Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 1 of 3

February 19, 2014, 3:05 pm

≫ Next: Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 2 of 3

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Greetings folks, 

Hot on the heels of my articles looking at the new Imperial Armour books is a series looking at the updates for the Badab War books. I will freely discuss points values and anything else as they are found in the free update PDFs on Forgeworlds website HERE and therefore not copyright infringement. Basically, I will divide the articles up into 3 parts. The first will look at the Chapter tactics and characters used by the Loyalists, though some of these will also be covered in the second article along with the SM siege vanguard list. The third will look at the Traitors and the Tyrants legion list. 

Red scorpions

First up are the Red Scorpions who are one of my favourites. The Chapter is described as being fiercely obsessed with purity and the protection of their gene seed. Being of unknown progenitor they boast their own set of Chapter tactics split into two rules. The first is purity above all, which in a nutshell allows your tactical sergeants to take a free narthecium for no points cost. In other words, all your tactical squads get feel no pain for free so long as your (presumably very busy) sergeant is alive. The second rule is fortitude and contempt, which allows you to reroll pinning tests but precludes you from going to ground voluntarily or taking camo cloaks. In summary then, Red Scorpions are nothing remarkable offensively, but are tough cookies to shift thanks to FnP and pinning rerolls.  

Lord High Commander Carab Culln - a Chapter Master in Terminator armour for 215 points sounds a little steep to begin with, but Culln is actually pretty darned good. He packs a master-crafted storm bolter and teleport homer along with his iron halo and orbital bombardment, but there's a lot more to him than that/ Firstly, he is right up there with the other big boys in that he boasts eternal warrior. Second, he has the Master of battle rule, allowing all friendly red scorpions to use his LD for pinning and morale - stacked with Chapter tactics Red Scorpions become even more resiliant. Thirdly, proud to live, proud to die, hard to kill is his Warlord trait and gives +1 to assault results within 12", which increases to +2 if Culln is in a challenge. The flip side is he may not ever use look out sir. Last but by no means least is the blade of the scorpion, which is a beast of a sword. Normally it's just a master crafter power sword, unless Culln chooses to smash with it, which pretty much makes him a monstrous creature for a round, with half the attacks but double the strength, AP2 and rerolls to armour penetration. Overall I really like Culln as a character. He both bolsters and benefits from the armys chapter tactics and is tough and flexible enough to be great in most situations. 

Magister Sevrin Loth - this chap in some ways outshines Tigurius and is decently priced at 175. He has normal Librarian stats except his BS5, and comes equipped with a force axe, bolt pistol and grenades. He also has counter attack in addition to his Chapter tactics. Now for the good stuff. His armour is artificer armour that grants a 2++ invulnerable should you wish to expend a warp charge point at the beginning of your turn! As he is Mastery 3, I can't think of a good reason not to do this every turn. It gets better. He may SELECT his powers from biomancy, telepathy and telekinesis, which makes him one of those rare characters still able to in the game. Although he does seem limited to only being able to select his powers from a single discipline. Lastly, his warlord trait, witch bane, grants you an extra victory point for each psyker character Loth kills. Very situational but handy nonetheless. It should be noted that Loth may also take an honour Gurad squad to accompany him. Again, I like this character and think both he and Culln would be mandatory in a Red Scorpions list. 

Carcharodons 

Also known as Carcharodons Astra (or Space Sharks in low Gothic), these chaps are very likable and would give the Flesh Tearers a run for their money in terms of brutality. Again, they are progenitor unknown and so have their own two chapter tactics rules. The first is reavers of the outer darkness, which grants them fear and allows all tactical squads to exchange their bolter for a CCW for +1pt. The second rule, blood hunger, grants units the rage USR after they have destroyed a unit in an assault or forced it to fall back. They must also consolidate towards the nearest unit they are capable of harming in an assault. Lastly, they may not ally with anything other than Imperial forces and even then as desperate allies. A nice set of rules which favours using them as an assault army with plenty of infantry. With Tyberos (see below) leading them they become even better at what they do.

Tyberos the red wake - Not a very subtle chap, Tyberos fits in nicely with the established modus operandi for the Carcharodons. A Chapter Master in terminator armour, Tyberos lacks any ranged weapons (unless you count an orbital bombardment) and is devoid of both an Iron Halo and Eternal Warrior, so a bit more fragile than the other TA Chapter Masters. He does, however, have hunger and slake, his dual chainblade/lightning claw things, which have different profiles and may have attacks divided between them as you see fit, similar to Logan Grimnars axe. Hunger is effectively a chainfist, while slake is a lightning claw. Note also that he has 5 base attacks. The scent of blood special rule states that should Tyberos become subject to rage (see above), then all the Carcharadons gain +1S for the duration of the game. Nice! His Warlord trait gives him and his unit preferred enemy: infantry and lastly he is also able to take a single terminator assault squad (the red bretheren) all armed with lightning claws as a troops choice.

Howling Griffons

They follow the same chapter tactics as Ultramarines and are known as staunch traditionalists who take their oaths very seriously. (as anyone who has read the Soul Drinkers books will know) Not much else to add so on to their special character:

Chaplain Dreadnought Titus - effectively a Chaplain Dreadnought with a few perks for the mighty price of 215. But is he worth it? He can freely choose between his underslung ranged weapon and either an assault cannon or lascannon with no points difference. As well as the venerable and hatred rules, he also had chapter tactics (unusual for a dreadnought) and can be taken as an HQ/Warlord, in which case his Warlord Trait makes him a scoring unit. (he must be the only HQ in the army though) He also makes all units within 12" fearless. He's a fair chunk more points than a normal Chaplain dreadnought and, while able to score and make things within 12" fearless, I'm not sure he's worth the points as Dreadnoughts tend to die fairly easily due to hull points despite being venerable. He does have his weapon costs taken into account with his points though.

Fire Angels

The fire Angels have strong ties to the Ecclesiarchy and are a rather pious bunch with a lot of armour in the form of rhino variants. They too have Ultramarine chapter tactics.

Captain Tarnus Vale - He is a bit like a Captain version of Sergeant Chronus in that aside from a master crafter chainsword, the only thing he brings to the battle for 165 points is the ability to make tanks a bit better. Master gunner allows any tank he is transported in to benefit from his BS and gain tank hunters. SO only really worth it in a razorback or land raider, although most of those weapons are twin linked anyway and thus benefit less from twin linking. However, all rhinos, razorbacks and land raiders in the army gain a 5++ courtesy of his unstoppable advance rule. He has the storm of fire warlord trait from the SM codex. In conclusion he would be of benefit to a heavily mechanised SM army but he himself is pretty lackluster in all regards when not in a vehicle.

Marines Errant

Despite another nice colour scheme, these chaps are again effectively Ultramarines, though they are fleet based.

Lieutenant Commander Anton Narvaez - despite not quite being one, his profile is the same as a Captain minus one point of weapon skill. (I thought a Chaplain profile would be fitting but never mind) This chap is 155 points and bears a nice title harkening back to the days of Rogue Trader. Some cool rules here. He has an Actinic halo, which has a 3+ invulnerable save. However, every time he fails an Invulnerable save he must roll a D6 - 4+ is OK, 1-3 means it stops working. As well as a power sword, Anton also packs thundershock, a master-crafted Plasma gun. He and his command squad have void hardened armour (only applicable in space missions). The dark void elite rule is interesting as it allows up to D3 units in the army to deep strike using teleporters. Pick from either sternguard, tactical, devastator or Anton and his command squads.They must roll 3 dice and pick the lowest for scatter, though it could be useful to use alongside teleport homers. Lastly, his Warlord trait is rites of war from the SM codex. An OK character with the potential for fun with deep striking for free, though arguably a more costly drop pod assault would be more reliable. Not much to offer that a similarly armed Captain couldn't TBH.

Raptors

The marksmen amongst the Astartes, the Raptors are Raven Guard successors and so share their chapter tactics but with a few differences. They have strike from the shadows and thus can scoutand have stealth in the first turn unless bulky. They also have the legendary marksmen rule which allows any bolter or bolt pistol armed model to forgo movement and normal shooting to make a heavy 1 shot instead that has the rending special rule. Could be nice in certain situations, such as at long range with bolters or with pistols if the enemy is close enough to charge without moving. Much of the time, however, you will want to just use the normal profile. Could be nice to try an infantry heavy force with.

Chapter Master Lias Issodon - His profile is a bit different from a normal chapter master in that his BS is 6 and WS5. He also has one less attack. Costing 175 points, you also get artificer armour, shrouded a power sword and locator beacon. In additon he has malice, a 30" S4AP5 salvo 2/4 weapon, which benefits from the Raptors chapter tactics. Instead of firing like this you may use special issue ammo. He gains the master of ambush warlord trait and has a few other special rules in addition. Cunning strategist allows rerolls to reserve rolls and -1 to your opponnents, while infiltrate, isolate, destroy allows an attack on an enemy unit, vehicle or MC before the game starts. This is either D6+3 AP- wounds or D3 rolls on the haywire table. Issodon is a fun if somewhat expensive character which would grant definite benefits to his unit due to shrouded if you were choosing to play to the Raptors fluff, which I personally would find a challenge.

Exorcists

The Exorcists are an exceptional Chapter in that they are extremely secretive and resistant to the taint of chaos. Also, they are thought to be in league with radical elements of the Inquisition. Unlike the other unknown progenitor chapters in the books, the Exorcists are left purposefully secretive and so you can choose the chapter tactics you want for them from those in the SM codex.

Captain Silas Alberec - he costs 185 points and is the same as a Captain except for having S5. He has an iron halo and teleport homer as well as the hellslayer. This weapon is x2 strength (10!), AP2, unwieldy, concussive, two handed, master crafted and will wound daemons and psykers on a 2+ regardless of toughness. Take that! His warlord trait is implacable discipline which allows friendly units in 12" to roll 3d6 and keep the lowest for morale checks. His hexogrammatic wards give him and his unit a 5+ FnP save against witchfire and close combat attacks from daemons, psykers and marked CSM, as well as giving him a 4+ deny the witch against force weapons attempting to instant death him. Plus his whole detachment can reroll deny the witch rolls. An interesting character which seems more suited to an army of Exorcists than their chapter tactics, a bit like the old chapter tactics rules. He is relatively fragile in combat but if he can survive then Hellslayer is one heck of a weapons, especially against greater daemons and the like.

