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[Tack]

So I guess my question is, at my basic level of painting skills, how much do I stand to add to the value of my stock cadian army by putting in all the man-hours necessary to... y'know... finish it?

Edit: I assume that there's legions of people who'd pay £100 for a squad, but would baulk at paying $3000 for an army, no matter the quality of the painting. Something-something lump cash.

[Catmeat]

So I guess my question is, at my basic level of painting skills, how much do I stand to add to the value of my stock cadian army by putting in all the man-hours necessary to... y'know... finish it?

For resale? If for resale unpainted is best.
Cadians suck and are ugly, the designers effed up on them.
Cadian shock troops are sexy but dont come in plastic.
For my imp guard I used Space navy seals, chaos rebel guys from the big pack a few years ago and a few cadian parts for customisation.
I kinda went for a lost in ghost space no/little gear look.
1 leman 3 shock troops 1 retinue+ lord comma with bolter+power dagger and commander with bolt pistol + power glove.
Then I chuck in preists to boost melee charges with comma and flag to gank up units

[Tack]

For resale? If for resale unpainted is best.

I think you need another page of context.

Cadian shock troops are sexy but dont come in plastic.

I think you're thinking of Kasrkins.
Shock troops are the standard infantry.

[Catmeat]

If you say so. I'm a semi-literate farmer and hired killer. I ain't in the power game.

[Grim Portent]

So I guess my question is, at my basic level of painting skills, how much do I stand to add to the value of my stock cadian army by putting in all the man-hours necessary to... y'know... finish it?

Probably not enough to make it worth the time. /shrug

Really it's hard to say. The whole bunch is probably worth a few hundred pounds, but most of the people who'd likely buy it will be looking for the models more than for the paintjob. Cadian Guard aren't exactly collector's items and all that. I'd just patch up the tanks, get the treads on the ones missing them and leave it at that.

You could always copy GW and try to sort them into stuff that would make Formations and sell them in bundles like that though.

[Silverthrone]

I've always been a bit on the fence with the Death Korps. I like their design, and the general theme they've got. But they're so bloody miserable that a lot of character just ooze off.

I mean, you could imagine most other kind of Guardsmen smoking loh-sticks and shooting the shit, or hiding porn under their matresses, or knock back some space beer or at least smile and think of anything but rage and death once in a while. Little things that make them human, which is part of the whole Imperial Guard charm. They've got the most hideous monsters clawing at the gates, but they get on with it (barely), and talk about ordinary little things over tea, maybe playing some cards while they're at it.
Of course, I might have misunderstood the general theme of the Death Korps, but I've got the impression that they've been reduced to single-function robots sitting in trenches all day long. The boys probably even snore in marching pace in their barracks. They're just fairly boring in that way.
I like to imagine some deviant Kriegian finding a particularly nice bundle of burned sticks one day. When he comes home to base, he arranges them nicely in a shell casing, in lieu of a vase. The next morning, he gets shot for suspicious humane behaviour.

Not to mention, Death Korps of Krieg is an incredibly dorky name. Might sound cooler if Krieg is a foreign, exotic word, of course. I like the little gasmask lads, but they've always seemed more drab and shallow than they could be.

[Kot]

I've always been a bit on the fence with the Death Korps. I like their design, and the general theme they've got. But they're so bloody miserable that a lot of character just ooze off.

I mean, you could imagine most other kind of Guardsmen smoking loh-sticks and shooting the shit, or hiding porn under their matresses, or knock back some space beer or at least smile and think of anything but rage and death once in a while. Little things that make them human, which is part of the whole Imperial Guard charm. They've got the most hideous monsters clawing at the gates, but they get on with it (barely), and talk about ordinary little things over tea, maybe playing some cards while they're at it.
Of course, I might have misunderstood the general theme of the Death Korps, but I've got the impression that they've been reduced to single-function robots sitting in trenches all day long. The boys probably even snore in marching pace in their barracks. They're just fairly boring in that way.
I like to imagine some deviant Kriegian finding a particularly nice bundle of burned sticks one day. When he comes home to base, he arranges them nicely in a shell casing, in lieu of a vase. The next morning, he gets shot for suspicious humane behaviour.

Spoiler: Krieg (click to show/hide)

Not to mention, Death Korps of Krieg is an incredibly dorky name. Might sound cooler if Krieg is a foreign, exotic word, of course. I like the little gasmask lads, but they've always seemed more drab and shallow than they could be.

I feel you. I hate a lot of names from various places simply because they sound hilarious to me due to them meaning something in Polish or just sounding similarly to some words.

[Grim Portent]

The Death Korps are very much themed by the dour and horrific nature of the war that inspired them. They're supposed to evoke images of glassy eyed, dead staring trench veterans from the Somme, or the poor propaganda fed fools who charged over the lip of trenches into machine gun fire. They're the men (and women in 40k, though not in the real life version) who watched their friends sawn in half by bullets, their guts scattered across no-mans land by mines, their toes gnawed off by rats and their own severed limbs lying in pools of blood. They are the human horror of chemical warfare, of summary executions for shell shock, of thousands of lives thrown away in pointless war in physical form.

