Project: Black Reach

[Bannus]

Project: Blackreach - Building A Budget Army

When the Black Reach set came out, many players saw it as an excellent base to build an army upon. The models looked pretty good and went together easily. As with the starter sets before it, it was limited in what you could do with it.....

....or was it?

For a number of reasons, I wanted to explore the possibilities that the Black Reach sets could provide.

Was it possible to build an army exclusively from Black Reach models? Could a player with a limited budget be able to build a 1750 point army for very little cash?

Could it be made more interesting visually using limited conversions that a beginning player would be able to do comfortably?

I wanted to see just how far the Black Reach Marines could go in terms of modeling and playing an army. Because I also wanted to see how user-friendly it would be to a new player, I will (try to) refrain from delving into my bitz boxes too much. If I do so, I will note it and - where possible - note what it would have cost to get from eBay.

Choosing an army

Step one of my project was to decide on which army to build. Naturally, it was going to based almost exclusively off of Tactical Squads, Terminator Squads and Dreadnoughts. A quick look at some of the IA content on GW's website led me to the Silver Skulls. The color scheme would be easy to execute and could be a bit fun. However, it would require some more advanced techniques to represent their markings and customizations - which could discourage a new player. Besides, GAR has an excellent thread on building a Silver Skulls army that incorperates a lot of Black Reach Marines anyway. So I looked at other options.

It didn't take me long to decide on building a Dark Angels army. There are a number of factors that led me to this:

1) I have always liked the Dark Angels (if it weren't for so many DA armies at the time, my 2nd edition army would have been Dark Angels) and their color scheme(s).

2) I wanted to build a more ornate army. My last two have been fairly no-nonsense in their appearance and wanted to represent one with a lot more 'bling'.

3) The DA Codex has slightly more expensive Tactical Squads - allowing me to reach my points goal for less money.

4) Belial will allow me to evenly distribute the Black Reach elements in the army without having to go for the expense of a Techmarine model for a Master of the Forge.

5) At the moment, there is a small surplus of DA bitz online allowing me to purchase them at lower cost - remember, this is a budget army. This includes valuable bitz for Terminators that could get very costly otherwise.


Playing around with the DA Codex and it didn't take long to come up with a list that was user-friendly to the Black Reach set:

HQ
Belial

Elites
Dreadnought w/multi-melta and storm bolter

Dreadnought w/multi-melta and storm bolter

Troops
Deathwing Terminator Squad w/assault cannon

Deathwing Terminator Squad w/assault cannon

Deathwing Terminator Squad w/assault cannon

Tactical Squad with plasma gun and missile launcher; Sergeant armed w/power sword and plasma pistol

Tactical Squad with plasma gun and missile launcher; Sergeant armed w/power sword and plasma pistol

Tactical Squad with flamer and missile launcher; Sergeant armed w/power sword


This comes out to exactly 1750 points and can be largely built using three complete sets of Black Reach Marines.

Initial purchases

To start my DA army, I obviously needed to get some models and get them cheap. I started off with trying to aquire two complete sets of Black Reach minis, two complete DA upgrade sprues and two complete Ravenwing sprues - for which I went to eBay:

2 Complete sets of Space Marines from the Assault on Black Reach set - $36

2 Complete Ravenwing sprues - $10

2 Partial Dark Angels Chapter upgrade sprues - $16

Total so far (less S&H): $62

It seems that the DA robes are in really high demand and considerably raise the bidding for the Chapter upgrades above what I was trying to budget. However, I did find two sprues (less the robed elements) on eBay that no one wanted to touch. As my army was based on the quick assembly Black Reach Marines, this didn't seem like a big deal. Still, I had a solid foundation to begin building my army.....

[Bannus]

First builds

I had seen the Black Reach Dreadnought and was fascinated by how good it looked for such a simple construct.

This made it my first project for my DA army.

I assembled it pretty much stock except for drilling out barrels and stacks. This very inexpensive and easy adaption that can add a lot to the appearance of a model.



I didn't like the way the middle of the DCCW looked. It seemed.....unfinished. So I made my first raid on my bitx box (that didn't last long) and requisitioned a wheel hub from the a bike wheel to give it a finished look. So one small cheat so far....



I added a few more DA icons from the Ravenwing sprues to bling it up as well:








No matter how I tried to mount it, the "banner top" seemed to look out of place. It kept looked like a tiara to me, so I removed it. Maybe I'll get a back banner for it at a later time.

I also got started on one of the Tactical Squads. As the Dark Angels have a fondness for plasma weapons, I decided to incorperate a few into the squads. By trimming the hands from the DA Chapter upgrade sprue and a few small purchases from a bitz store online, I was able to adapt the weapon to the Black Reach sets. This is a very simple and easy conversion for a beginner.

Of course I needed the plasma weapons, so I ordered them along with a few Termnator bitz that I needed - $16.

Glue one hand to the weapon and the other to the body; let them set and glue together later.

