Terminator Captain and Ratling Sniper

I think these were the first miniatures I ever painted. The termie captain won many games for me by teleporting into the heart of the enemy with a terminator squad. I used to do a lot of that until a game where I lost 2 squads to the perils of the warp by rolling double ones.

The ratlings have earned their keep over the years. The new Imperial Guard rules appear not to limit the ratlings to 10 snipers. I hope this is right as I've managed to accumulate 18 different ratling models across the different 40K versions (admittedly one is a Hasslefree model and 2 may be squats). For once, giving the eyes an excited gaze actually suit a miniature.

Brightorian Guard desert troops

Here is a typical progress report on my 40K Brightorian Guard army. I managed to paint up a second squad of desert troops (using GW Tallarn models). I've faithfully painted them to the scheme I settled on, which was based on some Indian troops I saw in the Rajasthan desert a couple of years ago.

However, I've taken longer than planned to do them and as a result have not completed a third squad that I was asked to supply to somebody else. I've done the honorable thing and said they can have their pick of the 2 completed squads, while I finish the 3rd squad off. So I've not made progress, but I've not gone backwards either.

I'm really pleased with these squads. I've not converted them in any way to look Indian, but I believe I've got the colours right for the Rajasthan desert (see 2nd pic of model superimposed onto photo of the desert). The bases might look a bit colourful for desert models, but from experience, I can say the Rajasthan desert has a lot of colourful plant life in some places, and sometimes the sand has areas of crushed rock almost like coloured gravel. Oh, and just like the major cities, there were cattle wandering about getting in the way of vehicles!

Sadly, the Indian troops would not let me take pictures of them or their vehicles, but I've managed to find a couple of officially released photos. These show that the Rajasthan desert lends itself well to military training exercises.

The Empire strikes back

I don't actually have or play a WHFB Empire army, but I painted these 4 gunners for use in Mordheim and skirmish games. Being part of a mercenary warband also gave me the option of painting them in any colours I fancied trying (I'm not a bad painter - just a lazy and non-disciplined one!).

Due to a) words having a different meaning these days, b) I live too near to Brighton, and c) I am terrified of saying something politically non-correct.....I would describe these colours as "bright and merry". My next paint job will be something a bit more butch like storm troopers or space marines (i.e. no long boots, no panteloons, no blousons, no feathered hats etc).