Even More Heresy Love

I love Forgeworld. In my wildest dreams I couldn't have expected them to do the Horus Heresy any better than they are currently doing it and with Volume 2: Massacre about to be released they keep releasing great models.

First up are the Ashen Circle. These are a Word Bearers unit that work alongside the Legion's Destroyers. In this case though the target is culture and beliefs.

These guys are brilliant models full of character and menace.

And now the biggies for me. I have been waiting for these models for so long and their release means that my next army is definitely set, if it was ever in doubt.

The first Noise Marines, Emperor's Children Kakophoni. The genesis of these guys was detailed in "Fulgrim" and now we see them in resin.

Their release indicates that "Massacre" will also include at least some new units for the four armies featured in "Betrayal".

Emperor's Children Get More Forgeworld Heresy Love

Forgeworld have announced that they are releasing Palatine Blades for the Third Legion.


A warrior fraternity drawn from the finest swordsmen of the IIIrd Legion, the Palatine Blades existed outside of the rigid formations of the Emperor’s Children. They were a duelling society to whose ranks many aspired, and upon whom Fulgrim himself looked with particular favour. 

The Emperor’s Children Legion Palatine Blade Squad, designed by Steve Whitehead is a multi-part resin kit containing five incredibly detailed Space Marines. These miniatures are also perfect for using as officers and commanders in other squads.

                                    
This continues the fine releases that FW are doing. Excellent stuff again.

The Phoenician - Absolutely Staggering

"The mercurial and prideful Fulgrim, the Phoenician, strove to be a paragon of all things. He passed on his values to his Legion, where they became enshrined as a remorseless dedication to perfection in warfare. Such all-consuming ambition came at the price of vainglory and hubris for both the Emperor’s Children Legion and their master, and they were swiftly ensnared in the Warmaster’s conspiracy. 

Modelled in the thick of bloody combat, his arrogance and condescension given way to fratricidal anger and battle-born wrath, this dynamic miniature showcases the full opulence of Fulgrim’s panoply. The miniature comes supplied in a handsome presentation box, and features a large 60mm scenic base, itself packed with detail, into which a 40mm base sits, allowing for both display and gaming use."

Jack sent me through a "Wow" last night and I went searching on the Forgeworld site. He wasn't wrong. This model has to be one of the best single figures I have seen.

If there was any doubt that Heresy-era Emperor's Children would be my next army, there's not now.



Here is an interview with Simon Egan the sculpter of the piece.

The Horus Heresy Weekender

Last weekend Games Workshop held the second Horus Heresy event where attendees were able to attend seminars given by Forgeworld and Black Library. Obviously the focus was 30k and what we can expect.

Obviously I would have loved to attend but had to make do with the tweets that came from those lucky enough to be there. Chief among these were "After Ulanor" presenter Greg Dann and "Bad Dice Podcast"  HH correspondent Marcus Pitt. They provide dozens of updates and pictures from the event.

One of the key things that came out is that the Forgeworld books will be released as trilogies. We have Book 1: Betrayal (deals with Istvaan III) but we can expect two further books on this part of the Heresy.

The next book is Massacre and deals with the events of the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V. In the book four Legions will be covered - Night Lords and Word Bearers for Horus and Iron Hands and Salamanders for the False Emperor. Also we will see some add-ons to the four Legions already covered in Betrayal.

I'm most excited about the new Emperor's Children units and these guys snapped some pictures of the models.

New Terminator Bodies

The First Noise Marines

The Noise Marines are the ones I've been waiting for and it is an absolute given that I will be doing Emperor's Children in conjunction with my Death Guard. I hope Forgeworld have plenty of resin as these puppies are going to sell by the bucketful (and not just to me).

The third book in this trilogy will deal with the afternath of the Massacre and feature the craven Raven Guard as they cowardly retreat to the hills, Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion.

Obviously there are also Primarchs to be released and the one I am most excited by is the alternative Phoenician model that has emerged.

Perfection Personified - Lord Fulgrim

Heresy Tales - The Legion Tactical Marines

With 31 January rapidly approaching I am starting to receive pictures of the completed squads. I will post them in this thread as they arrive.

1. Alistair Allan - Emperor's Children Loyalists

2. Cody Parlarto - Ultramarines (Painted by Glen Burfield)

3. Christian Pride (Shadowmancer) - Night Lords

4. John Murrie - Word Bearers

5. Charlie St. Clair - Sons of Horus

6. Dave Grieg - World Eaters

7. Pete Dunn - Death Guard

8. Glen Burfield - Raven Guard

Current Roll of Shame

1. Hagen Kerr - Space Wolves
2. Jack Dunn - World Eaters
3. Tim Joss - Imperial Fists
4. Glen Burfield - Raven Guard
5. James Milner - White Scars
6. Sam Whitt - Salamanders
7. Minitrol - Night Lords
8. Leon Colman - Iron Warriors

Review: Horus Heresy Vol. 1 - Betrayal

Yesterday I received my copy of Horus Heresy Volume1: Betrayal from Forgeworld.