[shinigami]

NICE!!! Can't wait to see the development of this project!

[Bannus]

More work on the Tactical Squads

I continued to plug away at the Tactical Squads to see what I could do with them. In particular, I wanted to see if I could make the two Sergeants I have look different. Again, I limited myself to fairly basic conversions to see what I could come up with:



The first Sergant was given a few basic DA elements: A banner and a power sword/shoulderpad (all courtesy of the DA upgrade sprue), while the second was given a bit more. I removed the pointing hand and replaced with a sword from the Ravenwing sprue and replaced the original right arm with one holding a plasma pistol. I could have made a Sergeant "from scratch" with just a few bitz added to what I already had accumulated (a set of legs and a torso back), but chose not to because I wanted to see what could be done just with the Black Reach Marines. There isn't a whole lot you can do with these without getting into some serious cutting and shaping, but this just gives a bit of an idea of what you can do on a limited budget.

A note on the Tactical Squads: Yes, they do have the single vertical arrow for their tactical symbols. I have made no plans to shave them off for more "authentic" iconography. This is to make a point - it is OK to make changes. It is your army after all.

For each Marine, I tried to add at least one DA bit - be it a backpack or belt pouch/etc. This will help to transform the squad and - by using the bitz a little differently from squad to squad - give each one a bit of individuality. Each of the Chapter upgrade sprues come with two banners - so I decided to use them both (more 'bling', remember). Some of you "old guard" may remember that back in 2nd edition, the Sergeant AND the Squad leader each had a banner - so I ressurected the tradition for this army:





To make the missile launcher Marine look a bit different, I left his larger backpack off and raided my bitz box for a few extra missiles instead. This frees up the backpack for other projects and make the Black Reach Marine look a bit different from what we are used to.

[Bannus]

No Plan Survives.....

...contact with the enemy.

One thing you can always count on is missed opportunities with eBay. Not three weeks after I had purchased my Chapter upgrade sprues, someone puts three of them for sale with "Buy It Now" option of only $9....including the robed elements!. I needed one more to finish my army, so I snagged one of them. I was tempted to get the other two as well and just "fudge" my numbers, but decided that this would be better to show how you can adapt as you move forward. I also managed to pick up the last set of Marines I needed for $20.50.

New total: $107.50.

A little over budget so far. But when I decided to incorperate a lot of DA bitz, I knew I was going to do that anyway.

With these last elements, I will be incorperating some robed Marines into one of my squads.

Meanwhile, here are some Terminators:









Not a whole lot there. I blinged up the Sergeant with a few DA bitz (in fact I blinged him up so much, I had to tame it down so I could do Belial later) and a Terminator backbanner (one of my bitz store purchases I mentioned earlier).

Instead of glueing the assault cannon arm on (as I did with the Sergeant's upgrades), I decided to drill a whole in the assault cannon arm so I can swap it out in the future if I needed to. As with the Tactical Marines, each Terminator also incorporates one DA-specific element.

[cricketofdeth]

This is a great idea, I did the same thing for my Crimson fists. I even managed to get the tac guys to hold plasma cannons, and the PC backpack from the DEV sprue. Though it was a pain to get the cables to line up.

Keep up the good work.

[El-Diablo]

Pretty inspirational project Bannus, im very tempted to have a go myself to see what it would cost this side of the pond.

 

I did have a thought about the robed marines you might be interested in - use one of the Black Reach commanders as a Librarian and the robed bodies to make up a command or vet squad to join him. Should push it to around 2000pts without much work.

[Bannus]

I did have a thought about the robed marines you might be interested in - use one of the Black Reach commanders as a Librarian and the robed bodies to make up a command or vet squad to join him. Should push it to around 2000pts without much work.

Tempt me with the forbidden fruit, will ya? :)

 

An interesting idea to say the least, but I have already set my list for the 1750 point range (1750 and 1850 point armies are the norm around here).

[sgtNACHO]

Very interesting... I forgot how easy it is to get the AoBR Marines via Ebay.... I shall be watching your efforts with close inspection.

 

Do not fail me, Bannus!

 

Good luck :)

[El-Diablo]

An interesting idea to say the least, but I have already set my list for the 1750 point range (1750 and 1850 point armies are the norm around here).

 

I forgot our brothers in the US play funny size points. :)

 

What did you have in mind for the other 100?

[Bannus]

What did you have in mind for the other 100?

I have a number of ideas I'm toying with:

 

1) Add another Dread and drop the Assault cannon from one of the Terminator Squads

 

2) Add a Librarian (converted from the Captain mini)

 

5) With the extra bodies, I can add a 5-man Combat Squad to fill the remaining points.

 

But I'm working on the first 1750 points.

[pingo]

Very good work indeed. I want to convert my Black Reach marines (hell, I'd convert my own grandmother if I had the chance :S), so this has given me some ideas and inspiration. I particularly like your work on the sergeants.

 

Might the lack of transports pose a problem for you in games? I guess you can pick up Rhinos on ebay ok though should you want to do that.

