Napalm's Ever-Belated Crusade

[Mmmmm Napalm]

Unfortunately I have not yet thought of a cool name for my crusade.

Black Templars were the army I chose when I first entered the hobby in the summer of 2016. At its height my army's size was pretty moderate, amounting to around 2000 points in total. I was far enough along, however, to be discouraged by the release of Primaris marines the following summer, and my painting progress ground to a halt. I have not played since 7th edition, and I only ever played around five, maybe six games to begin with.

It took me a while to accept Primaris. Not that I ever hated them (well, not the Tacticus guys at least), but the timing simply discouraged me. The lack of melee didn't help either. I put the Templars on the backburner. "Oh, I'll start an AdMech army too!" "Oh, I'll paint any Primaris I buy as Deathwatch, and keep my Templar force oldmarines-only." "Oh, the Emperor's Spears are getting a transfer sheet, that will be my Primaris chapter!" Then, the KT starter set released in August 2018, and I decided I would abandon the main game. I jumped from one KT idea to the next. AdMech, then Deathwatch, then Alpha Legion, then Iron Hands. I finally came to my senses a round a year ago, realizing I should've gone with Templars from the beginning as they were my first, and one true love in 40k... Then I was indecisive regarding the paint scheme. "How should I paint the Aquilas, the weapon casings? How should I base them?" The procrastination and indecisiveness continued*
After 9th edition and Indomitus were announced I decided that I would jump back into the main game, as the new minis were perfect for Templars, and at this point I have a sizeable primaris army. This is my current (built) inventory**:

HQs:

• Marshal Degwin - Terminator Marshal w/ Combi-Melta & Power Fist
• Marshal Alcuin - Indom. cpt w/ relic shield & MC Power Sword
• Chaplain Merovech? Mozgus? - Indom. Chaplain
• Castellan Segwall - Indom. Lt. w/ neo-volkite
• Primaris Castellan w/ Power Sword

Troops:

• 3x Auto Bolt Rifle Intercessor squads (5 men each; Sgts have chainswords)
• 2x Bolt Rifle Intercessor squads (5 men each; Sgts have PF)
• 5x Assault Intercessors (Plasma pistol sgt)
• 5x Assault Intercessors

Elites:

• Primaris Ancient
• Bladeguard Ancient
• Judiciar
• 1x Bladeguard Vet squad
• Primaris Apothecary
• Terminator squad (5 Terminators. They're from SM Heroes Series 2, so unfortunately I can't use both my Cyclone Missile guy and my Assault Cannon guy at the same time)
• Ven. Dreadnought w/ Lascannon & Heavy Flamer
• Ven. Dreadnought (unbuilt; I'm thinking Assault Cannon & Storm Bolter)
• Ironclad Dreadnought (unbuilt; Hurricane Bolter & Chainfist w/ H. Flamer or Melta? Should I give him Assault Launchers and/or Hunter Killer missiles?)
• Redemptor Dreadnought w/ Gatling Cannon and Stormbolters (haven't decided on secondary weapon)

Heavy Support:

• 3x Hellblaster squads (5 men each); 2 have normal Plasmaguns, 1 has the Assault variant
• 1x Eradicator squad
• Land Raider Crusader (this will ferry my Terminators about the battlefield whenever I field them)

Fast Attack:

• 1x Outrider squad

Dedicated Transport:

• Impulsor w/ shield dome

Kits I want to get in the future:

• Primaris Chaplain on Bike
• Primaris techmarine
• Gravis Cpt. w/ MC Heavy BR
• Multipart Assault Intercessors (1x-2x)
• Heavy Intercessors (I don't see myself getting more than 2 squads)
• Multipart bladeguard vets (2x)
• Gladiator repulsor tank (Will prob. build as long range Las variant)
• Storm Speeder (will prob. build as Melta variant)
• Firestrike turret? idk
• Multipart Outriders, whenever those come out

 

*Sept. 2020 update: ... have continued

** Updated with recent additions and wishlist

Edited September 27, 2020 by Mmmmm Napalm

[Mmmmm Napalm]

Aside from the upcoming starter set, the units I'm looking at right now are:

• an Ironclad Dreadnought (I just want a melee boxboy really)
• a Primaris Apothecary
• another transport option. This is the one I need the most, I know, but all of the Primaris transports are so damn expensive. If it weren't for this starter set coming out I likely wouldn't be returning to the main game.

What would you guys recommend, be it one of the above or something else?

 

EDIT: I caved and bought an Ironclad. Recommendations for my next unit - and I guess the Ironclade's loadout - are still appreciated lol

Edited June 2, 2020 by Mmmmm Napalm

[Mmmmm Napalm]

The starter set's opposing force being necrons is also excellent; I bought the Forgebane set and a box of Necron Warriors back in 2018 for my little brother and I to play with, as he really liked the look of the Necrons. Those units plus the upcoming set's contents will leave us with a moderately sized Necron army to face off against my Templars.