It's A Book - But Sooo Much More

I’m sure when it was released a number of people baulked at the price of GBP70.00 plus postage (no, it’s not cheap) so here are my initial thoughts on the book.

First of all the production quality of this tome is light years ahead of any GW printed product I have owned. It is a 289 page leatherbond bound book in full colour. It is between A3 and A4 in size, heavy quality paper all edged in silver. Metal protectors are on the corners of the front cover. No chance of this falling apart.

Angron - More Angry Than Bad!

Second, the contents are staggering. For someone who devours Black Library’s Horus Heresy novels this is THE sourcebook that collects all the information contained in the stories and reproduces it in a “historical” reference work. I have only browsed the contents – not even scratched the surface of the information – but already I’ve learned things about the Unification Wars on Terra that were new to me. There is literally hours and hours of reading here on the general background through the Unification Wars, the Crusade, Elevation of the Warmaster right up to the Betrayal. The development of the Legio Astartes is tracked through this timeline. The book then focuses on events at Isstvaan III and the four Legions involved.

Fulgrim's Finest

Each of the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus, Dusk Raiders/Death Guard, War Hounds/World Eaters and Emperor’s Children get their own section – comprising 15-18 pages. This includes history, personalities as well as full colour art.

The book then contains a general Heresy era Legion list with modifiers for the four Legions at Isstvaan III. There are also new missions included so that you can play specific events that occurred on that planet. These lists and scenarios are written for Warhammer 6th Edition.

Overall, I’m absolutely blown away by what’s included in the book – and the promise of more to come. For someone who was becoming increasingly bleh about 40k, I can see myself using this book to act as the basis for games going forward. Does it mean I’ll build a Heresy army – perhaps. However as the series develops I can see it being used as the basis for my Traitor Legion armies rather than the recently released Codex:CSM.

It Even Covers Mechanicum

I am totally pumped for the next volume “Massacre” which covers the Dropsite on Isstvaan V – and where we start to see the divergence of the Legions in terms of weaponry, allies and some characteristics.

If you are at all interested in the Heresy then this book should be on your Xmas list.

Emperor's Children Frustration

Apart from the absence of Cult Troops outside Noise Marines (thereby unlocking weapon options), the major frustration of EC players who have fought the Long War is twofold:

1. Restriction on Blastmasters

Back in the day (v3.0-v3.5), Noise Marine squads could upgrade one weapon per 6 Noise Marines (remember sacred numbers) to a Blastmaster. This resulted in a typical 6 man squad being a Champ, 4 Sonics and a Blastmaster. This was replicated across the army.

The new rules have one BM once you get to 10 Noise Marines meaning that all those six man squads are now five man squads. When this is coupled with the erradication of Noise Havocs, most long time EC players are now sitting on a swathe of useless blastmaster-totting marines. Frustrating.

"We Should Have Bought Apple Shares"

Quartermaster Alwyk Considers Telling Noise Lord Challis Drant About Losses Suffered As A Result Of The Legion's Investment In Blastmasters.

2. Change to Sonics

Sonics used to be Assault 2 weapons or Heavy 3. This made them extremely mobile and it also supported their Mark Attribute +1 Initiative. With the change to Salvo they are effectively one of the most immobile units in the game with a Mark Attribute entirely at odds with how the rules change will see them used. It doesn't appear as if a lot of thought has gone into this.


For me, it wouldn't have taken much in terms of the new codex to make existing armies more useable. This likely would have driven new Noise Marine sales. As it stands I don't see too many people rushing to build a full Noise Marine army given how it will play.

Frustrating!

Codex: Chaos Space Marines - First Impressions

So I sat down last night and had a good read through the new Chaos codex.

The set up is exactly the same as other recent codexes and army books - fluff, bestilary, hobby list. It is full colour so very pretty with a mix of old art and new art. Don't see any Easter Eggs in the model shots but I'll give it a closer look this weekend.

There is nothing too inspiring in the fluff but that's to be expected given the wealth of Horus Heresy background we now have. It seems they went through with a storyboard and made sure each of the Legions gets a post-Heresy mention in their timeline.