Star Phantoms

These are the guys who inherited Badab when they kicked Huron's ass. Their chapter favours plasma IIRC and their chapter tactics lean towards massive firepower. Hail of destruction allows you to twin link the following weapon types once per game: heavy, rapid fire, salvo and assault. In addition, they get orbital wave attack which allows deep strikers to reroll 1s. Kind of decent if you are using drop pods and the like and you basically get a mega ultramarine tactical doctrine to rain devastation upon the enemy in one turn. Much more situational than other chapter tactics I think.

Captain Zhrukhal Androcles - This 145 point character is the captain of the 9th devastator company and sports a power fist and combi melta in addition to the regular captain stats and wargear. devastator squads can be taken as both elite and heavy support choices and his warlord trait allows him and his unit to have feel no pain when within 3" of an objective. Rather unremarkable tbh.

That's about it for the first installment, although there are a few interesting tidbits in the update in the form of Chapter tactics from other Imperial Armour books that are mentioned in the PDF. Though not from the Badab war, I thought I should mention them here too.

Red Hunters

Now these chappies are formidable. They worship the Emperor as a God, hunt the traitor Astartes and are second only to the Grey Knights in service to the Inquisition. Pneumonic redaction protocols grants admantium will to the Red Hunters and also allows a number of units equal to the turn being played (once per game only) to gain a single USR. Those on offer are skyfire, interceptor, tank hunters, hatred, counter attack and monster hunter. In addition, Grey Knights and Sororitas are battle brothers (and sisters) if an inquistior is also present. A reasonable set of rules that are quite situational and rely on you weathering the storm in order to make the most of your tactics, assuming there's enough of your army left to benefit.

Angels Revenent

Basically butchered by Necrons in the fall of Orpheus, these chaps are effectively written out of the fluff. They are Ultramarine successors and can either choose to play as UM or the survivors of the massacre. If so, then against necrons they gain hatred and preferred enemy, while against all others the whole army gains fearless upon losing half its number. Great against necrons, lacklustre against all else IMO.

That concludes the first part in the series. The second part will cover the remaining loyalist chapters, special characters and also the Space Marine siege vanguard list, which is compatible with almost all the units in IA2 second edition and so worth knowing a few things about. Cheers. 

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Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 2 of 3

February 22, 2014, 3:28 pm

≫ Next: Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 3 of 3

≪ Previous: Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 1 of 3

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Hello folks,

Here is the second part of my articles looking at the Badab war characters and Chapter tactics. It also covers the siege vanguard army list.

Minotaurs

Another unknown founding, the Minotaurs are a described as brutal and unrelenting and sport a snazzy paintjob too. Their chapter tactics mean they don't have to take break tests from shooting casualties and also ignore pinning tests. They also gain the crusader USR and +1 to charge distances when in the enemy deployment zone. So, not as brutal as Carcharodons but still formiddable in combat. 

Lord Asterion Moloc - one of the few characters to have a model, the Chapter master of the Minotaurs is both awesome to look at and to behold ruleswise. He has terminator armour and a storm shield to go with this Chapter Master stats. Dark fury gives both he and his squad fearless and makes them ignore initiative penalties for charging into terrain (important if they're all terminators). Legendary fighter is his Warlord trait and gains the player 1 extra victory point for each character Moloc slays in a challenge. Sanctioned fratricide means that the minotaurs have Preferred enemy against almost all power armour armies (CSM and GKs excepted) and that they can only be desperate allies with those armies. Lastly, his main weapon, the Black Spear. It is a S6 AP2 melee weapon which can once per game shoot a S8 AP2 12" beam. Pretty decent for 235 points I'd say.   

Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi - another cool model, 145 points buys you regular Chaplain stats with a power fist, auxiliary grenade launcher (not in the codex anymore) and either void hardened armour or a jump pack - no contest really, take the jump pack as it's free. He has the zealot USR and bane of hatred gives he and his squad hatred. For +10 points he can swap the grenade launcher and crozius arcanum for a crozius arkanos, which is pretty nifty in that it's basically a master crafted concussive power sword that can shoot a small S3 AP6 twin linked blast. His Warlord trait means that all enemy units in 12" must use their lowest and not highest leadership values. Similar to other characters we've come across, he is basically the same cost as a normal version of that model and so if you were planning on taking a jump pack chaplain with a power fist anyway you might as well take this guy for the extra rules. If not then you'd probably think twice, thought the model is awesome. 

Fire Hawks

These guys are the suspected predecessors to the Legion of the Damned, having been lost in the warp following the Badab war. Their on wings of fire chapter tactic grants +1 strength to all hand flamer/flamer/heavy flamer weapons on the turn a model enters play by deep strike. Yes, I said hand flamer, which is also added into their ranged wargear for +5 points. Also, hammer of wrath attacks using jump packs are at +1 strength. Which is only useful if you have lots of jump infantry right? Well, their final part of chapter tactics makes all jump pack assault and vanguard troops scoring, which makes them pretty awesome as a fast and furious jump infantry army

Knight-Captain Elam Courbray - 8th company Captain, Courbray only has BS4 and Ld9 compared to normal captains. In return, he gains a point of initiative. He comes in at 185 points and has all the normal wargear a Captain would have save for a jump pack and the sword Excellus, an AP3 specialist weapon with rending, soul blaze and smash, except smash doesn't grant AP2. Martial contempt means he must issue and accept challenges where he can. His Warlord trait is firefall which means he must be placed in reserve and when he deep strikes may place a S5 large blast barrage, which he and his squad may arrive within 6" of without scatter. He seems like a decent character to compliment the Jump pack heavy element of the Fire Hawks, and I6 together with Excellus should make him formidable in combat. A bit pricey though.

Sons of Medusa

 An Iron Hands successor, the Sons follow their chapter tactics.

Vayland Cal - at 225 points he is rather pricey, but for the points is pretty good. He is WS5, BS5, S5, T6, W3, I4, A2, Ld10, Sv2+ and in addition to artificer armour has an iron halo, thunder hammer and servo harness. He has the same rule as a MoTF allowing dreadnoughts to be taken as heavy and elites choices and has the bulky special rule also requiring him to be mounted on a 40mm base. The Iron Thane rule also means a MoTF and/or Chapter Master cannot be taken in the same army. His Angel of death rule gives him and his squad fear and finally purge the weak allows up to 3 devastator squads to be upgraded to T5 for 50 points each. He's an interesting character which should be a combat monster with a 2+/4++ and all those s10 attacks at AP1 (or AP2 concussive). Plus T6 keeps him alive longer. The FOC slot modification for dreadnoughts kind of ruins the points of being able to take lots of super tough devastators though.

Novamarines

Essentially super pious Ultramarines, these chaps follow their chapter tactics.

Captain Mordaci Blaylock - The Stormbreaker is the Captain of the 1st Company and costs 185 points. He is normal Captain stats with terminator armour, an iron halo, a storm bolter and foeripper, a formiddable Sx2, AP2, armourbane, unwieldy, shred master crafted specialist weapon. The Terminator attack rule allows all terminator squads to be used as scoring and denial units. His Warlord trait is champion of humanity and hard as stone means Mordaci and his squad can choose to pass or fail morale checks and cannot be pinned. This is an awesome way to represent any codex chapters 1st company IMO and a pretty solid character all round.
Salamanders 

As the only first founding chapter in the Badab war, they obviously follow the Salamanders Chapter tactics. 

Captain Pellas Mir'San - A normal Captain save for WS7, he is Captain of the second company and costs 150 points. He has artificer armour, a combi flamer, iron halo and Cinder edge, an AP2 master crafted weapon. (as well as a CCW for the extra attack) He has the legendary fighter warlord trait, gaining +1 victory point for each opponent killed in a challenge. Unflinching resolve effectively gives the whole army the chance to pass or fail any morale check and master duellist allows him to either gain an attack or reduce his opponents by -1 against characters. For the points I think he is a great choice and decent addition to any Salamanders army.

Bray'Arth Ashmantle - a beast of a Dreadnought with WS6, BS5, 13/12/10 and 4 hull points and attacks. Strength is 6 and initiative 4. For 265 points you'd expect a lot though. He comes with extra armour and 2 DCCWs each with dreadfire heavy flamers, which may be fired seperately as heavy flamers or combined as a twin linked meltagun (until one or more are destroyed). Wrought by Vulkan makes him invulnerable to melta, lance, rending and armourbane rules as well as reducing entropic strike to a roll of a 6+ not 4+. Plus, any rules to lower his AV for penetration rolls or roll more than one dice (such as ordnance) have no effect. Pretty darn tough so far. Burning wrath is an alternative to one of his close combat attacks which inflicts a S5AP4 hit on all models in base contact. (friend and foe) He is also Venerable and has the engine of destruction warlord trait, meaning he gains +1 victory point for each AV12+ vehicle or independent character he single-handedly kills in close combat. An awesome and hard to kill unit that would be fun at the head of a dreadnought-heavy Salamanders army. 

Master Harath Shen - okay, so he's a bit of an oddity in that he has no entry in the Badab War books nor model, yet was simply a ruleset on Forgeworlds website. He is essentially the chief apothecary and is 135 points. His stats are that of a Librarian/Chaplain and he comes with artificer armour, a power sword, plasma pistol and digital weapons. As master of chiurgery, any unit he joins has FnP 4+. Pride of the chapter allows him to reroll LoS rolls and also gives +1 to assault results for his unit. Lastly, his warlord trait (sacred trust) allows you to also gain a victory point should a friendly space marine unit be destroyed within 6" of him. I like that there is a chief apothecary character available and it's a shame you are limited to Salamanders. Still, could be a fun defensive HQ despite the lack of invulnerable save. 

Siege Asssault Vanguard army list

An alternative build for Space Marine armies, this represents the first strike in a protracted siege scenario and utilises some different units and organisation. Heavy reference is made to Imperial Armour 2 second edition in the list which I have already covered in previous articles. 

