Tag: Genestealer Cult

Some hobby updates (already)

Hey everybody,
We’re barely into the new year, and I’m already feeling productive when it comes to my hobby time. At the risk of repeating myself from last year, though, I’ve also been taking a bit of an inventory of my Genestealer Cultist models. I’ve been thinking about them a lot in the last week or so, as I was mainly wondering if I should try to commit to doing anything with the army in my hobby goals for the year. However, after spending a bit of time with the codex and all of my models earlier in the week, I have to say that I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed.

The 8th edition book had a lot of exciting things going on, which I have talked about before, and I thought it was really interesting to go through and see how I could construct my army around some of the units in there. However, this time around, it all just feels really flat, somehow. Like, GW are trying to really push you to use the army in a specific way. I don’t know if this is real, or if it’s just my imagined perception of things, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of stuff that you can do as Genestealer Cultists anymore. There were stratagems that could provide some wonderful buffs, as I’ve rambled on about endlessly, which have all been stripped away in favour of – well, I don’t really know what this is. True, some of the units have had buffs to their stat lines, from what I can tell, so you do actually get some good stuff going on there. But whereas a lot of the armies I play have got a lot of fun interactions and nice synergies, I don’t really see a lot of use for command points in this army besides the command re-roll. There’s very little that I would want to spend my points on, and it’s quite surprising, really.

At first, it had disappointed me and I was considering just shelving the cult until 10th edition came around. However, I think that’s a bit hasty, and just because the army wasn’t what I had thought it could be doesn’t mean that’s reason to ignore them. So I am currently in the process of drawing up another army list for my existing cultists, which will no doubt be the topic of a rambling blog in due course!

In the meantime, I’ve started to look at Necromunda vehicles rules, after building up the Goliath Maulers over the New Year weekend, and being thoroughly impressed with them. It’s difficult to not be impressed with the new Necromunda stuff, I find, so I suppose this was never really in doubt! The vehicle rules have so far been pretty spread-out, with rules in the main Ash Wastes rulebook, rules for creating your own vehicles (plus some standard templates) in Book of the Outlands, and then the Goliath and Escher vehicles in Cinderak Burning. I’m assuming that the next book in the Aranthian Succession campaign will have the rules for the Cawdor vehicles that we have seen previewed, as well, though things seem to have gone quiet on that front lately. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we have more news!

The vehicle rules in the Book of the Outlands are extremely impressive, and I must say they’re very comprehensive. Pretty much anything you would think you can do with a vehicle is represented across the 24 pages of rules. There is the usual stuff around actions that vehicles can take, conditions that vehicles can be subject to, how to attack, what happens if fighters are stood on top of vehicles, what happens if the crew loses control of the vehicle, collisions, and so much more. It’s the sort of thing that makes me want to just take a day to go through it all and work out how it all works.

Interestingly, I’ve also been looking at Genestealer Cultists for the Ash Wastes, as my basing scheme for those models is pretty much a desert wasteland, anyway. Excitingly, a lot of the Genestealer Cults vehicles have got templates in the Book of the Outlands, like the Wolfquad and the Goliath. I’ve had a brief look and my Ridgerunner for the Cult would set me back 365 credits with no upgrades, so it’s well within the 400 credit uplift that you get for spending on vehicles. Unfortunately, it seems that you can’t immediately populate it with Genestealer Cultists, as each vehicle needs crew, and we’ve not seen crew profiles for every gang yet. There are generic profiles for Scum Racers which means that someone can pop behind the wheel, but it does feel a bit of a shame that we haven’t got more yet, especially when we’re talking about the non-House gangs. Of course, everybody can use a “Waster’s Dirtbike”, which is basically the Atalan Jackal, so we’re good for that side of things, at least!

I’ve said this a lot, I know, but I am very excited by the Ash Wastes stuff. I think getting the Book of the Outlands for Christmas has really fired me up for more Necromunda, anyway, so hopefully I’ll get to play it soon and see if it lives up to the hype!

January 2022 retrospective

Hey everybody,
January has been pretty damn productive, I have to say! I’m very impressed with myself, even if the month did feel like it lasted for about a decade. For starters, I’ve made a really good start with my new year, new army, getting two full squads of Tau Pathfinders painted, along with their associated drones. That’s been a really big boost, as far as I’m concerned, because I think I’ve shown that I can get a lot of models finished in a fairly quick turnaround. As with all these sorts of things, it’s often slower while sorting out the colour scheme, so now that I’ve got that sorted out, I think I should be able to keep the pace and have a half-decent army painted by the time Easter rolls around!

For February, I’m planning to paint up some Fire Warriors, again with their associated drones, so we shall see where I get to there.

