One day I’ll realise that trips to Warhammer World can get expensive. That and I’m a hobby butterfly that the half dozen barely-started projects that have been left languishing in boxes or half finished on various desks, tables and shelves can all attest to. Maybe one day I’ll stop.

Nope. Not happening. But I do have a shiny new project to talk about. One that started just before the announcement of the 2nd Edition was made and just handily lines up with what that is going to mean.

What Prompted This?

Ever heard of King Fluff Events? They’ve been doing narrative Horus Heresy events for years and a few members of the team here have been going to them. This year as a way to celebrate being able to travel places again I signed up to a Zone Mortalis Doubles event playing on the side of the Traitor forces. The event is the first weekend of July this year.
Guess when I started working on what I’d need to take.
Three weeks ago.
At the time of writing this I hadn’t really sat down and selected what force I was going to take, I just knew that it wasn’t going to be my Dark Angels. Mostly because they are a Loyalist legion but also because I wanted to try something a little different. Three months until the event and not a single model painted or even bought for it. Sure there was a couple of paint scheme testers from half-started 40K projects lying around in the colours of the Word Bearers and Thousand Sons, the latter’s candy red scheme being something I truly enjoyed, but neither had gripped me in a way that made me want to go out and buy a lot. Or paint a lot. Then a weekend in Nottingham and a small parting of cash from my account and I was walking out with a small bundle of Death Guard terminators and some tactical marines. I blame the shiny miniatures on display in the cabinets. If you’ve never been to the Forgeworld store in Nottingham let me just say that pictures of the models on screens don’t do them justice until you can see them in person (note: this also why I’ve not formed much of an opinion on the new Mk6 marines just yet, I want to get one in my hand first).

What did you get?

Calas Typhon, 1 box of mk4 tactical marines and 2 boxes of Grave Warden Terminators (for a total of 10 terminators). And the Power Scythe pack. A nice little starting bundle where I have more Terminators than I have regular marines. Now I generally try to avoid using big named characters in games unless it’s a mid-to-large size of game. 2,000 to 2,500 points and I might consider it. 3,000+ and I’m probably bringing one. The Doubles event in July?
1350 points.
Not a big enough game to justify the First Captain of the Legion being present. Thankfully Egghead Miniatures exist, a lovely little bits store that has bodies, arms and a really good selection of bits. One more Terminator body, a couple of bits pulled from half-started projects and I’ve got myself a nice little character in Terminator armour with a scythe and combi-melta to lead this burgeoning force.

What’s the Plan for July then?

Using the current rules set, inside the Reaping Rite of War

• Terminator Delegatus (named ‘Malic Varsha’)
• 1 Tactical Marine squad (10 models)
• 1 Heavy Weapons squad (10 models, all with missile launchers)
• 10 Grave Wardens
• 2 Dreadnoughts (‘box’-naughts with chain fist, dreadnought melee weapons and heavy flamers)

Compare that list to what I bought and that means I have models for roughly half the force in my grubby reptilian claws to get started with.

How much have you painted?

You might have noticed the images dotted throughout this post. But ‘fully’ painted:

• Terminator Character
• 10 Tactical Marines, Scythe given to Sergeant
• 5 Grave Wardens, one magnetised arm to swap between grenade launcher and heavy flamer

That just leaves 5 Grave Wardens (and Calas Typhon) from the starting point to put together, paint and base. Now I say ‘fully’ painted because there’s nearly always a minor touch-up that’s needed somewhere that I’ve missed. Plus weathering which I am going to be very wary of trying out. You can make some fantastic effects when done well, but you can just as easily make a mess.

What’s Next?

To get to what I need to have done by July I’ll have to buy the various missile launcher parts, another box of Mk4 Tactical Marines for the bodies and two dreadnoughts.
The Tactical marines and one of those dreadnoughts I should have in my clawed hands very shortly. The goal for April is painting the dreadnought, the remaining five Grave Wardens and maybe Calas Typhon as well. That leaves May and June to do the Missile launcher squad and one dreadnought.