The interwebs are all a-buzz with talk of the newest edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles since it hit shelves on Friday. I have never taken the time before to get acquainted with the ruleset, as the few games I had the opportunity to watch didn't hold my interest with the quick and completely lopsided combats, lack of terrain, and other such things happening on the tabletop in those games. I figured a new edition would be a great time to take a comprehensive look at the game and see if I like it, however.
I looked over the main rules as well as a couple of army books, and I must say that the 8th edition rules look very solid. Magic has a hard cap limiting the ability to dominate by overloading with mages, and magic defense is built into the rules (though getting an actual wizard or two on the field increases this ability greatly). Movement and position are vitally important on a scale not seen in the 40k rules, and outnumbering your foe can mean even weak troops won't necessarily fold to supreme combat specialists due to steadfast. Overall I think I can have quite a bit of fun with it.
After looking over a few armies, I have settled on using the Empire to facilitate my army list needs, but I'm gonna be playing it with a twist. Rather than the Empire of Karl Franz, I am going to be using the Imperium of Man and build up an army of guardsmen supported by a handful of space marines. Basically these guys will be the Planetary Defense Force (PDF) on the homeworlds of my space marine chapter. It opens up a lot of conversion opportunities, and allows me to work with models I like more.
The plan is to get a bunch of ForgeWorld kits and use Cadians with rebreathers for the standard model. I want my force to be gunline and psyker heavy, so I will be using lots of warmachines and handgunners. I'll of course need some big blocks of units for close combat, so converting up swordsmen/halberdiers will be interesting. Advice on what to use to make the IG look good on that front is appreciated. I'm going to convert a taros into a steam tank and use heavy weapons teams and ForgeWorld gun emplacements to represent cannons, volley guns, and the like. I'll be ordering custom bases to do the whole army in since I will need to get the smaller 20mm bases anyway.
Here is an example list for what I might run at 2500 points:
Lords: 450
240 Primaris Psyker (Counts as Wizard Lord)
- Level 4 Upgrade
- Rod of Power
- Lore of Life
210 Interrogator Chaplain (Counts as Arch Lector)
- Armor of Meteoric Iron
- Sword of Sigismund
- Warhorse
Heroes: 200
100 Chaplain (Counts as Warrior Priest)
- Great Weapon
- Heavy Armor
- Shield
100 Chaplain (Counts as Warrior Priest)
- Great Weapon
- Heavy Armor
- Shield
Core: 682 [320 in detachments]
220 Halberdier Platoon
- 40 Halberdiers
- Musician
- Standard Bearer
- Sergeant Upgrade
Detachments:
80 Lasgunner Squad (Counts as Handgunners)
- 10 Handgunners
80 Lasgunner Squad (Counts as Handgunners)
- 10 Handgunners
215 Halberdier Platoon
- 39 Halberdiers
- Musician
- Standard Bearer
- Sergeant Upgrade
Detachments:
80 Lasgunner Squad (Counts as Handgunners)
- 10 Handgunners
80 Lasgunner Squad (Counts as Handgunners)
- 10 Handgunners
247 Ravenwing Cavalry (Counts as Knightly Order)
- 9 Knights
- Musician
- Standard Bearer
- Preceptor Upgrade
Special: 325
75 Imperial Heavy Mortar
75 Imperial Heavy Mortar
75 Imperial Heavy Mortar
100 Medusa Seige Carriage (Counts as Great Cannon)
Rare: 520
110 Sabre Defense Platform [Heavy Stubbers] (Counts as Helblaster Volley Gun)
110 Sabre Defense Platform [Heavy Stubbers] (Counts as Helblaster Volley Gun)
300 Armored Tauros Venator (Counts as Steam Tank)
Total: 2497
I am of course open to all thoughts and constructive criticisms.
Huh, I never thought about using 40K minis in WHFB. I look forward to watching this project as it develops.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! One way to do it would be to take a route similar to the "1632" stories, where the small group of technologically superior people get dropped into a sea of lower-tech hostiles. At first they'll be able to sweep all before them, but in the long run unless they adapt and recruit they'll be wiped out.
ReplyDeleteSo this group gets lost in the warp, is part of an explorer fleet cut off by a warp storm and needing to make the best of the situation, whatever. Their ship gets destroyed/otherwise lost along with the majority of their supplies, but a number of the force manage to make planetfall. Their mission is still to bring errant humans into the fold and deal with Xenos, and that hasn't changed, only the tools to do it with.
So they use their superiority to carve out an initial foothold, but with no opportunity to resupply with ammo, fuel and spare parts, some things run out quickly, with many bolter shells expended clearing out the local Skaven/Orcs and many missiles used to wipe out the local giant tribes.
While they have a foothold, there's still a planet full of hostiles and they are few in number. The local humans, thankful to be freed from the other threats, convert quickly, providing local intelligence, basic supplies like food and extra manpower. The Imperial forces work simultaneously on coming up with lower-tech solutions (like marines on horseback instead of on bikes) while also slowly bringing up the tech of the new Imperial subjects.
Or something like that.
Instead of a Primaris and Chaplains, howabout an Inquisitor and some Acolytes instead? An Inquisitor would be a more appropriate leader-type, and since Priests have magical-type powers that Chaplains normally don't, psychic Inquisitors-in-training might fit better.
Another option instead of Empire could be Dogs of War - plenty of opportunities for Abhuman detachments and lots of unique units for some interesting counts-as options.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing how these guys develop!
Im thinking of the reverse....Skaven Guard!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd be inclined to use just Handgunners in your core to be honest. Halberdiers, Swordsmen and Spearmen don't really translate well in the 40k universe.
ReplyDeleteI'd use special or cavalry to provide close combat punch. Roughriders translate easily enough to Knightly Orders (Space Marine Initiates/Rejects could be Knights of the Inner Circle and you could even fit them in as Outriders or Pistoliers) and Great Swords could be dedicated assault troops armed with chainswords or what not.
Would make the army have a SAFH type feel though which may not make you many friends in the fantasy circle, but could be very effective.
I'm not familiar with the term SAFH. Can you elaborate?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know things have been extremely slow with no updates this week. A cough and other things have diverted my energies. Expect an update on both this project and my main 40k force very soon. I'm waiting on some goodies to arrive in the mail :)
Wow, this is quite the twist. Neat idea, man, good luck!
ReplyDeleteSAFH = Shooting Army From Hell. I suppose the closest thing to it in 40k would be an IG Leafblower.
ReplyDeleteGenerally frowned upon in Fantasy. If done right it can shred an opposing army to pieces before they even get close. Mind you this was in 6th-7th edition where battles were basically 12" deployments and you ran at each other. With the new missions, the SAFH might not be as effective.