How to build a Firstborn Company?

[Veletaris]

I want to build the SM Army I never got around to to build two decades ago. Or a Company.. 100-120 Marines.

 

I want to use the Firstborn models, but New Terminators, and Venerable Dreadnaughts…

 

Using the WH App, there Are so many new units (Primaris) I am not sure what I should choose.

Are Vanguard Veterans, Bladeguards a new thing? 
 

But I am not completly sure how/what I should buy and build. From an old photo I saw, 2-5 Company is built up like this:

 

Captain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, 3 more to form a Command Squad, Chaplain, 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 2 Assault Squads, two Dreadnaughts.

 

Anybody know if this is correct??

 

Command Squads and Officers are not sold anymore? So I need to kitbash these.. some fancy Helmets, shoulder pads, etc etc…  or maybe using a Primaris as the officer and just swap Helmets. They usually are larger, so…?

 

But Even if I want them organised as Firstborn Army, I need to be able to play them if they remove Tac, Deva, Vanguards Squads. And build them with weapons I can use in Primaris range.. so basicaly only Heavy Bolter as heavy Weapon I guess.
 

And use Plasma rifles as Devastator Squad?

Any suggestions to how you would do it?

[Tacitus]

44 minutes ago, Veletaris said:

I want to build the SM Army I never got around to to build two decades ago. Or a Company.. 100-120 Marines.

 

I want to use the Firstborn models, but New Terminators, and Venerable Dreadnaughts…

 

Using the WH App, there Are so many new units (Primaris) I am not sure what I should choose.

Are Vanguard Veterans, Bladeguards a new thing? 
 

But I am not completly sure how/what I should buy and build. From an old photo I saw, 2-5 Company is built up like this:

 

Captain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, 3 more to form a Command Squad, Chaplain, 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 2 Assault Squads, two Dreadnaughts.

 

Anybody know if this is correct??

 

Command Squads and Officers are not sold anymore? So I need to kitbash these.. some fancy Helmets, shoulder pads, etc etc…  or maybe using a Primaris as the officer and just swap Helmets. They usually are larger, so…?

 

But Even if I want them organised as Firstborn Army, I need to be able to play them if they remove Tac, Deva, Vanguards Squads. And build them with weapons I can use in Primaris range.. so basicaly only Heavy Bolter as heavy Weapon I guess.
 

And use Plasma rifles as Devastator Squad?

Any suggestions to how you would do it?

This edition was one of the best for creating an entire company.

 

That said, an entire company has changed from edition to edition.  The most recent fluffy version was:

 

Captain

Chaplain

Lieutenant

Lieutenant

 

6x Tactical Squads

2x Assault Squads

2x Devastator Squads.

 

Assault Squads are technically in Legends now - but JPAI are a fairly easy 1:1 swap.  Same with First Born Captains and Chaplains, first born Lieutenants were always DIY when they were a thing - so Primaris Lieutenants as a stand in is there.  Tactical Squads and Devastator Squads are still a thing.  For Now.  If you want command Squads you're somewhat looking at Company Heroes (Champion, Ancient, +2 Dudes).  Old School actual Command Squads had a lot more options though.

 

Fluff wise, you would also see the Captains of the 2nd-5th+10th companies sending some of their units to the other captains in exchange for some of theirs.  You might send a Tactical Squad to the 10th Company in exchange for a Scout Squad from the 10th Company, and another squad or two to the 1st Company in exchange for some Terminators or a Venerable Dread. 

 

Vanguard and Sternguard have been around pretty much forever.  They're from the First Company.  Bladeguard are new.  And from the First Company.

 

What you're looking to make - a full company with the company dreads is (I'm guessing/ballparking) roughly 2500 points. 

[crimsondave]

This is all we get from 1st edition 

Spoiler

2nd Edition Codex Imperialis didn’t give much.  The specific books had the details for 2nd edition.

