40K Friday: Wednesday Edition - Legends, Space Marines, and Blood Angels

 

One of the challenges of playing the Warhammer games over the long term is the "legends" phenomena. It really came up over the last 10-15 years but it's become a big factor with this edition changeover and the retirement of the firstborn marine range in particular so I thought I would share the impact it can have.

First up, "legends" is when GW effectively retires a unit in the game by making a final set of stats - the datasheet - and publishing it as a "legends datasheet" in a separate PDF document on their website. It's no longer available in the codex for that army, they no longer sell that model, and they will not be making any subsequent updates to the sheet for the rest of the edition. It's effectively retired. They do try to promote that the unit is still perfectly valid in normal play but tournament organizers may not want to allow it in their tournament. The problem is that the greater warhammer community has taken this to mean that it just shouldn't be played at all so people don't discuss them or put them in lists. Now this is a bigger problem for warhammer in general and 40k in particular that the tournament mentality has just taken over the game but that a discussion for another time. The good thing is that if you're playing with friends (which I feel should be the default assumption but is not) you can use legends units at will and many of us do.

So recently with the new edition and the new space marine codex coming out and the new points for marine units I figured it was time to refigure the points for my armies. Marines went to Toughness 5 - this is a big deal if you have followed the game at all because they have been T4 since the late 80's I believe. Their main guns also went to Strength 5 (has been 4 for forever) and all marine types received a similar bump. The points increase for this was significant but not a big as I had expected, looks like they've gone up 10-15% in general so most armies lost a unit or two at the 2000 points level which is the standard game. I keep a spreadsheet with a tab for each of my armies that lists out all the units I have, whether they are built/painted/finished, and what the points are for each unit and then the total points for the whole collection. There are other notes as well like what i waas thinking about unit combos at a given time, paint colors, lots of other details written in ad hoc. Yes, it's a thing for me at least, and it helps a lot when I come back to an army I haven't touched for a year or years either to paint it or play it. 

This means I know, after updating and re-checking the whole damn thing, that I have over 12,000 points of Blood Angels and most of it is painted. Considering a normal game is 2,000 that's a lot, way more than anyone really needs but I like that chapter and I've been building them for years. It's still a lot. 

It does include a lot of old models though and many of them have been pushed to legends with the latest update. Over 3,000 points of them. Yeah. All painted and finished too. Stormravens, The Rhino hull tanks like the Predator and Vindicator, various dreadnoughts ... it's a lot. You should know about it before diving into the game because they do it every edition now.

Worse, some of them don't even have Legends rules now. The older units that were technically declared legends last edition like the Blood Angel specialty dreads aren't even listed in the current legends rules so they are effectively unplayable - moreso than the "but it's a legends unit" problem. Now they are not even that. Yes it sucks.

The positive thing in all that is that the people I play with don't care. We play with legends, we play old rules, we might even play OPR if I twist some arms, so my guys are not permanently retired. 

You know the line I'm not going to put it here

Now you might ask "why do you put up with this, why do you still play this game, why do you still give them money? Those are legit questions. Sometimes I do put it on pause, mostly go work on a different game when I'm just not in the mood for the BS we put up with at times, but I will never truly drop it. I love the setting, I love the game (in general), I love the models, the concepts, the books, the computer games, and I doubt that will ever change. This game came out when I was 18 years old and it was the coolest damn thing we had ever seen - the look, the tone, the models, just everything in that original Rogue Trader book was mind blowing. I had been playing Warhammer Fantasy for several years before 40k was published and I already loved it so to see it transmogrified into a post-apocalyptic galactic space fantasy was awesome. Clearly I and my friends were not the only ones to feel this way because  here we are about to hit the 40 year mark and it has been in print the entire time and popular too, for most of that time being the dominant miniatures game all over the world. I have grandkids now and a few years down the road I'll be teaching them to play and loaning them books and helping them learn how to paint. Might be 14th edition, might be 5th, might be 2nd - we will just have to see. 

That said no, I don't like everything they do. I don't like every decision they make. I don't think every new edition is an improvement on the prior edition. I don't think every new model is great - or even good. I don't think many of the updates they do - like the new version of the Sanguinary Guard - is an improvement on the older kit. 

But I'm not going anywhere. Longevity tells me a current run of weakness has a good chance of blowing over and being replaced by something better - and I'll be there for it.

40K Friday: October? Orktober? Chaostober?

 Looking back at the last few months' effort it was mostly Grey Knights, then Dark Angels & Blood Angels in late August, September was Blood Angels & Custodes, and for the last week or so I've been going though my ... Chaos Knights! Yes, another small elite army! Yes another mostly-painted-but-not-quite-finished army!

Battletech Terry (not that surprising really considering) brought up 40K knights a couple of weeks ago and sent me down a path.I counted it all up and I have roughly 3000 points of the things and a bunch of it is magnetized and so ridiculously flexible. I only rarely use magnets as I'm more of a "commit and learn to use it" kind of guy but this was done before I acquired them and I admit it does make a huge difference, especially with an army like this. I "only" have six war dogs but I have enough magnetized weapons to build them pretty much any way I want, with at least 3 sets of everything. I can't see myself wanting to use more than that really as much like some other armies* I didn't get a Chaos Knight army to play baby knights - I got into it to play the big boys. The 10 little ones + a single big knight is just not something I'm interested in playing. 

So they are totally playable now but there's work to be done as they are not nearly as pretty as they could be. I am starting with the smaller ones to work out paint schemes and then I will dig into the bigger types. With all of the magnets I have to paint more arms and weapons than bodies so it will be interesting. I may add one more abominant chassis to accommodate some more options. I'm also looking at aftermarket heads and parts to see if anything catches my eye. For now though the focus is to gwt what I already have closer to "done".

