Age of Sigmar Models Revealed

Sorry this is brief as it is from my phone.
Age of Sigmar models.

To say the least I am disappointed that they have thrown away the uniqueness of Fantasy in favor of what are essentially Space Marines crossed with Warmachine.

Round bases too. And judging by the size of the models, my guess is this is at least over $230.

As well, they are all weilding hammers. It is as if some exec asked why the game is called Warhammer and no matter what explanation the design team gave, he decided there actually needed to be more hammers.

An Analogy for Age of Sigmar (if the current rumours are true)

So there are the current rumours for Age of Sigmar. It seems RADICALLY DIFFERENT. And ALL THE ARMY BOOKS ARE BEING PULLED JULY 26th! So get your stuff while you can.

I for one hope they are not true, but if they are, I can see myself finally acquiring my lizardman army off of ebay pretty easily and playing a bunch of oldhammer.

Anywho, here is my analogy:

(BTW this is humour, and done to illustrate the absurdity of the new AoS rumours IMOHO).

This year not only sees the re-envisioning of one classic world of geekdom (Warhammer) but another as well.

I am talking about Star Wars.

Now the trailers are out for this and it seems that we are in safe hands. But what if JJ Abrams decided to
1- Make sexy, lithe female Wookies and call them Wogs. (wikipedia link)

"We don't serve their kind here!"

2- Decide that droids aren't important any more. He can't get rid of them, but pushes them as far from the limelight as possible

3- Renamed the Millenium Falcon the Eagle 5 and made it a Winnebago.

4- Decided that there should no long be a light side and a dark side to the force, but instead a Rainbow of Force, so you can be ROYGBIV aligned, and even mix and match!
5- Renames everything we know. Coruscant is now Metro-neo-oplis, and Mandolorians are now Mercenarinites and they have gods known as the War-four (because there are four of them)

6- A bunch of stuff that seems oddly like Star Trek, Battlestar Galatica, and Firefly just works its way in. Plus a lot of lens flare.
7- AND ALL OF THIS IS KEPT UNDER WRAPS UNTIL THE WEEK BEFORE RELEASE!!!

Why the new "leaked" Dark Angels formation pictures are most likely fake

EDIT: SO more and more stuff is pointing to this being LEGIT in WD, and most likely what the formations consist of. HOWEVER, don't go looking for new models in it. It is the personal army of Adam Troke. Additionally, there are some photoshops in it still (particularly in the demi company and the Redemption force).

So on BoLS these two pictures popped up in an article today. I believe they are fake/photoshopped. I could be wrong, but there are just WAY too many old models, conversions and just plain old lack of studio standards on these models to be White Dwarf publishable to me.

First of all, the images lay FLAT while the page is attempting to look curved and square with the light reflecting. Particularly the Tanks and the Scouts. They look placed onto the page.

The only thing that looks legit in a way is the Interrogator chaplain, but that image could have been taken from what has been leaked already and photoshopped in to give this legitimacy. However, in a way he hurts it, because he is the only new model for the DA release shown. The only other new model is the SM Assault Squad, all of which are lacking any DA upgrade bits at that.

Now I am going to break it down formation by formation. I am circling the most obvious things to me. I may be missing even more.

#1- The Demi-company

1- The complete lack of the new Dark Angels Upgrade Sprue, with that winged helmet and cool sword.

2- The WHFB Empire General Banner on the Dreadnought

3- Old devastators. They would show off the new kit.

4- What appear to be 3 photoshop mistakes. A blurry Missile Launcher, a blurry flamer, and something weird going on around that Sergeant in the bottom right

5- A handmade banner on the captain.

6- The captain is himself a conversion from the Emperor's Champion.

#2- Ravenwing Attack Squadron

1- These all seem to be NON-studio. Check the studio bikes here. 

2- The Landspeeder driver is red, unlike every other Landspeeder driver on the Ravenwing boxes ever.

3- None of the bolters have a drilled out or painted barrel. They are all just flat silver.

4- None of the lights are painted yellow, like every studio SM bike

5- None of the feathers have the blue-grey lowlighting they use on the studio models

6- None of the bikes are the newer bikes with plasma guns.

7- The sergeant is in a different pose and painted differently than the studio Sergeant.

#3 The Hammer of Caliban

1- Notice how the top of the picture "curves" a lot more than the bottom

2- All 3 of the predators use a bleached bone accent colour. Something I can never recall the studio doing.

3- 2 of the predators use Raven wing banners on the back of the turrets. The one on the far right just has a crazy conversion on the back.

