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So I'm very new to the world of 40K minis, though I know a bit from my friend who's a big fan of the universe from the video games and Dark Heresy pen and paper.

As some of you may have seen from my previous threads, I've painted my first Space Marine at a Games Workshop lesson and have the SM Paint set to practice a bit more.

I have the codex already and am going to get the core book soon. I'm probably going to get the battleforce box soon as well (depending on my hours at work >_< ). So here are my questions (there are probably going to be a lot):

(a) So, before I start even the paint set, gluing: how much? I'd rather not have to guess and have excess or not enough and it falls apart? Is a drop enough? (b) Next I was wondering how people changed parts on minis a while after they were finished.

(c) Is the battleforce enough to be an army after I add an HQ? (d) Should the HQ be one unit for now? The basic sergeant unit for example? Or something else? If so what? (e) Also, should I include the 5 units from the paint set in my army as another 5-man combat squad, that could also be added to the other combat squad to make a 10-man tactical squad?

(f) Storage: I don't think I'll need Games Workshop's cheapest solution, which is for 120 (though the site says 108) units and that's far too much. Does anyone know of something more around 40-60 units? That way I have something smaller but can expand from there. The only requirements is that the box use precut foam for the units, so that way I only have to cut foam for larger units like the Rhino in the battleforce, that they ship to Canada obviously and that the price isn't so high that it'd just be easier to pay a bit more for the GW case. :p

(g) Also, are you able to fit units like the Rhino into those foam sheets by cutting out some walls? What units should I not try fitting?

I really appreciate any help I can get and I apologize for the overlong post. Any tips on things I may have missed are appreciated as well.

Edit: Added (g)

A) Just a drop of glue should be enough for an arm or leg, obviously more glue for a bigger area.
B) Some people will magnitize thier vehicles for changing weapons, I don't change a model after I finish it, I just buy something new if I want it different(this way I can field more for a larger army down the road)
C)A Battle force should be enough for a 500 point army, but you will need to buy an HQ choice, as most battleforces do not come with one. If you are playing Marines, a good choice to start would be the Assault on Black Reach set, it has a troops choice, two elites, and an HQ for MArines. It also has the mini rulebook(don't need the big one, the exact same content is in the mini, just minus the fluff) and templates. I would suggest you read your codex before starting your army, as that will give you an idea of what you want to field, and what you would need.
D) A sargent is not an HQ, he is a member of almost every Space Marine Squad. There are many differnt options depending on what you want. Again I will suggest you read the codex.
E) It all depends on what kind of an army you want to field.
F) You'd be surprised at how fast you can fill up one of GW's carrying cases(I've almost filled up the big one, and a small one in just over a year. You can buy cheaper alternatives at almost any hobby store if you don't want the GW one.
G) You can buy cases with modular foam made for vehicles(both GW, and non-GW), or you could just cut out segments in the foam in your case for them(which is what I have done)

a) a drop will normally suffice.
b) clip off said arms, glue on new ones- or some magnetise, so they can swap.
c) the battleforce should be enough for a beginner. For the models- only equip one set of power weapons per squad. same goes for special weapons and heavy weapons. always make sure they're legal (e.g. so no pairs of BP's on one model)
d) get a commander. all-round leader. the others are "support" HQ's- they come later.
sarge should have PW/plasma pistol/PF/bolt pistol. depends. anti-tank- PF. anti-heavy infrantry- plasma pistol/PW. anti-infrantry-PW/BP.
e) tactical squad.
f) find some foam, and ayer the battleforce box with it.

Thaanos wrote:A) just a drop of glue should be enough for an arm or leg, obviously more glue for bigger area's
B) Some people will magnitize thier vehicles for changing weapons, I don't change a model after I finish it, I just buy somethign new if I want it differnt
c)A Battle force should eb enough for a 500 point army if oyu add an HQ, read you're codex, and add up the point cost
D) a sargent is not an HQ, it's a part of a squad, read your codex.
F) You'd be surprised at how fast you can fill up one of GW's carrying cases. You can buy cheaper alturnatives at almost any hobby store if you don't want the GW one.
G) You can buy ccases with modular foam made for vehicles, or you could jsut cut out segments in the roam in your case for them.