Codex Imperialis 

Spoiler

Ultramarines

Spoiler

Dark Angels

Spoiler

Blood Angels

Spoiler

All the 3rd edition codexes were tiny and had almost no detail.  Definitely the worst codexes for fluff of any edition.  Nothing to show.

 

4th Edition 

Spoiler

5th Edition (Matt Ward codex)

Spoiler

6th Edition 

Spoiler

7th Edition 

Spoiler

8th Edition (adds Guilliman and Primaris)

Spoiler

9th Edition 

Spoiler

10th edition is scattered all over several pages with no chart.  Not worth taking pictures and I assume you have it or access to it anyway.

 

If you wanted to do beakies I’d say just do HH mk6.  They have command squads and such.  If your heart is set on Mk7 that’s tough.  If you don’t mind using the mk6 bodies you could buy 3d printed mk7 heads.  You could even throw Mk3s in for devastators.

[crimsondave]

These are my 5th company DA beakies from HH models.  Sorry for the double post.  Doing this from my phone and I’m old and blind.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Edited February 26 by crimsondave

[TheNicronomicon]

Simple! 
3x 15 Blood Claws

2x 10 Grey Hunters

2x 10 Sky Claws

2x 5 Long Fangs

2x 5 Wolf Scouts

2x Dreadnoughts, to taste 

2x Lieutentant

1x Rune Priest

1x Wolf Priest

1x Captain/Wolf Lord

 

(Guilliman? Never heard of ‘im)

[jaxom]

15 hours ago, Veletaris said:

I want to build the SM Army I never got around to to build two decades ago. Or a Company.. 100-120 Marines.

 

I want to use the Firstborn models, but New Terminators, and Venerable Dreadnaughts…

 

Using the WH App, there Are so many new units (Primaris) I am not sure what I should choose.

Are Vanguard Veterans, Bladeguards a new thing? 

 

*SNIP*

 

Command Squads and Officers are not sold anymore? So I need to kitbash these.. some fancy Helmets, shoulder pads, etc etc…  or maybe using a Primaris as the officer and just swap Helmets. They usually are larger, so…?

 

But Even if I want them organised as Firstborn Army, I need to be able to play them if they remove Tac, Deva, Vanguards Squads. And build them with weapons I can use in Primaris range.. so basicaly only Heavy Bolter as heavy Weapon I guess.
 

And use Plasma rifles as Devastator Squad?

Any suggestions to how you would do it?

 

Others have covered the overall structure very well, so I'll tackle these bits.

 

Vanguard Veterans are from a few editions back. They are 1st Company Veteran Assault Squads with Jump Packs; generally considered a Firstborn unit. Bladeguard are relatively new and a more "knightly" melee 1st Company Veterans with power swords and storm shields; generally considered a Primaris unit.

 

Command Squad has been replaced by Company Heroes. Apothecaries are now a character unit. 

 

Regarding future proofing.

• You'll want an extra box of bodies so your Tactical Squads effectively have 12 members (Sergeant, 9 bolters, 1 heavy, 1 special). Don't put squad markings on the extra bolter bodies and you can use them as a Reserve Company squad with bolters while you are still using Tactical Squads. Eventually you can use the Tactical Squads as Intercessor Squads by replacing the Plasma gun/flamer and rocket launcher weapon guys with the extra bolter guys. The special and heavy weapon guys can then be used to make a Hellblaster Squad/Infernus Squad and a Desolation Squad; redoing squad markings if they have any.
• Build your Devastator Squads as four squads of five (i.e. combat squad deployment of two full squads of ten). Plasma Cannon Devastators can eventually be used as counts-as Hellblaster squad. Rocket Launcher Devastators can eventually be used as counts-as Desolation Squads. I don't think any opponent will then have an issue with you saying the Sergeant is armed like the rest of the squad, but looks different because rule of cool. Or, build all members with appropriate heavy weapons and plunge straight into using them as Hellblaster Squads and Desolation Squads.
• Vanguard Veterans are 1st Company; if you meant Assault Squads, then they are now Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs. The Horus Heresy Assault Squad kit can build Firstborn versions of either. AI with Jump Packs are already future-proofed. I recommend sticking with Terminators for 1st Company presence rather than gamble on what happens in the future with Vanguard Veterans.

