Sepulchre of Heroes

CODEX: THE BADAB WAR - 3.5 Edition Fan Edition for Badab War Gaming

2026-04-11T09:03:00.011-04:00

Codex: The Badab War 1.0 Release is here!

We've finally completed the tome from a rules and fluff perspective.

Inside you will find:

ASTARTES ARMY LISTS. You will find 17 army list variants for using any of the Astartes Chapters that fought during the Badab War. This also includes new units and special characters that took part in the conflict.

CODEX ADDITIONS. We’ve also added some small additional units and rules for Codex: Space Marine users including Veteran Skills.

MORTAL FORCES. There are also rules for Huron’s shadowy Imperial Guard analogue, The Tyrant’s Legion, as well as some ideas for other mortal forces that took part in the conflict.

Download below!

CODEX: THE BADAB WAR

As always, with any community driven project we require your help, thoughts and feedback, so please feel free to use the following link:

FEEDBACK FORM

Over the coming weeks and months we'd love to put together some colour pages in the centre of the book much like we had back in the day with the old 3rd edition Codexs, battle scenes, how an army looks etc, so we'll be definitely looking for community help with pictures of their models, armies nd battles! Watch this space and get taking happy snaps!

I'd personally like the thank Nick for his vision and commitment to quality, the setting, and the 3rd edition vibe in spearheading this project. Additionally Donno, supporting him the whole time dealing with his rantings and ravings, offering ideas, feedback and general enthusiasm.

This Publication is 100% unofficial and fan-made.

Cover Art by @george.abalayan
Color plates by @designjobber40k
Timeline art by @valentin.froute
Loyalist/seccesionist art by @khanhphi98

It will require the Warhammer 40k 3rd Edition (Ideally using the 3.5 edition) Rulebook, as well as Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Blood Angels, Codex: Armageddon and Codex: Imperial Guard to make full use of.

For the Tyrant!

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 36- Adepticon Recap and 10th Edition Previews Talk

2023-06-04T19:57:00.003-04:00

Late as always Join us as Evan, Chris, and Jason, Ian, and Chenoweth, recap our Adepticon experience back in March! Evan also talks about a recent RTT with his Astral Claws during hobby progress. We also talk about our thoughts on what we had see for previews of 10th edition (albeit before the full rules release!) We also have a crazy side track about naming of Von Ryan's Leaper and our other usual insane ramblings.

And check out our Best Imperial Winning Army here

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro

04:05 Hobby Progress

21:58 Adepticon Recap

1:11:29 10th Ed Discussion and Off Topic ramblings

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
Clip 1: South Park

Clip 2: Graham Norton Show

Clip 3 Barry Walts Youtube- You are a Pervert Marine | a Blood Angels 40k Parody

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 35- Arks of Omen and looking towards 10th Edition

2023-02-05T05:45:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus we are back. Join us as Evan, Chris, and Jason along with a new guest, Chenoweth, go over a long list of hobby progress since episode 34 and then discuss their thoughts on Arks of Omen and changes it brought, including the loss of Armour of Contempt... and ultimately why we don't think the latest changes were done well. Then continue on listening to their rambling thoughts on how these latest changes may be informing us on the shape of 10th edition to come and what it means for the game.

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro

07:26 Hobby Progress

35:03 Arks of Omen and the Balance Dataslate

1:13:40 What we want to see in 10th edition

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Arks of Omen by GW

Armies on Parade 2022- Best of the Rest Silver!

2022-11-26T10:16:00.041-05:00

Quick post with Twitch clips for my Silver entry into the "Best of the Rest" Category for Armies on Parade 2022!

I entered my Titans of Legio Pelagos, the Abyssal Wardens (at the absolute last minute I might add) and managed to take home a trophy! And you can see some images on Warhammer Community here!

Well this is where the Twitch Clips were suppossed to go BUT after an hour of messing around and they still wouldn't play in an embedded viewer, I just have to leave you with the links:

Twitch Clip Part One

Twitch Clip Part Two

Adepticon Photodump 1- Adeptus Titanicus

2022-11-19T19:18:00.003-05:00

Going back an doing things I should've done A LONG TIME AGO. Starting with some photo uploads from Adepticon. Here is all of what I took during Titanicus. If you have never seen Titanicus in action, you should swing by at a large con/event, because it is always nothing but pure hobby love on display!