FOC - this is slightly different to normal in that there are 2 fast attack slots and 4 heavy support, 1 of which is compulsory.

The Siege objective - not only is the list different to normal but so is the ultimate goal. In addition to the normal objectives, an additional 40mm objective must be placed in your opponents deployment zone. Neither player gains points for it, but unless the space marine siege player controls it at the end of the game (or tables their opponent) they can only achieve a draw at best. Sounds a bit unfair but the list compensates in areas for this. 

Warlord Traits:

1 - Warlords melee weapons gain rending Vs AV targets.

2 - Any blast or barrage weapons fired by troops within 12" of unengaged warlord reroll scatter

3 -  Warlord gains split fire

4 - Warlord and his unit gain rampage if enemy in a building/ruin

5 - In enemy deployment zone, models in 6" of warlord gain hatred

6 - May force reroll game ending roll in variable turn games.

HQ - the normal entries are available except that they may not take bikes. In addition, a Damocles rhino is included as is the main addition, a Siege Master. He is 115 points and has artificer armour and a signum. All other options except a bike are pretty much the same.If he takes a command squad they may take a land raider prometheus as a dedicated transport. Also, he may reroll all reserve rolls while still alive and can grant one of the following rules to an infantry unit: tank hunters, monster hunter, interceptor or furious charge.  

Elites - the following are available - contemptor; mortis contemptor; terminators; assault terminators; sternguard; draednought; venerable dreadnought; centurion devastators; techmarine. None of the units may take drop pods but the dreadnoughts can take Lucius drop pods. 

Dedicated transports - rhino; razorback; land raider (phobos/crusader/redeemer/prometheus) and Lucius drop pods. 

Troops -  there are 4 choices available:

- Tactical squads, with the option for siege mantlets for +50 points - may reroll all failed armour saves but gain bulky, can't run or sweeping advance.

- Centurion assault squads - cannot number more than 50% of the total troops choices. (so 2 tactical squads = 1 centurion squad)

- Siege assault squads are bolt pistol / CCW armed marines with the crusader rule. They can take two special weapons and can be upgraded with combat shields and melta bombs. 

- Finally, there's the siege dreadnought Talon, which consists of 3 dreadnoughts of either Ironclad or siege configuration. They must start the game within 6" of each other but are thereafter free to move independently. Talons are also bound by the same rule as the centurion assault squads in that they may number no more than 50% of the other troop choices in the army. They also gain rage if more than half the dreadnoughts in the army (any type) are destroyed. 

Fast Attack - Assault squad; vanguard squad; stormtalon; stormraven; stormeagle; caestus; fire raptor; Roc stormeagle (if using Minotaurs).

Heavy Support - Land raider proteus; devastators; thunderfire; deathstorm drop pod; tarantula battery; Spartan; relic whirlwind Scorpius; relic Sicaran; rapier battery, Land raider Achilles/Helios;

There are also 3 vehicle squadrons available. The vindicator squadron is simply 1-3 vindicators, the predator squadron the same except one may be upgraded to a deimos predator. Lastly, the artillery squadron is basically 1-3 whirlwinds, any of which may be upgraded to hunters/stalkers/Hyperios. Note, the cost of additional predators appears to be a typo at the older price of 85 not 65. 

Lords of war - a list of Lords of war and which armies can take them is provided and basically covers all the models in Imperial Armour 2 second edition which are Lords of war, Warhound and Reaver titans and Marauder bombers/destroyers.

Conclusion

This concludes my look at the list and the loyalists in the Badab war book. The list is a good bit of fun I'd actually like to give a go sometime in a friendly game just to see how it goes. I've toyed with the idea of modifying one of my armies (Imperial fists seem ideal) to have options to be a siege Vanguard army should they wish but for now proxies will have to do. Next time we will look at the traitor forces and Tyrants legion list. Cheers. 

Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 3 of 3

February 26, 2014, 3:38 pm

≫ Next: Dark Angels commission finished - veterans, command squad, banners and objective markers

≪ Previous: Badab War Chapter tactics and Characters analysis part 2 of 3

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Hi chaps,

Last part of the series looking at the Badab War chapters, characters and army lists. This article focusses on the traitor Chapters and the Tyrants legion army list.

Astral Claws

Masters of rapid assault and encirclement, the Astral Claws prideful fall from grace ultimately led them to become the Red Corsairs. One of their 4 special rules states that they should be represented as Red Corsairs in the post-Badab era, while another states that in the Tyrants legion army list (see below) Chapter tactics: Astral claws should be used to represent SM units. Speaking of which, reckless courage grants stubborn and prevents Astral Claws from voluntarily falling back. Rapid assault and encirclement grants skilled rider to bikes and scout to fast skimmers. An interesting combo of tooled-up fast attack units and solid core troops, the chapter tactics are okay but nothing amazing. We'll look at how they fit in with the Tyrants Legion army list later. 

Chapter Master Lugft Huron - Chapter master stats with a host of wargear and rules for 235 points. His wargear is terminator armour, an iron halo, heavy flamer and the razors, which are effectively an AP2 lightning claw against which invulnerable saves must be rerolled - nasty! His Warlord trait, master of counter assault, means any units entering from reserve gain counter attack til their next turn. When he is removed from play for the first time, on a 2+ he gets up and carries on with one wound. Also, all friendly space marine and Tyrants legion units may use his Ld while he is on the table. Lastly, he gets big guns never tire, which is effectively a better orbital bombardment as it is S10AP1 barrage 5" ordnance 2. Overall I think Huron is a beast, scoring highly in all departments. In melee he can take on most things, he is very survivable and also boasts a nasty one use shooting attack. A good choice for HQ.

Captain Corien Sumatris - Captain stats except only BS4 but WS7. He has a storm shield, digital weapons, a spectre pattern bolter and goldenfang. The spectre pattern is a 12" assault 2 bolt weapon, while goldenfang is a master crafted power sword granting rage. He also has furious charge, the tyrants champion (his squad also get furious charge and units in 12" get +1WS) and his Warlord trait adds 1 victory point per character slain. A reasonable choice for 165 points given his wargear and rules.

Armennus Valthex - for 145 points you get a master of the forge with the usual special rules and artificer armour. In addtion, you get a conversion beamer and the indynabula array, which grants a 5++, counter attack and an AP3 melee specialist weapon. In addition, a single squad may upgrade their bolt weapons to hellfire rounds (including storm bolters) for free! Lastly, any dreadnoughts within 6" of valthex can be denial units. Not a bad choice at all to be honest as the conversion beamer alone makes him dangerous. His warlord trait seems semi-redundant if you want to use him in the back-field for shooting though. I can see his hellfire upgrade being useful on Terminators.

Arch-Centurion Carnak Commodus - For 105 points you get more or less chaplain stats with Ld9, A3 and I5. He packs an Iron halo, Void hardened armour and bloodbiter, which is a S+1 AP5 rending melee weapon. In a Tyrants legion list (see later) a single retaliator squad may be troops if Commodus is HQ. Also, his Warlord trait, cut them down, allows him and his unit to re-roll sweeping advance rolls. A fairly mediocre choice for the points but maybe worth considering in lower points games.

Lamenters

The Lamenters are Blood Angel successors, less marred by the black rage and red thirst but also very unlucky and prone to disaster. They use BA chapter tactics.

Malakim Phoros - although he is master of the Lamenters he only has 3 wounds despite the 175 point price tag. He has an inferno pistol, glaive encarmine, the red thirst, an iron halo and artificer armour as you would expect from a son of Sanguinius. His Glaive is +1S in a turn he charges. He has the zealot rule and rage unto death, which add +1S and +1A to his profile once he has lost a wound. In addition, he will gain rage as will any squad he joins. His Lord of ruin Warlord trait grants any unit within 6" hatred. So basically he's a beast in combat best leading squads from the front and is effective against all but 2+ save armour. Grouping lots of friendly units near him will enhance their performance as will putting him with a decent assault unit once he's wounded.

Mantis Warriors

These chaps are experts in stealth and rapid strikes. Despite being Whitescar successors they boast their own set of chapter tactics. Shadow killers grants all (non bulky) infantry both move through cover and hammer of wrath. In addition, when striking from non-purchases cover they gain furious charge. Children of prophecy grants two rules. Firstly they may reroll to seize the initiative. Second, Librarians may choose from divination rather than the usual SM psychic power choices. An interesting rule set that lends itself to tactical play and could be fun to use. Non-jump assault infantry would seem to benefit from the rules as would CCW/BP scouts. 

Ahazra Redth - The Chief Librarian of the Mantis Warriors is Librarian stats with W3 and I5. He is mastery 2, has a force sword and comes in at 165 points. His Talisman of sundered souls allows him to re-roll his first failed psychic test and also grants a 5++. As well as being able to choose one power from biomancy, telepathy, divination and pyromancy, he also comes with the mirage psychic power, which is a blessing granting the unit shrouded and meaning anyone assaulting them must make a disordered charge. Lastly, his warlord trait grants interceptor and night vision to his unit. Not quite as powerful as comparably priced psykers such as Tigurius and Loth, though the 5++ is a definite perk and Mirage should be very useful.

Executioners

Imperial Fists by bloodline but far from it in action, the Exectutioners are savage and barbaric. They ignore negative Ld modifiers and all characters gain headhunters, meaning all rolls to hit of 6 will inflict instant death should they wound. Also, the highest WS model in a combat must always issue a challenge. The negative Ld modifier doesn't benefit the army that much but the headhunters rule could be decisive when characters are engaged against MCs or Warlords. 

High Chaplain Thulsa Kane - for 190 points you get a captain stat line with zealot, a plasma pistol and rosarius. Lifetaker is a S6 AP2 unwieldy 2-handed melee weapon. Ghrendalins bones is artificer armour granting Kane eternal warrior. The Aenigmata Ferrum means any space marine within 12" of Kane can re-roll 1s to wound when charging. Lastly, his warlord trait means that any Executioners can add +1 to sweeping advances and combat resolution in a turn Kane is in a challenge. He's quite expensive but at the same time rather pimped out and decent when at the centre of a large combat as he bolsters those around him. Worth taking in an assault heavy army (don't forget rolls of 6 to wound with his weapon will grant instant death thanks to Executioner chapter tactics).

