Oh Kill Team, what have you done to me?! I feel like I’ve spent the entire weekend writing up different lists, juggling people around to fill specialisms, and generally losing myself in list-building for skirmish games! I suppose this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it has allowed me to look at a lot of the factions where I’ve not got a lot of work done, and started to think about finally finishing off some of my long-held projects.
So I thought I’d come here once more, and ramble about 40k – though on a smaller scale…
Skitarii Kill Team
I’ve been off-and-on thinking about a Skitarii army since I first bought the Start Collecting box back in May last year on a whim. Since then, I rather feel like I’ve been drowning in Skitarii miniatures, and between a second SC box, Forgebane, and now Kill Team, I think I probably have enough troops to garrison Mars. There’s something about a huge wave of these robot-men that I like the idea of, so really want to have an army of the blighters.
For Kill Team, of course, I’m going slightly more circumspect – let me introduce you to my list!
Team Lambda-Rho-Psi is a fairly standard mix of Rangers and Vanguard – I know the radium carbine is probably a better option than the galvanic rifle, but I already have three galvanic rifle dudes painted and ready, so half the team is already done! I’m therefore thinking I only actually need to paint five guys for this to be a finished team, which feels like a much more manageable option! It also fits in quite nicely with my Summer Painting Goals for the 500-point Skitarii list, although I do need a second plasma caliver-wielding Vanguard for this one.
I do like the army, at any rate, and it’s something that really excites me when I think about the hobby and 40k in general. I really fancy an eventual army with probably two battalions’ worth of Skitarii, along with Dunecrawlers and the like. Ah, wonderful!
Militarum Tempestus
These guys have a similar feel, for me, to the Skitarii mentioned above – everything about them just feels classic 40k somehow, and I love the fact that I have them in my line-up. I’ve been thinking for over a year now about getting together an army of just Scions, but since the Codex arrived last autumn, instead I’ve been considering my options for widening the view to take in some of the tanks of the Astra Militarum, also.
As regards the Kill Team, however…
Eight bodies doesn’t seem too much, does it? Especially when you think I’ve already got one painted – the actual Tempestor Prime for the army won’t work in Kill Team, but one of the Tempestors I have for one of my squads will work just as well.
I’ve been putting off painting any more of these so far, mainly because I can’t remember the colours I used. But I think I just need to crack on and get some paint on there, and it should be vaguely obvious what I’ve used. I think it’s Mephiston Red with a shade of Nuln Oil for the carapace armour, but I can’t really be sure.
Anyway. As with the Skitarii, I’m really excited about painting up these Scions, not only because I already have the army in my mind, but I think the models are superb!
The thing with Kill Team, as I’ve said, is that it’s making me think of all sorts of little bands of warriors that I might not otherwise have done anything with. I’m also considering making teams with things like T’au and Drukhari (the latter isn’t too bad, but I’m really finding it difficult to come up with a build I like the look of for T’au).
And then, of course, there’s this…
Primaris Marines
Well, this one came from nowhere! Right before I moved house last summer, Dark Imperium came out, and I was torn between building things with the new Space Marines and packing my life away. As it happens, I had to do the packing, so played a lot of 8th with Necrons and Dark Eldar, existing armies that I had painted up. With no real time for anything new, Primaris Marines and Death Guard both kinda passed me by, really, though I’ve tried a couple of times to look at the Chaos side of things over the months.
Now, however, after seeing the phenomenal work of Paul Norton and his Iron Ravens on instagram, I’ve found myself wanting to do something with Primaris Marines at last. I’ve actually painted a total of five Primaris Marines since they arrived over a year ago – three Reivers, a Hellblaster and an Intercessor. While I’ve built up quite a few, as it turns out, of the other marines from the box, I’ve only basecoated them with Khorne Red and left it there. Time to do a lot more with them, then, I think!
I’m going for Genesis Chapter, although I have previously thought about doing Novamarines with them as well. I might end up doing a mix, I suppose we’ll see! I know that the shoulder pads work on either flavour, though the Dark Imperium marines are often sculpted with the pads stuck to the arms already, so that may not work out for me. So far, I’ve been quite pleased anyway, though, so I might just continue with Genesis Chapter and be done with!
The squad is the smallest yet, with just six chaps (and I’ve already painted one, so…) I’m planning to use the 30th Anniversary marine for the Sergeant, and then use Dark Imperium guys for the rest.
I think, after playing the game last Friday, I can see a definite advantage to smaller teams, as my 15 Cultists got to the point where they auto-failed Nerve Tests and I was basically just sitting there being picked off. Added to this, Marines should be a lot more durable, so I shouldn’t (hopefully!) get into the position where I’m seeing my guys die off in droves. An all-shooty team should be a plus, too, as I can hang further back than with the more combat-orientated Cultists.
That’s the theory, at any rate!
I’m hoping to be back soon with some progress on getting these chaps painted up, anyway. I only need to do 17 models to get all three Kill Teams on this page fully painted! Shouldn’t take too long…
spalanz.com 