Introductions

 Battle for Armageddon - reviltalizing an old scenario-booklet

Welcome to my small project based off the Battle for Armageddon scenarios, as found in the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000 starter set.

You know which one I'm talking about. If not, let me remind you:

Yeah, that's the one

When I initially acuired the box-set in my early teens (I'm an old man of 37 years now...so we're talking ancient history here!), I was fascinated by the many books that came with it, but having very little understanding of the english language it was written in, I had no idea what to do with it all. The box-set itself contained enough stuff to keep me occupied for ages, and the miniatures were quickly (and badly) painted up to stand on display on the windowsill in front of my desk. I would spend hours coming up with my own rules based on the instructions in the quick-start guide, and then proceed to play out battles between orks and space marines using the cardboard terrain provided in the box, but I never got around to reading the little black-and-white booklet at the bottom of the box. 

Years later I found the booklet again and read through it, again captivated by the mixture of artwork and writing. I never got around to playing it, but it stuck with me for years, where so much of the other stuff in the box was replaced by newer publications and shinier miniatures. I am sure this story is quite typical in the community, where we all have our own similar stories of how we got hooked on the game and all the little marvels that come with it in miniature form.

A while ago I took stock of my hobby inventory, digging out old boxes and abandoned projects, and decided to sell off a lot of it, while falling in love with old armies all over again. Amidst this pile of old plastic and card, there it was again. "The Battle for Armageddon" written my Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson:

Wonderful stuff, isn't it?

I decided that this would be a good place to do start anew, while building on existing projects in my collection. I haven't really gotten into 9th edition yet, having played only a few times. I'm what I guess you could call a veteran by now, although I've alway enjoyed the story-telling and modelling parts more than the actual game. With two kids and a full-time job, hobby-time is scarce and anything I do have to be somewhat limited in scope if I am to succeed in anything.

So I sat down and had a good think about how to go about it. Luckily, there are plenty of people who have theorized on how to start new projects, how to go about collecting and modelling on a time-limit and how to get the most out of your abandoned projects and see them in a new light. 

Premise:

In this project my goals are:

1) Develop two armies along the lines of those presented in "Battle for Armageddon", but updated to fit the newer range of GW miniatures, with a glance towards the past.

2) Build canon around the two forces off what's presented in the booklet, adapting it to newer stories and the general wobbly timeline of the 40k universe as it stands today.

3) Improve my modelling skills, mainly sculpting and free-hand painting.

4) Learn the rules of the game is successive games linked by the campaign-system found at the back of the booklet, before moving on to the new Crusade system of 9th edition Warhammer 40k.

To achieve this I plan to grow the project from bits and pieces I already have (I'm looking at you, untouched primaris-sprues...) while reading up on the material I have on the different Armageddon wars over time. 

Inspiration:

I'm just going to come out and say it - I bloody love Apologists blog on the Praetors of Calth and everything in between that. Check it out: Death of a Rubricist

I can't stress enough how much this and the running project of the Alien Wars have inspired me over time, and I was lucky enough to play a small part in the ongoing War of the False Primarch (see: War of the False Primarch ). Edd's stuff is both well thought through and interesting from a nostalgic point of view, which is something I hope to emulate here on this project.

Osprey Campaign books have been part of my chosen reading-list for over a century at this point, and I enjoy the format a lot. I hope to include a few maps here and there, and hopefully do plate-like articles as well. We'll see. 

Apart from this I use Instagram a lot and follow different accounts there, although only a few of them deal with the Armageddon War as such. You can find me under the handle DuckcalledSue and explore the different accounts I follow there if interested.

The Armies:

Orks

I already have a large collection of Orks, a lot of them painted up a various times, using various techniques. It's quite a common feature for most hobbyists, as interest in a certain faction or force wax and wane from time to time, year to year. My current collection features an absurd amount of standard boyz with shooters, painted in various hues of green, and a sprinkling of different vehicles and a few characters. The models range from the old 2nd edition "goofy" sculpts to the newer Beastsnagga boyz. So a lot of variety! Again, I guess this is quite normal for most armies. You pick up something in the current edition and before you have the time to paint it all up, there's a new release. Standard, is the best word for it, I guess. 

What I would like for the Orks with this project is to streamline the force a bit more and update the army a bit. While the old boyz are charming in their gorilla-like physiology, and their tremendous amount of dakka, I feel that the models are a bit outdated. Especially since the now only reach their opponents to around chest-height, making them less fearsome.

Following the army-lists provided in the booklet, the Orks and their grot minions total out to 40 grots and 20 orks, plus a single cardboard dreadnought. This is exciting, as I already have about 40 grots in various stages of the paint-process, and the remaining orks leave me with an excuse to have a look at the new box set for ork boyz, released this year.

For painting I want to go with muted schemes and try to uniform the basing a bit more. At this point it's all over the place, with some sandy desert bases and some red-earth martian bases intermingled. I hope to remedy this and create a unified look that ties the different units together.

Space Marines

Space Marines are probably the most popular faction and figure-line in the entire warhammer franchise, and I doubt you'll be able to find any person who hasn't owned at least one and painted it at some point. My own collection of marines is eclectic and random, with several chapters spread out over hundreds of miniatures. I own very few finished armies, but I suppose my Space Marines are the ones that comes the closest to a cohesive 40k force. 

I've always enjoyed building new, small forces for the Space Marines, thus the large number of marines in various shades and colours in my boxes and drawers. For this project I'm going to do the same thing and just start with some basic troops and build from there. The army-lists provided in the booklet detail the total of 20 Space Marines spread over four squads used in the different scenarios. 

I plan to use the newer Primaris Marines as the basis for these tacticals, but keep them in line with the mk.VII armour with some minor conversion-work. While the old tactical marines are still nice models, there's just something about the dimensions of the Primaris' models that makes them seem everything they're made out to be in the lore.

For colurs I want to go with something that stands out and challenges me a bit, without becoming bogged down in techniques and a crazy amount of detailing. I have several chapters on my list that I would like to do, but not all of them would fit into the Armageddon-setting. As I'm pretty tired of painting red, and seeing as I already own enough Blood Angels, this is one of the places I will be departing from the beaten road as laid out by the booklet, and I will likely come up with new names and designations for the Space Marine forces detailed in the scenarios.

Signing off for now...

So this is the premise and the beginning. I'm excited to get started on this new project and all the different little challenges involved - I've already begun arrangeing an absurd amount of grots on my desk in anticipation of the coming paint-sessions!

Untill next time!