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Hey guys, very new player here, I recently purchased and began painting the dark vengeance box set, as I learned more about the rules it became increasingly obvious that I wouldn't be able to make any army competitive or otherwise with what was included, so I wanted to get something that would at least allow me to play with others at the FLGS, even if I'm pure junk just so I can learn the rules. (I don't really have the kind of friends who play games like this).

So I've been spamming refresh on ebay, and looking for really good deals on stuff that I could add on to this for a few weeks when I came across this listing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-Chaos-Space-Marine-Starter-35pc-/221261219983?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=HKhhWapVqbG7kO4Sf3ldMhGzxyY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

It was one of those buy it nows that looked like it had been sitting in someones garage for a while, but I saw one of the figures that looked to be dusted off and it looked very nice in the picture, I think the 2nd picture in the link above. Anyway I got it for 30+3 price/shipping, and I'm not really sure about a lot of the models, for instance one of them appears to be holding an ork head in the last, and next to last picture. He tells me the painted guys in the back are scouts, I really can't see very much, and am too new to identify these models, so if someone could help that would be appreciated. Also is 34 marines+the rhino a good deal for 33 dollars, or will I not really know til I see them with my own eyes.

Also, what sort of army would you guys recommend making with this+dark angels from dark vengeance, it's really a lot of varied units is the only problem, altogether I'll have close to 40 tactical marines, 5 scouts, 5 assualt, 5 deathwing, 3 ravenwing, a rhino, and whatever else is in this lot.

1/. you're brand new to the game, so don't fret too much over 'competitiveness' until you've learned the game, as you will lose a lot anyway.

2/. Dark Vengeance is actually a pretty good starting point. You will need a few more odds and sods to bring it up to a proper army, but it's not bad.

If you are rolling DA you might want to take a look at the codex and see what works well with each other. An example would be bikes with teleport homers being beacons for termies to drop in on.

34 marines plus a rhino is pretty good value, as the rhino alone is more than that these days.

My advice, invest in some Simple Green from Walmart. You can give those boys a bath for a few hours and get start from a clean canvas.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/WarOne's_Simple_Green_Stripping_Method

Were you guys able to identify any of the models? The one holding what looks to be a severed ork head is one I'm curious about.

There's nothing in the pic to suggest its anything but a mildly converted plastic Marine, sorry.

 azreal13 wrote:
There's nothing in the pic to suggest its anything but a mildly converted plastic Marine, sorry.

No problem I haven't done any converting, so I wouldn't recognize it when I saw it. Okay, one last thing would anyone be able to tell me what model of rhino that is? He tells me the only thing missing is the hatch that is normally either closed/has a driving sticking halfway out, so I'd like to order one of those but I don't want to get the wrong one.

Thanks for helping a noob!

For the price you got a good deal but I am concerned that the models may have been primed using a BBQ and lighter fluid. You will need to work to get that off.

Just asking, am I the only one who can't see any pictures? The link takes me to an Ebay page saying the listing has ended.

 lambsandlions wrote:
For the price you got a good deal but I am concerned that the models may have been primed using a BBQ and lighter fluid. You will need to work to get that off.

That was my concern as well, but if you look to the far left of the first picture, you'll see a primed model that looks normal, and non-dusty. It is actually just dust covering all the models except the one in that corner, where to me the primer job doesn't look that bad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 washout77 wrote:
Just asking, am I the only one who can't see any pictures? The link takes me to an Ebay page saying the listing has ended.

You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page with completed ebay listings, it won't appear as a normal listing, but scroll down pictures are there.

Just seems like your typical lot of beat up, badly painted, and occasionally poorly converted models from someone who gave up before they got much into the game. If you're willing to put in some elbow grease with Simple Green, you can get some good results from the lot. The price was pretty solid.

Also, pray to whatever powers you believe in that they didn't use plastic glue. If they did, you're not undoing any of those conversions. I've gotten too many models that were plastic glued together and utterly unsalvageable.

The lot looks fine, for $30 you can really lose. You can tell that the priming actually isn't too bad in some of the closeups. When I look at the marines who have been painted with colour, I can still make out the details of the models just fine.

When you get them, just give them a light wipe/dusting and then put them in some water for a minute or so to get them clean. Then as was mentioned previously, sit them in a container of simple green cleaner. After a few hours go back them and start scrubbing with a toothbrush - don't be afraid to scrub hard as simple green will not harm the plastic. An arm or shoulder pad might come off, but you can just glue that back on after and maybe even pose it in a way you prefer.

For the future though, you may want to look for deal where you meet up in person so you can get a better look at the models and know what you are getting into. Sometimes the cleanup on the models is just not worth saving a few bucks.

