Death Blades Red Platoon

9th Necromundan F Company Second Platoon (Nc9F2 or Red Platoon) are a tactical infantry platoon composed of former members of the Death Blade gang of Necromunda. Upon their recruitment into the regiment each guardsman is assigned to a unit, with recruiting officers attempting to retain the original gang structure where possible. 
Red Platoon are composed of standard 10 man infantry squads under the platoon command section (crossref: Nc9F2C), with two such squads shown below.

The standard armament of the squads in the platoon are a sergeant with laspistol, a heavy weapon team composed of a trooper armed with a lascannon, and a loader armed with a lasgun, a specialist trooper armed with a grenade launcher (grenades vary based on mission and available supplies, but typically include fragmentation and krak grenades) and six troopers armed with lasguns. All members are equipped with flak vests and helmets, fragmentation grenades, and carry a variety of knives, concealed blades and stabbing instruments that are typical of the Death Blades. The armament allows the unit to have a high degree of versatility, able to take on most opponents if required.

On the battlefield Red Platoon is often used to engage enemy survivors that make it past the advanced elements of the army and through the heavy fire provided by the support platoon. Note the wounded troopers in first squad, indicating that they have already been committed to an engagement prior to this pict capture. The tactical platoons such as these are often committed to multiple engagements during a battle, worked hard by the nobility in the regimental command, and seen as the work horses of the regiment. Illicit substance abuse is rife in the Necromundan regiments, with the 9th being no exception. This temporarily reduces fatigue in troops markedly, however does make them more problematic to command, especially when not active in battle.

The sergeant of second squad carries a pair of magnoculars for long ranged scanning of enemy positions. Tactical platoons such as this are also often used to engage enemy positions from afar, either supporting another platoon's engagement or preparing a target for an engagement, with the long ranged lascannon providing a valuable tool for this role. Also note the trooper wearing the rebreather on the far right of the squad. Due to the lack of rebreathers on the other squad members, this is most likely for the application of inhaled combat drugs rather than a result of battlefield conditions.

The red helmet stripe indicates that the troopers are members of red platoon, with the disc unit badge on the left breast displaying the yellow company colour, red platoon colour and squad number. The F Company insignia is displayed on the left shoulder.

Commissariat presence is relatively light in the Regiment, with attrition rates high in some sections. The absence of a commissar in this platoon may be a result of battlefield attrition, assignment to another platoon within the company, or more likely, attrition from within the regiment.

These two squads are made up of plastic and metal Imperial Guard models, with a few imperial army models thrown in (the gas mask dude, and the sergeants I believe). I had originally planned for the sergeants to be the carapace breast-plated, chainsword wielding ones that are in the command sections, but a lack of availability, and unwillingness to shell out bucks meant that I went with the two laspistol armed chaps shown. Both of them fit the look of the squad, but are rather lacking in the height department, so I put them on bases that were a little higher than the other trooper's to help out a bit.

The grenade launchers are both unconverted standard models for the time. The lascannons have had the same barrel modification (embiggenment) as most of the other lascannons in the company, to be more in line with the current lascannon aesthetic.

The epic version of this platoon has six squads, but unless I have a bout of insanity combind with a significant increasein disposable income I'll be sticking to two for the 40k version. But I think it will be plenty.