In which our Warlords try to figure out their initial 1k lists to work towards as the campaign ramps up!
Ahh…that new project smell. And the faint curdled scent when it wears off…
Actually, I’m not feeling any woes about this project just yet! Usually, when I start a new army, I briefly get the blues after the first unit is completed and I start itching to change gears, but not this time. I’m having a blast painting up the Marines from Armageddon, and I think I can credit this article series for keeping fuel in my hobby tank.
List Building on a Budget – Or: Have Generous Friends
I’ll share my latest finished models below with the other Warlords, but first, I’ve been starting to think about what comes next. Naturally, my first priority is to finish the models that constitute the new Space Marine Combat Patrol from Armageddon, and then the rest of the models from that set. But after that, I need to figure out a thousand-point army list as a second milestone. Whatever this list is will need to form the foundation of my final 2,000-point list for our Labor Day campaign weekend. But this kind of planning can be tricky at the start of a new edition.
The 11th edition Space Marine Codex (to say nothing of the Blood Angels supplement) is weeks, if not months away; the official Warhammer app is a bit of a mess when it comes to force construction, and of course, cool new models could release at any moment. What’s a Blood Angels 5th Company Commander to do? Well, I have a little bit of guidance here. A good friend bought more copies of the old Indomitus starter set than he should have and generously offered to give me the marine contents of one of these sets.
I immediately knew I’d want to add the unit of ten Assault Intercessors to my list. With that addition to my Armageddon models, I’m actually already in striking distance of 1,000 points! I haven’t quite decided on what Detachments I’ll choose, but it’s time to pull the trigger. The Blood Angels specific detachments are all very cool, but none of them look to be a particularly strong match for the models I have on hand. That will probably change when I start thinking about a 2k list, but for now I need something different.
Choosing a Detachment
Having explored my options, I’ve ultimately landed on the Bastion Task Force detachment. It’s 2 DPs, exactly what I can spend at the Incursion game level, and it looks like it will be generally useful to many of my units. There are sexier jump pack based choices for Blood Angels, but the Bastion Task Force offers any unit in the army the ability to shoot and charge even after they Advance or Fall Back, and can perform actions under those circumstances as well. It’s not the most exotic army bonus, but I think it’s going to be a solid choice for my little combined arms force.
With that decision made, I can fill out the rest of my army. Looking at what I have, I can see that I could definitely use some long-range fire support. And, of course, what kind of self-respecting nostalgia-driven 40k player doesn’t want a dreadnought in their army? This makes the addition of a Ballistus dreadnought an easy choice to get me to a full thousand-point list! I love the Ballistus’ nods to the classic box dreads, and those big guns will go a long way to making sure enemy vehicles don’t run wild over my infantry.
With that settled, it’s back to painting! Before I go, let’s check in with all four of our Warlords (can you check in on yourself?) and see how they’re progressing.
Words from Our Warlords
As I said above, I’m still having a blast with this project. After finishing the Intercessor Squad last week, I immediately moved on to the Vanguard Veterans, and they were just a ton of fun. This unit let me really test out the pale gold recipe I had in mind, and I’m quite pleased with how it came out. For those interested, it’s a base of Retributor Armor washed liberally with Drakenhof Nightshade and then highlighted with Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver.
With this unit complete, the rest of the Armageddon models are small units, characters, and, of course, the landspeeder. I think I’m gonna paint up the Librarian next as a little break from painting red before I finish the rest of the Combat Patrol models. Gettin’ there!
I’m getting faster with my base painting, still working on highlights and shading. Currently, I’m working on the first round of boyz and grots. To finish them, I just need to shade, highlight, and add texture and grass. I have already applied Dirt texture to the bases, which is now dry and ready to finish up with a drybrush.
My unit of boyz is ready to assemble and shade/highlight. Then I’m going to break up the project a little and tackle the Big Mek Dakkarig. I’ll base all this stuff together at once in a single session.
1000 points will feel like there’s an actual army to photograph and hopefully get on the table soon. I have the following built and ready for paint (actually, most are 60% done): A hammer and shield jump captain, 10 Intercessors (a mix from the 8th and 11th edition boxes), 20 Assault Intercessors (some of these won’t be used until my 2k list), the Armageddon Librarian, the Armageddon Ancient, and the 3 eradicators from Armageddon. I’ll finish all of those off next. Which, in addition to what I already have painted, gets me close to my 1k list.
I’ll just need to build and paint the Vanguard Veterans with jump packs to give my hammer captain some people to run around with. I will note that playing the game is normally the final thing I concern myself with—so I’m sure the list will be lacking massively on the table, but that’s Future Matt’s problem. Painting is progressing well; I’m in the middle of highlighting the red armor and yellow helmets for the Assault Intercessors. I’ve got enough characters in the 1k list to mix them in as painting rewards between work on units.
Since all the Orks in the release box don’t add up to a full 1000 points, I am adding from my already painted Ork army.
1000pt Incursion – Green Tide
- Big Boss attached to 20 Ork Boyz with a Painboy
- 10 Gretchin
- 5 Nobz
- 5 Stormboyz
- Wartrakk
- Big MeK Dakkarig
With Green Tide as my only detachment, I wanted two big units of 20 Boyz for the 5+ Inv Save. The other stuff is just for fun. At some point I may sub out the Nobz & Stormboyz for Dredd Kopterz or a Truck fulla Boyz.
Soon, I’ll have to start thinking about a 2k list. It’ll need a centerpiece model, though…
Don’t Miss:
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