Godspear Warhead - A RAI vs RAW error or Intentional Design Choice?

2022-11-15T07:00:00.037-05:00

The ~~Astra Militarum~~ Imperial Guard Codex is about to drop in the Cadia Stands Box Set. I for one am super excited. I have not seen a leak or received a copy, but I did notice something off of Warhammer Community this week and it left me wondering if the design studio intentionally left a janky rules interaction OR if they just didn't fully think through their own game design.

I am referring to the Godspear Warhead for the Deathstrike Missile as found in this linked Warhammer Community Article.

Now here I have included the excerpt from Warhammer Community where they talk about using the Godspear as a form of objective denial. Problem is... it isn't big enough. See, the Godspear is measuring from an infinitesimally small point. Since you put down a target marker and measure from the center, the size of the marker doesn't matter (although is is a GREAT excuse to get a 6" template!).

But that's not how objectives work

See, Objectives are a 40mm round marker and then you measure to the EDGE of the marker closest to you.

Now it isn't ever specified as a rule for objective, but I am yet unaware of a scenario, at least in matched play or the GT pack, that does not specify that to score an objective, you must be within 3" horizontally and/or 5" vertically. Now, the vertical doesn't matter here, so lets talk about the horizontal.

Because the Objective Marker is 40mm, this means the scoring diameter for a marker is 6"+40mm (about 7.58", radius 3"+20mm, or about 3.79"). Below is a diagram of what this interaction looks like. The yellow is the Objective Marker, the Blue is the Godspear footprint, and the Red is the area to score an objective.

So what does this mean. Well if I put down a marker for a MASSIVE SIXTEEN MORTAL WOUND MISSILE OF DOOM, all you need to do in your turn is move to the edge of the objective marker to avoid this. There is a convenient 20mm band of safety and since you do not need to be WHOLLY within range of objective to score them, the toe in method is enough to hold the point while completely dodging a WMD.

To me, this seems kinda loop holely and not really lined up with how the design studio tends to make the game in my opinion.

Now before I go on though, THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I WILL PLAY IT until it is changed (IF it ever is). I do not play Rules as Intended (RAI), I play Rules as Written (RAW). RAW is the only fair way to play IMO as it is a singular baseline from which everyone can play the game. However RAI is important to discuss because it opens the door for us, the players, to submit questions for FAQs and Errata.

With that in mind the way I see this is

1- The studio intentionally did this thereby limiting the utility of a 16 MW weapon. Their RAI matches the RAW. I believe this is possible, but it also makes the Godspear just so underwhelming. The only way to have the missile be fully effective is to lock a unit in combat by surrounding them entirely... and then they could still use the desperate breakout stratagem to get out of the way. IMO if this is the way it was meant to be designed, something needs to be changed about it because anyone can dodge this missile as is if they want to, and not even have to give up an objective to do it. If this is the way it is meant to be, don't waste your Godspear on objectives, but use it to block off routes of movement, or place it right in front of your most important shooting unit to discourage them being charged. But this is why I don't like this even more- its using what is supposed to be a super offensive weapon lore wise in a wholly defensive manner in game.

2- The studio meant for this to entirely cover an objective and has been playing something wrong (measuring from the center of an objective or only holding objective only if wholly within 3"). In this case their RAI do not match the RAW, but their intention is based off a flaw in their understanding of core rules. I HIGHLY doubt this one, but you never know. Sometimes the way the studio is playing the game and the way we are are two completely different things.

3- The studio intended it to entirely cover an objective, but is playing the Godspear wrong in playtesting, placing a token and measuring from the edge. Here the RAI do not match the RAW either, and their intention is just lost to design mistake. Also doubt this, but it is possible. If they were using a 40mm token for objectives and markers, and then placing a Godspear Marker on the objective, maybe the playtesters just defaulted to measuring the same way as they do for objectives, playing the Godspear wrong.

