Death Korps: The Tally

I’ve been keeping up with the Death Korps of Krieg army for 40K. These hardcore IG soldiers just keep getting churned out…

In a nice change of pace, I’ve painted up the Krieg Quartermaster Squad. This is a unique unit for the Krieg army. A Quartermaster and his retinue moves among the infantry squads, dispatching the cowardly, granting merciful death to the severely wounded, and boosting morale for his men. The squad acts as a combined Commissar/Medic/Standard squad or the Death Korps.

The Quartermaster himself is clad in the symbols of death, with a skull-faced gas mask and rib cage armor plate. In a contrast to the rest of the army, he wears black, with red showing on the inside lining of the long coat. He wears the standard uniform under his coats, shown by his trousers and boots (a visual tie to the infantry). In an army of faceless goons his skull mask gives him a sinister personality.

Next are the servitors that accompany him. They wear red robes, both to make them distinct from the infantry and to tie them into the Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood. The hunched servitor carries uniforms and helmets of fallen Guardsmen, possibly for recycling for the new recruits. The other servitor is a combat medic, sprouting bionic arms tipped with surgical tools. Like the other servitors he wears red robes, though in his case he also wears a white apron (the only large use of white in all the infantry).

The last servitor carries a huge board festooned with casualty lists and the Quartermaster’s duties. More parchment prints out from his chest piece to drag on the ground. A servo-cherub hovers over him, carrying more of the parchments.

In addition to the Quartermaster, I’ve finished a group of heavy weapon teams. These will either slot into existing Infantry Squads, Heavy Support Squads, or Command Squads, which is why they lack platoon or squad markings. There will be more painted up for the army in time.

The teams are a pair of Autocannons and a Lascannon. The larger bases allow more battlefield litter, debris, barbed wire, and loose rocks sticking out of the mud, tying into the rest of the army.

Death Korps: Bring the Boom

 

The Death Korps of Krieg force continues…

I’ve finished a Leman Russ tank squadron for the army. The first Russ was posted earlier. This tank is a Alpha Pattern Leman Russ Vanquisher, sporting a turret with a ridiculously long cannon. This will be the squadron’s heavy hitter.

The tank got a ‘dozer blade for cleaning battlefield debris (and blocking enemy fire I assume). Like the other vehicles in the squadron, it carries the white/red/white striping and vehicle numbers, along with a few kill markings (and it being the Imperium, skulls always work for decoration). The tracks, underside, and dozer blade are spattered with mud and crud. The blade was left black (scarred as it is) to make it visually distinct from the tank itself.

Alongside the Russ comes yet another Infantry Squad of Krieg. These are Squad 4 of Diamond Platoon. So far I’ve finished Squads 4, 5, 6, and 7. This pic is eight of the members; the final two will most likely carry the squad’s heavy weapon.

The Krieg Guardsmen kits come in two attitudes- active combat, advancing or shooting, and at attention, standing straight up or weapon held relaxed. These poses are mixed in the units to allow for as much variety as possible.

Death Korps: Behemoth

The Death Korps deployment continues…

I’ve added a couple more Infantry Squads, but as a break from English Uniform, I’ve painted up a Death Korps Leman Russ battle tank. This Forgeworld kit is a Mars Alpha Pattern Leman Russ, with a modified Ryza Pattern Turret. That’s a lot of words to say a tank with lots of extra detail and a different gun. The commander popping his head out the cupola is Krieg as well.

The kit actually has a good amount of detail, and the proportions make a little more sense than the standard Leman Russ design. Owing to the nature of the Krieg battle front, the tank has an atmosphere filter/processor and trench rails on its rear.

The color scheme for the tank follows the same idea as the Infantry. They wear WWI-era uniforms and gear. With that in mind, the tank is based off WWI-era British tanks. I used GW Baneblade Brown as a solid color over the whole tank. The surface is scarred by battle, with mud collected on the lower portions and tracks. More mud is caked on the trench rails and the front plating. This was created with GW’s Stirland Mud texture paint, the same I used on the bases for the Infantry. The ‘mud’ was then painted a dark brown and highlighted. The tank has obviously seen action on the front.