As far as the other mentioned armies ...

• The Dark Angels are kind of set aside for now. I know what I want to do and I have most of what I want but it's going to take a while to get it all built and painted. I'll come back to them down the road. 
• The Blood Angels are still on the desk and I will work on them as an alternative to the knights. I'd like to finish up a few more units for them and they are 2nd or 3rd priority for now.
• The Grey Knights have seen a lot of progress this year so I'm taking a break. I will go back to them , mainly to finish their vehicles up, but it'll be a little while.
• The Custodes are in great shape with a few new additions. I have less than 20 models to build/paint to complete everything I have 4000-ish points of them and while there are a few gaps - especially with the new stuff coming out now - I'm pretty happy with the mix of units I have. I'll keep my eyes open for a few things but I'm not feeling much urgency to add anything here. 

Finally there are the Orks, who I have been fooling around with in the background these last few months. There is a pretty big pile of "to-do" and having the new codex means I can settle down and commit to certain unit types and sizes without the uncertainty that's been hanging out there for months. A lot of the new stuff will be revitalizing my Evil Sunz contingent but some of it is going to the Goffs so neither will be left out. There's just a lot of it and I need to at least build it in complete units. Ideally I'd like to paint it that way too but we will see.  

*Just like I didn't get into chaos marines to play a bunch of cultists and I didn't get into Custodes to play Sisters of Silence - I want to play the thing the faction is truly about. 

40K Not-Friday: Custodes!

 

The Wolves Land Raider is still under construction so the Howling Griffons let them borrow the car

We did manage play a 4-player game a week or two back. I took the Custodes out for their first 11th edition game. Variable Dave brought his Votann, Battletech terry brought his Space Wolves, and Invisible Patrick brought his Eldar. We are trying to make this a regular, ongoing thing so hopefully there is more to come. 

We each took 1000 points and we decided that this was imperials vs. xenos. Last time we played our storyline was the Eldar feeling left out of the Space Dwarves and Space Vikings having a party at the only pub on the planet where my Eldar teamed up with Paddy's Harlequins against those two. This time someone called the cops so the Custodes are here to crack down on the rowdiness and the Wolves are trying not to get in trouble (again) so the sides have switched around. "What, dwarves? No we don't hang with dwarves, No sir!"

Anyway, my list was tweaked slightly from what I posted before as I wanted another jet bike squad:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ FACTION KEYWORD: Imperium - Adeptus Custodes

+ DETACHMENT: Shield Host (Martial Mastery)

+ FORCE DISPOSITION: Purge the Foe

+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 1165pts

+

+ WARLORD: Char1: Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike

+ ENHANCEMENT: Panoptispex (on Char1: Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike)

+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 7

+ SECONDARY: - Bring It Down: (1x2) - Assassination: 1 Characters

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Char1: 1x Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike (145 pts): Warlord, Interceptor lance, Salvo launcher

Enhancement: Panoptispex (+5 pts)

4x Custodian Guard (170 pts): 4 with Sentinel blade

4x Custodian Guard (170 pts): 4 with Sentinel blade

1x Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought (155 pts): Achillus dreadspear, 2x Lastrum storm bolter

3x Venatari Custodians (165 pts): 3 with Venatari lance

3x Vertus Praetors (215 pts): 3 with Interceptor lance, Salvo launcher

2x Vertus Praetors (145 pts): 2 with Interceptor lance, Salvo launcher

We managed to get through about 3 turns and it was pretty lopsided points-wise in favor of the imperials.

He took out a unit of bikes solo and then went straight for the biggest target on the board

It was a lot of fun seeing how the golden boys do against some tough opposition. My Contemptor Achillus took I don't know how may attacks from dwarf bikes, dwarf berserkers, and the land fortress (played here by a land raider) and never went down while dishing out some real damage. I lost the full jetbike unit after charging into a squad of wraithguard and then getting shot by them and everyone near them - but it took the firepower of the entire eldar force and some Votann as well to do it.

40K Friday: Marine Stuff & Our Next Game

 

Nothing new on the Blood Angels this week - work continues and I'm not putting up a picture of half-painted Jump Pack Intercessors. There is other stuff going on though!

It's the week of leaks apparently as after some preview articles on Warhammer Community the entire Space Marine Codex for 11th leaked on Wednesday. It's unusual for the complete book to leak this far ahead but it does happen from time to time. It might be bad for GW on some level but one thing it does is spur the community into a frenzy of activity as the datasheets are analyzed and over-analyzed. As a player it is handy to see in advance what they are doing with various units. We already knew some things were going away but for the units that remain and the new units coming in it lets you get an idea of what you might want to add or modify.

For example, I have a bunch of Outriders. They've been push-fit monopose miniatures since they came out in the 9th edition starter set a few years ago. I have always liked marine bikers in the 40K universe going back to my epic scale armies 35 years ago and my Blood Angels have always had some kind of biker unit in the mix. Right now I have 9 of the regulars plus a biker chaplain to lead them so I was curious what the options would be with a new multi-part kit coming out. I also wanted to see what the new biker captain would do. Now with the leaks I can look over those and make some calls on whether I want to modify my already-finished squads, do I want to mix in some of the new options with a new squad, and do I want to pick up one of the captains to go with them? Having seen the info, well, I'll definitely be getting a captain. I'm not sure I want to cut up a finished model just to add a Thunder Hammer and maybe a plasma pistol on the sergeant. If I can just modify one hand on one guy I might but we will have to see. I could just use the new kit and some extra parts to make 2 new sergeants and add them in - 12 total bikers would give me two squads of six, one for the Chaplain and one for the new Captain and that would work out really nicely but it will still be some work to match up paint jobs. I also cleverly put sequentially numbered decals on the 9 I have and I think that's as high as they go so I painted myself into a corner there when it comes to expansion. I'll figure it out but I'm feeling kind of stupid on that one. I may just leave them as-is and make a new 3 or 6-bike squad with the new kit and mix them all in with the various characters as it comes up for actual games. 

