Palladian Guard in 6mm

You read that correctly.  The Palladian Guard are back... in 6mm.

A while ago I reflected on the way historical, non-28mm gaming has all but taken over this blog, and how I wanted to update the background material for my 40K army, the Palladian Guard.  Well, it's time to make a start - but, as you've just read, it won't be in 28mm.  At least, not primarily.

This came about because Ian (my worthy teammate of Elbe Bridgehead fame) has recently discovered the joy of Specialist Games, playing a series of very enjoyable Warmaster battles.  We've found that Warmaster and Epic are great ways of connecting with the 'old' Warhammer and 40K universes, without all the things us crusty old folks hate about the 'new' Games Workshop.  As I see it, there are some major benefits to gaming in 6/10mm:

• Cost.  The models are much cheaper.
• Models.  Related to the above - in a smaller scale, there's even less need than normal to stick to GW's curiously extortionate brand of plasticrack.  Magister Militum do great 10mm models that can be used for any Warhammer army, and there are too many alternate suppliers of 'Sci Fi' 6mm miniatures to list here.  There's so much more creative scope.
• Scale.  In 40K, you're restricted to collecting a company-sized force (unless you're Zzzzzz).  In 6mm, I can easily build a whole battalion of Imperial Guard without breaking a sweat.

Of course, the trade off is how visually impressive 28mm models can be - but the 28mm monopoly has long since been broken and I'm now firmly in love with small scale gaming.

So, I'll be making up some 28mm models as 'flavour' pieces, but my all-new Palladian army will be an Epic one.  I've decided to use Vanguard Miniatures' thinly-disguised but exquisite range of 'Novan Regulars' as Imperial Guard stand ins.

Oh yes - it's going to be an all-infantry army.

I've thought a lot about this.  I've decided to stick to the original vibe of the Palladians, who were supposed to be an infantry force (Emperor alone knows how all those Leman Russes snuck into the last army...)  This will make them very uncompetitive, and perhaps not as visually pleasing as a 6mm tank army, but I don't really mind.

Let's have some pictures of my unboxing the Vanguard order and building up some test bases.

I ordered an infantry platoon, two artillery crews and the specialists set.  All arrived within a few days.
 

I spent an afternoon unclipping them and deciding what bases to mount them on.
 

Undecided on using filler to smooth out the bases.  I thought that if I just did PVA and sand, the models' integral bases would be visible, but I'm not sure whether it's necessary.  I'll probably do a tester one after this to see.
 

These are 'desert' troops (i.e. Tallarns), representing the Palladians in desert combat gear.
 

A sign of my impatience on the right - you can see where the filler has cracked because I didn't let it dry.  I wanted a mainly khaki uniform, but with a few splashes of colour to draw the eye.  Green caps and a yellow 'dot' where the Imperial eagle would be on the left shoulder pad.
 

Finished!  I just washed them, glued some sand on the base and added a dot of 15mm grass to represent a bush.  I think this makes it look a bit more interesting than plain sand, and is quite important if I'm not going to have any tanks.
 

Command base, including a lovely little commissar model.
 

I think I've been quite brave photographing these tiny men up so close, so here's how they'd look on the battlefield.
 

 And that's it!

Plenty more on these chaps to come.  Especially the background, which I've decided to write in Latin just to add some flavour to it.

Ed