SS40K - The Battle Phase

Subtitle: How I decide what I'm going to paint

I'm torn between whether to count the next part of the Start Small 40K Project as a cop out to avoid having to paint everything, or a brilliant idea for completing everything slowly.  

The Start Small 40K Project: Build/Paint Rules

Phase One: Army Conception

1. Initial purchases are (ideally*) small in stature. Although if there are a number of models I currently own for a force, I don't have to sell those, but I do have to start with those.**

2. Those models are built. Arms based on what is currently used in competitive play, but some amount of the build should come from what is available for that unit.

3. Models receive a Priming in a base color that best applies to that force, or a Priming in Black/Gray/White followed by a basecoat in an appropriate color.

Phase Two: Army Growth

1. Immediately After Conception, that army takes to the field against another opponent in a 500/1000 point battle.

    a. The opponent may be another army that was just conceived, or an army that is in need of attention.

    b. Ideally, the newly conceived army will go up against an army that it has some base narrative rivalry with.

2. A few things are tracked during the battle, primarily Damage Dealt and Wounds Saved, but if there is a significantly EPIC moment, such as killing the last of a Key unit, or leader, or surviving combat with a significantly stronger unit, that model earns points.

    a. Units of models should try to have close to the same level of paint job.

    b. How much is painted depends on how many points that army has earned

3. A combination of 'Project Expansion Goals' and 'Battle Losses' (as opposed to 'Battle Victories', which contribute to a model's paint job) determine whether new models are added to a force.

4. Project Goals (such as the goals for getting a Grey Knight Dreadknight) may be set as the Project goes on, which determine how the armies get built.

Phase Three: The Inevitable Grand Campaign

This is a project which has been rolling around in my brain for a while, an event that unites all of the factions into one mega-campaign.

Story: In the late 41st Century, one of Abaddon's 15th Black Crusade successfully reaches not just Earth, but the Golden Throne. In a final glorious combat between him and Roboute Guilliman, Abaddon pierces the Emperor's ribcage, which explodes with the impact of several billion nuclear bombs, annihilating the Earth and freeing the Emperor from his 10,000 year prison. Late in the 49th Millennium, a far flung outpost world of what little remains of the Imperium of Man, has shown signs of a transcendent entity, most not seen since the initial arrival of the Emperor of Mankind on Earth during the Unification Wars. Thus, Humanity must struggle to survive as multiple Chaos and Xenos factions descend upon the planet, in the hopes that their savior, the Emperor of Mankind, will return to lead them in reconquering the Galaxy, and ending the threats to them as a race.

The Method: Still a work in progress. I have some idea on how factions will work, but I haven't simulated/playtested how that will work.

Wrapup:

Honestly, I don't know how much longer my foray into 40K will last. While I am invested into 40K (it's a lot of box sets and models), I'm drawn more to Fantasy, and Age of Sigmar's 3rd Edition is just about to drop. I love my Grand Campaign idea, but if something presents itself that makes something similar for Age of Sigmar a possibility, I'm probably switching games.

On the other hand, you the reader are probably here randomly; a 40K enthusiast that has no interest in other games, and somehow here because the Chaos Gods invested in RNGs.

Look. Take care of yourselves, your family and other responsibilities and hopefully my mad ramblings inspired your own hobby aspirations.

Footnotes

*In some instances, I know what the long term end goal of the army is, thus I know what models I am looking for those armies. Thus, I can make those purchases as necessary, instead of following the set rules.

**I have a large number of the following forces already: Dark Angels, Tyranids, Chaos Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Chaos Daemons, AdMech (mostly Skitarii), Dark Eldar/Drukhari, and Tau. Thus, when I build those initial forces, they may be larger than your average bear.