First model under development

It's been a few days I've noticed since my last post. I've been mildly tied down during that time doing different stuff. My plan from the last post didn't happen exactly as I wanted it to. I noticed I'd lost some of my hobby tools, most notably a file to shave off mold lines, and so I didn't really feel like putting together a fresh model and painting it if it were to have lines. I did however find a normal Chaos Space Marine model I put together a couple of years back. So I started to work a bit with it.

I should perhaps let you in on a well kept secret (well not if you knew me then it'd be a very poorly kept one), but despite owning more than ten thousand points worth of different models for different Warhammer systems, I have painted very few. STAGGERINGLY few to be exact. Well to be honest I've painted a fair few, but only a handfull have ever been fully painted with most models being painted to a completion rate of thirty-ish percent. And to make matters worse it is easily 4 years since I painted even a little.

I inform you of my lack of painting because as I've now been sitting painting my wee Marine I have realised a couple of things. (1) Red is a hellish colour to paint as it takes a couple of coats to not look complete sheit and (2) it is better to not fully assemble a model if you want to be able to paint the model proper. When it comes to point number two I am primarily thinking of not attaching bolters to hands in the future until the latter stages of painting.

As is I've come some way with my single Marine and I'll get pictures up sooner rather than later. Its been nice to test out painting although I'm not certain of which colours to progress with. But once this one model is done I plan to make the rest of the Chaos Space Marine squad.

An army list to work with

So I've reached a conclusion, which is pretty straight forward and logical. That conclusion is that it would probably be best if I started working on my force with some sort of goal in mind. Cue, an army list. Since I haven't got an enormous amount of models I've thought I'd start out with a 500 point list. This does two things for me. (1) It will allow me to get a working force together that can be played with without too much work and (2) it will present a less daunting task from a perspective of morale than an army list of normal proportions. So without further ado I give you this;

Chaos Lord - 150pts

Terminator armour (30), Daemon weapon (25), Personal icon (5)

5 Chosen Chaos Space Marines - 150pts

Aspiring Champion (10), Power fist (25), Icon of Chaos Glory (10), Power weapon (15)

6 Chaos Space Marines - 135pts

Aspiring Champion (15), Power weapon (15), Plasma gun (15)

5 Summoned Lesser Daemons - 65pts

Points total: 500pts

Now it doesn't conform to what I presume is still the norm of needing 2 troop choices for a list to be valid but that's not of too much concern. I only expect to get a couple of try out games with a friend to get the feel for the game again. And it mightn't be very good either. But what it does is give me a fair base on which to build. A surprise inclusion for me are the Daemons. I never used to fancy daemons even though I am a Word Bearer fanatic through and through. But I've had a change of heart that in much is owed to me getting the idea to use Wood Elf dryad models instead of any of the normal daemon models that I've never really had much in the way of love for.

So now I have an army list and I already have colour schemes in mind and know pretty much how I want to put the models together. Now I just need to get cracking. I think I'll just assemble a normal Marine, with a pretty basic look with not too many extras just to get the hang of it again and then paint him up to see if what I get corresponds to some form of aesthetic appeal.

How I turned to Chaos

From the fires of betrayal

Unto the blood of revenge

We bring the word of Lorgar

The Bearer of the Word

The Favoured Son of Chaos

All praise be given unto him

For those that would

not heed

We offer praise to those

who do

That they might turn their

gaze our way

And gift us with the

boon of pain

To turn the galaxy

red with blood

And feed the hunger

of the gods

That is one of the first things I ever read that pertained to a certain game called Warhammer 40.000. That was back in June 2002 or so my White Dwarf 270 would have me believe, which incidentally, was also my first White Dwarf. I'd been playing the sister game Warhammer Fantasy Battles for a while at the time and had vaguely registered that there were other, more futuristic, and decidedly less dwarfed, models available whenever I'd go to the game store to pick up longbearded fellows of grumpy delight to expand my standing Dwarf army. Truth be told I wasn't really interested. I was hooked on fantasy and what little exposure I'd had of science fiction and its ilk hadn't really ever tickled my fancy.

White Dwarf 270 didn't really change that. It featured mainly fantasy stuff centered around the release of the new Hordes of Chaos book but it did contain something called Index Astartes that featured the Word Bearers Space Marine Legion. I read the whole bit once or twice and thought it to be a very interesting read, although many of the different references were lost on me simply because I had no understanding of the 40k universe. But I found it a compelling tale of how someone, a chap of some percieved importance, called Lorgar, was spurned by someone called the Emperor and in due course turned to the darkness of Chaos. The whole story was quite tragic. Even as interesting as that story was it would be a while still until I next dabbled with the far future.

When I finally did it was because I got to know a new friend who also happened to play Warhammer but who also played Warhammer 40k. He managed to persuade me to get into that side of things as well. Problem was I knew absolutely nothing of 40k and so I was bewildered to say the least. I consulted him a bit and eventually wound up buying Codex: Blood Angels as well as a number of models.

What followed was a number of years of sporadic playing with my Blood Angels as well as me buying a some Imperial Guard but never getting to play them. I increasingly found that I loved the setting of the 41st millenium and managed to aquire much more than a working understanding of the combined lore. I never really got all that into playing 40k though. I just didn't find it to be that fun. I had no problem with the system. Truth be told I thought it seemed a lot more fun and easy going than the fantasy version. It was just that I didn't really feel any affinity towards the armies at my disposal. I'm quite big on creating my own little stories when I play games but I just couldn't seem to do it in a pleasing way with neither Blood Angels or Imperial Guard. So I eventually wound up not playing.

But somewhere just before the release of the newest Codex: Chaos Space Marines I had an epiphany. In truth I had been considering it for a while but now I decided I'd take the plunge. It really dawned on me just then that it had infact been love at first sight when I had gazed upon the hallowed pages of the Index Astartes those 5 years ago. I knew what I had to do. I had to spread the Word. In essence, I needed to get me some Word Bearers.

So I went out and spent some money ordering bits and pieces and buying some different models. I started to assemble a few. And that was pretty much three years ago (!). But now I've got the bug again and I want to do something about it. Hence this blog. I don't know it's mission statements just yet but I imagine I'll be writing about my progress in assembly & painting as well as any progress I have in getting games under my belt together with the odd bit of fluff.

Enjoy.

Spread the Word (of Lorgar).