Tyrant's Legion army list

The list uses the special rules / chapter tactics covered in the Astral claws section above. 

Wargear

Sub-flak armour - 6+ save

Void hardended armour - reroll saves Vs blasts and templates, 1" less for run, charge, sweeping. 

Lascutter - S9AP2 melee, unwieldy, cumbersome (can only make 1 WS1 attack)

Breacher charge - single attack in assault phase - S8AP2 blast that gets placed in base-to-base with equipped model. If you miss in combat roll a scatter dice and move it there. The wrecker rule means you reroll penetration and add +1 to the damage table vs buildings. 

Combined arms

The list combines elements of both Astartes and human Auxillia which should be obvious from the entries covered in a bit. This is pretty important as they are not your typical SM entries and thus it very much nicely represents a typical type of army you may expect to see in the 40K Universe, effectively a human army led by a few Elite Space Marines. Of course you can always represent this using GW/FW books and the allies matrix, but this allows them to merge more seamlessly, share transports etc. It is also a good way of making a Lost and Damned army list on the cusp of falling to Chaos, which is pretty much where the Astral claws were at. Also, the Astartes HQ characters have the Angel of death rule which means that any Auxilia they lead do not benefit from ATSKNF but at the same time they will not run away with the Auxilia. 

Warlord traits

There are 2 tables, one for centurions and a second for tribunes (games <1500 points)

Centurions

1-2 - warlord causes fear and auxilia units in 12" that fail a check can reroll but take D3 wounds.

3-4 - friendly auxilia units joined auto pass morale checks from shooting

5-6 - master craft one weapon

Tribune/Prefect

1-2 - warlord, his unit and any others within 12" gain +2 to cover saves if go to ground

3-4 - gains counter attack outside own deployment zone

5-6 - one auxilia unit may re-roll armour saves of 1

HQ

- Huron

- Commodus 

- Centurion - A Centurion must be taken as a compulsory choice in games of 1500 or above. He's basically a veteran marine with 2 wounds and has access to melee, pistol and combi weapons.

- Auxilia command squad - basically an Imperial Guard command squad with the option to upgrade the HQ model from a 2 to 3 wound version and also take options such as combat shields. They have a rule allowing all human Auxilia in 18" to use their leadership. 

Elites

- Corpse taker - an apothecary with 2-9 servitors that can take power weapons. Any enemy or friendly space marine (i.e. have ATSKNF) units wiped out within 6" will grant an extra victory point on a roll of 6.

- Marauders - basically veterans humans with WS4 and 2A and a 2-wound sergeant. They have the option  to take up to 2 3-wound brutes, with S/T4 but lower BS (they are bulky and rend). There are special weapon options and the leader has pistol, melee and ++ save options. They may never regroup and can choose from 3 veteran options - outflank, stealth and move through cover; furious charge and crusader; carapace armour and krak grenades.

- Retaliators - veteran space marines with combat shields and void hardened armour - effectively a close combat squad that can take a special weapon and has pistol/melee options for the sergeant. 

Dedicated transports

- Chimera

- Trojan - can grant a single vehicle within 6" preferred enemy. Transports 6 models.

- Lighter - a flyer that can transport 12 models and can take a variety or weapons, but all of them may only fire snap shots all the time. 

- Rhino/razorback

Troops

- Legion space marines - pretty much the same as a normal squad except for every 5 models (20 max) you may equip a variety of special, heavy and melee weapons. 

- Legion Auxilia - 20-40 cheap and cheerful 6+ save conscripts effectively. The prefect (sergeant) keeps them in the fight morale wise even if below 25%

- Auxilia armsmen - more like a normal imperial guard squad that can re-roll 1's to hit while shooting but not charge that turn if they remain stationary. 

Fast Attack

- Legion Iron Hunters - bike squad with counter attack

- Auxilia Hellhounds

- Legion sentry guns - taratulas.

- Maelstrom Lighters - squadron of 1-3 that operate independently

Heavy Support

- Battle tanks - 1-3 leman russ BT / annihilator / exterminator

- Air defence - 1-3 hydras

- Siege defence 1-3 medusas / thunderers / basilisks

- Auxilia fire support - basically heavy weapon squads with a 6+ save

- Maelstrom fleet gunships - 1-3 vultures

- Maelstrom Naval detachment - one choice from either a Lightning, Thunderbolt or Avenger.

- Auxilia heavy ordnance - 1-3 earthshaker or medusa carriages

- Auxilia Rapiers - operated by guardsmen

(Tyrants legion support - may include options from codex SM as long as they don't exceed the number of Tyrants legion HS choices and at least one SM troop choice is taken as above)

There is also a section at the end covering lords of war, which includes Thunderhawks, a Typhon and pretty much all the Imperial Guard Lords of war.

That concludes my look at the Badab war books. I must admit they are interesting and also confusing at times (the Tyrants legion list takes some getting used to) but more Chapter and character options is always a good thing for the game IMO and I'm glad I'm now more familiar with them all. 

Dark Angels commission finished - veterans, command squad, banners and objective markers

March 1, 2014, 12:51 am

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Hi guys,

Although I've been posting quite a few articles of late my actual painting and modelling articles have been few. The reason for this is I have been undertaking a new venture into the world of commission painting. This has been a great opportunity for me for several reasons. Firstly, my client was kind enough to give me creative freedom for the project and so I have been able to use techniques and colour schemes other than that for my own army. Second, I have been able to hone the skills needed for batch painting models when assembling them from scratch - something I rarely do as I usually have mine assembled and sat in box for a while before giving them a decent coat of paint. Lastly, it has given me a much needed cash injection which will, amongst other things, fund an Imperial Knight which I hope to pick up later today and post about.

So what was this commission then? The same client had purchased one of my custom Cyphers and had also ordered an Azrael custom from me. It is no surprise therefore that the commission was Dark Angels based. The brief was for 20 DA veterans, 10 with combi meltas and 10 with combi plasmas. In addition, there was to be a command squad with champion, apothecary, standard bearer and two veterans with storm shields and plasma guns. The standard bearer was to be magnetised to hold any of the 3 sacred standards, which were also included. Lastly, 4 objective markers were scratchbuilt to fit with the army theme.

I'm incredibly pleased with how this project turned out. Not only were the paint jobs of my highest standard but the inclusion of so much freehand on the banners really stands out. The paint job on the command squad was an inverse scheme on the robes and the apothecary and champion had different robes to distinguish them. The objective markers are the real show stealers for me as they were late additons to the project and were so much fun to envisage and build (cheers to Alex for letting me buy some bits from his bitsbox). To manage it all in such a short timeframe (3 weeks) around everything else was also a feat of organisation and dedication. This will be the last commission for a while as I have exams to focus on in the immediate future. Hopefully it won't be my last commission though. If anyone is interested in one please drop me a line. Cheers.

Forgeworld Rapiers - assembly and overall impression

March 4, 2014, 12:41 pm

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Hi folks,

Just a brief post to discuss the Forgeworld rapier, which I ultimately hope to add a squad of to both my Raven Guard infantry force and Pre-heresy Luna Wolves.

The kit itself contains all the parts for a rapier and two operators. If I had to fault the kit then my only complaint would be that you can only get the two mkIII crew members for it and therefore are quite limited as to posability. I will play around with this a bit though and try to come up with some new ones.

The Rapier tracked unit is quite nifty and surprisingly big. As the comparison shows, the base is significantly bigger than the original rapier unit and actually, despite aesthetic differences, is pretty much the same size as the thunderfires base.

Remember when I said I wanted two units, one for each army. Well the rapier design actually lends itself pretty well to this idea. You could keep it plainly painted and simply swap crew or, what I think I will do, is mix and match various models for crew and paint the rapier tracked unit for a specific army leaving the turret detachable. This way you can have a unit of heavy bolters and a unit of laser destroyers and freely swap between them.

I think this is a wonderful kit in many ways. The design is nice and fits the Imperial aesthetic, the rules are good and give the SMs access to more artillery and the model itself is straightforward enough to assemble. As mentioned, my only complaint is the lack of more varied crew but a skilled converter should be able to solve that issue.

Cheers.

The golden age of 40k may be here

March 9, 2014, 3:28 pm

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Hi folks,

Thought I would speak out on current events. I often refer to the possibility of being on the verge of a 'golden age' of GW. What exactly do I mean by this? Well, for starters let's look back at what we've had for the past few decades in terms of 40k. 

The Past

It started off with Rogue Trader, a very complex and loosely-strung together set of rules and mostly metal models which, if we're being honest, were rather average when you compare them to modern day creations. Then we moved along to 2nd edition (where I first played and collected) which took things up a notch. Factions were each given a codex, which contained all the rules for that army, although a set of core rulebooks in the starter set and the occasional WD rule entry were also seen. Plastic and metal kits of higher quality began to emerge and most armies had precedents set which would continue for the next few decades. 

Then came 3rd and 4th editions, which sadly I missed out on. From what I understand, the concept of additional smaller rulesets to be used in addition to the main books were experimented with and ultimately dropped to streamline things. More and more plastic kits, many of which are still around today, came into existence and several new factions entered the eternal war. Not to mention forgeworld, who began producing specialist models. Did I forget to mention apocalypse, introduced towards the end of 4th edition and allowing war was war machines on an unprecedented scale. 5th Edition cranked things up a notch. A better starter set, streamlined rules and factions getting whole new model ranges (dark eldar and necrons) to replace the old were but a few of the perks. In addition to whole new model ranges, all the codexes were brought up to speed so they were in the same format. 

