So the prospects of eventually seeing an increased plastic presence in the Heresy line has been discussed a bit more frequently lately, and I've had a highly detailed vision of what a core-plastic 30k range might look like pinging around the inside of my skull incessantly, so I thought I'd excise it from my body in the form of a detailed break-down so I can torment y'all with some totally baseless speculation!
I love the idea of core plastic ranges for all factions - not just the Legions - supplemented with all-resin kits and resin upgrade sets wherever feasible, and as there's a general consensus that Heresy starter sets are kinda essential to help get folks past the hobby's relatively high entry barrier, thought I'd chuck around some ideas for 30k Start Collecting sets:
Legion Start Collecting Kits:
Admittedly, the idea of GW producing 18 separate Start Collecting kits just to help collectors differentiate between the 30k Legions might be a bit optimistic (considering the breakdown would be 72 kits), but the idea here would be to provide sets that allow players to either build an elite Legion force, or mix parts with generic Legions kits to 'flavour' their force.
They'd each include:
- a 5-man Legion veteran squad, packed with extra gubbins kinda like the 30k Sternguard kit, so you get 5 heavily themed Veterans, as well as an excess of Legion-specific upgrades you can distribute across a force - heavily inspired by the FW IH MkIII Squad, this could account for the now-defunct Legion head & torso upgrade sets as well as allowing for the removal of stuff like the DG manreaper & EC phoenix spear resin upgrade kits.
- a 5-man Legion terminator squad, ideally in a different pattern to any unique Terminator unit the Legion in question has - e.g for the Iron Hands a Cataphractii squad - again, fully bedecked in Legion-specific embellishments and wargear options.
- a plastic rendition of the Legion-specific Contemptor sets - if these kits had a larger sprue compared to the very tightly-packed current plastic version, you could get a much greater amount of pose-ability and probably some more weapons options.
- a 'Legion Consul' character mini - unlike most monopose character models, these would be closer to the space marine commander set, with a bunch of different wargear options (including all Legion-specific ones) to represent various consuls, although wargear for all different types wouldn't be practical, having stuff for the most Legion-appropriate consuls make sense (to continue the IH train, stuff like the Forge Lord, Praevian, & Mortifactor). Including a Legion-styled banner for a Herald consul in all these kits would also be rad because it could easily be combo'd with the veteran squad in the box to build a Praetor & Command squad.
- In all these kits, once sprue space has been filled out with Legion-specific wargear & basic loadouts, additional options included would be based on the Legion's specific themes/style, so an Iron Hands contemptor might include energy weapons like the Conversion Beamer over more conventional heavy bolter/ autocannon options for example.
Legion Armour Mark Start Collecting Kits:
The idea for these sets would be to break down the bulk of Legion kits into armour marks given that plenty of folks like to theme their force around a singular mark and so there's instant kit-bashing potential between the kits inside each box.
As a throwback to a real relic of a mini, I've always thought the FW land speeder should have MkII-armoured pilots (especially considering almost every open Legion vehicle is crewed by MkIV marines), so I'm pretending any plastic kit would - plus there aren't any non-infantry MkII sets at the minute.
I know folks have suggested that breachers should be a resin upgrade set rather than a whole multi-part kit, but I figure having each non-support squad Troops choice represented by its own plastic kit wouldn't be a bad idea, and might allow for a bit more embellishment/ individualisation (I liked some of the torso decoration on the original resin MkIII marines). Depending on sprue size, having all 4 weapon options on the Rapier frame might not be feasible, but heavy bolter/ laser destroyer options seem doable.
As both Destroyers and Recon squads can be taken at 5-man strength, I figured it made sense to include them both (also building 15-man MkIV tactical squads from modular Tactical & Recon kits is just a nice thought experiment) - given that the only non-weapon differences between jump-pack Destroyers and MkIV Assault marines are the heads & extra plating on the forearms & shins, there's probably a smart way you could have the Destroyers be a dual kit (maybe having the weapon hands attacked to half of the forearm?).
Solar Auxilia Start Collecting Kit:
Having this many infantry models in a single Start Collecting kit might seem a little unlikely, but if you went the monopose approach like the current Resin incarnations, you could probably pack them in (for a current analogue, look at the Ossiarch Mortek Guard kit, with 20 minis at £35). For the lasrifle section, there are only a couple of options for the sergeant, so 20 minis for a single kit seems reasonable, and the Veletaris could probably still be monopose with the option for either volkite or power axes in a single kit if the arms are broken down cleverly. Admittedly, having a Legate commander in each box might give you a hearty surplus if you wanted a reasonably sized army, so swapping it for a plastic Troop Master figure/ a set of 3 Medical Orderlies could be a more viable option for the box.
If the Solar Auxilia were lucky enough to get a second Start Collecting set, a box with a 10-person flamer section, 3 Charonite Ogryns and a SA Rapier platform would be neat to see as a "support box".
Mechanicum Start Collecting Kits:
Like the Legion armour mark kits, these could be bought together to build a singular, varied force, but given that there are 3 separate army lists for the Mechanicum, it made sense to split them into sets that could build a core force for each.
For the Legio Cybernetica, having the 'main' battle-automata types seemed to make sense, and in concert with the Magos Dominus would give you a HQ, Elites, Troops and Fast attack. The idea of plastic Castellax has haunted me since the release of the Ambot set which proves you can pack a pair of plastic versions onto a pretty small sprue, and a low mini count, big robit bundle is very gratifying for some reason. Also opens up the possiblity to render the Arlatax and Iron Circle as resin upgrade sets for the plastic Domitar rather than stock-clogging full kits.
For the Ordo Reductor,the Titan techpriest is a stand-in for a Magos Reductor, and again the Thallax and Myrmidon Secutors both provide a decent base for relaunching the Ursurax & Destructors as resin upgrade sets.
The Taghmata box basically fills the infantry gaps left by the boxes above - the Adsecularis could be monopose with simple mitralock/laslock options like the Veletarii above, and by having 2 Techpriest/Servo-automata frames included, you can mix and match the Servo-automata as Magos retinues/ kitbash a techpriest with the Archmagos to provide a second Magos.
For all of these I've avoided tanks, as the variant-central nature of the FW vehicle range means having a 'base' plastic kit for the major chassis (Deimos Rhino, Malcador, Sicaran, Spartan, Aurox, etc.) with a plethora of resin upgrades for the derivative vehicles seems like the most likely route for a plastic-centred 30k range.
Anyway, thanks for trawling through my musings
Edited by Iron Hands Fanatic, 14 July 2020 - 01:33 AM.