I had my first game with the new Genestealer Cults book as well, and it was quite the uphill struggle, I have to say! The last time I had a game with these guys, it was 8th edition and I had no idea what I was up to, but the army was predominantly unpainted – this time, everything was painted, and it made such a difference to the visual style, I have to say. I had no idea about the stratagems, and I think potentially only used one or two the whole game – I was otherwise using Command Re-Roll all the time! I think I made a mistake with going all-Neophytes in my troops, though, and using the Hybrid Metamorphs for close combat seemed a bit of a waste as they really weren’t as good as I had been expecting. I think I’ve been clinging to the Metamorph bomb idea from last edition, but as I said last time, it’s something that I wanted to try, just to see what would happen.

I should clarify that the Metamorphs aren’t necessarily bad per se, they just didn’t seem to work well at the lower points limit. I think at a higher points game, they could still be useful as a bodyguard-type unit. We shall see!

For the next time, though, I’m making some swaps – so removing the Metamorphs and the truck, and taking the bikes and a group of Acolyte Hybrids. It seems there are some interesting things that you can do with the Atalan Jackals, so I’m excited to see what will happen there. I’ve made some notes, though, so have a better idea of what I can get up to with the army. Hopefully this is something that I will be doing more of as time goes on, and I try to improve as a player – I’m not talking tournament-dedicated or anything, but I definitely want to be a better player, and hopefully provide a better sort of game for my opponent. I’ll probably be talking more about this in the coming weeks, anyway.

I’ve begun the long and arduous process of going through my various piles of shame as well, in an attempt to properly thin the ranks once more. I’m sure there’ll be more to say on this in the fullness of time, of course, but I’ve discovered that I have almost 900 points of AdMech and 1300 points of Black Legion, which is quite a surprise! I have big chunks of Sisters and Tyranids, among others, which will all need to be looked at quite carefully in the coming months, as I really feel like I’m drowning in plastic at the minute. I have some projects that I haven’t touched either at all, or else for years, which is making me wonder if I’ll ever get round to them.

I think I need to be much more careful with my hobby spends and my hobby time, as the family grows and whatnot. I am somewhere in the area of having my hobby feeling a bit less enjoyable right now, like something I have to do, so it would definitely be an idea to give this some serious thought. There’s also so much coming out that I’m looking forward to…

I’ve also been chipping away at the scenery piece that I’ve got on the table, and it’s coming along quite nicely, I think! I have been through all of my Sector Mechanicus terrain pieces to see what’s going on. There is a lot still to do, but in all honesty I’m not focusing on this stuff right now, it’s all been about the Tau Pathfinders!!

It’s not been all about 40k though. I’ve been reading the Thrawn Ascendancy series, and have made it through the first two books of the trilogy so far. I’ve already written up some thoughts on the first book, which you can read here, and after finishing the second book last night, I’ll get my next instalment out sometime this week. I had the third book for Christmas, so will move on to that one next, I think.

A bit disappointingly, I’ve not been playing any Arkham Horror LCG for weeks, now! I played In Too Deep at the end of November, but for two months now it’s just been untouched! Meanwhile, the Edge of the Earth campaign that has been sleeved and is ready to go. I definitely need to get my act together, although I am clinging to the idea that I wasn’t really playing The Circle Undone until March, so there’s hope!

I am enjoying The Innsmouth Conspiracy, and I am looking forward to getting my teeth into The Edge of the Earth when the time comes! But everything has been so much about 40k so far, so I guess I need to just ride that wave!

Another Warhammer Preview!

It’s been quite an exciting preview this time around, hasn’t it? Not perhaps choc-full of surprises in some respects, but even so, it’s been really good to see what’s coming over the hill!

To start with, 40k has had the next couple of codexes shown off, Custodes and Genestealer Cults! They’re also getting a new battle box that is showing off a new character model apiece. The GSC Saboteur model is very nice, I must say – I’m not planning to get the box, but I will pick up that model when she’s released separately!

There’s just so much character there!

Age of Sigmar has had the next battletome shown off, the Maggotkin, and the next season of Warhammer Underworlds has got its next warband in the shape of a pirate ogre – including a pirate monkey with a knife!

I think it’s a really nice callback to the variety of Ogre Maneaters of the Old World. Similar to the other ogre warband that was just the one guy and a bunch of creatures, I guess that’s the template here. Interestingly, they have said this is the way forward now, kinda weird warbands that go a bit more into the corners of the mortal realms. Very intrigued as to what that could mean, I must say!

So, this wasn’t something I was expecting. I’m not an aficionado of Blood Bowl, though I have heard of Dungeon Bowl. It does kinda intrigue me how this works, playing American football in the dungeon? Not sure if I’d be intrigued enough to pick it up, though, because let’s be honest, there is rather a great deal of awesome stuff coming out right now, and my gaming budget is being hammered!!

