Warhammer 40,000

In the far distant future there are more plastic models

Number One Son discovered Warhammer 40k as a friend of his and his dad down the road played, I had pretty much ignored this whole genre till then (I was an “historical” miniatures player you see…). He came home with the rulebook and a Codex (a what – that’s just a darned fancy word for an army List said I*) for the Necrons. One visit to the games store later and Dad and Son were building evil Necrons (evil because they are so fiddly to build….). A visit across the road to said friend and his dad and soon I was playing my first game. And it’s a fun game….the rules are a lot like those wonderfully simple sets of the Donald Featherstone era, they play fast and give a very believable result – in the 41^st millenium anyway. Number Two son naturally wanted in on the act, and on visiting the Games Workshop store was immediately attracted to the one army that no-one ever recommends, ever – the dreaded Dark Eldar. Despite the efforts of all to dissuade a then 8 year old from this clearly unwise choice he dug his feet in – just as well, they are a wonderful army to play (and probably my personal favourite now).

In the cause of father – son bonding I naturally had to get my own army, and chose the Orks. The line about the best Ork Meks being those who can take a thing apart and then put it together again making it work with the most bits left out - reminded me of my student car “fixing” days.

After a year or so Number. One Son had pretty much explored the Necron options (it is a really great starter army…simple, tough and not too expensive to buy) and started building the much more flexible Eldar. Last in the story, Number Two son eventually decided to get a Space Marine army after playing them on the Dawn of War computer game, and he used this programme to design his own colours, and thus the Space Tigers were founded.

The poor old Orks are no match for these two armies, especially if used together as the kids do (the Eldars’ cover each others weaknesses well). One day I saw some old Games Workshop pith helmeted troopers and this decided me on a new army, I could combine my love of Victorian Science Fiction and playing 40k, so I built a Victorian Sci Fi style Imperial Guard army, styled on the Space 1889 backstory (the Great Powers colonising Mars and Venus in Victorian times). The Imperial Guard lend themselves well to this, what with modeling opportunities for Steam Tanks and other Infernal Devices.

(* A Codex is not just a list, as it contains army lists, history, organization structure, uniforms guides and - in Games Workshop case - some great photos to motivate the player. )

	Bad Guys Boogie Nasty teleporting Necrons advance on Dastardly Dark Eldar taking cover behind a wall – with the Talos moving up to attack. No 1 and No 2 son’s first armies in an epic clash Necrons were our first army, and are an excellent beginners army – very tough, fairly simple in structure, and cool models. Dark Eldar were my 2^nd son’s first choice – he just liked the look of them. We were told they were hard to play, pretty lousy to play etc….well, we have found them to be extremely hard hitting, very fast and fun to play
	Dads Army Ere we go, ere we go, ere we go…. As an army to play they have only one big idea…charge…or Waaaagh as they call it. They are lousy shots with weak armour, but awesome in hand to hand. Here the Orks advance against a combined Eldar / Dark Eldar force. These Orks were wiped out by a wall of firepower shortly after.
	The Dark Eldar Ravager…… The ultimate Tank Destroyer, fast and incredibly hard hitting with 3 Dark Lance anti tank ray guns. Thank heavens its not too heavily armoured The Un Named kabal (our force) fields two of these, they can knock out anything on the 40k battlefield.
	Eldar Armoured Airpower… The formidable Falcon flying tank, taking another long range pop with its formidable guns before coming in close to drop its combat troops off. This battle scarred vehicle has already had its star cannon shot off, but the deadly long range Pulse Laser is still a formidable gun (eat your heart out all you Tiger tank boys with a paltry 88mm) After playing the Necrons for a year my elder son started building Eldar, a very different army with a lot of variety. The important thing is to blend the different parts of the force together, Do it well and they are unbeatable - do it badly and disaster beckons…
	Snow Tigers My younger sons 2^nd army – good old Space Marines – the opposite of the Dark Eldar – slow, steady, heavily armoured. The Snow Tigers are a splinter outfit from the Space Wolves, and have gone adventuring under the leadership of Erik the Dread (left).