By Ben Monro
You may have read my previous blog about joining the world of war gaming and if you haven’t I suggest you do so as It’s simply fantastic check it out here. Well here’s the follow up and a wrap up to what I’d say has been a vastly enjoyable first month of the hobby, I’ve indulged myself in various fantastic pod-casts, The Overlords and Independent Characters and D6 Generation , being my particular favourites, the latter not being particularly War gaming focused does provide a nice overview of what else is going on the world of Table top games.
I’ve decided to add a little bit of a narrative spin to my intrepid journey into the world of war gaming, no doubt many of you reading this do as I do and have crafted names and back-story for all your beloved units and I have done likewise and hopefully you’ll continue to join me as I not down the tales of Knights of the Red Blade.
As a new or returning player to the fantastic world of 40k (seriously I challenge you to offer me a table top game featuring such an extensive and well developed back ground.) I thought that I’d take at least one early morning per-week (it’s currently 6:30am) to note down the tales of my first 40k force, I’ll try and keep it brief as no one wants to waste their time reading a blog full of waffle! Seriously I’m surprised most people have made it this far?!
Grey Knights abound, I opted to tackle these most valiant of warriors for my first force of any table top game. Simply because the look and lore of these guy’s in particular was simply fantastic, Knights of the crusades set in space? I’m game!
For my own first great crusade I christened my force the Knights of the Red Blade led by the Sir Markus Red Blade himself, a great honour bound Knight who takes his devout worship of the God Emperor with all seriousness above all else, he strides across the battle field smiting all the evils of the empire with his giant (yup you guessed it) red blade. Hence his name.
The Knights of
the Red Blade is the beginnings of the narrative background I’ve been constructing for my Grey Knights force which from now on I’ll refer to as KoRB (Knights of the Red Blade). I understand that many people are into the hobby simply for the Hobby side of things or competition side of things, however I believe that crafting a narrative around you’re force charting their every victories….victory and every gracious defeat, allows you as the [player to get so much more from the process of playing with and constructing you’re force. The tale I’ve started to weave into my intrepid crusaders has already began, I’ve constructed a temporary 2000point list containing a Brother Captain, a Librarian and an Inquisitor along with Dread knights and Dreadnaughts, Land raiders and razorbacks and of course a squad of those ever immortal paladins accompanied by the not so regular troop choices available to KoRB. An they’ve all been given a names and back stories as to how they achieved those titles (the particular favourite of mine is the tale of Sir Damnos the Old paring my dreadnaught pairing up with his Dread Knight counterpart Sir Damnos the young.
I think once I have all these units constructed and my entire force of Templar crusaders is ready to take the field in the Red Fist (my Land Raider) that playing with a narrative tale surrounding the forces I’ll be able to enjoy the game more as tale comes to close with the death of every mighty paladin warrior. Or maybe Strike Squad the silver blade will be able to add another purity seal to their shoulder pads as they successfully capture that Chaos artefact. This is my hope anyway, I can’t wait to begin the narrative tale of the Knight’s of the Red Blade and hopefully, which begins today as I take part in a kill team campaign with the Silver Blades a 5 man Strike Squad at my local GW. It’s Halloween and hopefully they’ll be able to put paid to the forces of Chaos that threaten the president of some distant colony world. Take a look at these beauties for yourself, there the first squad I’ve fully painted and constructed and so they’re ready to take the field!
In the terms of the rest of my hobby activity, currently nearing completion is that Brother Captain himself Sir Markus of the Red Blade, he’s getting extremely close to completion although I’m not entirely happy with my results at the moment painting wise, (where did I go wrong?) The miniature Its self looks simply fantastic, for a guy so special I did a little searching beyond the GW range and found a fantastic website called Sci-bor minatures, which features a brilliant range of Roman, Templar and Spartan themed sci-fi knights that will look great amongst my own Grey Knights. (If they ever eventually arrive, I seriously discourage ordering from Weyland Games L) , next up for the hobby desk however with Christmas on the horizon is this little guy, yup another purchase from Sci Bor miniatures, It’s a Christmas bauble!
Oh and on a final note, I’m pretty excited to be starting my first table top RPG campaign of Rouge Trader (Pirates in Space? Yes please) so no doubt I’ll be keeping my you guys updated with regular reports on how my space faring in the 41st Mellenium is going.
With a few more games lined up this week along the eventual delivery of the remainder of my Grey Knight’s force no doubt I’ll have more tales to tell of the Knights of the Red Blade or KoRB so please come back and enjoy the tale with me.
Well I think I’ve covered everything hobby at story wise for one week, thanks for reading guys! Till next time… I need to think of a motto.
Ben Monro