Special Operations Guardsmen

[Gunny O'Grady]

Howdy you guys!

I recently acquired some resin bits from Maxmini, and wanted some suggestions on how to use them to best convert my men.

My goal is to construct a squad of either Veterans or Storm Troopers to have a Force Reconnaissance and/or Guerilla fighters feel. I ordered five 28mm Heroic scale Barrett 50 cals, about twenty 28mm Heroic scale AK-47s, and ten Guardsmen heads with berets.

The fluff goes that these guys are some Force Reconnaissance Operators who get trapped on their planet by a Chaos invasion during mustering. They, along with the remaining Guardsmen stuck on the planet, survive the years-long invasion, but emerge with slightly non-regulation weapons and tactics.

Pictured below are some pictures that give a feel for what I'm going for.

Please chime in with thoughts, ideas, references -- anything goes!

EDIT: I just ordered some more of the maxmini bits. I will give the Special Operators the M-type guns, and convert my regular guardsmen to carry the AK-type guns.

[maxz]

Sweet are you using Cadians as the base for the conversions?

[Gunny O'Grady]

I think I will use Cadians as the base-model, but may use bits from Catachan or alternate hobby lines to achieve the effect I'm after. I'm a big fan of the maxmini stuff, but I'm still on the lookout.

[Sgt. Rock]

I just have to say, that soldier in the last shot... knows NOTHING about archery. I cannot begin to count the ways his form is wrong. The way he's drawing that bow (with the pinch draw) he'd be lucky to get enough power to penetrate a rotten stump at ten yards.

/endrant

That said, I like the "Behind enemy lines" idea you've got going. Look forward to seeing how it pans out. You might also check out some of Anvil Miniatures' guns; most of them seem to be scaled for Spess Muhreens, but they've got some good bits there, and a really solid set of bionic arms that fit Guardsmen models very well.

[Adkenpachi]

From the looks of his mates their finding his first ever attempt amusing

[macknight]

you definitely should check out madrobots for parts of the conversions you seek.

madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9_10

[Gunny O'Grady]

Here's where I stand so far with the various required bits for these guys:

Heads: the DEVGRU heads with tactical helmets and NVGs from madrobotminiatures
(Link to Image)
madrobotminiatures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=36


Weapons: Minimax M-type weapons




Torsos: Minimax Combat Torsos




Legs: Catachan Jungle Fighters




Arms: Catachan Jungle Fighters, converted with green stuff to have sleeves




I have some of the Barrett 50 cal and Guardsman backpack units from Minimax, which I may or may not use on these guys. In fact, I was thinking about using the 50 cals to represent plasma guns -- what do you guys think?

The paint scheme will pretty closely resemble the paint scheme of the first marine pictured in the original post.

Let me know what y'all think!

[Deleted]

50 CALS as plasmaguns??? bit confusing. Why not use them as sniper rifles?

[drake]

It could work....The 50 cal could fire a special armor piercing round or something, getting hot could represent the gun blowing up due to the pressure of firing.....

I cant wait to see pictures of these guys

[silversurfer]

Well I guess you never fired a 50 cal to say that. Try to open fire when not highly stabilized and see what happen ... you lose your both arms and the weapon is far away behind you.
A plasma gun is much more an assault weapon.
A nowaday equivalent would be much more the 40mm grenade launcher but IG has already such a weapon.
A 50 cal is, besides, seen as a sniper rifle and you could get trouble proving that your army is wysiwyg.

Anyway, nice project and I converted some veterans the same way, you can find them on this topic :
commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=picpost&action=display&thread=15023

[AshotNINJA]

why not a 50 cal looking plasma weapon... all the looks of a 50 cal sniper, but it fires an accurate blast of plasma... also it would be cool to convert a rifle with coolant tubes etc.

personally, id rather proxy SAW's as plasmaguns.
as said above... 50cal rifles are more or less sniper class weapons.

[Gunny O'Grady]

Hey you guys, pardon the delay in response. The Maxmini guys were temporarily out of the torso-unit, so I had to put the project on hold. They now seem to be back in stock, so I'm revving back up again. I'll order the bits sometime next week.

I also ordered this miniature from Hasslefree Miniatures to serve as a Sergeant or as a stand-in Marbo:



What do you guys think?

Also, I want to use the 50 cals as plasmaguns for two reasons: 1) I have the 50 cal bits and, 2) I don't want to use snipers in game-play. I do see the problem with WYSIWYG, though. Generally my gamer-group is pretty chill, however, and I like the idea of the 'Gets Hot!' as the weapon blowing the Guardsmen over/giving him scope-bite.

