I've been involved with wargaming and miniature painting, on and off, for half my life. Chief amongst my loves in this regard has always been Warhammer 40,000. I've been involved with this game since its second edition back in the early to mid nineties, and over the years have built forces from pretty much every range it has to offer. But I've always ended up coming back to its most iconic image: the Imperial Space Marine.
A few years ago, with my interest in the hobby at a low ebb, I picked up a novel- the first in a new series. It was called Horus Rising, and it promised to tell the story that had always been hinted at but never fully explained- the war that shaped the rich backdrop of 40K. About fifteen books later, I'm still lapping the novels up.
However, we're talking wargaming here. The Horus Heresy novel series has kicked off a number of communities who have started running games set in this bygone era. Throw a search term into Google and it'll hit something. And recently, GW's offshoot branch Forge World have started producing models that match this period.
As I said, I've painted and gamed with many armies- my figure cases are currently filled with Imperial Guard, Tau and Space Marines. But these days I game less. So on one rainy January morning I decided to commit to a new project: I was going to build a force to Crusade-era specifications, including the units, heroes and weapons associated with this period of hallowed antiquity.
The only question is which Legion to do, which will determine both how the army is painted and what models are appropriate. There are eighteen Legions to choose from, nine of them destined to turn traitor. There are a few already discounted- I've tried doing 'modern' armies of Dark Angels and Salamanders before, so I decided not to re-tread that ground. Also, the primary selling points of Blood Angels only really appear after the period in question, meaning they'd lack a lot of what makes them interesting. Conversely there's too little difference between a 'modern' Space Wolves army and a Crusade-era one- it'd just cost more to do, and they're already hugely popular. A friend of mine has already made attempts at handling the Luna Wolves and Raven Guard, so I decided to stay away from them. World Eaters, White Scars and Imperial Fists are coloured in shades with traditionally iffy pigments, so I decided to avoid them to make my task easier. And background-wise the Emperor's Children, Word Bearers and Iron Hands haven't really captivated me. The choices are thus:
- IV Legion: Iron Warriors
- VIII Legion: Night Lords
- XIII Legion: Ultramarines
- XIV Legion: Death Guard
- XV Legion: Thousand Sons
- XX Legion: Alpha Legion
Personally I think the Iron Warriors sound interesting, although I'm not familiar with them. Alternatively Death Guard are the other that I would choose, I'm more familiar with them but not such a fan of their colours.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand Ultramarines - when I was playing everyone seemed to be an Ultramarine. I tend to avoid anyone in blue for that reason ;)
Heh, I thought the same about the Ultramarines until the Space Marine game came out last year- I've seen them done really well a couple of times too.
ReplyDeleteCurrently the front-runners are Iron Warriors, Night Lords and Ultramarines- I think I'm going to dig out a few miniatures and do a colour scheme test for each to see which turns out best. Pics as soon as they're done (and I can work out how to use the macro lens on my camera).
I'll vote Night Lords. It's been many years since I did any miniatures painting...All my stuff is in my lockup somewhere (probably all dried up , I imagine.
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