I wonder how many Games Workshop
players got their start playing Hero Quest or Space Crusade? I know
that I played the hell out of both of them when I was growing up
(never did get into the Advanced versions, though...probably because
to me they seemed like a step backwards rather than a step
forwards...) I had all the expansions for both of them, played them
all, and the figures became the nucleus of my original 40k armies
when I was a kid, naturally enough...I think I squeezed Space
Marines, and an Ork/Chaos alliance out of Space Crusade, and about
four or five armies out of Hero Quest. (Don't get me started on what
they did to the Fimir.)
After about a twelve-year gap, with the
advent of 6th Edition I got back into 40k with my gaming
group; we've rapidly managed to build up some rather substantial
forces (isn't eBay a wonderful thing) – I think the roster now runs
at Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Salamanders, Grey
Knights, Orks (twice), Eldar, Dark Eldar (twice), Tau, Imperial
Guard, Sisters of Battle and Tyranid. Yes, the only two armies that
aren't represented are the two that GW has provided 6th
Edition Codex for...no Chaos or Dark Angels for us! (And yes...there
are only four of us, and after just six months, this is what we've
amassed.)
Mine? Well, I have an Ultramarine force
that runs up to about 3,500 points, and an Ork force that could
manage 2,250 on a good day; given that most of our battles are at the
1,000 and 1,500-point mark with the occasional 3,000...that's more
than sufficient. I've been playing with...varying degrees of success
(translation – my win/loss ratio is rather sad at the moment)...but
am still enjoying the hell out of it.
What my army has been missing has been
a theme. Though I love playing with the Orks, the Ultramarines are
still my primary army – so for the present, I'm going to
concentrate on them. After pondering for some time, the answer struck
me as obvious; theme my battleforce around the concept of 'Space
Crusade', as in – fighting in confined spaces, hulks and the like.
(Yes, I know 99% of the time I will be fighting in battlefield
situations, but that's another story altogether.) This means an
emphasis on infantry over vehicles, whilst still using some vehicles,
naturally, and gives me a nice backstory for all of my units; my
conceit being that this force assembled during the initial 'Space
Crusade' campaign and then was added to over the course of subsequent
battles...the plan being to use as the basis the very games and
campaigns I played through the first time around. Essentially – I
want each unit to have its own backstory, and this seems like a good
way to get it!
Of course...I will also be adding story
through the campaigns and battles I play, whenever there is something
particularly notable, so hopefully this will be an ongoing process.
I'm playing a few battles this week at the 1,000 point mark (little
mini-tournament on Sunday, with a couple of practice games today.
Tomorrow I'll run through the list, my reasons/plans...and how the
practice games went...
