The Jamakeer Guard - A Rogue Trader 40k Planetary Defence Force

With most of the Genestealer Cult now painted up, I thought it was time to move on to a new project. I've had these knocking around in the leadpile for at least a decade, along with the idea to build up a Planetary Defence Force, and so they've finally reached the top.

So, I present to you the Jamakeer Guard. Or at least some of them, there are plenty more to come!

Group shot of the army so far. 

Lots more photos after the cut...



With these having been sat around gathering dust for so long, along with the fact there are so many of them (approx 200 infantry, plus artillery and vehicles) I decided to try and come up with very simple colour scheme that was both quick and easy to replicate across the whole force. After some online discussions with friends, I decided not to go for camouflage as it was way too much work, and aimed for a more traditional Napoleonic style, hence the overall blue uniform with canvas webbing and gaiters, and red detailing where needed.

As well as the rapid painting techniques, unusually for me, I've done very little in the way of converting these so far, in order to get more finished, rather than spending too much time on individuals.

So, on to the army so far...

First up is the overall leader of the Jamakeer Guard, The General, here seen with his two ever-present bodyguards. The models are the 'Traitor General' (which I thought was appropriate!) From Citadel's long forgotten Rogue Trooper range, along with two of the original Rogue Trader 'Imperial Bodyguard' models.

The General and his bodyguards.

Next up are a couple of shifty looking Civilian 'Advisors'.  As Jamakeer is currently beyond the direct remit of the Imperium, all sorts of political intrigues take place, with the General stuck in the middle of it all. Whilst he turns a blind eye on the whole to the piracy that makes up a large proportion of Jamakeer's GDP, these Advisors are frequently employed by rival pirate bands to influence the General into wiping out their competition. The models are a Rogue Trader 'Official' from the Adventurers range, Jerry Cornelius from the Eternal Champion range, and a Rogue Trader Gyrinx.

Civilian 'Advisors', one with Gyrinx.

These two are a pair of renegade Psykers, the Brothers Chu and Kel. Masters of Telekinesis, they take sadistic enjoyment out of using their catchphrase 'To me, to you' whilst bouncing their victims between each other until they ultimately die.

Chu and Kel, renegade Psykers.

This is The General's secret weapon, an Imperial Assassin. Name unknown, he does the General's bidding, frequently incinerating his targets with his hand flamer before disappearing into the night. The model is an old Citadel Ninja that was originally improbably armed with a Colt .45, now converted to use one of the Confrontation weapons.

Imperial Assassin. 

Also available to the General are a pair of highly trained Ratling Snipers, to pick off high value targets on (or off) the battlefield.

Ratling Snipers. 

 In charge of maintaining the PDF's vehicles and other machineries is Xavier Athanasius Paredes Janek, an Adeptus Mechanicus Engineer.

Xavier, the Adeptus Mechanicus Engineer.

To assist him in his tasks are a squad of servitors. These are a random selection of Talisman cyborgs, Confrontation models and a couple of actual Servitors.

Servitors.

First up for the hardware is a Maniple of robots. The guy on the left (Spade) is the only model in this army that is newer than 25 years old, and even he's an awesome fan sculpt based on artwork from the RT rulebook! The middle guy (Club) is one of the limited release SFD Giant Robots that I converted, with the one on the right (Diamond) being a standard Imperial Robot, albeit with a Dark Eldar Heavy Plasma Gun on it's back.

Spade, Club and Diamond, Imperial Robot Maniple. 

And now on to the first of the actual infantry. This is a Veteran squad, with respirators, sealed suits and visors.

 Veteran Infantry Squad.

And next up, the first of the standard squads. These guys have seen plenty of action, as can be seen by the state of them!

Infantry Squad.

I've got plenty more infantry to paint up, but for now, on to the artillery.

Firstly a pair of Rapiers, with crew. As these are a PDF cut off from the Imperium, they don't have the most up to date kit, so note that most of the artillery pieces are mismatched and of older designs.

Rapiers with crew. 

 Next up are a pair of Tarantulas, with crew, again with different variants of the same weapon platform. The lascannon variant on the left being almost an antique, but pressed into service when necessary.

Tarantulas with crew. 

 And a brace of Thudd guns, with crew.

Next up is a Mole Mortar with Squat crew. Unlike the rest of the Imperium, there is a healthy Squat population on Jamakeer, mostly working as miners and engineers for the Jamakeer Mining Corporation. The JMC have their own security section, and the General occasionally hires them for specialist jobs, this Mole Mortar being one of them. It needs a deep understanding of the battlefield's underlying geology to get the best out of the weapon, so the crew are subcontracted from the JMC's Mining Engineer dept, as and when needed.

Mole mortar with Squat crew.

And finally for this update, a squad of Sentinels. These are the most converted items out of the whole army so far, as I've changed all the weapons to be underslung. I've also tried to make them more dynamic than they were originally designed to be, trying to give them more movement and give them action poses.

 Sentinel Squad. 

Sentinel I is the Commander's. Armed with a multilaser, he's had a headswap and a radio aerial added.

 Sentinel I

Sentinel II is a heavy support variant, armed with an underslung Missile Launcher.

 Sentinel II

Sentinels III-V are all standard models, armed with multilasers.

 Sentinel III

 Sentinel IV

Sentinel V

And that's it so far. I've got plenty more to paint, and I've managed to nail down a fairly quick method of getting acceptable results, so I hope to get a load more done in the not so distant future!