With my new-found love of IG platoons, I've been pulling out a lot of models that I haven't used since I was running a mostly foot gun line. This got me to wondering... How many points of Guard do I actually have painted?
Answer: Just over 4000 points worth. With another 2000 or so of unpainted or half-painted models.
Yikes! Really?
Yep. Not that I could fit it all in a standard Force Organization Chart, mind, but given an Apocalypse game, I'd really be filling up the table.
Reality hit home when I tried putting together a 2K Strakken list and realized that I only had to finish (not start, just finish) painting 3 infantry models (Strakken and a single Missile Launcher Team) to have a fully painted variant of JWolf's army. With vehicles and infantry left to spare.
| HQ | |
| 245 | Company Command Squad w/4 x Melta, Kraks, Strakken, Chimera |
| 85 | Lord Commissar w/Power Fist |
| 45 | Ministorium Priest |
| Elites | |
| 65 | Marbo |
| Troops | |
| 125 | Platoon Command Squad w/4 x Melta, Chimera |
| 85 | Infantry Squad w/Lascannon, Krak Grenades, Power Weapon |
| 45 | + Commissar w/Power Weapon |
| 85 | Infantry Squad w/Lascannon, Krak Grenades, Power Weapon |
| 85 | Infantry Squad w/Lascannon, Krak Grenades, Power Weapon |
| 75 | Heavy Weapons Squad w/3 x Autocannon |
| 75 | Heavy Weapons Squad w/3 x Autocannon |
| 105 | Heavy Weapons Squad w/3 x Lascannon |
| 155 | Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera |
| Fast Attack | |
| 120 | 3 Scout Sentinels w/Autocannons |
| 145 | Hellhound w/Hull Multi-Melta |
| 145 | Hellhound w/Hull Multi-Melta |
| Heavy Support | |
| 165 | Leman Russ Demolisher w/Hull Heavy Flamer |
| 150 | Leman Russ Battle Tank w/Hull Heavy Flamer |
Total: 2000
Nice. But... I... still... want... MORE!!!
At least 2 more painted platoon squads, some special weapons teams, 15 more Stormtroopers, 20 non-Stormtrooper Cadian Vets (with shotguns), and 3 Chimeras. Maybe, just maybe, I'll even finish those Hydras I started converting over a year ago.
I'm really hoping the new Daemonhunters codex will have a use for all these models so I can just add some Grey Knights to what I already have. :)
So the question is: What the heck is it about Guard that makes me keep collecting and painting like this? I don't feel this way about the Emo Wing, my Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Army. I bought that army whole-cloth and am not really all that interested in making anything but very minor tweaks to it at some point next year. But I just can't stop planning out what I'm going to add to my IG next.
It's a very odd obsession. Is it some sort of first-army thing? Or do people just go insane for certain factions like IG or Orks?
I just found a collection of 160 Praetorians....I am seriously considering buying them. Even though I have 245 Praetorian models. So, I can relate.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I prob have at least 3k maybe 3.5 but want more! Another leman Russ, another hellhound, some drop sentinels, some more valks to go with the drop sentinels... And don't get me started on potential artillery...
ReplyDeleteIt's collecting vs gaming. A collector want the models, a gamer has models to represent the stats etc.
ReplyDeleteCould that be it? When it comes to your guard you are a collector? Would you get/kustomize/paint a model without meaning to ever field it?
Lol, last time I did inventory I had about 12K in cadians painted and am almost done with my 2k elysian list. There is never enough guard
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've got a 7k Catachan army completely painted and to a pretty good standard. It's addicting, I know! I already wanna do Cadians!
ReplyDeleteI dread to think what will happen when I make the jump to start a Krieg army... because Forge World just keeps on producing more and more for those guys.