A) That's what I though, just wanted to be sure.
B) Ok, I guess I'll probably just glue everything
C) Perfect, I was worried about how much I'd have to buy to start.
D) Whoops, meant commander.
F) I'll take a look at the local hobby shop that sells 40K.
G) Well the main thing on that question was if they wouldn't fit height-wise.

shrike wrote:b) clip off said arms, glue on new ones- or some magnetise, so they can swap.
e) tactical squad.

b) But the arms are put in on pegs right? Wouldn't that make the second connection weaker? Or are they originally glued flat? If so then never mind.
e) Sounds good, and they can be split up if they have to anyway.

Also, just called the hobby shop and they apparently don't have cases. So I guess I need online sources.


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No one can answer the last few issues left?

Or maybe can I get some general tips on things I may have missed?

Very few models actually have little pegs that insert into limbs and such. That is mainly used on the paint sets and the starter set(Assault on Black Reach) to make it a little easier for little kids and beginners to build their models. Most arms have to be glued to the torso on a small flat surface.
Yes, the space marine Commander box is good for creating an HQ, you can use it to model you're Captain or Chapter Master as you see fit.
The tanks will fit in the standard GW case, but you'll have to cut the foam for it, I have 8 vehicles I keep in my case, along side my infantry.
I see you live in Montréal, I am sure there are plenty of hobby stores in that city of over one million people, so call around, I'm sure one of them will have minature cases, or you could ask one of them to order them in. If not, then look at some of the ad's here on Dakka, there are plenty of stores that advertise here that will ship a case to you.

This is the international home page of the KR Multicase company.
http://www.krmulticase.com/mainint.html
I bought a double size aluminium case from them, and I find it is great. It can carry my Tau Megaforce + more stuff without a problem.
So I'm guessing(But you'll have to check yourself) that a single aluminium case will be enough for a battleforce.

The company does many different cases, but I chose the aluminium one as it appears sturdy, and is.
The one time I had a problem with it was when I sat on it whilst waiting for the bus. The hinge on the left broke, however, the company was great about this. They replaced the product with no hassle, no questions asked, and even threw in a bag of cool dice.

The only bit you might struggle with is choosing what foam you want to get with the case. You get a choice of many, and there is a size guide on their website that tells you how much of what army you can get in what piece of foam. You will have to use your head abit, and the tray selector thingy aswell, but I'm sure if you're confused they will help you out.

And, postage is free to anywhere so that won't be a problem.

That's my advice, as I find it to be a great product and recommend it.

Hope I could help someone into the hobby.

Vampiric_Penguin wrote:This is the international home page of the KR Multicase company.
http://www.krmulticase.com/mainint.html
I bought a double size aluminium case from them, and I find it is great. It can carry my Tau Megaforce + more stuff without a problem.
So I'm guessing(But you'll have to check yourself) that a single aluminium case will be enough for a battleforce.

The company does many different cases, but I chose the aluminium one as it appears sturdy, and is.
The one time I had a problem with it was when I sat on it whilst waiting for the bus. The hinge on the left broke, however, the company was great about this. They replaced the product with no hassle, no questions asked, and even threw in a bag of cool dice.

The only bit you might struggle with is choosing what foam you want to get with the case. You get a choice of many, and there is a size guide on their website that tells you how much of what army you can get in what piece of foam. You will have to use your head abit, and the tray selector thingy aswell, but I'm sure if you're confused they will help you out.

And, postage is free to anywhere so that won't be a problem.

That's my advice, as I find it to be a great product and recommend it.

Hope I could help someone into the hobby.

I'm looking at the cardboard case as it's fairly large and cheap. Do they help you out with making a case if you have an army list? Is it bad if you have too much space for a unit in one of the holes? Also, is it easy to cut the foam without damaging it for a tall unit like the standard bearer? Do you glue on the standard or would you want to remove the standard and put it in it's own hole? Actually, does the standard bearer in the command squad even come with a standard? Or is that bought separately?

New questions:
a) How many points should I try to make my army? Is 1500 too much to start off? What is the standard points value for most games? I'm guessing 1500.

b) When building the army to points (the example being 1500 like in the battleforce article on GW, they were even in the end is 1490 points), the units on their own seem to leave a few hundred points left over. How should I distribute the remaining points on upgrades for new weapons and such? Should I give blocks to the units? Or some other way to organize.

c) Is the army in the above article good to start with?


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Ok, so looking at the army total it's $504CDN+tax on the GW website. Maybe not so good to start.

Could someone suggest what to drop to make it a 1000 point army maybe?


