The Wolfkin

30k outside of Forgeworld? That’s Heresy!

So, we are all familiar with the awesome miniatures ForgeWorld provides for the Horus Heresy. But we are also all too familiar with the price in which they come, which really hampers some’s attempts to join in the fray. Beyond Betrayal at Calth, Is there a way to play the Horus Heresy, with proper model representation without ForgeWorld? In some cases no, and in others yes! In this article I will go over a few of these options, implying a comparison with a local FLGS that provides a 20% discount. With thinking “outside the box” there are plenty of ways to go about growing your Legion forces!

Legion Basilisks/Medusas is actually a quite easy one. Some don’t realize that the legions utilize these vehicles and can be deployed in squadrons. Now the forgeworld ones are AWESOME models, but there is no reason you can’t use the Astra Militarum plastic kits, and place a few plastic BaC marines on the back to man the gun. Especially for Death Guard, Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors, these are insanely nasty units.

Forgeworld kit: $88.20

GW Kit: $39.80 + 2 BaC Marines

Heavy Support Squads: Another overlooked approach, but there are actually 2 ways of going about this. The 1^st and easiest one is if you are looking into doing Mark VI to VII marines (looking at you imperial fists and blood angels…) going with the standard 40k devstator box actually works pretty well. As with the new heavy weapon kits that forgeworld came out recently as “Ryza” and ‘Mars’ patterns look very similar. Another way to go about this is is going to bit suppliers for either the devastators heavy bolter or lascannons to put on your BaC marines. Or by going to bit suppliers for the Chaos Space Marine Havocs autocannons and heavy bolters. With a little bit of shaving these kits will blend right into your BaC marines, and really give a traitor legion a very traitorous look! I won’t compare prices because it will vary, but certainly cheaper than going the FW route.

Legion Rapier Turrets: This idea was brought too light by Richard Johnson, a member of my local community and what he post on our community page, and his idea was brilliant. Simply by using the Cult Mechanicum Kataphron Servitor box (the tracked servitors) and building them without the servitor mounted on top and INSTEAD mounting the Torsion Cannon the kit comes with on it, immediately made it look strikingly familiar with the Legion Rapier Turret with Graviton Cannon! Go with this as you may but it totally works.

3 x Legion Rapier Forgeworld Kits: $126

1 Cult Mechanicus Kataphron Servitors: $46.4 + 6 BaC Marines (2 for each gun)

Legion Predator Tanks: So we already know that the GW kits are referenced as 'Mars' Pattern vehicles so the use of predator tanks is completely viable. Major difference here is their turret and side sponson options are completely different save from the Autocannon turret (legion turrets are heavy 4 not 2, boo ya). So converting will be needed, but here are some ideas on guns to use from other kits to represent them.

Heavy Conversion Beamer: Eradication Ray from the Skitarii Onager Dunecrawler
Plasma Executioner: The same Plasma Executioner from the Leman Russ Demolisher Kit.
Inferno Cannon: The same Inferno Cannon from the Land Raider Redeemer Kit.
Magna Melta Cannon: a little tricky, but this one let your imagination run wild with Multi Meltas.

with that said, here is the comparison.

Forgeworld Deimos Predator: $74.20

GW Predator: $46.55 + Turret Bit

Legion Assault/Despoiler Squads: this is an easy one, especially if you are a blood angel, raven guard or emperors children legion. All you do is buy 2 of the Sanguinary Guard kits from GW (as they come with Mark IV jump packs, 5 in each) and put those on your Betrayal at Calth marines. Now for the Assault Squad finding enough close combat weapons could be tricky, but with bit suppliers and/or some hobbying this is an easy fix. The added bonus for the 3 legions listed about is ALL of the power weapons in this kit are accented with bird/angel wings. A perfect match!

Forgeworld Assault Marine kit x 2, + 1 power weapon set: $127.4

2 x Sanguinary Guard kits: $52.8 (if you wish to buy your 10 BaC marines separate they usually go for $25 on ebay).

Let’s also not forget some units that are either included in the rules (but are overlooked) or can easily “count as” another unit. It is good to mention with these though that Storm Bolters didn’t exist back then, so some minor conversions will be needed.

Space Marine Whirlwind $46.55 -/- Legion Whirlwind Scorpius $74.20

Space Marine Vindicator  $46.55 -/- Legion Vindicator  $71.40
Space Marine Land Speeder $24.00

Space Marine Dreadnought (is in Heresy as a Legion Dreadnought/Mortis Dread) $37.02

Space Marine Terminators (Called Legion Terminators with Indomitus Pattern Armor, very rare amongst legions but was focused in the Iron Hands, actually their Gorgon Terminators are in Indomitus pattern armour, though storm bolters still didn’t exist) $40.

And there you have it! With these easy cost saving short cuts, combined with using “Mars” pattern vehicles (GW Plastic Kits) its actually just as affordable to start the Heresy as it would be playing 40k. The Forgeworld stuff is amazingly terrific kits, but if your simply looking for a way to play on a budget? This is a sure fire way to go. Hope this helps!