From MikeF - Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors- 28mm x 2 - 10 Points

My Tuesday post is a small one this week. I'm working on a few vehicles and it was a bit tight getting them done in time.

During previous challenges I've added models to my mostly done, never really done Cadian Imperial Guard. I'm past the point of adding any big units, but I still have a few odds and ends to add. One of these is Regimental advisors! These are a neat little buff you can add to your command squad to help you on reserve rolls or to drop a big ordnance template on the enemy. They include the Astropath, Master of the Fleet and Master of Ordnance. The Cadians already have an Astropath, but the other two have been absent for far too long. I've always turned away from purchasing the actual models from GW due to the cost. Fortunately, I've been able to source a few alternatives. Over the years I've accumulated a large number of bits and I was able to throw together a Master of Ordnance. He has a large back pack communication device, an auspex and he's holding a document containing coordinates...or maybe his lunch order. Everything is GW, except the head which is from Pig Iron Productions.

Master of Ordnance 

The red star features throughout the army. I think of it as more of a regimental badge and not an indication that they are space commies!

For the Master of the Fleet, I purchased a model from 3rd party manufacturer, Chaostemple Miniatures. He comes with two head options, mask or no mask. My entire army has gas masks, so I went mask. It's a resin and metal model and is nice quality. Unfortunately, Chaostemple will cease trading at the end of February, so get him soon if you want one. I did a first with this model and gave him grey hair! I was inspired after looking at myself in the mirror!

Officer of the Fleet

That's 2 x 28mm models for 10 points!

Thanks for visiting!

Love these Mike!  I always like to see some kit bashing, and here you'v cobbled together a whole figure from the bits box.  I hope he got hi extra pickle and the correct type of mustard on his Smoked meat sandwich.  And you've nailed the great hair on the Fleet advisor.  Is this true to life, dare I ask?  I dunno much about 40K, but on reading the term 

"Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors" I was thinking of a SciFi equivalent of the French Revolutionary Representatives of the Peoples, but these guys look and sound like they might actually be useful.

From MikeF - The Guardroom - Inquisitor bodyguards - 30 points

 For The Guardroom I have two bodyguards for my Inquisitor. They're meant to represent the lower ranked members of her warband and are responsible for watching the Inquisitors back and providing fire support when needed. They rank slightly higher than the previously mentioned servo-skulls, but haven't quite graduated to full Acolyte.

The models are Genestealer Cult Hybrid warriors from Games Workshop and the helmets are from Pig Iron Miniatures. I actually wish you got more "normal" arm options in the Hybrid box because these would make great Horus Heresy troops.

From ByronM: Nurgle Cultists (90 points)

Two years ago just after finishing working on my Nurgle / Deathguard 40k army I won a gift certificate from one of Curt's great sponsors - Pig Iron Productions.   While they have a number of great products the ones that really attracted me were their Kolony Ferals.

I was attracted to the Ferals as they had a post apocolyptic look and feel and I thought they would fit right into my Nurgle force as either cultists, mutants, or even pox walkers and provide something different than the normal GW look.

They arrived though and quickly fell into the closet-o-shame where I hide all my unpainted stuff, but I found them again this fall and decided it was time to get them all painted up.

I chose a super simple paint scheme or essentially 2 colours: green and purple.  I wanted something that was going to have high contrast between their rags and their masks, but still provide a Nurgle look.

After painting the figures, I kind of fluked out by having some purple flowers (a little more pink than would have been perfect) kicking around that I feel make them really pop colour wise.

Even though these were done quickly and *gasp* included dry brushing, I love the way they came out.  The colours really work together and I am quite happy with them.  The only issue is, now I want more!!!

Thank you again to Pig Iron for these great figures!

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Ahh, it's great to see you get these guys done up, Byron. I too am a great fan of Pig Iron's stuff, with me using these same figures as post-apoc raiders for my Metro 2033 project. An often overlooked range, they provide wonderfully characterful and chunky figures.

I like the sickly Nurgle effect you've achieved with their green and purple colour scheme, and the fuchsia plants on the rad-blasted landscape really set them off nicely. 

