# Unique Custom Imperial Guard WIP (Pic Heavy): "101st Sol Shadow Scorchers"



## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

Okay, so I started an Imperial Guard army a few months back and up until recently haven't put much serious time into it. I'd posted a log of it over at Dakka but wanted to get some fresh input so I am posting this on Heresy as well!

First off, these are literally the first models I have EVER assembled or painted. I'm just really enjoying the hobby, but I'm still definitely a beginner. Go easy on me, but I don't mind constructive criticism or suggestions!

I've been playing 40k without models for a few years now with a close group of friends, but I decided it was finally high time to actually buy some models and try my hand at putting them together! So for posterity and my own sake I'm going to start keeping a log of this first little army of mine. I apologize if it doesn't get updated often due to my rather hectic life outside modelling, but I'll post pictures from time to time.


Keep in mind I'm ALWAYS open to opinions, advice, constructive criticism, praise, beatification, donations, a - *GET ON WITH IT!*


*Ahem* Yes! So, to the army... I'm in the process of building an Imperial Guard mobile armored infantry list. Please keep in mind these are literally the first and only models I've ever attempted to make, so if you have to shield your eyes from beginner-level paint jobs and occasionally poor GS or kitbashes, you may want to avert yoru eyes now! But if you can bear with me I promise I'll get better after a while (I hope!) 


The goal game-wise is to make the most survivable army possible; I'm not one to toss men into the fire just to smother it. I plan on upgrading the crap out of everything; I want to make every shot count.


The goal model-wise is to make the most intense, resourceful, badass, and life-like-looking company possible. I am much better at modelling than I am at painting, and as such I've established a basic paint scheme but I'm going to most likely extensively customize the majority of the army. I've got a lot of ideas that I've already started on, as well as some I just wrote down in a to-do list for later. I'll get into the nitty-gritty of all the ideas and show you how I did them if you are interested later.


BASIC ARMY INFO 


Name: 101st Sol Shadow Scorchers
Tactical Doctrine: Heavy Assault Armored Infantry (Specializing in extremely powerful sudden strikes)
Official Motto: "Make every shot count."
Unofficial Motto: "We're here to ******* s*** up."
Model Types: Generally, I'll be using a lot of 3rd party miniatures and bits mixed with Cadian Shock Troops and other GW stuff, but almost all of it will be heavily kit-bashed and converted. I've already assembled some specialty Starship Troopers models, some shotgun samurai, a few random scavenger and robot models, etc. For vehicles... I haven't gotten too many yet but very few will be just GW. I have 3 helicopter models of varying sizes for Valkyries, Vultures, etc, as well as some Panzers to be spruced up, hopefully soon some Halo Warthogs or Metal Slug tanks... You'll see how it all comes together in the pictures
Paint Scheme: Black base, Red trim, White and Gold detailing.


THE FLUFF




The story of the Shadow Scorchers begins, as most do in the 40th Millenium in the middle of a battle on some far-flung world. The men in question were simply a company among hundreds, a rather small heavy infantry company outfitted with mobile artillery and heavy weaponry, attempting to take back a world under siege from one alien menace or another, whether it was 'Nids or Orks or Chaos does not matter. What matters was their self-created exile and vilification.


On the eve of what the company commander and his trusted CO's had planned to be the final assault, a commissar was assigned to the regiment. The company's commander had planned a daring and decisive strike on the heart of the enemy, one which would, if successful, break the back of their opponents and allow the rest of the Guard presence on the planet to push them back. This commissar happened to be one of those leading the entire planetary force, and as such was very well decorated. He had heard tell of the commander's plan and had come to improve it.


When he showed up in the command tent he was met with rather hostile attitudes; the man had a reputation for disregarding the value of life in favor of getting things done quickly. He rapidly ripped to shreds the ingenious plan the company had put together, replacing it with his own for them which, coupled with a massive push afterwards by their neighboring companies, would end the hostile invasion in a matter of days.


The mission he gave to them was also blatantly suicidal. The commander was outraged at the commissar's insistence that they throw an entire company away simply for the sake of time; the original plan may have been slower, but it would save more lives than just those of his own company. He therefore, refused to comply. The commissar, however, denounced the man of heresy for defying orders and whipped his pistol out to summarily execute the "flippant" commander.


Unfortunately for said commissar, the command squad prided themselves on quick-draw skills, and the man was riddled with a good 13 holes before he could draw his weapon. The company's commander decided the assault would begin immediately under cover of night.


The company was in trouble, obviously. The entire command squad were guilty of murdering a commissar, and one leading the army at that. They knew they'd have to deal with being branded traitors, and find some way to dodge the other regiments which would soon be hunting them. As such, the commander ordered his men to erase their visible identification; they used their copious numbers of flamers to burn the paint off of all their equipment, scorching it in the process, while finding one way or another to blacken their uniforms.


The company set out as quickly and quietly as possible, making their way to the target to initiate the assault their commander had devised. Just before launching it, however, they were surprised to see an explosion rather nearby, with a firefight breaking out between the enemy and some hidden group of assailants. The company quickly seized upon the confusion, flanking the majority of the enemy from the side in the firefight while their artillery positioned to an area being vacated by the enemy before unleashing hell upon the targets, decimating whatever the enemy had held so precious to their invasion.


The mysterious distraction turned out to be a group of Astartes scouts, Raven Guard snipers and sappers. Their Captain, accompanying the scout squads, apparently had had the exact same plan the commander of the company, and commended the company for their resourcefulness and ability to react so quickly and efficiently. The Raven Guard Captain informed the commander that he was in-system simply to attempt to make an incisive strike and then leave; his superiors valued strong independence and as such gave him leave to take actions as he saw fit to better protect humanity, with very few bounds. At this, the Commander revealed his own story to the Captain, and though the Captain had never heard of the Guard regiment they'd been previously, he remembered the Commissar whom he'd disliked immensely.