Beyond the red marines I have 6 + a Chaplain set aside for the Ravenwing force but thankfully here's an area where procrastination/indecision will actually help me out as I can decide how to modify or add to that batch. I also have a 3-man squad set aside for the Crimson Fists that has seen very limited progress so I have options there too. Beyond that I kind of like the idea of putting a unit in my Black Templars too. No firm decisions there yet though.

So anyway you can see the impact of a new kit that expands or revises an existing unit, adding or taking away options, and the calculations that start when the details emerge. Keep in mind this is just one unit! It's not exactly a "core" marine squad either - they're kind of a flavor add-on option.  But the wheels are definitely turning now.

Side Note: The new Ork Codex was the most difficult one to acquire that I have run into in a while. I don't know why. I tend to pick them up as the come out for the armies I am most likely to play and I couldn't tell you the last time I had trouble finding one. For the last few weeks though they were tough to find online other than way overpriced bidding wars for a few on eBay - sorry, I'm not paying extra for a normal, in-print codex. Even the early release versions in limited box sets have been easier to acquire in the past. I finally went to Games Workshop's online store and bought it there, at the new cheaper cover price! No drama, no fuss! Usually I look for less than the GW list price but considering how the search was going and considering they've chopped at least $20 off of what they've gone for over the last few editions I just went with it. Happy to be paying 8th edition list prices in 11th edition I suppose. 

Not mine, I just liked it.

We are playing again tomorrow with another 2v2 game since there are 4 of us available. It's 1000 points each which is kind of fun to compose after playing 2000 for so long. I played Eldar last time, breaking out my Iyanden Wraith Force for the first time in a while. It was fun but the current Eldar rule adds a whole extra layer of calculation with tracking & spending battle focus tokens and in a small battle where I am also teaching newer players how to play 40K in general while learning 11th alongside them ... I wanted something simpler. So I'm taking Custodes. Their army rule is "decide whether you want Lethal Hits or Sustained Hits for each unit as they fight" so it's way simpler to keep up with during the game. At 1000 points I also have a really small force so it should be pretty easy to run during the game. Army list for fun:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ FACTION KEYWORD: Imperium - Adeptus Custodes

+ DETACHMENT: Shield Host (Martial Mastery)

+ FORCE DISPOSITION: Purge the Foe

+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 970pts

+

+ WARLORD: Char1: Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike

+ ENHANCEMENT: Auric Mantle (on Char1: Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike)

+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 6

+ SECONDARY: - Bring It Down: (1x2) - Assassination: 1 Characters

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Char1: 1x Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike (155 pts): Warlord, Interceptor lance, Salvo launcher

Enhancement: Auric Mantle (+15 pts)

4x Custodian Guard (170 pts): 4 with Sentinel blade & shield

4x Custodian Guard (170 pts): 4 with Sentinel blade & shield

3x Allarus Custodians (165 pts): 3 with Balistus grenade launcher, Castellan Axe

1x Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought (165 pts): Galatus warblade

2x Vertus Praetors (145 pts): 2 with Interceptor lance, Salvo launcher

So yeah ... 15 models in the list. Nothing over a 24" range. Captain runs around with the small bike unit. Only 1 character and only 1 unit with any  mobility - we will see how it goes but I think it will be fun. I'll share some details after the game.

40K Friday: Intercessors?

 

In a surprising turn of events - to me anyway - over the last two weeks I've managed to finish 15 Blood Angel Intercessors. Yes, finish! Maybe the article on Intercessors being improved alongside other Marine updates spurred it, maybe seeing them while rearranging other stuff and realizing they were in that "mostly done" stage (from at least a year ago) ... I'm not sure but I started working on them every night and wrapped them up a few days ago.

A lot of it, once I got going anyway, had to do with realizing I had a formula, a "process", for getting basic power-armored Blood Angel marines done to my satisfaction that was easily replicated. After the Intercessor squads I caught up on a pair of Lieutenants that were in a similar state and they are now close enough that I should be able to finish them tonight. I also dug into an ancient and his body is there as well but the banner is going to take some extra time - I'm not going to go nuts on it but it's a deviation from the formula so I need to think through it a little more before proceeding. 

Getting this much done I wanted to keep the wheels turning so my next units are a trio of Aggressors and 15 Jump Pack Intercessors who are all now base coated in red awaiting some detail time tonight. There are Terminators on the menu too. After that I'm not sure but I do have choices to make - it might be time for some Death Company.

Not the most dignified transport but that's where they sit after I flock them - it can get a little crumbly you know.

Now my painting style for Blood Angels is Codex-ish. I like a real red but I don't want it to stay super bright and I don't want it to look orange. I like the yellow helmets for assault units but I hate the blue helmets for devastator units so I don't do that. Mine are typically red. I also don't go too heavily into the unit insignia as those have changed some over the years so mine have the chapter logo on one shoulder pad (usually black) and the company marking (usually the yellow blood drop) on the other as I just use the decals, not freestyle painting and not even the molded shoulder pads most of the time. For all of my marine chapters I also hate the "all-blue" librarians and "all-red" techmarine schemes they try to push. Neither of these was a thing when I started and I have ignored them ever since. Supporting my approach let's recall that Mephiston doesn't wear blue and he's their big gun Psyker so ...