Yes, wonderfully blighted and suitably icky!

90 points for you Mr. Mudry - well done!

From GregB - 28mm System Troopers from Pig Iron (45 Points)

"System Troopers" from Pig Iron Productions - 28mm troops

After Sylvian's huge points bomb landed yesterday, I felt a bit desperate to get something up on the board today. I've been away for over a week, but lucky for me I had some primed figures sitting around which had been waiting in the pending pile for ages - and hammering out figures like that is part of what this Challenge is about, after all, right? So here are 10 "System Troopers" from Pig Iron Productions.  These came off the painting table while watching the first round of the NFL playoff (go Chiefs!).

Mercenaries? Regulars? A lot of different settings can be conjured for these fellows

If you follow a lot of sci-fi gaming, you have surely seen the "Kolony Militia" range from Pig Iron on a gaming table somewhere.  That range is, I expect, the best-known one from Pig Iron, but they offer several. Pig Iron is home to some of the nicest, chunkiest, full-of-character 28mm sci-fi stuff out there.  The ranges are small, but have some pretty decent overall composition and completion to them (as opposed to others who released three figures and wonder why the sales don't roll in, but I digress).  I really enjoy painting the Pig Iron figures - nice, proper, heavy, chunky metal figures, the way wargames figures are supposed to be!

A view showing the back packs

These "System Troopers" are the heaviest of the heavy infantry (in fact, I think I stole that line directly from Pig Iron) - heavily armoured, carrying huge, frigging guns.  The sculpts are brilliant - the armour gives a sort of exo-skeleton sense, without being all encompassing/enclosing.  These heads are not the standard "System Trooper" heads - they are the "Inner Guard" heads from the "Kolony Militia" - there are many head options to choose from with these figures and I thought these heads looked spookier.

Red helmets to set the fire team NCOs apart

I had painted a small group of these figures years ago - might have been the first or second Painting Challenge, actually, but before sci-fi figures counted in the race.  I had a bunch more primed and ready to go back in that initial 2012 rush, but I moved on to other projects, etc. etc. and these have been sitting there, primed and ready to go, gathering dust in my hobby pile for years, until I got home yesterday, was spooked by Sylvain's huge entry, and broke out the paints!

Pointing fellows make great NCOs

The chaps in the red helmets are NCOs/section leaders. The rest of the fellows are regular grunts. As a group, I think they can represent all sorts of factions, ranging from ominous mercenaries acting on corporate interests to the heavy infantry of a futuristic science fiction army.
   

Regular troopers - heavy guns, love these sculpts

Some variety on the backpacks as well

There is a large round spot on the back of these helmets, and I painted these lense-style.  I think of them as part of the armour's "Decision Making Assistance System". The online DMAS helps the System Troopers stay in touch with HQ, know where to direct their fire, understand that orphanages make great firing positions, and realize that asking questions about the morality of their overall orders will have a negative affect on their own existence...

Close-up showing the active "DMAS" on the back of the Trooper's helmet - keep focused, trooper!

Some more points for the sci-fi duel...but not enough!!

There are 10 figures pictured, but one of these pre-dates the Challenge, as he was being used as a model to make sure I matched the colours the best I could, so this gets me 45 points. Even with these points, I'm still eating Sylvain's dust... hopefully I can bear down and go full-Millsy this week to get some more stuff ready for next weekend...but in the event I don't, I'm wondering Sylvain, what kind of figure would you like me to paint for you?

This is awesome stuff Greg! Like you, I really like the Pig Iron range. I have a bunch of their Kolony Feral and Infected castings that I want to use for my post apoc 'Metro 2033' collection. They have a nice, chunky heft and possess a more gritty look than most other manufacturers.

I think you've done a fantastic job on these bad boys. I like the red quasi-diving helmet of the NCOs juxtaposed against their sand coloured exo-armour. And their unanthropomorphic flat eye pieces are just too spooky. It's like they could care less that they could be a targeting point.

45 points for your Sci-Fi duel!