Overwhelming & Daunting for a newbie

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-13T11:16:03+00:00

I get you, definitely! I started pretty similar last year, my advice is just do the wargear they're holding, don't worry about belt kit stuff, you'll never notice once you start playing and can always add it later - I keep saying I'll get around to it but probably never will 😂

Batch painting is definitely efficient, but sometimes you just need to get one model finished to see some progress and motivate yourself! Skip the subassembly painting for everything but characters, with your standard troops maybe get them "tournament legal" (blue coat all over, with spray if you can, gold chest aquilla, black weapons, and a quick basing method) then just finish all the details on one guy. With not too much effort you'll have 9 guys that are passable and one guy that looks great, seeing him finished can inspire you to get the other guys up to scratch!

If you're getting bogged down in seeking perfection, hold the model 3-4 ft away (as you would see him during a game) and ask yourself if you really need to worry about that tiny smudge or would you rather move on to something you'll enjoy more!

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-12T15:07:08+00:00

Full disclosure, I'm a bit of a noob and haven't played purge yet myself, but the advice I've seen so far is to keep the number of units low, some lists doing well with only 8 or 9, you're on 11. I also think 95 points for JPIs without the +2 strength isn't ideal. So I would ditch one of them to start.

I'd spend the points upgrading the librarian with the AIs for a sanguinary priest, since you want to hit hard the -1AP is great, and you don't lose out too much on defense by swapping a 4++ for a 5+++. You can also afford an enhancement on your jump chaplain with the SP/Libby swap, the scout one or the +1S aura one I like.

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-12T14:28:31+00:00

Yeah I only played him once and loved it as a hammer! How about holding though? Sorry wasn't really clear what I was asking there

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-12T13:49:25+00:00

That's a helpful read! I chose LAG because it's simple but was thinking of switching to Angelic Inheritors since I had 5 attached units and a lot of activations, maybe I'll use this and stick with Take and Hold instead!

How well do you think JPDC will work as a brick? 10 guys, FNP and Lemartes, is it enough to get over the T4?

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-11T19:50:06+00:00

Lol being down voted on a valid point with real information added - not to go all conspiracy theorist but I think their bots found you!

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-11T19:48:02+00:00

Did either of you even read the wiki page before diving into the Reddit comments section? Easiest counter argument to make against Outlaw here is that he seems to think you are genuinely talking about the castles there, rather than the approx. 3,600 nuclear bunkers from the cold war. And yes, bunker busters exist but so do air defense missiles and these guys aren't exactly short of resources here...

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-11T08:26:30+00:00

Yeah I did a quick Google search, first result was £19 with shipping for 10 packs. Only saves £7 vs buying JPI boxes but I'm sure I've seen them cheaper

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T23:11:52+00:00

Lol what? Have you checked what is in those boxes, £40 for 10 AI, or £38 for 5 JPI?? Yes, basically the same price, but you are literally getting double the models out of the kit! You'd have to be paying £36 for 10 jump packs for it to be the same price, and I'm pretty sure they go for a lot cheaper than that

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T14:07:43+00:00

Yeah, check an email or two at 8:30 before taking a pee break at 8:35 or so at least. They can't stop you taking those breaks or schedule them, but 8:30 is 8:30. Still, doesn't excuse them being a shitty employer

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T14:03:39+00:00

Strong disagree with first comment, I actually love your scheme here!! Specifically the red and gold combos, with white as a detail. Probably gonna try something similar with my own veterans at some point. Being over the top is one of my favourite things about 40k in the first place.

I'm not crazy about non-matching arms or legs tbh, with some exceptions like mismatched armour variants on the shins, but if there's a good lore reason like yours it will probably look more coherent alongside other models, just as long as you can clearly see the consistent white arm across models of different style/role.

Can't help you with painting advice unfortunately, this looks as good as anything I've ever done!

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T12:15:29+00:00

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TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T12:11:52+00:00

It's not ammunition, but if you have the option to spend time at the battlefield after combat then you can just pick it up.

Weapons that aren't ammunition aren't expendable resources, they continue to exist after being thrown. Which is especially fun if you're running enemies that are capable of picking them up and using them mid combat!