Where the Death Guard and Iron Warriors represent these things in the manner of demons and war gods, beings who revel in bloody and horrific war, the Death Korps represent them in the human impact side of things. As a people they are broken, traumatized and indoctrinated to the point that the horrors of wars that surpass the foulest trench of the Great War is something that hangs about them like a shroud even in peacetime, and they can no longer care.

In a manner of speaking they're a nod to the mutilated and traumatized veterans of WWI, for many of whom that war never really ended. It stayed with them, in the form of haunting memories of shellfire, the sight of their friends dying, the phantom pain of lost limbs. Kriegsmen are much the same, except they come to a certain extent pre-traumatized.

They're also a nod to the unrealistic expectations of discipline and cleanliness expected of the soldiers in the trenches. A lot of punishments were doled out during that war for people failing to maintain a near parade standard in the middle of miles of cloying mud, bug infestations and shrapnel. Though the obsession with maintaining gear is also a possible sign of PTSD as I recall.



Kriegsmen represent the ideal soldier the generals of WWI wanted, which is to say disciplined, obedient, presentable and unquestioning meat puppets who'll accept the horrors of trench warfare without question.

[Kot]

Yes. That's the point. But there is more. This is obviously apart from non-canon Love and Krieg and various other writefriendry, since it can be seen in canon works about DKoK.
Death Korps are so empty, so... unfamiliar, so inhuman that every sign in humanity in them is somehow magnified. Every word muffled by the gas mask, every second of hesitation, every step taken out of order, every glance at fallen comrade, every change in their eyes that suggest a facial expression that noone can see. It shows that even human machines are, after all, human. It gives hope that even in the grim fuckupness of far future, it shows that depiste all odds, humanity is beautiful. That's why Death Korps are more than just Dead Men Walking.

After all, Korpsmen do not cry.

[Silverthrone]

Heh, love that image/thread thing, I had forgotten about it. Picturing a Kriegian attempting an unsanction procreation cycle ("without procreation and thus needless; I must flog myself with my own gasmask hose twenty times for this infraction") is so amusing and hideously tragic at the same time.

I suppose dorky names are inevitable after a certain point, though, with so many regiments and planets and cultures to give names to. A lot of the time, I hate coming up with names. It usually works out, but on second thought, Krieg is a good effort. The results can be pretty funny.

Kriegsmen represent the ideal soldier the generals of WWI wanted, which is to say disciplined, obedient, presentable and unquestioning meat puppets who'll accept the horrors of trench warfare without question.

They do that really, really well, mind. They also make me think of the people Ingsoc in Nineteen Eighty-Four was aiming to remake mankind into. There's just not that much mileage in it, though, once the wind-up toy people theme has been established. It's a very cool theme, but... Where next? Still, I'd never turn a few companies of Kriegers down if I needed something defended at all costs.

[Tack]

You could always copy GW and try to sort them into stuff that would make Formations and sell them in bundles like that though.

Is actually what I'm doing. When I collected them it was to make a Cadian Battlegroup. Now that's what they are.
I seem to have the Emperor's Fist, Wrath, Shield and Blade.
So basically a Diablo set.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I was going to post an image I once saw of Kreigers drinking cocktails through their masks while a nuke goes off in the background, but I can't for the life of me find it. I think it was a HFY thread or something. It was really well done, too.

[Grim Portent]

They do that really, really well, mind. They also make me think of the people Ingsoc in Nineteen Eighty-Four was aiming to remake mankind into. There's just not that much mileage in it, though, once the wind-up toy people theme has been established. It's a very cool theme, but... Where next? Still, I'd never turn a few companies of Kriegers down if I needed something defended at all costs.

It's a bit more than a wind-up people thing. It's also part of an overarching theme in 40k about the ethics of sacrificing your humanity and compassion in the name of survival.

It's explored in a few of the factions and the novels, but it boils down to 'is it better to die still recognizably human or survive as a monster?' with the Imperium and Chaos alike favoring the latter over the former.

In a couple of books Imperial characters learn that there is a time and a place for compassion and sorrow, and it is generally in private and when no one is looking, as the Imperium's continued survival necessitates the suffering of many and to refuse to do as you must because of concepts like innocence or virtue is to condemn thousands or millions to die.

To bring it back to Krieg, Krieg is an example of this industrialized sacrifice. An entire world sacrificed most of what made them human to better serve the Imperium. For the most part all they have left is their faith and their bond with their fellow Kriegsmen. They're a culture based around religious and civic self-sacrifice with an emphasis on military service.

[Silverthrone]

Certainly, but the Death Korps themselves are "just" the final extreme on the human scale of that necessity. It's an intriguing embodiment of the prize of survival for mankind, and that is jolly good, but that seems to be the only string to their lyre.

Their potential is mostly in fish-out-of-water scenarios, I think. Like having to serve side by side with units from Planet Rambo, or stuck in lengthy peace time, or being posted to one of the planets that are fairly nice and pleasant. Contrasting them with their background when they're taken out of the trenches. Of course, you can take a Krieger out of the trench, but you can't take the trench out of the Krieger.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

A good Krieer does what he's told! If he's told to relax for the God-Emperor, goddamnit! He's gonna do it! He's gonna relax THE MOST. THE BEST. AND THE HARDEST HE CAN. AAAAAAAGH, FOR THE EMPEROR!!!