So, enough about you. Let’s talk about me for a bit. Or, more specifically, the armies I have.
I currently have three WH40K armies, though not very much of any of them. I’ll provide a specific breakdown of each army later. For now, here’s an overview.
Space Marines
Probably my largest 40K army, and arguably the one farthest along. So far I have:
- The Space Marines from the Black Reach starter set.
- A Space Marine tactical squad
- A Space Marines three-pack
- Two “free” space marines from when the local Games Workshop store was giving them out a few years back.
- The bonus terminator from the issue of White Dwarf announcing the release of Assault on Black Reach.
- A chaplain with a nice skull helmet. Sorry, no link – the mini has vanished from the GW site. It was a metal mini, so I suspect it will resurface again shortly as a resin FineCast offering.
- Some spare Space Marine arms and Dark Angel robed legs and torsos I bought on eBay. I was going to make some character minis for the Dark Heresy roleplaying game, but the game died before I got started. That’s another story. Now I’m using them for sergeants.
Where It’s At
Many of the figures are primed and I’ve actually begun painting them, though I’ve hit a few roadblocks (more on that later). Since the Black Reach Space Marines come in only a few pieces, I haven’t done any conversions except to give all the bolt guns longer barrels. I’m calling it the Pliskin-pattern bolter after that awesome uzi that Snake Pliskin had in Escape from New York. I wanted to give the bolters oversized barrels, but unfortunately they didn’t look that good so I just settled for longer. I also gave the terminator storm bolters hoods over the barrels, just to be different.
Where It’s Going
I’m recreating the chapter that some friends and I created back in 1990: The Brotherhood of Sleep. It won’t be an exact recreation. The game (and the minis) have changed considerably since those days. However, I’ve been writing a codex complete with fluff as a guideline. I may post it here when it’s finished depending on how well it goes. I will probably call the chapter something other than the Brotherhood of Sleep. The name is, unfortunately, copyrighted and I would rather come up with something unique as part of the grand resurrection.
As for the army itself, I really need to figure out which direction to go. I’ve been thinking about a mobile force with bikes or speeders, and picking up some scouts for recon and sniping. Either way, money’s going to have to be spent so I need to figure out where it goes to keep from getting stuff I won’t necessarily use.
Space Orks
The other half of the Black Reach starter set. I haven’t done much to expand this force. All I’ve got so far:
- The Orks from the Black Reach starter set.
- The bonus Ork nob from the issue of White Dwarf announcing the release of Assault on Black Reach.
- Three boxes of Grots.
- A scratch-built battlewagon, with Imperial Guard tank bits purchased from eBay.
Where It’s At
I’ve primed one box of Grots and all the Black Reach minis except for the deff coptas. However, I did the priming in black and may redo everything in white depending on the results of some painting experiments with the Space Marines.
I have done a lot more customization on this army. I’ve given all the pistols bigger magazines. I’ve redone the warboss to give him a military-style peaked cap and a different back banner. I’ve given all the orks a variety of militaristic caps except for one squad, which I’ve done up with a bit of a 1930’s Flash Gordon motif including funky headgear and rayguns with fins. The deff coptas have extra missile launchers. I don’t think the existing models look “shooty” enough. What self-respecting ork goes into combat with just four teeny missiles? I’m also going to replace the static deff copta blades with clear CD disks that have blurry blade patterns.
The centerpiece is the battlewagon, scratch-built out of sheet styrene and bits from Imperial Guard tanks. It’s still under construction, but the general shape is done, including a turret that will be magnetized so I can remove both to transport the model safely and to spend the points on other upgrades if I want. I’ll detail it in a later article.
Where It’s Going
Most of the Orks are going to be from the Blood Axe clan, the closest thing Ork society has to an organized military (which is not, in all honestly, all that organized). I see them as essentially a parody of the Imperial Guard, and plan to paint them as such. The Flash Gordon squad is from the Bad Moonz clan, since they have all that extra money to buy the gold lamé tights.
Two of the Grot squads will be built as playable units, while the third is going to be used as “scenery” bits on the battlewagon with a few Grots used to represent some of the bonus-giving Grots in the game (e.g., ammo Grot, oiler Grot, Grot outriggers, etc.).
The Necrons
All I have is the Battleforce box. It’s quite a collection of Necron warriors, scarabs and three Destroyers.
Where It’s At
As I mentioned earlier, it’s still in the box and will stay there until I see what the new codex brings. I’ve accumulated a lot of bits for customizing, including transparent blue plastic rods and some nice baubles for terrain bits.
Where It’s Going
I wanted to have an army devoted to a new C’tan, one not mentioned in the Necron “prophecy” written out in the old codex. However, rumour has it the C’tan are changing considerably in the new codex. Once gods of the Necrons, they are supposedly now mere servants, enslaved by their former minions and used as hideously powerful battlefield weapons. If this is true, I will need to rethink my core concept.
One thing for sure: I am going to redo all the gauss flayers into something more elegant. The necrons are supposed to be millions of years old and the “masters of space and time.” If that’s true, why are their weapons bulky, cumbersome and have heavy power cables? No, these guys definitely needs something with finesse.
And What Else?
I also have the beginnings of two Warhammer Fantasy Battles armies and would very much like to get a third. I’ll describe these later, but I doubt I will be expanding them any time soon. Money’s gotten tight again, and as its taken me so very long to get this far with the 40K stuff, I find it hard to justify the expense in bulking out anything WFB for the time being. At some point I’ll eventually get around to what I have and my plans for them, but it won’t be for a while.