Yes, that’s right – a new starter set for Warcry, and this one is so much more up my alley than the Catacombs set. I mean, dungeon battles are an interesting take for the game, but I think this looks much more like the sort of box that launched the game. I’m getting a lot of Temple of Doom vibes from the mining terrain – though many people have likened it to Goblin Town, too. There is some incredible looking terrain, and the warbands are a very nice inclusion – the spider guys are really quite original, and it’s lovely to have some more Darkoath warriors. A prelude to seeing the Chaos marauders getting a refresh? 🤔

It looks like it’s going to be a really good set, and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it!

Oh yeah, and there was this!

Now, I don’t collect these chaps, and I’ve moved away somewhat from the Heresy in terms of the game, but it’s always pretty nice to see these event-style miniatures. Very nice!

So there we are, another preview day! New Warcry is definitely exciting me the most, but I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the book for the Cultists.

Back to the Cult

Hey everybody,
After my rambling talk about the Tyranids last month, I have naturally veered off into the Genestealer Cults once again! Typical, huh? However, I’m hoping that this is going to be something a little bit different. I know, I’ve been here before, talking about projects and never getting anywhere with any of them! But hear me out, it’s not about to be another blog where I over-commit to stuff and end up with virtual egg on my face.

I love the Genestealer Cults – the lore is fantastic, and some of my favourite in the whole 40k universe. The models are amazing, and I’ve talked many times about how the Neophyte Hybrids are the best-looking troops in the entire line.

I want to take it slow, though. All too often, I’ve had thoughts about building an army, starting with just a small force, then adding on from there, but then before I even put brush to plastic, I’m planning the next stage, and the next one, and it becomes a nonsense! I’ve done this with Chaos and, to a lesser extent, Sisters. I know that life is different for me now, but I do sometimes think back to the glory days of 7th edition, when I just bought a Dark Eldar army and, pretty much in 6-7 months had the majority of it fully painted! I’ve churned out many a list for the Cult, but still haven’t really gotten anywhere with the army – so it’s time for that to change!

I’ve got so many models for this army, and have been faffing about with them for what feels like centuries now, after all. So after some rumination for a while, I’ve decided that I need to get my finger out and actually finish off some of these miniatures. I have given it all some thought, anyway, and have come up with a 500-point list (of 9th edition points) using the miniatures that I already have built and ready – and in some cases, almost finished. It’s not the first time I’ve tried to start things off with 500 points, but I’m a lot more hopeful this time! In theory, at least, it should be a fully-functioning list for Combat Patrol, the 500-point format, while also providing a useful core from which to build out further. Because of course I’m going to be going huge with these guys!

The thing with this army, of course, is how cheap some of the stuff is, which turns things into a bit of a horde feel, hence why I’ve amassed so many of them! But with such detailed models, it does end up scaring me a little. I mean, 60 Neophytes must be a delight to see finished on the tabletop, but getting there – jeez!

The Primus is my current warlord, the trait giving the enemy -1 to hit on shooting attacks against him, and the relic allowing him to do mortal wounds at the end of the charge (plus a 4+ invuln!) I say ‘current’ because I really want to have a Patriarch at the heart of this army and, under the current rules at least, the Patriarch must be the warlord when he’s included.

I’ve talked before about my dreams of having a Hybrid Metamorph bomb go off, and I’ve got the beginnings of this here, with the five guys plus the Primus. I’m giving them the Goliath Truck, rather than including the Magus for psychic stuff, to help deliver them into combat. My one and only game with the army, back between lockdowns in July 2020, saw me mess up the sequencing with them and it really didn’t come to pass, because they were shot off the board before anything could really happen. Not this time, though! Of course, I’m still largely working with models that I built before I really knew what I wanted from them, back when 7th edition was still a thing, so I might yet revisit them and change things up. But that could well be a task for when the Codex drops.

My main preoccupation here is going to be the Neophytes, I think. They’re just such good looking models, I really want to try and nail these troops so that I have a nice workable backbone for the army. I’m actually considering massive units of 20 models when the time comes for some big games, but I suppose we’ll see. They’re one of my favourite units though, visually, and so I definitely want to use them in the force.

The list, then, consists of 32 models (32 models in a 500-point match sounds like a lot, but they’re really quite poor in terms of survivability, remember, everything has a 5+ save and toughness 3, so it’s not like I’m going with an elite force here! My plan is simply to make sure I get this list finished before the New Year. I’m not saying I need to focus solely on these guys, particularly as I have a few other bits and pieces that I’m currently working on, but I’m kinda throwing everything else out the window now, so long as I finish these models I’m gonna be happy. I can still paint some Necrons, some terrain etc, but I want to get these guys done. Then I might look at painting up the next chunk by Easter, and on it goes!

