Penal Legion

[bsantucci]

What kind of figures are people using for the penal legion. Will GW be comi ng out with some plastic ones ? ;D

[majorspeirs]

I made a unit of "Foreign Legion" instead of "Penal Legion". Instead of criminals they are veterans from different regiments:

[Laughing Man]

I just use catachan models painted in bright colours like purple. orange and red.

[Rolling Thunder]

I use Beastmen converted with frag grenades and lasguns.

[portcullis]

Aug 13, 2010 11:39:34 GMT -5 Laughing Man said:

I just use catachan models painted in bright colours like purple. orange and red.

I was going to do that then saw the catachan models and thought they'd stick out a bit too much for me. I use cadians but instead of them being painted in my standard kahki and green they are in grey cloth and black armour. The armour is all dry brushed mithril silver to make it look second hand and rushed together.

[ssgtdude (M.I.A)]

My penal legion models are using the prisoners from the Azdrul Vect kit. Luckily was able to bit order just the girls. Nothing like girls in chains to emulate a prison brigade.. Although they do look a bit too relaxed on the battle field.

[strangedude]

Mine are zombie legs arms and heads on cadian bodies with helmets fitted on some of the heads. They are painted in what I have called my regiments founding colours before they fell.

[sirdrasco]

I used Catachan, painted their jumpsuits orange, with white tees.
Then a Cadian in black as the overseer with an Auspex to detonate the explosive in their skull if they run.
To seperate the squads i painted their headbands different colors. Further 1 squad has knives out, the other guns.

[fatuous]

I'm still building mine and not decided on a colour scheme, but used catachans, but used spare cadian las guns, just to be a bit different. I have not given any one in the squad grenades. 1 unit has double knives, one rifles all held in 2 hands, a 1 squad, with rifle in one hand, knife in the other, so I have 3 different types for easy ID.

I'll either paint them in dull brown fatigues, or maybe orange jump suites but need a test model first.

Hve tried to use as many different heads as poss, using a fair number of fantays mauraders, etc..... to add as much character as possible.

I don't think they are on the schedule for GW model releases (but who ever really knows), but they are a great excuse for conversions............ and you really can take them where ever you want to go, mixed, differe regiments, etc....

[portcullis]

Aug 17, 2010 7:57:09 GMT -5 sirdrasco said:

To seperate the squads i painted their headbands different colors. Further 1 squad has knives out, the other guns.

Yeah I have two squads too.

One with bayonettes and canteen. Other with knife strapped to leg. Helps with the identity on the battlefield/fluff

[F.K.M]

I just use my normal guardsmen as guardsmen, conscripts, veterans, and penal legionnaires. It's really easy that way to change what list you want to use and what's in it.

I love penal legionnaires because you can just throw a priest in it and they're already stubborn so they're good at staying in melee and they can be decent with whatever you throw them in with the priest and they get all those re-rolls to hit.

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Hi everybody. I'm a long time Guard player (I've been collecting Jungle Fighters since the metal Catachans were first released back in the mid-90s), but am a new member of the forum. This is my first post.

After searching on the internet (including lurking here for the past few months), seeing what a friend had done, and much consideration I wound up going with the following:

The troopers were made from Cadian legs and arms, with the shoulder pads shaved off, and tank commander torsos from the tank upgrade sprue with the Aquilas shaved off the breast of the jacket. I also used the officer torso from the Cadian Command squad that had the medals, but with the medals shaved off. Their heads are a mix and match of ones from the Cadian and Catachan command squad sets, a few Catachan heavy weapon team heads, along with a spare re-breather masked head from the Forge World Cadian upgrade pack. I trimmed all the heads down to get rid of hair, or bandannas in the case of the Catachans. I also added some scars to duplicate heads to make them look different. For the explosive collar I placed krak grenade bundles to the backs of their necks. Their fatigues were base coated with blazing orange, washed with Devlan mud, then highlighted up to fiery orange. I painted their lasguns, ammo packs, canteens (with the Aquilas shaved off), knife sheaths, and shin armor Catachan green and highlighted with rotting flesh. On their heads and faces I paid a lot of attention to their eyes to make them look like a bunch of hard-bitten psychopaths, and used Hormagaunt purple wash on the scars to make them really livid.

I made the squad overseer out of the great-coated Cadian officer bits, with the gorget torso, and gave him an auspex to serve as a remote detonator. I painted him up to look like a "junior" Commissar.

Overall, I'm really very pleased with how the squad turned out, and am considering ordering more torso bits to make another squad, because I have a bunch of leftover Cadian legs and arms...

[Makarova (M.I.A)]

1974: Those sounds swell, any chance of seeing them? Welcome to the forum too!

