Its May 2009 and there it feels like a good time to start that new Warhammer 40K army i have had in the back of my mind for the last 6 months. It just so happens that i have found 5 other people who have been thinking just that very thing themselves! With this much combined desire to venture into uncharted 40K territory it would be rude to do nothing about it, so without further ado, i can introduce you to - ‘Moon’s Tale of 6 Gamers 2009′.

With many of us just recently back from the Tempus Fugitives - Age of the Emperor campaign weekend its fair to say there is a fair amount of enthusiasm to get stuck into the next project. We are very fortunate with the 6 players involved to have something from every angle of the Wargaming hobby, the next 6 months should make for some great insight into how different people tackle a new army, and whats important to them along the way.

We are likely to see some fantastic standards of painting & presentation throughout the event with real input from Wigg, Whitehorn and Monkey; this is definitely something to follow - we will do everything possible to get some of their styles and tips documents for you to see and use for inspiration! Magnus will likely be providing some of the best conversions you have seen with his keen ‘pre-heresy’ style. Lex will undoubtedly attempt the most courageous story for his army, adding plenty of depth to the event. Where as Moon’s (as well as others) personal input will likly be from a more competitive angle, aiming for a more tournament platform army.

The Event will last around 6 rounds, each of approximately 1 month in length. The Idea, based on White Dwarf’s own ‘A Tale of 4 Gamers’, being to stage the army construction process into manageable chunks, taking into account all aspects of the hobby from painting & modeling to playing and exploring the 40k rule-set.

To keep things interesting, and to add a little bit of competitive but pointless fun to the mix we will be keeping a score as the Event unravels. We will be applying the following basic scores to each round:

+5 points for models painted on time
+3 points for models painted late
+0 points for models not painted within a week of deadline

As well as this bonus points will also be available each round; we have quite a few ideas in store that will test all areas of the hobby and hopefully take advantage of the Games Workshop Release’s along the way. However, there is no need to get into that now, there is no harm in keeping a little suspense in the back for future rounds. When it comes down to judging these we will have the assistance of an impartial representative frm the local games club (Tamworth Gmaes Club)

Here’s what we can set-out - the overall aim is for each player to get an army of at least 1500points. This might be achieved with the minimum of models and units by planning out what’s required and explicitly following it throughout, or it might be the case that a layer has many more points ready than this and can effectively swap out the odd unit to make a more customisable 1500point force.

As we enter the first round we will get to find out alot more about each of the 6 players and their armies, for now all we know are their names and basic ideas:

Monkey’s Swordwind Eldar
Wigg’s Space Sharks Space Marines
Lex’s Death Skullz Ork Klan
Magnus’s Pre-Heresy Space Wolves
Whitehorn’s Forge of Souls Chaos Daemons
Moon’s Son’s of Orar Space Marines

To get us started nice and easily the first round will be purely based on starting an army with a small Warband force and having it painted on time. The Warband will likely form the core of any final army; however we are also going to get our first feel for how the army will look and feel with new colour schemes and conversions.

Round 1 will start on June 1st and will last until June 30th. We will bring you interim updates and maybe the odd picture followed by a full profile and run down of the round at the end of the month. All that’s left to be said is we hope you all enjoy following it as much as the gamers enjoy participating.

Good Luck to all and most importantly - Have fun!