Why the 512th?

I started out in 40K in the early 90's. A friend of mine was into WFB, and I hung out around watching games being played until they made the move into 40K, and I followed suit. Soon, Ultramarines, Orks, and Space Wolves populated my desks, cabinets, and imagination.

Then, as puberty hit in, I gradually lost interest. Fast forward 15 years, I finally had the cash to merit a proper, 'grown-up' army of my own. A chance encounter with a fellow player who had bought the Black Reach set has now meant this obsession with little plastic men has re-entered my life and burnt a hole into my wallet like something fierce.

Which army did I want to play? Ultrasmurfs? Wolves? Something else?

I thought long and hard, and the Imperial Guard came to mind. I was always a treadhead, loved the tanks of the 41st Millenium, and something else.


With that, a love for Codex Grey and Chaos Black on Cadians followed suit.

The 512th Cadian Regiment - Orbital Defence Detail M41, standing to attention!

Since mid-2008, I've played a drop troop-doctrined army in an attempt to capture the feel of the movie. That been said, I've always been a fan of the Robert Heinlein book (as jingostic a military piece can be), and I'm an even bigger fan of Joe Haldeman's Forever War (the Earth-2 mirror to Starship Troopers).

Obviously the 5th Edition Imperial Guard Codex has changed all that, but I've since learnt to adapt with Mechanised forces, Valkyries, scoring Veterans, Deep Striking Stormies, etc, etc.

I have Big Jim of Galaxy in Flames and the website Bell of Lost Souls to thank for re-igniting my interest in 40K and blogging hand-to-hand.

P.S. I'd also like to point out the existence of the 40K roughnecks blog, for obvious reasons. Go Mobile Infantry!