Retrofuture Astra Militarum

I've not started a new army project since the late Spring, which is probably some kind of record for me. So, when I stumbled across these illustrations I had saved into my inspiration folder years ago, inspiration struck (funny how that works!), and I guess I'm starting a Retrofuture Astra Militarum army project.

This was the image that made the whole idea click. It's the perfect combination of classic sci-fi tropes and mild ridiculousness. And, you'll see that's a bit of a theme with these interwar years pieces of art created for various science and technology publications.

There are a few common tropes that I intend to include within my own Retrofuture Astra Militarum army project:

1. Clean, flowing lines

2. Impractical forms of locomotion

3. Red vehicles, green/brown soldiers

4. And, lots of Robots

The current model range is almost the opposite of all of those points. And, that gives me a pretty good basis for creating a unique and coherent looking force that should stand out from the myriad Imperial Guard armies out there in the wild.

The design language of the current Astra Militarum range is busy and dripping in fiddly details*, so going the opposite way will be a big visual departure. The vehicles are (for the most part) all pretty conventional military vehicles, and they're painted military vehicle colours, no red in sight! And finally, all of the imperial robots have been shuffled off into the Adeptus Mechanicus range, which makes sense, but it doesn't have to be that way!

Anyhow, the first builds are well underway and will be featuring in an upcoming video, hopefully towards the end of the week. Photos soon, promise!