inspiration

Salutations,

It's been a while since a new post has gone up, but all pict-recording devices seem to break when I touch them, so I haven't had any pictures to show. But I got my hands on a camera, and took some picts of my recent work. I'm still working on Inquisitorial Operations Cell "Accipiter" (counts as Imperial Guard). My plan is to end up with a somewhat modular list that can be toned down or up depending on what kind of game I'm playing. While this army probably won't be done for a while, I am taking a few units in it as an ally to the Angels Malleus for OFCC this year (a friendly tournament in Vancouver, WA run by Ordo Fanaticus; http://www.ordofanaticus.com/blog/).

The story behind this army is that Inquisitor Rosenadel has founded an Imperial Guard regiment through his inquisitorial influence to act as his personal special forces. These are the 22nd Thracian Irregulars. However, when fighting the most dangerous of enemies, even this is not enough, and so he enlists the help of a cell of fellow inquisitors, who take direct control of squads. I have indeed decided that the sergeant in each veteran squad will be modeled as an inquisitor, and these models will come later. As mentioned previously, this army is inspired by modern-day special forces, and I've done what I can to model units like their real-world equivalents as well as name them similarly. For example, the Irregulars are the 22nd in homage to the 22nd SAS regiment, the most well-known of the SAS and whose training and methods are the basis for most other special forces units the world over.

Delta Squadron snipers, 22nd Thracian Irregulars

The Delta Squadron snipers above will count as ratlings, but are modeled as humans because Rosenadel is very much against abhumans. He's a radical, but everyone has their prejudices. The models are based on Cadian troopers and modified with some non-standard bits. The first is the head, which is the "Boonie Hat Heads" from Maxmini (http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=200). These kind of hats are worn by special forces guys a lot in various movies and games, so I thought it an appropriate choice. Next, the backpacks are also from Maxmini (http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_26&products_id=19), given to these guys to make it look like they are ready for an extended stay in the field to set up a sniper nest and wait for their prey. Finally, each lasrifle has a sniper scope from Anvil Industry (http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=60_103&product_id=208) and has the barrel clipped off and replaced with a suppressor (http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=60_103&product_id=160) to make them look like sniper rifles. The Thracian Irregulars have four squadrons, just like the 22nd SAS, but these guys are from Delta Squadron in homage to the two US Delta Force snipers, Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon, who gave their lives protecting the crash site of black hawk "Super 6-4" in Mogadishu, Somalia, as made famous by Black Hawk Down.

Two Vendettas at the ready.

Next are the two completed Vendettas. These two are from the 160th Thracian Special Air Wing, inspired by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) of the US military, also in Black Hawk Down. 

Clear and Present Danger

 The names on the two Vendettas are titles of Tom Clancy books (if that wasn't obvious): Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears. 

The Sum of All Fears

Interior of The Sum of All Fears.

Shown above, the interior of The Sum of All Fears is representative of how all the insides are/will be painted for the four Vendettas in the army. Red lighting is used in the interior so that personnel can see, but don't have their night-adjusted vision ruined.

Sum of All Fears interior shot, with green "go" light and gunner shading.

All of the Vendettas will have the door-mounted heavy bolter option, and I have attempted to shade the gunners and their gun mounts to look like the light is originating from inside the doorway. Inside The Sum of All Fears in particular, I have painted two green "go" lights (I don't know what they're really called) signifying that the troopers inside are clear to jump out the ramp at the back. I fully intend to use the Grav Chute Insertion rule a lot, and especially for The Sum of All Fears, I intend to model a kneeling and pointing jump master telling the troops to "GO! GO! GO!".

Magnetized battle damage representing hull point removal.

Finally for now, a picture of the finished battle damaged that represents a lost hull-point. It's in a different location than the previous post since this is a different model. I put some extra bits in the landing gear pocket to make it really look like there are exposed components, as well as some Leadbelcher to make it look scuffed-up.