s the cheapest psyker in the game at only 25 points, easy warp-charge points.  And he generates his powers from Telekinesis discipline which the Primaris Psyker can’t.

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My Astropath Regimental Advisor

 

Master of Ordnance

The Master of Ordinance (MoO) is an interesting character. He’s a T3 single wound character for 20 points. But, he has the ability to call a S9 AP3 Large Blast BARRAGE attack down anywhere on the board.  The problem is it’s likely to scatter 3D6″! And since the attack counts as Ordnance, he has to remain stationary. A odd tradeoff, but could be handy for a static CCS.

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Master of Ordinance on the back of a Basilisk (being blinded by my camera’s flash)

 

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Master of Ordinance on the back of a Basilisk
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Master of Ordinance on the back of a Basilisk with a command squad in the foreground

 

Officer of the Fleet

The Officer of the fleet (OoF) is character I don’t plan on using, but I’m glad to have.   

Upon passing a leadership test, this character improves your reserve rolls by one (so 3+ on a D6), or reduces your opponents reserve rolls by 1 (5+ on D6). This is stack able with other modifiers like a Comms Relay, Emperor’s Tarot, or another Officer of the Fleet. I don’t think this is all that great, especially since the leadership test will only be successful about 50% of the time for this character.

However, from the moment I saw this model, I knew how I wanted to paint him. I hope it’s painfully obvious. 

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My officer of the fleet. I hope you can recognize his resemblance to a certain Starfleet Officer (hint, see vessel in the background)

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Uses and Tactics

I was planning on usually having my CCS in a Chimera, which is fine for protection, issuing orders, and firing a witchfire power. However, if the tank moves at all that turn, it eliminates the ability for my MoO to fire.

Alternatively, I may have my CCS stationary hiding in cover or behind a blob squad. In that case, I’ll either have to be strategic about being stationary, or make use of a trick like the “Forward For The Emperor” order or hope my warlord rolls “Relentless” to make use of the MoO’s attack.

 

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Hobby

Astra Militarum Infantry Platoon

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I recently finished my set of Astra Militarum Infantry models. I’m really proud of how they came out. These Cadian models turned out really well with my custom colour palette. It looks like an imposing force. In a battle, I expect they’ll be slaughtered, but they look really cool as a mob right now!

My Astra Militarum Infantry Models
My Astra Militarum Infantry Models (click on the image for higher resolution)

 

At the moment, it’s a fully fieldable army with an HQ and two Troops selections. This army consists of a command squad and two infantry squads. I went rather heavy on the special weapons, so there are only a couple of different ways I can field them:

Current Arrangement:

Company Command Squad (96 points)
-Officer carries a boltgun
-Vox-Caster
-Regimental Standard
-Medi-Pack

Veteran Squad 1 (81 points)
-Sergeant carries a boltgun
-Vox-Caster
-3 Grenade launchers

Veteran Squad 2 (76 points)
-Sergeant with laspistol and close combat weapon
-Vox-Caster
-2 Flamers

I like this arrangement. Veterans have a higher Ballistic Skill which can come in really handy. I imagine Veteran Squad 2 would go in first because of their flamers, and the the other two squads would support from behind. I have a Chimera and I’m finishing a Taurox, so I hope these can help me move the move the squads around quickly. With the transports, this works out to only 373 points! 

I parts to make 15 more Cadian infantry models from an eBay purchase so I’m thinking about how to add them to this army. I was considering making a close combat oriented command squad, but I think I’ll save those chainswords for my Inquisitorial henchmen. There are two directions I could go: Add another veteran squad, or re-arrange into an infantry platoon.

Option 1: More Veterans 
Pros:
-Keep up to 3 special weapons per squad
-Keeps Ballistic skill of 4
-Options for special doctrines (grenadiers, forward sentries, demolitions)

Cons:
-Slightly more points
-No additional officer
-Limited to 6 in force organization chart (FOC)
-Unable to combine squads
-More of the same

Company Command Squad (96 points), Veteran Squad 1 (81 points), and Veteran Squad 2 (76 points), Chimera (70 points) and Taurox (50 points) remain the same.

Veteran Squad 3 (81 points)
-Sergeant carries a boltgun
-Vox-Caster
-3 Special Weapons

New total: 449 points, 35 models

 

Option 2: Infantry platoon
Pros:
-Additional command squad that can issue orders
-Flexibility to create heavy weapon, special weapon, and conscript squads

Cons:
-Ballistic skill reduced to 3 because infantry squads are no longer veterans
-Limited to 1 special weapon per squad

Company Command Squad (96 points), Chimera (70 points), and Taurox (50 points) remain the same.

Platoon Command Squad (66 points) 
-Officer carries a bolt pistol and power sword
-Vox-Caster
–3 grenade launchers

Infantry Squad 1 (61 points)
-Sergeant carries a boltgun
-Vox-Caster
-Flamer

Infantry Squad 2 (60 points)
-Sergeant with laspistol and close combat weapon
-Vox-Caster
-Flamer

Infantry Squad 3 (61 points)
-Sergeant with bolt pistol and close combat weapon
-Vox-Caster
-Flamer

New total: 464 points, 40 models

So, for 15 additional points, I get 5 more models, but the group isn’t quite as strong. In fact, I see those 15 points are the same as the power sword on the platoon commander. Hmmm..

I could combine a couple of these squads into a Combined Squad for serious fun. If I got a couple more lasguns I could separate the flamers into their own special weapon squad too.

I guess one of the nice things is that I can easily switch between the two arrangements by leaving out a couple lasguns. 

Which direction should I go?

Hobby

Painting Infantry Squads

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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.

Cadian Shock Troops Box
Cadian Shock Troops Box

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

Default colour scheme for Cadian Shock Troops

 

The models come on plastic sprues like this:

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Unassembled guardsmen

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.

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Headless, armless bodies!

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.

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Mostly completed guardsman. Preparing the base for detail sand in this picture.

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.

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Two Astra Militarum infantry squads painted by me

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.