After reading the Index: Imperium 1, the Forge World Index: Imperial armour of Adeptus Astartes and the novel Dark Imperium, all in all I am very hyped about this new age of Warhammer 40K that we are getting.
There are, however, some issues being raised and heated discussions going on about some rules, some fluff things and other issues that came up since the launch of 8th. Quite clearly, the “after the break” section WILL contain spoilers. Be wary ye who enter there.
With fair warning out of the way, let’s ramble about things that are related, unrelated and completely fictional. Please forgive the not-so coherent and a bit chaotic approach, I have only the topics I want to share my thoughts on, but no specific structure or way to link those topics…
Primaris Marines – I for one gladly welcomed Primaris Marines in my Consecrators force. The models are just beautiful, big and nicely done and I am waiting for more and proper models to be released, so I can go to army building. Based on Dark Imperium novel, we have nice things coming – for example Aggressor Primaris Marines, who are heavily armoured (Gravis armour even more reinforced than the Company Master/Captain model from starter set has), with cyclone launcher mounted – so clearly, we might get new Terminators. I do not even see any issues with fluff implications. These Primaris Marines were gathered even before the fall of Caliban, in Dark Imperium (novel) they radiate the same doom and gloom attitude similar to the Dark Angels we know, all brooding and… well… not fun. One big remaining (not really) question in regards to Primaris reinforcements is their implementation into Unforgiven structures with all the Inner Circle and secrets going around. For me, this has not been an issue even from the start, as any new Space Marine we induct into any of our chapters is a blank sheet and needs to be properly lied to and indoctrinated anyway – therefore I do not see any issue with Primaris Marines being privy to Inner Circle secrets (at the command level). The only thing that will take me a bit longer to implement, fluff-wise, will be Primaris Interrogator Chaplains. Again, same reasoning, do not see why not, but given the nature of Unforgiven, I guess Primaris Interrogator Chaplain would be under such paranoid scrutiny before let loose into the field, that these will take time. I am quite happy that even Gav Thorpe is basically of similar opinion, albeit he sees a little bit further down the line than me:
I think we can all guess how new Dark Angels will be received… Though to be fair, the Inner Circle has perfected the art of lying to around 80% of the Chapter already, so a few new faces around the place doesn’t change that. It would be more a case of slowly inculcating the recruits into the Chapter mysteries and completing the Chapter-approved psychodoctrination by the Chaplains, and then they would be like most of the battle-brothers. But… Newcomers might have a tendency to ask awkward questions so there would be a certain degree of segregation.
This led me to creating a fluff background of 6th Strike Company for my Consecrators force (operating under the assumption Consecrators are very small chapter, not even at full 10 chapter strength as Codex would suggest – if unofficial chapter would bother following that).
Cypher – this is the fluff point that has my knickers in twist. After reading Gathering Storm, I plunged into reading Dark Imperium with expectations that we will know more about Cypher’s role in the history of Imperium since the fall of Caliban. You see, for me Cypher is a good guy and if this story arc does not end with great twist, then I will be very disappointed. This in no way means that I condone Fall of Caliban or that I think Fallen do not need to repent. However, I believe, and so far I couldn’t really find a fluff indication of being wrong, that Cypher is actually good guy. Anytime he resurfaces, he does not fuck shit up for the sake of fucking shit up. Usually he has very good agenda and plan and most of the time he’s even fighting for the good guy’s side only to bail out before certain Chapter lands and starts purging the planet because of his sightings. Furthermore, the more I think about HH novels of Dark Angels and how pragmatic, borderline feral Lion’s instincts and approach was – try to remove the “OH-EM-GEE TRAITOR” optic of the modern age Dark Angels fluff; I dare to say what is left is very pragmatic Dark Angel, in the very original spirit of what our Legion was.
Anyways, back to the original point. If you want to pick up Dark Imperium only because you want to know what happened to Cypher after he has been locked up by our friendly Custodes – don’t. There is not a single mention of Cypher in the book. Which I find strange, but on the other hand that suggests that we might actually get a full fledged novel about this topic. And we better get it soon. You see, the gripe I have with Dark Imperium novel is, that many times we see Guilliman who is completely off, musing and borderline depressed when he goes through events as they transpired in his stasis times. He desperately wants someone to connect to, to talk about good old days and wishes there would be someone who has been through the same. But not once does he mention the Legion armoured Dark Angel that wears his brother’s sword. Not once. Let’s hope we get a full book soon then!
Rules, Index, Codex – our ruleset is out, and in general, nothing changed. We can still use only limited equipment (for some reason), we have same Characters (although now worth taking) and we have access to about 95% same loadouts that we had. As with any edition/rules change, there are now units not as good, units that you have maybe glued together that are now illegal. But that’s just the cycle of life. Improvements came on Forge World stuff, where we can use pretty much anything that is really not specific to certain fringe chapter (1 or 2 Minotaur flier iirc) and of course, things specifically designed to Inquisition etc.
Personally, I have a feeling that the rulebooks were rushed. Reading some of the unit profiles, I cannot help but think that if I actually replaced all as they suggest, my model would have to carry a wheelbarrow with him to haul all the additional equipment he can take on top of sword, bolter, bolt pistol etc. The ruleset is sound, they really managed to do what I hoped – keep the intricate depth of 40K and it’s tactical level, but make it more about what’s going on on the table rather than constant checking of 300 page book. And that has been delivered.
That being said, I am a bit skeptical about the deliverance that the new Codexes everyone is expecting will bring. First off – there is the simple logical point that’s contradicting the expectations. Either they will release them soon – which in order to improve anything would mean they must’ve already had them finished, which in turn does not align with the state of the rules that have been released. The other possibility is the Codex will come later, in the next 12 months and… yeah. You don’t want to wait this long and keep your hopes up. I am definitely looking forward to it, especially seeing the quality of Battletomes Age of Sigmar is getting – that is basically our good old Codex, but more oriented on fluff etc. I just don’t expect to solve any issues with how our army can be equipped.
Named character discussion – there have been ongoing huge debates about the rule forbidding us to take our named characters with any other keyword but <Dark Angels>. I consider the hysteria around these to be completely strange and despite trying to post some reasonable opinions, the posts keep going on and on and again and again they are posted, therefore I decided I’ll save myself the time.
But, since this is my blog, I can easily compile my thoughts here. To start, I absolutely, 100%, completely agree with this rule. I cannot take Azrael, Supreme Grand Master of Dark Angels into my Consecrator force and pretend he is Consecrator so he confers his bonuses to my units. However, I do not absolutely see anything in the rules preventing me to bring Nakir, Grand Master of Consecrators into the battle as counts-as Azrael. There are only two situations when I expect conflict may arise:
- Opponent claims counts-as is not allowed, the model has to be Azrael and does not confer bonus to the army. Luckily, I do not expect to run into such person since we do not really do pick-up games here. Regardless, if he would be really insisting then I simply say I am playing Dark Angels. I presume that someone with this attitude would proceed directly to the argument that “Dark Angels are green, so these are not Dark Angels”. In which case I would give up since I do not have time, nor energy to argument with dickhead. If anyone wants to go to this length to ruin your fun with a hobby… well… yeah.
- Tournament – to tournament (as I want to participate in 8th) the solution is simple; I just simply claim I play Dark Angels for rules purposes to make it easier and avoid any quarrels, as it is usually tournaments that people get little bit worked up about winning etc. Still, no issue.
Whoa. Time to close the long-winded post for now. There are plenty more topics I want to share, but I think this is good enough for one post.
Never forget, never forgive!
The Consecrators project 