I only use Penal Legionnaires under the dire circumstances when I can't afford a second platoon to make up minimum Troops. Then I grab 10 of my Mad Max-lookalike Slaanesh cultists, they're also from Cherno and fit in relatively well when it comes to colour and style. I prefer not to do it though, because it utterly contradicts my fluff and any excuse I invent will just make me look silly. But I'll live for the purpose of the game, and my Cherno Warhammer army isn't exactly 100% fluffy either, I can't represent my novel fluff in exact detail.

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Thanks for the welcome, Makarova! ;D

I recently moved, and my setup for taking good pictures isn't up and running yet. I will try and take some pictures, but they probably won't be great quality for the moment. Also, my Penal troopers aren't based yet; I'm also working on a squad of Stormtroopers, and I want to base both units at the same time assembly line style.

[Scarper]

Those sound fantastic, and I'd be really interested in seeing em too if you get a chance to sort your camera out Welcome to the forum!

Oooh, and on topic, I'm struggling to decide what I'm going to use as a counts as penal legion. I'm currently torn between:

- a ragtag group of civilian-types with different weapons and scavenged armour (these would be really fun to model!) led by one of my troopers. He'd be training them up to standard after their initiation. The only problem with this idea is making them readily identifiable as penal legion from a WYSIWYG point of view.
- Some beastmen soldiers led by a regular trooper - I'm looking for a place to use my beastguard, just worried they won't fit so well with my army

I love penal legion though - i'm really glad there are no models available, as people have so many different approaches to making them!

[jerbat123]

"Hey trooper stay out of my head its crowded enough as is" We are worlds apart and yet we still manage too think the same LOL well here are mine,I just based them on our jail system minus the weapons,I used cadian bodies and catachan heads with the bandannas shaved off and with a metal stud for the explosive devise and then I painted them orange and black for that criminal look with a bar code on the back,I wasn't sure about using white tennis shoes on them.Or you could use the catachan arms to make them look more bulked up.

Attachments:

[Gabriel Lupus]

Tempted as I have been to use Penal Legion troops, I just haven't gotten round to it yet. I have had a few thoughts about what I'd do though (maybe in my next guard army):

1) Random mix of Guardsmen models to represent them being criminals from a variety of regiments (kind of in the style of Shaeffers Last Chancers.
2) Cadian models with orange jumpsuits.
3) Necromunda models - nice mix of models to represent random criminals.
4) Some Xeno race models - Eldar, Tau, maybe an Ork
5) Go another way and use their special rules to represent veteran skills and model them as some kind of special ops unit (same/similar models to the normal models in the army with extra equipment.

Not really settled on which I prefer at the moment.

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Hey jerbat, those are some nice looking troopers. Mine are a bit different looking, though, because I didn't use the Cadian flak armor torsos or shoulder pads...

I got my penal squad based and lacquered over the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to take pictures to share within the next couple of days... ;D

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Okay, I was able to take some pictures of my troopers today. Hope that everyone enjoys!

First group with Overseer:


Second group:


Trooper Psycho!


Krak grenade explosive collar:


Priest:

[control]

Those look awesome man! I'm really tempted to try and build a squad now!

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Thanks, control! They were remarkably fun to convert, and I highly encourage you to give it a go!

[jerbat123]

Trooper yes I must say those are some great looking models. I like the bar code on the forehead, I almost did that but couldn't pull it off with where my explosive device is at. I really like the custodian,is he a commissar in training? I was wondering what yours looked like,I'm going to borrow that idea ;D This is what this form is all about, inspiration and great gamers too bounce ideas off of.

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Thanks, jerbat! Glad that you like them.

I was inspired by the first Last Chancers novel, where another penal legion that the Last Chancers fight with on an ice world was overseen by a Commissar. I figured that a Junior Commissar would be the way to go for my squad. Feel free to borrow the idea; I'd love to see how yours turns out! ;D

[Makarova (M.I.A)]

Great looking Legionnaires, the painting is superb and really brings out the hollow-eyed desperation of them. It would've been sweet to use Catachan legs on them though, to make them have overalls rather than jackets and trouser, it feels a bit more suitable for a prison suit to me.

[Trooper One-Nine-Seven-Four]

Thanks, Makarova! I'm glad that you like them, and the hollow-eyed look. Glad to know that I nailed the effect. ;D

I went with the Cadian legs, because in the penal legion artwork the troopers are wearing ragged jackets and trousers. I had some Cadian legs lying around from previous, failed conversion projects, and decided to use them. Also, the bulk of my models are Catachans, and I wanted the penal troopers to really stand out from the rest of my collection, which was the main deciding factor in my not using Catachan legs on them.

*Eyes more Cadian legs that he uncovered while unpacking* I may have to have a go at making another squad...