 

If you are starting this project from scratch then I recommend the new Horus Heresy plastic kits. There are Tactical, Assault, and Command kits; plus upgrade sprues for Heavy and Special weapons for making Devastator and 40k Tactical Squads. See if you can grab a Mk3 Legiones Astartes Battle Group from a third-party gaming store (physical, online, Amazon, eBay, etc.). That will net you 3 Tactical Squads, special weapons (5 flamers, 5 plasma guns, and others you can keep or sell/swap), a Land Raider, and a Deredeo Dreadnought which works well as a count-as Ballistarius Dreadnought. I recommend picking up the heavy weapons upgrade sprue with rocket launchers and building some of the Tactical Marines as Devastators. Maybe pick up a box or two of 40k Tactical Marines to mix in other armor marks and get your body count up to 50. From there, expand as you see fit. 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Buy the stuff that is still available now. Squatted options will appear later on "Made to order" deals. Also restrict yourself in what kind of units to buy. This way you have to paint less and save a lot of money. Here is my attempt at collecting an entire company/clan:

 

https://ibb.co/album/cc2JFj

 

I have still quite a backlog of models to do although only the Assault squads will remain unfinished as I will only be able to field 15 marines (1.5 squads).

[lansalt]

19 hours ago, crimsondave said:

This is all we get from 1st edition 

For the record, there were full SM army lists in WD and the supplements released between the RT rulebook and 2e

[TheArtilleryman]

Standard firstborn battle company would be exactly as @Tacitus said above. An alternative way to build a company that uses all primaris but sticks to the traditional formation might be:

Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Ancient

6 x intercessor squads

2 x assault intercessor or JPAI squads

2 x hellblaster squads

 

Also under 10th Ed rules tactical squads can have 2 special weapons instead of 1 special and 1 heavy if you like, so you could get a bunch of hellblasters or eradicators and spread them out amongst the intercessors to make truescale tactical squads.

 

If you want to use firstborn models then the absolute best and cheapest way to do this is to buy Horus heresy marines plus upgrade sprues and proxy them. There are tons of these new on sprue out there on eBay so easy to get hold of lots cheap.
 

Right now I am 60% of the way to a full Raven Guard company by doing this. I have 20 tacticals with bolters that I can proxy as intercessors in 40K, 20 with added jump packs and assault weapons that can be jump assault intercessors, 10 with rocket launchers that can be desolators and 10 with plasmas that can be hellblasters. This way you get to take advantage of the better rules for primaris but with the firstborn models if you prefer those.

Edited February 27 by TheArtilleryman

[Tacitus]

1 hour ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Standard firstborn battle company would be exactly as @Tacitus said above. An alternative way to build a company that uses all primaris but sticks to the traditional formation might be:

Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Ancient

6 x intercessor squads

2 x assault intercessor or JPAI squads

2 x hellblaster squads

 

Also under 10th Ed rules tactical squads can have 2 special weapons instead of 1 special and 1 heavy if you like, so you could get a bunch of hellblasters or eradicators and spread them out amongst the intercessors to make truescale tactical squads.

 

If you want to use firstborn models then the absolute best and cheapest way to do this is to buy Horus heresy marines plus upgrade sprues and proxy them. There are tons of these new on sprue out there on eBay so easy to get hold of lots cheap.
 

Right now I am 60% of the way to a full Raven Guard company by doing this. I have 20 tacticals with bolters that I can proxy as intercessors in 40K, 20 with added jump packs and assault weapons that can be jump assault intercessors, 10 with rocket launchers that can be desolators and 10 with plasmas that can be hellblasters. This way you get to take advantage of the better rules for primaris models but with the firstborn models if you prefer those.

