The Road to War — Wayland Games Blog

As with many gamers, painters, and collectors, I thoroughly enjoy my hobby but, with the realities of work and life, trying to cram in hobby between everything else often leads to little time. So, in an effort to focus my attention and complete at least one hobby project in 2018, I have decided to attend a Warhammer 40,000 event held at Wayland Games Centre in Hockley, Essex, at the end of December.

Since this is the first article in a series, I am going to keep this simple and tell you about the army I intend to use, give you some insights into my army list, and make a little progress on building the models.

With the tournament set at 1,250 points, I have decided to use a two-part army, the first section will be Space Marines, one of the first armies I ever started collecting (a mere 22 years ago), I have always found them enjoyable to play with and fight against. The second part of my army will be an Imperial Knight; it’s big, it’s scary, it’s cool!

Without further ado, here is the first draft of my army:

Captain with a Jump pack, Thunder Hammer and Plasma Pistol
Lieutenant with Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, and Storm Shield
Librarian with Jump Pack, Force Sword, and Plasma Pistol
5 Tactical Marines, with Las Cannon and Combi Bolter
5 Tactical Marines, with Las Cannon and Combi Bolter
5 Tactical Marines, with Las Cannon and Combi Bolter
Imperial Knight Castallen.

Thoughts behind the army

The Imperial Knight is excellent at attacking elite units and other larger models, with enough speed to advance at the enemy if needed. The Tactical Marines are there to support the Knight, as well as providing additional firepower to volley Boltgun fire into large units like Orks and Tyranids. The three Jump characters are there to provide bonuses to my core troops, as well as providing some really heavy counteroffensive combat attacks.

For the paint scheme for the Space Marines, I think that Raven Guard is my first choice, as they are one of the few designs that I have not yet tried (and I have painted a lot in the last few years). I am also looking forward to converting a few of the models to show the different war gear and fighting styles they use. For the Imperial Knight, I'm thinking gold... really shiny gold. Just so that it will really contrast with the rest of the models in the army AND show off the model as its centrepiece.

The first few recruits

I have used the legs and bodies from Assault Marines and the guns and backpacks from Mk.III Iron Marines, this is to give them more dynamic poses and show the older style Boltguns that some of the Raven Guard use.