At several points, I’ve mentioned expanding the force. Now, I think my problem in the past has always been to write out a full 1500 point list, or whatever, and because everything is so cheap, I end up looking down the barrel of about 100 models to paint, and it just turns me off. If ever there was an army designed for the slow-grow, this was surely it! But I hope that by taking it in slow chunks, I can actually stand a chance of getting it finished! But I’m not going to focus on them to the exclusion of all else, either, in the hope of keeping the project fresh for me – because even taking it in chunks, there’s a lot of models to paint!!

I’m not abandoning my Tyranids either, and fully intend to carry on painting those chaps along the way! I think, at the minute, I’m happy to just bumble along and paint up what I can, I’m not trying to rush and get my bugs finished as well. The Cultists have been languishing for so long though, they really do need some love.

And the lore is just so damn good, too, you know? I might have to do another blog about that soon…

2018 in review

Happy New Year, everyone!
It’s time to go all traditional, and all, and look back at my hobby year for 2018!

It’s been quite the year, I have to say! Despite some monumental events, including getting married in September, I’m glad to have been able to keep going with hobby stuff. I’ve definitely built more than I’ve painted, but of course that is always the case, really! Starting really quite early, I built this beautiful beast 12 months ago, though he sadly still languishes in the same state after all this time!

I really need to get a move on and make some decisions as regards my Tyranids.

I’ve done quite well with the Great Reanimation of my Necrons, getting a good number of units painted up, including the beautiful new Cryptek model. I’ve still got a way to go with the army, for sure, but having only had one unit of Immortals painted in the new Thokt dynasty scheme back in 2017, this year has seen a real surge! Splendid stuff.

2018 saw me start a couple of armies, most notably the Tau. I’m in a bit of a weird position with this army now, as I feel like it was a bit of a distraction for me while I was waiting for the Dark Eldar codex. I did enjoy building up the models, for sure, and I think there is still a place for them in my collection, but probably nowhere near as many models as I have ended up with! So I’m going to be looking through both the Tau and Tyranid collections in an effort to thin out some of the dead wood, so to speak, and make sure I only keep enough models for small forces of each that I want to actually play with. Famous last words, probably, but still!

I’ve made significant strides with yet another xenos force, the Genestealer Cults!

I was really quite surprised that I even managed to finish these guys, as I’ve been working at them for a long time now, but always seemed to be putting them off for one reason or another. Kill Team, in that respect, was a good thing for me, as it made me finish painting them up, and indeed to get moving with more models for the force:

Being a horde army, though, I’m still nowhere near to having the required number of models for the force, but I think I’m suitably inspired to keep going. Slow and steady, and all that!

I’ve been steadily progressing with my Dark Eldar, though having painted up pretty much the entire army in 2017, 2018 has definitely been a slower year for the dark kin. I’ve got plenty built up, for sure, mainly due to having formed the plans for the army during 7th edition, but we’ll see how many models get painted during 2019…

In terms of smaller scale games, I’ve painted up some Van Saar gangers for Necromunda, and have started work on the Elucidian Starstriders, but this is where things get interesting, as I started looking back into fantasy after all these years, with the new iteration of Warhammer Underworlds.

It was a lot of fun, and it has led to getting myself into a very ghostly mess!

The Nighthaunt models are beautiful, but I’m also vacillating between Idoneth Deepkin and Chaos Beastmen in creating my first army for the new Age of Sigmar. It’s definitely going to be one of them, though I’ll most likely also be picking up some of these new grots models in time. I do enjoy squigs!

Finally, I’ve been working on some of the Chaos Cultists that I’ve had hanging about for years, inspired by the weird and wonderful underbelly of 40k that we got to glimpse in Blackstone Fortress!

This game was quite the boon to me, as it inspired not only the Cultists but also work on the Electro-Priests that had similarly been hanging about for years – all in all, then, it was very much well-received!

I wonder what 2019 will see for my hobby! Hopefully some of those models that I’ve built up over the last year will see themselves finished!!

I’ve definitely enjoyed my hobby time this year, but in order to make sure I stay focused during the coming year, I’ve drawn up a list of hobby resolutions as a lot of folks have been doing over on instagram:

There is a nice mix, I feel, between some of the more wide-ranging stuff with the Grey Knights and the Nighthaunt, and more focused goals for things like the Neophytes and Doomsday Ark. There is bound to be more that distracts me as the year goes on, of course – I’m looking forward to the Genestealer Cults getting their bikers, for sure! Whether Inquisitors come out for Kill Team is anyone’s guess, though I’m fairly positive I’ll go heavily into this one!

I’m going to be writing up my Hobby Progress blogs on the last day of each month as 2019 goes on, so it should keep me motivated to stay on track. Exciting times ahead, at any rate!!

