The Line in the Sand: “Tallarn” Desert Raiders!

Another day, another Regiment of the Imperial Guard. The Tallarn Desert Raiders are a classic Games Workshop regiment, from the distant year of 1994. They are almost as old as I am! They had a really distinct look, equal parts Bedouin tribesmen and British LRDG/SAS.

As a fan of the North Africa campaign of WW2, these guys always called out to me. And over time, GW had began to portray them as distinct Arab in theme, always nice to see in a sea of more European themed regiments, and something that also appealed to me.

Unfortunately their model line is also a product of 1994, being quite dated in appearance. It was a bit of a turn off when I was younger and could have bought them, and while that style appeals to me now, it is far too late to really acquire a full army of them.

Enter Victoria Miniatures. Based out of Adelaide in Australia(although now shipping from the USA), they make a line of “Regiments of the Galaxy’s Finest”, which are clear homages to the GW regiments of old. I’ve purchased from them in the past, as far back as when it was just a small bits shop run from Victoria Lambs own website. I’ve seen them go from Lead to Resin, and from Australia to the USA. My Roane Light Horse are from them, and while I didn’t go with a full army of them in the end, I do have quite a few Victorian Guard from them as well!

Last year, they brought out the Desert Scorpions, an amazing looking regiment with a distinct Tallarn influence. I was lacking funds when they came out, so I missed out on them at release.

When I decided to do my Gallipoli themed Guard Army, I also at the same time purchased 30 Desert Scorpions and 3 Missile Launcher teams to go with them. This had the benefit of leaving 6 men spare, as the missile launcher teams went into the squads. This lets me make Platoon Commanders and a Command Squad as well!

So I set up my station, and got to work.

I spent the better part of a day working at them. I did make the controversial move of using GW weapons; this was intentional, to tie the Desert Scorpions into the Warhammer 40k universe and to give my opponents a clear view of which weapon is which.

After about 6 hours I had some models to show off! I’ll admit, the GW weapons work better on some poses then others, and the Plasma and Melta guns are gigantic, and while they would be equally gigantic on GW bodies, they look even more so here. While I think a good paintjob will tie them in a bit better, I will admit they could look better. And they are very securely glued in, they are not coming out now!

Let’s start with the Sergeants!

The Sergeants turned out really well. I really liked the Bolters they came with, so I kept those. The heads are integral to the bodies, so I took care to pick bodies that would match the pose. My favourite is the Sergeant shielding his eyes from the sun.

Next up is the Vox-Caster operators.

These Guardsmen turned out pretty well! The GW Vox Units and Lasguns are large, but I like how cumbersome they look. The Kantreal Pattern Lasgun really sells them as Imperial Guardsmen, in my opinion at least!

Now for the most controversial models.

These Tallarn Guardsmen carry the squad special weapon. These weapons were scrounged from my bits box, and I do not know the original kit they are from. I did compare them to my Cadians armed with the same weapons, and they look just as big there!

The arms did not want to cooperate with the Plasma guns, and many glued fingers awaited me. The Meltagun oddly fit really well once I removed the stock from the arm, and lined up with the hand well.

Still, more then one person has expressed confusion as to why I picked them. Honestly, it is so my opponent won’t get confused, and and I do actually like the look of these iconic weapons too!

Next up we have the humble Lasman. Let’s see how they look!

These Guardsmen were not particularly hard to put together, outside of some fiddling with the arms to get them to fit. Some fit better then others; while they all look pretty decent from the front, some definitely have some issues viewed from above or the side.

But, as I have said to some critics, I quite like the look of the Kantreal lasgun. I think a solid paint job will make them look right at home!

Now there are an awful lot of them, so I picked out the best to show you.

Now for the real stars of the show! The Missile Launchers are really neat looking, and have a stripped down and portable look about them.

These Heavy Weapons will allow my squads to hurt targets much larger then themselves, as well as giving them a long range frag rocket for softer targets.

These I didn’t mess with too much; they looked really good as is!

All in all, a good days work. Tomorrow I will get the Officers and Command Squad sorted! I did buy a banner pack so I can make a really nice Regimental Standard for these Tallarn to wave. I might start on the Roane Deepers tomorrow as well, but we’ll have to see!

I do intend to run 6 squads of Tallarn Desert Raiders for my list, so I will be ordering quite a few more from Victoria Miniatures on payday. I sold some spare Airsoft gear(which, with my health problems I might have trouble playing…) to help fund that.

The blog upgrade is looming as well. It is a decent chunk of change!

Anyways, I will be continuing progress on the Gallipoli project soon! Look for that in the coming days! Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and مع السلامة!