Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Genswick 33rd Rifles Regiment, 1st Company - The HQ


Back in February I started to post some of the models from my Genswick Imperial Guard army. I've taken a few more photos since then, and thought I'd given you guys some more toy soldiers to look at. Here they are, the HQ choices for my Genswick 33rd Rifles, 1st Company.


The Genswick Rifles were inspired by the troopers of the same name (Genswick at least) from Dan Abnett's Straight Silver, the fifth (I think) novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. The Genswick are the first troops the Tanith encounter on the front lines of a tragic trench-war that has lasted for more than four decades. I really got the impression of an army that had been beaten down by not only the relentless grind of 40 years of toil in the mud, but also by an incredibly archaic command structure. When I built my army, I wanted the commanders to be awful stereotypes of incredibly obnoxious aristocratic fops in the best tradition of General Melchett from Black Adder Goes Forth.

Thus, Major Barnabus Collins was born. You can see him in his incredibly clean dress uniform above. He is attended by his personal physician, the regimental Standard Bearer, and 1st Company's only two functioning plasma guns. When such things existed, I had him rated as a "Junior Officer", so that I could not benefit from strong leadership, I also did not give him the Iron Discipline "skill" that I reserved for the NCOs that lead the platoons (but more on them in another post).


Above you can see my second Command HQ squad. I built this squad when we were working on an "Alien Hunter" article for US WD. I can't remember the issue number though, perhaps someone can remind me.

This squad was obviously inspired by the opening scenes from Zulu, as Michael Caine returns to his command after a successful hunt. Amusingly enough, the commander (who I never named) looks a lot like General Melchett.


And finally, I know these guys are part of the Troops section of the army, but I felt they needed to be here. This Conscript Platoon, dressed in their parade uniforms, is the bodyguard of Major Barnabus Collins. Following a bit of a snide remark I made about the static posing of the Baneblade commander model on its release, I was sent quite a few of them by amused co-workers. I was then required to assemble them and paint them up in their dress whites.

Anyway, that's it for today's post. Next time we'll take a look at the Troops that fight under the "Fighting Badgers" banner of the Genswick 33rd Rifles.

Cheers
Dave

19 comments:

  1. characterful, well thought out army, wonderful execution.

    just.. Nice one.

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  2. Really great stuff.

    John
    Santa Cruz Warhammer

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  3. That was for WD 313. I always enjoy seeing the different units of this army.

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  4. Great set of models. Is there a Baldrick in there?

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  5. Hope the Standard Bearer doesn't burn the flag with his torch, the Captain would give him a real chewing out! Haha

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  6. Inspirational as ever. Like the 'home is the hunter' vibe. Very nice.

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  7. You know dave this is actually one of my favorite armys out there because of the fluff, and thought that went into it. By far not your best painted but I think your best overall. The true character, and conversion work that went into it really made it stand out on the table. So many people have really tried to mimic it in the recent years but none have really come close.

    I know you said in the past to me that you planned on expanding it, have you thought about what with, and when?

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  8. That doctor with the operating table has to be my favorite model of them all. Great to see those models again in all their glory.

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  9. I have to say I first saw this army at Games Day a while back on a display table I think for apoc. I was inspired by the army and had a chance to talk with you about it after the GD ended. I have done up one platoon and it took a bit of trial and error to get the arms right, but I was finally able to get the arms right after making my thumb look like ground hamburger.

    Thanks for the info on how you did them and with the badab war campaign we are running this summer I believe I will be using mine as troops under hurons command.

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  10. General Melchett is outstanding.

    Charisma is the word

    Saludos desde EspaƱa :)

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  11. You gotta post pics of the artillery- fantastic stuff

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  12. Hi guys

    Thanks for all your kind comments. I think of all the armies I've worked on, this one has had the most visceral reaction. It is also the one that helped me realize how important visual signifiers are, something I could then experiment with and take into my Legio Custodes army.

    @beakie - thanks for that.
    @hudson - no Baldric, I didn't want it to take on too much of a gimmicky vibe.
    @Nathan - I'm sure he's under orders to burn it before letting it get captured ; )
    @Alex - I've got a squad of Quad-mortars from FW to add, as well as a "platoon" of veterans using the Victoria Lamb Highlanders : )
    @traitorer - Glad I could help and all the best in the campaign.
    @deathkorps - I'll get to them eventually ; )

    Cheers
    Dave

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  13. Not sure what to say about these chaps other than "Hmmmm..."

    :)

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  14. Funnily enough I was given the baneblade commander when it was relesaed as a perfect commissar for my own Genswick-inspired IG army (a general raising of troops from Aexe Cardinale post-liberation). I decided that he was far too majestic to be a lowly commissar and he became a company commander instead:

    http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~tuelean/Gallery/Miniatures/WIP/FebOathFail.jpg

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  15. Hey Dave, just a quick question--is "Barnabus Collins" a sly Heavy Gear reference? :) Or possibly, even slyer, one to Dark Shadows?

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  16. @Game Thug - not actually a deliberate reference to anything. I threw around a bunch of names and variations and Barnabus Collins sounded right. It was only later I was told there were other Barnabus Collinses ; )

    Cheers
    Dave

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  17. Dave,
    I just love this army. The attention to detail with the character models is spot on. I can' wait to see the heavies!!!! Bring on the guns!

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  18. Fantastic looking army, mate! After discovering the Genswick a few months ago I went on an ebay bits buying spree and collected quite a bit of IG and Bret parts to (eventually!) start working on my own!

    Any chance you could post some pictures of your lovely cavalry?

    Mark
    Santa Barbara Wargaming

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  19. Great looking conversion work and painting. Makes me want to book a safari trip.

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