Crimson Fists

The above image is one of my all time favourites.  It has graced several books and boxed sets through GW's history, and I love seeing it everytime.  Originally when I first got into 40k, I started off playing Space Marines back in 2nd Edition, whilst my brothers collected Orks and Eldar.  I didn't have much other than the two tactical squads from the starter set (which I still have), a couple of characters, and a partially melted rhino (I tried to "model" a multimelta hit).  Since then I've moved away from the marines but I've always kept them and at times thought of doing a revival of the army.  I've picked up a few bits and bobs along the years but certainly not enough for an army.

That issue is about to change, as I've got the bug to play marines, but I have a few issues to deal with first.  I already have a few armies and most of them aren't fully painted yet.  This is for a variety of reasons but mainly because I don't enjoy painting all that much.  I like playing with painted models and enjoy completing them, but not actually painting them all that much, so any paint scheme I use needs to be simple.  I also don't want to spend a lot of money so the army needs to remain cheap.  Lastly because of both of the above reasons, the army needs to be small, I want to paint it quickly and move onto other tasks.

To this end I've decided on the following:

Crimson Fists - I've always liked these guys and I want to play a known chapter without having to go Ultramarines, Blood Angels, etc.

The army will be primarily drop pod based, this way it is something different for me to play as opposed to the mech heavy armies that I currently own.

The army will be based around units that I want to build and paint more so than what is effective.

I'm also going to try and use existing models from my collection where possible to keep costs low.

With all that in mind, I came up with the following list:

Captain - Lightning Claw and Storm Shield

Librarian - Force Weapon and Bolt Pistol

5x Command Squad - Apothecary with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, 2x Veterans with Storm Shield, Bolt Pistol and Meltagun, Veteran with Storm Shield and Bolt Pistol, Veteran with Powerfist, Bolt Pistol and Storm Shield

Drop Pod - Locator Beacon

5x Assault Terminators - Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Dreadnought - Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

Drop Pod - Locator Beacon

Dreadnought - Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

Drop Pod - Locator Beacon

10x Tactical Marines - Flamer, Missile Launcher, Sergeant with Bolt Pistol and CCW

Drop Pod - Locator Beacon

10x Tactical Marines - Flamer, Missile Launcher, Sergeant with Bolt Pistol and CCW

Drop Pod - Locator Beacon

5x Scouts - Bolt Pistols and CCW's

Land Speeder Storm - Heavy Bolter

Land Speeder - Heavy Bolter and Typhoon Missile Launcher

Land Speeder - Heavy Bolter and Typhoon Missile Launcher

Total - 1750 points

The idea is for the dreads and command squad with attached characters to drop in on turn one, and they will be supported by the Typhoon Land Speeders (unless I can't hide them sufficiently), and possibly combat squads with missile launchers.  The idea is for the Librarian to use Gate to keep the command squad moving and to pull them out of protracted combats.  The abundance of locator beacons are there for the Terminators and to allow the Librarian to gate the command squad precisely, hopefully putting them within melta range of a juicy target on turn two.  The tactical squads will then mop up or reinforce a position whilst the scouts outflank and try to stay alive for a last turn objective grab.

I've done up a list of all the stuff that I need to buy to complete the force and my rough estimates should have it coming in at under $300 AU.  My next update for the force will include those estimates along with what I'm actually getting the models for and where I'm sourcing them form.  I hope to keep track of the army build from conception all the way through sourcing, building, painting and finally completion.

Eltnot.