Tempestus Scions - Full Squad

GW's Tempestus Scions

More dribs and drabs from the painting table.  Here is a completed 10-man Tempestus Scion squad, GW's new plastic storm trooper figures for the Imperial Guard. This is a completion of the original mini-project that I started back in July.  I had intended to finish these models, together with a command group, in time for Curt's visit at the end of July.  The timing didn't work out, but at least this initial batch is finished now.

The squad has two special weapon spots, and I opted to go with the new "hot-shot" volley guns.  Unlike the lasguns, they are pretty decent weapons.  They suffer from the intensely lame "gets hot" special rule, but with some luck (ha! yeah right!) and some use of orders from the officer you can avoid most of the worst after-effects from that barmy rule.

Look cool, but they die easily and quickly in the game

A few of these individual models saw some limited action during Curt's visit and the hunt for the "Red Barun", but they will have to wait a bit for their first use on the table as a full group.

Lots of gear and stowage on these models

These models are lovely, but the Tempestus Scions are not really a viable force in the current Warhammer 40k tabletop environment.  The low strength and short range of their basic weapons renders them close to useless and unable to reliably or predictably overcome any of the basic troop types of basically every other race in the game.  They are not able to bring heavy weapons with them. They will not last very long in 40k's noxious "close combat" dominated environment, and will not have the firepower or range to prevent "close combat" from happening to them.

If you don't mind painting lenses, then these models will be fun to paint!

So, in other words, they are just like a standard Imperial Guard force: you will be relying on your vehicles (or perhaps allies) to do the heavy lifting.  In my particular case, it will be up to the Valkyries to do the heavy lifting (which is what happened in the game against the Orks).  You can also build a ground-themed force if you wish, but that would mean using the Taurox, one of the worst model designs I have seen from GW in a long time (I used to say "the" worst, but every time you think they hit bottom, someone throws them a shovel). Your mileage, however, may vary :)

But it is fun to zip around the table and drop out of Valkyries - so if that appeals to you (and why not?), then prepare to enjoy your Scions!

And as for the painting table, it's time to get back to a project from the spring...more on that later,

New recruits for the Horus Heresy coming soon...