Making Your Veterans Stand Out

Imperial Guard Veterans are a heavy favorite on the tables at the moment. With BS4 and the ability to pack 3 meltas, who could blame ya for packing a couple squads in Chimeras and letting loose?
But here we've got a slight dilemma, what models should you use to distinguish your vets from the every day body in the meat grinder? What would be a suitable way to make them really stand out? Some players simply buy a different model to use to separate the vets from rank and file troopers, but others such as myself prefer to convert something a little more catchy. Here's a step by step walk through of how I made my latest one.

Tools you'll need

• Gue (plastic or super)

• Clippers

• Saw (the GW hobby saw that is)

• Drill

• File

• Green stuff tool

• Green stuff

And the parts I used

• Catachan arms

• Space Marine Power Pack

• Plastic Meltagun

• Cadian Torso

• Chaos Space Marine Head
  

• Space Marine Scout Legs

• Various accessory bits

Do forgive the poorly lit photos. Lighting in my room is pretty dismal. And the electricity here is fairly sketchy... I keep blowing out my AC and light bulbs on a regular basis.

First off I took the Cadian torso and the CSM head and drilled holes in both of them where the neck should be. This is to set a decent groove for the greenstuff to graft on to.
I also chopped off the exhaust vents on the backpack. That doesn't need to be done at this stage, but it doesn't hurt.

I then fiddled around with the arms to get them set up to hold the meltagun level. Its important to do this before mounting the head so that you can have the figure looking in the same direction as the gun barrel.

I then rolled up some greenstuff and stuck it in the hole I had drilled. Set it in the hole on the torso, smooth things out with your tool and cut away excess. Looking good.

Now for attaching the back pack. You'll want to clip off the little nub on the back of the torso so the pack can align flush with the models back.

Add on some accessories. I like to stick ammo pouches, grenades and knives and such on my models.

A shot of my finished product. Shortsword on the rack, sheathed sword at the hip, ammo pouches along the side of the pack and a canteen on the other side.
Scout lets tend to make the model appear as if its leaning forward. I stuck some green stuff under the right toe of this guy to give him a more upright look.


And there you have it. Sharp looking IG Vets that you can crank out fairly easily. These guys can be a bit costly considering the different sets the bits come from, but if you've been in the hobby long enough you're sure to have enough to spare for a squad or two.

Hakanor's Reavers

Here we have my latest squad to hit the painting table, a small retinue of Hakanor's Reavers. The armour of these warriors burns with a magical heat, causing it to constantly crack and reform like lava. The very first time I saw them in the CSM Codex, I fell in love. I had to have a squad of these guys.
Halfway through painting up my demo man I learned a few tricks with my camera to take better pictures. Its not the lack of a photo box that had affected my pictures, but merely not having my camera set up adequately. Big thanks to the Chicago Terrain Factory for giving me some pointers.

Started this guy off with a Chaos Black base coat. I then moved on to give him a light drybrushing with Codex Grey.

Along the legs I drew the cracks of the armour with the foundation paint Mechrite Red.

I then went over the cracks with a light touch of Blazing Orange while trying to make sure to allow the reds to still show underneath/outside of it.

I finished up the cracks with an even thinner lining of Golden Yellow.

I painted on Burnished Gold for the shoulder trim and top arrow of the helmet.


Followed up with Boltgun Metal power pack and weapons washed with Baal Red followed by Badab Black. I don't think I'll wash the Boltgun Metal on any additional models. It throws of the look to me.
Painted the eye lens and chapter sign with Mechrite Red followed by Blood Red.
The horns were done with Bleached Bone washed with Greyphone Sepia and lightly drybrushed with Skull White.

And there we have it, one completed Reaver for Antony's Warband. Now its time to line up the rest of the squad and get an assembly line started. Shouldn't take too long.