Heavy Hitters of the Traitor Guard

I was able to spend some time this past weekend finishing up the last of the half-done Traitor Guard models. Finally!

I started off with the Renegade Ogryns that have been awaiting the last color or two for the better part of eight months. I'd intended to run it as two units of three, as I had the standard Ogryn Champion and the limited edition Games Day Champion as well. Amusing anecdote - I wasn't paying as much attention to the ebay listing for the limited edition champion and ended up bidding 40 pounds rather than the intended 40 dollars. Ah well, that's what I get for not double-checking the listing!

Next up was a Leman Russ Demolisher armed with a hull-mounted Lascannon and sponson-mounted Multi-meltas. I went with a simple black and scab red paint scheme to match the Blood Pact troops.

Lastly was a Traitor Baneblade. I'd always wanted to make one, but up until GW released a plastic version, I was loath to carve into a $300+ Forge World resin model. This was a fairly straightforward upgrade using bits from the Chaos Vehicle Upgrade sprues, a few parts from a Defiler, and a couple skulls from the Arcane Ruins set.

These have all gone up on the auction block as well, to help extend the entertainment budget for GenCon this year - just a little more than a week to go before heading out to Indy!

The best laid plans...

Well heck.

Due to lack of foresight on my part, I have a couple out of state trips coming up and less entertainment money than I'd like to take with me on said trips. That being the case I decided to set aside the Mordian 7th for a bit and turn my attentions to finishing off a couple small units so I can get them up on the auction block. Edit: A tremendous hailstorm has put the kibosh on the trip I had planned for this coming weekend. Very much a shame, but I won't shed a tear about not having to spend the money...

I'd intended to make up a Traitor Guard army when the first Siege of Vraks book came out, but I'd have to say that I've lost motivation to create the army as a whole since then and it's time to get the various units finished up and off my shelves. There's still a number of models lurking in boxes yet, but I have managed to finish off a few of the half-painted units.

First off, a unit of Blood Pact Traitor Guard. My intention was to do one squad of guardsmen for each of the four ruinous powers, and the Khornate guardsmen would be represented by the Blood Pact. The models are a mix of Catachan Jungle Fighter, Brettonian Man-At-Arms, and Chaos Marauder bits, and their grotesques are made from shaved-down goblin faces.

Secondly, the unit of Renegade Enforcers - these I'd painted up a while back, absolutely brilliant sculpts from FW, they just look malevolent!

Next up was a unit of Alpha Legion marines. My intention was that the guardsmen were led down the path to ruin by a small group of Alpha Legionnaires who had disguised themselves as Dark Angels. Once their sinister plans were revealed however, they cast off their disguises and took to the battlefield in their true battle colors.

The IA book's army list has a slightly different mix of weapons options for the unit than the current Chaos Codex, allowing the squad 3 special weapons and a heavy weapon. I decided to make up a spare heavy weapon marine to allow the unit to swap out the Lascannon for a Plasma Cannon should the situation call for it.

I wanted to model all the wargear on the Alpha Legionnaires, and as such I tried to model the basic troopers with a Bolter, Bolt Pistol and Chainsword. I modeled a couple troopers with their Bolters slung using some thin plasticard, all in all I thought it gave the models an interesting look.

On the HQ side, I included a Daemon Prince, mostly because I liked the model and wanted to paint one, rather than any particular love for the model on the tabletop (I found the Daemon Prince to be somewhat underpowered for the points cost).

The last model I have completed but will not be selling is one of two Rogue Psykers. I really like this model, it's one of the better sculpts to come out for the Traitor Guard, in my opinion. Though I don't plan on fielding the Traitor Guard, I'm keeping this model for use in our occasional game of Dark Heresy. Gotta have bad guys for the players to face off against, after all!

I still have a unit of Renegade Ogryns to finish, as well as a 10-man unit of Nurgle-themed Traitor Guard made from Cadian and Zombie bits and a 20-man unit of the FW Renegade Militia. Now that the trip has been canceled I can get back to the glorious 7th, so they'll likely languish on the shelves for a while longer...

The other side of the coin

Lastly, I have a Traitor Guard army lurking in the depths of my shelves. Of all the side projects, it has the most completed models, but is the one I'm least likely to work on at the moment. One guard army at a time after all!

I absolutely love the forge world traitor guard figs, especially this Rogue Psyker.


More FW goodness, the commissar's dark counterpart (er... darker counterpart?) - Renegade Enforcers. Simply brilliant castings.


I'm doing one squad of Traitor Guard devoted to each of the four ruinous powers - For the Khornate guardsmen I decided a squad of Blood Pact would be appropriate. The models are mish-mash of parts from the Chaos Marauders and Brettonians in the WHFB range, along with bits from the Catachan sprues. Their masks are made from the shaved-off faces of fantasy goblins.


The Yin to Thargadd's Thumpers Yang, a group of Renegade Ogryns. Right about here is where I ran out of steam on the army, and it's been pushed way back on the shelves (and in the painting queue).

The traitor guard is actually a fairly large army - in addition to the above, there's three more troops squads, a large mob of menials, a number of tanks, some Alpha Legion traitor marines, and a traitor Baneblade... Yes, that's what happened to my first plastic baneblade - I always wanted to do a traitor version, but wasn't quite up to defiling a $300 FW model to make one!