Painting & Storage

I have very limited space in my house so I have used a few left over kitchen cupboards and put them in the garage.

Within the top cupboards I keep all my painting and modelling gear

In the bottom ones I keep all my models (well.. some of my painted models anyway. There is still a mountain of stuff elsewhere). These are kept in KR cases. I have a few cardboard ones and a couple of different size aluminum ones.

The smaller aluminium case actually holds all my Xwing stuff. The larger one is quite suitable for swapping out a current army to go and take elsewhere. The KR cases keep them nice and secure and dust free.

My painting table is actually the living room table. I take out the top hobby box and a large old towel and spread that out on the table, with a cutting mat on top.

In that I just about keep almost all my Vallejo and GW paints with the brushes and bits and bobs and a mat. The other hobby case is for modelling with spare bitz, lots of bitz, knife, basing material etc. I have a large box of modelling knifes and such like. On top of the cabinet is my compressor and metal box for stripping models.

For such a limited space I am able to keep everything neat, tidy and safe and it only means pulling out a box or two to get setup for a painting session. It does mean packing away afterwards and not being able to leave it out...but then with my 5 year old I would not want to leave anything out!

Models that are work in progress sit on a tray above a kitchen cupboard in the kitchen, out of harms reach and sight of everyone else.

Recruiting from the Hive Worlds

I have always seen my IG Company as being made up of the remnants of other companies and regiments. On the real battlefield you would re consolidate surviving troops into another formation. I also do not see why this could not be a more permanent state of affairs. The regiment could be formed and prove itself battle hardened and simply be shifted onto the next battlefield without breaking them up again and doing a costly amount of moving small squads around.

This at least gives me the excuse to use the models I like rather than be tied down to one particular style of models of type of regiment.

In my IG army I have mostly Cadians and Catachans, but I have a healthy number of Tallarns, old style Stormtroopers, Orlocks, SoB Militia and a few Mordians.

I like to think of them as a platoon of each type. They all have a common painting scheme (although the ones that are more like PDF/Militia/Conscripts have a simpler style and less camo).

In my opinion the older Orlock models make excellent additions to the IG, especially alongside the Catachans. In fact they work quite well the other way round. I always had a Catachan plasma gunner in my Necromunda gang and he did not look out of place.

Man Down!

These are some of the casualty models for my Imperial Guard.

These models are from Pig Iron

Pig Iron Casualty Models

Although not exactly the same wargear as your IG trooper from GW, the fact that they are casualities means they could be local IG, PDF or some other person. Scale wise they fit in nicely and do not look out of place, and although they are clearly non GW they still fit in the universe. Their weapons and gear could easily be IG or PDF and in fact I think they look a little like drop troopers.

They make great objective markers and add a bit of spice to the battlefield, which is why I have painted mine up to look different to my guardsmen (all several hundred of whom have a common theme and battle dress). This is also why they are on the larger square bases.

Rough Riding

There has always been something unique about the concept of the original Rough Riders. This strange anachronism of riding a horse into battle alongside laser and plasma weapons and giant mechanical constructs is quite telling about the 40K universe.

I know these are not the best painted examples in the world but I was a bit scared doing the horses with another 100 Bretonnians sitting on the shelf waiting for a lick of paint.

Gaming wise I always liked to field these, even if they have been over costed ever since Second Edition. I just like the idea of them rolling across the battlefield and throwing back a squad of power armoured monstrosities!

Medic!

I have always imagined that training for a decent regiment in the IG is a bit like the scenes out of Starship Troopers - where the trainer keeps giving them object lessons such as throwing a knife through their hand... then shouting "Medic!" in a manner of fact way.

Well these are the guys that have to wade in the middle of the battle and perform that function. Somehow I do not think there is a Geneva Convention on Red Cross/Medics in the 40K universe so they are still tooled up.

These are pretty much all the old metal models - they had some great character and I have finally got around to painting them up.

Ogryns!

I have always liked the original Ogryn models. I think a lot of the old gamers liked the short story about Norg Deddok.

I never really thought the models gaming-wise lived up to their reputation. They should have been tougher, harder or cheaper. But the models themselves do capture the essence of some brute force, simple minded, applied... well... brutality!

Hive Platoon

I have always loved the metal Orlock figures. They seem such a nice mix of guard, army, hive, scum and gang.

I actually use a fair few of them for a couple of squads (I have enough for a platoon... just need painting up and some need stripping).

They are also my chosen gang for Necromunda. I managed to get a fair few of them cheap on ebay many years back and eventually decided to paint them up for my IG army.

My IG army now has a platoon (of various sizes, but at least 3 squads) of: Catchans, Cadians, Tallarn, Orlocks, Militia, Old Style Stormtroopers.

They seem to fit the ideal of a hive platoon or even just conscripts/PDF.