4- 2 of the Predators use Ravenwing bike cowls on their turrets. The middle one I didn't circle. Not sure if that is an actual bit or a home made piece, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

5- The predator on the far right has a Forgeworld crew member and a Forgeworld Rhino Front piece. 

#4- Scouts

1- 2nd Edition Scouts! Really. These would never be shown off by GW in a magazine.

2- 4 of the 5 newer scouts have heads from various different kits. DA vets and Sternguard maybe? One maybe even Blood Angels (far left circled head)?

#5- Deathwing Redemption Force

1- The two terminator squads are EXACT DUPLICATES. Just a photoshop of the same squad!

2- This is the old librarian that was just discontinued. They would show off the new one.

3- The lettering on the Librarians banner seems subpar for the Studio

4- Not circled, but there are only 4 Knights pictured instead of 5. They are not the studio knights, and they are missing the watcher model that comes with the kit. EDIT; FOUND THE MISSING KNIGHT. He is in the Terminator squad, behind the Assault Cannon guy... out of coherency...

So there you have it. Sorry if this slightly crushes your dreams. It just seems to be an elaborate fake, or a serious departure from the GW policy of showing new stuff and stuff with little customization.

The 10 things I would like to see changed in Blood Angels as a result of the new SM Codex

Well, I would say Codex Blood Angels is quite possibly the biggest loser in comparison to the new Space Marine Codex.

He is executing Codex BA right off the cover to the left.

There are just a lot of improvements to squads and units easily translatable to the Blood Angels codex that now leave the 9th Legion in the dust. Additionally, there are still a few things that are "unique" to SM that BA do not have access to that would help redress this discrepancy.

1- Stormtalon Gunships- This is something I still don't understand WHY?!?! So Blood Angels originally were the only ones with the Storm Raven (back when it was still a skimmer even) and that was cool... then Grey knights got it. Okay, that isn't terrible. Then GW realized they could sell A LOT more if they just gave it to Codex SM as well. Sure SW and DA don't have it, but they have their own specialist flyers. The Nephilim and Dark Talon for DA (which I am sure will improve with the next book based on the price adjustments of the Storm Talon in codex SM) and the Stormfang/Stormwolf for SW. As well, the BA, as a hold over from the days when they only had the Stormraven, STILL don't have access to all the FW flyers (though this is slowly changing it seems, finally). So, unless they pull another flyer out of no where to be BA specific, they should just give BA the Stormtalon. It makes the most sense for them anyways!

2- Improved Scouts- Do the Ultramarines have a better training regime? Is that it? That is the only possible explanation for the return of their scouts to WS4 BS4 at the same 55pt entry cost. This really hurts BA, as a lot of people consider that they must pay a "Scout Tax" in order to get to their preferred Assault Squads. What is mind blowing here is the lower WS in the chapter dedicated to Close Combat.

3- Landspeeder Storms- An option I still REALLY REALLY WANT. Especially if the Scouts of Blood Angels are fixed to the higher WS and BS. There is not fluff reason to prevent the BA from possessing this speeder variant. I can see the game concern of a scout squad furious charging out of an open topped vehicle, but they are relatively fragile (a AV10 vehicle, 2HP delivery system for 5x 4+ save troops...). It would be a throw away unit, but an effective one. AND it makes sense once more in an army dedicated to the art of running up to someone and punching them. Plus, as a whole it is not a widely taken choice, so I think GW would shift some stock if they sold it to BA players as well (you did this for the stormraven already GW).

4- Cheaper Terminators- I know the TH&SS terminators still cost 45pts like mine do, but I am more concerned with regular terminators, and more importantly for me, the Lightning Claw Terminators. This are great in the new BA codex and I love to take them. To know the SM take the same squad for 35 points less is disheartening. Same for the regular terminators. I am sure DA will get the favourable point treatment, but that leaves us, SW and CSM out in the cold and lacking a significant edge in the elites department comparatively.

5- Grav-cannon Devastators- So I don't need this in the Tactical Squads. I already get heavy flamers there (which I wish I also got in DEV squads, but that is a separate issue). HOWEVER I would really like, and see no reason why I should not be able to get, Grav-cannons in my devastator squads. Once again they make A LOT of sense for BA, seeing as they are Salvo-weapons. This way, my Devs could move and advance with an Assault force. Additionally, since I don't have access to Centurion Devastators either, I have no way to get this weapon.