4- The studio intended it to entirely cover an objective, but didn't extensively playtest the Godspear and don't really understand how the RAW interaction works. Here their RAI do not match their RAW due to a missed detail in design. Highly likely IMO. Not the first time GW released something undertested. In this case just no one ever noticed the 20mm loophole for exploitation.

SO if RAI and RAW are in alignment (#1), I guess there is nothing to change... just don't expect the Godspear to see a lot of table time outside of very narrative gaming, apocalypse battles, etc. Sure there are times where someone will forget to move their unit, or the unit is too big or just has no where to go, but those will be few and far in between. I mean, it would be great for catching vehicles on their last bracket... but if so, the 16 Mortal Wounds are completely wasted overkill.

HOWEVER if RAI and RAW aren't in alignment, and the Godspear is supposed to fully cover an objective how should the studio fix it? Well two ways I see are

1- Just make it 4" instead of 3". This makes it an 8 inch bubble, fully covering any objective. Problem starts being though is it is just a really BIG bubble now, and can completely alter how stuff moves around the battlefield, especially vehicles.

2- Make the Godspear marker a 40mm token as well and measure to the closest edge, just like objectives. This increases the size as well, but not as much, and also will make it MUCH easier to play IMO. Measuring consistently to the center of a marker is harder than the edge. I prefer this method. And if GW wanted to, they could throw a 40mm base into the box with the Deathstrike/Manticore kit and easily enough ensure EVERYONE then has a 40mm marker provided.

So what do you think? Is the Godspear working as designed, and you can sidestep a falling Nuke and still hold the objective OR is it NOT working as intended, it should be able to shut down an objective entirely. And if so, which solution do you prefer? Do you have a different one?

NOVA 30k Excrutiatus Coverage!

2022-09-06T12:23:00.001-04:00

My photo coverage of the Excutiatus evenr from the Horus Heresy events at this year's NOVA Open Convention. So many amazing armies, I am really honoured to have won the Nate Taylor and Alan Bligh Award for Theme with my Dusk Raiders!

My first game was against Imperial Fists. Alot of fun but I got slaughtered!

Below is my super cinematic game against the other Nate Taylor/Alan Blight Theme winner (yes there were 2 for this event). A Late Death Guard vs Dusk Raider smash em' up!

NOVA Narrative Photos!

2022-09-02T08:46:00.001-04:00

Just a photo dump of some pics walking around the Narrative last night. Some beautiful tables and models!

Allies of Inconveniece- Episode 34: Adepticon Recap and Balance Dataslate Discussion

2022-05-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Once more late off the presses. Join us as Evan, Chris, Ian and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their attendance at Adepticon, where they won best display in the 40k team tournament. Then continue on listening to their rambling thoughts on the Balance Dataslate and what it means for the game.

Apologies in advance for the audio on this one. Apparently I was not recording through my headset, but through a webcam, so picked up a ton of ambient noises.

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro

04:53 Hobby Progress

21:40 Adepticon Coverage

52:46 Balance Dataslate

Songs and Soundclips

Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag

Kaap mere- Bugotak

All Clips: Auralnauts "Creepio's Corner" shorts, on youtube

Allies of Inconvenience: Bonus- Post Adepticon Road Show

2022-04-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

Join Evan and Chris for their on the road ramblings as they now return from Adepticon 2022! The last of our road show episodes, come along for our shenanigans as we generally goof around to pass the time and cover our amazing time at Adepticon 2022. As with all roadshows, this is unedited and will have background noise, but maybe you'll feel you are along for the ride on your commute!

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

Allies of Inconvenience: BONUS- Pre-Adepticon Roadshow Day 2

2022-04-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

Join Evan and Chris for their on the road ramblings as they head off to Adepticon 2022! We continue with out pre-Adepticon shenanigans as we generally goof around to pass the time, and talk about 40k along the way. As with all roadshows, this is unedited and will have background noise, but maybe you'll feel you are along for the ride on your commute!