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Another thing I was wondering is how bad is leaving empty spaces? Especially in the trays for vehicles that idea scares me a bit? Or is the foam usually strong enough to keep from breaking. Although it's solved if you fill up the side of the tray that becomes the bottom, when you carry it, first.

Portaljacker wrote:New questions:
a) How many points should I try to make my army? Is 1500 too much to start off? What is the standard points value for most games? I'm guessing 1500.

I'd start out with 500-750 for the first while until you get used to the game and learn the rules and nuances. From there build up in 250 or 500 point blocks. 1500 is too high a point value for someone new to the game to start out at.

b) When building the army to points (the example being 1500 like in the battleforce article on GW, they were even in the end is 1490 points), the units on their own seem to leave a few hundred points left over. How should I distribute the remaining points on upgrades for new weapons and such? Should I give blocks to the units? Or some other way to organize.

I would adivse against ever looking at any GW article as most of them are complete crap......such as that particular link. How you distribute points depends on what kind of army you are looking to play as well as the faction. Generally you want to specialize a squad to a specific task and give them gear that lets them do that job and nothing more. Give too little to a squad and they won't do much. Give too much to a squad and then you chew up a lot of points with little overall effect. Building balanced lists just takes time to get used to doing.

c) Is the army in the above article good to start with?

No. Here are two articles that are fairly decent.

http://theback40k.blogspot.com/2010/01/you-brought-what.html
http://theback40k.blogspot.com/2009/05/get-your-armor-up-in-their-face.html

My recommendation would be to start out at 1000pts, or perhaps even lower, as this is your first army. Getting more could quickly overwhelm you, both capital-wise and simply in the amount of assembly/painting you have to do (Until you begin painting, you will never appreciate just how long goes into a single model.)

The standard points game for most games varies from area to area. For most tournaments, it ranges from 1500-2500. At your FLGS, the tourneys they run, and pick-up games, are more likely to run 1000-1500pts, sometimes even less (One of the GW in my area likes to run Kill-Team missions quite regularly). Go into the store you're likely to spend most of your time playing at, or ask your friends your joining the hobby with, and ask them how often they play, what points level they generally play at, etc, so you know what you're aiming for as an entry level.

---

Finally, if you don't intend on making your purchases from your local store (And I generally don't make big purchases from my local store, so I neither approve nor disapprove if you don't), I would recommend going to an online store such as Wayland Games, Miniwargaming, Maelstrom Games etc. rather than buying from GW directly, as they offer the same models at a heavily discounted rate. (Out of those listed, I'd recommend Wayland Games above the others if you're in GB/AUS).

While many like to support their local game store at every opportunity, and I do when it's not a huge difference as well (I make my Black Library purchases in-store), this is an expensive hobby, and not everyone can afford to ignore the massive monetary savings you can gain by ordering online (Especially for those in Australia, where the average Tactical Marine Squad costs under 50% of what it does in-store if you purchase it online in GB and have it shipped over ($28 AUS compared to $60 AUS)).

You can't buy every model in this fashion however, GW has a mail-only list which your local game store manager will be able to tell you about, which includes a large number of their blister-pack models.

Army Building Milestones are generally within every 500 point blocks starting at (obviously) 500point armies. You can then wait till you hit the 1000 point milestone, then the 1500 one when you're comfortable. Hitting 2000 means that you will have a good "standard" army at that point and can either continue on with the army, or start up a new one. The basis in this is that at 500 points, most armies will *generally* be identical, as the point restrictions means that more often than not you'll only have access to your two troop choices and an HQ and little else. Going to the 750 or 1000 point milestone nets you access to some of the more flavourful and powerful stuff, mostly in the Elite and Heavy Support Range. This is a good time to find out exactly what you like in your army: do you find yourself choosing ranged weaponry in lieu of getting in close and personal? Or perhaps you prefer a certain type of troops, such as Sternguards or Assault Marines. From here, you can either go on to another codex with the specializations that you like (I started with Chaos Marines, but found I hate taking casualties when all of my models cost so much, yet I like charging into combat, so I decided to go with Nids, where each casualty is a slap on the wrist, and you can surprise enemies with a swarm of slashing claws and gigantic monsters) or refine the style you like (such as if you prefer heavy weapons over assault, you may consider a predator or more, or a devastator squad).

