First off though I wanted to thank everyone for the concern in regards to my having to wade through an allergy induced hell. Happens every year, this year just seems to be worse than average. My boss at work feels as bad as i do, yet isn't taking anything. So in my case, the pharmaceutical industry has failed me.
Second, when I'd mentioned the Marines Malevolent idea to my friend Happyspawn (his handle when he posts), he just smirked & said 'good luck with that.' He knew I'd get fed up with painting black & yellow and wouldn't get too far with them. I think my friends sometimes know me better than i know myself, and in this case he is correct.
I already am looking for excuses not to break out the yellow paint (not that I can stop coughing/sneezing enough to really paint yet) and so my idea for a MM army is best described as an epic FAIL. Just another pipe dream.
...sigh...
So where to next?
I could go back to the Imperial Paladins...no wait, i sold that tank on ebay, so scratch that. So back to perusing the varied SM chapters for ideas.
Some years back I tried (and failed) to do an Aurora chapter SM army. Most were primed, a few painted, but they died when i couldn't paint their shoulder icon with anything even approaching consistency (and GW has since released Aurora shoulder pads & I now have teh ability to make my own decals too). Most of the army I want will be scouts, so while the metal shoulder pads won't work, its obvious that they've not yet earned the right to wear the chapter's heraldry (convenient eh?). In any case, they got little further than the Marines Malevolent. BUT they easily fit my M.O. when it comes to Marine chapters. For starters they're green. Happyspawn likes to comment that virtually everything I paint is green (whereas all he paints is gray). I believe i used snot green (appropriate for this time of year), so its brighter than my Dark Hands army. Also they have little in the way of fluff, and what they do have is workable with the BA codex.
Photo copyrighted by Gamesworkshop & acquired from Lexicanum.com, and used without permission of either party.
So sticking with my scout company idea, starting out with (4) troops choices, i.e.: one squad with each weapon type. Captain, Chaplain (odd to be an elite), Librarian, Techmarine and tanks @ BS3 for scout crews.
What I WON'T be using from the BA codex includes:
Special Characters
Sanguinary Guard
Sternguard/vanguard (I believe they have all of those options too)
Termies
Assault marines
Tactical Marines
Death Company
Death Company Dreadnoughts
Regular Dreadnoughts
Storm Ravens
Landraiders as transports (much less deep striking)
Razorbacks
Rhinos
Now, I'm sure that just a few of you are wondering where I'm going with this, and why use the BA codex as Aurora Marines are Ultramarine successors. Well, there is one bit of fluff that fits PERFECTLY with the BA codex:
'The Aurora Chapter is known for its armored assaults, and as such possesses three times the typical number of Land Raiders and Predators.' (again lifted from Lexicanum.com without permission)
Scouts are known for, well, scouting, and out flanking, and the Aurora is known for having more tanks than a normal codex chapter. With the BA codex, I can field (6) predators, outflanking with three!
Now, this does fall into the spamming weapons gripe that I often have (somewhat mitigated by running the tanks at BS3), and I'm sure that the 'flavor of the month club' @ my local FLGS will have a field day when they see me perusing the new BA codex.
But...
That just might work!
I dunno about Aurora Chapter.
ReplyDeleteIf you're doing a BA successor, you should try someone like Lamenters. Or maybe Imperial Fists.
;-)
No, I'm not looking for a BA successor, just a rule set to fit my idea. I've heard quite a bit online of people using BA & SW codexes for CSM and the like. That's the approach that I had in mind.
ReplyDeleteLamentors have those checkered shoulders that make the MM look easy & and the Imperial Fists have never had much appeal, dunno why really.
Of course 35 more scouts, a chaplain & half a dozen predators, is close to a mortgage payment in minis, so odds are I'd just run this with the standard SM codex until I went for the 2nd set of Preds in FA slots...
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I'm distinctly "pro scout" and "pro fluff" when it comes to these kinds of decisions. Moreover, if you've got skills with green, I say go for it. win-win.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit stunned to see the lengthy list of units that you won't be using from the codex. That's an impressive amount of choices you've discarded.
I'm excited to see how this turns out.
Well, the units omitted are what makes the Blood Angels, 'the Blood Angels'. Going for a scout company of a chapter that's centered on armored warfare, using predators specifically (I just can't see Landraiders fitting in with scouts, even if only for the Captain's squad), I think it works.
ReplyDeleteAlso considering the units omitted, is why I opted for the title of this post. I've seen many builds come out of the BA codex since its release, yet none like this!
I'm excited to hear about your new plans as I too just recently decided to use the BA rules for an army project I've been thinking about for the last 7 or 8 months. I had been planning on going with vanilla marines until a couple of weeks ago when I it occurred how I could use Red Thirst and Black Rage to express the theme I have in mind. Since then I keep finding more and more possibilities for fun conversions and modeling. I look forward to seeing what you do with your Aurora guys, your concept sounds really cool.
ReplyDeleteSo Papa, are you going to change those rules to read as 'Thirst' and 'Drunken Rage'?
ReplyDeleteYa know, running 6 tanks @ BS3, backed up by a BS 3 scout horde, it almost feels like I'll turn the Space Marines into Imperial guard by way of the Blood Angel codex.
Yes, indeed! It should be a pretty rowdy bunch of marines... hehehe. (Thanks again for checking out my ramblings!) That's hilarious about your marine scouts and tanks turning into IG, it's going to be a fun following your work and I salute you for dropping the BS on your tanks. Wow man, I admire your commitment to theme!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to add a few 'Brawl' Predators...
ReplyDeleteAnd Thanks! Being a scout company, it only makes sense for the tank crews to be scouts as well, especially given that the Aurora is focused on armored warfare. I was also thinking of maybe using 2 Techmarines, as with a bunch of scrubs at the controls of all of those tanks they're liable to break them a lot.
Man, the crack about suggesting two yellow chapters sails right on by. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about BS4 on the tanks. Technically they're all run by the chapter armory and crewed by regular marines, except for the land speeder storms, right?
If you want them to be crewed by scouts, you can just say that as scout vehicles, not only are they faster but they also have more sensitive scanners included, which as a byproduct helps their targeting. Ta day, BS4.
facepalm...yup, missed that entirely!
ReplyDeleteWas wonder how you connected Imperial Fists to the BA codex...
technically yes, they are crewed by regular marines, but i like the idea of scout crews. Plus it'll help minimize the screams of cheese for basically spamming predators. If I'm gonna field 6, then there should be a penalty that i should have to pay and I think, and the BS3 fits for both theme & spam.