Regimental Reporting: Unleash the Hounds!

Welcome back to the Officers Mess once again! My hobby eye is firmly upon Octoberfest and I'm using my limited hobby time to finish off my tournament force.  There are still some choices in flux but I am certain I want to take a pair of Hellhounds!

I've had Lucky Lambda painted up for some time, but I have swapped the hull mounted Heavy Flamer for a Heavy Bolter:

The Heavy Flamer is more thematic (I love the illustration of the Hellhound in the Codex firing it's twin gouts of promethium with the infantry column advancing in its wake), but it is difficult to justify the points cost of the weapon.

I have also started painting the second Hellhound; the tracks are done as is the majority of the turret paint work.  I'm quite pleased with the weathering on the Inferno Cannon barrel.

I'll move onto the hull highlighting and weathering in my next painting session.

The Hellhounds are great fun to use on the table top; auto hitting is a novelty for the Imperial Guard and they are reasonably self sufficient (in terms of not needing many/any CP being spent on them).  I'd quite like to find the bitz (and the points) to add Track Guards to keep them fully mobile during the game, but they do alright as is.

Plus my opponents really dislike them; no one finds having their men dowsed in gas and set on fire I guess :P

The remainder of the painting tasks for the current list is something like:

• Paint Tempestus Scion Squad
• Paint Tech Priest Enginseer
• Base Astropath, Tech Priest Enginseer, Mortar Squads and Scions

I realise I've been very vague over the rest of the list, but rest assured I will do an unveil in plenty of time before Octoberfest.  One of my concerns regarding the force is that it is pretty CP hungry; there's usually a bunch of cool tricks to use every turn. Yep, I've hit the list anxiety phase of my tournament preparation!

I do have an idea to jiggle a few units; may be remove the Hydra (which has been OK but not stellar in practice so far) and add a couple more troop choices to go with a double Battalion.  That would provide an extra bunch of CP and give me a load more boots on the ground.  Luckily I have the Infantry Squads painted already.

More test games needed if I can fit them in;  I'll provide further updates on the painting progress and my list tuning in future posts. 

Thanks for reading as always.  If you are a Guard player I'd be interested in hearing what you are working on and any unusual choices you  like to take in your lists; feel free to comment below.