I want to get into 30k...

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Games Workshop have finally done it! After about 3 years of being very tempted to start a 30k army, and having been put off by the high costs whilst I'm at uni, I have finally been convinced to take the plunge with the new Betrayal at Calth set.

 

Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines have been my main 40k army ever since I started playing 40k about 4 years ago. They are my favourite legion, and I am certain I want to build them in a 30k setting too - I'm hoping to recreate some of my 40k Characters in 30k too as like a cross over origin story type thing. I also know I want this army to be set at Calth: meaning red armour, and a more Chaos feel to them. Only problem is, I do not have a clue about what works in 30k...

 

My mate has lent me his Horus Heresy books for a few months whilst he is taking a break from the game and it appears that Book 1 and 5 are the ones I need to read for the Legion list and Word Bearer specifics.

 

The way you select an army is all pretty straight forward as it essentially mirrors 40k, however there are obviously some pretty clear differences when it comes to what I can choose and what they can be armed with. As I only have the books for a limited period of time, I was hoping to get a few list drawn up and ready before the release so I can collect to my plan and avoid going overboard with the FW spending as I'll still want upgrade sprues, a few torsos, Characters and Legion specific units etc.

 

This will obviously be based around the Betrayal at Calth set at first, with more stuff added in at a later date. Having seen the sprues now, and having a good idea what options are available when building the kits, I have had a few ideas floating around on how to start but just cannot decide so was hoping if I run through a few here it will help me decide either way.

 

Thanks a lot! :D

 

 

 

The first thing I am stuck on is what the core of my army will be - essentially, how will I equip my compulsory Word Bearers Chaplain and the 30 Tactical Marines in the Calth set.

 

Currently I have 3 thoughts for the 30 Marines...

 

1. 2x15 Man Legion Tactical Squads - They will all have Additional Combat Weapons and the units will have a Nuncio-Vox and Legion Vexilla each.

If I run it like this I'll have the Chaplain in one and probably Erebus in the other.

 

2. 2x10 Man Legion Tactical Squads and 1x10 Man Legion Veteran Squad - As above, the Tactical Squads will get Additional Combat Weapons, a Nuncio-Vox, and a Legion Vexilla. The Veteran Squad (using FW Word Bearers torsos and heads to make them stand out) will have 2 Plasma Guns, and a Combi-Plasma and Power Sword on the Sergeant. They will also get a Vox and Vexilla as this seems like a good thing to have on most infantry units.

In this set up, the 2 Tactical Squads will run on their own, whilst the Chaplain will join the Veteran Squad to give them Zealot. Furthermore, as I intend to use the Word Bearers Rite of War The Dark Brethren, the Chaplain will gain (Preferred Enemy: Loyalists) which when conferred to my Veteran Squad essentially negates the worry of Gets Hot.

 

3. 3x10 Man Legion Tactical Squads. 2 Equipped as option 1. The third swaps bolters for Chainswords and acts as a dedicated CC unit which the Chaplain joins. This is my least favourite of the 3.

 

It is pretty much a decision between options 1 and 2 to be honest, as 3 only made it as it was an additional thought (unless there is a decent argument for this option). Eventually (once they release individual Legion Tactical Squad boxes that is) I'll add one more set of 10 taking it up to 40 marines total meaning I can have 2x15 Tactical Squads and 1x10 Veteran Squad.

 

So pretty much my question is; as a starting force for 30k, is it more important to have bigger Tactical Squads, or my tooled up Veteran Squad?

 

 

As for the Chaplain's loadout, I'm thinking Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs, and a Refractor Field. Plus a Combi-Plasma as regardless of if I start with option 1 or 2, he will eventually end up in a Veteran Squad so that extra Plasma Shot will be handy and the Plasma Pistol that comes on the model is going as I'm not a fan of the weapon.

 

 

I'll add thoughts for the rest of the set later when I have debated it a bit more - but any suggestions in advance would be great! :D

 

 

 

[RandomMarine]

The contents of the box is a solid start I'd get 2 to start u off as 2 boxes would be a solid base

[Athrawes]

In 30k, 10 man tactical squads are viable in a pinch if you want a mobile army in Drop pods or rhinos, but tbh, they don't have the firepower to damage most of what they will be facing (even with Fury of The Legion), and they definitely don'y have the bodies to survive all the ap3 templates that will be dropped on them. I actually like 15 man squads myself. they are more survivable than 10 but not as unwieldy as 20 man squads.

 

Also, if you only use 10 mans squads you are paying a premium for each marine. The larger the squad the cheaper it gets per marine. for example, 20 marine squad costs less than 2 10 marine squads.

 

So long story short, IMO, Bigger squads are the safer bet to start with.