 The massive progress on the Grey Knights this year let me feel like I could pause and look over my other stuff and actually put some time in on them and the progress here has me wanting to knock out more of my backlog on the Angels which will free up some mental space to get some work done somewhere else when this batch is done. I do still have some GK units to do, mainly vehicles, so when I get tired of the infantry I do have that challenge to look forward to down the road. Hopefully this interlude will let me add 30-40 more troopers to the Primaris side of my BA army which fills in a big hole in the force. 

Anyway enough for now - more next week. 

40K Friday: MiniWarGaming

 

"They Play and Call It Work"

Something a little different this week ...

For those unfamiliar MWG is a miniature wargaming enthusiast site and YouTube channel that's been around for close to 20 years now. They made their way mainly focusing on 40K but they have always included some other games as well. For a while they had a physical store, then transitioned into mainly the YouTube work, and expanded over the years as well. Recently they started doing a lot of 3D printing and ran some Kickstarters for 3d printable terrain. 

Dave and Matt - the two main guys here

They were one of the early 40K YT channels that got big, probably the biggest for several years, and they were one of the first to monetize it - before Patreon etc. - with their"Vault" program where some videos were free on YT and others were in the Vault behind a paywall. It worked really well for them for I would say a long time. They are a bunch of polite Canadians, focused more on narrative and creative stuff, less on the tournament thing, and a lot of people talk about how MWG helped get them into the whole hobby. So they were well-known and well-liked in 40K circles - some nice guys who found a way to live the dream of doing miniature stuff for a living.

Lately though it hasn't been so great. Their views have been declining. They proved that that this could be done and now other players have entered the game and are doing better than the originals. The last few years have seen Matt, one of the two founders, make multiple videos telling everyone that times are tough and they'd really appreciate people signing up for the Vault. They knew -and announced  - that they were in trouble and to their credit they did try some new things but it apparently was not enough.

The single biggest misstep they made though was probably the Ravaged Star Kickstarter they ran in 2023. It brought in 1.6 million dollars - great! - for a very 40K-ish miniatures game with a bunch of boxed sets of minis and rules and a lot of people were pretty excited about it. However as we ride towards the end of 2026 it has not fulfilled, communication has been thin, and backers are now rioting. It's a pretty colossal failure for a team that is online posting YouTube videos multiple times per week. 

That all came to a head this week as multiple other YT'ers started posting videos and asking questions about it and about MWG in general. MWG announced layoffs of most of their staff.  It's been all over the 40K internet and YouTube this week and in response they too released a video opening up about the state they are in, how they got here, and how they plan to get through it. It's a shame things have reached this level for a group of people everyone liked and who have been a part of the online element of the hobby for years. 

For me I have been a Vault member in the past because I liked what they were doing. The 5th-6th-7th edition 40K years were peak for them and they were a lot of fun to watch. I've never met them in person and I've never been to their bunker. I backed some of their recent terrain Kickstarters because it looked solid and they had managed to fulfill the first few of those with no problems. I did not back Ravaged Star - I remember them hyping it up but then (and now) I have absolutely no need of another game that's pretty much alternate 40K and whose miniatures I did not particularly care for. I suppose I dodged a bullet there but I feel for the people who did jump in, trusting Matt and Dave, only to see it fizzle out and vaporize. 

To be fair they did say the money for the Kickstarter is separate and it will be fulfilled, that they just did not realize what they were getting into when they did it (not uncommon honestly) but there were no dates given and considering the first wave was supposed to be "on a boat" multiple times now over the last year I wouldn't expect anyone to give them the benefit of the doubt. As much as I like them, well, once you take people's money you are obligated - regardless of what the crowdfunding site's terms say - to deliver or you will pay a price. When your normal business depends on people liking and watching your content on a daily basis you have really put yourselves out there and it's going to be a hard fall if you fail. I have seen more anger and venom directed at MWG this week than I've seen in the last 15+ years combined. The worst thing I've seen said about them before was that they were pretty loose with the rules in their batreps and that was not an unfair comment but it has reached a whole new level now. It's sad to see a reputation built up over all that time devastated this quickly.

One final comment: MWG used to be a lot of fun to watch because Matt and Dave were on it and in the videos and making a lot of the content. Banter Batreps, Beat Matt Batreps, APOCALYPTICON!,  "Mark of Dave" comments when going through an army - they were the faces of the endeavor, not just the owners. I would say we liked them and that as much as anything else was a big part of their success. As time went on though, they were on the channel less and less. A lot of the people they brought in were good, but it wasn't Matt and Dave. Also, as time went on, it became apparent that they were not all that thrilled by or interested in these later editions of 40K. As other channels sprang up with say, 8th edition, and started cranking out new formats and new approaches to making videos they kind of stayed the course or even pulled back. It felt like their hearts were just not in it anymore. I get it, I don't always love the newer editions either, but if you want to make money doing this kind of thing ... current edition 40K is the vast majority of what people want to see. If you cut back on that how do you keep going? Sure I'll watch a 4th edition 40K batrep in 2026 but how many other people will? Oldhammer and Midhammer have a definite presence online but is it enough to sustain a 40K channel at their past or current level? I'm pretty comfortable going with "no" there. 

Anyway, I've watched these guys a long time, liked a bunch of what they've done, my kids and I used to watch their stuff weekly, and it's just hard to see their current state. I really hope they can right the ship, handle their obligations, and find a new course so they can stick around for us to watch in the future.  

