Goonhammer’s Boarding Patrol Challenge has begun. Since I haven’t done 40K stuff in a long time, I volunteered to be the tour guide for people starting their Boarding Patrol and joining our challenge. The details might change, but this is the shape of my painting pledge. Can you believe that Arks of Omen made the list like 100 points cheaper? For this force, I wanted an HQ inclusion – a boarding assault warrants an experienced leader. I opted for Infiltrators as Troops. They’ll handle sabotage and scouting work. A squad of Veteran Intercessors modelled with boardhing shields is there to give cover and start parties. The Sternguard exist to anchor the force with potent ranged firepower, and the Eradicators are for melting bulkheads and heavy opposition. I got good use out of the Heavy Support exemption for Space Marines which allows us to take a single Heavy Support choice if they’re Hellblasters or Eradicators. A well-rounded, ranged oriented fighting force is what my precious Iron Panthers are all about.

Space Marine Boarding Patrol Start Collecting Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Boarding Patrol

My first 40K models included a Sternguard Squad. I love Astartes veterans, and I love ranged combat. I was always a little saddened that personalised, elite ranged troops never made it over the Rubicon Primaris. Instead, we mostly have mono-wargear squads that are much easier to handle in gameplay, but somewhat less interesting to unbox. I vastly prefer the new range’s detailing and proportions, but my heart still yearns for customization in both rules and models.

This book also contains the rules you’ll need to play Boarding Action games of Warhammer 40,000 – including how to muster your own Boarding Patrol. These small, claustrophobic battles are fought between specialised forces, using Boarding Action terrain across nine unique missions. Arks of Omen: Abaddon (Collectors Edition) And that’s why we’re doing this Boarding Patrol Painting Challenge together. I’ve omitted the word Winter from the challenge’s name because I reside in the Southern Hemisphere and I’m writing this in a record heatwave. Winter is a pretty laughable concept to me at this point. I’m Summer, and we’re doing it my way. Just like your Boarding Patrol. Mustering Your Boarding Patrol

Boarding Patrols - 4Tk Gaming Boarding Patrols - 4Tk Gaming

I take a Your Guys approach to modelmaking. That is, making the force yours by flavoring them with lore, names, and conversion pizazz to make them stand out. Making every model special to me is important, because they spend the majority of their time on my display shelf. Appealing to game mechanics is secondary to aesthetics – modelmaking is an artistic exercise to me. Nerfs, buffs and the annihilation of squats as a species will come and go, but the contents of you display are forever. Unfortunately, I am confined by petty constructs like money and capacity to deal with shit, so I always start with list-building to tighten my horizons. This is doubly valuable if you’re assembling a specific force. Like a Boarding Patrol. If you’ve been living away from the bullhorn, Boarding Actions are the small-format 40K ruleset from Arks of Omen focusing on infantry and close-quarters combat. Players fight it out using small strike teams that range into claustrophobic space hulks to achieve priority objectives.For this challenge, I settled on this list (it’s actually 500 points once Arks of Omen is official).

Boarding Patrol with Summer - Goonhammer Muster an Astartes Boarding Patrol with Summer - Goonhammer

The mounted warriors of the White Scars promise their foes a swift and certain death. The Storm of Chogoris rides out on the hunt under the watchful eye of Kor’sarro Khan featuring six Outrider Bikes, two Invader ATVs, and a sermon-spitting Primaris Chaplain on Bike, with a White Scars upgrade frame and two transfer sheets for a sprinkling of Chogorian pride.** Ultramarines: Scions of Macragge Few can withstand the might of the Salamanders’ flamestorm-wielding Aggressors and melta-armed Eradicators, especially when pinned by round after round of withering bolter fire from twenty Intercessors. This troop-heavy Warforged Strike Force is led by the mighty warrior Adrax Agatone, and also features four Salamander upgrade sprues and transfer sheets for outfitting your sons of Nocturne.** White Scars: Storm of Chogoris Classic Method - uses acrylic paints to build layers of colour and depth. Usually topped off with a shade paint to really make the shadows pop. Probably the most beginner friendly method as mistakes are often easy to fix. Themed forces are a great way to engage with your model range. Converting is a joy, and with a selection as diverse and cross-compatible as Primaris, it’s downright simple. I crawl through my accumulated bitz box for ideas – a compartmentalised mash of Imperial Guard, scenery and Space Marine pieces. Some of them are mangled by clippers, and others still have their casting gates. The words that ring in my mind are assault, shipbreaking and steely. I wrangle with ideas: breaching shotguns; communications; shipbreaking charges; medics; corridor clearing. I fish out parts that will fit and bag them up while making a mental shopping list. What I’m saying is, work with what you have for inspiration. Develop your theme, and keep your concept in mind. Constraints foster creativity. But what I’m also saying is, I can’t just make more Phobos-armoured legs and torsos appear out of nowhere.

Blazing hot takes aside, here’s what I have so far for my Iron Panthers Boarding Patrol. Primaris Lieutenant I ground my two brain cells together hard to get here. A fighting force for my chapter that would reasonably insert into a space hulk. I’m going to spare you from my mountains of lore. The short version is that my homebrew chapter that I’ve worked on for eight years are the Iron Panthers. They’re Iron Hands in geneseed and Raven Guard in disposition. That sums it up. It’s honestly boring compared to some of the zany ideas out there. Ork and Chaos players are some of the finest repositories of themed armies because their factions are so flexible in the lore. They also don’t spend a lot of time winning, so Ork and Chaos players have to do something with that time and talent. I jest, but space marines done slightly differently are both the most milquetoast version of your guys, and the most time honored one. These rules were tailored to my hobby situation, which is that I have an unpainted model problem. I had a squad of unfinished breacher Primaris with boarding shields that would be perfect for this project. There was also a character conversion with some pretty flashy gear. Eradicators are a great anti-armour unit and I still haven’t finished my Indomitus Eradicators. In 2023. Yeah.