Genestealer Cult thoughts

Hey everybody!
Following on from Monday’s blog where I took stock of where I was at with my Genestealer Cult force to date, I’ve been giving some thought to where I want to take the miniatures that I have available to me right now, and see if I can try to build a list using those. It’s been an interesting exercise, while I’ve been trying to compile the points values using the upcoming Chapter Approved leaks for 2018 to make it as accurate as I can for the time being, but I’ve come up with something that will hopefully give me some interesting stuff to do on the tabletop.

Without further ado, then, here is the list itself:

It’s exactly the sort of thing that I like to go for – troops-heavy, with a few interesting bits on the side to add some interest. These “interesting bits” currently comprise the Acolyte Hybrids, which I would be intending to deploy through Cult Ambush in order to get them better where I want them. But the list is flexible enough that I would be looking to swap some of this stuff out as I get more familiar with it, possibly for just a few more mining weapons in the squad, or possibly swapped altogether in favour of something like Hybrid Metamorphs or Purestrains – indeed, it feels a little bit weird to be writing a GSC list with no actual genestealers in there!

The Goliath kit is one that I really like, as it creates a vehicle that we otherwise just don’t see the like of in 40k. I built my first one as a Truck, which is just lovely, but I have another waiting in the wings, and I’m going to build that as a Rockgrinder, because all of that drilldozer blade goodness is just too hilarious not to use in an army! I have no idea if such a thing would be any good, of course, but it would definitely look good!

I’m a bit gutted that I don’t have the space in here for the Leman Russ, but I think that would definitely be a step too far. Hopefully the Rockgrinder will be enough punch, but I do like the fact that I’m keeping this pretty much pure Genestealer Cults, without shoring it up through Guard models. But it would be a beautiful addition…

Talking of beautiful additions, of course, we also have a load of good stuff on its way when the Codex arrives! While it might be a bit foolish to hope for even more new models to come when the book comes out, I think adding in a biker force will be a major priority for me, and I would think the Acolytes would be the first things to go. I do like the idea of having this element in my army, so I’m definitely looking forward to picking up some bikes when they’re released!

I have got some points spare, of course, and I’m hoping that I’d be able to slip this gent in there once he comes out as well. It’s a really iconic look for the army, and definitely the sort of miniature that I can see people rushing to get just for the fact that he’s looking to take over Warhammer World! Of course, if I can get him in the list as it stands, that would mean I have two battalions there, which would be nice! But I’m really trying to not build my lists around the incessant need to keep generating tons of command points. I’d rather play with something that I actually want to use, than include things because I need that second HQ for a battalion, or whatever.

I still have a long way to go before this list is painted, sadly. There are fifty-two models in the list, including the two familiars, and I have less than 20 painted up right now. They’re all so fabulously detailed that I feel I need to make a real attempt to show off that detail, but my goodness, does it make it hard going!

In the meantime, I’m trying to get through it all by thinking along the lines of just painting up a small force for Necromunda, or Kill Team – painting for the latter is how I managed to get those Neophytes finished that had been hanging about in various stages of completion up to this summer. Hopefully thinking of a lower model count will help me to get through it all this time, anyway!

There’s nothing quite like seeing a collection of Neophyte Hybrids painted up nicely, though, so it’ll all be worthwhile in the end!

Genestealer Cult update!

Hey everybody,
We’re getting closer and closer to the time when we’re finally going to see the Genestealer Cult codex drop, so it’s about time I started to think about my own uprising in the name of the four-armed emperor, as I feel like I’ve got these gribblies coming out of my ears right now!

I’ve been a fan of these Cultists for a long time now, and their release in the autumn of 2016 was just a fantastic time to be in the hobby, as we got to see so many classic 40k ideas come into plastic form with these guys. I wouldn’t say that the Cultists necessarily brought about that kind of grimdark renaissance, but it feels a bit like their return has paved the way for more of the mundane side of 40k life to come to the fore, with things like the Necromunda minis and Rogue Trader for Kill Team. It’s a side of the universe that isn’t all about massive Knights or plasma cannons and stuff; instead, it’s the little people with their crappy guns gathering up en masse.

With the new Codex, which I believe current speculation is placing at the end of January for a release, we’re expecting to see a slew of new models, mainly of the Cultists on bikes, but also a couple more HQs such as the gunslinger Primus, and the chap planning his invasion of Warhammer World. I really can’t wait to get my hands on these guys!

My own force has been causing me agonies for a while now, as I had initially planned to have a two-part army consisting of the mining cult and the guardsmen cult, the latter allowing for all manner of tanks.

I’ve since moved away from this idea, instead thinking about fielding them with a detachment of Tyranids, so that they will be fighting alongside the big bugs they worship. I’ve decided to paint the Tyranids that I’m keeping in the same colour as the classic genestealer colourscheme of blue and purple, so I think they’ll fit in alongside them quite nicely.

