It occurs to me that "a lot of grey plastic" isn't the most informative description, so here's a bit more detail. So far I have the following miniatures assembled for my new army, all of which are designed to fit the army whether I'm using the Grey Knights or Chaos Marines codex:

• 1 Grand Master/Chaos Lord
  

• 1 Librarian/Sorceror
  

• 2 units of 10 terminators
• 1 unit of 10 marines in power armour.
• 1 possessed Nemesis Dreadknight
  

All of the above have been assembled using components from both ranges, which are considerably less compatible than Games Workshop would have you believe. I had to be somewhat selective about which heads would fit on which bodies and which shoulder pads would fit on which arms. On the whole though, I'm happy with the results. I'm particularly happy with the Dreadknight; it's not a very original idea (I've seen at least half a dozen others online) but it works.

Plus I may have settled on a colour scheme. Thanks to the guy in GW today (Matt? sorry I'm hopeless with names) who acted as a sounding board when I was in there earlier. Once I have a test model painted, I'll be sure to post it.

So far, so good

I said I was starting this blog to write about the new armies I've just started working on, so I guess I'll start with my latest offering for Warhammer 40K.

First though, a bit of background. 40K is the game that got me into wargaming in the first place and, no matter what problems I might have with the rules (I have plenty) or the price of the figures, it's a game I just can't seem to give up on. A big chunk of the reason for that is the depth of the background material, particularly the forces of Chaos. Which is why I've always had a problem with one particular omission from the Chaos Marine codex.

The thing is, each of the four Chaos powers has its own elite Chaos Marine unit, troops that best exemplify the tactical style of that particular god. Khorne has Bezerkers, Nurgle has Plague Marines and Slaanesh has Noise Marines. And Tzeentch; Tzeentch has the Thousand Sons. Which is where it all falls down , because the Thousand Sons aren't really in the same category as the others. They're a single chapter of Chaos Marines and their in-game abilities are directly linked to that fact. Which means that if you want a Tzeentch-themed army (like I do) you have to either take an army from one specific chapter or accept that it will be less themed than an army for one of the other powers.

So this was my quest to come up with a better option for a themed Tzeentchian army. What I came up with was an complete army of psykers, using the Grey Knights codex. Which I guess is playing even more fast and loose with the background material but it works for me.

So what do I have to show for this big plan so far? The short answer is a lot of grey plastic. Largely because I haven't decided on a colour scheme yet. Right now, the only candidate I have is one survivor from a previous army I put together 20 years ago (the rest of the Tzeentch troops from this army were unfortunately lost when one of my figure cases got stolen). At the time, I really liked this colour scheme. Now I'm not so sure...

Anyway, more to follow. Possibly before I come up with a workable colour scheme, possibly after.

So, the first distraction didn't take long...

Way back when I was about 12 years old, back before I got into wargaming, a toyshop in Peterborough called Beatties (long since closed down) used to sell a handful of gaming bits and pieces (RPGs mostly, plus a few miniatures). It was there that I first discovered Ogre, a boardgame/wargame about one mega-tank the size of a large building pitted against a small army of regular tanks and infantry. I loved the look of it, but couldn't persuade my parents that it'd make a good birthday present. And that, or so I thought, was that. Never even thought about it again.

Fastforward 25 years, and along comes Kickstarter and the Ogre Deluxe Edition. As soon as I saw it, I new I had to have it. So I backed the project and now I'm waiting for it to finally go into production (it's a bit delayed from the original timescale). However they've just got in a preview copy of the game and posted a picture of the contents of the box, which I just had to share.

I have a feeling this will be taking up a chunk of my time when it finally arrives. Some things are worth the wait!

Getting Started

So, I've been thinking for a while it would be good to give this blogging business a try. I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name's Rob, and I am a gaming addict. I've been wargaming for 20+ years, Warhammer, Warhammer 40K and the rest of Games Workshop's offerings got me hooked but that led onto other wargames (too many to mention), RPGs (too many to count) and CCGs (currently UFS, Star Wars and Netrunner) and it doesn't show any sign of slowing down.

Right now, I'm secretary of Peterborough Wargames Club (largely because nobody else wanted the job) which means I've got a great bunch of guys to share my hobbies with. Plus of course there's the fact that plenty of them are every bit as nuts as I am...

Anyway, the reason I'm starting this blog is because I'm just starting out on a couple of new wargaming projects and I'm going to try to document them here. One is a new army for 40K (to add to the dozen or so armies I already have), the other has a more historical bent. Of course there are bound to be distractions along the way, since I can't concentrate on any project for more than a month or so at a time without something getting in the way. I already know I've got a Dreadball team to paint, plus some more stuff for the Judge Dredd campaign that I'm running, plus an awful lot of zombies for a club-related project, and I'm sure I'll think of something else along the way.

Anyway, that's enough to start with. Next time I'll go into some more detail about the armies I've got planned.