These have been done for a while but it has taken a bit to put the pictures and this post together. In my crazy attempt to build a full foot guard army I built up a squad of Traitor Guard Veteran Squad to provide some anti-infantry support as well as additional color to the army.
I started with three snipers to increase chances of taking out special troopers. A heavy bolter gives a multi-shot, medium strength to the unit, and I topped it with Harker with a second heavy bolter.
I liked the way Santa Cruz Warhammer took before and after pictures of each model so I’m copying the idea here.
First up is the Sargent, count as Harker. The torso is from the warriors of Chaos, the Heavy Bolter is from the CSM kit, with the remaining bits are from various guard kits. I wanted the dress robes on the legs to match up to something on the bear-chested torso so I added a over-the-shoulder sash/robe.
Next up is the first sniper. I wanted to give the squad a bit of chaos mutations, but not to the extent that they are becoming spawn. Besides the all-seeing eye, the only other work was shortening the plastic cape to allow him to knell and then adding green stuff to reflow it. The ‘camo ‘ is various chaos stars to add interest to the mangled cape.
The next sniper has little conversion work, but a few hints at the mutation forming.
The third sniper also doesn’t include that much conversion, but has the cool ‘doc’ head from the Catachan command squad and an added strap to the gun from thin plastic strip.
The heavy bolter “team” was the most extensive conversion, and the furthest along the path of mutation. I figured since HWTs were just a single model with two wounds, it would be fitting to use a mutant. The parts were all “extras” from other HWTs and a tank commander torso with the turret bit cut off.
Most of the models in the squad have backpacks from the Catachan kit with the large knives/swords. I wanted to have at least one of the guys holding his sword but didn’t like the look of any of the arms. So he got the mutation treatment too. The whole left arm was sculpted with the upper section reforming into a normal arm. I wanted the mutations to be almost under the skin, pulling the flesh apart.
Not all of the models have mutations. This one is just proving his brutality with heads from the Zombie kit. The head is from the Flagellate kit, one of my favorite kits for bits.
My favorite model in the unit is the banner bearer. While he has no effect on the game, I like the look of my units flying their colors on the table top. The banner is also from the flagellant kit and the right hand is from the zombie kit, but rather then have it reaching for brains, he is resting it on his sword pommel.
The comms man is simple enough, with the biggest change removing the aerial and adding a bent over wire and a strap to the gun.
While these guys got the paint treatment before the conscripts/zombie squad, they are still in the queue. Well… that was until the new Chaos Codex came out. Stay tuned for an Iron Warriors review of the codex and some new models!
