Building the Poor Bastards

There are so many choices for bits and models out there on the internet.  I wanted to start my search by making GW tournament legal units... and for this I started the "great kit bash"

I was looking for three things really

• Long Coats (Sure WW1 Brits did not really wear these, but I wanted something like this for them)
• Brodie-Style Helmets
• Bayonets... bayonets... bayonets

 Empire Archer Bodies with the legs cut off are perfect to me

Thanks to GW Boxes I have tons of these.

Snip off the legs above the boot and I had the tough looking mud-slogging boot look.

While not exactly a Brodie Helmet, these Kettle helms from the Bretonnian Men at Arms line look gritty enough for me. And they are easily found at various bits companies

Considering that bayonet charges were still used (Suicidally of course), these guys all had to have bayonets.  This was tough because only a third of the Cadians had that option.  Trading and scrounging pay off though.

Finally, to add a sense that these troopers have to lug EVERYTHING with them, I ponied up the money for Forge World Cadian backpacks.  If I was better at GSing, I probably could have just made them, but not at the moment.

___________________________________________________________________________

This is what I had to work with in the beginning... I will have pictures of finished troopers in my next blog.  Also I will have the differant model companies I used once I ran out of tournament legal resources, and had to resort to non-legal.  Frustrating, but it happens.

And So... It Begins

There is something beautiful about working on something you love.  I have played Warhammer 40k on and off for a good fifteen years now.  I started with Space Marines... and moved to Imperial Guard: Tallarn Raiders.

I spent a small fortune on those little desert rats... but never really got to play them too much.  I always loved the idea of Imperial Guard.  The massed formations of infantry fighting for every inch of ground with blood and sweat.

A simple lasgun, and flak armor that meant nothing to the majority of weapons arrayed against them was all they had.  The Dog Soldiers, the trenchers, the unlucky bastards sent to die.  I saw their lot as the grimmest of all, because in the end, the Space Marines got the glory... they just got to die.

Sure the Guard has tanks... sure they have Artillery.  But without the grunts, those things mean little.  You need bodies to hold the line... and bodies they have by the billions.

This blog will be a combination project log/gaming fluff for me.

The Army I am currently putting together is a labor of love for me.  The Gallayan Guard; The Forsaken. 

Based off of images I had in my mind of British Great War Infantry in Brodie Helmets.  This is a very infantry heavy army... and will often lose many battles.  I do not play this game to win all the time though... I play it to put together an unique and cool looking army.