40K Friday: Interceptors and Figuring Out the Next Thing

 

The Grey Knight Interceptor squads I was fixing last time have officially been finished and moved to the cabinet along with another Librarian. It feels good to have that done and it puts me at about 2500 points finished. That's roughly half of what I have so there is still some more to do but this is most of the infantry done and they tend to take more time than characters and vehicles in my experience. I'm happy to see this progress for the year. 

So the big question is what's next? There will be several answers here. For one I intend to keep working on the GKs as I do want to continue the progress. Next unit there will be a paladin squad and another librarian, then probably a techmarine because they are the closest to "done" right now. But I have made quite a bit of progress and I'd like to work on something else too and see some progress with one of my other armies. This is where it gets tricky.

Part of what I've been doing is going back and inventorying what's in each army and what state it's in - built, painted, etc. - plus adding in point values as I go. I used to keep this kind of stuff in a notebook but they way I work - getting super-interested for a few months or a year and then moving on - means that notebooks get shuffled around and buried and can be hard to find when I come back to a particular army after time away. So now it all goes into a spreadsheet. I still have the notebooks because  I like to scribble my thoughts at times like what I was thinking would be cool to try with this army or what other unit would be a good addition in the future. Going through the whole process though tends to re-ignite some interest in each army as I get to it and I have to fight the distraction. Focus!

So last night I dug into my newer Ork stuff and built the Warboss from Armageddon. He is bigger than the old ones but I may have some solutions. I'm leaning towards keeping Grukk as a Warboss and then making the Black Reach Warboss into Big Bosses since they're all on 40mm bases anyway. It means I wouldn't have to change anything and could still use them in old edition games. I feel bad for neglecting the Orks after doing some work earlier in the year but I figured it might be smart to wait for the codex since it will be along soon. 

I also spent some time with my Eldar after playing them last weekend. I have a lot of stuff painted and done but I have a lot of stuff not painted yet too so there is plenty of opportunity. Thinking about getting the low-hanging fruit here too and finishing a few things that are "close to done".

He's different-looking than most Custodes but I kind of want my leaders to stand out in the sea of gold armor this army tends to have

I also went through my Custodes force and counted them up and added it together and ... I really don't need much here. I need to finish some Allarus Terminators and make an Allarus Captain and I might pick up the standalone 300-looking Shield Captain as I never got one of those but it's a pretty complete force really. 

The new Dark Angels are still in play too. I'm trying to take them a unit at a time, not a whole army at one time.

Those are really the top 3 candidates for more attention. Of course there are plenty of others in the mix - I feel bad for abandoning the Praetorians for months, and the Iron Warriors, and my 'Nids. I just find I get more done focusing mostly on one army. They will all get a turn eventually.

End of the Line for Classic 40K Units

 

Seems appropriate on multiple levels

I mean, we all knew it was coming. 

Since the whole "Primaris" thing erupted in 2017 with 8th edition 40K we knew this would happen. Once they created the divide between the existing space marine line and the New And Improved Marines it was only going to end one way. I'm glad they left it all in this long at least. I figured I would give it a day or three before I posted my thoughts on it. The short version is that it's not really a surprise but it still disappoints me a little. 

Losing the infantry is not a happy occasion. I know no one was playing tac squads these days, at least not that you'd ever hear about , but that was a unit I built very early on and I ended up with somewhere around 20 of them altogether. To know they are going away, well, it stings a bit. It's the core marine unit! From the 80's-90's-00's-10's-and into the 20's! I've been building them for close to 40 years! All the different versions ... tears in the rain etc. right? Devastators were not quite as prolific for most of us I would say but I still had around ten of those across the various marine armies. And for both types that's metal, plastic, monopose, starter sets ... all of them. Declaring them Intercessors or Desolators, well, OK. Not sure I needed GW's permission to do that but if it helps the tournament crowd I suppose that's fine.

We even lost Pedro, leader of the Crimson Fists! I'm not too sad about that though because I am confident - and there are rumors - that we will get a new Kantor model. I would bet on it being tied to the 40th anniversary of 40K celebration next year. 

The vehicle losses might be worse. Multiple marine armies means those numbers get really stupid, especially when the current kit has been in production for 20+ years. My Crimson Fists have at least 13 Rhino hulls and that's the original version with the pipe stacks on the sides. With the rest I think I'm over 60 as of the last time I counted. Like I said ...

There are some replacement-ish options among the Primaris tanks - the Gladiator makes a reasonable Predator replacement. However the people trying to say the Impulsor is a replacement for the Razorback ... no. Sure, it holds a similar number of troops but can it mount twin lascanons? Twin heavy bolters? Has it ever know the glory of a charge across the table with twin assault cannons? No, it has not. The razorback has been a useful fire support vehicle for its entire life! The Impulsor has the missile launcher option and they did eventually add the multi-melta option too, but it's still not a Razorback. There is also no Primaris substitute for the Vindicator and the Whirlwind. So there's a gap being left for sure.

Oh and the Stormraven ... the only way to airlift a dreadnought! Gone! My Blood Angels have 3 of them! Painted! I have a few more in the others but being able to drop one of the Red Thirsty specialty dreads anywhere on the board along with some infantry while bringing some big guns along on the bird was a blast. It's going to be missed. I have some of the other flyers too and I'll miss them but this is the one that stings the most. Maybe they will let us put dreads in drop pods again one of these days - that would at least help. 

For now the Rhino and the Land Raider are not going away with this announcement which tells me  - along with the rumor mill for the past year - that they will be getting a refresh. GW has recognized that certain things are iconic so, like they did with the Terminator refresh in Leviathan and 10th edition, I expect them to look very similar but bigger and maybe better to build than the old kits. The mention that Rhinos will be able to carry Primaris marines around ... yeah that's some excellent news. Plus the Primaris line doesn't have a cheap 10-man transport option. The Repulsor is cool - and it might be the closest thing to a true Razorback replacement gun-wise - but it certainly isn't cheap. So I'm glad two of the big name classics are sticking with us. 

