The Black Templars Rise - The Crimson Crusade

So! This is the first blog post proper. I've had a fairly busy week so lots of pictures to share and general musings on where I am heading in this hobby.

I'm currently working on my Black Templar army in 40K. I have that terrible habit that so many of us have, where my dreams, aspirations and ability to build models, far outstrips my ability to paint them in a timely and quality fashion...

In light of this I have made significant attempts to focus on armies and get them done before moving on to the next one. I have slightly compromised on quality of my painting with the Templar but the effect is, I think, still satisfactory enough to play with.

Here is a group shot of the army so far (with one additional figure now painted see below):

And here are the models I have painted since last Saturday:

The majority of this army was purchased second hand and repurposed so its been a good cheap project, but it has distracted from my more expensive blood angel and militarum tempestus projects which I will expand upon in my next post.

I've gone for a very red heavy theme with this army because of my fluff based direction with them. They are (as the title suggests) the Crimson Crusade. A seething mass of zeal intent on drenching their army in the blood of the Emperor's enemies. However this righteous fury is beset on all sides by the dark kindled flame of Khorne. Where does the desire to shed blood in purities name transform into blood for bloods sake? This Crusade walks that fine precipice, a knifes edge of faith and loyalty balanced against the base desire to kill and maim.

This fluff was inspired by the chained swords that the Black Templar specific kit comes with, which harks back to the World Eaters and their eventual descent into madness.

In the next few posts I will write up the army list for my Black Templars and produce some more photos of the individual squads. I will also review the Chapter Tactics and how I will run this army on the battlefield.

Hobby Time and Games

I love the modelling and painting aspect of this hobby, but I am terrible for actually playing the game itself. Last year I averaged less than a game a month, including attending a tournament of 5 games... This year I intend to average a game every month PLUS go to 2 tournaments.

I have my first tournament coming up in a fortnight which I will be taking my Night Lord Chaos Space Marines too. Here's a quick picture of this army (my only fully complete one):

I will go over this army and its toolkit closer to the tournament. These guys have played 3 games this year already and lost by a few points each time in the Maelstrom missions. I'm hoping to come out of the 5 games with at least 1 win and 1 draw or better and hopefully not be tabled like I was last year with my Dark Eldar....

Anyway, I feel I have splurged enough of my thoughts out for one session, I will definitely be sticking to updating on Sundays but don't be surprised if the odd mid week post flys out :)

Happy gaming and thanks for reading!

Rob