Getting back into Warhammer

Warhammer has been a massive part of my life for as long as I can remember. Ever since I first clapped eyes on the immaculately painted miniatures in my local store at the ripe old age of eleven, I’ve been hooked. Over the years, it’s been the one hobby that I’ve always managed to find my way back to and it seems once again I’m at that stage again.

I was introduced to Warhammer through school. There was a little after-hours club that ran on a Thursday in the science block, overseen by one of the teachers who loved nothing more than completely destroying a students best-laid strategies. I went on the advisement of one of my friends who had already started the hobby and thought I’d appreciate it. I remember standing in the corner of the room, not really knowing anyone and having no models of my own to play with, but I was intrigued by the multiple different factions that were on display. Some fought with swords and magic, some fought with guns and tanks. I was particularly enamoured by the two people who were playing a pitched battle between the Riders of Rohan and a band of Uruk-hai. A hobby that featured the Lord of the Rings? Sign me up! Before I knew it, I’d left the seclusion of the corner of the room and was stood by the side of the table, watching with anticipation as the horsemen plunged into the Uruk’s formation. As I witnessed the battle unfold, I knew I wanted my own force to play with.

That Christmas, my Dad bought me the Return of the King box set which featured numerous men of Gondor and enough Mordor Orcs for me to hone my skills against. Each faction was painted with all the skill of a blindfolded raccoon (I was 11, I wasn’t expecting it to rival Van Gogh) and I immediately took to the battlefield. My brother begrudgingly took on the persona of the Orcs and we spent hour after hour learning the rules and running our very own battles. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fast-forward 14 years and my love of the Warhammer hobby has never been stronger. True I’ve ducked in and out of it over the years when I noticed the player base begin to wain with the Lord of the Rings game I had to make a decision whether to jump to the Warhammer Fantasy battle game or to invest in the Warhammer 40000 universe. I plumped for the former and began building myself a little Dwarf army (no pun intended), but my engagement wasn’t as great as it was with the Lord of the Rings game. I didn’t feel as invested in the miniatures and the rules felt exceptionally complex in contrast to what I was used to. In the end, I abandoned the Fantasy universe and began my exploration of “40K”. That’s where I stayed, immersing myself in the rich lore of the game and flirting with multiple different races and varying colour schemes over the years.

I dabbled a bit with the Eldar

Just before the end of 2018, I found myself reading the novel “Rynn’s World” a 40K book based on the Crimson Fists’ struggle against the largest Ork Waaagh they’d ever come across as it invaded their homeworld. The book (typical of a Space Marine story) was full of heroism and bravery, but I personally enjoyed reading the strife of the Crimson Fists’ Chapter Master, Pedro Kantor. The way he dealt with the devastation of his Chapter and yet his unwillingness to abandon the people of Rynn’s City to a gruesome fate, marshaling an impossible defence against insurmountable odds to inevitably win the day struck a chord with me and from that point on I knew I wanted to create my own force of Crimson Fists to take to the battlefield.

I once again began the all too familiar habit of looking at the ranges of models on offer on the Games Workshop website and deciding on the units I thought I might feature in an army of my own. 40K has changed a little bit since I last played it but in a way that helped me decide on the direction I wanted my force to go. I could use models that I was familiar with and knew roughly how they would operate, or I could try the new models and see how they changed the dynamic of the way I played. In the end, I went for a straight split. It seemed more fitting with the chapter I was choosing to represent and it also fit well with the lore as it stood.

So I got myself a tester model, mainly to see how I liked painting the Crimson fists. Their colour scheme wasn’t exactly difficult (it’s dark blue armour, with a red fist) but I was a lot rustier than I’d liked to have been and in the end, the model became a good way for me to try and reclaim some of my former ability. It also pointed out a couple of cool opportunities I hadn’t considered before. Since the Crimson Fists’ style was so simple to achieve, it meant that I could trial some cool new techniques to make them really stand out and the end result, well see for yourself.

My edge highlighting wasn’t as good as I’d have liked it to be, but I loved the way the red came out (edit: this guy ended up becoming a Sergeant hence the two red fists) and the little details came together really well. My mind was set, the Crimson Fists were coming and they were gonna look pretty sweet.

Now don’t mistake me, buying Warhammer is the most expensive it’s ever been and if you have to buy a whole new range of paints and brushes then it really is going to set you back (fortunately I’ve got quite the catalogue of paints already built up and a plethora of brushes to boot) but within that there’s a usefulness. With models costing a pretty penny, it can force you to be more selective about the army lists you choose to build and lean towards a less wallet-abusing army. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the more expensive the army, the better it’ll perform on the table.

One box of Primaris Intercessors and a trio of Aggressors later and my Crimson Fists are well on their way. The next step is to see how my little strike-force performs in battle. Following the boost the Crimson Fists received in January’s White Dwarf, there are some new rules I’m looking forward to testing. Then based on my next few results, I can discern where my force is lacking and what I might need to bolster my ranks!