The over-and-under lascanons first appeared with Epic Armageddon in 1997 along with the new land raider look but they never did give us an official version for 40k.

To wrap up I will say that I doubt this is the last we will see of many of these squads and vehicles. Corporations love to bring back old favorites - see what Taco Bell has been doing recently for one example - and GW does love to tap into its heritage. I'd say there is a fair chance once those two primary kits are redone and released that we get some version of the others back. A Razorback is a pretty obvious adaptation of the Rhino especially. Also, I doubt these are going anywhere for the Chaos Marines. I suspect the current kits will soldier on for the rebels until they get a refresh because there's no Primaris over there. Beyond the new and upcoming there are always older editions of 40k and OPR among other alternative rulesets. It can be fun to dust off one of those and bring some old favorites back to the table regardless of the current state of the game.

40 Friday: Fixing Some Grey Knights

 

 I had mentioned before that some of my GK Interceptors had lost their teleport vanes. This is one of the main things that marks them as "Interceptors" instead of just regular Strike Squads so I need to fix them. Also, all of these were intact a few years ago and they've been pretty lightly used these last few years. I suspect it happened in the move to this house a few years back but who knows? Damage like this and the general crappiness of how the bases looked - even though I redid them a few years ago - were the impetus for this whole re-work effort for this army. 

One of the upsides of the current Grey Knight models is that two kits make all of the infantry options in the army - one for the power armored guys and one for the terminator armored guys. They are remarkably flexible and one of my long-term concerns is that whatever updates come for them it will not be anywhere near this good. Right now the one sprue makes five Strikes, Interceptors, Purgators, or Purifiers, plus you can use it to build some characters as well if you want.  The terminator kit is the same - it makes Terminators, Paladins, and any other characters you might want, plus both kits come with all of the weapon options you might want for a typical squad. It's just great!

What this means though - and if you've worked with this army before you already know - is that you have a lot of spares and leftover parts from each sprue after you build a squad. Some people use this as an opportunity to magnetize everything to ensure maximum flexibility  - melee weapons, heavy weapons, backpacks so your Strikes can switch to Interceptors as needed - and it's probably a smart way to go but I bought a lot of these things already built and I am very selective in my magnetization anyway so I have not done much of that here. I'm more of a "commit and figure out how best to use a particular setup" kind of guy. Coming out of it though means I have a lot of spare parts for Grey Knights of all types. 

So when it came time to deal with the damaged interceptors here's what ran through my mind:

• I could just try to combine the two squads in question to salvage an intact 5-man squad ... but there were not 5 without damage. I had already done this when I picked out 5 good ones and finished them a while back. So what was left was not enough to make another squad.
• I could just clip off the remaining vanes and call them Strike Squads now. This just felt like a give-up and it meant I would have to make 2 new Interceptor Squads from scratch. I mean I have the bodies to do it but it seemed like a lot of work when  I kind of already have them ... well 90% of them anyway.
• I could just take off the backpacks they have now and paint up some replacements either for the whole squads (ensures they match) or just for the damaged troopers (less work but it could be tricky to match the paint. 

So instead I went for the final option: I have a bunch of leftover Interceptor backpacks so why not clip the vanes off of some of those and use them to replace the missing ones? It keeps everything that is already there "there" and is less work in some ways. Plus the clipped backpacks are now just regular Strike packs - not that I lack those really but I like the idea of preserving them as a usable part instead of trashing them.

The downside of only replacing the vanes is a) trying to keep them straight(ish) while gluing little fiddly bits onto an existing painted model and b) I'll still have to match the paint. It turned out getting the vanes on straight while not building up a ring of glue around the base was not that tough so that worked out well. Matching the paint could be trickier but the vanes are often depicted with a blue glow around them so worst case I'll go back and drybrush some blue-white onto them and make it look intentional instead of like a screw-up. It's certainly easier (and less noticeable) than matching a whole backpack.

So what you see there is the white parts are what I replaced. I grabbed 5 packs (and a hammer - see below) and sprayed them white and then clipped them off and glued them into place. Now you might have noticed there are enough there that are not white I could have made an intact squad - but they were not intact when I started. I found two of the painted vanes broken off in a box with other GK stuff so I started by re-attaching those first. Then I worked on the replacement parts. The top of the Librarian's force staff broke off at some point and it's just gone, apparently, so I decided he would now have a hammer. In the current edition they are all "Nemesis Force Weapons"  so they can be anything and in older editions they usually carry "force staves" as opposed to swords or axes so he should be fine there too. Also, I had to reattach his gun- hand as it came off too and fortunately that went without any drama.

This is after applying some paint. I was convinced these guys were originally painted with GW Leadbelcher, not Grey Knights Steel as one might expect, but if they were there was a light wash of either Nuln Oil or maybe an Army Painter shade as it's a tiny bit shinier than the rest of the silvery part of the miniature. Most people looking at them, especially during a game, probably wouldn't notice but ti was nagging at me a little bit. There's an easy solution here though - I just drybrushed some Leadbelcher onto the other vanes to even it out and now all the vanes are a little bit shinier than they were, which is fine by me considering what they do. It looks a little more intentional, at least, if anyone does notice.

Still some other work to be done here - that guy on the left's staff-hand is way too shiny!