Obviously for most the meat is in the list. For me the list is a conduit to me playing 40k again (forseeable future in meaningful way). Certainly I can make armies from my model collection with the list included. I think it is an improvement on GTBC edition. I suspect the easiest Traitor Legion to make is probably the Iron Warriors and I think that there is considerable opportunity to build a themed list. One thing that has helped this is the move of Dreadnaughts (Hellbrutes) to Elites. This takes some pressure off the Heavy Support that was there in the last codex. The three HS slots are still at a premium with Havocs, Oblits, Daemon Engines, Vindicators and Predators fighting for the three spots.

Death Guard and Emperor's Children are more problematic given the dearth of Cult Troops apart from the Plague Marines and Noise Marines. The second hand market for Blastmasters fell faster than Facebook shares. The Death Guard list is more doable as you don't have the weapons issues that you have with EC.I can muddle through with MoN but I suspect long term it will be as satisfying as 99% Fat Free Milk.

For the Emperor's Children my guess is if I want to play them then I'll steer towards a messy hybrid Chaos with Daemon Allies list (or vice versa). I still hold that a Grey Knights list may still be the best approximation of EC.

Is the book likely to get me playing 40k more regularly? Probably not. It seems to be all a little bit harder and a little bit less satisfying than what I'd want. With limited hobby and playing time I guess I'm selfish enough to resent having to make do. I wanted the Chaos release to really rark me up and enthuse me to going out to play the game again. It hasn't, so far. Still I'm keen to see some 6th Ed games and see if that reignites the flame.

As it stands it's unlikely I buy the electronic version of the codex or any new models. And I'm a little bit sad about that

"We Are His Children"

More Emperor's Children info from the new Codex:

Noise Marines:

4 + Noise Champion: 95 pts
Additional Noise Marines: +17 pts

Wargear:

Power Armor
Bolter
Bolt Pistol
Frag & Krak Grenades
*Any model may take a CCW + 2 pts

Sonic Weapons:

Sonic Blasters: +3 pts
* any model may upgrade their bolter to a Sonic blaster

Doom Siren: +15 pts
* the Noise Champion may take a Doom Siren.

Blastermaster: +30 pts
* if the squad number at least 10 models one may upgrade their bolter to a Blastermaster.

Icon of Excess:

FNP +40 pts

Slaanesh Marked Units:

Chaos Marines 15 pt
Terminators 35 pts
Obliterators 74 pts
Havoks 15 pts

So from this it appears that my Noise Bikers, Noise Havoks and Noise Terminators are out - although the Termies and Havoks can be Mark of Slaanesh (as per GTBC). Obviously I'm going to have a lot of spare Blastmasters.   The question comes as to whether rather than using the Chaos Codex that I may be better using Codex:Grey Knights to construct my EC. Certainly it allows me to create both Noise Terminators and Noise Havoks with Psycannons filling the Blastmaster role and the Sonics reduced to Storm Bolters.   Alternatively I can look at running Noise Marines - dropping the Blastermaster from my 6 man squads - and allying in Daemonettes.   Only 8 days until the book comes out

My 40k Chaos Armies

Starting with my Emperor's Children and Death Guard, it appears that the new 6th Ed codex is broadly in line with the Gav Thorpe's Bastard Child version.

Noise Marines and Plague Marines can be taken as Troops if you take Lucius (EC) or Typhus (DG) or a Marked Lord as your HQ.

Unfortunately it appears that Noise Havoks have gone and there is no capacity for sonic upgrades on anything but Noise Marines. So that Noise Biker squad I have is still a non-starter. However it does appear you can mark Oblits - Mark of nurgle looks a given.

However the saddest thing is that it appears Cult Terminators missed the cut. Yes you can take Marked Termies but that doesn't give you weapon options (EC) or FNP (DG).

Does anybody know anything specific on options around these two armies?

*Insert Sponsor's Name Here*

Over the weekend I managed to get in quite a bit of hobby despite the hand. Warning – this post is going to have more product placement than a reality TV show.


On Friday I put together some of my new Sarissa movement trays until I ran out of steel paper. Jumped onto the Battlefront site and pleased to see you can now source Gale Force Nine hobby products from New Zealand. I ordered three packs. I am hoping they arrive in the next twenty four hours.

As noted, I received my White Dwarf on Saturday and read that through. One thing I noted was that the electronic copy is released the same day as the physical copy (as long as you don’t live in NZ or Finland). It would be very interesting to know what proportion of codexes they sell electronically compared to the physical book.

Saturday afternoon I painted up some Bloodletters for the Daemons. These are the metal axe wielders and I am very happy with the way the new GW painting scheme – Base/Layer/Wash/Layer/Drybrush/Glaze – is working. Certaintly for army painting it provides the necessary depth to give an above average result. If I’m lucky should finish this second dozen this evening.

