It's been a while since I've posted something I've painted; for some reason 2023 has been the busiest, most hectic year to date, and I can't even pinpoint what's been causing it.
Bottom line though; my yearly output has never been this low, but on the upside; most of it has been for this new project.
Not really new though; I've had this idea for well over a decade, maybe even longer. This idea came to me before the advent of all the different flavours of 'Germans-in-space' that are available now. In fact it must have been around the time Pig Iron came out with their System and Rebels head-sprues.
Ever since I saw them, I've wanted to add the System Trooper heads to Cadian bodies and make a unique Imperial Guard army for 40K. Preferences have shifted since then though, and these are now not exclusively for 40K.
So when I got hold of a large batch of Pig Iron head sprues last year, I started collecting second-hand Cadians. These went for pretty cheap actually, and I've rescued quite a bunch this way.
Earlier this year, I managed to first paint a test figure to try how to best speed-paint these, because I will be requiring numbers after all. And then my first full squad of 10, during which I perfected my assembly line style of painting. This, I have doubled by now to two squads, with at least two more to round out the first platoon.
Then, I also stumbled onto these awesome not-German vehicle designs that would complement my infantry perfectly, so I bought the STLs and set to printing. I've printed one APC/IFV and one main battle tank. They're nominal stand-ins for Chimera's and Leman Russes respectively, although the tank (called a Hauptmann) is significantly longer than a standard Leman Russ. But the width and height are spot on.
So this weekend I've finally finished the APC (called a Gunther), after it languishing on my desk for the better part of a year.
My main inspiration for this army was the game Wolfenstein New Order. Hence the black uniforms, and red eye-lenses, but I've stayed away from the more fantastical tech displayed in the game. I will eventually be adding mechs from Dust perhaps as Sentinel stand-ins though.
I've even named the regiment after the game: this is the Wolfenstein 26th, lead by General Von Klinkerhoffen (I just have to add
some silliness into this stern wall of grey and black
). This particular detachment is lead by the famous Captain Blazkowicz and is a screening unit for one of the regiment's super heavies; a Shadowsword.
The regiment is reknowned for its lightning fast combined arms tactics, and standard doctrine is to have a tank platoon and two infantry platoons to screen each super heavy during operations. Often scouting elements such as Sentinel squadrons are attached for extra ranged screening as well.
So yes; I do have a Shadowsword waiting to be assembled. It's been my favourite IG super heavy ever since playing Final Liberation back in the day, and now I've finally got one. Still needs to be built though
So for now, I have two squads of infantry and one APC (I plan to mount all infantry, as they're mechanized), so they'll require at least one more APC. But the first big tank is also sitting on my desk in its unbuilt bare resin state, so that'll be first I reckon.
When I get to it, obviously
Anyway; here they are, in pretty gnarly phone photography: