Showing posts with label Crimson Fists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crimson Fists. Show all posts

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Crimson Fists update

Due to the recent changes in GW (primarily the trade embargo), I've re assessed my spending and in particular the build of this army.  Due to the cost of having to get speeders and drop pods, I've decided to put my original list on the back burner and go for a different build.  The goal is to build the force so that I can use various components in other lists and build up a collection that will work for a variety of builds.  To that end I've decided to start off with a terminator based force using the Dark Angel's Codex as this will allow me to put together an army relatively cheaply.  As it grows I will add in support elements in the forms of Dreadnoughts, Predators and Landspeeders until I have a variety of support units.  Then I can look at changing the core elements of the army and utilise my support units in different roles.

To get me started, I am working on a 750 point force for an event called Force Z which is to be held in September.  The list I have come up with is as follows:

Company Captain (Belial) - TH/SS
Terminator Squad - SB/PS, SB/PF/Narthecium, SB/CF/1st Company Banner, SB/PF/CML, TH/SS
Terminator Squad - SB/PS, SB/PF, SB/CF, SB/PF/CML, TH/SS
7th Company Support Squadron - Landspeeder with Multi-Melta, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Total 740 points

If I can get some in time, I will spend the extra points on more chainfists for each of the CML equipped terminators.

I am attending Quarter Master 3 next weekend but will otherwise be snowed under with university work so this small easy to paint force will keep me going, especially since it appears that the new SoB Codex is not looking very good (Hopefully do a write up on that soonish).

Eltnot.

Saturday, 26 February 2011

Is there a point in time when you have too much?

As regular followers will know, I recently moved from Rockhampton to Brisbane in order to further my career a bit and try new things.  Doing so however meant that I needed to pack up all of my wargaming related stuff into boxes.  This wasn't too hard as I generally kept them in smallish boxes, so I just reorganised them a bit and them put them into larger packing boxes more suitable for moving.

 

Yeah that's most of my wargaming related stuff, although I realised that I'd mixed two more boxes and two army cases from that photo after I took it.  The only non wargaming related stuff in there is the Tai Chi swords and a fibreglass bow.

Whilst I was away looking for houses, I received the first stage of my Crimson Fists force including:
5 AoBR Terminators
2 AoBR Dreadnoughts
10 AoBR Tactical Marines
10 Terminator Shoulder Pads
5 Thunder Hammers
5 Storm Shields

This now gives me all of the infantry except for the Command Squad/Captain so I might get to put some stuff together soon.  Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, I will have to search out better lighting.

 
Eltnot.

Monday, 10 January 2011

Crimson Fists - Purchasing

So I figured that I'd go through how I'm assembling this army on the cheap for the benefit of others who are trying to collect an army whilst being frugal.  Here in Australia I've found that there are three easy ways to get cheap miniatures.

1. Trade/Buy Second Hand
Chances are you can often pick up what you're after for a good price if you wait around for it.  Perusing places like the WAU Buy, Swap & Sell forum can often net you a good bargain or two.  Other places are checking through what people have brought along to sell at tournaments or the local club.

2. Ebay
I buy a lot of my models off Ebay.  Almost all of my RT Eldar army has come from Ebay and hunting for deals.  I have found that the best bet is to watch a few sales to get an idea for how much things go for.  Put in you bid 48-24 hours beforehand and just walk away.  If you get outbid, just walking away is often the best option.  Early in the piece I found myself in bidding wars for stuff and ended up paying way more than I intended.  I use Hoard o' Bits for most of my bits orders but shop around for the best deals.

3. Buying Overseas
Due to the strong Australian dollar at the moment, buying overseas is extremely cheap.  I can buy stuff often for 50% off Australian RRP by buying from overseas sellers like Maelstrom and Wayland Games.

So lets look at how I'm assembling the force along with my initial guesses at costs:
Captain - $0 - Model to come from the Command Squad boxed set.  Halberd to be converted to represent a Relic Blade (Possibly from Chaos Knights models with iconography removed).
Librarian - $0 - I have an existing model so no need to source one.
Command Squad - $25 - To be purchased from Maelstrom Games, 4x scratch built Storm Shields, 1x Meltagun (bits box)
Drop Pods - $90 - 3x Maelstrom
Dreadnought Drop Pods - $5 - Scratch Built with drop pod bits added on for detail.
Assault Terminators - $35 - AoBR Terminators, 5x Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields, 10x Shoulder Pads (Ebay)
Dreadnoughts - $30 - 2x AoBR Dreadnought (Ebay), Heavy Flamer conversion (Witch Hunter parts from bits box)
Tactical Squads - $15 - AoBR Tactical Squad (Ebay), BfM Tactical Squad (Existing models)
Scouts - $0 - Existing Models
Land Speeder Storm - $25 - Maelstrom

Land Speeders - $50 - Maelstrom
Other Bits and Pieces - $10 - Transfers etc

That brings me to a total of $285.

Currently I've sourced the following from Hoard o' Bits over a period of three weeks of bidding:
2x AoBR Dreadnoughts - $30.00 + Shipping
AoBR Terminators, 5x Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields, 10x Shoulder Pads - $21.30 + Shipping
AoBR Tactical Squad (Ebay) - $10.50 + Shipping
Transfers - $2.00 + Shipping
Shipping - $5.30

Total: $69.10

This puts me quite a bit under so far, with only the dreadnoughts actually costing my close to my estimation, but I can't save much on the Maelstrom Order.  I do however have some unopened prizes from tournaments that I hope to trade in for a box or two of things that I need.  So far so good, the only downside being that moving means that I'm getting this stuff shipped to my Parent's house in Rockhampton and will have to find a way to get them down to Brisbane after they arrive (which will probably cost more than the shipping costs to get them from the US).

Eltnot.

Monday, 13 December 2010

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.