Hey guys, I recieved everything today, the guy also sent me 3 pieces of very nice looking terrain. A couple of the figures are broke and some appear to be quite old (on the base of one I found a GW 1999)

Anyway, the marines have tons of different weapons that I have no clue what they are being a total noob, so when I get them all cleaned up I'm going to post pictures of them so hopefully you guys can help me identify what they are weaponwise.

Anyway all the figures are soaking in LA's totally awesome, which from what I've read works better than simple green and is available at my local dollar store.

I got impatient and wanted to clean one to see how it would turn out, here is what I ended up with.



This was a flash photo, but basically it looks like a brand new model except a bit that I didn't get off the top of his head, and behind one shoulder pad.

To help, that model is an assault marine with a jump pack, combat shield, and it looks like a power sword coming too directly towards the camera to be sure.


You did a good job with the stripping.






Yeah, that turned out exactly as intended.

Hey guys, I've got everything stripped, here is before/after pictures.




Now, if you guys could give me some help in identifying the following models, I would GREATLY appreciate it. I'm a very new player so I have no clue what most of these weapons are. There is a lot of model mixing on these it seems, so if anyone can show me what might not be legal for play I'd appreciate it. I'm especially confused about why the one scout is holding a briefcase.

From left to right:
Shotgun, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Pistol/Chainsword, Flamer

The model you are referring to with the 'briefcase' is Lieutenant Varras from the discontinued "Battle for Maccragge" starter set. He is a serf for the Ultramarines, not a Scout.

Part of what makes identification on these difficult is that the two on the left utilize Scout arms rather than the properly sized Marine arms.

From left to right:

Space Marine with a Shotgun, fairly standard
Space Marine with Heavy Bolter
Space Marine Sargent with Plasma Pistol and Chainsword
Space Marine with Flamer
Something Imperial Guard I think, not a Space Marine unit
Space Marine with Rocket Launcher

I couldn't tell you what's legal though, but if my memory serves me correct all of those are legal combinations from where you can take them (I don't know where the non-Space Marine comes into play though. Looks like something out of the Imperial Guard dex). Only question is the SM with Shotgun since I can't remember if Tacs/Vets can take Shotguns or is it only Scouts (those look like Scout arms with SM Shoulder Pads on so...)


EDIT: Got ninja'd by someone who knows more about what their talking about! Listen to him for most of the information haha

 Kanluwen wrote:
From left to right:
Shotgun, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Pistol/Chainsword, Flamer

The model you are referring to with the 'briefcase' is Lieutenant Varras from the discontinued "Battle for Maccragge" starter set. He is a serf for the Ultramarines, not a Scout.

Part of what makes identification on these difficult is that the two on the left utilize Scout arms rather than the properly sized Marine arms.

What about the one of the very end that is only half-visible? He looks to have some sort of rocket launcher, or something.

If I were to buy some shoulder pad bits, would they fit over the scout arms to make them look less stupid?

Also, are serf's ultramarine specific? Could I use him for anything in my dark angel army?

Looks like a standard SM missile launcher guy

If you added spare shoulder pads onto the scout arms they'd be a lot less noticable, and should look ok.

Niexist wrote:
?

Also, are serf's ultramarine specific? Could I use him for anything in my dark angel army?

Serfs aren't actual units in game, that model was only used in the Battle for Maccragge starter set as a special unit for the starter set missions. It's not a codex unit, and you can't use it as a "serf" unit. I'm sure there are ways to use it in other armies to represent other things though, but that doesn't help you much.

(Oh, and serfs aren't Ultramarine specific. They are just the non-Space Marine servants and assistants for the chapter. Every chapter has a ton of them on their ships because there aren't enough Space Marines to do everything)

I think i used him as an Inquisitor when i had him.

Niexist wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
From left to right:
Shotgun, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Pistol/Chainsword, Flamer

The model you are referring to with the 'briefcase' is Lieutenant Varras from the discontinued "Battle for Maccragge" starter set. He is a serf for the Ultramarines, not a Scout.

Part of what makes identification on these difficult is that the two on the left utilize Scout arms rather than the properly sized Marine arms.

What about the one of the very end that is only half-visible? He looks to have some sort of rocket launcher, or something.

He looks to be the standard Missile Launcher model from a starter set. You can tell starter set models from the 'normal' Tactical Squad models as they tend to be very similar poses and when you look for seams where the arms were attached to the bodies, the attachment points will be near the hands rather than the upper arms.

If I were to buy some shoulder pad bits, would they fit over the scout arms to make them look less stupid?

Not really. The problem is that the Scout arms look kind of stupid even on Scouts.