This summer, I was really quite focused on getting at least some units for the Cult fully painted up, and managed to get a grand total of two units finished. This was partly due to Kill Team, of course, where I initially wanted to play the Cultists, though that didn’t really end well for me! So I managed to get eleven Neophytes finished (one squad of ten, plus an icon bearer), as well as a squad of five Acolytes, and one Purestrain! Hurrah!

The Acolytes in particular were quite pleasing to get done, as they are some very beautiful models with a classic Cultist look to them. However, special mention must go to the Neophytes, perhaps the best-looking troops choice in the entire game right now!

These guys have been haunting me since Deathwatch: Overkill came out, and I started my work on painting up a cult of them back in 2016. They are incredibly detailed for troops, with loads of pouches and straps all over the place, and I found it really heavy-going trying to make a decent stab of it with them – so much so, in fact, that earlier this year I was thinking about trying an alternative scheme to make life easier for myself! But I’m sticking with my now-established Cult of the Bladed Cog, so hopefully soon I’ll be able to crack on and get more of these glorious miniatures painted – I mean, it’s not like I don’t have enough waiting for me in the wings…

This is quite a ridiculous number of Genestealer Cultists, I feel, though by the same token, I suppose it’s pretty average for what basically amounts to a horde army. With the amount of crappy weaponry available to them, Neophytes are possibly best spammed to the max, so it was on this basis that I started to play around with an army list for them at the back end of 2017.

So what have I actually got here? Going off the Index points values, of course, I’ve surprised myself by having well over 1700 points of these guys, so that’s quite impressive! Though most of that comes from the 60 Neophytes that I’m not sure I’ll ever need. But still, it’s nice to have them for that horde feel!

Genestealer Cults list

The list will hopefully come down a bit when we finally get our Codex, anyway, so it was one of my driving reasons for getting this blog published sooner rather than later, as I wanted to put this out here beforehand to see how it compares when the book hits. There are a couple of changes that I’d like to make, for sure, and I think I’d like to get some more Metamorphs but not use quite so many Acolytes, so there is a certain element of flux here. I think I’ll probably be giving this some more thought over the festive period, anyway, as I’ve very much built a list out of everything I have here, rather than thinking about what I actually want out of the army and then building the models to match the list.

And things will no doubt change again when the Codex comes out, and we get those awesome new models to go alongside!

Rampant Speculation, and more!

Hey everybody!
It probably hasn’t escaped anybody’s notice that tomorrow is the start of the Vigilus Weekender, a two day event at Warhammer World, where GW are going to announce “something big” for us all. Intrigued? Well, I am!

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Vigilus Calls. The Imperium will answer…

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This “something big” could, of course, be anything. I’ve been reading a lot online where people have suggested it could be the return of Abaddon, or it could be Marneus Calgar as a dreadnought, based on the teaser video GW posted yesterday. Frankly, both of those things could well be true, as it wouldn’t be a massive stretch of the imagination to learn that the Black Legion has shown up on the hotly-contested battleground, and given how sidelined Marneus Calgar was during the Dark Imperium novel, I think it would be so cool to see him come back as a relic dreadnought to really kick some ass.

I suppose the problem with that last could be that it feels like such a huge event, it should be in a novel. Calgar’s last stand, his heroic death and eventual reincarnation in the sarcophagus of a dreadnought – it’s too much to just bring out the model and say, “oh yeah, he’s in there now”. Maybe they’ll announce the tie-in book, though something just feels a little off about that. Sure, there has been a build-up for months now, with all the box sets coming out! But who knows?!

Abaddon and the Black Legion are a very safe bet, as it feels like the Blackstone Fortress stuff is going to be heralding a new age for Chaos. If we don’t get more Chaos Space Marines in the mould of those chaps from the boxed game, then I don’t know anything, anymore! I’ve talked about this extensively in the past, but I would love to see GW come out with a full Black Legion release, making use of the new minis as well as the Chaos Renegades such as Traitor Guard and Beastmen, with maybe some sort of campaign book rather than a full Codex. A Black Legion Codex just seems like a silly thing, to me. I am really excited to see how GW progress with the new models from Blackstone Fortress, however, so I’m probably talking about them a great deal because I’m just so interested!!

Personally, I would love to see the announcement of the Genestealer Cults Codex come out of this weekend. We know that they’re an active force on Vigilus, and while they have only recently had Tooth and Claw devoted to them, I would like to see this be a major thing to come out of the weekend. Preferably with a pre-order to boot! But between a Codex, the new Aberrant models, maybe the new Abominant, and of course the gunslinger Primus, this is a Codex release that would actually feel like a new army release once more. It’s the last of the regular Codexes from 7th edition to have the 8th edition treatment, so why not go out with a bang? We could even be seeing more new releases for the army that we hadn’t been expecting – I mean, who was expecting that Abominant?

