So the very last army I built for Warhammer 40,000 was another Imperial Guard army. I’ve always been a big Imperial Guard fan, as the simple human nature of the army appeals to me. No stupid aliens, no pansy Space Marines, nothing like that – just ordinary humans facing the terrors of the ‘grim-dark’ universe. But I was a little tired of painting so many miniatures and wanted a smaller army.
With that in mind, I built an army around the Special Character Colonel Schaeffer and his Last Chancers. Under the 4th Edition Warhammer 40,000 Imperial Guard codex, you could create an army of Last Chancers as they counted as two Troops choices provided you took enough (I believe it was sixteen or more Last Chancers). Then, on top of that, you could add other army sections from the regular army list.
Finally, I was absolutely fed-up with the preponderance of Space Marine armies. At the average three-game tournament I always found myself playing two Space Marine armies and for the third game I considered myself to be very lucky to play Eldar or Orks or the like; usually it was Chaos Marines or another MEQ army. Yawn, right? So I determined to make this new army an absolute-Space Marine killer!
In the end, the army ended up looking something like this:
- HQ: Colonel Schaeffer and Lieutenant Kage
- HQ: Senior Officer with Plasma Pistol; 4 Veterans with Meltaguns; 1 Commissar with Plasma Pistol; accompanied by two Special Weapon Squads of six Guardsmen each (3 Lasguns/3 Meltaguns)
- Troops: 10 Last Chancers with Plasmaguns and Carapace Armour
- Troops: 10 Last Chancers with Plasmaguns and Carapace Armour
- Elites: 1 Veteran Sergeant with Plasma Pistol; 2 Veterans with Lasguns; 3 Veterans with Plasmaguns
- Elites: 1 Veteran Sergeant with Plasma Pistol; 2 Veterans with Lasguns; 3 Veterans with Plasmaguns
- Elites: 1 Veteran Sergeant with Plasma Pistol; 2 Veterans with Lasguns; 3 Veterans with Plasmaguns
The entire army would deepstrike in and put the fear of God into MEQ armies.
Okay, enough rambling. On to the pictures.
First, here’s a shot of Schaeffer and Kage:

And here are the Last Chancers under their command:
![Last Chancers Squad #1 [Catachan Squad]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warhammer%2040000/Imperial%20Guard/Last%20Chancers/40kIGLastChancersCatachanSquad.jpg)
There are several interesting things to point out here: the metal plasmaguns and subsequent extensive conversions; the Space Marine bitz on the bases; the transfers on the shoulder pads (showing that these soldiers belong to the 13th Penal Legion); and so on. I tried to give the Last Chancers some real individuality and make it look like they belonged to other regiments before being convicted and assigned to Schaeffer’s command.
The soldiers in this four-man section are meant to be from a Catachan regiment. There were two reasons for this: one, Catachan bitz are really easy to get hold off; and two, I figured Catachans would be a naturally rebellious lot and so a good amount of them would end up in the 13th Penal Legion.
Three of these four have Catachan heads, the fourth heaving ‘Iron Hand’ Straken’s head. Backpacks and odd weapons from Games Workshop‘s bitz range (before the sage Games Workshop decided, in all their mighty wisdom, to stop their bitz service… sigh…).
![Last Chancers Squad #2 [Professional Squad]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warhammer%2040000/Imperial%20Guard/Last%20Chancers/40kIGLastChancersProfessionalSquad.jpg)
This squad is what I call ‘the Professionals’, coming from the more well-equipped regiments. They have Necromunda heads, with a few conversions (the second from left, for example, has a built-up gas mask).
![Last Chancers Squad #3 [Regimented Squad]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warhammer%2040000/Imperial%20Guard/Last%20Chancers/40kIGLastChancersRegimentedSquad.jpg)
The third squad is known as ‘the Regimented’, if only because they are meant to come from other famous regiments, such as the Mordian Iron Guard. The Guardsman on the far left has the head from an old edition Basilisk crew member – I liked the Thunderbirds-style forage cap. The soldier next to him has a Mordian head, while the soldier second from right has the head of Ox, one of the original metal Last Chancer miniatures. Finally, on the far right, the soldier has the head of a Mordheim duellist.
![Last Chancer Squad #4 [Ragtag Squad]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warhammer%2040000/Imperial%20Guard/Last%20Chancers/40kIGLastChancersRagtagSquad.jpg)
This squad is known as ‘the Ragtags’, mainly because they don’t fit in anywhere else, and feature another Mordheim head (wounded) and an Escher ganger head from the Necromunda range.
![Last Chancer Squad #5 [Repentant Squad]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warhammer%2040000/Imperial%20Guard/Last%20Chancers/40kIGLastChancersRepentantSquad.jpg)
Finally, we have ‘the Repentants’, so called because they are all meant to be former members of the Imperium’s holy orders. The two guys (second from left and far right) have Warhammer old school metal flagellant heads, which made them look like defrocked priests, I thought – both ashamed to show their faces. The other two have heads from the Mordheim Amazon range, with the topknots cut off and the hair rebuilt so they resembled Sisters of Battle.
Okay, so much for the Last Chancers. Now on to the rest of the 13th Penal Legion.

