From GregB: 40K 'Victorian' Imperial Guard (55 points)

Greg sends in these 40K Imperial Guardsmen who seem themed as Crimean period Russians. 

From Greg: 

Another science fiction entry - a squad of ten "Vostroyan" Imperial Guardsmen from GW's Warhammer 40,000 range. There is an NCO with a pistol, a two-man heavy bolter team (heavy MG weapon) and a dude with a flamethrower. The rest have laser rifles. They are metal (yay!) castings. I think the range was originally released sometime in 2006 or 2007, and as far as I know it is one of the very last "themed" metal Imperial Guard ranges GW ever released. 

There is a unique look and feel to these castings, and I find they provoke strong views. People either love them or hate them. I'm obviously in the first camp - to me these castings really capture the dark, dystopian spirit of the Warhammer 40k setting. Even though they are (relatively) contemporary sculpts, they very much capture the feel of the original Rogue Trader game, much more than any of the other conventional Imperial Guard figures available today.

Clad in bearskins, bits of medieval style armour, armed with rifles that look as large and ornate as polearms, to me they are spooky and beautiful. The faces that are visible are drawn, worn and dark. It's like someone gave a picture of an Austrian Grenadier from 1809 to John Blanche and said "go nuts". These seem to me a very fitting portrayal of a "regular" force army that would be assembled in the setting of the Rogue Trader rulebook, either to defend and planetary governor, or slog through a horrible military campaign somewhere in the "grim darkness of the far future".

Many people loathe these same design features, particularly if they already dislike the GW style and the 40k setting, and I can see their point, so my apologies to any challenges who hate these figures!

And upon careful, thorough and balanced evaluation, I have determined that there are a number of Victorian influences to be found within these science fiction soldiers, and as such I shall also consider them a "Victorian" submission - right fellas?

I actually quite like these castings which is funny as I despise the ones they produced that had the guys in the pith helmets - go figure. The bearskin hats, mega-moustaches and archaic looking laser rifles are very cool. I also like the white and blue-trimmed colour scheme - it gives them an almost ceremonial air.

Michael, help me out here. The way I understand it these figures can't possibly be Victorian as I see no gypsy influence at all. ;P  Perhaps if they had bells on their toes and tambourines strapped to their hips...

These Guardsmen will give Greg 55 points.