Sanctifiers

   How do I explain this post? Really it should be the second or 3rd post in a series but it's the first, so lets give this a go. Warhammer released scenery kit a few years back of an angelic statue about 2 stories high that I always meant to buy but couldn't quite justify the price of, they then discountinued it and the second hand price went mental. A few years later, Warhammer released a Kill Team box called Blood and Zeal, which had the statue in again but I also couldn't justify buying two Kill Teams to get some scenery, so I passed on.

   I have spent the start of summer painting a World Eaters Chaos army and one of the units it can take are Goremoungers, effectively slightly improved cultists who rather helpfully come in the Blood and Zeal box. As the box is out of print now the 3 parts of it have gone on sale separately and are all about half the price of the box. It was about this point I realised that I wanted 2 parts, I had a vague use for the 3rd. 

   Luckily there is a shop around the corner from me that is actually a vape shop, but who set a board up in their shop to play 40k during the day and kept having customers ask if they sold Warhammer, so they decided to do just that. Because they don't have a website, strange boxes of things that sell out on release day sit unsold on their shelves, so it's a grab place to pick up the odd things that you missed first time around - this was one of those.

   This is very much becoming one of those units that was bought without a plan as the 'almost free' bit of a set I wanted and has quickly become my favourite bit. I now need to make sure I don't build an army around it, but I have so many projects fighting to be the first I do next, that's not too big a challenge.

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Astral Claws Scout Squad

   Is this another new project? Let me explain. 

   My old Heresy podcast group is a strange whatsapp chat where we can be completely silent for months and then we talk non-stop for a few weeks, spitballing ideas that rarely go anywhere. One idea I floated a few months back was of a meet up to play 5th edition Warhammer using the Badab War books from Forgewold. I've always wanted to play some games from this campaign but I've never had an opponent. 

   I'd worked out a 1000 point list, which was pretty normal for the time, worked out prices and was fairly surprised by how cheap the bulk of the project would be, barring two units - the dreadnought (I didn't want a venerable one and GW don't sell the old normal one anymore) and the scout squad.

   Then someone who reads this blog got in contact to say they were getting rid of their old warhammer bits and did I want them? Of course I said yes - thanks Phil! 

   I'm going to go into some of the stuff in the box properly in another post - as there is another whole new project I'm doing from this box, plus another half formed project in my head - but one thing that jumped out when I was sorting through the bits was the metal scouts.

   With excited cries, I ran to check my notebook and my 1000 point list and found I had all the scouts, plus extras, that I needed. So they duly got sprayed and put onto my painting desk - the project was go.

   I need to order some decals from my German supplier, but I'm really pleased to see this project starting up. I've got big plans even knowing that I don't expect this to ever see a table top. Sometimes it's nice to get ideas out of your head and be creative.

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584th Liumia Pegasii

   As the guy who is playing all sides in the current 40k campaign, I keep thinking about what isn't represented that probably should be*, the Imperial Battle Group is likely to include a few Space Marine chapters, at least one Sisters of Battle order, then nowhere near enough Guard.

   With this in mind, I sat and thought about what would make sense to represent another regiment but to keep the project small without it being daft that I only painted a single platoon. It was obvious that the answer is basically Kasrkin or Tempestus Scions and as I have a unit of the former to paint for my traitors, the latter made the most sense.

*the chaos side is easier, as they are just warbands pulled together, there are no rules, although, I probably need a bit more variety in traitor guard/cultists

   As an elite unit, who are trained and recruited from the same pool of orphans as Commissars and Sisters Of Battle (if I remember my fluff right), I decided I wanted these guys to reflect something from real world elite forces and use a colour scheme that might help them rather than hinder**. With this in mind, I chose a dark green armour and a beige uniform underneath.

**although it is still 40k, so of course they have a metallic trim to their armour

  This was supposed to just be a test box to see if the idea worked and to stop myself going mad and then not doing anything with the project but I ended up buying a second box once I finished it and now I have a full squad. At this point I now have a squad I can add to my guard armies but can also use for Kill Team, then look at adding another squad, a command squad and then either a Taurox (to make the combat patrol) or a squad of Aquilons for rule of cool and a 500 point army (plus they are a Kill Team themselves)

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