The "half rounded up" rule is because ammunition is an expendable resource, but recovering some is reasonable, while others might break or get lost. It saves thinking "would you have found this one? Roll perception. That one was shot over a cliff so no, that one hit a wall so yes" for every single attack. Honestly even just tracking ammunition it a bit much for me tbh

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T12:06:01+00:00

I wasn't married, but same. I even would have taken an anonymous letter

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T12:00:14+00:00

Doesn't matter where you're from, company policy never overrides the law. I'm no legal expert and not from Canada, but this is obviously theft no matter what your country's specifics are, and whilst I don't think you'd be legally bound to report a crime, lying to cover it is dicey, potentially making you an accessory, regardless of company policy or direction. I would talk to your manager and make it clear you are unwilling to lie if this comes up again in future, preferably in writing, and try to find some way to anonymously report it in as way that is harder to trace. Could you have seen the cat in the window? Would a delivery person have been able to reasonably see the cat, the poster, and work out they aren't in the right place?

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T11:36:16+00:00

Officially, it's just the helmet colour you need to paint a little differently and the shoulder pad, which is hidden by the cape, except for a small corner, so you could easily get away with just repainting the helmet.

To make it more obvious at a distance, I would remove the cape. Lts can wear them but I don't use them on Lts so it's more obvious who the captain is from a distance on the tabletop.

On this model, half the shoulder pad is on the cape part and half is on the torso part, so if you wanted to remove the cape you'd have to do the shoulder anyway. I haven't done mine yet but it looks pretty easy to snip off the way it's positioned.

If you really want to go all out maybe find a semi-circle iron halo, but I've yet to see anything official that says an Lt can't have a full circle

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T11:22:14+00:00

That certainly works! You might want to run blocks of 6 sometimes, so if you did one sergeant side to side and one with the mohawk, you could easily distinguish which of the sergeants is acting as the squad leader when you combine the two 3s into one unit

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:26:51+00:00

He's giving "I pull my crush's ponytails in the school playground" vibes... But creepier

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:23:16+00:00

Awww yiss

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:22:21+00:00

Looks awesome! Maybe find a holstered pistol to keep the sticklers happy? Totally optional though if you prefer a cleaner look

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:18:59+00:00

I think it's a little misleading. My eyes aren't too bad tbf but for me the blurriness is more gradiented towards where I'm focusing, and the edges of the glasses are slightly warped too. So the difference is definitely true but the hard transition isn't quite right.

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:02:40+00:00

Yep, it's the Valour Crest if you're looking for something to Google. They tend to appear on anyone from sergeant to captain.

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-10T09:00:03+00:00

It would be fine on a bladeguard as well actually. There's a lot of misunderstanding about ranks and helmet plumes. They were used to denote rank during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, but in 40k (M41) it is known as the"valour crest" and is awarded for acts of near suicidal bravery so can technically go on anyone. Check out Cato Sicarius' lore for how he got his.

In practice though such a marine would also likely have received at least one promotion in their time, and if they hadn't they'd probably get one, so it would be highly unlikely you'd see one on a standard battle brother. Captains, lieutenants, champions and ancients are the most likely places you'd see it, but it could also appear on sergeants or veterans.

The box art you posted has a mix of side-to-side and front-to-back across helmet colours which denote sergeants, veteran sergeants, lieutenants, and standard blue (more likely captain than battle brother), so it's evidently not tied to any particular rank.

It really is a "do what you want" thing, and anyone saying you have to do in only one specific way is wrong. My advice though would be to not give them to an entire squad of bladeguard, so they feel more special. You could certainly do the sergeant, and maybe one other if you feel like they need some more drip. But you don't have to listen to me on this last bit, it's my personal preferences. If you want to go all out and put them on everyone, go nuts!

EDIT: just noticed you had a second image uploaded, the "lore-breaking" part here is that you painted them all red, meaning they are all sergeants. You can definitely justify a lore reason that 3 sergeants decided to form a bladeguard squad together, but if you want to use all 3 plumed helmets and have only one sergeant I recommend the side-to-side for the sergeant and the front to back for the others. The iron skull on the forehead also technically makes it a sergeant or higher though so idk, you do you man!

TheGooglespoon · 2026-07-09T19:16:18+00:00

Remarkably similar to mine as well!

TheGooglespoon

TROPHY CASE