Harkers squad - Tactics vs Hobby

As the sculpting on Harker gets closer to been finished and ready to paint, my thoughts have been on his squad. Since Harker is a metal catachen model, I'll be using metal catachens for his squad. Luckily, I have a few to choose from as you can see.


Being veterans, they've got a host of options available to them especially considering that the squad can take upto three special weapons, a heavy weapon, shotguns and even a demo charge if I add a doctrine. So I've been thinking about how to kit them out. 

Choices, choices, so many choices, it's like been a kid in a sweet shop .....

Now the basic choice is Tactics vs Hobby, and it's a biggy! You see, I've always considered myself a hobbyist but I like to play games and I like to win. As a hobbyist, I'd take a wide range of different weapons giving me a wide range of hobby opportunities. As a tactician, I'd go for multiples of the same special weapon because I'm more likely to use the unit in a specific role. The down side to this is that it means that I'll have multiple of the same model in the squad since the metal catachens only have one model for each weapon type.

I pondered this for quite a while, and then decided that the hobbyist side of me won, here's why ....

• I'm investing a lot of time with GS'ing the squad and so multiples of the same model are a sort of let down on the eye candy side considering the amount of effort I'm putting into them.
• I only have one plasma gunner and if I was going to take multiples of a special weapon, it'd be plasma guns that I'd want to take.
• I've seen entire regiments of plastic legs at the club so me calling a melta gun a plasma one isn't going to be a problem, so I can still play tactically whilst enjoying maximum hobby goodness!
• Finally, I'm planning another couple of camo catachen squads in the future, so I'll be able to swap models between them for any WHSIWYG events.

Once my mind was made up, it was time to pick the actual models .....

As you can see, I've gone for a good mix of guys. I've got the missile launcher team for my heavy option as it was the only heavy weapon that wasn't wheeled as I didn't think that a wheeled weapon went with an infiltrating squad. I've also taken one of each of the special weapon options for a bit of variety and I've even added a demo charge guy in.

There's plenty of work in them but I'm hopping it won't take too long to get these guys greened up and ready for painting although don't expect me to be turning these around in a week - lol. Harker's taken a lot of a time but that's because I've had to do little bits and then leave it to cure overnight, as so only a little has got done each night. With these guys, I'll be able to do a bit on each every night, so hopefully I'll get them done in roughly the same amount of time as it's taken me to do Harker.

Harker is just getting his last green stuff touching up, so I'll be posting pics soon. I get the feeling this year is going to be quality rather than quantity!