What a time to be alive!

Well, then!

Things seem to be getting crazy in Warhammer 40k right now, with the emergence of Roboute Guilliman from stasis after, I believe, the Triumvirate of Ynnead somehow managed to bring him back from the point of death. He’s coming back with friends, as seems to be the way of things with The Gathering Storm storyline, and is poised to lead the Imperial answer to the threat of Chaos and the 13th Black Crusade.

I have to say, I absolutely love the model. A lot of folks are unimpressed, but I think that’s just the curse of the internet generally hating everything and anything new. I’m not unreserved – I really don’t like the face, but he comes with a helmeted option that I would probably use should I end up getting him.

(Who am I trying to fool – of course I’ll be getting him!)

This is all definitely cool, of course, and I’m very excited about seeing the father of the Ultramarines (the grandfather, then, of my Novamarines!) It really is a great time to be a fan of 40k, as we enter the 30th anniversary year of the game with what looks to be an immense shake-up!

I find it very surprising, in one sense, that we’re seeing this stuff now – it’s at least a month before we’ll have plastic Guilliman in our hands – but then, it seems to be the thing for GW to do nowadays, giving us plenty of advance warning about releases. Look at Tzaanuary, and the Eldar Triumvirate/new Stormcast stuff, all being spoiled well before pre-order dates, let alone release. I find it surprising because, previously, it seemed the business model was very much around impulse-buying, but now we’re being given time to plan out our purchases, and as a result, I’m curious to see if people may be foregoing the new Eldar in favour of the big guy.

I’m personally torn – I mean, I want those Eldar models, though primarily I only want the Incubus guy, as he would best fit in my Dark Eldar army. This morning, I did have the idea of potentially using the Avatar model as a Keeper of Secrets, which I suppose could work, but I’m suddenly more excited for the new Primarch than I am for the space elves, even though I’ve switched from Ultramarines. I’m definitely buying the book, but I’m trying to save up to buy a house, so I’m thinking differently about these things now. I just find it interesting to see how this new strategy of advance warning will work out for them, and if we’ll see a return to more guarded releases…

At any rate, we’re also getting a new Cypher, and a new Grey Knights Grand Master, which is very exciting! I’m not so much of a Cypher fan – despite my love of the Deathwing, Dark Angels in general I can take or leave. I’ve often thought about adding some Grey Knights to my collection in the pre-Deathwatch days, too, though was always a bit saddened that their characters are all finecast. So that’s pretty exciting, all told!

Rise of the Primarch will apparently be the conclusion to The Gathering Storm, which begs the question: what’s next? I wonder if we are indeed going to be getting 8th Edition in April, or if 40k will take a little bit of a back seat for a while as happened with Age of Sigmar after their big summer campaign last year, before we get something more grand later on. I don’t know, but it definitely seems like an exciting time to be a fan right now!

Added to all of this enjoyment, of course, we have the Horus Heresy Weekender happening today and tomorrow at Nottingham, where a lot of amazing stuff is coming out, both for the Thousand Sons and the Legio Custodes! I believe Space Puppies are getting some stuff too…

Definitely check out the live blog over on the Community website, but if you’re a member of any of the Facebook groups for Warhammer 40k, you’ve doubtless seen the wonderful Contemptor Dreadnoughts and miscellaneous awesome that is on show already!