While I’ve been painting these models and making the trays, I have been listening to the Black Library “The Primarchs” auidobook. This is a series of shorter stories acting as links to the main story line. I’ve got through the first “The Lion” which, while a good story – it features backstory on the Deathguard, reinforces what sanctimonious pricks the loyalist primarchs are. Lion El Johnson wouldn’t be the first bloke I’d invite to a party.

Fulgrim, on the other hand, is “interesting”. That’s “interesting” in the nutty as a fruitcake manner. The book “The Reflection Crack’d” picks up after Istvaan V and provides a travelogue of the Emperor’s Chidren’s descent into madness. Lucius features heavily and is such a spoilt brat that even the rest of his Legion hate him while whole sections of Fulgrim’s troops have gone over to wielding noise weapons. I’m really hoping the Forgeworld “betrayal” book picks this up. It seems that the Emperor’s Children didn’t walk down the road to the Eye of Terror, instead they skipped/cartwheeled/crowd surfed the path.

Finally, I chased down more participants for Skitterleap. It now looks like we’ll get between 25-30 people at the event.

All in all not an unproductive weekend.

Horus Heresy: Betrayal Details

Check out all the details of the new Forgeworld book here

In my mind this is the most exciting release that GW have made in years.

More Horus Heresy "Betrayal" Teasers

Book 1 "Betrayal" contains rules for:

• Sons of Horus/Luna Wolves
• Death Guard
• Emperor's Children
• World Eaters

Each of these Legions (doesn't it sound nice saying "Legion" rather than "Renegade Allsorts") has a unique Special Rule.

Each Legion has unique Elite choice

The HQ options for each Legion have unique Wargear

There are Special Characters for each Legion should you want to use them BUT you don't have to use them to play the Legion.

There are rules for Primarchs but these are for Apocalypse games only.


Guess we can now confirm that Codex: Chaos Space Marines will be a re-hash of Gav Thorpe's previous load of dross.

Istavaan Beckons

The more I read about Forgeworld's venture into the Horus Heresy, the more excited I become. Information emerged at Chicago Games Day that the book will be released at Games Day UK (weekend 15/16 September)....just after  before Codex:CSM.

However the key information is that the book will contain lists for the major protagonists and will be based around "events" in the Heresy. The first book will be focused on the events in the Istavaan system, I'm guessing the dropsite massacre on V and the chem-bombing of III.

Importantly it has been stated that the book is standalone i.e. you won't need another codex to use in associated. Therefore it won't be add-ons to CSM, rather distinct Traitor Legion lists. In this it will follow the precedent set by the Chaos Dwarf list released by Warhammer Forge.

I can see that this is where my 40k gaming will be focussed....lists from a 30k universe.

You've gotta think that this release is a license for FW/GW to print money.

Edit: And there is strong indications that there will be rules and models for Dramatis Personae and models for Primarchs

"A Hero Will Rise"

Every now and then something unexpected comes along and has the potential to satisfy your hobby needs. On Sunday morning I received an email from Forgeworld linking to a teaser for an upcoming release.


Autumn 2012 will see the release of their next book – “The Horus Heresy – Volume One”. Suddenly I don’t have to rely on GW and their Codex: Chaos Allsorts. If that let’s me down – and my assumption is that it will given recent direction – then I can fall back on a book from a time when Chaos = Traitor Legions.

This has me hyped especially because Forgeworld already has the models for Deathguard, Emperor’s Children plus Legion-specific livery.

This is one release I’ll certainly be buying.

Collated Rumours - Codex: Chaos Space Marines

So below are the current "Chaos Codex" rumours from Heresy Online. To me they look like more a wishlist than what I would expect. If they do come to fruition, I'd be very happy:

Legion Specifics


World Eaters (Khorne)

Marked Dreads
Daemon Engines
Khornate characters can nullify psychic abilities aimed at them
Get Bolters
Has to engage in some kind of combat every turn or suffer a random d6 penalty result
Can only have 1 Havoc squad, can take more by "trading in" something else
Having a Khorne Daemon Prince means no Scouts
"Gladiator Themed Unit" Must keep killing in order to stop a timer in their heads from killing them, might be related to the d6 penalty mentioned above

Word Bearers (Chaos Undivided)

Dark Apostles can be split off as squad leaders
Chaplains
Daemonancer (Unit champion)
Summoning Daemons from the Warp, allowed re-rolls to scatter and new mishap chart
Can take Marked units but with restrictions
Turn 1 Daemon Summoning
Can only have 1 Heavy Support choice but get other bonuses to offset this
Possessed as Troops

Dear Games Workshop....Don't Stuff It Up!

