A Tale of 1 Warlord - Mondanian Swamptroopers Hobby Blog

[mediocrehobbyist89]

With the new year I thought I would start a new hobby challenge. I've always liked the Tale of Four Warlords series in WD and thought I would give it a go. My army of course is Imperial Guard. In fact this will be my 4th one. I've set my schedule on a monthly basis, where the objective being to paint up enough to meet the criteria for each one. It's quite a relaxed one so I should be able to keep to it. The schedule is as follows:

Month 1 - Start Collecting Box

Month 2 - Troops

Month 3 - Heavy Support, Flyers, and/or Fast Attack

Month 4 - Elites and/or HQ

Month 5 - Scenery

Month 6 - Anything

So without further ado please find below pictures of my Start Collecting Box - the Mondanian Swamptroopers.

I've set it up as a Vanguard Detachment with 3 Elites (Veteran Squad, Platoon Commander, and Master Of Ordanance), 1 HQ (Lord Commissar) and 1 Heavy Support (the tank).

As you can see I've used quite a lot of extra bits with them. Bitzbox and Bitzandkits have been very handy. I'm planning to keep the generic squads as Veterans so I don't have to build as many, though I do need to find someone to fill up a troops slot next month. I was thinking Scions, sent to join the Mondanians as the Commissars bodyguard. I plan to use the Cadian stuff in the Codex when playing as them. Anyway more pictures.

[Walk]

Very cool! Unique and heavy, I definitely like the vibe and the scion body doesnt look at all out of place on the cadian limbs. Only possible thing i guess could be the legs look a bit under armored in comparison but really it still works just fine. Cant wait to see more!

[nutty]

Cool! The enforcer heads look really good on the scion bodies.

[mediocrehobbyist89]

Thanks for the feedback.

I wanted them to be seem a bit clunky and unwieldy, as if there's quite a lot of life support mechanisms, and wiring underneath it. Hence the backpack too. I did think the same thing about those legs swalkerfour. I first saw the torso and leg combo in the guard codex as part of a Ventrillian noble conversion. For that one though they'd chopped off the extra dangling plates. Might do a test and see if I like it that way more. Shouldn't be too difficult sniping them all off.

And thank you nutty. I have to make a putty neck blob for each of them but they're good apart from that. As soon as I saw the enforcers I immediately wanted to nab those heads, and I was lucky enough to nab the bitz websites and the right times. Wanted something that was kinda SW stormtrooper like and not too big like a space marine head. Actually these guys are based on the swamptroopers in the Solo movie.

[Walk]

Hows your gsing skills? Instead of chopping the thigh protectors instead maybe think of adding simple shin or knee pads

[minigiant]

Jan 31, 2020 14:07:48 GMT -5 Walk said:

Hows your gsing skills? Instead of chopping the thigh protectors instead maybe think of adding simple shin or knee pads

Greenstuffing Knee Pads is incredibly simple.

Apply small ball of GS

Press and smooth

Cut top and bottom edge with sharp exactoknife

Bend the sides

Trim left and right side with exactoknife

[nutty]

There's no harm in trimming the plates of a few minis to see how it'll look: if you don't like it you can simply glue them to legs.

[mediocrehobbyist89]

Only ever really used gs for gap filling, though I'm up for learning. The guy at my local store is a really nice chap, so I'll probably rope him to help when he's not too busy.

[minigiant]

Feb 1, 2020 6:07:56 GMT -5 mediocrehobbyist89 said:

Only ever really used gs for gap filling, though I'm up for learning. The guy at my local store is a really nice chap, so I'll probably rope him to help when he's not too busy.

Greenstuff comes with this notion that it somehow has to be difficult. Here are my tips

1. Invest in a clay shaper, and have a clean exactoknife

2. Clean your work surface, nothing worse than getting flexs of plastic in your mixture

3. Mix greenstuff well. I would suggest 2 parts blue to 1 one part yellow at first while you learn

4. Use water to stop it becoming sticky

[mediocrehobbyist89]

Thanks for the advice everyone. My local GW guy isn't that confident with green stuffing things like that so I have not made any progress on the knee pads. Might give it a go at a later date. It's going to be a small guard force afterall - I think I would go mad trying to source all these bits for anything above platoon size. However I've got plenty of random cadian legs lyng around so when I get the chance I will have a test run before trying it on the real thing.

