A sumptuously produced hardback containing a copy of the 10th edition rules for 40K, a history of the Tyrannical War, a very nice showcase of models etc, scenarios and the Crusade narrative driven rules - which you can rest assured will inevitably used for something GW may never have thought of!
A short while ago I posted about having acquired a copy of the GW Leviathan boxed set containing some 72 models - 25 Space Marines (including a rather large Dreadnought) and 47 Tyranids. I have since added to that by acquiring the ‘Ultimate Starter Set’ which includes a further 12 Marines and 32 Tyranids. I then took to eBay to obtain a further five man squad of Marines to round out the set up. The Ultimate Starter Set includes some rather nice terrain pieces along with a copy of the core rules, a bag of D6, a sheet of transfers for the Marines, a 40K Handbook and a couple of plastic measuring sticks aka rulers to the uninitiated! Just to complete the line up I also invested in a copy of the book you see above in order to flesh out the back story of the table top action.
The handbook and core rule book from the Ultimate starter set.
Am I insane? No, but I am not averse to making use of stuff in a variety of ways above and beyond that which the designers intended! Seriously though, I will happily play 40K or Space Hulk or Combat Patrol but I have plenty of other rules available for the genre - man versus insect-like alien.
On the face of it the expense for this may seem daunting but when you sit and think about what you have got for what you laid out money wise there is an awful lot of material that compares favourably with more mainstream historical topics. Figure wise I probably have rather more than I will need but no matter - the excess can be readily disposed of. For now though I have to shoehorn this into the project list and therein lies my problem. Time - or lack of it!
I am looking at a kind of ‘Starship Troopers meets the Zulu War’ kind of thing with this lot, featuring elements of the book and the film with that of the ‘historicity’ of the Zulu War.
In the words of the song “Its my party and I’ll try if I want to”
Many a gaming project has embarked on far shakier foundations….