Valhallan, erm... Astra Militarum.

Valhallan Sniper. Image from: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Valhallan_Ice_Warriors.

With a trip to Warhammer World in their very near future, and a new codex just out, it's time to start thinking about just what the Valhallan's are going to look like in the new edition. The army, which has survived two editions of Warhammer 40,000, and several ruthless culls on the toy cupboard, now has a fresh codex to contend with and, to make matters even more confusing, they're no longer the Imperial Guard but the Astra Militarum (presumably the result of an intergalactic battle with intellectual property pirates from beyond the stars). My regular irregular opponent has asked for 40K and so with much pleasure I find myself returning to the game after a fairly lengthy absence. The first job is to work out whether what I have will make a playable army...

Valhallans get some paint...

It turns out that I can't stick with anything so my terrain painting pretty much fizzled out after I painted my craters. Here they are 'in action':



Rather than finishing off the Shrine of the Aquila, I've painted up a unit of my Valhallans. Here they are, unit one (of eight) done:



Since I took this picture yesterday, the snow flock has dried and looks rather more powdery. I think tonight I'll add some more and maybe it'll get a little dirtier via some Devlan mud wash...

Commissar Golovkin

Meet the newly-recruited Commissar Golovkin...



That's right, he's got an axe with which to smite your bugs!

Naming names...

With your story request in mind, I've found a list of Russian (Valhallan) names, I'll allocate them as and when...

FORENAMES
SURNAMES

For now we have:

• Colonel Resnikov
• Commissar Golovkin
• Lieutenant Veis
• Sen. Sergeant Zukov (Vet squad leader)
• Sen. Sergeant Tomilin (Vet squad leader)
• Sergeant Pravdin
• Sergeant Mahkno
• Sergeant Kenin
• Major Levkova (Tank Company Commander and sole survivor of the last battle)
• Captain Loffe (Vendetta Pilot)