February has been short and busy so I haven't had much time to hobby. However I managed to get my Troops choice sorted for this month. They aren't Mondanian - I'm saving them for the Elite slots to reduce numbers and headaches sourcing bits. Instead I have done some Scions, rather heavy infantry from a planet called Lee's World. They're meant to be the Commissars personal guard that have ben assigned with him to the Mondanian regiment. Been wathcing quite a few Starcraft Let's Play videos so they've been influenced a bit by the Terran Marines. Had to have sarge with a cigar! Not completely happy with them yet though so I will probably come back to them at some point. Gives my current gunline a bit of movement too.

I also found some old 40k ruins in my parent's attic when I popped round to explore it for bits. I think I enjoyed painting them more then the models. Anyway pictures for month 2 are found below. A small Lost and the Damned force is forming too which is being a bit of a distraction too... I plan to get a small battle in soon and put some sort of report on here. A friend has promised to play my Poxwalker heavy Death Guard, as all his stuff is Imperial and it just wouldn't feel right. He does love/hate my Blight drones so I think he's going to have fun melting my new chaps. More actual Mondanians will appear next month with Heavy Support/Fast Attack month...

[cheminhaler]

The normal Mondanian troops look really great. Which kit are the heads from?

They look fine without kneepads so don't feel like you have to add anything further to the models. In fact there are plenty of official regiments that have breastplates (aka Carapace armour as it was in the 5th - 7th ed codexes) without kneepads, like the Mordax guard (the ones that all look like commissars)

The stormies are quite striking in the blue. Will you be naming the regiment as one of the official MT regiments from the new psychic awakening thing or just making your own MT regiment up?

[mediocrehobbyist89]

They're necromunda enforcer heads. Been raiding the bits sites for the things though. Might just end up buying their box set and use the rest of the bits for another bunch of custom guard.

That was my intention with the blue. I wanted them to look very different from the Mondanians so part if that was trying not to use any similar colours. Might just paint their underclothes a brighter colour instead of black. The Lee Worlders are mean to be more brash gung-ho then the quiet and recluse Mondanians.

I was thinking the extra shots on a roll of 6 one. Forget it's name but I thought it'd be quite suitable for trigger happy gun nuts. Mondanians are currently slum fighters (trench fighter sort of thing) and wilderness survival as they come from a swamp death world.

[judcottrell]

Great mix of parts! I especially like the Enforcer heads.

The mud and grime all over makes for a very characterful collection.

Keep it up!!

[mediocrehobbyist89]

Thank you! They're great heads, knew I had to use them somehow when the reveal first headed my way. I swear Necromunda provides more Guard models then 40k.

I can't help but do mud and grime after discovering the Vraks series, though that was quite a time ago now... That and I find WW1 particularly interesting.

[judcottrell]

Yeah, I hear you! I love the history of the Great War.

Siege of Vraks! I remember it well. Back when a squad of Death Korps of Krieg was £26!!!

I’m living in hope that GW do plastic Krieg. I think it would be a license to print money.

That said I’d be happy with any great coat themed new Guard models!

[mediocrehobbyist89]

£26 seems so cheap now for forge world. I think a squad of 10 Cadians is almost that nowadays. Though I think there's some (kinda) bargains to be found in their character stuff nowadays. I've got my eye on the new necromunda slavers for my renegades and heretics.

Plastic everything would be a dream, then you could mix them with all the necromunda, free guild, admec, and gsc sprues for even more conversions.

Think steel legion would be a safe bet for them to so first. Though I'd agree Death Korps would fly off the shelves. Maybe do valhallans to keep forge world happy...

[judcottrell]

I’ve seen the slow winding down of the Krieg range over the years. Grenadiers gone, Squad Firing gone, variant Heavy Weapon Squads gone etc

I live in hope one day the range will be revived but like you say anything new Guard related plastics would be most welcome.

