Full Army Photo

watch out! besides our egg transport is a spy!

Bolter and Chainsword equivalent, or as close as I could get it:

Unit Photos

Army List

I'm a newb, but I plan on something like this. Nothing as been fully painted and assembled or bought, so bare with me.

Troops:
3 10 man tacts, each with flamer and missile (split up 5 man squads)
3 10 man tacts, each with flamer and hvy bolter (split up 5 man squads)
options:
upgrade sgt. to combi-flamer, poweraxe (powersword equiv), or plasma pistol
more than likely melta bombs, as only +5 a squad

also would and a rhino to almost all of them

Plasma pistols might work better for heroes, as at least 19-18 pts per model, sacrificing it for a plasma misfire could seem expensive. I may or may not think it's worth it.

Of course, others could argue ...


HQ:
1 space marine captain OR chaplain. I am not sure which one get more bang for buck.
Might as well get a power axe (sword equiv) to take advantage of multiple attacks.
Also could field combi plasma gun/pistol? or plasma pistol.
If wounded, it's got at least 1 wound before death.

I am just going to buy a 100pt HQ and upgrade him a small amount. I am not going to tweak him like a DnD character.
HQ can't take/hold objectives, but I can sacrifice him so that the more expensive troop squad(s) can.

Fast Attack:
Eventually, it is a dream of mine to field 10 assault, 2 with flamers (as plasma may be too expensive to lose a marine), the rest with chain axes and pistols.
The sgt may have a pair of lighting claws, but this may be too much of a point sink.
I may just be happy with a power axe. Also, all would have the MK6 "Beakie" Heads.
I don't know, there is something about aerodynamic heads with flying marines that makes sense to me... XD

Note: I am not sure if the flame wielding marines can STILL have a close combat weapon as the Codex says it only replaces their pistol (p. 139)
- so I will assume that they DO NOT get a ccw, as models seen in the Ultramarine chapters are holding the flamers with TWO HANDS.

In the mean time, I have one attack bike and 3 bikers (2 with 1 sgt.) that I can play around with.
I like the idea of the attack bike moving 12" and doing 3 3ft. attacks in same round.
The normal bikes can separate from the attack bike can be used for..
1.) upgrading to flamers, flanking enemy for other units.
2.) upgrading to melta guns for tank hunting.
3.) "kite" - move away, shoot, move away... since they can shoot 24" with twin linked boltgun. Could be somewhat useful
4.) already got them, so might as well play with them. If they don't work well, I won't get anymore.

In addition to bikes and assault marines, I won't mind getting a land speeder tornado pattern, with either two hvy bolters or one hvy bolter and an assault cannon.
Using one of these units would give me a small advantage of speed over defense, as the Dark Eldar army is built on this.
Surprised I have no hvy flamer? Yeah, these things die too easily. Open topped skimmers die close up.
If I did get a hvy flamer, I would consider getting a scout speeder, as I think it's cheaper and a troop choice.

Hvy:
Predators look too cheap to pass up. Devastors are too expensive and can't move and shoot.
The Land Raider Redemmer looks interesting (the only official Fire Lords fluff as of this writing) - but the type of player I am, I would shoot myself in the foot if I choose this too soon without playing around for a while. Why? Point sink.
The Raider might just be a fire magnet and get nothing done but to waste points when I could of got 2 other units.

Elite:
5 Termies, not 10. 10 could get massively exp and termies could get too hard to play with early in the game.
I am not sure if shooty or assault ones are the best for my game.

I would take at least 1 dread, with 1 with a hvy flamer. These things are good at tying up annoying enemy units. Plus the ability to fire 2 hvy (or powerful assault) weapons and assaulting in the same turn is too good to pass up.

Why I Started This Army

The Fire Lords was most appealing for several reasons.

1.) I wanted a bright army to contrast with the dark Dark Eldars I had running around.

2.) I stuck with the chapter because I akin them to tax collectors. They brought down harsh penalties for avoiding their tax obligations to the deadbeat planet of Grissen (p. 83, 5th ed Space Marine Codex, 2008 by Matthew Ward, GW). So, I figure their motives/history from this incident would make it easy to fight just about anybody, even other Space Marines. They could be the heroes and the villains for the Empire's righteous albeit bureaucratic tax policy. The tax man cometh - be awry. Aren't scared? Don't believe me? Look up how Al Capone was brought down.

3.) Probably another money/resource reason is that I like cheap weapons like the flamer. The Fighting Tigers is an army that emphasized cheap and effective troops paired with equally cheap and effective weapons (http://www.fightingtigersofveda.com/currenttroops.htm, by Kenton Kilgore). I decided the way I would play and select Fire Lords marines would mimic alot of the Tigers strategy.

4.) I could of painted them my favorite color blue, but it would like just another Ultramarine Army.

5.) Firemen are real heroes. I was pulled out of a house on fire about 3 years ago, and I owe my life to them. I want to honor them in a small way by NOT using swords and instead using axes. It's what they use. I figure I can get cheap axes from orcs (Assault on Black Reach, I got at least 10 of them) or Khorne Berserkers (or whatever chaos army have axes). I prefer to convert the Chaos Marines axes for chain sword/axe, as they have the "chain" effect on them and also convert orc axes into power swords/axes.