Aos
Video
Soul wars/forbidden power- slot of nagash stuff
Ghost bone boat spell
Nagash head spell
Ghost bridge
Gryosphere terrain (orium?) - penumbra engine able to be used by any army
Storm vaults opened by the necroquake
2019 new battletome for every Alliance
Video fyreslayers battletome
"Equivalent of endless spells"
Magma monster spell- "force of nature summoned from underground"
Fireball spell
Wall spell
Duardin forge terrain
Looncurse- squig rider ate a fairy
Goblins vs trees?
Underworlds
Kharadron overlords
5 guys- 1 floaty dude, 1 engineer
"Literally brought guns to a knife fight"
War cry
Across the mortal realms chaos mortals send their best to join Archaon's hordes.
6 factions
Gladiator faction
Iron Golems faction "we create war" from the realm of metal. Forge weapons for archaon. Have chaos duardin.
2 new daemons- death chicken and New Jersey devil
8 more AoS factions in addition from across the range
40k
New game this summer
D12s
New apocalypse
New game from the ground up
10k points in an evening
Giant box "mashed battle system"
Future of 40k
New warzones and more faction exploration. Vigilus only the beginning
Fifty shelves of grey
New paint stuff on the way
New tool to make painting easier than ever
Event exclusive model
Next year has 2. Terminator librarian. NOT a primaris marine
Community survey 2019
Coming spring 15th. Prize draw.
3 key areas
-studio
-events
-community site
Prize- new sisters of battle army as soon as it comes out
One last thing
Realm of chaos
Slaneesh keeper of secrets- looks like a hindu god
New enless spells
Slaneesh face spell
Hand hold a mirror spell
Battletome hedoneths of slaneesh
Slaneesh male commander
New masque
All of them will get 40k rules
Q&A
No news on Emperor's Chidren
May see new big models for apoc for factions without any
Primaris fliers seem like a good idea
Alot of war cry stuff for slaves of Darkness
Still working on a 40k list building app. No eta.
Do not need malign sorcery to use forbidden power
More warhammer adventures feedback may see more warhammer adventures things
No news on or primarchs "loyalists are all dead" joke
Cards for 40k? Looking into it.
Will they make more carrion empire box sets- probably not but the minis are coming
No ETA on shadowspear multi part stuff
Will any of the island of blood stuff be made available separately- not likely
Working on a new kill team starter set box
No news on dispossed.
War cry supported by kill team.
No news on chaos Astra militarum
Apoc will have "formations" as the basic unit instead of squads
Conquest in the US- no partner to make it work here yet.
Games Day.coming back? They would rather help existing events. Answer the survey.
For the sake of this article, we are going to take GW at face value and believe them when they say "Old Space Marines aren't going away." I know a lot of people don't believe that. And it is hard not too. All the new artwork is Primaris. All the new Space Marine models are Primaris. The lore just makes Primaris better in pretty much every way... so why would old Space Marines even remain a thing (outside the Horus Heresy range).
But going forward we are not going to ask "Why?" We are going to ask "How?"
The title of the article claims GW needs to fix their Primaris Problem. Well "what is that problem?" you are asking. It is really a two fold issue.
1- Primaris are better in everyway to space marines as is. Lore wise they are bigger, stronger, faster, tougher and have more enhancements. They have newer weapons with greater range and damage. They have a few new vehicles which are pretty impressive. They are just, as I said, better in every way. To top it off, they are also better than how the Emperor designed them. The Emperor. The single greatest mind to ever exist, working with and army of geneticists, made the Space Marines. And one guy made them better as a side project. Just seems a bit of a stretch... and I'll get back to that in the end.
2- There is no cost to this "betterness". In fact there seems to be less cost. Space Marines used to have to spend basically a decade or more in training as a neophyte and scout before being elevated to be a Battle Brother. Primaris feel like they get placed in Cawl's easy bake oven and come out as 10 foot tall demi-gods ready for battle. Sure they weren't as experienced at first, but they quickly gained that. But training aside, the question of whether or not Primaris require excess resources beyond normal marines to be created has never been answered.
But here is a catch- Even if they are more resource intensive to create it doesn't matter, as Astartes are always worth the resources. It is like modern day militaries. Even in a constrained fiscal environment, do you know who is always fully funded- The Special Forces. Why? Because the investment ALWAYS pays off. So same goes for Primaris Space Marines. Lore wise the investment always pays off.
So what is the solution? How can all that possibly be fixed.
For this I am going to use an analogy.
Before we get to that you need to watch this (warning it does get a little graphic around 3:12 so stop there if you don't want to see that)
I hope I didn't spoil Blade Runner for you, but if you are playing 40k and reading my blog and haven't seen one of the greatest Sci-fi movies of all time that also happens to be older that Warhammer 40k itself, then that is on you.