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

Codex: Raid on Titan - Our Adepticon Malal Theme

2022-04-01T07:30:00.001-04:00

We are back from Adepticon with a medal for best display for our Raid on Titan board. Along with the board (which will get more coverage soon) we handed out a "Codex" to our opponents and a few lucky other individuals at the tournament.

The basic premise of our theme is Malal is trapped under the Grey Knight's Fortress Monastery on Titan and the Sons of Malice are heading there to set him free.

You can download and read our codex here

CODEX ASTARTES: RAID ON TITAN

Now I want to make it clear, most of what is in this is us connecting the dots and not making up fluff. We spent a lot of time researching Malal and the Sons of Malice to pull this all off, but before you scoff

Malal really is the God of Anarchy
The Grey Knight's Fortress really is under Mount Anarch
The Sanctum Santorum really is a bunch of Tesseracht Vaults holding daemons
It really is guarded by 44 Purifiers
Malal's sacred number really is 11, and he really hates the 4 chaos gods
Malal's colors really are black and white (which combined make what?)
The Sanctum Santorum really is having issues containing daemons after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum
The 11th "Doomed One" really has only recently been chosen

All we did is connect a lot of dots and put together a cool theme.

The truth is out there...

Allies of Inconvenience: BONUS- Pre-Adepticon Roadshow Day 1

2022-03-29T19:36:00.002-04:00

Join Evan and Chris for their on the road ramblings as they head off to Adepticon 2022! We cover our theme for the Warhammer 40k team tournament, talk about Malal, go over what we hope to see at the GW preview, and generally goof around to pass the time. As with all roadshows, this is unedited and will have background noise, but maybe you'll feel you are along for the ride on your commute!

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 33- Las Vegas Open Narrative Coverage and Tau/Aeldari release discussion

2022-03-21T18:53:00.001-04:00

I continue to be bad with timely publishing, but this is a HUGE episode (2hr, 21m). Join us as Evan, Chris, and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their attendance at the Las Vegas Open Narrative, their thoughts on Tau and Aeldari releases and the continued evolution of 9th Edition

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

LVO Narrative Group on FB (where the mission pack can be found):

00:00 Intro

05:05 Hobby Progress

28:29 LVO Narrative Coverage

1:05:51 Tau, Aeldari and more discussion

Songs and Soundclips

Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag

Kaap mere- Bugotak

All Clips: Babylon 5

LVO preview notes (and q&a notes)

2022-01-28T01:21:00.001-05:00

Gw will "stay out of the way" but make the "itc more exciting"

Anyone who participates in an ITC event will have a chance to attend the end GT open near the Grand Canyon

winners of ITC events will have a chance to win a trip

Anyone will have a chance to win a codex

Itc faction winners will get every codex/army book that year

Overall winners will get to build a 2k army and given it from GW

TOs get all the rules

TO advisory group starting up

Will expand to all TOs

Events team starting a balance advisory group with TOs and top ITC finishers

1st video

40k

Craftworlds

New shining spears

New ra. Hooded. 2 tactical rocks

New avatar

Sigmar video

Night haunt, dok

Crossbow ghosts- craven throne guard

Quill ghost- scriptor mortis

Whip armed DOk- gladiatrix- great 40k conversion base

"Arena of shades"

Horus heresy

Ka bandha

Hoof is larger than a marine

Interrogator preview Warhammer+ more adult then all the rest of + so far. Coming in march.

Black and white. Drug use implied.

Kill team

Ninjas and pirate elves

Aeldari corsairs

Necromunda

Ash wastes expansions

Q&A

Shining spears not the same kit as rangers on bike

Is there a harlequin avatar- next question

Magnus and mortarion do seem lonely

Working on ways to make the digital format more accessible. Future is bright

Catachans? No reveals

Squats? "Its a derogatory term and innaproriate to ask"

Tyranids in Aeronautica? Has no idea. Cant imagine they are the last thing they will see.

Question about playtesting.

Future plans for Heresy event support- yes

Old world is awesome and coming

Why is gw focusing on mono armies- they are in gt play which is done for balance/variable control. Soup is more for open play.

No comment on vect.