The tank bares unit markings in the form of a ‘3’ for the tank itself, and a white/red/white squadron stripe on the side panels and a single patch on a side sponson, visible from above. This was also based off WWI British markings. This marking convention will continue on further vehicles for the army.

There are a few more tanks on the painting table, as well as even more Infantry and support weapons.

Death Korps: Western Front

 

 

The Death Korps builds slowly. I’ve got a bunch of these Guardsmen on the painting desk. So far I’ve completed 2 Engineer squads and an Infantry squad. Now that I’ve got the color scheme down, the rest will be much faster.

These are one of the Engineer squads. The unit is a 5-man squad. They served as the test paint for the army; odd since they are veterans with more armor and equipment than the standard Tommies.

The other squad here is a basic Infantry squad, a 10-man section. Instead of the shotguns and armor plating of the Engineers, they carry basic lasguns and have to live with long coats for armor. Their gear is simpler, with a compact backpack and gas mask filter on their chests. Very WWI look to them.

A few insert shots show the unit markings I added to the members of the squad. The squad number is on the left shoulder pad and the backpack rear. The sergeant wears his stripes, the only spot of color on the whole unit. Finally, the platoon marking is on the right shoulder, in this case a white diamond. The platoons will follow the ‘card suits’ style for designations. The only member who breaks this marking scheme is the flamer; the special weapon and heavy weapon troopers will not have squad numbers, so they can be mixed and matched into whichever squad needs them.

The bases for the army will look like a Western Front of WWI- churned mud, broken ground, barbed wire, etc. I added lengths of barbed wire from Army Painter Battlefield XP. Some of the wire is crushed into the mud, while some crisscrosses the ground. Barbed wire posts stick out of the mud, strung with wire or split and lying in the dirt. Patchy grass and little tufts of grass give a little brightness in contrast to the drab uniforms and dark bases.

Next up is another Infantry squad, a couple Command squads, and even some Leman Russ tanks. The tanks will follow the coloring scheme of the Infantry, painted in the dark khaki of WWI British tanks.

Warhammer 40K: Death Korps test

 

Another new army for a client. This time it’s the famous Death Korps of Krieg, the grim WWI-inspired Imperial Guard “ahem” Astra Militarum regiment from Forgeworld. These two are the test miniatures for the army. I provided pics from several angles.

The Krieg models are nicely detailed, with great sculpting in the clothing and extra gear. I’m less enthused by the casting, since some of the mold lines are really hard to clean from resin without damaging detail. I like the mix of WWI inspirations: German coats, British leggings, and French helmets.

This particular group of the Korps have a color scheme based off World War I British uniforms. I dug up some good photo references of Tommies and my old painting guide from Flames of War’s Vallejo range, with some other colors as well. The effect is a drab, dirty look, reflecting a life in mud and battle.

Fatigues- English Uniform

Helmet and armor- Brown Violet

Leggings, packs, and gas mask- Dark Sand

Boots and gloves- GW Rhinox Hide

Weapon and tools- P3 Pig Iron

GW Nuln Oil was washed over everything to dull down and shade. The only other spot of color is the Mephiston Red right eyepiece, since this squad of engineers seem to have some advanced optics in their gas masks.

The bases for the army are churned mud, dotted with rubble, patches of dead grass and broken equipment, alluding to the Western Front. The effect is made with GW’s texture paint Stirland Mud and standard basing sand. This gets spread like butter, piled up and manipulated while it dries. The surface got brushed with a mix of P3 Battlefield Brown and GW Steel Legion Drab. Later on the bases will have more litter, and the big bases like for weapon teams will have bigger piles of rubble, emplacements, etc.

 

Now that these tests are done, I can get properly stuck into the army. It’s an IG army, so can expect much more work to come.

IG vs. Orks Battle

I played my second game of WH40K 7th ed today. It was my Imperial Guard (the Typhon 86th) versus Bad Moons Orks (my friend’s aptly named Afrikka Kor, due to their desert camo and bases), 1500 points. We played the Big Guns Never Tire scenario, with 3 objective markers. I took the Initiative, with some punishing shooting crippling his center right off the bat, but the game overall came to a grinding draw.

These pics are from a few points in the battle.

