I said what I said!

But back in the day, Space Marines were the default starter army, S4, T4 and hitting on 3s with a 3+ armour save, they were decently tough, and didn’t need a lot to make them work well.

Plus they were really easy to paint and make your own.

But these days, they are not a good starter set, they have a bloated list that half the time makes little sense.

Here is the thing, how would you recommend starting a Space Marine army, its always been to recommend the Battleforce/Start Collecting/Combat patrol as they always included a Troops/Battleline, that you could build your army around.

But today, the Combat Patrol doesn’t contain a Battleline unit, the Infernus Marines aren’t one, and its a pretty elite force, simply not one that its easy to build an army around.

And even then, look at what is available, its so many units that its hard to actually look at the list as a beginner and figure out how to start an army.

A kid I know who wants to play Ultramarines was genuinely confused, because, they simply couldn’t figure out how to build an army, what they absolutely needed and how to synergise the army.

Look I am not saying Space Marines are now crap, its just really difficult to build a list as a beginner, and there is no starter box that represents the army as the very basic units which can form a decent core.

How would I fix it, well I would love to see a Combat Patrol with Intercessors at its core, the ETB Redemptor Dreadnought, and a Lieutenant.

Heck, why not release the sprue from Dark Imperium which had the Intercessors, Ancient, and two Lieutenants, then throw in an ETB kit, perhaps the Invader ATV, or as I suggested the ETB Redemptor Dreadnought.

Here is the crack, I ended up recommending the Dark Angels Combat Patrol, or the Blood Angels Combat Patrol, as these have generic units, one of which is an Intercessor Squad, a HQ and a couple of other interesting units. Actually, if you can, get both, they synergise well together, and just sell the upgrade sprues!

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by painting a unit of 10 Gutrippas for my Orruk Warclans

Followed by Snazzgar Stinkmullett the Fungoid Cave Shaman for the Gloomspite Gitz, which means I have now painted all four of the Harbingers of the Malign Portents!

Then a unit of Suppressors for the Space Wolves

After which I painted a Warlock Bombardier from the Skaven range

And then an Arch Revenant for a new Sylvaneth army

As well as Ylthari’s Guardians.

Then it was time to deal with some Tyranids, and I got the Tyranid Prime with Wings completed

And finally a Screamer-Killer.

So what’s up next week?

  1. Termagants x 20
  2. Gitz Stabbas x 40
  3. Ork Warbikers x 3
  4. Knight Judicator
  5. Khagra’s Ravagers
  6. Dark Angels Intercessors x 5
  7. Imperial Fists Heavy Bolter Squad x 10
  8. Spite Revenants
  9. Penitent Engine
  10. Vigilors x 10

What I Am Reading

I started to listed to The Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, it’s a book I have started a couple of times, but never gotten past the first 30 minutes cause I get disturbed then forget about it.

But this time I am determined to listen it all!

I am also plodding on with The Tower of Nerek by David Guymer.

What Tabletop Games I am Playing

I played Matthew in the Hartlepool 40K league, and won 50-41, but that was only secured due to painting points!

I also played Edward, and I lost that game very badly to an Aeldari alpha strike, a wonderful game, even if I was hammered!

What Video Games I am Playing

I have started on Yakuza 0 and so far its interesting but werid!

I was horribly ill on Sunday, so played through Portal on my Steam Deck for the first time since 2007, I want to play Portal RTX but my 3070 struggles with it!

I did get a bit of streaming in, but its been difficult of late with Lindsay changing her work schedule.

What I Am Spending

I bought the Bloodletters I needed to complete the Chaos Daemons Combat Patrol from eBay

Along with some Genestealers, I only need four to top up my two existing units to full 10 grubby units, so if anyone wants four more to do the same…

And I got the Datacards for the Adeptus Mechanicus

We needed a KVM for the studio to allow easy switching between the media server and Lindsay’s laptop. This Ugreen one was on special offer on Amazon, so we grabbed it and it does what we need.

I also bought a few games

I also bough the Twin Sails Bundle on Humble Bundle, which got me:-

The rest of the games were given to Lindsay and Karen as I already had them.

I got some books too, The End and the Death: Volume III by Dan Abnett, both as an ePub and MP3 audio book, plus Sons of the Emperor as a MP3 audio book.

Of course I got Lords of the Lance by Graham McNeill, as a ePub and MP3 audiobook, and the Shamanslayer MP3 audio book by Nathan Long.

From Big Finish I got Dad’s Army: The Radio Series by Jimmy Perry & David Croft, Poppet by Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle, Danger and Deception by Alan Fennell, Fugitive of the Daleks by Jonathan Morris.

From Marvel, I got Moon Knight: Age of Anubis by Jonathan Green, and Doomgate by Jeffrey Lang as an MP3 audiobook.