[helterskelter]

Also if you catch a glimpse of battle reports knocking about, you will see things escalate quickly, so Anthrawes suggestion of 15 is pretty sound. Things are gonna be coming hard and fast be they drop pod, spartan or other things, 15 won't die as quick and also won't have quite as big a footprint that you can't hide behind something reasonably spaced to avoid 5" blast + shenanigans

[Luna707]

If you go with the two 15 man sized squads then you could use just the box for your army as you would have your two compulsory troop choices. Alternitively you could run with two ten man veteran squads and a single 10 man support squad utilizing pride of the legion to make it legal. From here you could put the veterans in rhinos and the cataphractii in a land raider (I'm sure you have one already albeit a chaosy one, with the chaplain or the cataphractii praetor model the box comes with riding along) to make a mobile close combat oriented force. I don't know how effective that last list but it sure sounds fun to me!

[Luna707]

Also if you went with auto cannons on a heavy support squad running with the veterans you wouldn't even have to buy new arms! Just the weapons! Oh my god this box set is getting me so excited

[Frater Cornelius]

Well, everyone already beat me to it. Only thing I can add is to welcome you to the Heresy ;)

[DarkApostle7]

Im just glad that theres another player that brings the truth to the misguided loyalists in both 30k and 40k :)

[Theredknight]

No ones mentioned the obligatory apothecary for the 15 man squad?! It's a standard number, not to unwieldy on the battlefield. It depends on your style tbh. You'll want ghal vorbak and other goodies In there.

Try them out and see, it's the only real way.

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Been really helpful and it appears to have solved my starting force question - looks like the 2x15 it is!

I'll now try and answer you all personally too.

RandomMarine - I would love 2 boxes! But unfortunately it will have to be just the one at least until after Christmas as £95 (if that's accurate) is fine, but almost £200, not right now. Plus, if I am honest, I wont need multiples of a lot of the stuff such as the Characters, and Contemptor. I already have an unbuilt Word Bearers Contemptor that will finally get built (and one already built but that's for 40k) plus the plastic one so I think 2 might be enough for now. Saying that though, I wouldn't say no to twice as many Marines and Terminators so if I can sell the spares off to make some money back that could be a good move.

Athrawes - Got to say I agree in principle with you on the large squads. Perk of being a 40k CSM player, all my squads are 15 strong so it is good to hear this carries over to 30k. Plus I'm not a transport/drop-pod fan at all, much prefer the massed infantry approach, which is very fitting of Word Bearers too.

helterskelter - You and Athrawes have convinced me. I think the 2x15 is the best start and my Veteran Tactical Squad can come at a later stage.

Luna707 - Nice suggestion with the Pride of the Legion Rite there, but I think the 2x15 is the way to go for me. Much prefer the massed infantry to tanks, and I was keen to run the Word Bearer specific Rite as I feel it gives a nice theme to the force and I wouldn't say no to adding my Daemons in future.

Me too!! I think this is the most excited I have been about a release in years (ad-mech was pretty close though) - and unless they release the new 40k Chaos Codex soon I can't see it getting topped!

Immersturm - Thank you for the welcome!

DarkApostle7 - As am I brother!! Always good to see a fellow member of the XVIIth!

Theredknight - Funny you should mention apothecaries actually. Was just putting a few list together and (at 1500 points at least) my current favourite list included 2 Apothecaries, one for each 15 man unit, and a unit of Gal Vorbak (these are almost compulsory choices for me in a Calth themed Word Bearers army) with the Chaplain.

Large infantry units are definitely my style to be honest, and as soon as the 14th drops I'll be able to play around as I build them.

[ThatOneMarshal]

Also if I remeber correctly, the Word Bearers prefer to have big squads of marines because of their great leadership. Also how do you feel about using daemons in your army? There's a couple of ways if getting them as allies for your army and are a great point filler while your building your force. Also do you have any possessed? I heard their quite good for word bearers.

 

Welcome to the heresy! I as well will most likely be joining due to the new box set.

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

ThatOneMarshall - Definitely, both rules and fluff wise which is great for me as I like a nice balance of both when building an army as I really like the background and showing it when I play.

I already have a pretty sizeable 40k Daemons force I use alongside my CSM so they will definitely be making it into some larger lists. One of the reasons I like the look of the Word Bearer Rite of War too. Was thinking of having a 1500/2000 point Marine force start with, with 1000 points of Daemons I can add to bring the total up to 2500/3000 as I get more used to 30k games.

I have some 40k Possessed, although the Gal Vorbak are their 30k equivalent and are much nicer models. You appear to be correct about them being good too, I hear very good things so I'll be getting some of those (plus they were at Calth so fit my theme) after the starter set.

