New Army Update - I've Actually Made My Mind Up This Time

I have posted a few times about ideas for new armies I was considering.  I had previously talked about Inquisition and Eldar but I also consider Tyranids, Genestealer Cult and Adeptus Mechanicus.  Well I have finally picked an idea and started with it.  I finally decided to go with...

Astra Militarum

It was a tough choice because there are lots of armies I like in 40K but I settled on Guard because of their playstyle being so different from my current Flesh Tearers and they are a good base for the Inquisition idea I had.  I liked the idea of having the Inquisition force but wasn't sure when the Inquisitors themselves, or any of the smaller groups I was planning on using would get some love from GW, if they do at all.  Imperial Guard on the other hand have had a codex released and part of that Codex (Militarum Tempestus) was one of the factions I planned on building for my Inquisition.  So I had something I could get started on right away and not have to work out of an Index until GW release all the different codex I needed.

3rd Edition Imperial Guard
Codex

I also have a lot of love for the Imperial Guard.  I had a small Imperial Guard army back in 3rd or 4th edition which I had got rid of years ago and some of my favourite books from Black Library focus on Imperial Guard armies, units or regiments.

Another big advantage is that Guard are some of the best allies in the game.  Like the Inquisition they can ally with my Flesh Tearers and also with any of the other factions I considered for my Inquisition army.  This means with a good Imperial Guard army I have a solid base to build forces for other smaller Imperial factions and still be able to use them in a game.  So really my Inquisition army isn't forgotten but I have taken a slightly different route with it, instead of building from a base of Inquisitors, Assassins and Sisters of Silence I will build from a base of Imperial Guard and then add smaller faction's units to that.

Short Term Plan
In the short term I am looking to build a solid Astra Militarum army.  I brought the Battle Force Box
(another reason for picking them was a great starting box set available making it much easier) and brought a Shadowsword from a friend that no longer needs it, so I have a fairly good base to start with.

Astra Militarum Battleforce boxset

I'm going to build up with a good mix of units, plenty of infantry, different Russ variants, artillery and support units so I have a nice base for my army.  Once I have a decent base I can see what I like, what works for me and what I think I am missing and move on from there.

Tempestus Scions

I also plan on building a small Militarum Tempestus list, starting with a few units to use alongside my Guard and then building up enough to run about 1500pts of pure Scions.  I really love the Scion models and like the idea of fielding a pure force of them even though I am not sure that by themselves they are the most competitive.

I already have an Inquisitor model as well as two Assassins so I can already add them into my army.

Long Term Plan
Long term I still plan on following my Inquisition force idea a bit.  Once I have a nice Guard and Scion list I will start to look at smaller factions like Inquisitors, Assassins, Sisters of Silence and Adeptus Ministorum units I can add.  The advantage of doing it this way is I always have a Guard base to add the units to list instead of having to build from scratch with an faction that may not be able to field a full army itself.

Inquisitor Eisenhorn and his
new model

There are a few special characters I have been looking at like Inquisitors Greyfax and Eisenhorn and Saint Celestine that I would like to get and add to make a good Imperial Army.

I have always loved the smaller Imperial Factions, which is why I wanted to go Inquisition in the first place but I think this is a more sensible route that the last idea I had.  Start with a nice bulk force and then build the smaller factions instead of the other way around.

Last time I talked about trying to build all the Chamber Militants for each Ordo which I probably won't do anymore.  I don't want to add another Space Marine faction to my collection so don't really want to do Deathwatch or Grey Knights right now.  I will still look at Sisters of Battle if they ever get brought out in plastic though.

What Does This Mean For My Flesh Tearers?
I am not finished with the Flesh Tearers yet.  I still have plenty I think can be added to the army and with the new codex (and my army being build mostly as a fluffy army in 5th/6th edition) there are changes I need to make and new units I should be getting so I wont be getting rid of them.  For the time being they will be moved back to a side project instead of my main army.  I might still pick up the odd model for them if I think of something but most of my effort will be going into getting the Guard built up and onto the table.

Once I have a good Guard force I will probably switch back and forth between the two adding to each when I feel like it or when they need it.

Another massive advantage of stick with Imperial factions instead of going Xeno was that I can still use my Flesh Tearers as allies for the other factions as I build them up, or combine them all in bigger games if I play any.

Decisions Still To Make
The biggest thing I have left to decide is what colours to paint my new Imperial Guard.  I have a few rough ideas in my head but haven't settled yet.  The two I keep going back and forth between are either my own idea or one from the new Codex (Vresh Grenadiers) with a slight change.

My own idea was light grey for the clothes and dark grey for the armour on infantry with orange shoulder pads.  Then for vehicles I couldn't decide between either the same light or dark grey with some orange details or fully orange tanks.  I can't decide if the latter will look really good or really cheesy.

Vresh Grenadier

My other idea was from the codex, doing the clothes in a standard olive drab colour you see on most GW Cadians with a Space Wolves (ish) colour armour on the infantry models and then the same Space Wolves style blue/grey on the tanks.  I'm more confident that this will look good as a full army because I have seen photos of schemes like it and it does look good when your put it all together.

For my Scions I have a better idea of what I want to do.  I want a much darker scheme than the one Games Workshop uses so was thinking of doing them with a very dark green, almost black armour.

I have at least decided to use the Cadian models mainly because the others are either metal still and the Catachans are looking really dated now and I don't think they look great.  I did toy with the idea of kit bashing but that would start to get really expensive for the number of models I needed unless it was just upgrade kits.


So that is where I am at with my new army.  I have 7 Flesh Tearer models to paint first then I will be getting started on getting them all together so in a month or so I will hopefully be using them for smaller games at least.