I’d be all over Guard again if they would, that said I see what you current Guard players are doing with kitbashing and conversions and must say I’m tempted!

What’s next for the Mondanian Forces?

[mediocrehobbyist89]

That's really weird, I hadn't noticed brfore, but yep those ones are gone. Guess I took them for granted, maybe they're going the way of the elysians... It's funny how the grenadier squad has gone but not their extra special weapon guys.

Well March sees me putting together a basilisk. Already had a mad scramble to find bits for the crew after realising they don't come in the box anymore. So yes the loaders have been made, just got to buy the artillery now and decide what ammunition boxes in my terrain collection can be the boxes for the shells.

[nutty]

It'd be interesting to see what they do with guard in the future. I'd be happy with any of the past ranges gettting revitalized, I just hope they don't do what they did with the scions and make a bunch of easily copyrightable units that don't mesh with the current ranges.. unless they are so awesome it makes me forget about the minis I have.

[judcottrell]

Mar 3, 2020 20:51:31 GMT -5 mediocrehobbyist89 said:

That's really weird, I hadn't noticed brfore, but yep those ones are gone. Guess I took them for granted, maybe they're going the way of the elysians... It's funny how the grenadier squad has gone but not their extra special weapon guys.

Well March sees me putting together a basilisk. Already had a mad scramble to find bits for the crew after realising they don't come in the box anymore. So yes the loaders have been made, just got to buy the artillery now and decide what ammunition boxes in my terrain collection can be the boxes for the shells.

Cool! I absolutely love artillery! (Hence the fact I’ve built a DKoK army about 3 times!)

Will you be building it straight out of the box or converting one up? I like that you’ll be adding crew, brings it to life!



Nutty, like you say any “new” Guard Regiments will be most welcome. Personally I’m not a fan of Catachan (though Cadians would be cool with a head swap!)

If the work they’ve done on the Sisters is anything to go by I’m sure they’ll smash it! Astra Militarum should be one of the most popular ranges.

You can understand why they’re so protective of their IP it’s the main reason we all come back for more!

[nutty]

I'm all for them protecting their IP, I just hope they don't abandon the current guard range in order to make way for something else
In the meantime we have cool conversions.. so there's always that.

[mediocrehobbyist89]

Pretty much straight out the box. I was thinking of nabbing the forge world closed top basilisk kit but then I thought I wanted more Mondanians poking around. So far the loaders and commander have been made. I've put them on their own bases so I can use them for other things. Might add one of my inquisitor servo skull scribes to it to be a stock checker. I've also got some ammo boxes around to add to the platform. I find it weird how the kit comes with neither crew or shells. Next I need to pop along to my local store and buy the thing.

As long as they keep releasing cool human sized models that are somewhat compatible with each I'll be happy. In fact I treat every necromunda release almost as if it's for the Imperial Guard...

[judcottrell]

Great stuff, it’s a shame Forgeworld no longer do the Vanaheim Basilisk blast shield, always wanted one of those!

[mediocrehobbyist89]

So here is my March entry. The challenge was to make and paint at least 1 Heavy Support, Fast Attack, or Monster. So my master of Ordinance has some company I have made up a Basilisk. It comes with added  Mondanian crew of course. I haven't used this kit in a while, and flipping heck does it need an update. There's a huge gap in the back of the hull just below the loaders platform with nothign provided to fill it. Plus the hand railings are super delicate and there was no inbox hull heavy bolter option either.  Also with things as they are my April entry (Elite and/or HQ choice) might have to wait a bit. I'm having difficulty sourcing Scion bodies and I think one of my bits orders is too scared at the moment to appear. Oh well, here are some pictures of my progress.

The battle I was going to play with these guys has been cancelled. WE never got round to it before the social distancing started. However I plan to play a batle against myself. I've got some baddies hanging aorund that I can use. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures too.

[nutty]

Cool basilisk!

I have around 50 scion bodies laying around I'd be willing to part with. They're not in the best of shape but I'd be happy to send you some pics.