Tale of 3 Armies – Introduction

So in a previous post I talked about my hobby plans for this coming year. I also spoke about the fact that I couldn't decide which chapter to paint up my new space marine army and that I had decided the only route forward was to do all three as Kill Teams instead. So that's the basic premise for this project – three viable Kill Teams, one Crimson Fists, one Dark Angels and one Blood Angels. Then as a bonus round (if I'm not completely fed up with the whole thing), I will attempt a Mk 6 Dark Templar Kill Team (simply to get my DT project kick started).

I went out to the local GW shop and bought a ton of plastic kits… but where to start?
Next, I read some forums and blog posts about space marine kill team composition and tactics and soon had a plan for my first team.

Crimson Fists
Given that these are the guys I've been looking to build for decades, I thought I'd start with them. I already had a few left over Imperial Fist shoulder pads that I could make use of immediately, so no excuse to delay. The team will be made up of Scouts, regular Marines and Primaris and I want every miniature to be unique and characterful in some way – ideally I want to be able to feel the individual personalities, as well as easily identify them at a glance on the table top.

Once this project is done and dusted, if I've enjoyed creating my Crimson Fist gang, I would like to fill out the numbers to make legal 40k squads and try and get a 500 or 1000pt army together. But that is one for later in the year.

Terrain
As a side project (in for a penny, in for a pound) I also plan to create a Kill Team board and collect and paint some suitable terrain for it. I see this as an easy win to be honest – I already have a 4x2 piece of 6mm MDF and buying, building and painting a small Citadel terrain kit would be quick and bag me a square on the Wargame Hobby Bingo Card!

The Other Armies
Whilst I'm not thinking too much about those at present, I have already acquired the upgrade sprues for both Dark Angels and Blood Angels. I don't want the composition of the three kill teams to be the same, so there will be some variation in number of regular vs Primaris marines and the weapon load out. Some may be more efficient than others on the gaming table, but I'm not too worried about that at present.

Stay tuned for the first update!

Wargame Hobby Bingo

I found an article on Rob Hawkins' blog about his Wargame Hobby Bingo, and at the time thought that it was something that our good friend Mr Awdry would embrace completely. Never really considered it myself as hobby time is so subdued at present that any one of the activities listed would be a bit of an ask, and there was no hope of ever getting close to completing the whole card.

Recently I started my Tale Of Three Armies project (which I will be posting about soon) as a bit of a distraction and a means to scratch an itch or two. Things are going well, if slow, and I'm enjoying myself doing what is comfortable – kit bashing and converting space marines. Then Mr Awdry posted this week about his Doomriders and the fact they allowed him to tick off one of the boxes on his Wargame Hobby Bingo Card, so I took a closer look at said card. I realised that my current endeavours would actually qualify for box-ticking (once there is paint present) and that in a short matter of time I could have as many as six completed squares on the card!

As a result I find myself remarkably motivated to get some of these bits ticked off the list, and do you know, this time it may just happen!

New Year, New Army… Or Three

So given that it is a new year (and we're already at the end of January), what are the hobby plans? Do I have any hobby aspirations for the year?

The first part of the year will be taken up working… on the upcoming Anvil 8 releases. We've got a monster of an RPG book to put together as well as getting collateral ready for this year's gaming shows. That's going to leave very little time for personal hobby goals.

However, this last month I have got back my excitement for 40k. I dug out some of the old models and have been doing a lot of reading of blogs and books. I really want to get my Mk6 Dark Templar project off the ground – I know, I know… again! In the past there has always been a plan, but the scale of the project was just too overwhelming to get stuck in. As a consequence the project never really got out of the gate.

I've also really got a bug to do some Crimson Fist space marines. I've wanted to do them for years, but never did, and it would allow me to use up some of the Imperial Fist bits I've got left over from that doomed project. To complicate things more, I like the idea of doing some Blood Angels again – they were the first chapter I was drawn to all those years ago. Maybe some Dark Angels too – the colour scheme I borrowed for my Dark Templar for all those years.

But if I can't get one army started, then the notion of starting 3 is ridiculous. I was being torn in lots of different directions – leave the Templar on the back burner, do Primaris Crimson Fists, so Mk7 Crimson Fists, do Primaris Blood Angels, pick up the Iron Warriors again, arghh!

Then this morning, whilst purchasing a boat load of plastic miniatures to be a part of whichever route I take, the answer came to me – Kill Team!

Kill Team requires only half a dozen models or so to play (in the case of marines). I can create multiple viable 'armies' for each of these chapters by building and painting only half a dozen of each chapter. Just enough to dip my toe into a particular paint scheme before moving on – no time to get bored. In addition to this, each model is it's own character in Kill Team, so there are no rank and file models to paint – again, no reason to get bored. Even I can paint six models (if I put my mind to it).

Hopefully this solution will allow me to scratch an itch or two I've had for a while, and have playable armies at the end of it. But where to start?

The first thing I need to do is re-read the Kill Team book, see what's available for each chapter, and get some starting lists down on paper. This will give me a shopping lists of the models I need to build, and then the fun can begin.

Fingers crossed there is some progress!