Newb idea for fun army

[LucidNinja]

Alright so my daughter has been painting on and (mainly) off some gold and red marines, she has a heap of old models plus access to a bunch of mk3 and mk4 marines I can't see me using any time soon. I also have an unopened space hulk box that she could have the terminators from. With the new codex coming out I was thinking of getting her to play these as "blood angels" and helping her to get some models that are more chapter specific.

With the new rules around I think she'd be pretty keen on adding some dreadnoughts (who doesn't like big boxes of death) and was wondering how viable an army would be mainly built around:

2 librarian dreadnoughts

1 JP chaplain

15 DC

1 Furioso dreadnought

1 DC dreadnought

And the terminators from the hulk box.

 

Just wanting some opinions on viability and how to load out these things. This would just mean getting a chapter ancients set and a DC strike force.

Cheers!

[Panzer]

Depends on how competetive your meta is. It definitely seems like a fun list, however it would have a huge problem with bubble wrapping opponents and lascannon spam.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Also, how do you plan to build your force (in terms of adhering to a detachment). You've got 3 HQ's there and 4 Elites (or more, depending on how many Termies you have).  That makes for a tricky battle-forged force. 

[LucidNinja]

Sorry as stated this is where I want help, the meta will most likely be games against me or very friendly games at the local shop.

The terminators in the space hulk set seem good for a squad, a terminator captain and a terminator librarian. Was thinking of maybe a vanguard and supreme command detachment? Again mainly for fun.

[Xenith]

So that's 3hq and 5 elites choices. It's a start, but your army will not be tactically flexible.

 

That said, it's her army and should be made from the units she likes the most. In those terms it's fine.

 

You can organise those into the elite heavy force org chart from the rulebook to get some bonus command points, but at this stage I'd just match power levels and give each player 10 command points.

 

Edit:

Depending on how much you care, you have two options:

1) space hulk is a great game, open it, paint the models, play it

2) keep it unopened. It's probably worth up to £110 - £150 now, sell it and buy more models with it. You can get 10 BA terminators for £70 leaving you £70 for other stuff.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Xenith

[9x19 Parabellum]

Lucid, how old is your daughter?  I ask as way to somewhat-guage the detail/focus/strategy of the game.

 

personal story: I was playing at my FLGS on Saturday, when a 10 year old kid came in who has been hanging around the store lately.  he's got some medical issues, and all the guys have kind of adopted him as our kid brother (most of the 40k regulars are late 20's to early 40's).  Now I don't have any kids myself, but I offered to play him to help teach him the game, and of course he pounced on the chance to play with one of the 'big boys'.  On the 1st turn, I was carefully explaining to him everything; command points, captain aura (he plays vanilla marines), the move penalty for heavy weapons, removing casualties....everything.  By the end of turn 1, I could see his eyes glazing over and he was losing his interest and attention span.  So by turn 2 I was just like "who are you going to shoot sal? OK! Roll 10 dice, hitting on 3's! Ok roll 7 dice, wounding on 4's"

 

My point here is only this: depending on the age and overall interest level of your kid, I would tailor my advice as to your army building based on that.

[LucidNinja]

She is 8, very clever for an 8 year old and likes to do stuff with me in general. It will mostly come down to being models that she likes but I'll advise her towards things that work I suppose. I started the hobby when I was 10 and I remember how annoying it was to loose almost every game because I didn't know what worked well. I still had fun but at that age I remember being dissapointed that the models I had saved up for and bought with pocket money had not been ideal.

Thanks for the advice everyone

[9x19 Parabellum]

Ok cool.  So if you think she'll be interested in playing the actual way (ie, matched play), I'd start with this:

 

You have the beginning of a good Vanguard Detachment (1 HQ and 3 Elites minimum).  Now I don't know what point level you would be playing at, but a good 1000 pt. list could be something like:

 

1 Libby Dreadnought (~175 pts)

1 Lemartes (~125)  (use your JP chaplain as proxy)

 

10 Death Company with bolters and chainswords (~200

5 Termies with Assault Cannon (~225)

5 Termies with Heavy flamer(~225)

 

That gives you 4 Command Points so you can use a couple of the special BA stratagems when our codex comes out.  She learns the pyschic phase, melee phase and has some shooting from the Termies.

 

Obviously this is a small elite force, so if you want to do more stuff she'll need to branch out from here with scouts or Tacs, but for casual play this is a fun 1,000 pts that introduces her to all phases of the game (move, pyschic, shoot, fight) and all model types (except bikes) and you wouldn't have to spend any more money than you already have.

[Xenith]

Disagree with matched play being the actual way to play, but agree with Terminators being a good start. Not too many models, good chunk of firepower, different deployment options.

 

Next could be a Terminator librarian, or Terminator standard bearer.

[Pendent]

Narrative play using  power levels is like designed for playing with your kiddo. Definitely the way I'd go.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Disagree with matched play being the actual way to play, but agree with Terminators being a good start

...

 

Sorry Xenith, you're right, I didn't mean to sound elitist.

 

What I meant (both to you and Lucid Ninja), was that since he (Lucid Ninja) came to the forums asking for some guidance, and since he indicated his daughter might play friendly games at the FLGS, I figured might as well start showing him (and her) the way to build a matched play force, mostly so he doesn't unnecessarily spend money.  If he wants to just give his daughter a bunch of blood angel models and say "let's play!" (points/power be damned) he doesn't need us to tell him which or what models to buy, or how to outfit them.

 

If LucidNinja at least (not necessarily his daughter) buys/build models with an eye towards matched play/points/force org, he won't have to clear that hurdle later on.  At the very least, it won't take him by surprise.

Edited December 5, 2017 by 9x19 Parabellum

[Xenith]

It's good to keep an eye on the future for sure.

 

The rulebooks really spell out that there is no right or wrong way to build an army. You can literally take any models you want and use them in a game. If all your models are from the same army, then you get some bonuses, as defined in the codex. If all your models fit into one of the 14 force org charts, then you get more bonuses, however these are still optional.

 

If you want to play in gaming groups, then a more structured format is advised, to standardise games between players. Then it's useful to either play by power level or points. Power levels make it pretty easy to throw an army together on the spot, and nobody worth playing is going to take a super nasty army against an 8 year old kid. 

[LucidNinja]

Thanks for the help guys, with arming DC it looks like bolters with chainswords for the majority and then a couple of hammers and a couple of power swords. Let's say in a squad of 15, 2 hammers 3 swords, would you do any of the special pistols?

[tychobi]

My only suggestion is to go with sang guard over death co.  Having no 1 wound infantry to eat enemy small arms fire gives you opponent worse target options.  Fun list I love me some dreads myself!  Squeeze a storm raven in there to fly them where they need to go!