Equally, I would love it to be something entirely out of left field, that comes as a complete surprise to us all. Codex: Dark Mechanicum, with a whole new line of models after the Negavolt Cultists!

But it’s most likely to involve Primaris Marines, so there is that…

Anyway! Whatever is involved this weekend, I’m just rubbing my hands with anticipation!

In other news, I’ve picked up my copy of Blackstone Fortress today, and have put together a little unboxing video in the way that I used to for these things! I haven’t made a youtube video for a while now, though that is at least partly due to the fact I was moving house so didn’t get a chance to keep going there. Might get back into it all sometime, once things calm down again! Of course, it feels like there are enough miniatures in the Blackstone Fortress box to keep me busy until Christmas, so I may have other things to occupy my time!

I’ve been busy building some units for the Ravenwing portion of my Dark Angels army that I talked about in some depth the other day, so I currently have the bikers from Dark Vengeance (that I eventually bought from ebay, as I couldn’t find my own – they were a nightmare to fix up, but got there in the end!) and a Talonmaster that was built out of a landspeeder and the Ravenwing upgrade sprue. I’ve also put together this little beauty:

I’ve had this kit for years, and have been recently on the fence as to whether to keep it or not, but having now built it up, I’m really chuffed that I did! It looks amazing, and I can’t wait to get it painted!

I’ve also been building AdMech stuff, which is exciting – I’d previously built a Tech Priest Dominus, but the model broke, so it’s nice to have another one to get painted.

While building both the Tech Priest and the Darkshroud, I was thinking about how amazingly detailed these models are, and how I really want to do them justice. So I’m really looking forward to getting started on them, as a little winter painting project. This hopefully won’t impact too much on the plans I talked about the other day, of course!!

Anyway, it’s been a busy time for building, and with the arrival of Blackstone Fortress, it’s going to be even busier! But I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes next from this weekend’s event!!

Sin of Damnation

Hey everybody!
I recently finished reading the novella Sin of Damnation, also known as Space Hulk: the novel, so thought I’d turn this week into some kind of Warhammer 40k nostalgia week and talk about it here for a bit!

The novella runs to just under 100 pages, and reads a lot like a disaster movie. It’s basically a novelisation of the events of the classic board game, and takes us though the Blood Angels first company boarding the space hulk Sin of Damnation. I thought it was quite funny how it felt a little like a RPG storyline, with the terminators fulfilling objectives aboard the space hulk at the direction of the off-screen Captain Raphael, who seemed to be some kind of weird GM.

Of course, there is a lot of space marine vs genestealer action in the book, with some really nicely written parts from the point-of-view of the Broodlord. While the story lacks the scope of something like Shield of Baal: Deathstorm, there is nevertheless the sense that this is the antecedent of the Shield of Baal storyline.

As the story went on, I thought it was interesting to note that there were multiple Broodlords within the hulk, something I guess I hadn’t thought about previously. Just assumed that there’d be one overall leader that directed the hive mind. But there we go!

The book also includes a second short story that was published in the 2014 edition, Sanguis Irae, which follows the librarian Calistarius on another hulk, as he delves into the mind of a long-comatose Blood Angel who has managed to preserve his life despite being in the grip of the Black Rage, enough to allow his battle brothers to defeat a Navigator-Broodlord aboard the vessel. That was weird, I have to say, and I found myself trying to work out how such a creature would come to be – presumably a member of the Navis Nobilite was infected by a genestealer, so the child was both purestrain and a navigator? Who knows. The story was quite intriguing in the way it blended the recollections of the Black Rage guy, along with the fact that the Black Rage basically makes a Blood Angel believe he is Sanguinius in his final moments aboard the Vengeful Spirit. The three timelines of the story worked quite well, at any rate, and it wasn’t as confusing as perhaps it could have been!

Anyway, all this talk of genestealers has me wanting to share with you all some progress with my own brood!

As you know, I’ve been struggling for years now to get my Genestealer Cult models painted – I love the army, and love the models, but find it extremely difficult to actually make any headway with the force, due to the models being so insanely detailed. I recently managed to finish 11 Neophyte Hybrids, which I think has helped a great deal to see how I can get the colour scheme painted in bulk, and have therefore been ploughing ahead with some Acolyte Hybrids this time around – as well as the first of my Purestrains!

The minis are definitely coming along nicely, I think! I’m a little concerned that they look a bit too blue in comparison with the Neophytes, but they are more hunched, so it is slightly more difficult to make out the points of similarity between the two troops choices. But they’re painted with the same fatigues, armour and such – it’s just that the Acolytes have more carapace on show!

I’m quite pleased that I’ve managed to get these painted in a little less than a month, however – especially considering there has been a lot of Necron activity going on in the month, also!

