The Story So Far
Be warned, weary traveler, this is a shameless plug alert. If you haven’t read it or need a quick review of prior goings on, this is the article that started this whole thing. Ready to move forward? So am I.
For those of you in the TLDR mindset, here’s a quick summation of the project: I’m painting an Alpha Legion force for both 1K Zone Mortalis games, and a 2.5K list for standard games of Heresy. I started the project back in January and my goal is to complete the ZM portion by 6/30 and the entire project by 12/31. I also want to get a few games in with each force throughout the year. Can it be accomplished? With a little bit of planning and execution, both projects are definitely doable. For this update I want to focus on the ZM portion. Here’s a quick recap of what the force organization looks like and what the completion schedule is:
Alpha Legion 1K Zone Mortalis Force
Compulsory HQ: Cataphractii Centurion; includes minor combi-weapon (grenade launcher)
Compulsory Troop: Tactical Squad (x15); includes vexilla and chain bayonets, Sergeant is equipped with artificer armor and a power fist
Troop: Support Squad (x10); armed with rotor cannons
Elite: Contemptor Dreadnought; Gravis power fist (x2), in-built heavy flamer (x2)
Elite: Cataphractii Terminator Squad (x5); includes power fists (x4)
Completion Milestones
- January: Complete Contemptor Dreadnought
- February: Complete Centurion and Terminators
- March: Build Tactical and Support Squads
- April: Complete 5 Support and 8 Tactical Marines
- May: Complete 5 Support and 7 Tactical Marines
- June: ZM project completed
- July through December: TBD
The Road Traveled
Now we can get to the good stuff: how the project is going. Overall, things are pretty great. At the time of publication I’ll have completed the Dreadnought, the Support Squad, two-thirds of the Tactical Squad, a Centurion, and a Praetor. More on the Praetor in a moment. All of the required models will have been built and primed as well. When stacked up against the milestones above I’m kind of scattershot, but in terms of overall project completion I feel very comfortable at this stage.
However there was one teeny tiny error that I ran into. To set the stage I’ve decided to put together a 1K Night Lords ZM force as well. As I’m working on said list it randomly occurred to me that I should take a look at my Alpha Legion list as well. Thank the Emperor/Warmaster that I did because with the models listed above I’m almost 200 points short (192 to be exact). I’m sitting at the kitchen counter scratching my head trying to figure out where the disconnect was but sadly I couldn’t find it. However, my notes page is an absolute mess so I’ll chalk it up to that. After making a couple of small modifications I came up with a revised list:
Alpha Legion 1K Zone Mortalis Force
Compulsory HQ: Cataphractii Praetor; includes volkite charger and paragon blade
Compulsory Troop: Tactical Squad (x15); includes vexilla and chain bayonets, Sergeant is equipped with artificer armor and a power fist
Troop: Support Squad (x10); armed with rotor cannons
Elite: Contemptor Dreadnought; Gravis power fist (x2), in-built heavy flamer (x2)
Elite: Cataphractii Terminator Squad (x6); includes power fists (x4), Sergeant is equipped with magna combi-weapon (meltagun)
For my warlord trait I’m going back and forth between Hydran Excursor and Bloody Handed. Hydran Excursor allows the character and any unit he’s joined a +1 To Hit against the Legion Astartes (X) keyword. The limitation is that I have to decide which Legion keyword I’m going to use prior to deployment. The other nice thing is that I can perform an extra reaction in the Shooting phase. That could come in handy if I can thin out a larger or important squad before they charge me.
The other option is Bloody-Handed. This allows +1 to the number of wounds caused for determining combat resolution. The kicker is that at least one friendly model in combat is within 12” of the warlord, or I can use it in a combat that the warlord is a part of. Unfortunately I can’t do both. I can see this coming in handy for the Tactical Squad as it would stack with the vexilla, but other than that it wouldn’t be very effective. The other bonus is that I can perform an additional reaction in my opponent’s Assault phase as long as he’s still alive. I plan on playing around with both options, but for now I’m leaning towards Hydran Excursor.
And that, my friends, is that. It’s looking like updates are coming once a quarter so hold tight for more info. So far we’re looking to be in good shape and making solid headway. As long as I don’t have to perform any additional basic addition, I think we’ll end up just fine. Now that I’m thinking about it I should probably check my 2.5K list as well. Hopefully I have all of those sneaky Alpha Legionaries accounted for.
[This post was originally published at Otherverse Games & Hobbies]
Ryan
A New England transplant that originated from parts westward, Ryan is a bit of a nerd that knows a little bit about a lot of things, all while claiming to know nothing about anything. Seemingly part Khajit a logistician by trade, he’s the kind of guy that can get you virtually anything if there’s coin to be had a problem to solve. Ryan began to learn the scrounging arts while serving time in parts east as a Loggie and has been perfecting them steadily over several decades. He has a problem with continually purchasing models, paints, and terrain that he doesn’t really need but his wife doesn’t seem to mind.
