My Steel Legion

I finally found the time to take some photos of my Imperial Guard Army- the Steel Legion. My colorsheme is inspired by the "Gonewiththeblastwave-comic".






First there is my Company Commader. He is based off the Forgeworld Grenadier Sergeant. The Laspistol is converted from the flamer and the Powerfist ist totally scratchbuilt from Greenstuff. I came to love this equipment- normally he is accompanied by three Veterans with Meltaguns- this leaves quit a mark during a countercharge- which he most of the time has to do because most players think they can just charge guard units and get away with it. He teaches them not to do so again.



Then there are the Platoon Commanders. Since Steel Legion models are metal all the way there is not a lot of place for conversions. I did some minor weapon swaps to distinguish the models from each other. In my army they usually take their command squads with four flamers into the thick of it cleaning mission objectives from enemy troops which normally not endure this treating. I keep them cheap and that means no bolt pistols or power weapons. So I had to remodel one of them and paint the other weapon blackened metal.





The Veteran Sergeants. They are the fighting back of my Imperial Guard lists. I never leave home without at least 6 Infantry Squads. The equipment differs only because of point restrictions. If I could afford it everyone would field a power weapon. Hidden in the squad their relatively low Initative of 3 doensn't matter a lot- they alway strike back. Many a foe has found out the hard way that the new Imperial Guard has closecombat potential enough to easily kill of Eldar Avatars or Greater Daemons. Everything counts in numbers. The only risk is failing morale checks- and that's where the Commissars come into play.











Commisars are not really part of the regimets when they are raised. They are attached to them as political officers in order to hold up the morale. They do this with an iron fist (Bolt pistol most of the time). The only difference to commanding officers of my army are the colors on the head gear. Where the whole army features white helmets with a red stripe the Commissars wear red helmets with a white stripe. So they are easily distinguishable but fit in nicely. Not a lot is to be said about them. They are the mainreason my army works (and keeps working). They shoot retreating officers and take charge in that case - making the squad stubborn. And they are the last to die in a closecombat. No reatreat- no surrender.



And then there are the file and rank troops. Most of them field the everlasting Lasgun. I love this weapon- it's so underestimated and resembles the guard profile so well. Like they always say "A lasergun with a lasersight is twinlinked".


Grenade Launchers. Another underestimated weapon. It really starts doing nasty damage when facing Tyranids, Orks or their like. 25 Lasguns and 3 Grenadelaunchers with Frags really rip those troops to shreds.


Heavy Weapons are normally deployed with my Infantry Squads. They become very effective when used in threes after issuing orders like "Bring it down" or "Fire on my target". Normally I use Lascannons and Missile Launchers- although I think I will introduce Autocannons soon to replace the Missile Launchers. I just don't have enough shots against masses of Rhino transports and their like.