The Present

So where do we stand currently with 40K now 6th edition has been around for a while? Well, we have a comprehensive range of hobby supplies, with a better range and system of paints that I suspect will be here to stay a while. Even the trusty White Dwarf has has a reboot. I have to admit that although Visions has yet to grow on me WD weekly is a great little magazine. While we're speaking of publications, 6th edition has seen GW producing digital products ranging from codexes to simple munitorum articles. For many the advent of auto-updating digital rulesets is a dream come true. For those who prefer the traditional paper 6th edition has been a treat too - hardback full colour codexes and also supplements for the parent codexes, allowing the die-hard fans to further flesh out their armies. It now appears that the supplements are being released on par with their digital counterparts too. 

Onto the models then. Well, they're getting bigger and better all the time, and although GW seems to have eased off on the annual price hikes it does seem they've more than compensated with some questionable pricing of new kits. However, it does seem just when you thought they've done something crazy (such as the Riptide) they go and top it again (Wrathknight) and again (Lord of Skulls) and again (Imperial Knight). While on the topic of the Imperial Knight, this has shown us that they are happy to be even more bold in their direction, creating a whole codex (not a supplement) for just the one model. Finecast has made metal a thing of the past and I suspect that plastic kits and the rumours of all resin production (for special characters etc) going to forgeworld may be correct. With every one of the very frequently codex releases being accompanied by more or less all the outstanding units (and adding new ones), the model ranges are now very comprehensive. Plus, as we are now starting to see, weekly release schedules allow for any old models to be updated almost on a whim. 

As a game system 6th Edition has introduced a whole new concept of allies which allows both the use and collection of other armies to go with your parent army, but also gives GW a sales boost and opens the competitive scene for some abuse too. Speaking of adding things into armies, 6th edition allowed the use of fortifications (and later introduced stronghold assault) and, most controversially, escalation allowed lords of war to be taken in regular 40k. I shouldn;t neglect to mention flyers and the impact they;ve had on the game. Speaking of which, Forgeworld shouldn't be forgotten as now their models are also clarified as being offiical for 40k. Around the same time as 6th came out Forgeworld also brought us the pleasure of the Horus Heresy books and models, finally allowing us to play 30k, Primarchs and all. 

The Future

Leading me to here. Well, if you had said to anyone 10 years ago that this is what 40k would be like then they would possibly have laughed it off. I truly believe that GW has hit full stride now and we will see the following come to pass in the next few years. 

Codexes - all will be updated to 6th edition standard and we will see others come to pass as being official. Knights are but the first.  The latest Imperial Guard (sorry, Militarum Astra) rumours show a codex release for stormtroopers - not a supplement, a full on codex, meaning they can be taken with any Imperial army as allies. If this much is true, I can't believe that both sisters and the mechanicum won't get books and models in the near future. 

Supplements - not quite the same as codexes as they still need the parent dex to play, I fully expect all the traitor and loyalist legions/chapters of legend to be fleshed out, as well as eldar crafworlds and other supplements. These will almost certainly be released alongside models in the near future to aid sales. 

30k - will continue to see nice black book releases and all the Legions and Primarchs (plus custodes, mechanicum etc) will be represented. 

Models - we are at a stage now where so many of the armies have complete ranges it's getting hard to predict what will be released when. There are many finecast and old plastics in the CSM, CD, tyranid and ork ranges that I dare say will be replaced over the next couple of years. I also predict we will see more escalation/apoc scale releases, Imperial knight variants (forgeworld), offshoots of main armies (Arbites, Eldar exodites) and a redone range for sisters. However, while there are still new models to be made and older ones to update I doubt the fabled plastic thunderhawk will emerge. 

7th Edition - some rumours say it will be here as early as May. Who knows in such uncertain times. I can only hope that the main purpose of it is not to rewrite what, on the surface, seems to be a perfectly good ruleset. Rather, that it tries to address some of the smaller balance issues that exist and that are simultaneously making some units undesirable and others auto-includes. 

Conclusion

So, as to this golden age of 40K. Will it ever emerge? I would argue it already has crept up on us unawares. All of things that fans have cried out for seem to have come to pass in the last 18 months. Digital editions, more frequent updates for codexes, model releases for all armies, allies, terrain, Horus Heresy models and rules, flyers, bigger models, collectors editions, new factions etc etc etc. The list goes on and on. This has much more the feel of the 2nd Edition I knew and loved, where new and wonderful things are being released all the time and that the codex is not a constraint to your army seeing as dataslates, formations and allies allow you to breathe fresh life into it well past its release date. Yes, I would argue that with weekly leaks and discussion points now, 40k has become interesting again. 

With Imperial Knights now entering the fray and the release schedule proceeding at such a hectic pace it does seem that one can get a little left behind with everything. Being able to grab and paint the latest purchase before the next is out is nigh on unachievable now, as is adjusting to a new meta before the next codex or randomly released unit comes along and throws it into disarray. Is this a good thing for the hobby? On the surface I would argue yes, but does it also leave GW overextending itself and fans being left behind and frustrated. Time will tell, but for now let's enjoy what the golden age has to offer before the age of srife descends. 

Luna Wolves - Garviel Loken and Rapiers battery finished

March 13, 2014, 4:56 am

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Finally finished working on these guys. I am at the moment trying to finally get my Luna wolves on track, and I'd say they're 2/3 of the way there. The Rapiers are a fantastic addition to any Space Marine army and a lovely update of the classic model. Currently I plan on using them as both Luna Wolves and Raven Guard hence the neutral markings and colour scheme, although there's little room for Legion/Chapter colours except maybe on the front armour. The turrets are detachable though, so if I were ever to invest in 3 heavy bolter carriages there's certainly potential to use 3 track units per army repainted in the appropriate colours and keep the guns neutral so they can be interchanged.

Now for the main event - Captain Garviel Loken. I fell in love with this character as soon as I first read the Horus Heresy books. When I decided to build a Ullanor-era Luna Wolves army based on the False Gods artwork, it was always going to be led by Loken. The advent of FW armour marks, Legion rules and both a model and rules for Loken have made this a much easier task. Aside from the head, I think the Loken model is fantastic and it was a fairly simple task to remove the Sons of Horus icons in order to make way for the Luna Wolves Legion insignia. I based him with white spray and then gave him a layer of ulthuan grey, some nuln oil for the recesses and ceramite white highlights. I also had a play with the new technical paints, giving him Typhus corrosion weathering and BftBG gore. (plus some Mechanicus standard grey paint chips and Ryza rust on the base. Very pleased with how he turned out and looking forward to a mini-Ullanor with Alex this Summer once the Orks get an update. Cheers.  

Sicaran battle Tank - impressions and magnetising

March 20, 2014, 3:35 am

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Hi guys,

One of the fruits of my recent commission labours is this Sicaran battle tank. I fell in love with the model as soon as I saw it and the rules are fittingly brutal given its predator (no pun intended) nature. The accelerator autocannon makes it deadly and even suitable vs airborne targets. As my whitescars only has one form of AA and the Sicaran is a fast tank, it made sense for them to inherit it.

Assembling the main hull was relatively easy due to the quality of the cast and the fact it only came in 6 pieces. The guns were similarly easy but came in a lot more pieces. I sprayed it white and am now in the process of adding darker details, shading and ultimately weathering. Overall a quality kit that I would recommend to everyone.

As with most of my tank I magnetised the Sicaran also. The turret was done as an afterthought and involved cutting up an old vallejo paint pot and putting it upside down in the turret before adding a large magnet (see scale picture) to the upturned pot and the underside of the turret.

I also added the same magnets to the sponson mounts making it easier to represent a bare-bones or damaged sicaran.

The sponson guns were a bit trickier as they are rather complex. I started by cutting off all the attachment points from the underneath cables and the targetters as these would be either glued or replaced by magnets. Widening the holes in both the guns and the mounts slightly with a hobby drill, I added medium magnets which fit snugly in each. This allowed the guns to be interchanged freely. Now that the magnets on the mounts were in place, I glued the targetter to the top. This means it cannot be rotated freely with the guns but something had to give.

To attach the cables to the bottom, I simply drilled a magnet into the centre which was then the right polarity to attach to the magnet already in the mount. The other end of the cable pops snugly into the hole without the need for a magnet.

Lastly, the lascannons have a second cable which needs freedom of movement from rotation of the gun and also is at 90 degrees from the other cable. I simply popped a small rod magnet into the mount and square fixing of the cable and let the other end just sit in place in the other cable mount, therefore allowing it freedom of movement.

These things might sound like nonsense but should make sense with the pictures and model in front of you. CHeers.

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Who were the most tragic / evil of the traitor Primarchs?

March 26, 2014, 2:17 pm

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As I'm re-reading Angel Exterminatus at the moment, which contrasts two very different Primarchs, I got to thinking as to which of the traitor Primarchs were truly evil from the outset and which were victims of circumstance and character flaws. The Horus Heresy has fleshed most of these out to some extent making things a bit easier. There may be some spoilers in here so be warned. I will list them here in order of most innocent to most evil. Please feel free to comment or disagree. Cheers.

9. Magnus the Red - undoubtedly one of the good guys who was percsecuted by the Emperor for his continued use of his psychic abilites and ultimately 'killed' by Leman Russ for daring to disobey the edict of Nikea and bring ruin to the Emperors webway plans on Earth. Magnus was a pretty arrogant chap (wouldn't we all be with his powers?) but his actions stemmed from a desire to do good. First trying to better understand chaos, then attempting to save Horus from its clutches and finally trying to warn the Emperor of betrayal. Even when Russ arrives on Prospero and starts razing the city Magnus does not fight back initially. Only when his mortal body is broken and much of his legion dead does he finally begin his true descent into chaos, one that will ultimately lead to him siding with Horus as he approaches Terra. Definitely the most tragic of the Primarchs in my opinion.

8. Alpharius/Omegon - As the series has progressed it becomes clear that there are different agendas amongst the twins - one remaining true to the path of supporting Horus and the other seeking to aid the loyalist side. I found Legion to be one of the more interesting books so far and the choice the Primarchs were given by the Cabal an almost impossible one to rationalise. Basically, they were convinced to either side with the Emperor and let Chaos consume the human race as it did the Eldar before them, or to side with Horus and let Chaos burn itself out ultimately saving the Galaxy. Not the easiest of choices to make but ultimately they decide to act for the greater good and side with Horus. There is no malevolence towards the Emperor and it is simply a choice made to serve a covert agenda for the greater good of mankind. I think this was an interesting twist as it befits the duplicitous nature of the Alpha Legion so well. They are good guys playing bad guys and therefore they come second only to Magnus in this list.

