Crusade!

So, after looking at things the forces to build on fall into some broad categories:

Imperial Guard  (nope, never heard of those Astra Militarum chaps….)

• Jungle Fighters – my old all-plastic Catachan army, built back when there were no plastic heavy weapon kits or plastic special weapons so everything was a conversion or kitbash from Mordeheim & Necromunda bits. Has potential but the paint job shows its age and I’d like to redo it to incorporate Straken & Harker. That means a lot of paint-stripping in the future….
• Cadians – 2 flavours here as there is the old patrol platoon built using the metal Cadians, and the platoon built out of the plastic kits but only partly finished. Perhaps reassess the whether to carry on with the paint job as it stands? Again there may be some paint stripping in the future but there are also some 50 Cadians unbuilt lying around
• Stormtroopers – 40-odd of the old metal Kasrkin plus the FW tank commander. More than enough for a Militarum Tempustus detachment in their own right.
• Command – Kincaid obviously, but I’ve Yarrick and nork around here in metal, as well as a smattering of Commissars of various vintages plus Platoon Commanders and Regimental Advisors.

Space Marines

• Space Wolves – An army I’ve dabbled in going right back to their release at the tail end of Rogue Trader, up to several packs built for the 4th Ed Codex release but never painted, and a load of sprues picked up over the years. Combo-ing up with regular Marine kits will make the Wolfy bits go a lot further. I quite fancy taking another swing at the Blackmane Great Company, including their Titualr namesake himself, he of the oldest model still available for general purchase, Ragnar Blackmane, with a suitably heroic conversion.
• Crimson Fists – once upon a time I had it in mind to do a Rynn’s World Veterans force led by Pedro Kantor himself at the head of a force comprised of Sternguard & Vanguard vets with mainly Scouts. Given the fluff the Dark Imperium Primaris kits will thematically fit in neatly here, and will probably bash up a few regular squads of Marines as well.
• Raptors – parts of squads left over from another early 00’s tournament army. Still on 25mm bases and I think I could paint them better. Alternatively they would provide bodies to bulk out another force. Paint stripping again perhaps?
• Raven Guard – The last 40k minis I painted in 2008, intended to be Shrikes company (including the man himself) prior to his more recent promotion.
• Deathwatch – Lots of opportunity for kitbashing Marines from a variety of Chapters.
• Other Chapters? – There’s enough Chapter-specific bits for at least a patrol detachment of each for the Dark and Blood Angels, and I’ll  admit I dig the idea of fielding competing Space Wolf and Dark Angels detachments. I’ve also got it in mind to build a small detachment where each squad is drawn from a different Chapter, harking back to the lore where seeing massed Astartes on the field was rare, and Crusades were often lucky to get a full squad from any one Chapter except in the direst circumstances. If nothing else it would present a fun painting project….

Knight Houses

• That renegade box was too good value to turn down….

Adeptus  Mechanicus

• A Techpriest explorator and his Skitarii/Servitor bodyguard should make a fun diversion. Maybe some robots?

Talons of the Emperor

• Custodes – 2 boxes can make a HQ plus 3 troops. It’s a starting point.
• Sisters of Silence – 1 each of the three squad types should offer a decent choice for allies, at least until they get a HQ of their own….

Imperial Agents

• At least 4 inquisitors – 2 painted from the old armies and 2 of the more recent versions.
• Enough random Imperial dudes to make some interesting looking retinues.
• Assassins – Eversor, Vindicare, Callidus. Just need a Culexus (Although these are metal. Perhaps upgrade to the plastics?)

Woof. That’s a list and a half. Effectively here we are talking 10 (!!) distinct forces, potentially occupying more than one detachment each. This may be more involved than I thought,  and mean painting a LOT of power armour….