1. The IG deployment. We had corner set-up, and my side had a good amount of urban ruins. I held the objective all game, but it cost me plenty of men.

2. Part of the Ork deployment. He had 2 artillery groups parked behind an Aegis defense line, and a mob of Grotz to fire the quad gun. His Big Mek with shokk attack gun and Weirdboy hugged cover right next to an objective. The rest of his army was to the right of the shot, huddled in a ruin and running up the flank with some LOS-blocking cover.

3. Later in the game, one of his trukks roared up the flank to grab the open objective. Slugga boys jumped out to assault, but were repelled and wiped out. The trukk hung out there for several more turns being annoying before I wrecked it, but by then the next wave of footslogging Orks (seen in the distance in the pic) were able to claim the objective.

4. The dakkajet flew on, riddling my forward squads with dakka.

5. Deff Copters flew in from reserve behind my line. They did some damage to the Russ nearby, blowing off its turret and stunning it a few times. Return fire (a lot of return fire) took them out, but they did serve as a good distraction.

6. The footslogging Shoota Boyz move in, the trukk being perfect cover.

7. A shot of my IG firebase, in the center of my line. The big multi-story ruin held my Company Command Squad, 2 Infantry Squads, a Primaris Psyker, and a Heavy Weapons Squad.

8. Early on my Scout Sentinels came in behind the artillery base’s defenses. They blasted one unit of Big Gunz, finishing them off in close combat. They then took a blistering return fire, destroying one and damaging the other. The survivor then crushed the quad gun and its Grotz crew before being shot apart. They earned me important VP’s for the scenario, plus drew a lot of attention away from the rest of the army.

9. The dakkajet strafes my forward position. My squads were maimed, but held together until it passed by. It chewed a line through my army, drawing plenty of fire for 3 turns. My Guardsmen got some lucky glancing hits, and a Leman Russ finished it off with a hail of heavy bolters. It of course promptly crashed into a Platoon Command Squad.

 

The Nameless Children of Nurgle

In addition to the Chaos Spawn and Obliterators, I’ve been working on Cultists for my Death Guard Chaos Marines. They represent the sort of ragtag force that form around a Chaos invasion like flies, hoping for mercy or a chance to be blessed by the Chaos gods. They are formed from Imperial Guard deserters, hive block rabble, forgotten menial workers, and assorted ex-prisoners and madmen/women.

The miniatures are from several ranges, including 40K, Necromunda, Warhammer, and some others (potentially Shadowforge, but I can’t remember their origins). An Imperial world is wide open for  dress and appearance, from the tarnished military precision of the cult leader (as well as his Dawn of War inspired back harness, nicked from Chronopia), the ragged diseased mutants of the inner circle, and the outer circle, less touched by Grandfather Nurgle, desperate for absolution.

Salamander Command Carrier

This is a conversion of a Chimera transport  for my Imperial Guard army. Based on the Salamander Scout vehicle, it simply counts as a Chimera on the table. Salamanders are primarily scout vehicles, so are normally open-topped for maximum visibility for its passengers.

This Salamander is usually the transport for the Company HQ squad, though sometimes it gets loaned out to one of the Platoon HQ’s instead.

The interior includes a command console. The roll bars support a rolled up canopy, as well as a hard point for a heavy stubber. On the top track plates I detailed 2 more hard points (with the industrial markings) with added steps and hand rails.

Imperial Guard update

A selection of squads from my Imperial Guard army. I’ve posted some of these before, but have since added new models, weapon options, and advisors for the HQ squads.

The Company HQ squad includes the Captain, an Astropath, a Fleet Officer, a Regimental Standard Bearer, a Lascannon weapon team, and a Medic.

City Fight!

My Imperial Guard fought a friend’s Tau in a couple of games. The first game was a basic 40K, with 5 objectives. I managed to get all my reserves early, whereas my opponent got his peacemeal, allowing my tanks and heavy weapons to shred the tiny force on the table.

We then played another game, using the City of Death rules. My Tau friend had never played it, and ultimately he did not enjoy the game. The terrain and mission definitely favored my IG, since I had built a general balanced force (and I designed them around urban fighters), whereas he was playing Tau, which was an uphill battle in the best of circumstances.