Collecting Tallarn nowadays is mostly trying to find people who sell their older models on Ebay or any other local bidding site. Facebook can be of help here as there are numerous sites involving people who are looking for (older) models and happily trade, or sell, away. The Oldhammer Trading Company for instance is brimming with people who come up with very old models and the occasional Tallarn lot comes by every now and then.
Since Games Workshop stopped selling almost all Tallarn models it is only possible to get the core unit models directly from their website.
When I started collecting they also still sold all of the heavy weapon teams, the rough riders, special weapons and officers. Furthermore, Forgeworld where also still selling their range of Tallarn models. These have now sadly also vanished from their website.
But not all is lost. As an Imperial Guard army consists of a HQ squad which you can still form from the regular trooper set and convert the sergeant into a warlord (or put Al’Rahem in the Warlord spot) and of troops which can also still be bought from GW, you have your core army of Tallarn soldiers. The rest can be formed from regular models such as tanks and flyers which only need to be painted in the colors you choose for your army.
To make these vehicles a bit more interesting and fitting in a Tallarn army you can convert the crew members with normal trooper heads. To make that even more simple MaxiMini miniatures sells desert dweller heads which serve perfectly as Tallarn heads. My army is filled with little conversions like the vox casters which are simply regular Tallarn troopers fitted with a backpack (MaxiMini or Scibor miniatures have plenty of those for sale) and a self made antenna. Just as my veteran squads are regular models with backpacks added. So even though there is not a lot of variation in the available models they can still be made to look slightly different.
Then there are some Forgeworld models that can very easily fit in a Tallarn army. Take the Taurus Venator for instance. They sell it as an Elysian Droptroops vehicle, but it is basically a rough terrain buggy. What better terrain for it than a desert! The only thing it needs is a head swap of the crew and it is perfect once painted in your army colors.
Things like the Rough Riders (either the GW ones on horses or the Mukaali from Forgeworld) can be a bigger problem. I have seen some people who found alternative horse riding models and sculpted some extra clothing on them to make them more like the regular Tallarn figures and did a head swap. All that is left is to sculpt the lances a bit more bulky to make them look like the Rough Rider lances.
Heavy weapon teams are also harder to replace. Since you can only get the missile launcher in the squad deal there is not much variation to be found in that department. It might do to take some of the heavy weapon teams from Cadians or Catachan and only use the guns. Put some regular Tallarn troopers next to them (or better yet, convert them somewhat using the Cadian/Catachan bits) to make them fit in better.
All in all, since both GW and Forgeworld stopped selling most of their Tallarn models it is quite hard to get started on an army like this. But if you are into converting, searching for alternative models and keep an eye out for Tallarn lots on bidding sites (be prepared for high prices) it can still be done.