The Captain found himself sympathizing with the Commander and the Guard company, and agreed to aid them as long as they'd give aid back; the Captain and his battle-brothers may have been more reliant on stealth, but he recognized the need of heavy weapons, of which they had recently lost most of theirs. The Raven Guard company took the displaced Guard company under their wing, and now they accompany each other, fighting for the same victories on every planet they reach, if not fighting side by side.



WHAT THE FLUFF MEANS TO THE ARMY




As a form of subsidiary of the Raven Guard, there are a lot of twinges of Raven Guard ideals in this army.


The company, being independent from the Imperial Guard as a body now, must go without reinforcements and often without 'traditional' resupply efforts. As such, the army as a whole is forced to fight tooth and nail with whatever they have on hand, never wasting what they do have. Being part of the Raven Guard, however, gives them access to very high quality equipment on the occasion that they do resupply, however. Most of the troopers eschew general-issue weaponry in favor of customized and personalized equipment, swapping their lasguns out for high-powered rifles, or tweaking the barrels or grips to suit their tastes. This is a common theme in the army pertaining to modelling; rarely will you see copy-pasted troopers all aiming down the sights of a flashlight. There are some, sure, those who truly like their lasguns or the less-veteran troopers, but the majority will have something different.


The paint scheme I actually decided on far before I made the fluff but it fits; the base color for everything is jet black, as if it was all scorched by flamers, though much of the metal of their weapons and vehicles originally was a sort of unique goldish metal which was not scorched so easily, and as such you will see many metal objects glittering faintly; I drybrush gold on these. Aside from that, the rest of the paint scheme is generally white on certain parts with red trim i.e. the shoulderpads on the Guardsmen are white with a red border, and most of the belts are red. You'll see what I mean when I post pictures. Funnily enough, this came out looking like a variant on Raven Guard colors, which was a pure coincidence.



I'll get some pictures up as quick as I can of the models already painted and those in progress. Enjoy your read!


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## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

Alright so I'll upload pictures in chunks, it takes me a bit to dig up the folders of each session. Here's some of the older pictures of the first models I assembled, which happen to be the only ones I've painted... I'm not particularly gifted with painting and am making up for my shaky hands with lots of effort into modelling and as such I have not 
painted a single model since then, I'm just working on getting it all assembled before painting. Despite the poor quality of these early pictures, at least here you can get an idea of what the paint scheme LOOKS like on some normal Guardsmen.


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## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

Here will be a few pictures of some completed squads and what they're made out of...

Vet Squad 1 of 3: Flamers, Demolitions, and Shotgun Samurai

Yup. My standard close combat models are shotgun-wielding samurai. This squad has 3 flamers (1 which may be heavy), and has taken the Demolitionists Doctrine, resulting in a very pyromaniacal grouping. The flamers are fairly simple; hacked-together poses with various flamer styles in the back right. The dude on the far left with the flamer up and fuel tank in his hand is the sergeant preparing to lob the Prometheum tank as a demo charge. The "standard" guys with shotguns are samurai bodies with Victoria shotguns and aesthetic cloaks. Waiting on heads currently, I'm going for Pig Iron Heavy Infantry heads which to me look like Doomguy heads. Any suggestions with these anyone? As for the two normal Cadians... They're just a standin until I decide if a heavy weapon should go there or until I make 2 more shotgun samurai.


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## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

Alright, Vet Squad 2 of 3: Starship Plasma Vets with Harker!

This squad consists primarily of Starship Trooper models, outfitted with 3 Plasma Rifles, the Sarge as "Harker," an autocannon team, and a vox-caster. The Plasma gunners are featured in the second picture, and are sporting Pulse Rifles (yes, as you'd see with Colonial Marines in Aliens) as plasmas, as will every plasma gunner in the army! A quick stock-replacement job made them fit perfectly, and after I make a custom melta-pistol for the one on the far right they'll be ready to paint. The model in the back (completely primed) with the very large sniper rifle will be Sgt. Harker for now until I fix him up or make a better stand-in model. The two stooges on the left (one berating the other for a bad shot or something) will be the gunners for the Pak 40 "Autocannon" shown in the center. I'm going to magnetize their bases and place magnets in the base of the Autocannon so I can take the two of them off the base and replace them with ze Germans in the case of a Bolt Action match! Finally, the other models not mentioned will just be lasgunners, including the model right by the cannon which will soon be a prone-positioned Guardsman.

Oh, and I just figured out how to make cloaks out of greenstuff last night. The whole squad will have camo cloaks when I finish.


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## dragonkingofthestars (May 3, 2010)

very nice! don't think i would have the will power to do custom guard (so many models, so many, [rocks back and forth in a corner]) one question, why do you have the 'cheer leader' model in your first two pictures? never seen a model quite like her, where she come from?


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

That's warrior woman, from the last chancers.


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## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

Stella Cadente said:


> That's warrior woman, from the last chancers.


Yup. I got her for a couple of dollars on eBay. Look on the gw site at Schaeffer's Last Chancers as a box set. For now I'm using her as a Company Commander but once I make a better model for it I'll use her as my Marbo.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

Actually I don't they are available now, Schaffer is, but not the box, hopefully it will return, for years I wanted to buy it


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## Yipyioh (Aug 28, 2011)

I believe the box is still sold, check this link and see if I'm wrong, I very well may be! 


http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1150013&_requestid=1203476


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