Friday meandering.

Before I start this out of sequence post, I'd like to welcome the newest follower to Inso's World; Ian. I hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to share your thoughts and ideas here, in the comments.

So... yesterday, I had a pair of wisdom teeth out and today I decided to put a day's leave in so that I can carry out the cleaning regime easier and be able to eat/take pain-killers when I feel the need to... so I'm at home rattling around on my own.

As I have mentioned, I am working on the second platoon of Squats at the moment and although I am ticking along slowly, I am starting to lose a little momentum (partly to do with having access to the Codex).

I think I need to put together something different to stimulate a bit more enthusiasm but I want it to still fit in with what I have planned for the army so I thought I'd talk about how the army is made up.

I have previously mentioned that the core of the Astra Militarum part of the army will consist of the following:

1. HQ - Command Squad
2. HQ (free) - Engineseer with Servitors
3. Troops - Infantry platoon (command, 2x Infantry and 1x Heavy Weapon squad)
4. Troops - Infantry platoon (command, 2x Infantry and 1x Heavy Weapon squad)
5. Fast Attack - Sentinel Squadron (3x Sentinel)
6. Fast Attack - Sentinel Squadron (3x Sentinel)

Each of the platoons above have a command squad with Comms, Medic, leader and Special weapon and the infantry squads have Comms, Special and Heavy Weapons. The Army HQ Command Squad will follow the same layout as the platoon command squads (when I get around to it).

Now, according to my list (yes... I make lists... LOTS of lists), I have a lot of Squat plastics left over so I plan to add a third, reserve, platoon. The troops in this platoon will all get berets it will be made up as follows:

• Command Squad
• 3x Infantry Squad
• 3x Special Weapon Squad

The Command Squad will have the same layout as the rest of the platoons. The Infantry Squads will be similar to the others but will not have the Heavy Weapon. The 3 Special Weapon Squads will be armed with different weapons to one another but will definitely have a sniper unit in amongst them.

This reserve platoon has got me thinking about how they would be used and I decided to have a look in the Codex to see what I could add. Now, I could kill off the platoon and turn it into squads of veterans but I have plans for the three remaining troop selections and don't want to spend them all (that is a way off so I am not sharing at the moment). With that in mind I decided to look at personalities who could join the units and here is what I came up with:

• Commissars - No. I don't want my own troops killing each other.
• Primaris Psykers - No. I am sorry but Dwarfs are far too earthed to have psyker powers.
• Ministorum Priests - No... Well... Maybe... Hmmm.... Aren't they like Berserkers?

...and that is when it hit me... I could add a Ministorum Priest to a unit and it would turn into a unit of berserkers. If I made that Ministorum Priest look like a Berserker (standard uniform, heroic pose and a big orange mohawk) he would fit into the army perfectly. I could put him in the Reserve Platoon (with their red berets - famed for being worn by very capable, British nutters) and all of a sudden I have a more able assault asset that looks pretty cool too. This got me thinking about which units he could join and although he would probably be excellent in the Special Weapon Squads (how about a unit with Demo-charges... very characterful for a Berserker unit), I decided that he would join the standard Infantry Squads to bolster them a bit.

The beauty of having Ministorum Priests is that they are free on the HQ chart and you can have three of them for one choice... so the perfect number for my reserve platoon's Infantry Squads. It is almost like they were destined to join in the fun.

So... I may put together three Berserkers while I am working on my second platoon to try and chivvy things along a bit.

Just a few thoughts...

See you from the edge of reason!