6- Assault Centurions- Speaking of Centurions, I would at least like Assault Centurions. Giving BA Devastator ones wouldn't make too much sense and could be unbalanced. However, Assault Centurions PERFECTLY fit into the Blood Angels. AND I would say make them a Heavy Support choice. WHAT? Assault in Heavy Support. YES. If anyone should be able to do that it is Blood Angels. Several non-Imperial armies already have this. Tyranids, Daemons, Orks, etc. The Imperium should have one army where this is possible too, and BA should be it. It would also leave the already super crowded Elite slot a little more open and add some versatility to an otherwise simple Heavy Support section, and allow a BA player to make an army 100% dedicated to assault if they so choose to do so.

7- Vehicle and Dreadnought Squadrons- This is just plain obvious. If one SM codex gets to take up to 3 vehicles in a squadron, they all should. No justification for this not happening.

8- Stalkers and/or Hunters- Revisiting the lack of the Stormtalon, why also must BA suffer not having the anti-air tanks. If you counter this with the Baal Predator, then may I remind you that the SM have access to the Sicarin (better than a Baal), Mortis Dreads, Mortis Contemptors, and 3 variants of Dreads and a Thunderfire cannon (not all of that is anti-air, but neither is the Baal). AND nothing BA have, other than the Flakk missiles or fortifications that everyone can get, have Skyfire or Interceptor.

Not my army, but this is what BA should appear as.

9- Assault Squad Troops- While this is something not in the SM codex, bike troopers are. And you don't even have to be White Scars to unlock them. You just need a character on a bike. Dark Angels are likely to get this too, along with Terminator Troops, and it has been long established that Grey Hunters are better than tactical squads (at least in assault). So with all these force variants, why was the signature BA troop choice removed? If it is because of fluff, let me point out that there are more Assault Marine squads in EVERY CHAPTER than scout squads. Additionally, the Blood Angels use their assault squads for front line dirty work, not just support.

10- Character changes- First, Gabriel Seth is a LoW and Pedro Kantor isn't? Why? Really, why GW? Seth shouldn't be one. He is the lowest power level of any LoW in the game. I didn't used to mind this so much, but in games with LoW restrictions, if you really want him, you are possibly loosing your chance to include something like A KNIGHT!!!
MORE IMPORTANTLY THOUGH is Astorath the Grim and his executioner's axe. It is only +1S and strikes at I1, and is 2 handed. On a wound of a 6 it autowounds and has instant death. Now go look at the Emperor's Champion. He has an +2S, AP2 Mastercrafted weapon that also has instant death on a to wound of a 6 (okay, the instant death is only in a challenge. However he must ALWAYS give or take challenges). Just seems that Astorath is at a serious disadvantage here. And his I5 is entirely wasted. The executioner axe has no reason to be unweildy. Or Astorath should have Eternal Warrior to survive to use it against the things he is clearly designed to be used against.

EDIT: SO THERE IS AN 11th GREAT INJUSTICE
4 ATTACK DREADNOUGHTS- All the SM Dreads are 4A base compared to the 2 of the BA dreads. Even the Death Company Dread is only 3 Attacks! How are the close combat dreadnoughts of Blood Angels WORSE than those of every other chapter? This is something that needs an expeditious remedy.

So hopefully a new codex, a reprint, or a significant Errata/FAQ gets done soon for some of these things. Unfortunately, like the days of a I1 Commander Dante, I don't think GW cares.

Gaming on the Fury Road

So I have made it to my destination and should get to unpack my hobby stuff next week.

What is super great is I will be able to game with the guys of Santa Cruz Warhammer, so I am looking forward to that.

One thing I think will be fun in particular is playing some Mad Max: Fury Road style games.

There is a great free rule set called Road Wolf online. Reading through it seems really fun, and flexible. I especially like the "relative motion" mechanic, which minimizes space required to a 4x2 playing area!

I picked up the first of my hotwheels to do this. At less than a dollar each, this is a super cheap game to get into, and there are always garage sales and the like you can find them cheaper at too!

The start of the collection, just found them walking trough target. I'll probably check toy departments whenever I am near one.

Various made up roadsters, a classic Mad Max look. They all already have crazy engine features (one even with a straight seven) that make the converting process even easier.

Left to right: '71 Dodge Charger, Datsun 240Z, '71 El Camino, '68 COPO Camaro.

Not pictured is a Camaro Convertible Concept hot wheel I found in my hotel room about 5 minutes before posting this!

If you notice in the first picture I have two of the "Cockney Cab II"- a hotrod British cab.
Well, I have plans for one of them beyond just a roadster...

I'd also like to take a crack at this

As well, I am going to pick up some weapon parts from Stan Johansen Miniatures and some weathering powders from Secret Weapon.