TheChirurgeon’s Road Through 2025, Part 42: Making Some Hard Decisions

Welcome back, Dear Reader, to my ongoing hobby and competitive progress series for 2025. Previously on Road Through 2025, I was back from Challengers Cup and recapping my experience, talking about great hangouts and great dinners. This week the cold reality of the World Championships is settling in, and it’s time to make some hard choices.

As of this writing, I basically have one month – 30 days left – until the World Championships. That’s not a ton of time and it is quickly becoming clear that I have not painted enough of my Emperor’s Children to get the rest of the army up to the standard I need. What’s worse is that I don’t think they’re very good right now – despite having done well recently at the London GT, their win rates have plummeted and I think the problem is philosophical: The Emperor’s Children have some strong datasheets and good effects, but they’re just outclassed by other elite melee armies like Vectorium Death Guard, Black Templars, Blood Angels, and Eightbound World Eaters. They do well into squishier lists like Eldar, GSC, and Recon Guard – a suddenly emerging threat post-LVO – but they really do not like trading down and I don’t like how they play into Death Guard, Drukhari, or vehicle-heavy lists.

If I keep going down this road, the model list I’d be looking at is Boris Michev’s list from LGT this past weekend, which he took to a 9-1, third-place finish. That’s insanely good, and there’s a lot to like about the list:

Boris' List - Click to Expand

The list calls for two Rhinos and only two winged Daemon Princes. Painting one took forever, but not having to paint three is a big plus here. The downside is that it’s a lot of bodies. As I survey the list, here’s what I have painted or half-painted for the Emperor’s Children:

That puts my remaining model counts for this army at:

• 15.5 Noise Marines
• 1 Winged Daemon Prince
• 2 Lords Exultant
• 1 Lord Kakophonist
• 9 Infractors
• 8 Tormentors
• 1 Rhino
• 3 Flawless Blades

That’s a lot, and painting it all to that same standard in one month isn’t really doable if I’m being honest. I maybe could if I wasn’t working and writing articles and having to paint other models, but the reality is I can’t finish that in time. At least, not to the paint standard I’d want.

And on top of that, I’m not confident I could win games with this list at all. It’s an army which I think takes a lot of skill and I’m not really a “take a 40% win rate army and outperform with it” level player. I’m more a “take a very good army and do OK with it” type guy. So I need something a little more forgiving.

But it can’t be Death Guard. As much as I love the Death Guard, they’re not best painted material. They’ve taken a beating from travel this year, and even before that, they weren’t winning awards. They’re painted well but they’re drab, dark, and generally lack the kind of flash effects and bright colors you need to compete in the paint meta.

That means my solution is either going to be Thousand Sons – which I’m not really aching to play – or Chaos Space Marines. I have a few options there, give or take.

The Night Lords Option

The first is Liam VSL’s list from LGT, running Veterans of the Long War:

Liam's List - Click to Expand

There’s a lot I like about Liam’s list. He has some great stuff in it, and I have most of it painted in Night Lords colors already. The Night Lords are easily my second best painted army, having won best painted last year in the Grand Narrative. I could update them for this year’s event pretty easily, and I’ve already got the converted bikes and Rhinos. Here’s what I have for them at the moment:

Liam’s not running a Vindicator but I’d consider swapping out a Predator for one and potentially dropping Cypher. Yes, I know he’s extremely good, but ultimately I think I’d trade him for a unit of Nurglings, and that would get me some extra utility/points value while the Vindicator gets to do its thing with the benefit of Oath of Moment, Chaos Version. If I go this route, my painting queue becomes much lighter, and I’m basically looking at:

• 5 Night Lords Chosen
• 5 Warp Talons
• 4 Night Lords Obliterators (I already have one half painted)
• 4 Noise Marines (or 6 if I go fancy and don’t paint them as EC)
• Optional: Some Cultists
• Optional: Cypher
• Optional: 1 Predator Destructor

That’s a much more manageable list, and while I wasn’t playing VotLW earlier this year I was playing most of this army with Creations of Bile. Moving to Veterans isn’t a huge lift, and a lot of the same pieces will be there: Bile and his 10-model brick of Chosen in a Rhino, the Obliterators, the Nemesis Claw; I have the pieces I need to work with and at least a passing familiarity with the list.

Comedy Vashtorr Option

Of course, there’s another funny option here as well – I was very impressed with Wallace’s list at Challengers Cup and could run something that does Soulforged Warpack, running Vashtorr and a bunch of daemon engines. Here’s Wallace’s list:

Wallace's List - Click to Expand

I have some of the stuff I’d need to run this. I have a Vashtorr painted well, and I have some Forgefiends, but this would force me into Black Legion, the scheme I painted the Forgefiends and my Lord Discordant in. I’m not sure I want to go back down that route right now.

Here’s what I’d still need to paint:

• Forgefiend
• 2 Venomcrawlers
• Lord Discordant
• Update old Lord Discordant and Heldrake
• Beast of Nurgle
• Helbrute with two combat weapons

That’s a lot more than I’d like to paint for this, so it’s more or less out of the question. On top of that, it’s Black Legion, and I find that paint judges have little respect for black armor, no matter how much work you put into varying the shade or highlighting it. So this is a fun idea (I really want to run a Heldrake), but not one I’m seriously considering.

I could also look at Mike Pestilens’ list from the recent Denver Fight Club open, which ran Vashtorr, two Warpsmiths, three Forgefiends (in my configuration! – double plasma, one autocannon), three Venomcrawlers, and a Lord of Skulls. That’s a fun one to consider as well, and I may test it after the WCW, but I am not really big on painting up a Lord of Skulls right now (or ever, really).

The other option is to go Renegade Raiders, but those lists tend to rely heavily right now on Accursed Cultists and the Dark Commune, and I don’t have any of those painted at the moment. There’s also an option to look at Abaddon-led Pactbound Zealots, but that’d push me back into Black Legion and I don’t want to be there at the moment paint-wise.

Making the Tough Call

If it seems like I’m pushing myself into Night Lords well, that’s where I’m going with this. I don’t feel confident in my ability to get the Emperor’s Children painted in time, nor do I feel like I’d win enough games with them. Switching to Veterans of the Long War feels better at the moment, and I’m much more comfortable getting these guys painted in time for the event. I’m going to start by aiming for the Vindicator version of the list, and I’ll switch to Cypher and the Predator if I have time, but I’m not going to be upset if I get everything but those painted – I’ll likely win fewer games but do OK with the Nurglings in Cypher’s place and some harder ranged anti-tank threat with the Vindicator.

Next Time: The New Paint Rush

Well, that’s disappointing but it’s also a huge weight off my back. My goal now is to take stock of my army, start assembling the models I still need, and prepping my paint plan for the next month. I’m pretty confident I can get these done in time, and to a standard that I’ll be happy showing off, plus I know the rest of the army already looks great. I’m on the fence about making a new display board at the moment, but that’s something I’ll revisit later in the month if I have additional time. I may also just look at painting a backdrop for my existing display board – something that I can fold up but that will sit around the back of the display and add to it.

See you next week.

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