What should I do with my Betrayal at Calth box set?

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**Sgt_Smudge**

Yes, I know there are a ton of BaC threads here, but I don't think this would really fit into any of them. Thus, here we are.

Since the set was released, I decided I'd get it. It's a great way to get started into HH, for a (relatively) great price.
My problem? I have no idea what I'll do with the models.

See, I'm kinda torn between three ideas:

1) Paint them all as Ultramarines.
My main 40k army is the Ultramarines, and painting them all up as UM would simultaneously give me more men I could use in 40k (relic suits of armour) and a HH Legion.
That said, I have no experience with HH Legions. Are the Ultramarine Legion Traits and Rites of War good? Their unique units and Guilliman himself? Any help on this would be appreciated.

2) Split them into a Loyalist and Traitor army, like shown.
I could do this and it would give me a nice diorama scene, as well as something I could use to introduce new players to HH, or just for quick games.
However, it halves what I get to use in game, as I probably can't use them in one army. And of course, what Legions to portray?

3) Completely new Legion.
I could use this as an excuse to do a whole new Legion for HH games. I'd most likely be drawn to a Traitor Legion, as they tend to have Loyalist aspects, but could be used to represent a force on either side of the conflict (Loyalist or Traitor). I'd be drawn to Sons of Horus or Night Lords for this, although the Emperor's Children aesthetic is pretty swell. However, I'm not sure as to any of the Traitor's unique traits and suchlike, and lacks the flexibility of the UM idea. Any help on these unique rules would likewise be appreciated.

So yeah. my main ideas. Which to you reckon would be best for me, or at least some advice on the effectiveness of the Traitor Legions or Ultramarine armies.

Another thing, how to compose the army? I get the whole Praetor, Centurion, Terminators, Contemptor thing, but how should I go about the Tactical Squads? To my knowledge, heavy weapons aren't available to normal Tacticals. Would it be a decent idea to put all the missiles into a 10 man Veteran Tactical Squad and leave the bolters in 10 man teams? Or could I just leave them as Veteran Tacticals?

**War Kitten**

I would say a Traitor/Loyalist Legion. I'm also in the same boat and I have no intentions of using it in my 40k Ultramarines. While it would be a nice boost to them, I feel it'd be kinda boring to do Ultras in both 30k and 40k. Use this as your chance to try out a brand new legion. Most of the Legion rules are pretty decent, I don't remember the specifics, but pretty much all of them are pretty cool. Maybe Iron Warriors or Emperor's Children?

**Fruzzle**

I was in the same boat as you when I picked up calth.
I play salamanders in 40k and kinda wanted something different and not loyalist. I had a good look at the rules of the legion and decided to play Iron Warriors.

This is because its relatively easy to make their terminator elite (Tyrant siege) from the cataphractii in the box (Just add cyclone missle launcher) and the rest of the box will do well for them (infantry).

Some other traitor legions don't really like to play with the box content, for example
Night lords - you want jump packs/terror squads
Emperors children - you don't really want infantry blobs

It's also difficult to make most of the legions terminator elite from the box and plain cathaphractii are so so.

Having said all this, the Ultramine ones also uses Cyclone missle launchers so you can do the same trick but I like IW because Artillery and Hazard stripes!