Primarch thing- it took 35 years to make one, so they dont want to rush it

Bfg- if the miniature studio is inspired they will make it

2 wounds when- im sure the profiles will change in time. Wont have to give the answer much longer

What is gw doing to incorporate 3d priniting into their business model- they use them in production

40k app- 1st thing around the horizon is it working correctly. Fixing core architecture. 2 to 3 weeks for fix launch. Should fix army builder.

Guard codex- will get new models.

Probably get more hh in 40k

Ka bandha likely in 40k, hh and aos

Does slann or slannesh play bb?

1st balance update vs seasons- quarterly update will keep coming

No idea about imperial armour come back

Where is khans bike?

Hh starter? Are there plans to change base rules? Exciting things coming

Will all factions get a primarch level model? Non answer

Base size on kabandha- not known

Gt mission pack spiral bound? Always gets asked. May come

Corsairs- both aeldari

There will be more blood bowl

Guard going to have a good year but cant confirm RR

To support will go to middle earth as well

Will we see all codicies this edition? Studio dpesnt really think of the game in terms of editions. Thats a community constuct, and if there isnt an ondex reset its not that big of an "issue", but they do want to avoid a feeling of haves and have nots

My 2021 Hobbying Totals

2022-01-08T02:01:00.001-05:00

2021 Hobbying Totals

Blood Angels

3 Tartaros Terminators

5 Heavy Intercessors

5 Assault Intercessors

Terminator Librarian

Terminator Chaplain

Shield Bearer

2 Tarantula Sentry Batteries

Rebase 15 Terminators

Executioners

Thulsa Kane

Adeptus Custodes

Pallas Grav Attack

Blade Champion

2 Caladius (Repaint)

Astra Militarum

9 Ogryn

1 Ogryn Body Guard

2 Taurox Prime

2 Tempestor Prime

Death Rider Officer (Repaint)

Inquisition

Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex

Inquisitor Coteaz

Dusk Raiders

10 Heavy Destroyers

5 Mk3 Heavy Support Marines

5 Mk3 Tactical Support Marines

5 Grave Wardens

2 Land Raider Proteus

Adeptus Titanicus

Warlord Titan

Warmaster Titan

Aeronautica Imperialis

Ork Mega-Bommer

Lumineth Realm Lords

Avalenor, the Stoneheart King

Tamurkhan's Horde

6 Plague Ogres

1/700 Scale Ships

HMS Nelson

2021 Totals

BOUGHT: 64

PRINTED: 22

PAINTED: 77

SOLD: 0

GAMES PLAYED: 10

2020 Totals

BOUGHT: 160

PAINTED: 160

SOLD: 0

GAMES PLAYED: 7

2019 Totals

BOUGHT: 206

PAINTED: 126

SOLD: 3

GAMES PLAYED: 23

2018 Totals

BOUGHT: 292

PAINTED: 66

SOLD: 23

GAMES PLAYED: 24

2017 Totals

BOUGHT: 536

PAINTED: 514

SOLD: 33

GAMES PLAYED: 30

2016 Totals

BOUGHT: 144

PAINTED: 152

SOLD: 197

GAMES PLAYED: 30

RUNNING BACKLOG REDUCTION

(Total Painted + Total Sold - Total Bought - Total Printed): -73

So I am still on the red for back log reduction, and only added to it but getting a friend to Print me 22 models in December (otherwise the number would have gone down!). SO that's the goal for 2022, drive the back log reduction to a positive number rather than a negative. Still, as deltas go, the fact that over the 5 years I've tracked this, my backlog through purchase has only grown by 73 is great (the problem is gifts have grown it a little more than that) but still under 150 all told. And I at least got more games in than 2020!

So far in 2022 I have only finished painting 1 model (a Deredeo Missile Launcher), but I have built and primed

9 Custodes Terminators, 9 Sisters of Silence, 5 Blood Angels Terminators, and an Aquitor bombard. Now to paint 3 servitors.

