Fully painted Imperial Guard army

I have finally finished painting my Imperial Guard...ahem...Astra Militarum army! I also painted my Skitarii and Mechanicus troops, but I'll probably need to add blue to the Ruststalkers' transonic razors and the Skitarii Vanguard's plasma calivers, as well as the Kataphron Destroyers' plasma culverins to complete their color scheme.

Well, anyway, this is my Imperial Guard...I mean Astra Militarum army before I painted them. Notice how the Leman Russ Punisher and Chimera APCs are completely black?

Imperial Guard...I mean Astra Militarum army before painting

Yeah, you can see more of the differences below...but before that, allow me to also display my Adeptus Mechanicus army before I began ruining their pure blackness with other paints.

Adeptus Mechanicus army before painting

So I spent the whole afternoon painting, but I wasn't able to finish my Adeptus Mechanicus troops. Oh well. Anyway, my Imperial Guard should be done. I mean Astra Militarum. I don't know but I did hear rumors of a Tyranid and Imperial Guard...Astra Militarum campaign coming next year, promising a new armored contingent or Imperial Armored Battlegroup for the Imperial Guard, I mean Astra Militarum. So I might actually wait for that to be released before purchasing more tanks for my Imperial Guard army. They promise Baneblade squadrons for Astra Militarum, finally releasing rules for all the Baneblade variants in the Lords of War slot. Awesome. I can't wait. I'll probably buy a Baneblade and either a 2nd Stormsword or a Shadowsword to add to my current Stormsword - you can see my big, bad Stormsword, The Emperor's Wrath sitting behind my Leman Russ tanks. I feel like writing a Stormsword novel similar to Guy Haley's Baneblade but I had better get started on writing Freeblade first.

Anyway, below are the result of my horrid painting job. I chose to keep them simple, sticking to just 2 colors, black and gold. Sometimes a bit of white, but hey, I don't need so much white.

Fully painted Imperial Guard or Astra Militarum army

Almost completely painted Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation

Close-up shot of Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum armored regiment

Close-up shot of Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation

As impressive as it is to own 4 Imperial Knights, not being able to use them in battle is a waste. I was considering selling 3 of them...but I think I will not. I think I'll have some use for them eventually. Kind of happy with my House Yato, but hey, we'll see. Otherwise I'll sell 3 of them.

I'm also playing around with what I can do with my Horus Heresy Mechanicum army. I think I will go Taghmata instead of Legio Cybernetica because I prefer a variety of different, cool units as opposed to running a pure list of Legio Cybernetica. I will also build it around the Onslaught Force Organization Chart for more Heavy Support slots. I'll probably write a whole article on that soon.

By the way, after I finished my painting yesterday, I met a representative from Games Workshop and I asked him about Mechanicum releases for Horus Heresy. He basically said that all he can tell me is that the plastic sprues of Mechanicum will be released "eventually". It could be in 30 years, 50 years, or 5 years, he has no idea or is under regulations not to disclose information. But Games Workshop will continue to release more Horus Heresy products - just for Space Marine Legions, though. That's the only confirmation I received. Oh well.

He also told me that if I want to buy the Forge World Mechanicum models, I should just do so and not wait. This, to me, seems like a sign that even if they do get the plastic treatment, it will be a very long time. So it seems I have no choice but to purchase the Mechanicum models from Forge World. I'll buy a few at a time, and if the Imperial Guard-Tyranid campaign gets release, go on hiatus on Mechanicum and buy a few Leman Russ tanks and Baneblades, and then go back to Mechanicum once I finish those. Or I'll wait and see, considering I'm not rich and I have not much money left.