Operation 500

So what is Operation 500?  Well as stated last week I am hoping to paint more figures than can be humanly possible, but due to circumstances I have a greater number of figures for the Forces of Disorder than the Forces of Order.  So I will be spending hopefully twenty pounds and buying 500 points from the internet, well we can call it EBay. 

I was hoping to gather the various forces that make up a Space Marine Battlebox; however I think I am being extra hopeful to gather them for the princely sum of twenty pounds.  I had to jump on the website to see what it is in the contents of the box as it has been a few years since I bought one, the previous century I think – I got the set with three bikers in, Terminators and Tacticals.

Space Marine Battlebox: Ten man Tactical with popular flamer missile launcher combo; five Scouts armed with close combat or bolter/shotguns; a five man Assault and a Rhino.  Breaking down the points according to the website we have a standard Tactical squad at 170 points, the Veteran Sergeant has taken no upgrades.  Scout squad is 85 points as they have been upgraded with a Heavy Bolter; again the Veteran Sergeant has taken no upgrades.  Again the Assault Squad Veteran Sergeant has taken no upgrades; although in the picture it is modelled with a combat shield so only 120 points.  A combat squad of five guys is a bare bones 90 points along with the naked Rhino at only 35 points.  Coolly added together we get a nice round 500 points for a snip of fifty-five pounds.

However I have few snips and spending the amount on upgrade Space Marines will mean my budget to complete the other armies I am working is severely cropped.  If I can limit myself to just twenty pounds it will give me funds to complete other projects and any spare monies can be saved and funnelled into Operation 500 later in the year.

I know you are thinking that there is no way that I can pick up ten regular Marines, five Scouts, five jump-pack Marines and a Rhino for the money I am talking about and I somewhat agree.  It will be a struggle as I know that I can comfortably pick this slot up for twenty-five pounds.  Luckily I will be concentrating on the 500 points rather that the actual guys, so for example a Predator tank that will cost around half the budget can be matched up with a squad of Terminators and a character model, giving me a chance to manage 500.

I am thinking about ensuring that at least half the army is in transports of one sort or another, unfortunately the price of transport is expensive (in pounds) compared to the relatively low points cost of the model.  I will just have to be careful and build around what I can purchase and check out the templates for Drop Pods, I am sure I saved them somewhere before GW took them offline.