I created this blog to be an ongoing, Work-In-Progress record of the assembly and painting of my own personal Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard army, "Kampfgruppe Hessler", based loosely in the background of one particular Imperial Guard force; the Death Korps of Krieg. I became interested in the idea of making a Death Korps-themed IG army as far back as Codex: Armageddon (if I recall correctly, an entry in this book was the first mention of the Death Korps of Krieg in the game).
I had invested somewhat heavily (some years before Codex: Armageddon was released) in the Warzone 2nd Edition miniatures game, set in the "Mutant Chronicles" game universe (not in any way related to Games W0rkshop or 40K), and I especially liked the look and style of the Bauhaus army - very "World-War-One-German-looking" troops, right down to the "Pickelhaube" spiked helmets with gas masks. This got me thinking about building a German-styled IG army for 40K (though it would be quite a few years later before I would be able to do this in earnest)...
After Forge World started producing its impressive Death Korps of Krieg line of resin-cast miniatures, I became even more inspired to build a Death Korps army - until I saw the incredibly high prices they were charging for their (albeit extremely well-detailed) figures. The cost of a fully-outfitted Forge World Death Korps army, amazing-looking though it might be, was just too exorbitant for my budget to ever realistically handle. So, I put the idea aside once again...though I DID manage to assemble and paint a few squads of Cadian Kasrkin (which I now plan to use as my Valkyrie-mounted Storm Troopers)...Then, GW released the new Imperial Guard Codex in 2009, and I became inspired once again - for real this time. I wanted to make a more-or-less "tourney-legal" Death Korps force; that is, one composed of figures that had mostly (i.e., 75 to 90 percent or more) Games Workshop (or Forge World) parts on all of the miniatures. The trouble was, how was I to go about making a Death Korps-looking army without using those pricey Forge World parts?
Then it hit me - HEAD SWITCHES! I could use the plastic bodies of Cadian Imperial Guardsmen (with an appropriate "Feldgrau" (German "Field Gray") paint scheme), and the pointy-helmet ("Pickelhaube") gas-masked heads and backpacks (with "Stielgranates" - German hand grenades!) of all those Bauhaus Hussars I still had! Together, they would make a pretty good facsimile of a Death Korps Trooper. Even so, IG forces need a LOT of Troops for their Platoons - a lot more than I had heads for. So, I prowled around on Ebay for about a month, snagging up any out-of-print Warzone 2nd Edition box that I could lay my hands on (each box came with 40 Bauhaus troops in it - 4 Sergeants and 36 Hussars). By the time I had managed to collect a total of six of 'em, I knew I was FINALLY in business. So, the soldiers with the World-War-One Pickelhaube helmets (enough for 150+!) would become the backbone of my Infantry Platoons, Heavy Weapons Platoons, and Artillery Crews.
The thing is, I was also planning to build a "World-War-Two German Panzergrenadier"-style element to the Kampfgruppe; an "Armored Cavalry" force of Veteran Squads mounted in Chimera APCs. I found out that I STILL didn't have enough Pickelhaube helmets for the Regular Infantry AND the Veteran Panzergrenadiers together, AND I wanted all the Panzergrenadiers to be Veterans with Carapace Armor anyway, so I had to come up with some other way to represent them; a way that would set them apart from the Regulars (preferably without having to substitute Cadian Kasrkin or Storm Troopers in place of the Veterans), yet keep the "German-looking" Death 
Korps army theme. Then, two critical things happened. One: I found out about the Kolony Militia heads produced by Pig Iron Productions - PERFECT for representing World-War-Two German-Wehrmacht-style helmets - and they came with gas masks as well! Two: I saw an IG Carparace Armor Conversion (in the 2006-07 Games Workshop Hobby Catalog) using Space Marine Scout bodies (as they wear a variant of Carapace Armor)! I could use the Pig Iron Kolony Militia heads on Space Marine Scout bodies, along with the Bauhaus Hussar backpacks, to make my own variant of Carapace-Armored Veterans - with an awesome WWII Panzergrenadier look!
I love the idea of massed Artillery. To me, nothing says "Death Korps of Krieg" quite like multiple batteries of Heavy Mortars and Thudd Guns dropping pie plates all over the board in a rolling barrage of high-explosive death. What I don't love is the amount of money Forge World makes you have to shell out if you want be able to deliver such a massive onslaught on the tabletop. So, I decided to try and Convert my own scratchbuilt Imperial Heavy Mortar artillery piece. After making a pickup run for parts at Home Depot, Lowe's, Michael's, AND Hobby Lobby, and a whole lot of trial and error, I built a prototype model constructed primarily from wood and PVC piping. This version, to my mind, was "passable" for tabletop use, but was still fairly difficult to construct and expensive to make (Hobby stores DO charge a LOT for their stuff, comparatively speaking) - and I didn't like the look of the "trailer hitch" on the frame, anyway. But then, after hitting upon the idea (perhaps even an ephiphany...!) of using parts from toy cannons and toy mortars to construct the carriage, I managed to build the final design, seen here, at a cost of about two dollars - next-to-nothing, when compared to the price of the actual Forge World field piece. I think it turned out pretty well (better than the wooden version) - Now I've got EIGHT MORE left to build. Granted, it's not as "pretty" as the Forge World model...still, just being able to lob NINE Ordnance pie plates at my opponent EVERY TURN, at a cost of less than twenty bucks (for all nine guns TOGETHER!) easily makes up for any lack of detailing, as far as I'm concerned. I should be able to keep ANYBODY's troops' heads pinned down for most of a given game, while my tanks keep on rollin' forward...
Recently, to add a bit of "comic relief" to the army (and a little extra OOMPH! to Infantry close assaults), I decided to add a "Death Korps Ogryn Auxillia" to the force. I'm planning to run these "Abhuman Ah-nolds" around in a Chimera (IF I can figure how to actually cram six of em' inside one, that is) to support the Chimera-mounted Veteran Squads in taking heavily-contested Objectives. By the way: The thing sticking out of the left side of the Bone 'Ead's face (see image at left) is a bionic eye..."IT'S NOT A TUMOR!" Yeah...bad Arnold Schwarzenegger pun, I know...I've only got one Squad (of six) assembled so far. 
Fifteen Strength 5, Assault 3 Ripper Gun shots in your face, coming from the top hatch of a Chimera as it drives by is nothing to sneeze at, and neither is a six-man Squad of Strength 5, Toughness 5, 3-Wound smelly man-apes with bad attitudes charging out of a VERY cramped vehicle to stomp whatever's left. I'd like to give them all gas masks, in keeping with the "Death Korps" theme, but I'm got to improve my Green Stuff skills first. Anyway, Ogryns are so tough they probably don't need 'em ("Just hold 'yer breath, Lads!")...and those little German helmets and field caps do look pretty silly on "Dorf's Dummkopfs", don't you think?Anyway, that's all for today. More posts to follow soon. Next items on the schedule: Pics of the soon-to-be-finished-painting Company Command Squad (Carapace Armor Vets, Plasmaguns x3), Veteran Squad #1 (Carapace Armor, Meltaguns x3), and Veteran Squad #2 (Carapace Armor, Flamers x3)!
- Colonel Hessler
This is cool as grits! Way to go...you have really out done yourself.
ReplyDeleteHey man! Do u have still the imperial soldiers? Do you want to sell? I'm atill playing warzone sometimes, Imperial forces.
ReplyDeleteBTW: nice work, either you scarried me first of how many bauhaus soldiers were lost in that conversion battle, nice work.. ;)
Merfolk 'roll' centrum 'dot' cz Thnx