Troops Of The Line

 

The Infantryman. The Grunt. The ground-pounders. The Joes, the dog-faces, the mud-wind-and-rain boys. Don't get me wrong: tanks are awesome. I know, I've led a platoon of the monsters. But... the Infantry is my home.

Seriously: when my Battalion finally had enough Armor officers to take over the tank platoons, I rotated back to the Infantry company. Within twelve hours of taking over a platoon of blue-corders, my new boss gave me a mission: "take a twelve-man detail to raid the HHC and Support Company camps. They're camped out in the woods and setting up security. Draw blank ammunition, radios, and night-vision as you see fit, and have fun." When I grabbed my squad leaders and told them that "we're not sleeping tonight, lads, we're going to bushwack some folk" they immediately began high-fiving each other and smearing on face-paint. If I'd told my tankers we were going to spend the night running around in the woods, there'd have been moaning and bitching beyond belief. We then proceeded to spend all night crawling through the bushes, setting ambushes, breaching wires, fire-fighting, and generally having a whale of a time. It was good to be home.

 On that nostalgic note, here's some of my line troopers.

 

The ODST helmets are from Shapeways, the lads with berets come from Mad Robot Miniatures, and the extra armor is all extra sprues chopped up and glued on. So many cuts... So much glue... 

Charging with a bayonet. Even in the 41st  42nd Millennium a man with a sharp piece of metal is a scary thing. Ever ordered a formation to "Fix... Bayonets!" ? I did, once. Good times. And yes, I know: his camo face paint is smudged and incomplete. What, and yours was perfect after ten hours in the woods? Yeah, right.

The AP value of a rock appears to be... 0. But if I model any of my plastic dudesmen with the atlatl dog ball throwers, can I double the range? Photo's not mine, but I have no doubt some of my Joes did this.

This chap wields a plasma gun -actually the top half of a Space Marine combi-plasma. A bit smaller than the standard plasma gun, but it makes sense: they're supposed to be an airborne / air mobile force, after all... It's just a shame that they keep blowing the hell up!

Almost forty of these guys done. And more to come.

Anyone experimented with ten-man squads of Scions armed with only the hotshot lasguns? I'm thinking that'd be the best way to do anti-infantry. I lose a bit of range, but the mobility and lower price is a bit of a draw for me. I keep tying my volleygun squads down on objectives, and the only "mobile" forces left are the anti-tank sections. Melta guns are great, but... "Well done, I vaporized a single cultist. Woo. Go me." I need some way to thin out hordes.

-Six out.