There is an exchange in there that really is central to the concept of my argument
Dr. Tyrell: "You were made as well as we could make you."
Roy: "But not to last?"
Dr. Tyrell: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly Roy."
Roy Batty is a Nexus 6 Series replicant. He stronger, faster, tougher, smarter than any human. He is better in every way.
The price he pays? An incredibly accelerated life span. He only gets to live for 3 to 4 years (his birthday was January 8th 2016, and he dies November 2019). It is the cost of being so much more, of burning so very very bright.
So what I am saying is GW should make Primaris Marines into Roy Batty and the Nexus 6 replicants. Now 3-4 years is way too short, but currently Space Marines are effectively immortal. They die in battle and that is it seemingly.
Commander Dante of the Blood Angels is by now 1400 years old (around 1200 of which he has served as Chapter Master, which by the way is 200 more years than Guilliman has actively lead the Ultramarines). He is OLD. Bjorn in a Dreadnought is 10,000 years old. These guys just don't die.
So, from a lore perspective there is really only one way to make a old school space marine worth more than the Primaris, and that is to make them last while Primaris perish. Give primaris a 300 to 500 year life span tops, but most of them going out between 350 and 400. This would make them valuable enough to keep making en masse, but temper their "betterness" by just the right amount to keep old marines around. Their vast experience would be too great a treasure to be lost. A few 600-800 year old terminators are just going to be more skilled warriors than a 100 year old intercessor or agressor.
And here is the true beauty of it... GW has time to implement this. It has only been 100 to 150 years since Guilliman returned and the Indomitus Crusade started if I am not mistaken. No one would know that Primaris Marines have a shelf life yet. Have it be a surprise, something unexpected that Cawl could not even fix. This is where we get back to him improving on the Emperor's design.
If Primaris die of old age, well Cawl failed and we are back to the Emperor having been the only one capable of perfecting Astartes. Sure Cawl made some temporary improvements, but obviously the Emperor did not go down the route, opting for the geneseed vice the Sangprimus Portum for its stability. That could even be the cause of the accelerated lifespan. It would be rather poetic. Only the Primarchs were made to be gifted with such genetic superiority, and not even the mightiest techpriests could forge warriors hardy enough to withstand the burning intensity of such power.
It would also allow for some interesting Marine dynamics eventually. Does a Brother opt to transition to a Primaris for the superior physicality, or remain true to his original forging to benefit the future generations of the Chapter with greater wisdom and skill?
And that is how you fix the Primaris problem and keep Old Marines relevant. Sorry Marneus Calgar, you will die young and Cato Sicarius will assume your mantle.
But in the end, it really is the only way for GW to make good on their "promise".
First episode of 2019! We start off as usual with hobby progress (to include some talk about the Lucius Pattern Drop Pod and Coastal Wargaming Group!) For our first segment, we heavily talk about the upcoming White Dwarf Assassin release and how we see them being employed by the savvy Imperial General. Our second segment we discuss what the difference between "Allies" and "Soup" is before closing off with some discussion of... a less than spectacular Forge World model.
And apologies for the Audio Quality this time. We were in a rush.
Okay, so I finally recommenced work on the ASC 2.0 after some prodding from someone on messenger yesterday. Was nice to return to it after almost a year since the last draft. In that year, I stopped work not because of lack of interest, but just had life in the way you know?
That being said, I finally am at a place I can actually resume work, and I have a new draft up as a result. In this draft you will find 2 new vessels (1 Chaos, 1 RT) as well as WIP work for another vessel and 2 fleet lists (Ministorum Pilgrim Fleets and Rogue Trader Dynasty Fleets)
What is ASC 2.0 you ask? Well for those of you who play the community updated versions of BFG (ie BFG:R or XR) it is suppossed to be a comprehensive compendium of additional ships (thus ASC) to be used with these systems that are not in the "official" rules but are established in the fluff or other unnofficial sources (Warp Rift, Book of Nemesis) and/or are common conversions (or easy to convert) and fit in the game. It is a completely fun and optional thing with great hobby opportunity, supporting the long tradition of BFG being the most open game and community to fan made rules. AND even if you don't play those versions of BFG, I have gone to great lengths to provide awesome artwork, accurate fluff and some neat designs, so it is worth checking out as a generic BFG resource anyway!
Pictured is a screen shot of one of the vessels from the latest draft. ENJOY!
You can learn more of all of these projects, as well as find other resources for them here
Over the next few days I will be breaking down the Adeptus Custodes Beta Rules for Warhammer 40k that were released last month. You can download them here (for free) if you haven't had the chance to check them out yet.
Part Four below goes into the Lord of War and Dedicated Transport, as well as closing thoughts on the Beta rules.