 

I've let him down these past few years; first I said we'd play with the Forgebane contents, but I never finished building the Necrons in the set. Then KT released, and he and I were both excited to play it together given the more feasible scale... and yet two years later I've never summoned the energy or focus to even finish a single roster. I show him pictures of new stuff but he has zero enthusiasm for it, and I think he doesn't believe I'll ever get around to completing a KT roster, let alone an army.

 

I don't know if this hobby is something he will enjoy. He's 16 and it shows; video games are pretty much his sole interest at the moment lol. Regardless of whether or not he'll enjoy throwing dice to determine the fates of little plastic spacemen, I want to show him I can deliver on my promises and actually follow through on something.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Mmmmm Napalm

[eternal_warrior12]

+1 for knowing to use Marshal designation. Welcome to the Crusade brother. Templars are a blast to play now and will only be getting better as the new edition is better known. And the Napalm Crusade sounds plenty menacing. Just my .02 imperial credits.

[Medjugorje]

yeah. Burn the heretics brother^^

[Mmmmm Napalm]

Should I give my Ironclad w/ H. Bolter and chainfist a heavy flamer or a meltagun? Also, should I give him HK missiles?

[Medjugorje]

in terms of style you should do what do you think look better. 

 

I would wait until start of 9th edition.

[Mmmmm Napalm]

I was lucky enough to nab a copy of Indomitus before they sold out, so I'll be picking up my box tomorrow and adding its contents to my Crusade.

 

As for other additions, I have added an Apothecary and a Redemptor Dreadnought. I have equipped the latter with a H. Gatling Cannon and Stormbolters, but am unsure if I should give him a H. Flamer or Gatling Cannon.

[Mmmmm Napalm]

So, it's been two months and... I haven't made any painting progress. School, work, and family matters have gotten in the way, in addition to a lack of space to paint (until last month I didn't have a desk, and painting outside of my room is out of the question), and my usual procrastination.

I have been thinking about my crusade's paint scheme a great deal, however. My initial plan was to have red weapon casings for initiates but I have recently decided to largely use black-metal instead; I want the Sword Brethren (in my case a bunch of Bladeguard vets, and my Castellans) to be the primary source of red, so as to make them "pop" when the army is viewed from above. That line of thought led me to decide that I will not be painting sergeants in the colors of the Sword Brethren. I had initially planned to do so, because I eschewed the notion of codex-adherent ranks. Sergeants are mentioned in some material - however - and who says I have to think of them as Sergeants and not simply the most senior initiates?

Finally, after considering the classic Blanche 3rd edition cover art, and some old white dwarf photos of BT minis, I've decided to add more individual variation to my dudes. I'll still be adhering to the canon heraldry/scheme, but I will be adding little touches to Marines here and there. Things like white helmets for one or two of the Sword Brethren (and white rebreathers for minis with those type of heads), checker patterns on pauldrons, and white or yellow boltgun casings, with a couple red ones here and there.

In regards to when I'm actually going to paint these guys, that's yet to be determined. I'm struggling to catch up in my studies after the death of a family member, so that will largely be occupying my time. When I do start, however, I think that it might be a quicker process than before; my uncle recently purchased an airbush and a compressor for me. I haven't received them yet, but when I do it will make priming and basecoating much more convenient. I still plan to do highlighting and details with a brush, though.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Mmmmm Napalm

[Mmmmm Napalm]

So, been a while since I updated this. Unfortunately... I haven't painted much at all since my last post. I've been busy finishing up my bachelors (currently, I'm attending another semester to improve my GPA so I can apply to graduate school). There has, however, been a breakthrough. I finally decided on a color for my Aquilas lol. I'm going with the brass used by Max Faleij  on the BT Bladeguard he painted when Indomitus launched. I've substituted Agrax for Wyldwood, but otherwise it's the same scheme. I was working on some test marines I primed ages ago, and I think it works pretty well. I just primed 5x of the Indomitus Assault Intercessors, and will be painting those over the next couple of weeks. The primer turned out a wee bit grainy, but it's not too big of a deal in the case of some basic infantry. In the future, that won't be an issue, as I'll be priming with an airbrush. 

 

When the BT release has occurred, I'll use them as additional Initiates in my crusader squads. While I'm annoyed it has taken me this long to get started, it's good that I'll be able to plan my force with the BT release in mind. I'm so happy that I'll be able to field a force that is accurate to the fluff in terms of organization and scale, like I always wanted.  As nice as the Primaris are in terms of scale, using standard troop units for Templars always felt a bit weird. Soon, that shall be rectified!

 

Edit: in progress of basecoating those Assault Intercessors; I'll post pictures when I have finished one!

Edited September 3, 2021 by Mmmmm Napalm