The galaxy is driven to its knees. A tale, not of war erupting, but of burning slowly into the fabric of the world through fractures borne of arrogance, envy, hubris, anger, prescience and The Prince Who would Be King. This deep flame once fully ablaze carries it destructive force to the burgeoning Imperium of Man, its spark guided by the foulest of forces bleeding through from the eye of terror.
In this world, do you side with the glory of the Emperor of Man, to his still dreamed ideal of the perfect human civilization? Or do you take the dark road down, to the alternate side of reality where where the Fallen Son and his dark dreams glimmer behind the sheen of madness tempered with the fiercest intellect?
Do you choose the path of the Omnissiah, fusing the flowing force of the machines holy spirit to weapons of war that rain down death and destruction on the Imperium’s enemies? Or fall into the fleshweld of the Dark Mechanicum, fallen from grace and seeking innovation of darkness that will fuel steel frames emitting screams of burning oil and molten tears?
Will you as humanities last might, wield the brave soldiers of the stars, the true men and heroes of humanity fighting hand to hand as the armoured tank columns rain down great shells of death and mayhem? Or do you carve the dark gods into your skin and make war with only blood and death in your human eyes?
Choose a side and fight your war, by your hand will the fates be altered….
Why Play 30k?
For me, one of the main reasons to play 30k, is to explore the single story that defines the 40k universe. This is the period which represents in many ways the Zenith of mankind, with each year further from this point a great drop into superstition and the shadow of the Emperors light, with his dream for a secular galaxy based in science and fact faded to none-existence…
Secondly you get to play the Legiones Astartes as they should be played, with all the colour and character that lacks (particularly on the side of the traitor legions) in 40k. The rules are wonderful and evocative, with many aspects of gameplay (like fear) having real and valid tactics on the table as they should do compared to 40k.
Equally you have the option of playing the Meachanicum, for good or evil, in a time when they had unparalleled monsters of metal at their disposal; or you can play the Solar Auxilia, the elite of humanity in the defence of the Imperium with tanks of such power they would make Pask blush.
The models are beautiful. Forgeworld has, to the greater extent, done an amazing job at bringing to the life the still images that we so often gaze at with wide eyes. Painting these models are a joy, and with the obvious transition to plastics this will only get easier.
Finally, the internal balance of 30k, is in my opinion, excellent. With the relative power and costing of units, much more equal across the board than 40k, and the rules are completely compatible if you want to test your mettle across 10 thousand years!
Why Now?
As eluded to above, the advent of Betrayal at Calth and plastic miniatures for 30k represents a steep drop in the entry barrier (price wise) to play 30k. Additionally as more people play 30k, the use of the armies and rules available will become more widespread and picking up games should be as easy as pie. With many tournaments and gaming groups already accepting of forge world units in 40k, may are also happy to allow 30k vs. 40k armies.
Forgeworld also have an excellent range of upgrade kits if you aren’t a stickler for what mark of power armour you use (and as much as I am, I don’t judge anyone who isn’t given the cost!), these are an excellent way to jazz up a normal box of marines for a nice 30k flavour.
So Who Should I Collect?
Well I’m writing this article to introduce you to both 30k and to introduce myself! I have been w iting reviews of 30k units that are pertinent to my own hobby collection for a while now on my own blog (see the bottom for a link). But Spikey Bits have very kindly invited me to write about 30k here as a good central resource (along with all the other excellent content on this blog) for people to see what units can do and how armies will play.
In my next post I will briefly run through each army that is available in 30k and some essentially buys if you are thinking of collecting them. It can be hard with all the publications to know which is the best for you and where you should start spending that hard earned cash! I hope to male that easier with the army intro article.
From there on I will systematically review units from each of the armies, going through their strengths and issues along with tactics for their use. These will be based of my experience and opinions and I hope they will allow a little forum of discussion to occur in the comments with people pitching in their own ideas. But essentially I hope to present people with a near comprehensive review of 30k units that will inform your army building and bank balance draining choices!!
Who Am I?
24601!!! Well, with that out of the way… I am a real life scientist (as my housemates introduce me to new people) who has been back in the hobby 3 years now. I cut my teeth in the 90’s on Fantasy Battle with Vampire Counts, and spent a good deal of the 2000’s playing the one and only Inquisitor, which only strengthened my love of the narrative side of 40k.
Currently I reside in Bristol UK and anyone who wants to play me need only be able to make it down and ask! I collect Blood Angels and Dark Angels in 40k, Alpha Legion and Mechanicum in 30k, as well as currently converting sigmarines ostensibly to be a 30k Dark Angel force, though I may use them in 40k as a successor chapter as and when I feel like it…
The hobby is a big part of my life and occupies half my room and I am really just gearing in towards some serious competitive play as I gently grate the cheese into my army lists. However I will always have time for narrative play as I take great enjoyment in running thematic lists (I have an all Death Company list nearly complete) as much as grinding out a win against the toughest opponents.
My blog can be found through this link here and encapsulates all of the above, please read, like and comment at your leisure 🙂
From the Horus Heresy to Infinity and Beyond
Peace out,
Rob
About the Author: Rob Hill