7. Perturabo - I never knew much about Perturabo until I read Angel Exterminatus and thanks to Graham McNeill he has swiftly been elevated to the position of one of my favourites. He's effectively a misunderstood, underestimated chap, who is mostly regarded as a blunt tool to get the job done thanks to his prowess in battle and tactical brilliance. (which incidentally is portrayed as being second to none amongst his brothers) Beneath all of that is a conscientious person and someone who loves nothing more than to create rather than destroy. His love of design and his guilt over the fate of Olympia are testament to this. His legion was abused by the Emperor, being spread throughout the Galaxy and used to garrison worlds of conquest, while his brother Primarachs reaped the glory. This led to Perturabo siding with Horus, but he is far from sold on the idea of treachery. Indeed, he shows contempt for the behaviour of the Emperors Children,  respect for the Loyalist legions and laments for his lost relationship with his father and the oath of loyalty he has broken. Again, he appears a victim of circumstance, perhaps one whose hand was not as forced as Magnus, but far from the outright heretic some of the Primarchs can be claimed to be.

6. Lorgar - Although I must admit I was rooting for Corax to end the whiny little bitch by the end of The first Heretic, there are many tragic components to Lorgars story also. Ultimately manipulated by Kor Phaeron and Erebus, Lorgar initially started out as the most devout of the Emperors sons, bringing whole populations to worship the Emperor as a God (irony). The Emperor chastised and humiliated Lorgar for these acts and cemented the rivalry between the Ultramarines and Word Bearers as a result. In his grief, Lorgar was easily swayed to the ruinous powers in his quest for knowledge and a deity to worship. Though he was the first Primarch to fall to Chaos, I don't believe him to be inherantly evil, just weak and easily swayed. As with Magnus and Horus (and Angron to an extent), it is the Emperors actions that led him down the path to Chaos every bit as much as his own, subsequent actions.

5. Angron - when reading some stories about Angron it is easy to feel sorry for the red angel. He has lived a life of slavery alongside his fellow gladiators, only to be ripped away from them by the Emperor at the moment their rebellion reached its pique. Without Angron the other slaves died and the grief of this irrevocably changes Angron. He never forgives the Emperor for this act, even if the intent were to save his life, and the grief he feels drives him into fits of despair and rage. This in itself would be bad enough, but the butchers nails implanted in his cortex amplify the madness and pain a dozenfold, turning Angron into a crazed beast of a Primarch, both unpredictable and uncompromising. His siding with Horus clearly stems from his distrust of the Emperor, but again I would argue that circumstance and the Emperors poor judgement is more a driving force behind Angrons betrayal that any inherent evil.  

4. Konrad Curze - now I have to admit that I know the least about Curze when compared to the other Primarchs. As far as I can tell thought, Curze, although a murderous psychopath, had a pretty hard time of things. He wasn't raised with any kind of nurturing and was constantly plagued by waking dreams of the worst kind. Despite growing up as a kind of vigilante on Nostromo, his ways soon led to all out terror and murder. He wasn't close to any of his other brothers and so when Nostromo rebelled he reacted in the only way he knew and destroyed it utterly. He is in ways very similar to Angron in that he has had his character and decisions forced upon him rather than choosing it willingly. Despite this he is a psychotic despot and thus has earned a place below some but not all Primarchs in the list.  

3. Horus - it was a toss-up as to whether Horus would make it into the top 3, but then again is is the HORUS heresy after all. Horus was more of the architect of his own downfall. Being supremely ambitious like his father was always going to lead to problems one day. After all, there's only room for one at the top. There's a bit more to it than that though. Horus felt betrayed by his father big time. Being the closest to the big E, Horus felt betrayed at being left to fight the crusade while the Emperor returned to Terra. Despite his ambition, Horus also felt unable to bear the weight of responsibility of the crusade. When the forces of Chaos showed the (ironically accurate) future of mankind worshipping the Emperor as a God and half of the Primarchs alongside him, Horus' dejection and jealousy shifted into overdrive. Overall, his ego was his downfall, but again had the Emperor in his infinite wisdom done things just a little differently it's possible the ego could have been held in check and the heresy averted.  Still, at the end of the day he was the instigator of the Heresy.

2. Mortarion - this is another Primarch I know little about. His final defection to Nurgle may have been an act of desperation once the blight took hold, but his initial defection and outward hostility towards both other Primarchs (Magnus) makes him a pretty bad chap IMO. Besides, who else drinks poison for fun!? It seems that as soon as mention of heresy was made, Mortarion and the Death Guard were quick to join. Although the background I have read is sketchy at best, it seems there are as few redeeming features to Mortarion as there are condemning ones. Compared to his brother primarchs mentioned above, there seems little extraneous force driving his betrayal, and therefore I conclude that he was inherently a treacherous type from the start.

1. Fulgrim - the number one spot is reserved for the pretty boy who seems to have few redeeming features. Vain and arrogant in the extreme, Fulgrim was very quick to turn both to Horus and Chaos. The guy even depossessed himself of a chaos daemon because it wasn't evil enough. He tried to murder his brother Perturabo for his own gain and was the first to kill a brother Primarch, decapitating his once beloved brother Primarch, Ferrus Manus. There was no doubt in my mind when I started writing this article as to who the number one would be and it's Fulgrim every time. Anyone who wants to know why should read both Fulgrim and Angel Exterminatus.

Well it's been fun writing this one. Anyone who disagrees please get the debate going as I dare say there are elements I haven't taken into account. Cheers and hope it's been a decent read. 

Recent commission work - scions and kasrkin

May 4, 2014, 1:43 pm

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Hi folks,

Been quiet of late, my apologies. As well as real world stuff I've been working on several commission projects, one of which is now finished and the second of which should be soon. I thought I would share the finished one with you. They are a group of 8 older Kasrkin models and 5 new Scions who are a command squad. I was given a couple of models to use as a colour scheme guide and basically matched the colour and patterns as best I could  to them. Pretty happy with how they turned out as was my client. Really like the new scions but also this was the first time I had worked with Kasrkin models and I was actually very taken with them also. Cheers.  

7th edition on the horizon - what's to come in the starter set?

May 6, 2014, 9:13 am

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So it's official. May will herald in the release of a new edition of 40k. I will refrain at this point from speculating on rules etc until more is known (which shouldn't take too long with releases lately) and will instead turn my speculating eye to the matter of the inevitable starter set that will replace the soon to be obsolete Dark Vengeance. Who knows whether it will come sooner or later with the way things are at GW lately, but it's almost certain to be with us within the next 4 months. There are a few possibilities that have 

floated around in the past few months so I will look at each in turn. One thing I should mention first though is how impressed I've been with GWs release policy in the past 2 years. They've managed to update the edition, plus supplements, plus over half the armies with full model ranges in that space of time. 2 years from now all armies will be updated and I'm sure we'll have a plastic sisters army plus new factions and loads of supplements. It seems likely that GW are looking to update core rulebooks/starters more frequently to address issues/shake things up while giving the individual army books a longer shelf life. 

1. Necron Vs Blood Angels

This rumour only floated around for a small amount of time and was likely based upon either falsehoods or misinterpretation of what was seen (see below). While it isn't entirely implausible, I think it is the least likely of the options available. 

2. Blood Angels Vs Orks

This, however, I would say is the most likely option. It ticks all the boxes: power armour vs horde, second edition homage, two armies due updates in the immediate future. Blood Angels have a fairly comprehensive model range but then again beauty of the space hulk models made me want to buy the game. I think that awesome models to either start/add to a BA collection, especially if a Codex is released shortly after (with what new units in?) would be the main appeal here. 

Orks, however, are a different story entirely. There are several gaps in need of plugging in the Ork range due mainly to old models and a starter set released shortly after the new Ork Codex release would build enthusiasm (and collections) as well as making people who were borderline on starting an Ork army take the plunge with a cheap way to start a collection. Ard boyz, a plastic warboss in mega armour, a buggy, meganobz etc etc. The possibilities are endless. 

3. Eldar Vs Astra Militarum

The most recent starter set rumours mention these chaps and although there are a few things in favour of this set there are also several which make it unlikely. Eldar were released some time back and both they and AM are what I would consider to be difficult starter armies compared to say space marines. Speaking of which, the lack of power armour is pretty unprecedented with Starter sets.

In it's favour however is the fact that it would allow several old models to be updated and several cool models to be released - this in itself would provide tons of sales of the set. Eldar would benefit from storm guardians, a new warlock model, new jetbikes, some new aspect models (warp spiders with exarch would be great) and perhaps a new Vyper. AM could take the form of plastic Steel legion with enough variety to allow multiple sets to be fielded as an army. For variety, a set of platic rough riders and say a snap fit sentinel would make up the numbers. 

This may sound fairly wishlisty, but I'm mainly going on what makes sense from a production point of view to use the kit to maximise sales and fill gaps in the product range. That way, 18 months later when you decide to release 8th edition, you can discontinue the set and release the same models as individual kits to allow players to continue expanding their new armies. Plus GW will have pretty much made every army comprehensive by then anyway.

4. Something else entirely

It's very possible that anything that has (or hasn't really) been seen at this stage is totally unrelated to the starter set and thus we really have no ideas about what will be included. There are a few things to consider here I think. Firstly, it will possibly be linked to the next few armies to be released, as Dark Vengeance was. Secondly, the kit may include models that are currently not produced or are severely outdated, such as many of the chaos elements in Dark vengeance. Thirdly, there will likely be a strong narrative to the set and there may be clues in the new rulebook background section as there were with DarkVengeance.  

5. (my own personal wildcard) Armageddon. 

This theory is part wishlisting, part reading between lines and part sensible. An armageddon themed starter with an Ork horde Vs a small Blood Angel contingent backed by Steel Legion would make for a great set with a good mixture of stats, variety and models. It would introduce more armies and the allies concept to new starters and thus would make good business sense too. 

