Tag: Hive Fleet Leviathan

Space Marines Are Not A Good Starter Army

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.


A Little Bit More in the Studio

The past couple of weeks have been a bit boring, but I did do a touch more work to improve the studio

First up I bought the last bits for my controller board, and fitted them leaving me with this as the final result!

Really happy with how this turned out, and it looks super cool.

What we have on it, are:-

Playstation Controller (USB)DualShock 3NES ControllerSNES Controller
Tribute 64Gamecube ControllerGamecube Wavebird
Mega Drive Controller (USB)Mega Drive 6 Button Controller (USB)Saturn Controller Model 2 (USB)8BitDo SN30 ProHyperkin Duke
PC Engine Turbo Pad (USB)A500 ControllerUSB-C CableMicro USB Cable8BitDo Neo Geo CD ControllerShelf with some adaptors
Hyperkin XenonDualSenseSwitch ProXbox Series XAmazon Echo Dot
Google StadiaAmazon LunaSteam ControllerNVIDIA Shield

So yeah really happy with how its turned out, expensive but worth it!

And I also mounted the Xbox Series S under the desk, just to keep the desk top clearer, becuase it was in a funny situation with no where to be because the place it was, was no longer an option as the new monitor was in the way.

I imagine the next few weeks will be more of the same, just getting stuff better and more tidy, I still may wall mount the PS5 and/or Switch, but lets wait and see.

What I Am Modelling

I started by finishing some Chaplins for the Ultramarines, and a Judicar.

After that it was a Spartan for the Death Guard

Then a Rotor Cannon Support Squad for the Imperial Fists

Followed by 20 Termagants with Devourers

And finally a pair of bases of Rippers!


So whats up next for me?

  1. Chaos Familiars
  2. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  3. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  4. Battle Sister Squad x 10
  5. Baal Predator
  6. Lilth Hesperax 
  7. Ork Trukks x 2
  8. Putrid Blightkings x 5
  9. Shootas x 20
  10. Minka Lesk x 2

What I Am Reading

I listened to Bang-Bang-a-Boom! by Clayton Hickman and Gareth Roberts, which was

I have read with The End and The Death: Volume II by Dan Abnett, and that was a hell of a book is all I will say!

I have started listening to The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath and that’s pretty good so far, very surprised that they had yet to do this story!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Got a game of Horus Heresy in at club on Friday myself and Russell started a campaign, and well I wiped the floor with him, but I did have 3250 points to his 2500 so it was an unfair match up!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, which I have been streaming!

I also played through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – The Lost Archive, which you can see here on YouTube.

We will be playing The Tyranny of King Washington next!

What I Am Creating

I made a little experimental video about the army list I took to Scotland at the beginning of October.

Also a little short on painting lights!

What I Am Spending

It was Humble Choice this week, so for my £8.99, I got the following

And I bought myself Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 3 Remastered as well.

I also picked up the Space Marines and Tyranids datacards for Warhammer 40k.

And a Vindicator to add to my Imperial Fists.


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