Let the Stars Burn!

So I'm on new project. For those that have read my old blogs, I have said some harsh things about GW in the past....well maybe I didn't write down the specifics, but the gist of it was, I don't like them as a company. I really don't like how they operate. I think it is a huge disservice to the people who put them where they are now.

However, there is no denying how awesome their product is. It is by far, the most popular for this hobby, and in my own home. Recently, I was struck by the awesomeness of the new hellbrute model for the chaos space marines. Now I had owned CSM once before, and I loved the models then tool. I don't like CSM as a concept...I mean I'm much more of a good guy type of player...and so chaos has always been an army I avoided collecting. But the CSM line is pretty awesome, and just keeps getting better.

Well the new hellbrute got me thinking about how I could collect a CSM force fairly cheaply. Turns out, it isn't all that hard. The new Attack Force set is an actual deal on GW models. Getting it for a discount is even better. That added to the surperb models from the Dark Vengence starter, gives you a fairly diverse army right out of the gate and all for the low price of around $200.

So that was my goal, start small, start cheap, and go from there. Well the idea was great, but I still needed to come up with $200. Now I could have just gone out and spent the money...but I really do have way too many armies and models in general. So first, I tried to trade. I had a Dark Angels army that was doing nothing and its sale would easily cover the costs I was expecting and then some.

Enter roadblock #1...no one wants Dark Angels. Granted, it was based on older terminator models, but they were painted very well in typical Deathwing colors. In fact an entire playable Deathwing army was there, plus extras. Thankfully an opportunity came up for me to sell some other models. Wasn't enough to get me my starting force, but it did allow me to grab another opportunity to get a CSM battalion from a friend. It would give me models to play with and would supplement my planned force in a good way.

Thankfully, I did finally sell my DA army. And now I have purchased the majority of my CSM force. I'm hoping to work a deal for the DV models I want soon. I was also to trade some nids for two other CSM units during the last few weeks. Here is my planned Crimson Slaughter CSM force: af = attack force, dv = dark vengence, bt = battalion, tr = trade, pu = purchase.

HQs - terminator librarian (af), chaos lord (dv)
Elite - 5 terminators (af), 6 chosen (dv), 8 berserkers (bt)
Troops - 10 csm (af), 15 csm (bt), 20 cultists (pu)(gor conversions), 5 possessed (bt), 1 aspiring champ (pu)
Fast Attack - 1 helldrake (tr), 5 raptors (af)
Heavy Support - 1 maulerfiend (tr), 1 forge fiend (af), 1 hellbrute (dv), 1 hellbrute (pu)
Transports - 1 rhino (bt), 1 rhino (af)

All said and done, $$ spent was about $335 which I brought in $375 with sales. Technically I don't have the DV models yet, but I should be able to get them within budget easily, and hopefully with trades.

Next post, Chaos Assemble!