Well, that's my rambling out of the way once more. Good thing is that with GWs manic release schedule we likely won't have to wait long to find out. Cheers. 

40k release predictions for the next year

May 12, 2014, 12:29 am

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Hi folks,

Recent rumours regarding the starter set for 7th edition got me thinking about what to expect from GW over the next 12-18 months. I'm sure there'll be a few surprises thrown in there that no-one could have predicted without covering every single eventuality, but for the most part we can take educated guesses at what we'll see. Here I'll go over what I think we may be in for:

7th edition box set - a few whispers are going around about this one and I think that the Orks Vs Blood Angels one is pretty much on the money. With points ratios similar to that seen in Dark Vengeance and a Ltd edition special figure to flog I can't see the predictions on posted on Faeit212 being that far from the mark.  

Scenery - we are bound to get more scenery at some point - whether it comes in the form of yet more imperial models, a scenery upgrade set for the new starter or finally some xenos scenery, who knows.

Supplements - keep them coming as we haven't had one since crimson slaughter.

Codex model releases - generally these will be of the same calibre we have seen of late with 3-4 new kits spread out over the month alongside a new book. None of the updates will be groundbreaking I doubt, just mostly updating kits with a few new units thrown in as multibuilds. This will help to get all armies up to the same point some 18 months from now with 7th edition tailored rules, comprehensive model ranges and hardback books.

Orks - hopefully some decent plastic character clam-packs, meganobz, buggies, deffkoptas and new infantry.

Blood Angels - pretty comprehensive range, so I'd predict updates to some generic marine kits (assault squad, predator) as well as a new infantry kit (honour guard?) and perhaps a new flyer to reassert their dominance of the skies.

Space Wolves - again, a pretty comprehensive range and thus aside from a unique flyer and some character clampacks (wolf/rune priests) I'd expect a new infantry unit of some sort.

Dark Eldar - missing a few special character, perhaps some will be given the plastic treatment (or dropped altogether?) but I can't see them being released in finecast after recent releases. The voidraven needs a kit although beastmasters, incubi and the archons court will likely remain finecast for now. More likely is that the coven units will get the plastic treatment, with haemunculi, wracks and grotesques getting multi-build kits in a similar fashion to how the eldar release focussed on wraith units.

Necrons - These chaps have one of the most up to date and comprehensive model ranges of all the armies and so I see them getting either new units or updates/multi-builds of the oldest models i.e. the ones with green rods included. A big kit would also be welcomed.

Grey Knights - A tricky release as the model range is well represented by a few recent sets. It wouldn't surprise me if these chaps simply got an updated book with a relatively minimal model release, perhaps paired with other army models or an update of say the razorback kit.

Sororitas - I would be quite frankly stunned if these gals didn't get a comprehensive model range and paper codex, but suspect it won't be until the rest of the army books have seen an update. These kits would sell like hot cakes and would herald in a major release over a month or two.

Models for already updated armies:

Space marines - a few older kits are more likely to see updates via the specialised chapters which share the kits.

Dark Angels - not needed, aside from the older kits shared with all marines.

Eldar - plastic aspect warriors would be great!

Tau - a few finecast models remain but other than that all is fairly up to date.

Chaos Space marines - marines, havocs, obliterators, chosen and cult marines all eagerly anticipate an update, plus cultists.

Chaos Daemons - plastic greater daemons and beasts.

Astra Militarum - a new regiment would be ace, plus rough riders.

Tyranids - some older kits would benefit from recuts and thropes/vores need to lose the finecast.

Dark Angels Fire Raptor commission finished

May 30, 2014, 9:01 am

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Hi folks,

Been a busy few weeks what with 7th edition being released. So far I've only had one game but found it highly enjoyable - mechanics such as the new psychic phase and the Maelstrom of war missions add a lot more depth to the game IMO. 

One of the main hobby projects I've been working on lately (as well as assembling Astra Militarum and Inquisiton as well as prepping my Blog Wars 7 army) is a commission for a client whom I've previously done some work for. This particular model was a bit more of a challenge as, unlike my previous commissions, it wasn't a character or squad, but rather a vehicle. 

Assembling the Fire Raptor literally took hours by the time all the resin has been washed and trimmed. BEWARE anyone assembling one themselves, do not glue the cradle loop to the cradle for the gun pods - the instructions are very vague on this point and it will cause a nightmare for you (as it did me) if you glue them in place. I also magnetised the gun pod weapons.

As for painting I went with a classic Dark Angels scheme with a few logos and freehand added here and there. I went for opaque cockpit to give a nice contrast to the rest of the model. The hardest part was getting the green wash correct as I found it pooled and streaked unlike on the smaller models (tips anyone?) As a finishing touch I used a flying base in the same scheme as my own Dark Angels and those I have previously made for the client. 

Overall it took about 20 hours beginning to end and I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope my client is also pleased with the results as I am hoping to take on two more large vehicle projects for him in the near future. I also one day hope to have a Raptor of my own as it's an amazing model and looks by far the best Space Marine Flyer. Cheers.

Blog Wars 7 army painting countdown

May 31, 2014, 4:00 am

≫ Next: Recent hobby progress - Iron Hands and Knight commission

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Hi folks,

It's nearly that time of the (half) year again when Blog wars is upon us. It wasn't until a month ago whether or not I knew that exam results would allow me to attend but as soon as I got the green light I knew what I would be taking - Iron Hands.

My reasoning behind this was as follows. I took Eldar to the last Blog Wars partly because I wanted to try something different and partly because I wanted to paint some unique and lovely models rather than more power armour. This time around, however, I have a very different perspective in that between exams and commission work I have left myself very little time to get an army up to scratch. The fact that the Iron Hands are one of my most complete Space Marine armies and that black can be painted relatively fast made them a no brainer. I'd rather have taken Whitescars or Black Templars, but given the time frame there was no was that was going to happen. 

So I put together an army list that would be fluffy and would rely heavily on models I had already complete while allowing me to paint up some new ones. Here's what I'm taking:

Now, there's a slight issue with Blog Wars in that it requires each army to take a special character. The obvious problem here being that while Games Workshop finally ordained to give Iron Hands some love this edition, they still neglected to give them a special character. Not even in the Raukaan supplement! FM would be displeased. After speaking with Alex the TO it was decided that rather than having to demote Iron Hands to allies and take a primary with an SC or having yet another coteaz on the field, it would be fine to make an exception in this case and take a normal character who was sufficiently expensive and fluffily equipped. 

Now the list contains my existing 2 tactical squads in rhinos as well as 5 assault terminators in a land raider. The new additions are an extra biker, a techmarine on bike, a hunter for anti-air, two venerable dreadnoughts and, last but not least, my converted Chapter Master. He's a brute of an Astartes, more machine than man and effectively built into his tracked carriage. (kind of reminds me or mutoid man from smash TV if anyone's old enough to remember that game) Anyway, a few things to paint over the next week then but far from an impossible task. Here are some shots of the army as it stands:

Recent hobby progress - Iron Hands and Knight commission

June 8, 2014, 10:18 am

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Hi chaps,

Only been able to spend and ever-dwindling small amount of time on hobby stuff this past week. in the immediate future we have Blog Wars 7 coming up in less than a week and so I am chipping away at the new additions to my army. They're all in various stages of completion with the venerable dreadnought probably needing the most time spent on it. I'm confident that I can get it done over the next 5 days with a decent level of commitment though. 

The other project I have been busy with is half of a commission project to build two Imperial Knights in service to the Dark Angels. They are to be named Lion and Luther and I've decided to make them unified with a common colour scheme of chrome and green with the Lion sporting accents of bone and gold trim while Luthor sports black and red. Once Blog wars is done I hope to have the Lion completed in a couple of weeks. Luthor I will start in mid-July aiming for an end of July finish. They will both be magnetised for weapons and have DA brass etch on the armour. 

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Blog Wars 7 aftermath - a minor victory for the Iron Hands

June 15, 2014, 4:22 am

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Hi folks,

Yesterday marked the 7th installment of Blog Wars, which was as enjoyable as ever. The venue staff were friendly as always and the food was a notch better this time around IMO. It was great to catch up with some of the veterans of previous events as well as meet some new faces. Matt came in second place this time around with his best BW performance to date. Although I was late to put my army out for the painting comp (and then forgot to put my player number next to them for voting) I was thrilled to be granted best special character when the awards were announced at the end of the day. (see pics below) This particular chap was a labour of love to convert and so I'm glad other people liked the end result. The painting competition was replete with the usual high standard armies, my personal favourites being Dave Weston's Tyranids, Hendrik's Eldar (from Den of Imagination) and the ultimate winner: Chris Benstead's Iron Warriors. Gaming-wise I had a hit and miss day:

Game one - I drew Ken's Tau army (someone who like myself could appreciate the pain of line highlighting his army) for the first game and we were playing lengthways down the board - possibly the worst draw my army could have got in fairness. However, my opponent was a great chap and, through great fortune on my part (and much misfortune on his) the dice Gods allowed my army to churn full-pelt upfield for two turns and emerge relatively unscathed. My chapter master was in no small part responsible for this, taking a huge volume of fire and protecting the rest of the army while only losing a single wound. However, after getting bogged down by some Kroot my implacable advance then creaked to a halt and I was gradually whittled down through volume of fire and loss of mobility. A decent performance despite being at a disadvantage from the start, but still a loss.

Game two - this time we were playing the Emperor's relic diagonally. My opponent, another great chap called Michael, had a Blood Angels army sporting a particularly nice Scibor 'Sanguinius' counting as Mephiston. I had a better time of things this time around to the point that it was a bit one-sided in my favour for most of the battle. Still, some clever tactical play from Michael made it difficult for me to achieve both deployment zone objectives (and he got a spot prize for our HQ challenege face-off), making for some drama towards the conclusion. This was my only win of the day and, despite feeling bad for Michael as he had some poor luck with the old dice, I felt that I remembered to do everything and played pretty well tactically and so was happy with the result.