 

Thank you! And welcome to you in that case too. The box will be great!

 

 

+++ I'll just add this on here instead of double posting +++

 

Now that my 30 Marines in the set are accounted for, and the Chaplain has a use, I guess my next question is about the Catapractii Terminators and Praetor.

 

How would you guys run these? The options in the box are:

 

Combi-Melta and Chainfist for the Praetor, and the Terminator sprues have options for 5 pairs of Lightning Claws, 5 Combi-Bolters, 5 Power Fists, 5 Chainfists, a Power Sword, and a Heavy Flamer. However these options are not exclusive so whe making suggestions assume a reasonable level of skill in converting plastic figures (so the Praetor can be edited) and I own a few spare Chaos Terminator Reaper Autocannons which can be used on the Catapractii Squad so that is also an option, plus any spare Combi-Weapon bits on the Tactical Sprues which could be combined with the Terminator Combi-Bolters.

Currently I'm leaning towards Lightning Claws on the squad, but kind of stuck on the Praetor...

 

*Not s​ure what caused the random font change! Just copied this from a word document of questions I have and can't seem to get it to match the rest...

​

[Brother Dallo]

My understanding is that you want power axes and mauls on terminators with a power/chain fist sprinkled in for anti tank. If you have spare chaos terminator arms, it should be a reasonably straight forward conversion to replace the shoulder with cataphractii pads. I've yet to actually play 30k so YMMV, but that's what B&C has lead me to believe. Oh, and maybe a plasma blaster or six.

 

Dallo

[Theredknight]

I don't tend to bother with reapers, they aren't all that, plasma blasters are pretty nifty though.

I put 1 chain, I powerfist and the rest axes

The plasma blaster, and 2/3 combi plasma. Your usually going to aim these at infabtry. If not then drop the blaster and go all combir melta.

[RandomMarine]

If going anti meq then single lightining claw and combi bolter and 1 heavy flamer, anti teq combined bolter and 3fists . Chain fists, pure cc in landraider the all claws

 

The would be my builds from the sprue if I was just starting out. But as I'm adding to a existing squad so 1 HF & PF,2 CB & PF, 2 CB & CF

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Brother Dallo, Theredknight + RandomMarine - Thanks for all your help and input so far, been really helpful and given me a lot to think about. The Terminator sprue looks amazing, were there not so many options it would be a much easier decision! I guess I'll just have to wait and see how easy it would be to convert the bolters to combi-weapons and fists etc to power weapons. Then when I know my full range of options I can decide what I think looks best.

 

To be honest, I think I'm pretty set for how I'm going to use this box now (apart from the Terminators which I need to see in person before I know how I could convert them.

 

I guess there is just one more thing I would ask equipment wise:

 

I own a Word Bearers Contemptor already which would be perfect for this army (at least more suited than the plain, plastic one). He already has a Plasma Cannon, so I definitely want to give him that but need to buy his left arm still. I'm going to want a close combat weapon, but not sure how to equip the built in gun - Plasma Blaster, or is that too much potential Gets Hot? What does a Graviton Gun do, is it like a 40k Grav-Gun?

 

 

*One other question I thought of actually! Nuncio-Vox's, are they actually worth it? I originally planned to give most squads these as they stop friendly deep strike scatter so figured I could use these to get perfect Deep Strike on all my Daemon allies. Is this the case though? I would argue yes, as it only says friendly units with Deep Strike, which Daemons would be being Battle Brothers (or whatever the 30k term is) but I'm kind of doubting if this is what was intended as you couldn't just dial up some Daemons and let them know it's okay to appear nearby - I just couldn't find anything in Book 1 that said I couldn't use these to help Daemons so thought I would check.

 

If they can't, then they are basically pointless in my army so those 10 points per squad would be better spent giving the Sergeants Artificer Armour - would you agree? Or perhaps you would say this no matter what and the Vox's should go anyway, or I should be taking both Vox and Artificer Armour?

 

Thanks again :)

[Theredknight]

Nuncio voxs.

If you are using any barrage weapons (quad mortars/cheesewind) then they are worth it for the line of sight and addition of ballistic skill.

The amount of times my whirlwind has not scattered due to this is a lot!

I'm pretty sure there is a non scatter deep strike rule as well though?

[SkimaskMohawk]

If you want to run the rite of war, I'd suggest erebus for sure (use a counts as if you don't like the model) as he counts for 2 of the 3 HQ requirements (master of the legion and diabololist as well as being a chaplain so you can choose anything else as your second HQ). However, the rite doesn't really do much if you're not taking daemon allies (an erebus enables that already) as it restricts part of your foc and doesn't really do anything else