Sunday 25 March 2012

Demon Hunters


About eight years ago, Games Workshop released their Demon Hunters book for Warhammer 40K, and I knew almost immediately that I had finally found 'my' army.  The idea of a select group of hardened, hi-tech warriors, traveling the galaxy, hunting for ancient evil, appealed to me in so many ways.  Sure, I discarded half of the 40K backstory which is a bit too dark for me, but otherwise, I was ready to go. 



Thankfully, at the time, I had a parttime job working in a gaming store that provided me with both extra funds and a discount. Even then Games Workshop products were pricey. 

The army would be commanded by Inquisitor Lord Voulgaris, pictured above, a warrior equally comfortable with the sword and with the book.  He would search the galaxy from the helm of his ship, the battlecarrier Black Moab.

While in D.C., I painted up a small army. I even entered them in one of the store tournaments, where I finished 3rd out of 8.  The main fighting element of the army was made up of the stormtroopers of the 109th 'Demon Blade' regiment.


However, when I left D.C. for the first time, I packed the army away, ready for my new life in Britain.  Well, I realized pretty early on, that my new life still needed to include miniature painting, and so I started the army for a second time.

During this time, I switched basing styles, from the very plain blasted terrain of the original army, to the more rocky with bits of green of the new army.


For years the two halves of the army never saw one another. In fact, it wasn't until yesterday morning, that all the members of the fighting compliment of the Black Moab stood on the same table together for a photo shoot.


But now I'm a bit at a loss as to what exactly to do with them.  It long ago ceased to be a legal army in 40K terms. In fact, I'm not sure the Demon Hunters even exist as an army anymore.  But that's no matter. I no longer play with 40K rules.


But the whole thing seems a bit unweildy. It contains two different basing styles. It has no real structure higher than squad level. Are these things worth worrying about?


I store the army in a pair of large miniautres cases. Thus it is very difficult and time consuming to look at the whole army at one time and to think about what to do with it.


Is it worth rebasing fully half the army to get uniformity?  The picture above is a good example of the two different styles. I now recognize the 'blasted earth' one as rather ugly, although it does look less wrong for miniatures fighting indoors.


Keeping the army packed away also leads to inevitable breakages.


I've never managed to make more than the one casualty marker.


A six man honour guard. Kind of cool, but I'm not sure what he point is, really.


An inventory of what is currently in the force:

1 Land Raider
3 Rhinos (2 Up-armored)
1 Dreadnought
7 Terminator Marines
36 Stormtroopers
20 Steel Legion Troopers
10 Tallarn
10 Pig Iron
10 Cadians (Inquistiorial)
4 Highlanders
5 Cadian (Jungle Camo)
6 Honor Guard
1 Artillerist w/Mortar
2 Sanctioned Psykers
3 Preachers
1 Sniper
1 Astropath
1 Medic
2 Crusaders
1 Tech Priest
2 Acolytes
1 Scribe
1 Casualty

3 comments:

  1. I found your pics when I was looking for an easy way to induct my IG army into the Inquisition. Ended up going a red left shoulder with hand painted I. In case you don’t realise there was a new Grey Knights codex released about 6 months ago. You have a fairly competitive army that is known as a hybrid. Use your Inquisitor as Coteaz, he unlocks henchmen as Troops and your Grey Knight terminators as Paladins. This gives you a nice army.

    Go to bolter and Chainsword for some more advice specific to Grey Knight henchmen armies:
    http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showforum=19

    Secondarily go and get a demo version of Army builder with the 40k mod so that you can muck around with army builds:
    http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=army_builder

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  2. in fact here's a thrown together list using the current codex. A bit light on heavy weapons but you have the models for it. Just transfer some of your power weapon sargants into your crusaders as proxies. The paladins teleport off one of your 3 mystics. You have 4 scoring units. Throw Coteaz in with your crusaders and away you go.

    1750 Pts - Grey Knights Roster

    Total Roster Cost: 1746

    HQ: Grey Knight Grand Master (1#, 180 pts)
    1 Grey Knight Grand Master, 180 pts = (base cost 175 + Blind Grenades 5)

    Elite: Paladin Squad (6#, 400 pts)
    1 Paladin Squad, 0 pts
    1 Paladin, 55 pts
    1 Paladin, 75 pts = (base cost 55 + Psycannon 20)
    1 Paladin, 55 pts
    1 Paladin, 55 pts
    1 Paladin, 60 pts = (base cost 55 + Master-craft Nemesis Weapon(s) 5)
    1 Paladin, 100 pts = (base cost 55 + Brotherhood Banner 25 + Psycannon 20)

    HQ: Inquisitor Coteaz (1#, 100 pts)
    1 Inquisitor Coteaz, 100 pts

    Troops: Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (13#, 149 pts)
    1 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband, 0 pts
    1 Mystic, 10 pts
    11 Warrior Acolyte, 99 pts = 11 * 9 (base cost 4 + Hot-shot Lasgun x1 5)
    1 Rhino, 40 pts

    Troops: Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (13#, 149 pts)
    1 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband, 0 pts
    1 Mystic, 10 pts
    11 Warrior Acolyte, 99 pts = 11 * 9 (base cost 4 + Hot-shot Lasgun x1 5)
    1 Rhino, 40 pts

    Troops: Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (11#, 210 pts)
    1 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband, 0 pts
    3 Banisher, 90 pts = 3 * 30 (base cost 15 + Eviscerator 15)
    8 Crusader, 120 pts = 8 * 15

    Heavy Support: Land Raider Crusader (1#, 255 pts)
    1 Land Raider Crusader, 255 pts

    Troops: Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (11#, 98 pts)
    1 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband, 0 pts
    1 Mystic, 10 pts
    2 Psyker, 20 pts = 2 * 10
    7 Warrior Acolyte, 28 pts = 7 * 4
    1 Rhino, 40 pts

    Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (1#, 205 pts)
    1 Venerable Dreadnought, 205 pts = (base cost 175 + Twin-Linked Lascannon 30)

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  3. Thanks Anon. I had no idea that the army could still be made legal in 40K terms. Thanks for poing this out. I'll have to pick up the Grey Knights book. Even if I don't play 40K much anymore, it might be nice to use the book to help give the army structure.

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