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 32- Balance Dataslate and Upcoming Releases

2021-12-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

Delayed in publishing again, but this time only by 1 month. Once more, sorry, but still join us as Evan, Chris, Ian and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their thoughts on the recent balance dataslate and what that does for 40k, as well as what they hope to see for upcoming releases such as Custodes, GSC and Tau

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro
03:47 Hobby Progress
27:46 Balance Dataslate Discussion
59:03 Upcoming Releases Discussion

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Centaurworld

Custodes Ka'Tahs, Mathematics, and the complicating of a supposedly "streamlined" edition

2021-11-30T07:00:00.008-05:00

So Games Workshop gave us a preview of Custodes Ka'Tahs yesterday. You can go read more on it by clicking that hyperlink (takes you to Warhammer Community, I swear its not a Rick Roll... but for what's to come you might as well save time and go Rick Roll yourself anyway).

I am not going to dive into the the Ka'tahs they previewed. That is not the point of why I am writing this article. What I wanted to dive into is how Ka'tahs work, why everyone seems to feel like it is unnecessarily complicated, and ultimately why I think it is a bad game design move.

So the part in focus is this

Basically it works like this (I am copying and pasting this from an earlier discussion I had on this topic. For the purposes of this, a Ka'tah is a "Discipline", A is a primary choice, B a secondary and C the tertiary. 1 and 2 are the stances within each of those.

When the game starts you pick Discipline A, B, C from a list of disciplines (current # unknown, at least 3)
Turn 1 you have to pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline A. Lets say you pick stance 1.
Turn 2, you can now pick stance 2 from discipline A OR you can pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline B, but not discipline C. Lets say you pick stance 1 from discipline B.
Turn 3, you can now pick stance 2 from discipline B OR you can pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline C. You cannot go back and pick stance 2 from discipline A. Lets say you pick stance 2 from discipline B.
Turn 4, you can now only pick from Discipline C. Can't go back to A and you used up B. Lets say you pick Stance 1, discipline C.
Turn 5, you are now stuck with Stance 2, Discipline C.
If you did 1 from A Turn 1, 1 from B turn 2, and 1 from C turn 3, turn 4 you'd be stuck with 2 from C and then turn 5 have nothing.

Because of the way this is going to be what separates wheat from chaff and really will put a skilled/practiced custodes player above the rest, because thinking through the order and timing when you want to land your key Kat'ah is going to be crucial. Lets show you some decision trees to demonstrate the point.

Complicated yet?

Okay so that one was a joke first attempt one of my team mates made, but it illustrates the point (as a side note, the guy who drew that has a Master's degree in Math, the only reason he doesn't have a doctorate is he was tired of school, and he currently teaches Math at a collegiate level... so yeah, color him not a fan of this system). I made a cleaned up version in power point.

So that decision tree has 72 nodes in it. That is 72 different decisions you can make with Ka'tahs once you have chosen them. It would be more if we had 6 turns, but the game currently ends Turn 5. This leaves you with some routes that end before using the 6th stance available to you, while some routes you have no stance in turn 5 because you burned through your Ka'tahs fast.

There is fortunately an easier way to look at it. Back to my Math friend

So in this simplified trace path, you start on A1 or A2 on Turn 1 and each arrow represents a new Turn of the game. And you have to remember, you can never go back wards.

But it really isn't that simple now is it. This represents once you have picked your Ka'tahs. What we need to talk about is permutations. We are in an N choose r situation, where we know r to be 3 (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary), but we don't know what N is. Now based on the preview we know there are 3 Ka'tahs minimum, but also based on the preview I am going to assume there are more. Now I'd venture that there are no more than 6 Ka'tahs for a total of 12 stances. This fits the potential for randomly rolling for a Ka'tah and stance as part of some crusade mechanic or something. There could be less, but likely no fewer than 4, and there could be more, but I am willing to bet no more than 6 Ka'tahs to choose from. We always get 6 powers in a discipline. We always get 6 Warlord Traits. 6 fits the design prerogative of Warhammer 40,000.

So assuming 6, that is 120 permutations of Ka'tahs. To do the math, that is

6!/(6-3)! = 120
(6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1)/(3 x 2 x 1) = 120
6 x 5 x 4 = 120
720/6 =120

Now lets go look at that visually.