Also, if cost is an issue, refrain from the urge to fill out points with pointless equipment purchases. It might qualify you for a certain tournament, but nonetheless if you're not going to use the equipment, you're gonna be handicapped. Dont bring Melta Bombs to a fight with the Nids, and certainly not Snipers if you're facing mech armies.

I never planned out my purchases and so now I have a random assortment of models that dont really fit together. The Remnants of my CSM have some heavy weapons support and light transports, but no reliable way of delivering assault troops and no good HQs other than expensive characters. One of my friends who worked at a FLGS tried to steer me away from this, but needless to say he failed (he himself did the same thing) and it will drain your pockets even more than usual.

Well I think I'll start at 500 since the battleforce is about that (after adding a commander of course). I'm guessing the battleforce makes a decent 500 point army? Then I'll move to 1000 since it's at most $200 more. Or maybe 750 then 1000.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:Until you begin painting, you will never appreciate just how long goes into a single model.

Well, if you look at my gallery images, I have painted, and that one took 2.5 hours.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:You can't buy every model in this fashion however, GW has a mail-only list which your local game store manager will be able to tell you about, which includes a large number of their blister-pack models.

Is it a catalogue or is it just the things on their website?

Also, I'm still wondering on my questions from my previous post on the cases:

Portaljacker wrote:
I'm looking at the cardboard case as it's fairly large and cheap. Do they help you out with making a case if you have an army list? Is it bad if you have too much space for a unit in one of the holes? Also, is it easy to cut the foam without damaging it for a tall unit like the standard bearer? Do you glue on the standard or would you want to remove the standard and put it in it's own hole? Actually, does the standard bearer in the command squad even come with a standard? Or is that bought separately?

Another thing I was wondering is how bad is leaving empty spaces? Especially in the trays for vehicles that idea scares me a bit? Or is the foam usually strong enough to keep from breaking. Although it's solved if you fill up the side of the tray that becomes the bottom, when you carry it, first.

The Starter set comes with a decent sized 500 point army, along with a commander and a good selection of unit choices. That should be your starting point. You'll need a second Tactical Squad to make it a legal army though.

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:The Starter set comes with a decent sized 500 point army, along with a commander and a good selection of unit choices. That should be your starting point. You'll need a second Tactical Squad to make it a legal army though.

Do you meant the battleforce? Or Assault on Black Reach? The battleforce has a tactical squad and a 5-man combat squad which counts as a tactical squad since there's no such thing as a combat squad in the codex. It says tactical is a sergeant + 4-9 marines. Also scouts count as troops. So even just the tactical + scouts meets the min for troops.

If you're talking about Assault then yes, it does need another troop unit.

So which are you saying I should go for?

for AoBR you get 590 points worth of SM and 455 points of orks.
I get annoyed that GW did that, encouraging SM over every other race- "we'll put them in the starter set with a bigger army, so when newbies come in and the staff give them an intro game, SM will win hands-down and they'll want to play SM instead of the other races."

AoBR's main hook is that it comes with VERY CHEAP Terminators and a Dreadnought. Comparatively the only thing "Cheap" on the Ork side is the Deffkoptas, and even then it's only because GW didnt make a plastic version of them outside the AoBR.

On the Space Marine Side, the Commander is a very good buy. His Bolter is easily converted into a Combi-weapon, or flat out replaced with another weapon if you ask around for bitz. His weapon can also be used as a Relic Blade (which I personally like). If you split the AoBR set with a friend, you'll get alot of stuff (1 commander, 1 dread, 1 Terminator Squad, 1 Tact Squad) for about the same cost as a lone Dreadnought. It also comes with a 5th edition rulebook.

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:AoBR's main hook is that it comes with VERY CHEAP Terminators and a Dreadnought. Comparatively the only thing "Cheap" on the Ork side is the Deffkoptas, and even then it's only because GW didnt make a plastic version of them outside the AoBR.

On the Space Marine Side, the Commander is a very good buy. His Bolter is easily converted into a Combi-weapon, or flat out replaced with another weapon if you ask around for bitz. His weapon can also be used as a Relic Blade (which I personally like). If you split the AoBR set with a friend, you'll get alot of stuff (1 commander, 1 dread, 1 Terminator Squad, 1 Tact Squad) for about the same cost as a lone Dreadnought. It also comes with a 5th edition rulebook.

Which of the units on AoBR are plastic whereas the originals are metal?

I'll have to find a friend to convince to go in on me with it then. My friend that wants to play would rather not play orks for some reason.