Shown above is the HQ Command Squad, including four Veteran Guardsmen with Meltaguns. The Officer is made with the old school metal Tank Commander. The Commissar is the old school metal Hero minature from the old Last Chancers range, albeit with his Laspistol removed and a Plasma Pistol in its place, and a Boltgun replacing his Lasgun.


These are the two Special Weapon Squads armed with Meltaguns. They deepstrike in and hunt down tanks and enemy vehicles.



And, finally, here we have the three Hardened Veteran Squads.
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Again, I stress that this whole army would be impossible to build these days, thanks to Games Workshop‘s absolutely inane decision to stop providing their customers with a bitz service.
I didn’t play much with this army. This was right at the death spiral of 4th Edition and I was growing tired of the game. I did take the army to a tournament at a local store… and that turned into a disaster. I won’t go into all the details, instead I’ll save that for a later post. Maybe the next post. But the army was a blast to play with. I lost almost every game but it was so much fun to play with.
Anyway, I ended up selling this army on eBay eventually, and only just in time too, because about six months after I did Games Workshop released an updated Imperial Guard codex. And guess what? Yep, that codex promptly outlawed the Last Chancers. What a surprise, right? And yet their website still insists no army has been invalidated. Games Workshop invalidating a loyal veteran player’s entire army and then denying that they have done so? Gasp! Shock! Horror!
























![Hordes [01]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Hordes/Hordes_Argus_Complete.jpg)
![Hordes [02]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Hordes/Hordes_Characters_Complete.jpg)
So that was it, my entire experience with Privateer Press wargaming. Although, to be honest, I did find the lure of Monsterpocalypse intriguing… but pre-painted miniatures? Shudder. And collectible as well? Ugh. Count me out.


![Warmachine: Battle Scene [01]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/WarmachineBattleScene01.jpg)
![Warmachine: Battle Scene [02]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/WarmachineBattleScene02.jpg)


![Warmachine: Cygnar Lancer [01]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/Cygnar/WarmachineCygnarLancer01.jpg)
![Warmachine: Cygnar Lancer [02]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/Cygnar/WarmachineCygnarLancer02.jpg)


![Warmachine: Khador Destroyer [01]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/Khador/Warmachine_Khador_Destroyer_01.jpg)
![Warmachine: Khador Destroyer [02]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Warmachine/Khador/Warmachine_Khador_Destroyer_02.jpg)



![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Front 01]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornFront01.jpg)
![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Front 02]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornFront02.jpg)
![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Side]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornSide.jpg)
![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Rear]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornRear.jpg)
![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Close-Up Face]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornClose-UpFace.jpg)
![Inquisitor Eisenhorn [Purity Seal]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/Stu-Rat/Miniatures%202008/Inquisitor/InquisitorEisenhornClose-UpPuritySe.jpg)