That is 8,640 nodes. Or 3,840 pathways to play the game.

8,640 potential decisions you as the player should understand the consequences of before the game starts. That is 3,840 courses of action that will play out on the table. Even if we used the simplified table, that would be 1,680 nodes for 6 Ka'tahs.

Or as I like to think about it, one node for each name Constantine Valdor has. Which is now canon.

Yes it is.

Now, yes, you don't actually need to know the whole diagram, and you can be flexible and reactive on the decision tree to a degree. And for sure, there will be some Ka'tahs that are OBVIOUSLY better than others, and that's also not to mention that people will have their own personal favorites, leading them to ignore other Ka'tahs all together 99% of the time.

But what you need to understand is that from all that potentiality, each decision you make locks out more and more of the totality of potential, and from the beginning of the game you may choose 3 Ka'tahs that result in this table...

When you really needed a subset down here to achieve victory.

See as you pick yohr Ka'Tahs, you rapidly winnow options available. Without consodering order if you pick one Ka'Tah, you instantly eliminate 30 tables here. Down to 90. Another Ka'Tah and you are down to 24, or 1 row above. You're third and you are down to 6. Start ordering them, the moment you set a primary you are at 2 tables left, and then your secondary selection drives which table you are on.

And there in lies the rub. For a "streamlined" game, this is an INCREDIBLY HIGH amount of decision making and comprehension of potential choices and their impact that is required by the player, and it really does set up for those with the natural ability to understand this, or those who are more experienced in its use, to be better than everyone else. And that is not a system that is friendly to new players, nor is it really friendly to casual players. And IMO to be a good mechanic is a game claiming to be streamlined, it should do both those things.

I can also almost guarantee this will slow game play as people go back and forth agonizing over which Ka'tahs they should select, what order to place them in, and then which stance they should use each turn.

And to complicate it all even further, I am willing to bet there will be

A stratagem allowing you to use both Stances from a Ka'tah in a turn
A stratagem allowing you to reuse a previously used Ka'tah and/or stance

And I am sure that won't complicate the matter...

And oddly enough your Primary Ka'Tah isn't even your most important. You can only acces it T1 and T2, and you can leave it as early as T2. Your secondary is where it is at since you can time it to be T2, 3 or 4. So whatever stance you want to hit the hardest, make it B1 or B2. Your second most important Ka'Tah is actually your Tertiary for the same reason prett much. You can access it T3, 4 and 5 if timed properly. THIS is what I am talking about when I talk about more some players really using Ka'Tahs to a degree that others can't. Understanding when and where to land their Ka'Tahs.

Now this also means, it may be a little easier to choose though. If a Ka'Tah is obviously a Defensive/Movement buff, it may always be just clear to use it as a Primary for Turn 1 and 2 access. Where as your shooting ones may be best as Secondary and your Assault or Scoring ones as Tertiary. Really narrows you down on the table faster.

I also want to take a moment here to point out though that while this is supposed to represent a Martial prowess and flexibility as unparralled by any others, it is really actually super rigid mechanically. Those potential stratagems aside, lets say I pick a stance from a Ka'tah that would shut down a rerolling hit/wound deathstar character. Lets say its the second stance in that Ka'tah I have used, so I have to move onto a new Ka'tah next turn. Now I selected this in my command phase, so in my opponents turn he knows I have that selected... so he just chooses not to charge this turn. Next turn, I have to choose a new Ka'tah and uh-oh... it is one for dealing with hordes. Now my opponent in his turn charges that character into me and destroys the squad by rerolling everything.

Some bunch of ultimate badasses I was, not able to adapt to the situation when faced with a combat monster instead of the chaff infantry I was planning for.

And to me, this really underscores the complicated nature of the system and what I was saying earlier. You make one bad mistake about what order to put your Ka'tahs in at the start of the game, you are now locked into that mistake for the entire game and may potentially not be able to recover from it. And that is a hallmark of a bad game mechanic IMO.