I was under the impression that when he says he wants to make a first born company, he wanted to make a company using JUST firstborn - no Primaris.  That's technically both still possible using legends, and pretty much impossible.  Because you have to use Legends.  You can fake it though.  Use Primaris Captains, Lieutenants and Chaplains.  Company Heroes for Command Squads.  Tactical Squads and Devastator Squads are still around.  I expect Tacticals to be the next one to go, but only give 11th a 50/50 chance of squating them.  Depends on what happens with the Space Wolf Bespokes.  As long as the Space Wolf special units use the Tactical Squad (As opposed to one or the other Intercessor Squad) as their base model kit Tacs are pretty safe.  Death Company already transitioned so they're not safe for long.  Devastators are (I think) safer than Tacticals because they've slowed way way down on the Flavor Of The Month unit.  We have Melta (though not in tacticus) we have missiles, we have plasma.  We have Flame.  We sort of have the bolters.  We don't have Grav at all yet.  Maybe they just do to Devs what they did to Sternguard (and are expected to do to Vanguard) - upsize them in a new kit but not much change beyond that.  Maybe they release Power Armored versions of each elemental weapon.  I dunno.

 

If you really want to do this, and make it playable - I'd go with Primaris when you have to, and just wink-wink-nudge-nudge their firstborn status.  Packing a whole company inside of 2000-2500 points isn't going to leave room for transports that care about your armor keywords anyway. 

[TheArtilleryman]

3 hours ago, Tacitus said:

I was under the impression that when he says he wants to make a first born company, he wanted to make a company using JUST firstborn - no Primaris.  That's technically both still possible using legends, and pretty much impossible.  Because you have to use Legends.  You can fake it though.  Use Primaris Captains, Lieutenants and Chaplains.  Company Heroes for Command Squads.  Tactical Squads and Devastator Squads are still around.  I expect Tacticals to be the next one to go, but only give 11th a 50/50 chance of squating them.  Depends on what happens with the Space Wolf Bespokes.  As long as the Space Wolf special units use the Tactical Squad (As opposed to one or the other Intercessor Squad) as their base model kit Tacs are pretty safe.  Death Company already transitioned so they're not safe for long.  Devastators are (I think) safer than Tacticals because they've slowed way way down on the Flavor Of The Month unit.  We have Melta (though not in tacticus) we have missiles, we have plasma.  We have Flame.  We sort of have the bolters.  We don't have Grav at all yet.  Maybe they just do to Devs what they did to Sternguard (and are expected to do to Vanguard) - upsize them in a new kit but not much change beyond that.  Maybe they release Power Armored versions of each elemental weapon.  I dunno.

 

If you really want to do this, and make it playable - I'd go with Primaris when you have to, and just wink-wink-nudge-nudge their firstborn status.  Packing a whole company inside of 2000-2500 points isn't going to leave room for transports that care about your armor keywords anyway. 

Yeah the purest way to do it would be what you originally suggested. You don’t need to use legends at all currently if you just use your firstborn assault squad models and call them assault intercessors on the army list. Was kind of thinking more about the last part of the OP i.e. future proofing the list in case the firstborn units get removed.

 

The full battle company of infantry actually comes in well under 2000 points. I’d love to use this in a game just for the look on my opponent’s face when I put down over a hundred marines! You’re right, there isn’t much room to add support stuff under 2k, only 200 points.

