Are you ready to stand with the righteous?

First things first: I am actually a stalwart defender of Cadian models. I fell in love with them when they first came out in 2003, and to this day I will lecture people tediously about how they're still pretty good. But the thing is... I just can't. When 8th edition pulled me back to the 40k universe, I craved the new Death Guard, but I also wanted to return to my beloved Imperial Guard too. But I've painted two Cadians armies. I simply couldn't face more of them.

There was another reason, too: I'm an almost pathological converter, and I wanted to build a Guard army which explored the weird and wonderful imagery of 40k. A Blanchian army, as it were. I wanted them to look arcane, dangerous professional and zealous, futuristic an medieval, the very sum of the mad contradictions are the heart of the 40k universe.

After a few ideas, I hit on what I wanted. The legs come from Empire Greatswords, the torsos are from Cadians (I can stomach painting the torsos) and the arms and weapons are from Scions (Stormtroopers). Now, the Scion armour has disturbingly thorny piping which looks unsettlingly chaos-y, so I trimmed it down accordingly.

I deliberately chose heads that had a stern, patrician aspect to them, mostly from Empire kits. These are very serious soldiers who take their duty in a fallen galaxy with the upmost level of care.

Assorted other bits came from kits as various as Skaven Plague Monks, Empire Knights and Adeptus Custodes. The key was to find bits which gave off that overt religiosity, balancing it with components which emphasise military efficiency.

There's no doubt that this army will take... a while. But these days, I'm less interested in getting projects done quickly as I am doing them in a way that I'm happy with.

The heavy weapon teams are fun. I had this idea of repentant sinners hefting the guns into place, with the Guardsmen actually taking over when the important bit happens. I wanted said penitents to be hunched from years of self-flagellation and hard work, so I used Skaven Clanrat bodies with Empire Flagellant heads.

I've been tracking down the weird old Inquiitorial henchmen, and plan to add those in here and there. Before long, the Imperial Guard will march into battle accompanied by the sound of hymns and the smell of incense..