Kettle Helms and Grit: Feudal Guardsmen for 40k!

It is a good time to be an Imperial Guard player, at least from a modelling perspective. While Games Workshops offerings may be limited compared to yesteryear, there has never been such a proliferation of 3rd party parts and kits to build exactly the kind of Imperial Guard Regiment you want. Wargames Atlantic, Victoria Miniatures, Anvil Industries. All are options(not necessarily cheaper though!) for adding a bit of the custom touch to ‘Your Dudes’.

3D printing is possibly the best option available, and with pre-supported models and bitz now commonplace it isn’t even a difficult task. It is also considerably cheaper; one can print the parts at home, saving on shipping and giving you immediate gratification to boot. I personally haven’t delved too deeply into printed Regiments as much as I could have, due to my love of the metal Regiments Games Workshop used to put out, especially the Praetorians and Vostroyans. However, The Makers Cult, a Patreon and Cgtrader store, offer one of my favourite options. While they make a ‘not Krieg’ regiment that looks amazing, it is their Feudal Guard that got my attention.

The Imperium of Man is a diverse empire, and within its borders lie worlds of every conceivable type. One of these is the Feudal World, a type of planet that usually but not always is locked technologically in the Middle Ages. These planets often offer some sort of resource that doesn’t require more advanced technology to harvest, and the Imperium is loathe to waste resources bringing them up to space-faring status when it doesn’t actually make the job any easier.

Often, these planets are easier to rule in their backwater state then many other planets, and their feudal hierarchy perfectly meshes with the Imperium as a whole. The Emperor is seen as a distant but powerful monarch, with the feudal lords owing their fealty to him. Sometimes a King or other titled ruler will act as the go-between of the people and the Imperial Governor, but this is not always the case. In any event, due to these planets generally having a smaller population, their tithe is mostly resource based and not manpower.

However, it is not unheard of for the Imperial Guard to raise regiments from such worlds. These recruits are in for a rude shock upon learning just how vast and unforgiving the galaxy is, and often require a bit of extra training and time to get into fighting trim. Such a Regiment might look like medieval soldiers given primitive and easy to use Lasguns or Laslocks to go with their plate armour and tabards. This is a really striking and distinctive look, and one many a hobbyist has tried to tackle. Historical kits, Warhammer Fantasy models (particularly Bretonnians) and such are kit-bashed with the good ole Cadian kit. The results can vary from amazing to mediocre, but the famous Dave Taylor Genswick 33rd are probably the best example of it being done extremely well.

The Makers Cult Feudal Guard range has both heavily armoured, plate mail encased soldiers, and more recently men with a more peasant appearance. It was these latter troops I was very keen on. I learned quickly that my original idea to use spare Cadian lasgun arms wasn’t going to work, as the models just don’t quite match up. However, the laser rifles provided with the kit grew on me, and I like to think of them as primitive and easy to use Lasguns provided to the regiment.

The ‘Kettle Helms’ were what tipped me over the edge into printing a set of these soldiers. The Militia kit looks like just the kind of levy that might be conscripted from a Feudal World, with the more heavily armoured men perhaps being from a different class or caste, and therefore in a command position. The parts were all pre-supported, and I was keen to get cracking on so I loaded up a build plate or three and got my two printers going.

Being multi-part, it was a time consuming project. But around evening I had all the parts ready to go. The quality was excellent, with lots of deep relief and crisply defined detail. The paint will go on tommorow, but we can take a peek at the models before I paint them!

I have saved the Plasma gunner for last. This model was particularly fun to work on, with a really dramatic pose full of energy. The cable broke off when I was removing the supports during cleanup, but it was an easy fix.

Now this was a project I really shouldn’t have started. I have loads of projects on the go, but being stuck at home combined with my hobby ADHD means I couldn’t resist. I needed to use the resin in the vat of my printer as well, so while these models didn’t use much resin at least it helped keep it ‘ready’ for other prints. I have had resin go unusable on me before, so I try to print at the very minimum of once a week.

These are cheap models to print, and now that I know the workflow I might print up a lot of them! I needed another regiment like I needed a hole in the head, but sometimes you just can’t resist the pull of a cool idea.

For now, I’ll print them 9 at a time and paint them as I go. That way I don’t have to stare down a pile of unpainted models, which can be discouraging. You’ll notice I said 9, not 10. That is because the Sergeants are going to be kitbashed from the rest of the Feudal Guard range and I have yet to purchase all the needed sets to do so. But lets take a peek at the plan for them!

I’m keen to see how these models paint up, and I will share progress of that when I do so!

Now, it would be remiss to say that Games Workshop hasn’t also finally thrown Guard players a bone or two officially. They have announced a new Cadian upgrade frame with plenty of heads, special weapons, and more importantly for me, a bolter for the Sergeant. Like many other Guard players I started with Cadian models and such a frame fills me with a little bit of glee as I think about overhauling my older models.

• 

• 

And that is without talking about the new Tanith models! I’m super excited for these new Ghost models, even though I own a full set of the old Metal Gaunts Ghosts.

All in all, a fun day of 40k flavoured printing! My Feudal Guard need a name and backstory, and I’ll be back with painted models and lore to boot! But until then, Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and Forwards! For the Emperor!