ReplyDeleteMessanger
Seeing how much painting guardsmen players have to do, I'm sometimes glad I collect chaos instead. But that said, a large platoon of guardsmen is like nothing else in the game -- I love the spectacle of them all assembled and lined up! I can most definitely see the appeal!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a combination of things. The guard as an army need lots of models to function properly in the game. It may also be our time spent playing with the 'green army men'. It is our general appreciation and love of WW II movies, seeing the army men sweeping across a field, hurling grenades and being followed by massed ranks of tanks and it may also be the tanks themselves...it is quite spectactular to see squads of infantry and then to see the tanks and then to see the super heavy tanks beyond those.....from a model perspective, there is just something appealing and satisfying about seeing a large army painted and displayed that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside...you'll find you get the same feeling when you see a large Ork or Tyranid force...it just looks awesome!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've got around 9k points worth, sad thing is, only about 1k is painted..
ReplyDeleteI'm quite like that with my Tyranids. I've been collecting for around three years, and I'm close to having all the models GW has ever made for them painted. Once I'm done that, it's on to resin...
ReplyDelete@Flekkzo
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a model collecting thing. It's more of a game option collecting thing. I want to be able to field every option in the Codex. Field any build I like. And I want to field them all PAINTED!
@sandwyrm Sounds like collecting to me:) It's obviously a broad generalization but it sounds to me that you don't want to play flavor of the month, internet style, in barely glued together often count as armies.
ReplyDeleteFully painted is the way to go, always!
I Definitely think you have an obsession!!! :) Too many great looking guard at your mancave! Paint those Hydra's and I promise you will buy take them everytime over your Lemun Russ Exterminator!
ReplyDeleteNothing at all wrong with collecting a huge amount of an army. I have a huge amount of Orks. Though I only have 6,000 pts painted but I enjoy them greatly.
ReplyDeleteCrumbs!
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the slowest painters I know, but even so I've been slowly building up over the last seven-or-so years, and I now seem to have around 5000pts painted with maybe another 1000 potentially yet to be done.
The weird thing with me is that I realised about three years ago that I didn't need any more models...this combined with a decrease in available funds has meant that I've hardly bought any models at all since 2007 - I've just been quietly getting stuff painted.
If I ever have £30 spare, the first on the list would be a manticore, closely followed by a valkyrie.
Ah, the dreams of a Guardsman...
i spent well over 2k on my ork army of 2k points. hours customizing and when i was done, i was ecstatic, i couldnt wait to do the same thing to another army. problem was, i kept buying more ork things over the summer and my love of the nids was fading. it wasnt until later that i saw the new dark eldar that i thought "hmmmm, this army reeks of win." i must do this army. but yet again i bought more orks. so i went with my gut and sold off my nids and two boxes of de and went fully back into orks. its about the ability to love what you do, and i for one, LOVE MY ORKS!!! so become one with your guardsman and suck it up cause remember their life expectancy is a measly 36 hours. tops...... lol
ReplyDeleteStarted with Rogue Trader Imerial Guard, then Tallarns, Praetorians and Steel Legion. Finally Cadians and Catachans in metal and plastic. The largest army is probably the catachans because I know I have a box of 150 lasgunners alone, not including all the other specialists and heavy weapons.
ReplyDeleteYou can never have to many guard!
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to think how many i've got painted and how much more I've got waiting to be painted.
It's lucky I don't swap armies like some of my friends do!
I agree that you can never have enough guard. I have 3k painted and at least another 3k unbuild of just cadian infantry. I love converting and painting them but just having the time to do it seems to be the trick.
ReplyDeleteI've got the exact same problem. I just love seeing my guardsmen all lined up in their platoons. I have 3 Platoons each with 3 squads with a HW and Spec. Weapon in each squad. But I still want more.
ReplyDeleteheh. you've seen my giant box holding most of my models. I've got several thousand points in =I=. I've never counted them up.
ReplyDeletethen there's the IG platoons. I think about 3 double squad platoons at least. That's not even counting Heavy weapons.
but at least yours are painted.
I started Imperial guard 6eeks ago and i cant stop buying all the awesome stuff the guard can field. I have over two platoons of men (with about 25painted), 25 Heavy Weapons bases, sentinels, 3 LR, hellhound, valkyrie and god knows what else.
ReplyDeleteI have spent a load its just painting that is taking the time! I love the guard, i lost the way with my raven guard when i didnt like the play style of vanilla marines.