List:
 

Spoiler

++ Army Roster (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Ultramarines) [1,800pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size: 2. Strike Force (2000 Point limit)

Detachment: Gladius Task Force

Show/Hide Options: Agents of the Imperium are visible, Imperial Knights are visible, Legends are visible, Titans are visible, Unaligned Forces are visible, Unaligned Fortifications are visible

+ Character +

Ancient [50pts]
. Bolt Rifle & Close Combat Weapon

Apothecary [50pts]

Captain [80pts]: Warlord
. Pistol and Melee Weapon: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist

Chaplain [60pts]

+ Battleline +

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

Tactical Squad [140pts]
. 7x Tactical Marine: 7x Bolt Pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Close Combat Weapon
. Tactical Marine Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. Tactical Marine w/Heavy or Special Weapon: Lascannon
. Tactical Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma Gun

+ Infantry +

Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs [160pts]
. Assault Intercessor Sergeant with Jump Pack: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. 7x Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack: 7x Astartes Chainsword, 7x Heavy Bolt Pistol
. Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack w/ Plasma Pistol
. Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack w/ Plasma Pistol

Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs [160pts]
. Assault Intercessor Sergeant with Jump Pack: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist
. 7x Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack: 7x Astartes Chainsword, 7x Heavy Bolt Pistol
. Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack w/ Plasma Pistol
. Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack w/ Plasma Pistol

Devastator Squad [200pts]
. 5x Devastator Marine w/ Boltgun: 5x Bolt Pistol, 5x Boltgun, 5x Close Combat Weapon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist

Devastator Squad [200pts]
. 5x Devastator Marine w/ Boltgun: 5x Bolt Pistol, 5x Boltgun, 5x Close Combat Weapon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Marine w/ Heavy Weapon: Lascannon
. Devastator Sergeant: Plasma Pistol, Power Fist

++ Total: [1,800pts] ++

 

Edited February 27 by TheArtilleryman

[Veletaris]

Thanks to all the answers.

 

I started back in 1998.. so I suppose it was the 2nd edition, or Ultramarine Company.
 

What I an thinking is having them set up like a First Born Company on the shelf, and when I need to (Rule changes), I can effortlesly proxy them as Primaris by swapping Special weapons into Hell/Infern/Eradicator Squads.
 

 

So the Devastator Squad, only playable weapons are, Heavy Bolter, Rocket Launcher,  Multi Melta… maybe Plasma Cannon if I Get 10 of them and say they are Hellblasters. But then regular Plasma rifles just looks out of place if I want to use 20 Hellblasters. 

 

Lascannons could be used as Sniper rifles in Eliminator Squad. GravCannon I dont know.

 

And here is a real pickle.. the Venerable Dreadnought… I could use the 30k Leviathan as a Redemptor Proxy with little problems. But the boxy one is just so Iconic. It was what got me interested in the game to start with. 
 

I could (in future) put of them on a larger 90mm base and proxy as Redemptor, and if anybody complains I’ll just give them the match.. 

 

Also a thought came to me… Maybe I should think of them as the 1st Company Veterans. And if I build any more (2-10th Companies), they would be Primaris sized.

 

Is there anything special about how the 1st Companies are structured in the different Legions? Should I consider Sternguard Veterans instead of Tacticals then?

 

 

Oh, and just to mention, what I like about Space Marines are, Venerable Dreads, Terminators, Heavy Bolters, Jump Packs with Lightning Claws and Drop pods. And MKVII Helmets.

 

I do not like the cars, bikes, tanks.. I have enough in Imperial Army.

Edited March 2 by Veletaris

[TheArtilleryman]

@Veletaris I love this kind of problem and it’s exactly the kind of project I’d love to do myself. I’m kind of already doing this with heresy stuff, which is easier to make proxies from because of the fixed squad loadouts. However, it can be done with firstborn models - see below.
 

Suggested build for your firstborn battle company loadouts that currently work with 10th:

(all squads 10-man):

 

Tactical squads 1 and 2: meltagun and multimelta 

Tactical squad 3: 2 meltaguns

Tactical squads 4 and 5: 2 plasma guns (2 specials not 2 heavy. Didn’t used to be allowed but in 10th this is OK)

Tactical squad 6: plasma gun and missile launcher

2 x jump pack assault squads. Sergeants can take power weapon or fist and a plasma pistol, 2 more guys in each squad can have plasma pistols.