If I could suggest something, I would say try to remove the Shotguns(and I think there are a few Scout knife and pistol arms) from the standard Marines(I counted three or so shotgun equipped Marines) and remove the Bolt Pistol/Chainsword arms from the Scouts(as whoever originally assembled this lot assembled the Scouts with the standard Marine arms and shoulderpads).

Also, are serf's ultramarine specific? Could I use him for anything in my dark angel army?

As mentioned Serfs are not specific to any one Chapter. I do not know what you could use him for in a Dark Angels army, but would suggest he would be best for a stand-in Inquisitor or something Imperial Guard-y.

Varras had special rules for the starter set he was in as an objective model, as he was a downed pilot ferrying some of the geneseed(in the container he's holding) of the Ultramarines Chapter.

I can't think of any standard Marine units that can take shotguns - you'll want to take that off the left-hand model and replace it with another weapon, probably a bolter (the weapon most of the standard Marines are carrying).

One thing you'll find is that Marine units tend to have a basic loadout of kit, and then one or two models can take the special weapons. So I would suggest having a flick through of a Codex to take a look (the new Marine Codex should be out next month, but the weapon options aren't likely to change much in basic squads).

So for instance, your bog-standard Tactical squad is mostly armed with bolters. The Sergeant can take a couple of specials (he's the guy with the banner and the funky pistol/sword combo), but apart from him, only one model can take a special weapon (the smaller ones like the flamer, 3rd guy from the right) and if the squad is bigger, only one other model can take a heavy weapon (like the heavy bolter, 2nd from the left, or the missile launcher on the far right).

Then you have slightly more specialist units like the Devastator squad, who can't take special weapons but can take more heavy weapons. The Assault squad are the only unit that can take jump packs, but they're all armed with pistols and close combat weapons, so they can't take bolters or heavy weapons, and only get one or two special weapons. ...I notice there's one guy with double chainswords as well - while not technically legal, this wouldn't give any in-game benefit over the pistol he'd have with it instead and most people won't mind you using him as though he had a pistol anyway, because a) that's what he'd normally have and b) it looks AWESOME.

Lastly - you don't need to have the backpacks or shoulder pads to use the models, but they will look that much better if you do. Those Scout arms will also look a bit silly even with shoulder pads on top - but I notice some of the Scouts are using normal Marine arms too - see if you can swap them back over.

Are you going to run them all as DA or are you going to partner codex space marines with Dark Angels?

DA have slightly different rules for their tactical squads, and a few different tricks.

 Super Ready wrote:
I can't think of any standard Marine units that can take shotguns - you'll want to take that off the left-hand model and replace it with another weapon, probably a bolter (the weapon most of the standard Marines are carrying).

One thing you'll find is that Marine units tend to have a basic loadout of kit, and then one or two models can take the special weapons. So I would suggest having a flick through of a Codex to take a look (the new Marine Codex should be out next month, but the weapon options aren't likely to change much in basic squads).

So for instance, your bog-standard Tactical squad is mostly armed with bolters. The Sergeant can take a couple of specials (he's the guy with the banner and the funky pistol/sword combo), but apart from him, only one model can take a special weapon (the smaller ones like the flamer, 3rd guy from the right) and if the squad is bigger, only one other model can take a heavy weapon (like the heavy bolter, 2nd from the left, or the missile launcher on the far right).

Then you have slightly more specialist units like the Devastator squad, who can't take special weapons but can take more heavy weapons. The Assault squad are the only unit that can take jump packs, but they're all armed with pistols and close combat weapons, so they can't take bolters or heavy weapons, and only get one or two special weapons. ...I notice there's one guy with double chainswords as well - while not technically legal, this wouldn't give any in-game benefit over the pistol he'd have with it instead and most people won't mind you using him as though he had a pistol anyway, because a) that's what he'd normally have and b) it looks AWESOME.

Lastly - you don't need to have the backpacks or shoulder pads to use the models, but they will look that much better if you do. Those Scout arms will also look a bit silly even with shoulder pads on top - but I notice some of the Scouts are using normal Marine arms too - see if you can swap them back over.

Could the sergaent be used as a standard-bearer? What makes a unit be a sergaent exactly? Like in my dark vengeance box set the sergaent is a bald guy with no helmet.

Sergeants sometimes have banners on their backpack, sometimes they don't. Traditionally it's the older models that do, but in game terms it makes no difference. What makes them a Sergeant in rules terms is a slightly better statline and access to better weapons than their squadmates. Otherwise, if he's not having specific wargear, you can make a Sergeant distinct in any number of ways - by the paintjob, by making him the only one with a bald head or specific helmet - it's up to you.

However, it's worth making a distinction between a back-banner:


And a PROPER sized standard:


The latter does actually have in-game effects and rules, and can only be taken by a couple of very specific units, like a Command Squad.