Reflection, adaptation and focus realignment.

It is that time of week again and I have had a week where some plans have had to be changed and some focus has had to be adjusted.

What do I mean? Well... when it comes to army building you have to have an idea of what you are aiming for. Sometimes it will be 'building an army and seeing where it goes' and other times it will be 'here's the list, I need to build my army to fit into it'.

Initially, I started my Squat army with a loose idea that it should fit into the Imperial Guard codex. Bearing in mind that I don't have a copy of the latest 'Astra Militarum' codex, it was always going to be a struggle building an army to that list... and this has led to a little bit of adaptation (explained a bit later) in order to fit in.

Don't get me wrong, I have every other edition of the Imperial Guard codex so I know roughly what is required... but they are in the loft and I have been building units from memory (which for me, is always a bad idea!).

Yesterday, I managed to get my eyes on a Codex Astra Militarum and have a good old scan through. This has led to the discovery that I have equipped one of my command squads incorrectly (bolt pistols for the troops). Me being me, there was no way I could leave things like that so I have had to make some changes; namely replacing bolt pistols with las pistols on the troops (here's a before and after):

Click the Pix!

The problem I had was that I have used Khorn Berserker bolt pistols which were attached to their massive hands so I had to choose some las pistols with a bit more bulk than the old Rogue Trader ones. Fortunately, I had some Catachan las pistols and they seem to fit nicely. I can explain the change in pistol design by saying that the pistols are from the command armoury rather than the troop armoury so are a bit different. My other command squads will have Cadian las pistols... because that is what I have in my bits box!

So now I've seen the new Codex, I have been thinking about bringing everything into line. That has meant that I needed to get some Comms equipment for my troops. Recently I have been looking all over the place to find suitable items, in enough quantity, for a relatively cheap price and to be honest, I was beginning to think that I would have to make my own. Fortunately, I noticed a post on one of the forums I visit and it pointed me towards Mad Robot Miniatures and this pack of COMMS SETS. Not only are these little comms sets available cheaply and in sets of 5 but they also have little telephone handsets and that means that I don't have to add any headsets to my troops; I just need to add the packs. That saves me a lot of effort so I am really pleased. Now all I have to do is wait for them to arrive and glue them on.

Steering away from the codex for now, I have been busy working on the next platoon and here is where I am with it, at the moment:

Click the Pic!

All of them have had neckerchiefs and beards added and the top squad has had its rifles shortened and attached. I have also started to add putty to the wire arms so I am well on the way to getting this platoon finished.

Steering back towards the codex and I have been thinking a lot about what the army should include and I am dead set on this (from the Astra Militarum Codex - this does not include the units I have from the Space Marine Codex - Exo Squad units):

1. Army Command Squad: (Commander and 4 Troops)
2. Infantry platoon: (Command Squad, 2x Infantry Squad, 1x Heavy Weapon Squad)
3. Infantry platoon: (Command Squad, 2x Infantry Squad, 1x Heavy Weapon Squad)
4. Sentinel Squadron: (3x Sentinel. Attached to a platoon for support)
5. Sentinel Squadron: (3x Sentinel. Attached to a platoon for support)
6. Engineseer: (Engineseer + Servitors)

As you are aware, I also plan to add a third platoon and it is this platoon that is causing me to think about what I plan to do.

Having looked through the codex, I have noticed that Ministorum Priests are pretty cool. How about treating a Ministorum Priest as a Squat Berserker? More or less dressed the same as a standard Squat but with a fiery mohawk and a bit of specialist equipment that marks him out as something special. I am still in the thinking phase at the moment but there are a lot of options open to me (attaching a priest to a standard infantry squad OR maybe a specialist squad with demolition charges?). Obviously, I would have the priest as a permanent fixture to a particular squad so that they can all get the mohawk treatment... 

I still have a lot to think about.

So... always be prepared to alter things if you start out without a clear view of what you want to acheive.

See you from the vortex!