The Last Army I'll Ever Do (and other things)

[Calibanite Knight Angel]

Today I wish to talk about theming (don't worry there will be an actual update with painted space marines in the near future). My Minotaurs army is themed around the Orphean War, as is my Krieg Army. I am a big fan of this campaign - and I very much approach my models these days with the perspective of a historical wargamer, keen to recreate that specific campaign. That's why (as I may have mentioned previously) I am going to have my Minotaurs, Krieg, Necromundans, and Ordo Xenos Inquisitors all collected and painted up to be themed around the conflict (I also have plans for a Necron army to act as an OpFor, and to build a large terrain collection themed around all the different warzones).

 

Since my army is themed around the conflict, that makes Sergeant Kraatos right at home leading his Devastator Squad. And Sergeant Thoul leading his Vanguard Veteran Squad. But what if there was a way to modularly make my Orphean War-themed Minotaurs army a Badab War-themed Minotaurs army?

 

Well, firstly, Kraatos wouldn't be around then. And Thoul would be a Sternguard Veteran Squad Sergeant rather than a Vanguard Veteran Squad Sergeant. As such, I fully intend to have an alternate Devastator Sergeant and Vanguard Veteran Sergeant for when my army is representing the Minotaurs during the Badab War. Since I also want to add a Sternguard Veteran Squad to my army regardless, I will have Thoul leading the squad when it is themed around the Badab War, and can swap him out with another Sergeant to suddenly theme the squad around the Orphean War. It's the little details like this that really aren't for anyone else - but rather are for me, as I'm passionate about theming my army around specific campaigns in a way that *feels* true and authentic to me.

 

It is also why I am going to avoid any bodies/army-related debris on the bases. This way, the Minotaurs could be fighting against/alongside any army. This means my Librarian will need to lose the lasgun on his base (easy fix). Fortunately, the Badab War and Orphean War are both big enough, with a diverse enough range of battlefields, that the rock-themed bases of my Imperial forces would fit in fine with the theme - its not like those conflicts were restricted to one environment.

 

Stay tuned for more Minotaurs coming soon.

 

 

Now onto the second thing I wanted to discuss today.

 

 

I'm a really big fan of this book. I love it. I remember being engrossed in the lore when I found it in a second-hand bookshop when I was around 10, and my appreciation of it has only grown since. It has inspired my imagination and desire to collect themed forces these last few years in a way that I don't think any other non-Imperial Armour/Horus Heresy-related book has. And looking at how it sets up a *massive* scale war, then leaves it to the players to resolve? There's actually a lot of similarities there between IA 12: The Fall of Orpheus and this.

 

There is also the appeal of, for many years, this could be considered the end point of 40k chronology. It is the big finale, the 13th Black Crusade could see the doom of the Imperium and the ultimate victory of Chaos. EVERYTHING is at stake. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of their do-over of this at the end of 7th (to each their own, I know a lot of people love that version, which is cool), so I prefer to go off this and still consider this the end point of 40k chronology for my intents and purposes.

 

Why am I talking about this?

 

Well firstly, for a few years now I have wanted to build a Cadian Imperial Guard force themed around this. It would use the 5th edition codex, but use this book as inspiration and a loose guide of possible directions to take the force in. Now, I still want to put together a Cadian force (using the models they discontinued a couple of years ago, the ones that were around for 20 years), but I want to use those models for Orphean War-themed Necromundans* more (however never say never to be doing those Cadians).

 

But even more than that, I have the desire to revisit my oldest armies, to "finish" them. These were models I painted as a kid. So it is possible I will repaint some models, as I am a much better painter now, but that is all in service of staying faithful to my original vision for them as a kid. But now there is a new vision too. The part of me that loves to theme armies around specific campaigns.

 

The two Space Marine armies I was thinking of "finishing" in the near-ish future are my Dark Angels and Ultramarines (my 40k ones, not my 30k ones).

 

And guess what? According to the third edition lore in Codex: Eye of Terror, the entire Dark Angels chapter was there, and one "Honour Company" (IDK what that means) of Ultramarines was there too. So I have decided to focus on revisiting my Dark Angels, and will work on the Ultramarines later (I am thinking of theming them around Ichar IV).

 

So what will this involve? I will be touching up or outright re-painting some of my old Dark Angels (although am content with them being painted to less high of a standard than I may strive for if it was a new army I was painting), as well as hopefully adding some new models to the army! I'll give a breakdown of what I've got in a later post, but to give a hint, it is led by Azrael (the old metal model), which may just be my favourite 40k model of all! One thing I will have to do, though: some models have accessories (e.g. heads on bases) themed around specific enemies - they will be removed.

 

But this got me real excited - what else can I throw into this project?

 

Well back in 2011 (when their 5th edition Codex came out), I had a brief Grey Knights phase. I only have a couple of squads plus Kaldor Draigo. I don't really have plans to do anything for Draigo right now (hey, maybe he can come into play if I am switching it up to theme them around the Pandorax campaign instead), but I think this is a great chance to finish off those Grey Knights units - with the 13th Black Crusade theme! Seeing them referred to in the order of battle in the Eye of Terror campaign book is what gave me the idea.

 

But wait, there's more! 

 

Remember that Eldar Farseer I posted a few years back? What if that Farseer is part of an Ulthwé Seer Council? Alright, time to get the rest of the council and perhaps a couple of Eldar units to go with it.

 

*Remember those Necromundans I mentioned? Codex: Eye of Terror mentions Necromundans being present. So I will be able to pull them off their Orphean War duties to fulfill their 13th Black Crusade duties as I please.

 

Now let's look at the Chaos side.

 

I have an entire Dark Vengeance box full of Chaos models I never painted. Alright, these guys can be Black Legion - and the cultists could easily be put into a Lost & The Damned army. I'd also like to get the old Abaddon model at some point (the one everyone says loses his arms always), and expand the Black Legion into a small force. I also have the old Iron Warriors Warsmith - if I still have energy for this project, I might get him a squad of Chaos Space Marines or two and a tank to accompany him. I think Iron Warriors would be fun to kitbash with 30k Space Marines. I even have a single Death Guard model - unsure if I would get any more, but maybe that will mean a Plague Marine unit at some point.

 

I'm legitimately really excited to be doing this second themed project on the side of my Orphean War project, and to be giving some of my oldest models a new theme and purpose.