# Representing imperial guard veterans



## ranger801 (Mar 2, 2011)

I was wondering, what would be the appropriate model to use to represent a veteran squad? i was going to use kraskins but noticed they had hot shot lasguns and later found out theyre the cadian versions of stormtroopers, even though they come in a squad of 10 which is weird, so i thought of just using catachans since all the different regiments have special weapons you can buy seprately. A regular army type of regiment mixed with a jungle fighting guerrila regiment to mix their combat tacitcs and also for some interesting fluff. So i was wondering, what do you guys use to represent your veterans or what would you if you dont play guard?


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## HOBO (Dec 7, 2007)

I use kasrkins as my Vets exclusively...that's the trick of it because there's no drama identifying what they represent. If I field my ST's then they are the actual metal ST models, whereas my standard Guradsmen are the Cadian models.

Friends of mine who have IG armies and who use Cadian models for both Vets and standard Guardsmen just model and paint them differently...Vets have more gear for example.

In the end, so long as the models you do use are different enough that your opponent can tell the difference...use what you like.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

My carapace armoured vets are represented by my various stormtrooper models.
My carapace armoured vets with shotguns are represented by SM scouts with headswaps (visored helmets).

I don't use stormtroopers in my guard as stormtroopers.
Not when I can use THREE special weapon guys in the squad as veterans instead.


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## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Why is coming in a squad of ten 'weird?'


My understanding was that 'vets' would be the ones with a weird weapons load out, or lots of different kit. If you think about the old space marine veterans option (before stern and vanguard) then there wasn't a specific model for them either, and depending on the chapters, there wasn't a specific way of representing them either (not all chapters paint their helmets White). I never heard anyone complaining about how they were represented on the table.

My vets for my praetorian army are just cadians painted in my armies colours, they are bigger and stronger and look like they are wearing carapace when compared to the normal guardsmen.


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## Alexious (Apr 13, 2009)

I use a variety of different things and it really does as the others point out come down to model variation and color scheme. Some of the things I use are

1). Old Guard Models or Mordian or even Tallarn figures depending on your theme. Mordian make great Commissar Training Platoons when done in black which could arguably be veteran status for example.

2). Paint one part different, be it the helmet, carapace, legs or even just the weapon casings can casue a lot of contrast with a ranked up army.

3). Make subtle changes to the bases. A lighter or different color around the edge of the base, can make a big impact quickly. A lighter or darker brown for example.

4). If you really have the money to spend, check out Ebay for other bits and parts, like shotguns and do swaps with SM scout stuff. The other thing about veterans is you have two paths...

either well equiped or gritty and patched together. So think which way you want to go. For example a group of Catachan veterans may just have different headbands and have different poses or the bases may be slightly raised or modeled in different poses. Or if its well equiped and elite.... think of other ways.

Traditionally however stormies are dressed in black. So thats a starting point for you!

Lexi.


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## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

For my veterans I use catchans, as the rest of the army uses the cadians models.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

I sculpted aditional armor on some of my troops (to mimic the stormtrooper carapace armor). I use them as veterans these days. 










The "odd" colorscheme is there because they used to be a part of my old demonhunter army. The new changes left me with a small imperial guard army. Luckily for me, the new guardcodex allows a full veteran mech army... So that's what I'm currently working towards. 

It's a bit of a time consuming task however to sculpt the armor on. But the cadian armor has a lot of straight lines in it, so it's a good method of getting to know GS a little bit better. I was able to flatten most armor plates with my craftknife onto the model. Just let the GS set for half and hour to an hour and then cut it to the apropiate size. It wasn't too hard all things considering. But very time consuming...

Oh, and I addes purity seals to the shoulders. That can be enought by itself to create a more "veteran feeling". Check around your LFGS, you may find a ton of purity seals as bits with the new GK plastic boxes. Those guys are filled with purity seals as it is, so adding more seems overkill. I wouldn't be surprised if they were rather easy to get now.


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## the Autarch (Aug 23, 2009)

my veterans are in chimeras 

seriously i just use regular models as my infantry squads tend to have larger numbers

although i intend to get some steel legion troopers for my veterans


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## ranger801 (Mar 2, 2011)

These all seem like great ideas, great ideas for conversions too, any others here that use kraskins for their veterans?


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## HOBO (Dec 7, 2007)

I see you mentioned that Kasrkins are the Cadian version of ST's...I'm guessing you mean that they are modelled with Carapace Armour as well as the Hot-shots. Like I said, I use Kasrkins as Vets, but I never ever pay for Carapace just because it's modelled on them, and I've never had any drama from anyone about it because it isn't a part of my list....simple.


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