The Librarian got his force hammer painted with a simple speedpaint job and some leadbelcher touch up on the shaft. I think it needs a few more touches of gold here and there but I'll look at that later when I work on the bases. I also covered up the weird white spot on his forehead. Not sure where it came from and I don't remember seeing it before but it's handled now. Yes, as I approach the end of the work the perfectionist creeps out and starts getting in they way - "...enemy of the done", etc. I'm working on it.

So now I just need to go back and do/re-do/touch-up the bases and get them flocked and finished and this batch is ready for the display case - or maybe the tabletop ... maybe this weekend even ...

More to come!

 

Bringing an Old Green Friend Home

 

I haven't talked about it a ton on here but I have been working on Warhammer fantasy stuff for The Old World - and just because I like it. That older aesthetic from the 80's/90's/early 2000's still means something to me because that's when I got into it and played it quite a bit. I've always loved the "Orcs & Goblins" army and I've worked on one quite a bit over the years but never quite finished much of it. When we started playing Kings of War I played them quite a bit but that eventually faded and everything went back into boxes and on the shelf. 

I started out with 2nd edition and we played some of that and 3rd but we didn't have a lot of miniatures so we played with D&D minis, plastic dinosaurs and knights (sometimes sprayed in different colors), and the large pile of cardboard counters from TSR's Battlesystem 1st edition boxed set got more playing time as Warhammer units than they did in their own rules. 

This one is before I converted to Orc & Goblinism but I do remember it being around back then

By the time 4th edition rolled around the game exploded and the figures became much more widely available and my friends and I started building actual miniature armies, alongside out existing 40K armies and our Epic armies and our Battletech armies ...

It may have some out in 3rd but I found it in 4th and I still have at least two of them. 

The 5th edition was pretty similar rules-wise and we kept right on playing our ridiculous hero-hammer games with over-tooled heroes and monsters.

AZHAG! This guy was my general in most of the battles I fought with the green guys back when and I loved him. Mean in combat, mounted on a mean beast, and able to cast spells because of his magical crown - expensive, but worth it!
Think I still have two copies of him too.

For me Warhammer 6th edition was probably the peak and it toned down the overpowering of individual models quite a bit and felt better to us overall as a wargame. Around the time it came out the greenskins got a new "flagship" in the form of a new Warboss on a Wyvern.

No more sinuous, serpentine wyvern - this guy is a thicker, more brutish take with an underbite - more orcish for sure.

For whatever reason I never managed to get one of these. I mean, some might ask "well how many orcs on wyverns do you need?" to which I would respond "one of each at least, right?" - and now I finally have him. They are not exactly rare but I never ran across one that was a)the old metal version and b) not either badly painted, missing parts, or priced like an art object and not a gaming miniature.

But I finally did find one like that and since I'm working on the orcs in between the 40k stuff I realized it was time. It had become a bit of a Holy Grail thing for me as I wasn't sure I'd ever find one clean and complete. But now he's here and I'm very happy about it. I'm going to try and get him built and primed pretty quickly and then agonize over how to actually paint him for an undetermined period of time but I do have some ideas so it may not take that long.  More to come.

40K Friday: Knights & Angels & Wolves Again

 

I have managed to make steady progress on finishing up the Grey Knights unit by unit these last few weeks. This week it was the last of the 3 regular Dreadknights going into the display case and it did feel good. 

I also did some serious figuring on what unbuilt parts I had left and how I wanted to allocate them. Some serious reassessment of the options led me to believe I can fix my broken Interceptor vanes on my mostly painted squads so that's 10 bodies no longer needed for that. If I can that gets me to 3 squads of 5-men each. I have one mostly painted strike squad that I believe I can salvage as well which puts me to 6 squads of 5 which is as much as anyone probably really needs. This should leave me enough strike squad type bodies to build out Purifiers and indulge myself in some extra Purgation squads.

I was in pretty good shape with Terminator bodies having finished two 4-man squads and a 5-man with all the extras. But they are also core troops for a GK army and I only had 15 more to build AND I want 10 Paladins AND there might be a character or two I want to build so when I found a nicely painted squad of 5 Paladins online I went ahead and got them and a matching GK Termie Librarian too. This should let me build the remaining squads I want and fill in the others to their full complement as well. I would say the end of "acquisitions" for the Knights is in sight! Finally!

This is not mine but it's a damn good looking model

For the Dark Angels I did get the winged helmets I mentioned in the last post though I have not attached them yet. I will start with the characters and the Bladeguard squad and then maybe the Vanguard Vets. This army is already in decent shape build-wise. I just need to get moving on the paint. This is not a new story for me.

Then there is the deliberate retro army with the Space Wolves. It sarted out mainly as a way to use up the rest of my non-primaris marine bodies and gear ... well it didn't stay that way. There was a lot of "acquisition" activity this week as scope creep exploded and it became an effort to see if I could get a squad or unit of most of the things in the 5th/6th/7th edition codexes. This is not a completed effort by any means but it's a bigger force now than it was a week ago. Another decision: They're all going on 32mm bases for the regular infantry. It's retro but it's not that retro.

The core (planned anyway) is:

• 3x 10-man Grey Hunter Squads (prob 2 with plasma, 1 with melta guns)
• 1x 10-man Blood Claw Squad (sized for Rhinos or Drop Pods more than a Land Raider)
• 3x 5-man Long Fang Squads (prob 2 distant shooters, one stupid one with 4 multi-meltas to jump out of a Rhino or Drop Pod or something because that's possible)
• 3x 5-man Terminator squads (could turn into 2 squads with all the weapon options and a Lone Wolf or three)

Then some dreadnoughts, some Rhinos, some tanks, characters - the usual things one would expect to find in a classic Wolf force. The problem is the add-ons. I want some jump pack guys so ... Skyclaws? Jumping Wolf Guard? Both? Swiftclaw bikers? Thunderwolves? Lot of Fast Attack choices on the menu right now. Some I could already build - some I could not. Some will be joining the force regardless. Lotta wolf claws in the mix here now. Now to make this into a coherent army ...

