40k update

After running through my Deathwatch kill team and starting a post on all my other teams that I have plans for (it'll be up soon), I thought that I really should give an update for my 40k stuff. I haven't talked about 40k in a long time, apart from the games I played when I was hoping to get to the Northern Invasion Tournament. Unfortunately there have been a significant shift in my thinking I. Terms of 40k armies, one I'm not to happy about but I unfortunately don't really see another sensible option.

I'll start by talking through my guard armies, as these are my main armies. I currently have 3 armies, my Hjaltland Light Infantry, the Hrossey Armoured Yeomanry and the Dagr Ormr Militarum Tempestus force.  The Hjaltland Light Infantry force is pretty much complete, with only a few extra units that I need to paint up, a couple of heavy weapons squad and special.weapons squads. These shouldn't take much to finish, it's just a case of getting the time to do so. The second force, the Hrossey Armoured Yeomanry, is also complete, although far less finished. All the tanks are primed\based green and the troops are primed but there is still quite a bit of painting to do but it should be fairly easy as most of it is formed of vehicles. The final force is the scions of the Dagr Ormr. The scions are built but not primed or painted, except for a hand full of models. The scions only form part of this force though, the other being formed of the Hildasay PDF, of which all but two vets squads and a couple of characters are painted.  I would love to get all the models in my guard armies painted and I will one day, as these are going to be my main forces for the foreseeable future. I can't see the guard changing dramatically anytime soon and I'm sure all the models I have will remain current for quite a while too.

That fact may not have seem relevant a couple of years ago but with the changes to the space Marine line it has taken on a new meaning. I currently have 2 main space Marine armies, a small faction and was planning another smaller faction as well. These plans have now been shelved and all marine armies have been put on hold. Why you ask? There are a couple of reason for this move, the most obvious one is that they are comprised of old school mini Marines and it's pretty obvious that they are living on borrowed time. The only thing that's is keeping many units alive is that there is, as yet, no direct replacement for them in the primaris line up. This will change over the next couple of years, as more and more primaris units are created. My main focus has always been on my Eagle Knights (Blood Angels) and as such they actually have a 2000 point list of fully painted Marines but there are about 1000 points of unpainted models as well. I will paint these up in the future, to complete the force as I see it but there will be no hurry for this. The Dark Guardians (Dark Angels) are even less complete, as although the colour scheme is simple and pretty much all the models are based black, only about 3 or 4 models are completed. Formed entirely of Raven wing and Death wing units, they are again mini Marines and it's only a matter of time before they are replaced as well.

I have also  mentioned the second factor a couple of times above, the fact that these models are unpainted and I have moved a long way from playing with completely unpainted models and now like to have the majority of models painted, as it does look a lot better. As I mentioned before, I do want to have bother these armies full painted one day but at my current rate, that could be several decades away. It's a shame that I haven't gotten around to painting and playing with these armies more. I started with the Knights but never really got to grips with them, loosing all the games I played with them.

The other two armies I mentioned were my stone dragons (Space Wolves) and Deathwatch. The Stone Dragons were to be a small, around 1000 point, very elite army but I never got time to get them going, however, they will continue with two kill teams being formed out of the remnants, which will also provide a small force that could be used in 40k proper if I wished. This will probably be around 500 points, certainly not up to the 1000 point minimum I was planning. The Deathwatch are in a similar position, as I have a 25 Marines ready, primed and part painted for kill team, plus one venerable dread primed and based black ready for 40k. I also have a contemptor dread that was going to be used for the Stone Dragons that will most likely be used for Deathwatch now.

Although the forces of the Eagle Knights and Dark Guardians are going to be boxed up and put into storage, a select few will find themselves else where. Both forces have dispatched 10 man kill teams, based around the characteristics of the chapter. The Eagle Knights force includes lots of close combat weapons, including three with jump packs. There are only 2 weapons capable of firing more than 12 inches, in the form of two bolters. The Dark Guardians have 4 terminators and a number of company vets (armed with plasma) in the roster. These teams are, in general, based around combat and shooting respectively but there is also the two stone dragons teams, one of which is formed almost exclusively of scouts, 17 to be exact, with 3 full Marine mentors and a second team is formed mostly of elite units, with a lot of storm bolters and a mixed combat and shooting. The three teams will all operate in different ways, which I will go in to in another post.

I also had plans for an AdMech army, again only about 1000 points,with a knight, a couple of Armiger's and some Skitarii troops. As it stands I will just be using what I have, just the two Armiger's and the Skitarii I already have. I would live to own a knight or two, but I can't justify the cost nor do I have the time to really paint one up properly. The Skitarii are all painted and ready to use, I just need to paint up the tech priest Dominus to lead them.

In addition to all these I had considered other armies, such as grey knights and sisters of battle, both of which would have been around 1000 point armies, aimed to ally in with the guard or Eagle knights. Again, this idea has been down graded to kill teams with one command element to form a patrol detachment for 40k if I want to.

So where does this leave my 40k hobby? The guard will continue as is and be completed. The Dark Guardians and Eagle Knights will be boxed up and put into the loft. The Deathwatch will be completed to a small force around 500 points, as will the AdMech force but that's it. The other armies I had planned are also being shelved. This is not the final say though, there will be a revival of sorts for all the armies at some point in the future.

The Eagle Knights will be reborn when some proper combat units and death company units get released in the future. The whole army is based on fast moving, close combat units with vehicle borne support units. There are rumours of primaris combat units coming so we'll see what happens.

The Dark Guardians will have to wait for some heavy troops, Terminator equivalent, units with fast moving biker units in support. The army is supposed to revolve around the bikes providing mobile firepower while the terminators get stuck in to the main force. At the moment neither of these units exist for primaris Marines.

The Stone Dragons are supposed to be an elite mobile hunting force and are probably the only army that I can see moving forward at the moment, as the new vanguard units could work for my idea of a hunting force but I've no plans to start anything yet.

The Deathwatch will also get an update in due course as well but in what direction I don't know and only time will tell.

Another great wall wa text! I seem to be writing a few of these posts at the moment and there's a couple more to come as well, hopefully I'm not boring you all to death with my ramblings.