I’m pretty much committed to playing the Cult in Kill Team for now, anyway, so I’ve got a few more models I want to paint up for that, then I’ll have my main force finished. My local GW has a campaign starting on the 15th, though I’m currently away on honeymoon so won’t be able to join in with that quite yet! Once I have my Cult sorted though, I’ll be able to focus once more on getting the Necrons reanimated in the Thokt Dynasty colour scheme, and that will likely take me up to the end of the year! Splendid!

Kill Team – I finally played it!

Hey everybody!
Yes, that’s right, the game is two weeks old now, and I’ve finally gotten round to playing it. I suppose, after seeing my facebook feed filled with posts in the 40k Skirmish Community page, it was time to actually see what the fuss was all about!

I took along a group of 15 Genestealer Cultists (not all of them painted…) and had an absolute blast, though was pretty badly brutalised in both the games we managed to play. That brings me to my first point, however: ordinarily, I play at my local GW for about 4 hours on a Friday evening, and games usually get to round 3 at the most. That’s probably due to the fact I play a lot of games against Orks, and have tailored a Drukhari list to be horde-based as well, but even so! Getting two full games in one night, as opposed to a bit of a game, is actually really good value for money, and I’m quite impressed!

My opponent was a chap called Kev, against whom I’ve played a couple of games, either with Tau or Necrons against his Deathwatch. This time, he was sticking with the power armour, and brought five Grey Knights. First of all, then, you can see that my force was three times the number of his, but if you know anything about anything, you’ll probably realise that Genestealer Cultists are pretty weak and pathetic, and really require that horde mentality to just drown an opponent in bodies. 15 wasn’t the maximum I could have taken, for sure, as I’m sure a pure Neophyte list would easily get to 20 models, but I’d allowed for just 11 of the regular chaps, alongside a Metamorph, two Acolytes, and a Purestrain. It was a fairly nice mix, I thought, but none of those combat-orientated gentlemen could make it across the table in one piece, and so I was pretty decimated, relying on just a single Neophyte gunner and the rest of my dudes to carry the day.

Unsurprisingly, the day was not carried!

See, not only are Genestealer Cultists physically weak in comparison to anything in power armour, but their weapons are also pretty terrible when talking about ranged firepower. I don’t think there was anything above S3 in my list! Trying to position myself to get unobstructed shots left me woefully out in the open in turn, so I could either risk being shot outright, or else I was hitting and wounding on 5s, which I’m not very good at doing!

The best moments for me came when I suddenly remembered, in my second game, that I had blasting charges on everybody, and managed to get one of them as five shots, though sadly all of the damage I ever inflicted all night was saved!

So I think Genestealer Cults vs Grey Knights is a really bad match-up.

We played two games, as I said, and while we didn’t actually link them together as a campaign, I think the system in the book is actually a really nice way of implementing such a thing. There’s a lot of negativity that I’ve seen about the fact they’re selling dice packs with d10s “just for the campaign stuff that nobody is bothering with anyway”, but I think it’s currently too early in the game’s life to be saying such things. We’ve already seen the NOVA open stuff they’ve put out, and a flurry of posts have happened recently where local stores (my own, included) are going to be kicking off store campaigns from next month, which actually makes a lot of sense as we do need to get to grips with the actual rules first of all!

I do love the new terrain that they’ve produced for the game, I think that looks really cool. While perhaps not as exciting as the Sector Mechanicus, it does nevertheless feel very grim-dark, and I have to say, I’m having a hard time not snapping up that Basilicanum. I’m getting married next month though, and would like to have some money left for the honeymoon…

Overall, then, I think my first impressions of the game were really good. It doesn’t so much feel like just a small-scale version of 40k, but instead definitely has its own feel. The turn structure is slightly different, which did take some getting used to at first, but I actually think I prefer some things (charges in the movement phase feels about right, somehow!)

Squad building was something I wasn’t entirely sure I’d like as much as I have ended up doing. Having every single chap be his own man seemed a little daunting to me somehow, like it’s easier to keep track of a blob of models, but when each one has its own personality, it just felt like it would be too much. That’s probably one of the perils of having a larger team (that and Nerve tests… urgh…) Suffice it to say, though, once I’d gone through that Lithuanian baby names website to name all 15 members of my cult, I’d gotten into the process quite a great deal, and have since been planning similar adventures for more Kill Teams that I have on paper. Good ol’ fashioned English names for my Tempestus Scions? Damn right!

So anyway, I’ll leave you with the make-up of my Cultist kill-team as I played it last night – I think against non-power-armoured armies it might be a little more fun to play, but I’m also thinking of a few swaps I want to make to add a bit more oomph to the roster overall…

Cult of the Bladed Cog kill team