40k Friday: Dark Angels, Grey Knights, and the Focus Thing Again

 

Despite the sidetrack into Oldhammer this week which did take up some time and some budget I did manage to progress on the Dark Angels for 11th. One of the problems though is when you are part of the way into a project and find a piece that brings things to a screeching halt and forces you to reconsider how you want to proceed - and by "you" I mean "me". In this case I was working on a unit of Bladeguard Vets to give the army some melee punch and also to give the captain a unit to lead. My BGV were originally allocated to the Templars but all I had done was build them and spray them black so it was not a big deal to reassign them to the new (old) chapter. Then I ran across a picture online where someone had put winged helmets on their BGVs and it looked really good ...

Winged helmets are a thing with Dark Angels especially on their leaders but I figured the veterans might have them too. Poking around a bit I found these:

That's just too good of a look to not do it so a batch of these is making its way here. My Armageddon captain and standard bearer's heads both popped back off so I can make the change there easy enough but the BGVs I have now ... there's no way. I tried. So the first set will likely be reallocated back to the Templars and a new squad  - with nifty helmets - joins the Unforgiven. I don't really need a second unit and I'd want them to match the others so it's better to put them back in the non-winged-helmet-army. If I need more elite melee Dark Angels there are always the hooded and robed inner circle vets.

With that many wing-heads available that also means my jump pack vanguard vets will likely have them too, and maybe some sternguard vets if I pull together a unit of them as well. For this army it could just be a standard for the leaders and veterans to have them - we will have to see if I can sustain that over time. Now should I take it down to the veteran sergeant level? Have to ponder that - might be too much of a good thing.

I did manage to finish building and basecoating the hellblasters - all heads and backpacks accounted for, sprayed, and attached. So there's a unit ready for the rest of the paint. I picked up an apothecary for the unit as that's an important add-on for a unit that can blow themselves up regularly. They will also have some version of Azrael the chapter master as he is way too useful to not put him in there. I might give in and buy the new one but I'm still leaning towards using one of the versions I have already. 

There is still plenty of work to do but I  feel like I'm figuring it out. 

Also: Obligatory Grey Knights Update:

Special reflection appearance by Nelson Doggo

That's two Dreadknights added since the last update so the finishing continues. It's at least a useable force now with 5 strike squads (probably more than I need honestly). an interceptor squad (need more), 3 terminator/paladin squads, a dreadnought, the 2 dreadknights, and some characters over on the right. Still more to do but I'm happy with the amount of progress I am making.

40K Thursday: Retrograde or "7th Edition?"

 

So after the game last weekend Blaster mentions that he's been looking into 40K again recently - he hasn't played a game since 9th - and while he despises 10th/11th edition (too many cards, too many changes for no good reason) he is interested in trying an old edition again. We discussed that option for a bit and settled on 7th, last of the 3rd edition inheritor generations. Now I won't try to tell you that 7th is the best or my favorite but I am always open to playing a prior edition of the game and if it gets my kid* interested in playing again I'm all for it. His run with the game was 5th thru 8th - and we played a lot when he lived at home and we had Red and Who as well - so somewhere in that range made the most sense. As a throwback here's my take on 7th at the time.

So, interest declared it was time for dad to dust off the stacks and see what I had from 7th. I still had all of my books from then but exactly which book did I have? This was 10 years ago and I have added armies since then so I had some figuring to do. Besides the codexes 7th also had a set of cards for each army - most of them anyway - so I had to take a look at those too.

Objectives & Psychic Powers - useful but not necessary. With four of us in the house playing back then it was an easy call to pick them up. Plus they were handy stocking stuffers.

As it turns out I had a pretty good swath of them and we still have all of those armies so that's good. But ... I added Grey Knights with 8th, Necrons & Imperial Knights with 9th, and Tyranids with 10th. Imperial Guard has been a factor since 6th but I did sell that army off at one point and I must have let the codex go too because it's not here. Plus Harlequins became a separate army with this edition too but I never picked up the book. I was also missing the cards for some of these so ...I mean you can't expect a man to play without the rules for all of his toys ... off to eBay I went!

It is surprisingly cheaper to get into 40K - when it comes to the rulebooks anyway - as they hit the ten year old mark. I suspect the 10-15 year mark is when they bottom out before becoming nostalgia items for some people and the prices begin to climb a bit. Almost everything is still findable online at a pretty reasonable price. I make no guarantees on the miniatures though - that's a whole different animal and might best be acquired at the "army" level. 

The fun part is that nearing the finish line of "completing" my Grey Knights force it is almost completely useable in 7th as-is. The line was redone for 5th edition and has had just a few additions here and there over the intervening years. It's a good feeling knowing a lot of it is likely to be revamped in 11th but what I have is still perfect for any version from 5th to "index" 11th - plus OPR of course. 

As the poster boys for 6th and 7th the Unforgiven actually got a new codex for each one 

It's a little less perfect with the Dark Angels I've also been working on as all of that primaris stuff is out but all of my older firstborn units now have a potential use beyond OPR and memories. Rediscovering those units with an actual chance to get them on the table has been a lift this week.

So anyway there's the unexpected turn for this week. Tomorrow I'll get back to the new stuff.

*At some point I should probably stop calling him a kid since he's now in the upper half of his 20's now with a college degree, a full time job/career, a wife, and a baby. It's a hard habit to break though. I did stop calling him "Apprentice" here on the blog a while back so I have made some progress.