In the dark future of the 41st century, there is only war. Some guardsmen may have hoped that there was also retirement, but that promise never appeared on any imperial document. Thus many of my old guardsmen have been recalled from previous wars (ie. 2nd edition and Epic 40K) to fight new conflicts in the age of Epic Armageddon.

Company and support detachment configurations have changed a lot over the editions of Epic, and it seemed a shame to let those old guys sit around. So I've chopped up a lot of old infantry stands and resditributed things to make some "veteran" Epic Armageddon formations.

First up was the infantry. When you play Imperial Guard, you wind up with a lot of infantry. For this conversion I cut out some Commissars (E40K let you stick them willy-nilly, anywhere you wanted) for use in other formations, and added a few more stands to get two EpicA companies.

1st Company
These are the first IG infantry I ever painted, back when Epic A was first released. (Before that, I'd played mainly marines). The extra commisars this company used to contain got distributed to other formations in the new era.




2nd Company
The second company is made up partially by leftovers from the Epic40K-era originnal First Company, but with repainted yellow carapace armor instead of green. They get the upgrade of Forgeworld Chimera. They also bear the distinguishing mark that I forgot to change ther armor color on their officers. :-o I'll have to fix that soon.



-Allen McCarley

Thanks, Rastamann! I agree, masses of Imperial Guardsmen on the tabletop just look great. (At least early in the game. Later on...... their numbers dwindle.)

Continueing with the stoploss efforts:

No one enjoyed the progression of technology more than did my Rough Riders. In the Last War (E40K) they got used to being a four-unit formation that died repeatedly. They might start out as part of a plan, but invariably ended up being the only fast unit that could be spared from the "real fight" to dash out and try to snag some objecting; ususally one that some opponent eventually decided they needed. I lost so many men in the Rough Riders that I was tempted to re-paint them with prison stripes and call them a penal detachment. And I'm not sure they ever killed *anything* (But cavalry looks so good on the table I couldn't help using them anyway.)

In the Current War, however the advance of technology has magically made men on horseback much more dangerous agaisnt men with energy weapons, armored tanks, and city-sized walking robots. They're quite happy. And! the new OOB allows them two more units in their formation.

The commissar conversion was a simple paint job. The banner carrier was an idea I stole from an ebay auction I saw. It's very fiddly, and involves careful carving of the original guardsman, careful scraping away of the original land, and then the insertion of a old-style IG banner carrier. I like the result.

I just wish they were easier to poaint. They take me much longer than anything else, and I'd have a lot more of them if that weren't true.




-Allen McCarley

The other quick-troop for the Guard are the Sentinels.

Absolutely no conversions required to bring these E40K guys up to speed for the new EpicA era. Just show the poor "retired" git the fine print on his contract, and he's back at the front lines serving his emperor.



-Allen McCarley

Old Leman Russ are easy to press back into service; mostly you just arrange their numbers into configurations for the new-sized formations.

The only real effort required here was the Vanquisher command tank, and the addition of one of the left-over Comissars from the old infantry formations.

The side sponsons on the Vanquisher are actually turrets from a Baneblade. Back in the day, you could order any *part* from GW, not just any model, and I ordered about 100 of these turrets for use on the (then ) new Forgeworld Leman Russ variants. For reasons I never understood, the Forgeworld tanks did not come with the side-mounted weapons.

For the Commissar, I just chopped an old one in half. Then I very carefully shaved off the hatch cover from the resin tank. I was very proud of myself for what a good job I did..... until I looked around at glueing time and realized it had vanished from my work station. I never did find it. Eventually, I glued on a spare hatch from another E40K tank. (In the E40K era, all tanks came with spare hatches and guns)





-Allen McCarley

Looks awesome and I love the theme. Even if it has a real world sense of irony:)

My old 2nd Edition air force required a different sort of modification to bring it back into service: dusting! In 2nd edition flyers were simply low armor-value tanks that could never take cover. They quickly went on the shelf and never came back. In the current age their engines have advanced to the point that small arms can no longer hit them and they can actually fly beyond the battlefield.

Now days, flyers get the job done.


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-Allen McCarley

Thanks jfrk9mp!

-Allen McCarley

With the vast improvement of Armageddon-era air power, Hydra flak tanks can be pressed back into their original role. This is almost a shame, because they make such good fill-in tanks.

No conversion needed; just point and shoot. As my army advances the only thing they request more often than new infantry is new barrels for the Hydras.



-Allen McCarley

Every IG army needs specialty troops. These fighting men are old, but they are still very effective.

The older Hellhound is still my favorite vehicle in the Imperial motor pool. I love the completely squat, ugly look it sports as it brings firey death to the enemy. (fun fact: these vintage Hellhounds still burn *leaded* promethium! Eat toxic fire-death, Xenos!)

Some love the new one-piece fire support troops, and some hate them. Me? I press old rapiers and tarrantulas into service to fill this role. The aging veterans don't like hauling the heavy kit around but they get the job done.

And Ogryns? Well, they don't seem to mind being called back into service. I'm not even sure they age.


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-Allen McCarley

The real firepower of an Imperial Guard army, in any era, is the massed ranks or artillary. Row after row of Artillary-Strike Green war machines firing endlessly.

In the old days, an artillary company was six Basilisks and Three Manticore. I can find no strategic reason to deploty them this way in the Armagedon conflict--all of one or the other is more efficient--but tradition rules all in the Emperors army.

Besides, this is a Stop-Loss order, not the raising of a new regiment. Quit your whining and keep firing.

The conversion here is to take one of the leftover Commissars from the old infantry company and add him to the platform of the "command" basilisk. The feet on this guy are sculpted from green-stuff, since the original feet when to pieces when I trield to remove him from his little round base. I was kicking myself earlier for not collecting Epic40K IG infantry back in the day because "I have so many 2nd edition infantry." I thought a loader would look great next to the Commissar. I just got some infantry on e-bay, however, for slightly less than a new car, so I'll be adding a loader soon.


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-Allen McCarley

Big Guns, Big Guns, Big Guns. In every age the Imperial Guard brings War Engines with big guns. These guys are feeling especially invulnerable in the Armageddon era, especially since it now takes more than one hit to kill them.

The only concession to the modern age here is the addition of a Commissar. Unlike with the Leman Russ, I did not lose the carefully shaved-off hatch cover on this tank. I did, however, ruin two exacto knives getting it off! Back in the day, the Imperium didn't worry about untrained guardsmen accidentally swallowing their weapons and they used real lead when crafting their War Engines.


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-Allen McCarley

Last but not least, here is the entire re-activated army, ready for battle.

They claim the modern battlefield is too cold and drafty. They complain the modern War Engine has too many stairs. They complain the modern Noise Marines play their music too loudly. But! They are ready to deal death in the name of the Emperor.



-Allen McCarley

Lovely to see a nicely-painted old army brought back to the Eternal War

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Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Yes, I too have IG units starting with SM1 all the way up ... Just too cool not to ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."