Part One covered the Elites Choices. Part Two covered Fast Attacks. Part Three discussed the Heavy Support Choices. Coronus Grav-Carrier Well for starters, it is better than the Land Raider for what it does (Deliver infantry to the enemy lines), though not as tough. But you don’t need it to be as tough (besides it has that 2” buffer from Gravitic Backwash). You need it to live into turn 2 or 3 and deliver its cargo. And this transport can and will do that.
What makes it better? Simple the fact it is cheaper and faster. Sure the Land Raider is still by far deadlier. But the point of these vehicles is to transport something even deadlier inside. And seeing how the Coronus can transport that unit faster, and isn’t as large of a points sink, it just strikes me as being the better of the two options for this job. To me the obvious choices to transport are Pythirite Spears or Wardens. Terminators as well if you couldn’t (or didn’t want to) deep strike the. IMO Allarus actually, seeing as Aquilon with Firepikes are Deep Striking gods of gold now. The weapon is the same lackluster and non-sensical Twin Arachnus Blaze Cannon found on the Pallas. Really really falling short of the dual Twin-Las of the Godhammer, and as I said in Part 2, the Burst mode really should be Heavy 12 or more. The lack of firepower causes some hesitation for me to taking one. However, what really stops me from taking one is I just don’t think it is needed. Custodes work very much like a Hammer and Anvil IMO. Jetbikes, Grav Tanks, Jump Infantry and Deep Striking are all HAMMERS. The rest of the list is an Anvil. All a Coronus does is make your Anvil mobile. And if you really need to do that, you could with deep striking and spend your precious points on something far more lethal.
Orion Assault Dropship Probably one of the Toughest Flyers in the game. Really a solid choice, but something you very carefully have to consider taking and have a plan how to use it, and importantly, how to use your army when it dies.
Must better than the Land Raider for what it does. For one, it has some okay firepower (though 2 Caladius would still be more for a little less points). The Blaze cannon is strong, but capping at 3 damage really limits it. It really should be 2d3 or d6 IMO. This is also amazingly fast. The problem there being you will quickly outrun all your support characters, so just be ready to deal with rolling snake eyes on the To Hit of the blaze cannons, as well sacrificing transport space for a few characters to join your embarked assault force. The ability to transport a Dreadnought is really nice, and makes the standard contemptor much more viable IMO. Other candidates for transport are the same as I mentioned above for the Coronus, plus a shield captain or Trajann and/or Vexilla of some sort. If you aren’t bringing a Dreadnought inside the Orion, I would highly recommend filling three of the spots with a basic troop squad. This allows you to deliver an assault force that can continue to me mobile, while leaving behind a tough as nails troop squad to hold what ever objective you storm. But just like the Coronus, I’m not convinced on this big boy. I mean, it is super fluff and you should take it if you want to. Not a bad move. BUT It is 448 points. That is nearly ¼ of a 2k army. And in a small model count army, that really REALLY eats into your body count and ability to have board control. It is the reason why the land raider was balked at when the codex dropped. It is just wicked expensive. And on top of that, you are likely putting another 300-500 points inside of it. You are easily end up with over half your army in one drop. So sure, that can help you go first but… if you get seized on, there are armies that can take this down in a turn. And even if you don’t get seized on, don’t be surprised if this big scary monster that cannot hide and everything will have LOS too gets shot by literally every unit in your opponent’s army until it is dead. And that is another downside to its cost. If you lose it early on in your game, that is ¼ of your army gone in one blow. And with its low damage weaponry, it is likely it will not ever earn its points back in lethality. You have to just hope the act of being a taxi was worth it. Furthermore, just like the Coronus, it is really for transporting around Anvils when you already have plenty of hammers you can swing. It just isn’t NEEDED in the army. There are many more optimal choices, both in and out of the codex. Closing Thoughts on the Beta
Overall I am quite happy with the second Custodes beta. Only disappointment not mentioned is that there was one close combat dread in the previous beta that did not make this one. Would have been nice to see another new model drop. But such is life.
"Don't listed to her, she gives bad advice."
The biggest winners of this Beta are the Caladius w/ Accelerator Cannon, Aquilon Terminators w/ Firepikes and Solerite Guantlets, Achillus Dreadnought and finally Agamatus Custodes w/ Las-Pulsers. Solid choices all of them, and they all have their place in the Army and do their prescribed job well.
Pretty much everything else is decent (still Custodes afterall) but just not optimal. If you are playing garagehammer or wanting to bring the boys in gold but no jetbikes, this new Beta really does a great job providing new options and some depth to an otherwise limited codex army.
That is it for part four! Tell us what you think in the comments below and make sure to check out all our Custodes content.
