Anyway, I'm not the kind of player who likes to build towards a specific list... but the new Astartes redbook has inspired me so much that I've changed my tune. In general, I'm still going to want to develop a diverse collection so I can play all kinds of games and forge all kinds of narratives, but this is now the direction I want to go.
For your perusal:
+++ Stormlord (3498pts) +++
++ Legiones Astartes: Age of Darkness Army List (Age of Darkness) +++ HQ +
Legion Centurion [Artificer Armour, Artificer Weapons, Dragonscale Storm Shield, Legiones Astartes, Psychic Mastery Level 2, Refractor Field]··Consul [Librarian]Legion Praetor [Artificer Armour, Digital Lasers, Dragonscale Storm Shield, Iron Halo, Mantle of the Elder Drake, Mastercraft a Single Weapon, Thunder Hammer]··Legiones Astartes [Legion Specific Rules]··Master of the Legion [The Covenant of Fire]+ Troops +
Legion Tactical Squad [9x Legion Tactical Space Marines, Legion Vexilla, Legiones Astartes, Nuncio-Vox]··Legion Tactical Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Artificer Weapons, Combi-Weapon, Melta Bombs]Legion Tactical Squad [9x Legion Tactical Space Marines, Legion Vexilla, Legiones Astartes, Nuncio-Vox]··Legion Tactical Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Artificer Weapons, Combi-Weapon, Melta Bombs]Legion Tactical Support Squad [9x Legion Space Marines, Legiones Astartes]··Legion Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Artificer Weapons, Melta Bombs]Legion Tactical Support Squad [6x Legion Space Marines, Legiones Astartes, Melta Guns]··Legion Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Artificer Weapons, Melta Bombs]+ Elites +
Apothecarion Detachment··Legion Apothecary [Artificer Armour, Legiones Astartes]··Legion Apothecary [Artificer Armour, Legiones Astartes]··Legion Apothecary [Artificer Armour, Combi-weapon, Legiones Astartes]Firedrake Terminator Squad [4x Dragonscale Storm Shield, 4x Firedrakes, Legiones Astartes, Power Fist, 3x Thunder Hammer]··Firedrake Master [Dragonscale Storm Shield, Master-crafted Thunder Hammer]Techmarine Covenant··Legion Techmarine [Artificer Weapons]····Techmarine/Forgelord Options [Inferno Pistol, 4x Lascutter, 4x Servo-automata]··Legiones Astartes [Legion Specific Rules]+ Fast Attack +
Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter [Battle Servitor Control, Ground-tracking Auguries, 2x Two Kraken penetrator heavy missiles, Two Sunfury heavy missiles]+ Heavy Support +
Legion Artillery Tank Squadron [Legion Basilisk]Legion Land Raider Battle Squadron··Legion Land Raider Phobos [Armoured Ceramite, Frag Assault Launchers, Multi-melta]··Legion Land Raider Proteus [Armoured Ceramite, Explorator Augury Web, Multi-melta, Twin-linked Lascannon]Legion Vindicator Siege Tank Squadron··Legion Vindicator Tank [Armoured Ceramite]+ Legion +
XVIII: Salamanders - Legion Astartes [Loyalist, XVIII: Salamanders]+ Lord of War +
Stormlord [2 Heavy stubbers, Hull-Mounted Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, Searchlight, Smoke Launcher, Space Marine Legion Crew]··Pair of side sponsons with one Lascannon and one twin-linked heavy Flamer··Pair of side sponsons with one Lascannon and one twin-linked Heavy FlamerCreated with BattleScribe (http://www.battlescribe.net)
The plan is that the tac squads (each with an apothecary), the flamer support squad, the techmarine, and the officers all go into the stormlord. The firedrakes go in the land raider phobos; the melta support squad (and multi-melta toting apothecary) go in the land raider proteus. Scout on the proteus lets me redeploy both land raiders, which gives me the opportunity to put the pressure on my opponent immediately. It also means that I can start the vindicator and the basilisk in reserve to protect it from enemy long range firepower, if I feel like it, and bring both them and the primaris-lightning in reliably. The stormlord rolls forward, dropping scoring units as necessary, who can then use their nuncio-voxes to call in accurate support fire from the basilisk.
And, of course, the stormlord is recovering up to two HPs a turn, thanks to the techmarine and the librarian, who will be rocking technomancy (when facing an opponent who doesn't want to deal with the new powers, I'll replace him with a forge lord).
Anti-infantry firepower? I've got a fire-spewing, bullet-barfing stormlord rolling up the field, two pie plates of death (one of them with incredibly long range and Barrage), sunfury missiles, and plenty of heavy bolters. Anti-tank firepower? I've got eight lascannons, kraken penetrators, a whole squad of meltaguns, a whole squad of thunderhammers, and a couple of vehicle-mounted multi-meltas.
Most importantly... STORMLORD!
This is going to be a lot of fun, I think.
All I need to do is get my hands on a stormlord, a legion vindicator, and ten more Astartes for the flamer squad (I'm probably going to go mkvi). Since I've decided that I won't even build the stormlord until I've painted everything that goes into it, you can count on a bunch of tasty WIPs!
That's all for now. Have fun!