I’ve been a bit vocal in the past about the turd that is Gav Thorpe’s Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Last week while eating pizza after Day One of HomeCon I was asked what I wanted to see in the new codex to be released later in the year.


Well first and foremost I don’t really care about playing strength (to a point). For me it can be pitched towards the high end – currently populated by the Grey Knights and Wolves – or the lower end – Tyranids, Sisters and Eldar. What I would hate it to be is at the very apex of the food chain attracting the great unwashed – I like a little bit of exclusivity!

The thing that really matters to me is diversity and the ability to tailor the list to reflect specific Legions. I want to be able to make an Emperor’s Children force, a Deathguard force, an Iron Warriors army etc.

So how would I like to see that achieved?

Given GW’s current Special Character hard-on, I’m guessing it will need to be through named characters for each Legion. I hope that in unlocking certain options e.g. Noise Terminators and Noise Bikers they are restricted to the respective Traitor Legion rather than allowing a continuation of the liquorice allsort pick’n’mix we have now.

In allowing certain units to be unlocked I’d restrict the Legion in its other choices e.g. no Obliterators, raptors, other marked units. For Deathguard a restriction on tracked vehicles. World Eaters armies would have little or no access to long range firepower. Word Bearers would have Cultists and Lesser Daemons. Night Lords would have outflank, option to buy jetpack for CSMs etc.

So much could be done to give the Traitor legions back their flavour without making them over-powered.

Of course GW will blow it big time and like we have Viking Marines, Vampire Marines, Knight Marines, etc we will get Codex: Bad Marines

Finally....A Way Forward

The Necrons are now confirmed and I must say that I do like the new models. However my biggest hope is that the Codex continues at the same power level of the recent books. Given that it is going to be around for at least 5-6 years it is important that it is competitive through to at least 7th edition.


The word is that post Necrons the next Codex is Tau Empire. The rumours are that the fluff story has progressed and that the Tau are now looked in a major conflict with the forces of Chaos. Their greatest strength in this conflict is that they have not embraced the Warp and act as a null zone to the whispers of the Chaos Gds. In this I expect they are a little like “gingas” in that they have no soul! However this is all in keeping with their role over the past 3-4 years as GW’s red-headed stepchild getting no love. A least they will now have a “jobbing” role for the rediscovered poster boys “Chaos Legions”.

Now you are probably all unaware of this but I have been a little bit disappointed by GW’s treatment of Chaos over the past five years. To say that I think that Gav Thorpe’s Codex: Chaos Space Marines is a soulless piece of crap, seriously undervalues my hatred for that particular document. All the life, character and development work Pete Haines did was largely obliterated in Thorpe’s “work”. Suddenly the Legions ceased to exist and we were relegated to playing Codex: Liquorice Allsorts. I decried it at the time and I stand by every derogatory comment I’ve ever made about it. Chaos Space marines went from being characterful and diverse to Lash Prince(s) + Plague Marines + obliterators.

So how did that work out GW? I’m guessing not very well. You release the Horus Heresy books and then rip the heart out of Chaos.

This Ginger is Pretty Happy Gav Thorpe Will Be Nowhere Near Chaos Legions

CSM went from one of the two biggest sellers to a complete also-ran (based on tournament attendance). Some will put this down to performance but I believe that the largest part was mindnumbing boredom. Seriously who could get excited by Gav Thorpe’s “vision”.

Spot quiz – How many Red Corsair armies have you seen?

I pretty much gave up playing 40k when that codex was released. Therefore I pretty excited by the news solidifying around June 2012 when we will see the return of the Legions. The word is this will be the last 5th Ed Codex but written with 6th Ed in mind. Can’t wait! I’m hoping that either Phil Kelly or Jeremy Vetock get the gig because then at least it will have a soul.

The Return of Noise Lord Challis Drant

The start of a new month so it must be time for my regular rant about Codex: Chaos Space Marines. The perceptive amongst you may have noted that I am not the world’s biggest fan of this book. In fact, I think it’s a turd……or more relevantly a “Thorpe”.

I’m pretty sure that when the dickhead wrote it he misread the brief as “Squeeze every bit of character you can out of Chaos and just see how much you can piss Pete Dunn off”.

The Noise Lord Challis Drant, the Winner of 5 Games Workshop Grand Tournaments

So I have five Chaos Legion armies – Death Guard, Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, Thousand Sons and, of course Emperor’s Children. When I built them it was always my intention that they should be rendered useless and that instead I have one super large Chaos Renegades army. Not.