Cadian 101st and Friends

So, I had all the parts I wanted for this build so it was time to get building. Realising that I had a bunch of parts to spread around I decided that needed: “A Plan”.

To alleviate my fear of getting bits everywhere and trying to keep everything together I opened up Google Draw, set the size of an A4 page on it’s side and started drawing circles and boxes. 40 25mm circles and 10 28mm circles to be precise, each with a little rectangle next to it. The idea being I could line up the infantry on the 25mm circles (4 squads of 10) and my command squads on the 28mm (2 squads of 5) and the little boxes would allow me to place any pieces next to the respective model to keep them together.
Confusing? A little.
Let’s have a look at this photo for reference.

This is the sheet as it was partially set up that I hope demonstrates the point.

In each of the circles, I made a note of the model that would be in it and in the attached rectangle I made a note of what parts I need to complete said model.
I then set about lining up all the models before digging through the upgrades, heads and leftovers to pick out pieces for where they where needed. I lined these all up on my master board in preparation for cleaning and gluing.

Then it was simply time to get to it again. I just went down each line in turn and when I came to a figure that needed parts I picked up the lot, moved them to my little work tray, cleaned/drilled the parts and glued them in place. Bish, bash, bosh and before too long the job was done.

There are a few holes in that left hand command squad but this is because one of them is coming from all upgrade parts and the other is being made using the Castellan kit so they’ll appear when I review the command units following this. Suffice to say they appear in the following shot of the board once it was completed if you want something to look forward to.

If you’ve been following this project, you’ll know that I had made some reservations for my Special Weapon troopers to be ready to move around if need be. Well GW did a GW and they do indeed need be.

So, in the original printing of the English language Astra Militarum Codex, Cadian Shock Troopers could have two Troopers replace their lasguns with Special Weapons and each squad could not select the same weapon more than twice. Sounds a bit odd doesn’t it? How would even select the same weapon more than twice if you can only take two to begin with?
Well, turns out that was a misprint. All the other language versions came out with their version “could not select the same weapon more than once” and it wasn’t two long before the English got FAQ’d to be the same. *sighs*

I’ll not wax lyrical two much out Games Workshop utterly relentless release schedule and the effect it has had on quality control over the last few years but rather take solace that I was prepared for something like this.
I pulled out unit sheets and simply made some updates.
Squads 1 and 2 still have Sergeants with the Chainsword/Bolt Pistol combo whilst 3 and 4 have the Drum-fed Autogun. Now Squads 1 and 4 have a Flamer and Grenade Launcher as their Special Weapons whilst 2 and 3 have a Plasma and Melta each.
This gives some permutated variety for my Crusade Force with the view to which ever ones prove most “my playstyle” on the table likely to be favoured for selection once I start rolling in more armour down the line and I look to spend less points on infantry in smaller games.

Next I’ll be looking at the command squad and going into a little more detail on the build choices there in as these are generally more characters than the massed nameless men and women of the rank of file.

Until then.