A you may recall, I've been struggling to finish this first squad of Imperial Guard (IG), now confusingly called Astra Militarum in the latest editions of 40K.
My corner of the Imperium is Borborygmus Prime, I have as yet not pinned it down in the 40K universe. My thoughts are to make a Traveller style subsector map that includes my buddies planets, but that is not the focus of this thought exercise.
The purpose, specifically, is how to mark the shoulder pads of this first squad and do it in such a way that I can add them to a unit.
So I did some research, asked around, totally confused myself and came to a decision.
This one, presumably from a White Dwarf article, gives a good overview of the Cadian 8th Regiment. It shows the overall breakdown so you can see where your smaller units would fit in the regiment.
This one gives the same info in tree format.
Here is the original marking guide for IG from the Rogue Trader rulebook p162. The older models in that era had the circular badges on their left breast and the regiment number was there and then they say there are some colored sections on some.
I have been scouring the web to find the origins of this picture, but am at a loss. It further shows the divisions of the circle and how they relate to the platoon. This seems to have skipped the company level and ignored the squad designation. Although perhaps that level of detail is too granular.
This seems o be he genesis of the decal period with the 2nd Edition Imperial Guard Codex. However the more recent plastics only have these two tone circle decals for Tanks, the infantry get three digit squad numbers that don't appear to mean anything in particular.
Here's the tank org chart.
So,armed with this, I'm coming to more of a system. Nevermess used the 2nd edition system on his plastic Cadians here. It looks pretty good but I didn't really see how the regiment was marked. Also I'm not totally sure about the use of bright color n an otherwise camouflaged person.
I had to go all the way back to 2012 for this interesting blog post by Suber here. He quickly adresses all the things I'm looking for and does the insignia in a neutral, combat, palette. I like it.
So I'll be riffing off of this, if I can get myself together.
Thanks for looking.
My Imperial Guard collection ballooned this year... I now have 60+ death korps, 30 elysians, 30+ cadians, 80+ catachans, 90+ valhallans, 42 tallarn, 21 steel legion, and 11 mordians
ReplyDelete-Tyler
Hi Badtyppper, yeah I saw some of your stuff on instagram. You have quite an impressive collection. I have been sitting on these plastic Cadians for awhile now and just been dragging my feet. I looked at Forgeworld for the first time the other day and got some serious sticker shock on the prices of all that Death Korp stuff.
DeleteAliexpress for cheaper forgeworld options ��
DeleteHopefully, I can still have 1 wife 😂
ReplyDeleteNo one needs more than one wife. :-)
DeleteFrom each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. Karl Marx
DeleteRead more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/karl_marx
Just a thought but if there aren't any cottage industries making decals for the Imperial Guard in neutral schemes then it might be possible to get one made.
ReplyDeleteHI Phil, I think there may be. I even bought some decal paper for inkjet printers once awhile back. I'm thinking of free handing to make things simpler in application. Less people to wait on, things to buy.
DeleteI think that the numbers on the shoulder pad are supposed to be regiments (Cadia has quite a lot). Not exactly sure, because after an initial fit of enthusiasm, I never finished the platoon of Cadian figures I started.
ReplyDeleteFor your own figures, I think that the platoon and squad markings will matter the most if you only have the one regiment on the table.
Hi Lasgunpacker. Yes the number system appears to have gotten a tad arbitrary. I think one thread suggested that the three digit number had meaning in that the first two were the platoon # and the third the squad number. I suspect you're right about the regimental #. I only ever intended to make a company at most. I'm just trying to make things logically consistent from the start.
DeleteThe other option is not to bother with squad/platoon/company markings, but just to assign handfuls of figures to these groupings as needed. Otherwise you need to be meticulous about keeping the correct models together when storing them. You can still identify the "1st squad, 3rd platoon, company B" by other means if necessary (for example, a separate unit ID token or a single command figure for the group with this data written on the side of the base).
ReplyDeleteHi Hugh, true. My thoughts are that if I start it the right way it won't be hard to add to later.
DeleteI'm currently debating badges and insignia as I try to finish a platoon for the upcoming Oldhammer weekend, so it's awesome to have this stuff all on one page. I definitely feel you on the "bright versus subdued" angle, too. My guys are wearing a mix of drab colors and camo patterns, so I'm not sure if the bright unit markings would be a helpful contrast or a distraction.
ReplyDeleteHi Dustin, I hope the info helps you. Ultimately there is a trade off. I think you want it so that you can tell which unit thy belong to at a glance. I'm going to start with shades of grey, as that is my palette fir these guys.
Delete