STARTING A WHITE SCARS ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: BORN IN THE SADDLE
The White Scars are the fastest way to fall in love with this hobby, and 11th edition gives their bike-borne brotherhood a fresh road to ride. The sons of Jaghatai Khan are Space Marines with the brakes cut: hunters of the open steppe who fight from the saddle, strike first, and are gone before the echo fades. As a collection they are gloriously distinctive — where other chapters build walls of infantry, a Scars army is engines, banners, and windswept red lightning on white armour. If the idea of a shelf full of identical static Marines leaves you cold, this is your chapter.
The first ride
Begin with the current Space Marine starter or Combat Patrol-style box — these sets rotate, so buy what is current — and think of it as your foundation of infantry before the cavalry arrives. Assault Intercessors suit the chapter's love of the charge, and a squad of Intercessors keeps you honest. Then buy the kit that makes it a White Scars army: Outriders. Three Marines on roaring bikes, the modern heirs of the steppe, and the single most chapter-defining unit you can own. A White Scars transfer sheet finishes the look — the lightning-strike icon does a lot of work on white armour.
Second wind
Once the first models are painted — white armour is a skill, and it grows fast with repetition — lean further into speed. A second Outriders squad turns a novelty into a brotherhood. The Invader ATV adds firepower that keeps pace, and a Storm Speeder brings the skimmer-cavalry silhouette the chapter has loved for ten millennia. A Chaplain on bike is a wonderful character piece, leading from the front at full throttle, exactly as the Khan taught. On the rules side, keep it simple: points and datasheets were refreshed for 11th edition, so check the current numbers before building a list, and let the collection outlive any single roster.
The Khan and the great hunt
Your centrepiece question answers itself: Kor'sarro Khan, Master of the Hunt, the chapter's headtaker and its finest single model — all topknot, tulwar and forward motion. Around him, a larger vehicle gives the army its thunder; a gunship or heavy transport painted in white livery reads as the tribe's mobile banner. Whatever you choose, let it look fast even standing still. That is the whole chapter in one sentence.
Purchases to defer
- A third and fourth bike squad before the first is painted; even the wind arrives one gust at a time.
- Slow, footslogging units that fight the army's soul — if it cannot keep up with the Khan, it can wait.
- Fancy basing kits for the whole force on day one; learn your steppe-dust recipe on one squad first.
Count the herd
The tribes of Chogoris knew every horse in the herd by name, and a hunter who loses track of his mounts walks home. Log each kit as it arrives and mark it truthfully — boxed, built, or finished — and you will always know whether your brotherhood is battle-ready or still in the stable. The finished column filling up is the most motivating sight in the hobby, better fuel than any resolution. And when you want the full muster, every unit the White Scars can bring to the hunt, the faction page under Data carries the complete catalogue.