Portaljacker wrote:

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:AoBR's main hook is that it comes with VERY CHEAP Terminators and a Dreadnought. Comparatively the only thing "Cheap" on the Ork side is the Deffkoptas, and even then it's only because GW didnt make a plastic version of them outside the AoBR.

On the Space Marine Side, the Commander is a very good buy. His Bolter is easily converted into a Combi-weapon, or flat out replaced with another weapon if you ask around for bitz. His weapon can also be used as a Relic Blade (which I personally like). If you split the AoBR set with a friend, you'll get alot of stuff (1 commander, 1 dread, 1 Terminator Squad, 1 Tact Squad) for about the same cost as a lone Dreadnought. It also comes with a 5th edition rulebook.

Which of the units on AoBR are plastic whereas the originals are metal?

I'll have to find a friend to convince to go in on me with it then. My friend that wants to play would rather not play orks for some reason.

Keeping the orks isn't such a bad prospect, you can practice painting on them, or keep them around in case you ever want to start an ork army someday. You can also sell them on ebay for... some money (not a lot since there are quite a few AoBR bitz sets on ebay).

Ma55ter_fett wrote:

Portaljacker wrote:Which of the units on AoBR are plastic whereas the originals are metal?

I'll have to find a friend to convince to go in on me with it then. My friend that wants to play would rather not play orks for some reason.

Keeping the orks isn't such a bad prospect, you can practice painting on them, or keep them around in case you ever want to start an ork army someday. You can also sell them on ebay for... some money (not a lot since there are quite a few AoBR bitz sets on ebay).

I guess so, though that doesn't answer which units in the box were originally metal and aren't in that set. What's the difference of getting the metal units? Are they harder to paint?

Also, I'm still wondering on my questions from my post on the cases:

Portaljacker wrote:
I'm looking at the cardboard case as it's fairly large and cheap. Do they help you out with making a case if you have an army list? Is it bad if you have too much space for a unit in one of the holes? Also, is it easy to cut the foam without damaging it for a tall unit like the standard bearer? Do you glue on the standard or would you want to remove the standard and put it in it's own hole? Actually, does the standard bearer in the command squad even come with a standard? Or is that bought separately?

Another thing I was wondering is how bad is leaving empty spaces? Especially in the trays for vehicles that idea scares me a bit? Or is the foam usually strong enough to keep from breaking. Although it's solved if you fill up the side of the tray that becomes the bottom, when you carry it, first.

Portaljacker wrote:
I guess so, though that doesn't answer which units in the box were originally metal and aren't in that set. What's the difference of getting the metal units? Are they harder to paint?

AoBR or in boxes, all of those models are originally plastics. The warboss and captain are unique to AoBR, though. Metal is pricier and a bit more durable than the plastic. They aren't necessarily harder to paint, you just have to make sure that they are well primed and basecoated before painting. Also should finish with some sort of sealant or finish because the metal models tend to chip paint easily.

Portaljacker wrote:
I'm looking at the cardboard case as it's fairly large and cheap. Do they help you out with making a case if you have an army list? Is it bad if you have too much space for a unit in one of the holes? Also, is it easy to cut the foam without damaging it for a tall unit like the standard bearer? Do you glue on the standard or would you want to remove the standard and put it in it's own hole? Actually, does the standard bearer in the command squad even come with a standard? Or is that bought separately?

No idea on the cardboard cases. I doubt that they'll help you much, but since you have gotten an answer here why don't you......you know......ask them? Seems like a good place to start. Foam is fairly easy to cut, though I've always just gotten the pluck-foam. Don't know where to buy them.

Are you taking about the space marine command squad standard? You can just go to the GW website and look at the pictures of the sprues. They have photos of everything that comes in a box set.

Another thing I was wondering is how bad is leaving empty spaces? Especially in the trays for vehicles that idea scares me a bit? Or is the foam usually strong enough to keep from breaking. Although it's solved if you fill up the side of the tray that becomes the bottom, when you carry it, first.

Meh, I've never had a problem with leaving spaces open and stacking stuff on top.

Nungunz wrote:AoBR or in boxes, all of those models are originally plastics. The warboss and captain are unique to AoBR, though. Metal is pricier and a bit more durable than the plastic. They aren't necessarily harder to paint, you just have to make sure that they are well primed and basecoated before painting. Also should finish with some sort of sealant or finish because the metal models tend to chip paint easily

Well I meant which of the marine units in AoBR are originally metal?