Another question: I was thinking about going slightly Israeli Defense Force on this and working with female guardsmen. Thoughts/Opinions?

[AshotNINJA]

isreali styled is pretty cool idea... loads of olive drab fatigues and tanks...
plus yeah you could have mixed sex teams ... also they could be painted easily as they tend not to need and wear camo patterns.

the M'type weapons would be ok , even though the IDF and IMI are using mode modular bullpup styled tavors now over the M16 and M4 carbine... isreal tends not to use american equipment contracts anymore as IMI invents better gear and vehicles now.

i see what your saying about the plasma/50... the power of the rifle is quite well represented as a strenght 7 plasma shot, and the result of 1 to hit could mean faulty ammo, and scope bite etc.. which is a cool idea.

[Deleted]

I always saw the plasmagun as an assault weapon in the sense that it has rapid fire and medium range, the Barrett is accurate at over 2km, I see what you mean about stopping power but perhaps make them count as Missile Launchers, I mean the 50 cal is an anti-tank rifle...

[Deleted]

Loving the Marbo stand it, he fits the role well.

If you go for the IDF you'll need lots of tanks and mechanized units. And you may want to check out the Galil and TAR-21 rifles for inspiration...

As for the mixed squads, a definate must, I cant remember which company sells them but you can buy female head and torso sets that are designed to work with or alongside the Cadian / Catachan sprues.

Also, the IDF are very much a "surrounded by enemy territories" force. Check out the Six Day War

[Gunny O'Grady]

Hm. I'm at a bit of an impasse, here. I see what you guys are saying about the 50 cal not jiving with the plasma gun. That being said, I'm not sure what I would use instead. Maxmini also makes guardsmen-sized SAWs -- do you think that would be a better fit? If not that, is there any other modern weapon that jumps to mind that might suit this purpose? Or would it be better to try to convert some tactical-looking plasma guns?

[Gunny O'Grady]

Heya -- and then I found this:

Specialist and Energy Weapons

Any of these jump out at you guys? What's incredibly cool about this organization -- called Anvil Industry -- is that you can order customized weapons. You can get reflex sights, tactical scopes, foregrips, bipods, and infrared markers to order on almost any weapon-bit you like. I specifically like the look of the Rail Gun or the M88 "Negotiator" that they carry. The latter of those two can be assembled to look like a 50 Cal or a SAW, ironically enough.

On another part of their website, you can find the following bits:

Rifles, Pistols, and Shotguns

The "Widowmaker" specifically caught my eye. I think that might be a more "40k-y" weapon for the regular guardsmen that still has a modern feel. These weapon bits also still have tactical rails on them and can be ordered with many of the tactical-looking options I mentioned above.

Another question for you guys -- which would you more like to see for a Modern Guard army: the Maxmini M4-type weapons, or the Anvil Industry "Widowmaker" type weapons?

[Deleted]

You could use Barretts as plasma rifles mind.

But I do think missile launchers or sniper rifles would be better, especially the latter for WYSIWYG

As for the plasma, have you considered other anti material rifles?

[AshotNINJA]

Jun 17, 2013 17:54:14 GMT -5 Gunny O'Grady said:

Hm. I'm at a bit of an impasse, here. I see what you guys are saying about the 50 cal not jiving with the plasma gun. That being said, I'm not sure what I would use instead. Maxmini also makes guardsmen-sized SAWs -- do you think that would be a better fit? If not that, is there any other modern weapon that jumps to mind that might suit this purpose? Or would it be better to try to convert some tactical-looking plasma guns?

nope... those SAWs are not guardsman sized at all... id say they look better in the hands of an ork... ive brought a pack of them and they are as large as a guardsman..had massive trouble getting them to look right in the hands of a guy... for a vehicle mounted weapon or on a tripod they are fine... just not so much for a one man carry...

they are great sculpts though.

[Deleted]

Hmmmmm this thread is really fueling my life long desire to make an official US Rangers themed IG regiment (SAWs, Barretts, M4s....)

ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my thingy just twitched

[Gunny O'Grady]

The bits are officially ordered! Some serious kit-bashing is inbound for me. In total we have:

Maxmini: M-type rifles; combat armored torsos
GW: Catachan arms; Catachan legs; bases
Mad Robot: DEVGRU heads
Anvil Industry: reflex sights; infrared targeters

I also ordered a few other bits to make some Recon-type Anti-Material snipers (autocannon stand-ins). For these I'm using very similar bits as above, but with the Special Ops heads from Mad Robot and the M88 "Negotiator" rifles from Anvil, along with some backpacks from Maxmini that I had from a while back. I'll keep you guys updated as minis start getting here and getting assembled.