[Bannus]

Might the lack of transports pose a problem for you in games? I guess you can pick up Rhinos on ebay ok though should you want to do that.

I expect it will, but Deep Striking the Terminators should help.

 

If I can pick them up cheap enough (I'm already $7 over budget :) ), a pair of Rhinos could fill out that last 100 points quite nicely.

[pingo]

If I can pick them up cheap enough (I'm already $7 over budget :D ), a pair of Rhinos could fill out that last 100 points quite nicely.

 

That's what I was thinking. Hey, if you can get Razorbacks then you can set up the turret so you can take it off to use as a Rhino :D

 

I tend to find budgets go rapidly out the window in the hobby ;)

[Warhorse47]

Very nice project and very well executed!

[Tyrannicide]

Bandwidth exceeded. ARGH!!! ;)

 

I do recall viewing the pictures earlier though, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the army's development.

[Ferrus Manus]

Ah the curse of Photobucket...

 

Still its an interesting idea, I'll be looking forward to see how the army ends up.

[Bannus]

OK, I copied all of the photos into a B&C gallery to prevent further bandwidth issues.

 

Sorry, I didn't realize this project would attract this much attention!

 

Thanks for looking and keeping up with the progress.

[Skoby]

Wow great project. I was reading through looking at the budget and thinking "hmm not bad" the fact it was in $ not £ escaped me until the end, I cant believe you can get a full army for that price! Now you've gone and tempted me to try this, despite my Iron Hands not even being half finished :D I just hope theres not a huge demand for AoBR sets now so the price doesn't go up by the time I get round to doing it ;)

[lhg033]

nice project.

 

trying to decide what to go with for my aobr marines (and the my extra ebay set)

 

already have a DA army so was thinking a succesor chapter or a BA succesor - you sir have made me lean havily in favor of the first of these options as i already have loads of spare bits.

 

as an aside - you could try adding a robed torso to the front of a termy to give a nice conversion - termy sergeant will be easies tot use as you need to pinch the arch part behind his head. needs a little gap filling but nothing special.

[ShinyRhino]

Bravo! I really like this project, and applaud your thrift. Looks like a nice, basic, and fun list to play.

[Swordbrother]

I love this project and thread already! ;)

 

the Aobr terminators with a few extra DW bits certainly looks just as good as their 50 dollar brothers. They have one problem though: the sergeant head. 3 of the same head on all seargeants will look odd! May i suggest putting the seargent head not on the seargeant body 3 times. Mix it upp, one of the bare heads with a normal sb guy and maybe one with the assault cannon. This will keep the force from looking like 3 cloned squads.

 

I am also doing a deathwing only with aobr terminators and dreads and we could certainly help each other out!

 

 

Anyhow good luck with this project, I'll be waiting eagerly for updates!

[Bannus]

They have one problem though: the sergeant head. 3 of the same head on all seargeants will look odd! May i suggest putting the seargent head not on the seargeant body 3 times. Mix it upp, one of the bare heads with a normal sb guy and maybe one with the assault cannon. This will keep the force from looking like 3 cloned squads.

That is what those extra bitz I ordered are for. ;)

 

I'm hoping to at least have the Sergeant for the second Terminator Squad done by this weekend so you can see what I'm doing with them. :D

 

I am also doing a deathwing only with aobr terminators and dreads and we could certainly help each other out!

 

 

Anyhow good luck with this project, I'll be waiting eagerly for updates!

I'm already plugging away at the second Tactical Squad and hope to have pics of them up by this weekend.

 

as an aside - you could try adding a robed torso to the front of a termy to give a nice conversion - termy sergeant will be easies tot use as you need to pinch the arch part behind his head. needs a little gap filling but nothing special.

I could do that - but I want to limit the conversions to only the most basic that someone new to the hobby would be willing to attempt. That may go a bit beyond the scope of what I'm trying to accomplish.

 

Besides, I have the main bodies already put together........

[Bannus]

"Project: Blackreach" is still rolling along pretty well. This past weekend I managed to finish the second Tactical Squad.

Tactical Squad 2

I was a bit eager to see how the robed Marines would mesh with the Black Reach ones, so they received the attention this weekend. This goes to show how adding just a few outside elements can really change the relative appearance of identical kits.

Here are the robed Marines. I needed some black shoulderpads, so instead of raiding my bitzbox, I purchased them online for $1.25 for 12. While I used bases from my bitzbox, I could very well have adapted the slottabases from the Blackreach set with little issue - so I consider that change as a "freebee".

:P

As you can see, they mesh in with the Blackreach ones quite well - especially when they have been "blinged" a bit with the other Dark Angels' accessories.

I forgot to mention that the pins on the back of the Blackreach Marines are slightly higher than the pegs on the normal Marines. So if you wish to substitute backpacks, you need to clip off that peg or it will not align properly:

[TheOtakuGundam]

interesting way to build an army. The simple yet effective conversions are a stroke of genius.