Nungunz wrote:Are you taking about the space marine command squad standard? You can just go to the GW website and look at the pictures of the sprues. They have photos of everything that comes in a box set.

For some reason both the command squad and the standard bearer alone show no sprues. But do you usually glue the standard? Or is it able to be left unglued to store it separately. Though I guess it's fine to cut a second slot to fit it glued.

Nungunz wrote:Meh, I've never had a problem with leaving spaces open and stacking stuff on top.

I guess I'll ask them. I was more wondering about since if you turn it sideways to carry, one side becomes the bottom. but if the slot "under" a unit is empty I'd imagine the foam would sag, though I guess I should ask them about that myself.

Though is putting a unit in a slot a little too big bad? I wouldn't imagine so, but I don't know.

The Deffkoptas are metal, and are fairly expensive if you bought them outside of AoBR. None of the Marines are Metal, however Terminators and Dreadnoughts are rather expensive even as plastic sets (comparatively for the same amount of money, you can get far more plastic in say the Space Wolves box. Same goes for normal Terminators).

The Command Squad doesnt have the sprues shown since they were posted before they started taking photos of the sprues and just never got updated. Search around, there should be pics of the sprue online. The Standard comes as the actual banner and an arm holding onto the pole.

As for boxes to transport them, I bought a briefcase from Walmart and stuffed it with tissue paper to hold models. the one I got had modular sections.

Well it seems I'm getting AoBR since the other way using the battleforce is $70CDN more. I know that the units in AoBR are simpler to build since they have pegs, but do you have extra bits to chose from? From the tiny picture it seems I'm covered on decals.

I think I'll look at Walmart for a briefcase or something for now Maybe get some foam from the hardware store and try shaping it. I assume I should get very soft foam?

As far as I know, AoBR gives you basic stuff so you don't have to worry about list building and that kind of stuff yet at the low levels of just learning how to play.

Portaljacker wrote:Well it seems I'm getting AoBR since the other way using the battleforce is $70CDN more. I know that the units in AoBR are simpler to build since they have pegs, but do you have extra bits to chose from? From the tiny picture it seems I'm covered on decals.

Nope, no options what-so-ever. If you want options, you're going to have to combine bits from kits.

Nungunz wrote:

Portaljacker wrote:Well it seems I'm getting AoBR since the other way using the battleforce is $70CDN more. I know that the units in AoBR are simpler to build since they have pegs, but do you have extra bits to chose from? From the tiny picture it seems I'm covered on decals.

Nope, no options what-so-ever. If you want options, you're going to have to combine bits from kits.

Or spend the extra $70 to get it the battleforce way. Is that worth it? Can you buy weapon bitz and such separately? Although, you can't use then because of the pegs.

So I guess the question is? Are the options worth it? Or is the way AoBR gears the units good enough?

Converting AoBR items *is* possible. However it's incredibly hard, moreso than normal converting, because of the preset poses and pegs. For example, Arm swaps on Terminators are really hard since you either have to get a new pad to go with the arm, or carefully cut the arm so the tube lines up with the lower part. Headswaps are equally hard, and arm swaps for tactical marines is all but impossible due to the way they're cast (you can still switch out the flamer for a plasma or meltagun, but that's more of a handswap than an arm swap).

That seems like too much effort to mod my first units. So are the way the units are configured in AoBR good?

Melta Dreads are fantastic due to the proferation of Tanks everywhere. The Terminators come as standard. The only difference is they lack a Heavy Weapons guy (although you can easily make two with one box of normal Terminators to compensate for that) so they're about as good as terminators will get. The Space Marines are good except for the special weapons guy. Melta Guns are better than Flamers due to the aforementioned Tanks, but I prefer Flamers to give my troops some anti-horde capability. Missile Launchers are great with Tact Squads though, and are a really good buy since they are much more detailed than normal Tactical Squad MLs. The Captain is pretty much standard fare, you should convert him to a chaplain (give him a skull for a helmet and some sort of fancy wand for his Crozius) or a Librarian (check out some conversion tutorials on how to make a Psychic Hood is all you need to do), since those are much better HQs than the SM Captain.

I was planning on making my HQ a Librarian if I made my army from the battleforce.


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Although I could just buy a Librarian with AoBR.

yeah but carving two semi-circles into a shoulderpad and gluing it to the Captain's collar is so much easier, and cheaper =P