In which our 4 Warlords begin to plan their armies.
The Road to Armageddon is paved with good intentions. Or at least, it’s paved with the intention of getting a new 40k army painted and ready for a campaign over Labor Day weekend. Since our first installment last week, the four of us have been putting our plans in place.
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together (After Almost Disintegrating)
For myself, I am having a crisis of faith. Initially, I was going to use the Space Marine half of my Armageddon box to build a Blood Angels army. But then I saw that my favorite chapter of all time, the Crimson Fists, are going to be a big part of the Armageddon narrative, and my resolve waivered. I love the Crimson Fists but it would also be super fun to paint some Blood Angels with a bit of ’90s 2nd Edition era style. Have you ever read a blog where the author had a psychological break while writing before? Well, you have now. Okay, okay. I will make a decision for this project and it’s gonna be…
Blood Angels.
Okay, there. I wrote it so it’s final. Let’s move on and never speak of this incident again, shall we?
The Shape of Things to Come
Dramatics aside, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the overall shape of this project and how I’m going to attack it. I think it’s really important when starting a new army to give some real thought to how you’ll tackle things before starting work. It’s all too easy to just buy a pile of cool kits and then become totally overwhelmed.
Of course, we don’t have points for 11th Edition yet, so there’s only so far any planning can go. However, I know for a fact that I’ll be using the Space Marine contents of the Armageddon box set. So, that’s a great starting point. In general, I build armies around themes and models I find narratively compelling. Efficiency in play takes a backseat in my armies. So, I’ll be building with the idea of a standard “jack-of-all-trades” Blood Angels force, leaning towards fast attack options.
Milestones
I also know that this article series has a few milestones built into it. First, myself and Randi are aiming to play some Combat Patrol games using the Armageddon models in mid-July. While we don’t know exactly what those models will be, I do know they’re all in that box. I’ll aim to paint those models first and then finish the rest that aren’t included in the Armageddon Combat Patrol.
After our Combat Patrol day, our next milestone is to play a 1,000-point Incursion-level game in early August. When Games Workshop releases points, I’ll start by constructing a 1,000-point Blood Angels list that utilizes everything from the Armageddon box set with additional models to bring me to that point level. Ideally, I hope to be further along than 1,000 points by the time we play that game, but this offers a little structure for my planning.
Finally, I need to have the full 2,000-point Strike Force level army fully painted and based for our Dominatus campaign starting Labor Day weekend. Again, I can’t finalize a list to work towards just yet, but I can make some informed guesses. So, it’s time to start thinking about what excites me about Blood Angels.
The Blood of Sanguinius
I love all the models in the Armageddon box set, but I’m particularly excited about the return of the classic land speeder. I also like the idea of an aggressive, jump pack-driven force with the Armageddon Vanguard Vets and Chaplain at its core. Finally, I’ve always loved the Death Company and know I want to have some. Not just because they’re cool, but because that the secondary black paint scheme will break up some of the monotony of army painting.
With all of that in mind I can guess that I’ll probably want to add some Assault Intercessor squads to this army, both with and without jump packs. I’ve been eyeing the newly revealed detachments and I’m also interested in the Fulguris Strike Force detachment. With its bonuses for land speeders of all varieties this looks like it might be a fun building block of an army. I’ll probably only add a single unit of Death Company and maybe an additional unit of basic Intercessors as a little more backfield support.
It also goes without saying that I’m going to want a dreadnaught of some kind or another and this might be a place I add a little more Death Company. I will probably ultimately want to add a big tank or other centerpiece model but that’s a decision that can wait. This is all subject to change until I see the points, and any new models that may come out this summer.
Budgeting
I also want to take a moment think about the least sexy part of the hobby: budgeting. It’s all well and good to have a grand design for a huge new army but it’s another thing to actually buy that pile of unassembled toy soldiers.
I find it really helpful to set at least a rough budget when starting a new army. For this project, I’m hoping to spend no more than roughly $300 on kits beyond the contents of the Armageddon box. Fortunately, I also have a fair amount of stuff in my Pile o’ Shame that I’ll be happy to trade. So, I think I can stretch that $300 pretty far. I also know from long experience that there will be great deals available online after the launch box is released. I’m pretty sure I’ll want at least one more of those land speeder. I bet I’ll be able to scoop up a couple of those at a discount.
So, that’s the general shape of my new army figured out. I can start sorting out the details from here. Hopefully, we’ll have points revealed soon and I can construct a list and start sourcing the additional models I’ll need. In the meantime, it’s time to start planning my paint scheme and basing plan. Next week’s installment of this series is going to focus on scheme planning and web resources for getting our Armageddon themed armies painted up.
But for now, let’s recap my own plan and check in with the other Warlords and summarize my own plans. It’s early days but everyone is getting started on their own roads to Armageddon.
Words from the Warlords
“I know I’m starting with the Armageddon box contents as the core of the force. From there, I’ll add some Assault Intercessors, more land speeders, and at least a squad of Death Company. I’m leaving the rest of this a little open until I can see points values. For now this is enough to start planning my paint scheme and general schedule for the summer.”
“Well, I’ve been experimenting a little on a deffkopta to test my paint scheme and my first guy may not make it to battle as I broke his rotors and snapped the base support trying to get my brush into the smaller recesses. Because of that I’m partially assembling the rest, but it’s humid here in Washington state and need the air to dry out a bit before I can do any spray priming. I’m going for dark colors, mostly. I want them to look rough and the metals to look aged. I think I’m doing pretty good, but will get better. I’ve been lurking in r/Orks checking out what others are doing. I have not gotten into any gameplay, yet but that’ll change when the book comes out next week.”
“My plans for the Armageddon box Orks is to paint all the Boyz, Dakkarig and characters as Goffs (I already have a ton of Goff boyz painted up). The Wartrakk will be painted as an Evil Sun to match my other Evil Sunz vehicles. I’m also considering painting the Gretchin as Freebooterz. Yarr!”
“My overall Blood Angel army plan is to lean into an aggressive list. I think all my World Eaters play in ‘Heresy is rubbing off on what I want in an army from a gameplay POV. It’s all about getting stuck in and forcing the cinematic moments. It’s also based on my favorite units from recent boxed sets and the Blood Angels Combat Patrol box. It’ll be built around a core of 20 Assault Intercessors and 10 Intercessors. This gives me troops to capture ground and skews the army in that aggressive direction. Then, I’ll be sprinkling in terminators, outriders, Sanguinary Guard, and some of the Primaris-era vehicles (as I have never had a chance to build or paint those). I’ll leave myself a little room open so that I can react to the new rules.
And finally, my son is very excited about the idea that some of the army come from the Raptors chapter. As I get into it I’m not sure where that’ll work in the list. But, we’ll see how it develops. It might be that some fast moving and snipey components of the list end up in olive drab, even if game-wise I run it all as pure Blood Angels.”
If you’re starting a new army this summer what’s your first step towards getting it painted and on the table?
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Simon Berman has been a wargamer since 1993 and has worked in the tabletop games industry since 2008 as a staff writer for the first three editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These days he’s the General President of the Brush Wielders Union, a worldwide organization of miniatures painters of all skill levels, a freelance games writer who has contributed to a number of roleplaying games like Eclipse Phase, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and The Hammer and the Stake. He runs his own small-press publishing company, Strix Publishing, and paints more miniatures than he can keep track of. Simon lives with his wife in Tacoma, Washington along with a number of cats and a pack of savage wiener dogs.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
