The Heresy Unfolds

Continuing on from Part 1 about getting started in WH30K, I’d like to offer some tips on army basics and building your Heresy army.

Army Basics

Although a lot of things will look similar, there are differences between a Legion list and a Codex compliant 40K list.

Firstly, the Legions get access to two unique aspects. One is like the Chapter Tactics of 40K – the traits that define a legions mentality. Sometimes this is both a positive effect and a negative one, such as a restriction on what you can field. The second aspect is a Rite Of War. There are four generic ones which you can use for any Legion, and then there are Legion specific ones. The Legion specific ones are there to allow you to play in the favoured style of the Legion, and encourage you to do so. For the Emperor’s Children this means loading up on Fast and Elite units. For the Death Guard this means bringing lots of heavy weapons clad troops. You can choose to ignore the Legion specific ones entirely – my Alpha Legion will use the generic Pride Of The Legion which allows me to take Terminators or Veterans as troop choices.

Legion units are also encouraged to be large. It’s usually expensive for your first Legionaries in a squad, and then cheap to add more. Go big or go home, as people repeat incessantly. Twenty assault marines as a troops choice? No problem. The other interesting thing is that for Tactical Squads, Support Squads and Heavy Support squads, all weapons have to be the same. Ten lascannons in a squad is an expensive but do-able option. If you fire at something, it will die.

Otherwise, there are some familiar if slightly different options. Land Speeders, Bikes, Dreadnoughts, Predators etc are all there. There’s just a lot more choice than before, which can seem a little overwhelming at first. At 1,000 points you don’t get a whole lot, so I’d say to start with an 1850 point list to work towards. This will allow you to get a couple of cool units alongside your bread and butter options.

The final piece in your army jigsaw will be a Lord Of War. Just like in 40K, there are a few options here. Unlike 40K, this includes taking your Legion’s Primarch. I’d only recommend trying to squeeze in one of these at 3,000pts and above – make it the final piece in your jigsaw. They provide some incredible buffs to your army, and are every inch worthy of their legends and stories.

Buying Legionaries

Once you have a rough list, you can head back to Forge World to start ordering your Legionaries. The basic squads (tacticals, heavy etc) come in MKII, MKIII and MKIV armour variants. Choose whichever looks the coolest to you. Some Legions seems more appropriate in certain armour marks (Emperors Children had little MKIII for instance), but the rule of cool always wins. There is also two types: ”MKII Crusade Armour” and ”Legion MKII Crusade Armour” as an example. The Legion packs have slightly more variation in kit, so get those. If you are buying individually, you need to buy the marines, plus weapons. Depending on how many marines you are getting, definitely look into the bundles. Unlike GW’s bundles, which save you nothing but a couple of clicks, Forge World’s tactical marines bundle will save you around £25 – enough for Praetor or nearly another unit entirely. Alternatively, that £25 will buy you some Legion specific heads, torsos and/or shoulder pads as they become available – a great way of adding individuality to your army.

Painting & Assembly

There are plenty of blogs out there covering painting and assembling Forge World products, so I won’t cover much here. Most Legion marine kits have a fair bit of flash to scrape off, but are usually great. The MKIV kit has the least flash and mould lines I’ve found, but might not always be true. If you’ve already invested in some armoured support such as a Storm Eagle or Fire Raptor, be prepared to be patient. Some of the large resin pieces really need care to straighten them out – stealing your girlfriend’s (or Bring Me the Horizon loving room mate’s) hairdryer will work wonders. And for the love of Christ, don’t use GW’s superglue. Loctite has been working well for me on both the small and large scale.

What is worth pointing out though is that whilst you were clicking through the Forge World website you saw some pretty cool colour schemes (okay, not all so brilliant). Forge World will answer if you ask for their schemes, but a little googling brings quick results (click here). Most of the schemes were achieved with a mix of paints, Vallejo, Tamiya, GW and possibly even others. It’s worth locating a supplier if you want to try and mirror the FW schemes (for those in the UK, Element Games comes well recommended).

Heresy-era armies seem to scream for some form of weathering, so you could check out the Masterclass books and weathering powders from FW whilst you’re there.

Brothers



Whilst interest in 30K is growing, it still feels like you’re the guy in the Cro-Mags shirt at the Metallica show. You need like minded brothers; a sense of community and belonging. There’s a few forums dedicated to all things 31st millenium, but I would heartily recommend Bolter and Chainsword’s Heresy forum and Heresy30K forum . Have a read, join in some discussions, post up some army lists. Particularly on BnC, you will receive superb advice for designing your forces. People are very welcoming to people interested in 30K, so don’t be shy.

Otherwise, throw up anything below, or email Corehammer and we’ll try and help out.

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