Devastator squad 1 with 4 missile launchers

Devastator squad 2 with 4 heavy bolters.

In this list you have:

 

20 jump pack marines

50 guys with bolters

5 guys with plasma guns

4 guys with melta guns

2 guys with multimeltas 

5 guys with missile launchers

4 guys with heavy bolters

8 sergeants

 

With this you can proxy:

2 x 10-man jump assault intercessor squads (same loadout)

2 x 3-man eradicator squads (each with 2 x melta rifle and a multimelta)

1 x 5-man hellblaster squad (plasma guns)

1 x 5-man desolator squad (missile launchers)

4 x 5-man heavy intercessor squads (4 bolter guys and a heavy bolter in each)

 

1 x 10-man intercessor squad (bolters)  with sergeant

4 x 5-man intercessor squad (bolters) with sergeant

 

3 x Lieutenants (made with the 3 remaining sergeants)

 

Only 1 spare bolter guy. I just couldn’t get this guy to fit. Technically you can add him to one of the intercessor squads but then you pay the points for a full 5 which you don’t want to do. You could stick a banner backpack on him and call him an ancient :)

Some modelling suggestions: 

 

I would suggest making 3 of the sergeants a bit more blinged up for the lieutenants.

Convert 16 of the bolters to look a bit more fancy or with longer barrels, so they can be marked out as the heavy intercessors.

If you have opponents who care, have a bunch of 40mm bases to stand the heavy intercessors, eradicators, desolators and lieutenants on if you need to in a game.

Also, remember that all regular guys are on 32mm bases nowadays so build them all on those to begin with.

If you’re even more clever and can model 5 of your bolter guys throwing/holding grenades, then you can use them in the intercessor squads as they are allowed to take 1 grenade launcher per 5 models.

Optional equipment:

 

If you wanted infernus marines instead of hellblasters you could swap all flamers in for the plasma guns. Then if you wanted hellblasters instead of desolators you could swap all the plasma cannons in for the missile launchers.

 

Venerable dreadnoughts are currently legal and were all rolled into a single dreadnought datasheet this edition. I’m sure any reasonable opponent would be fine with you running them as redemptor or ballistus proxies, with a bit of a base increase. The classic twin lascannon/missile launcher dread is almost identical to the ballistus anyway, as it was designed to be a direct replacement.

 

I haven’t included any characters as the captain, chaplain, apothecary etc. are relatively straightforward to map to the new rules and some of them don’t even have different firstborn/primaris datasheets anymore.

 

I really hope you get this project going because it’s an awesome thing to do. Together we can beat the system!

Edited Saturday at 09:21 AM by TheArtilleryman

[TheArtilleryman]

New post for the other questions because the last one was looooooong

 

On the separate question of the first company loadouts, there has never been a strict structure to this and the composition of the first has changed over the years. In 2nd it used to be basically veteran tactical squads and terminators in any combination. Then later on they introduced Sternguard and vanguard veterans, and now you also have blade guard. I think this is a bit more difficult to use as a model for producing your battle company and would stick with proxying them the kind of way I’ve suggested above. 
 

If you love terminators, then great news! Apart from getting some new, upscaled models, terminator squads are exactly the same so no issues here - there’s your first company. Same with Sternguard that have just had an upscale refresh.

 

Vanguard vets are still in 10th but haven’t had a model refresh yet. They probably will, although with what wargear options we have no idea. At the moment the best way to build them as you suggest is to build them with a lightning claw and a storm shield, or do dual lightning claws but add some little tilt shields like grey knights have to represent the storm shield. Currently vanguard vets only have one melee weapon profile and don’t get all the options they used to. Whether they have a hammer, a sword or a claw, it’s just an “heirloom weapon.” However, if you want to build some with twin claws then rule of cool - that’s what I did.
 

Oh and drop pods are drop pods so no issue there.

Edited March 2 by TheArtilleryman