I have been on a bit of a hiatus from the table-top
wargaming hobby lately. I tend to alternate between phases of wargaming,
reading, video games and TV. But I’m back in the world of wargaming, lured in
by Games Workshop’s fantastic new release; ‘The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth’
boxed set.
I pre-ordered my copy from the excellent ‘Element Games’ and
it arrived yesterday. I had it shipped to work because I didn’t want to miss it
if no one happened to be home.
Just like everyone else I’ve been pouring over the pictures
in White Dwarf issue 93. Initially I was interested in painting the models up
as Horus Heresy era Word Bearers and Ultramarines so I could play the boxed
game as intended. But I have decided instead to use all of the models in the
set to form the core of a Horus Heresy era Legiones Astartes army.
I have decided to paint my new Heresy era army as Imperial
Fists, the VIIth legion. Chiefly because I want to paint something
yellow. My 40K Space Marines are blue, my Chaos Space Marines are red and I
have a small detachment of Dark Angels which are green. I found a cool YouTube
tutorial video on how to paint Imperial Fists that I’m going to follow.
I also bought ‘The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes – Crusade
Army List’ and ‘The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes – Isstvan Campaign Legions’
books as a bundle deal from Forge World so that I could write a rules legal
Horus Heresy era Legiones Astartes army list.
I sat down with them over a couple of nights and wrote a
2,500 Point army list using ONLY the
contents of TWO ‘Betrayal at Calth’
boxed sets. At £190 at full-retail price for two boxed sets this is an
extremely cost-effective way to build a Horus Heresy era army. Until now all of
the Heresy era models were made of resin and were sold through Forge World and
as amazing as those models are, you’d need a lottery win to collect a 2,500
point army.
Here’s my army list:
Army List
HQ:
Legion Praetor –
100 Points
Cataphactii Terminator Armour –
35 Points
Combi-Weapon –
07 Points
Chainfist –
15 Points
Master-Crafted –
15 Points
Iron Halo –
10 Points
Total – 182 Points
Legion Centurion –
50 Points
Chaplain –
35 Points
Plasma Pistol –
15 Points
Artificer Armour –
10 Points
Total – 110 Points
Troops:
Legion Tactical Squad –
150 Points
Total – 150 Points
Legion Tactical Squad –
150 Points
(Sergeant) Power Sword –
10 Points
Total – 160 Points
Legion Tactical Squad – 150 Points
(Sergeant) Power Fist – 15 Points
Total – 165 Points
Legion Tactical Support Squad – 100 Points
One Additional Space Marine –
15 Points
Total – 115 Points
Legion Tactical Support Squad – 100 Points
One Additional Space Marine –
15 Points
6 x Plasma Guns –
90 Points
Total – 205 Points
Legion Tactical Support Squad – 100 Points
One Additional Space Marine –
15 Points
6 x Melta Guns –
90 Points
Total – 205 Points
Elites:
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon –
175 Points
One Additional Contemptor Dreadnought – 175 Points
Kheres
Pattern Assault Cannon –
15 Points
Total – 380 Points
Legion Terminator Squad –
175 Points
Five Additional Terminators –
150 Points
2 x Heavy Flamers –
20 Points
9 x Chainfist –
90 Points
Total – 435 Points
Heavy
Support:
Legion Heavy Support Squad –
135 Points
1 Additional Space Marine –
20 Points
Total – 155 Points
Legion Heavy Support Squad –
135 Points
1 Additional Space Marine – 20 Points
6 x Missile Launchers (with Frag
& Krak missiles) –
30 Points
Flakk Missiles –
50 Points
Total – 235 Points
Army Total Points Value
HQ – 292 Points
Troops – 1000 Points
Elites – 815 Points
Heavy Support – 390 Points
Fast Attack – 0 Points
Total Points Value – 2497
Points.
So I guess I’m going to need another ‘Betrayal at Calth’
set! I’d also like to get Forge World resin Imperial Fist icon shoulder pads
for all of the power armoured models, but that might have to wait until after
Christmas. In terms of other acquisitions, I also bought a copy of the recent campaign
book set ‘Kauyon’ from Games Workshop.
I like to buy the campaign books whenever Games Workshop put
them out for two reasons; 1) Books don’t increase the size of the Unpainted
Legion! And 2) I like to encourage Games Workshop to run more campaigns. I have
this dream where Games Workshop run two campaigns a year; a summer Warhammer
40,000 campaign and a winter Age of Sigmar campaign.
Focussing on Warhammer 40,000, each campaign would have a
strong narrative focus and be supported by a Codex book containing campaign
rules, characters, settings and background. The Warhammer 40,000 campaign for instance
would be set on a specific planet or in a specific planetary system and
real-world regions would be mapped onto this fantasy setting. Then the results
of people’s games, at home, at clubs and in store would be collated to decide
how the campaign evolves and eventually concludes. It’s basically Games
Workshop’s own philosophy of ‘Forge the Narrative’ taken to an extreme scale
and allowing everyone to participate.
‘Raging Heroes’ finally, FINALLY, expanded their range of
models available to buy through their webstore. So I picked up a ‘Cruz, Heavy
Gunner’, a model I’ve had my eye on for ages! I’ll write a review of ‘Raging
Heroes’ models soon. I love their stuff, but it’s resin and resin can be
awkward to work with, but still preferable to metal!
That’s everything I’ve bought since my last blog entry, but
I have managed to sit down a couple of evenings and do some painting too. After
organising my paints that is…
I have been working on two squads of Chaos Space Marines,
and I also inked the bottom half of a Terminator Assault Squad while I was
waiting for a wash to dry on the Chaos Space Marines.
Watch this space for more progress (hopefully!).
Current Size of the Unpainted Legion: 273 models.
Currently Reading: (Non-Black Library) ‘The Abyss Beyond
Dreams’ by Peter F. Hamilton & ‘Jessica Jones: Alias’ Volume 1 by Brian
Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos.