Game three - my last game was ironically Vs Iron Hands (plus some dirty Tau allies) playing the control freak mission, which meant you scored points every player turn for being on objectives. Chris was a great chap and it was nice to chat Iron Hands stuff with him throughout the game. It went pretty badly for me from the beginning, mainly through going second and going up against a power list with minmaxed grav marine squads and a grav centurion deathstar led by chapter master and Tau commander (hit and run/ignores cover). I lost my chapter master and most of my bikes/tanks in the opening salvo which was pretty much unrecoverable. The Last volley from the deathstar (minus one centurion) did no less than 13 glancing hits to my as of then unscathed land raider!!! I clung on til turn 5 with a single attack bike remaining. Not a very fun game in that respect but it was more down to mismatched armies than anything else

That's it for another 6 months then. The Iron Hands are being retired from blog wars with a best painted army and best painted special character under their belt. I'm not sure which army to take next time around but rest assured it will be space marines. The iron Hands have a few models that still need painting, namely a third dreadnought, some techmarines and some honour guard. One day I would love to expand them to include some command bikers, an Iron father, a drop pod and a stormtalon, but we'll see. In the meantime here are some army shots and the new additions:

Captain Alessio Cortez

June 16, 2014, 12:07 pm

≫ Next: Thoughts on new release and codex format plus tactical objectives

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Hi folks,

Just a wee update. Got ahold of the limited Space Marine Captains when the new website went live and have turned them into a Crimson Fist and Ultramarine respectively. In the case of the Crimson Fist I thought he would make a great modern take on Captain Cortez: Kantor's right hand man who was MIA sometime after the Rynn's World incident. He's notable for having broken just about every bone in his body and being a pretty crazy bugger. Anyway, here he is:

Thoughts on new release and codex format plus tactical objectives

July 18, 2014, 5:52 am

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Hi folks,

I'm back from a few weeks away and thought I would scribble some random musings down.

New Codex format

Having now looked through the Ork codex I thought I would talk a bit about the changes (on the inside at least) that we have seen with the first of the 7th edition codexes. I am glad they didn't change the outside appearance  general look of the books as they have been one of the highlights of 6th edition. It now seems that the entire first half of the book is given over to background and fluff, which is a good thing IMO. We then skip straight past what used to be the bestiary section and get into a colour photo section. This is shorter and different to before and more or less showcases a single collection of Orks in the same style as Warhammer visions tends to.

The next section begins much as the old army list used to with a how to use and armoury page before launching into the new datasheets. These are effectively 1 page each (made possible by the 6th ed reversion to the armoury) which combine a picture of the model (no more art), a much more brief description and then the stats, options, special rules and points costs for the unit below. I wasn't sure if I'd like this to be honest but, once you get used to the idea, it actually makes a lot more sense and removes the repetition and page flicking of the older books. It's pretty much clear now though that if a unit doesn't have a model it will be getting one or be getting axed (including special characters) from the codex release. Fine for necrons, but maybe dark eldar should be worried.

Lastly is the appendix section, which contains all the stuff which used to be earlier in the book, such as psychic powers, army special rules, wargear and weapons. Again, it makes more sense to have this handily at the back next to the fold out summary sheet and so I approve of the changes, I should backtrack a bit and also mention that the datasheets now include lords of war and formations, bringing a sense of unity to the new, broader scale of 40k gaming. Added to this there is a special Ork detachment and missions, which spell things to come for other armies also.

In conclusion I heartily approve of the changes here and, although some of the 6th ed books might seem outdated by this move, the amount of downloadable content and WD weekly content thesedays is a sure to keep armies relatively up to speed before they get their own book. GW may be charging the earth for things but it does come across as a slick and quality operation that has a clear vision of where it wants to go with thins and is determined to drag us all, kicking and screaming if necessary, along for the ride.

Stormclaw and future releases

New release formats

Now these ideas have got me excited. Not only is Dark vengeance returning to be the standard, background starter set with minirules included, but Stormclaw and indeed some other recent sets have shown a good change in direction from GW. The £55-75 army boxes seem to be being phased out and gradually replaced with a multitude of themed sets, some of which are limited run, others which aren't. The stormwing and accompanying eldar/tau sets actually offered great savings if you wanted everything inside - if not then just ebay the rest! Strike force Ultra seemed to be a gimmick to launch the rules with and also used the terminator captain (selling for upward of £60 on ebay!) to sweeten the already good deal.

Now though, Stormclaw has set a new precedent, which I hope is set to continue. So, GW aim to release a 3 parts campaign. Part 1 coincides with the release of codex A and it's model wave, which happens to be one of the factions in the campaign. Part two is then packaged up in a limited run boxed set containing older models from codex A and B along with a special character each, all for a bargain discount. Part 3 of the campaign accompanies the release of codex B and its model wave. Sounds like a great strategy to me. Seeing as the Imperial codexes are pretty much 1:1 with non-imperials it seems they can continue this trend as long as they wish. Blood Angels Vs Necrons, Dark Eldar Vs Sororitas, then finish up the Codex updating with Grey Knights Vs CSM and we're back to the beginning again. Fingers crossed this trend continues as I think it's a great way to both increase hype, release new campaigns, limited models and offer some discount to existing players. 

Maelstrom of war

Just as a quick footnote I wanted to mention that the few and only games of 7th I've played have been Maelstrom of war missions and I've loved them. They add such a great dynamic to play and the fact that each army may well be getting a few specific objectives of its own is great too. It encourages much more tactical play than the standard missions IMO and you need to be forever on your toes as you don't know what you or your opponent are going to be aiming for next turn. If you haven't played them yet I highly recommend it. Cheers.

Yet another shameless plug - Ebay auctions ending this weekend

July 24, 2014, 5:29 am

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Hi folks,

Jumping on the same bandwagon as Alex (fromthefang) I thought I would get in some cheeky advertising for my auctions on EBay ending this weekend. I ship worldwide and am mostly selling stormclaw and other new on sprue space marine bits. Easier to check them out HERE than listing them. Cheers.

New Space Wolf codex thoughts.

August 15, 2014, 8:35 am

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Hi folks,

A bit late to the party here but things have been busy of late. I thought before Grey Knights hit the scene I would offer some thoughts on the new Space Wolves release. In a few weeks I'll put up a post with my Space Wolf army once I've added a few of the new releases to the roster. For a much better rundown on the Space Wolf release see my Friend Alex's blog HERE and to see the Dark Angels Imperial Knights I've been working on see my other blog HERE. 

The release

Overall I'm happy with this release. It seems to tick many boxes in one go. The wolves got a much needed dual build flyer unique to them which looks the part, plus a new dreadnought kit which not only gives them their own kit finally but also covers Bjorn and a new character. In with these sets the wolves got some new toys in the form of helfrost weapons and wolf claws. Finally, Logan got a great makeover and a new toy in the form of the chariot which, IMO, is a great addition both rules wise and for the look of the army. In addition to the various codex formats and books we also got some datacards (seems to be the done thing now) and a supplement as well as a few reboxings, such as the long fangs and skyclaws. Overall a solid release and considering the range was already pretty comprehensive the scale was to be expected. 

What we didn't get

There will always be the lamentation over what didn't get a release. No new character or special character models nor a new infantry kit. Some of the models, namely power armour Njal, Ragnar, Ulrik and the Iron Priest are pretty darn old now. To be fair, the paint jobs on the minis help offset their age but it's still a shame they didn't get the Logan treatment. It seems a fair bet that when the next wolf codex or wave of releases comes around, a joint wolf lord/Ragnar kit, Njal/rune priest kit, Ulrik/Wolf priest kit and perhaps generic techmarine and servitor kit with Iron priest head included would be great additions. Still, far from a priority at this stage as GWs policy now seems to be if it doesn't have a model it doesn't get put in the codex, especially as they all have model pics now. An exception to this existed in the form of the Wolf Priest conversion seen both in the book and leaked WD pics, leading to much speculation as to whether a kit would be release. This is quite a unique situation as a model kind of exists in the form of either Ulrik or the ltd GD model, just that GW couldn't really use either of these in the book. I don't think we will see the likes of it happening in any of the other books mind as they've mostly got their existing models in the range covered. 

The Codex

I for one am a fan of the new format. It is more logical and practical and also any additional fluff from the old bestiary entries has now been shunted to the front of the book. Don't get me wrong, I liked the 6th ed format a lot and would be happy with either but I think this format is just a little bit more slick. After all, they are a model company so why not use pictures of your models rather than pay for commission artwork. I especially like that Harald Deathwolfs company gets a lot of attention as it is my company.

The Rules

Firstly, it's sad to see some of the more fun elements of the army gone, especially the wulfen. However, I think all the changes in points and army structure are for the best and have made the army better as a whole. I mean things such as the wolf guard mechanic, the values for grey hunters and blood claws and the like. Helfrost weapons are a nice addition and although the relics are not overwhelming, I think that the Logan Supplement will more than make up for this. The special characters do seem rather special and powerful and I think it's great that both murderfang and Harald got entries. The psychic powers got more balanced (luckily they're here to stay) and incorporating sagas into warlord traits was a good move. Some guys such as the wolf scouts lost out somewhat but it seems that overall there will now be more than just a couple of decent builds for SW armies which is always a good thing.

The models

As I mentioned before, I think that the new Logan model is a great update of an already legendary model. Some people hate the chariot but I think it fits with the SW mentality quite nicely and will give Logan a ludicrous amount of resilience and mobility on the battlefield. The Stormwolf/fang looks like the castard offspring of a stormtalon and Caestus ram but somehow it works nicely. It looks brutal and utilitarian, just like a SW vehicle should be. I didn't even twig with the wolf head silhouette at first which is a nice touch. When I get ahold of one I will try to magnetise it. The dreadnought too is a nice kit with a few new options and variant builds. I especially like the Bjorn hull details and murderfangs claws. The axe and shield combo looks a bit silly and overpowered but at least they're giving unique options to non-codex chapters. 

Conclusion

A solid release in my opinion. With the codexes coming thick and fast at the moment (possibly all updated by the end of this year!) and Grey Knights only a week away, I expect we'll be seeing Blood Angels rather soon and probably with a similar scale of release. Cheers.