I really, really wanted to have some Valentine tanks painted for today. But as I didn’t have tan primer, some 40k and Legion models will have to suffice! I’ve gotten back into the painting game a bit, despite my shaky hands. I really want to put even a little dent into my ever-growing backlog.
I started with something special. A while back, I made a post about painting a Praetorian Guard Warhammer 40k army. While I let that project slip from my schedule, I decided to paint another test mini. My problem with the first was time; it simply took far too long per Guardsman to be viable. for me at least!
This is my older test mini, done when I had hands that weren’t fighting me constantly. Its rather good, and the grey is unique among Praetorian Guard armies I have seen. But it simply takes too long to do, and might even be impossible given my tremors situation.
The new Guardsmen is painted in Classic Praetorian Guard colours, navy paints and simple tunics. He was much faster to paint, and importantly, still doable! I might end up going with a compromise. Grey facings and turnbacks but yellow lace and simple tunics. Let me know your thoughts!
Next up was a Terminator with a Banner. This was a daunting model to paint, and I must admit I messed up royally in parts, which is even worse given the rarity of the model! I don’t think its beyond salvageable however, and it still looks a decent tabletop standard mini.
Next up, something totally different. Watching a few Star Wars Legion Battle Reports really got my creative juices flowing, and with an unbuilt Iden Versio lying on my ‘to finish’ pile, I got right to work. Just like my previous Imperial Special Forces, I use the same recipe from my Black Templars and drybrush the highlights then dull down with washes.
Major difference here was red piping on the uniform and helmet. I need decals to properly make the helmet ‘pop’ but at least Iden clearly reads as something different then my blue striped ISF. I picked the helmet on purpose, as I want my Imperial Special Forces and Empire army in general to have helmets wherever possible. Its uniform regulations, what are we, rebel scum?
Finally, a 3D printed model. I really want my Empire army to evoke the ‘Battle of Mimban’ as depicted in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I got from Skullforge Studios (I’ll include a link down below) their ‘Grunge Trooper’ set. These are Imperial Army troopers in wet weather gear, and are known by many names, ‘Mudtroopers’ and ‘Swamp Troopers’.
They actually aren’t Stormtroopers (Stormtroopers make an appearance during the Mimban battle and trench scenes, and are notable for being considered elite during when Solo is set.) Being part of the Imperial Army, they were eventually fully integrated into the Stormtrooper Corp much later, closer to the Original Trilogy timeline. But for now, they form the bulk of the Empire’s forces on Mimban, and are sent to die in massive human wave tactics. In old Legends canon they never got amalgamated, and continued in service until the end of the ‘Palpatine’ Empire. Imperial Army troopers do not currently have rules. My idea is to run them either as custom, hand-made units similar in strength to Rebel Troopers but with worse morale, or as simply Stormtroopers without Precise.
All in all, a good busy few days. I’m expecting to go back to work soon as Lockdown nears its end in Ontario. I’m looking forward to being back out there but I’ll miss the sheer amount of hobby time I got to do!
My plans right now are to get my Legion army finished, as it really isn’t that many models left, then get my 40k Praetorians ready for a ‘Glazers Creek’ refight I have planned in the summer. On top of my Flames of War and Team Yankee. Oh, and my Very British Civil War and Bolt Action/Konflikt stuff. Oh boy, I have a lot of stuff to get done!
I hope you all are staying safe out there, and Happy Wargaming wherever you may be in the world. Have a great Valentines Day, and cheap Chocolate Day afterwards!
*If you’d like your own Grunge Troopers, here is where I got them from! https://gumroad.com/skullforgestudios
Not by Strength, By Guile 
I love everything here and have recently acquired some legion minis. I especially like the Prae Guard minis as that army is my number one. I haven’t touched mine for a while but I went with blue pants and red tunics. I think both models you’ve done look great and the one that took less time is still really, really nice man.
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Thanks! Praetorian Guard are definitely among my favourite Guard figures. I’ve been iffy on 40K recently as the power of the Marine codex has sort of unbalanced our local meta such as it is.
But that Glazers Creek refight is just too tempting to not do, and what better models to use right? Thanks for your feedback, glad it looks good to somebody else besides just me.
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Great work on all of those. The Terminator is my favourite though… love that classic design.
Be interesting to see how (if) 40k meta levels out as the 9th ed codecies are released. Having got the Death Guard one they are pretty powerful.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks! The Terminator was frustrating but I’m glad he’s done. I have a lot of assault terminators in my Black Templars army and the banner gives them a solid boost.
I’m definitely an Imperial Guard player at heart though, so I’m eagerly awaiting my codex!
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