30K on a Budget
Can You Build a Competitive 30k army for under $500?
Everyone knows that miniature war gaming is an expensive hobby. Games Workshop games have been referred to as the Cadillac of war games, beautiful miniatures with price tags to match. When you think about Forge World and particularly the Horus Heresy we move on to the luxury supercars of our hobby to continue the analogy.
Be that as it may, there are ways of mitigating the entry cost to the Heresy and making this amazing game more accessible to the masses. This is the first in a series of articles focused on building competitive armies that have a great look and feel all for under $500.
Caveat Lector
A recurrent theme in these armies will be using 40k models that are currently out of favor and therefore drastically cheaper on the secondary market. For the purposes of these articles I will give the average ebay prices I’m seeing at the time of writing but there are obviously other sources and most likely better deals to be had by using your local second hand market. Additionally, I will always include at least one purchase from both your friendly local game store and from Forge World because I believe in supporting those people that make our hobby possible.
Without further ado:
2500 points: Iron Hands Rite of War: Head of the Gorgon
HQ
Legion Praetor [Artificer Armour, Cyber-familiar, Digital Lasers, Iron Father, Iron Halo, Melta Bomb, Mastercraft Paragon Blade] ····Master of the Legion [The Head of the Gorgon]
Your standard beat stick praetor with the added bonus of a 3++ only available to iron hands Spearhead-Centurion Castrmen Orth More on this guy below
Troops
Legion Tactical Squad [Land Raider Proteus, 9x Legion Tactical Space Marines] ····Legion Tactical Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs] Note: the Proteus is not an assault vehicle Legion Tactical Squad [9x Legion Tactical Space Marines, Take an additional Chainsword or Combat Blade] ····Legion Tactical Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs, Power Fist] Rides in the heavy support Phobos
Elites
Gorgon Terminator Squad [4x Gorgon Terminator, Land Raider Phobos] ····Gorgon Hammerbearer [Cyber-familiar] FnP included and all AP2, yes please! Legion Veteran Tactical Squad [Fearless, 4x Legion Veteran Space Marines, 2x Power Weapon] ····Legion Veteran Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Power Fist] Adjust this squad to your flavor but I like some ablative punch to ride with the Praetor in the Achilles
Heavy Support
This is where the price becomes the limiting factor, is a Spartan better, yes. Are field artillery better than vehicles, yes. But band for the real world buck it’s hard to beat these. Legion Artillery Tank Squadron [Legion Basilisk, Legion Basilisk] Legion Land Raider Battle Squadron ····Land Raider Achilles [Blessed Autosimulacra, Dozer Blade] ····Land Raider Phobos [Armoured Ceramite, Dozer Blade] Legion Whirlwind Scorpius
Cost to build:
Second Hand Average Prices: Basilisks x 2 : $25 each Whirlwind $25 Land raiders x4: $50 each Ebay listing from Russia: Achilles conversion kit: $28 shipped. Support your Friendly Local Game Store: Betrayal at Calth set $150 MSRP Support Forge World and get your centerpiece from them! Iron father £25.60 with tax and delivery, appx.$38 Total: $491
What you get for your money!
4 outflanking scoring land raiders and enough artillery to cut through the chaff of 20 man foot squads. Orth confers tank hunter to the squadron of land raiders bs5!to the Achilles and does not occupy a transport slot so the praetor and the vets can all fit inside. That Achilles, while not as tough as a Spartan, is immune to melta and lance, has It will not Die 6+ and a battlesmith repair on 3+ and reduces the roll on the damage table by 1. I think running it as a squadron to confer the tank hunter on the lascannons of the other and absorb the incoming fire is worth the decreased mobility. The infantry you have are the assault protection for the raiders with enough durability to survive a round of shooting after the assault and get back in their transports. You lack anti-air but 6 twin linked lascannons should at least scare someone into jinking. Overall it looks like a blast (literally)to play and would be impressive laid out on display. Hit me up with comments and suggestions for for the next legion in the series and if you’re in the area check out Atlanta30k to meet up.