Horus Heresy: Betrayal of Calth

    

 I grabbed two boxes of this. When I first heard of it's release, like most in the 30k/40k community, the deal sounded fantastic. Netting 30 marines, 5 terminators, 2 characters, and a Dreadnought for $150? It's like a steal! But is it? If anything, GW isn't one to show off a loss, especially when they are already losing out. Even battle boxes and package deals aren't really deals - they are just a combination of specific units at a price that is generally the same as buying it all together. So why is this such a deal? Because it's costing them money to create fresh board game content with a ton of miniatures? No, of course not. They are making money off of it. They are making money off of selling 30 marines, 5 terminators, 2 characters, and a Dreadnought at $150. So, if anything, it's telling us that they are fully aware that the other stuff they sell doesn't need to be at the price it's at. If a Dreadnought is $25, characters would be about $10 each, with 10 marines to be about $25 each pack, and leaving a pack of 5 terminators to be about $30. But that's still being "high end", because the dice, tokens, cards, rules, and game development had to cost them something as well. So HH: Betrayal of Calth should really be called GW: What We Could Sell Stuff At If We Didn't Mind Betraying Our Customer's Wallets.



     But, even so, it's still a good deal for someone like me, who loves to paint, model, and hobby, and doesn't mind having extra models to create a new force to play 30k with or 40k with. And to be honest, the game itself seems pretty cool, too! Luckily my local gaming store does 20% off board games, and they consider Betrayal of Calth a board game, so I'm looking at about $125 for each box after taxes. Blam-O! Now that's a deal!
     So what do I plan to do with my huge lot of dudes? Well, the kits are amazing themselves, and could easily be sold by themselves as their own kits because you get all the options. Each 10 marine sprue had 1 of each special weapon (flamer, plasma gun, melta gun) and a missile launcher, so that's 3 of each special weapons, 3 missile launchers, and 3 combi-whatever you wants in each box. The Terminators can be lightning claws, power fists, whatevers too (no Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, but those aren't that hard to make if you really wanted them). Even the Dreadnoughts are gifted with other weapon options. This box was definitely made to create a 30k/40k marine force with one purchase, and two means you don't need anything but weapons for pretty much anything you want to field (special unit options excluded, like Centurions). But what is it missing for a full-fledged Marine force? Vehicles. Just vehicles. Really! That's great.
     For 30k, I have to say I'm extremely interested in it. The fluff is great, of course, but the way 30k Legion lists end up is what I always tried to do with my Black Templars anyways. Big squads, land raiders galore, and super heavies to crush my opponent's lines. Tack on what is effective Land Raider artillery vehicles and I think I'm in heaven. The hardest part will be figuring out a Legion/color scheme, honestly. Ideally I can create a scheme that appears to resemble a Legion I want to play in 30k, can be a custom chapter in 40k, and is ambiguous enough that I could use them as Chaos Space Marines if I so choose. One army that can be played with 30k and 40k and can supplement my desire to field whatever Power Armored forces rules I want to mes around on is like winning a lottery.