New Project Part 1: Making a choice.

As i've mentioned in my previous post, i've begun a new hobby project in conjunction with the Space Marine release this month. I've decided to embark on collecting a Battle Company of Space Marines, inspired by the new Tactical Squad kit.

Now as all lovers of Power Armour know,  starting a Space Marine force involves a few choices.

Which Codex?

So when it comes to Marines, we're really spoilt for choice when deciding which Codex to use. We've got the standard Space Marine codex, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves and even Grey Knights if you want to push your luck. So which should i use?

Well i wanted a Codex Astartes adherent force, so that ruled out the Space Wolves. Likewise i wanted to use the new Tactical Squad kit, so thats the Grey Knights out of the picture too.

Determined to collect a Battle Company, that removed Dark Angels from the list. Their particular specialties wouldn't be used in this project. However if i ever decide to go for a 1st Company force, the Dark Angels book will be called upon again.

So that leaves Blood Angels and the regular Space Marine codex. I've actually decided to fudge the issue and use both. Sort of.

One of the big frustrations of starting a new force is the wait to be able to use it on the tabletop. As i already have a Sanguinary Guard army raring to go, i've decided to initially collect my new force using the Blood Angels book and use them in conjunction with my Bling Wing.  Once it's reached a size to take the field of battle alone, i'll switch over to the Space Marine book.

So with that decided, it's time to pick a Chapter.

Which Chapter?

This, for me, was a much harder decision to make. I had several requirements i wanted to be filled.

First, i didn't want to go with one of the big chapters. My reason for this is i am very much a fluffy, narrative player. So collecting a company of a popular chapter would break my sense of immersion when i run into players of the same chapter.

Second, i didn't want a commonly seen chapter. I prefer to be apart from the mainstream. This preference has even seen me sell armies in the past - when Daemonhunters switched to Grey Knights and became hugely popular, my army went onto Ebay. 

These two requirements led to me digging through old White Dwarfs, hunting obscure, hardly seen chapters. Several made my short list - Blood Drinkers, Red Hunters, Storm Lords and a few others - but one in particular caught my eye. This chapter has bugger all fluff, is almost never chosen by other players but has been part of 40k since the very beginning in Rogue Trader.

Some may have guessed the chapter already. But i'll keep you in suspense. Next post will reveal the Chapter, feature my painted New Librarian, and hopefully the first Tactical Squad.

Until then i remain,

Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-pope.