Even for veteran players with expansive collections, there comes a time when the urge to dabble in a new faction hits, and inevitably it’s an urge for a faction that you don’t yet own models for. Okay, support the FLGS, more shiny toy army mans, I’m all for that… but the budget isn’t always so friendly, and then it can become a matter of balance – how can you dabble efficiently in a new faction without committing to purchasing ALL THE THINGS? Similarly, there’s the problem of finding room on the hobby desk. If you’re like me, you have a small mountain of silver metal and grey plastic that would love your attention, and here you are, thinking of adding to it. Again, no worries, but is it possible to satisfy that factional urge without adding too much to the collection of unpainted and unassembled models? Can you make room for a palette cleanser to entertain you for a month or so before you return to your beloved primary faction(s)?

It’s for this reason that I started pondering small, 25pt lists for each faction, based around their battlebox. Let’s be honest, the value for money in the battleboxes is awesome, often netting you $70-80 worth of models for about $50. It’s a great place to start, gives you a warcaster/warlock and some warjack/warbeast options, and at most six models to add to the painting queue (though most are four models). When you add in the value available to you from the two-player starters – Models that would cost you over $200 to buy individually packed together for $100 – it’s almost a no brainer as to where to start. Unless you have a particular objection to the models in the battleboxes (eg, you really prefer the Hammermsith/Centurion/Avenger chassis over the Ironclad/Defender/Cyclone), the battleboxes are an excellent place to start.

Quick aside, the Journeyman league rules do include alternate battlebox lists for each faction, such as a Wold-centric Circle battlebox with Baldur, or Cryx under Asphyxious with one of the crabjacks. They’re worth a peek.

Anywhen, for me it started with the realization that after shuffling some models around and sending some on to new owners, I was lacking a Hordes battlebox. As a Press Ganger this was irksome, as it directly hampered my ability to provide a good demo for a new player who was interested in Hordes rather than Warmachine.   In deciding to remedy this glaring omission it clicked that I had the Circle portion of a two-player starter hidden away. I’m generally a fan of werewolves in myth, so it seemed like an excellent place to start

So I did.

Painting up the two-player battlebox variant – Kaya the Wildborne, Feral Warpwolf, Argus and Winter Argus – was very rewarding personally, so I decided to push the list to 25pts and then on to 35pts so that I could play larger, extended games with new players as they became more and more familiar with the rules. That this coincides with the stages of a Journeyman League may or may not be completely coincidental…

The first step in a Journeyman league after the Battlebox stage is to 15pts. This can actually be a little awkward since a number of the battleboxes are close but not quite there. 12pts is pretty common, some higher, some lower. Given that, there’s generally room for a solo or a very cheap support unit, but that’s about it. It’s entirely possible that within your faction you’re not going to be able to hit 15pts on the nose with models you actively enjoy.

Journeyman rules state that the contents of the battlebox must be used until the fourth week of the campaign, so in my case I went with:

• Kaya the Wildborne
• -Feral Warpwolf
• -Argus
• -Winter Argus
• Shifting Stones
• -Stone Keeper

This list is still very much dependent on the Feral Warpwolf to do the heavy lifting. The Stone Keeper brings an extra 3” AoE with crit knockdown, but in practice the list is essentially the battlebox, it just has a little extra in terms of movement shenanigans. At this stage the total expense incurred beyond the $50 paid for my share of the two-player starter, is that of two blisters, approx. $20-25. Total additions to the painting table? Four models.

Bumping it up to 25 is similarly straightforward, thanks to the unit of Skinwalkers that came with the two-player starter:

• Kaya the Wildborne
• -Feral Warpwolf
• -Argus
• -Winter Argus
• Shifting Stones
• Warpborn Skinwalkers
• -Warpborn Alpha

To make everything fit in I had to drop the Stone Keeper, but that’s a model that will see a lot of play in future with the Shifting Stones, and the addition of the Warpborn Alpha just makes the Skinwalkers that much more groovy. If I hadn’t nabbed the Skinwalkers with the battle box, either of the new plastic Tharn units could be used to fill the gap as well – the Tharn Blood Pack are a 7/10 unit, so a single box will make the jump from 15 to 25 or 25 to 35 and only give you six models to paint.

In this case, we add a very solid tarpit to the army in the form of the Skinwalkers with their ability to heal via Blood Drinker from the Alpha, fueled more efficiently thanks to Rapid Strike. Moar attacks = Moar chances to hit = Moar chances to kill = Moar tokens = Moar healing to keep your 8-wound, 18 ARM-while-engaged tarpit in place. Total cost to bump the list to 25pts? One blister, $20-25. Total additions to the painting table? Six models.

Now, for my purposes as a Press Ganger – building a small list that’ll work for demonstration purposes – I could easily stop there… but I’m a glutton for punishment, and at this stage I’m just enjoying working in a paint scheme that’s not one of the ones I’ve already painted on over 150pts worth of models, so pushing it to 35pts for a final jump seems like a good idea. Thankfully, Circle Orboros makes this easy. Kaya likes puppies. We’ve got a 25pt list chock full of puppies, and some rocks for them to tinkle on. That poor Feral’s been doing so much work, let’s give him a friend.

• Kaya the Wildborne
• -Feral Warpwolf
• -Warpwolf Stalker
• -Argus
• -Winter Argus
• Shifting Stones
• Warpborn Skinwalkers
• -Warpborn Alpha

And there we have it. One  easy addition that works beautifully with Kaya’s Pack Hunter rule to give us a MAT8 heavy warbeast that has an 11” threat range with a potential P+S18 sword… and it’s a sweet looking model to boot. Total additional cost? One warpwolf kit – $35. Additions to the painting table? One model.

Is this list going to successfully handle all comers in a tournament environment? Probably not  – it’s missing any real ranged element, no Druids to propogate clouds all over the place and cast little spells of doom, not a solo in sight to skip around contesting zones til the heavy hitters can catch up – but we’ve got a 35pt list that’s thematic (all the puppies!), only uses a total of 15 models (hence saving your painting table and chewing up less space in your transport solution of choice), and perhaps most significantly, the total cost is under $150. If you weren’t able to split a two-player starter, or simply opted for Tharn over Skinwalkers, you’re still around the $200 mark.

I’ll be painting this lot up and using them in the upcoming Journeyman league at the Hobby Kingdom, assuming I can fight off the impending temptation of Convergence of Cyriss releases. At some point I may pick up a second Circle warlock and work up another 35pt list so that I have two options for Circle to use in Hordes-centric tournaments, but I’m making no promises. The real question, though, is when this lot’s done and I’ve got the Circle urge out of my system…

… which faction will call my name next?