Will Ka'tahs be useful? I'm sure. But useful doesn't mean good mechanically. Back when space marines got 500 free points in Rhinos and Razorbacks, that was useful, but terrible for the game. When you could have untargetable assasins, useful but bad mechanically. Ka'tahs don't seem to that level, especially since they aren't unfair to your opponent it seems, but they still seem off and rough on their own player.

Will they be fun? IDK. This is where I think you'd need to look more specifically at the Ka'tahs themselves. However, no matter what they are, I am sure there could have been a more fun way to implement them, because this...

This give me a migraine.

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 31- Drukhari, Grey Knight, Thousand Sons and Ramblings

2021-07-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

Super delayed in publishing, recorded 2 months ago at time of publishing. Sorry, but still join us as Evan, Chris, Ian and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their thoughts on Drukhari, what they wish to see in Grey Knight and Thousand Sons, a bit of a rant on Kruel Boyz, and other mad ramblings.

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro
04:00 Hobby Progress
35:57 Drukhari Discussion
57:55 GK and 1k Sons Discussion

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Men In Black

BFG: Additional Ship's Compendium 2.0 Update- Orks done and over 109 vessels total

2021-07-14T07:00:00.008-04:00

I am trying to get back on track in the wake of the pandemic. But since it started life in general has changed for me with work and everything, so getting back into the swing of things has been tough.

That being said, a new update to the Additional Ship's Compendium 2.0 (ASC 2.0) just dropped!

Ork vessels done, several heresy vessels added, and you can see place holders for the current WIPs to come (heresy vessels, indomitus vessels, and a few fleet lists) and a preview of what comes next. If my count was correct it is currently at 109 vessels + 9 fleet lists + Navis Mecantilis DIY rules.

DOWNLOAD HERE

If you bookmark that link, you will always be able to find the latest revision of the ASC

Pictured is a preview of one of the long awaited ship classes now added to the ASC

Work is ongoing, there are place holders for 25 ships and 5 fleet lists, all still WIP, and I hope to get another update later this month, and again in late August and late September to finish all that out, then onto Aeldari.

For those wondering what this is, the ASC 2.0 is my effort to capture the totality of BFG and bring it into the game. It is made to be compatible with BFG:XR / BFG 2020 and is by no means an effort to balance (quite the opposite actually) the game. It is made to fully explore the scope of space ship battles in the Warhammer 40000 universe, providing ample opportunity for both narrative gaming and great conversions. I attempt to meticulously research and get as close as I can to the actual fluff, and sometimes when there is nothing for a ship class, at least meticulously research a warhammer event to place that ship within. So even if the rules are not for you, I hope the 59400 words (exact count in this draft) of lore are to your liking.

Lastly, this is all the work of one man, me! But I am always open to feedback, especially on points. I feel I have a good grasp on what a ships should cost after designing over 100 of them, but that doesn't mean I get it exactly right.

And note, just because you feel a ship in here may break the game or spirit of the fleet it is assigned to, please see all the above. Nothing says you have to use this in its entirety or at all. It exists purely for fun and a love of BFG.

Now go forth and conquer the stars.

Imperial Armour Compendium Critical Review: Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons

2021-05-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

A Continuation of our 11 part review of the Imperial Armour Compendium. This time we are diving into Chaos.

Sorry for the long delay. Just more and more life has gotten in the way and I find myself without time lately.

I am really trying to not be salty in this, and I am going to be as factual as possible but maintain a critical eye, the intent of which is to inform you and maybe, just maybe, let GW know we notice and care about this stuff. The details matter in an expensive hobby like this, and if it takes a small time blog to hold them accountable then so be it.

This review will be an in depth 11 part series, and I will update and link each successive article below, so keep checking back for updates.

Part 1- Book Overview
Part 2- Space Marines
Part 3- Astra Militarum
Part 4- Grey Knights, Inqusition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes
Part 5- Imperial Knights, Titan Legions, Chaos Knights and Chaos Titan Legions
Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons
Part 7- Craftworlds and Drukhari
Part 8- Necrons and Orks
Part 9- T'au Empire and Tyranids
Part 10- Death Korps of Krieg Focused Discussion
Part 11- Forgeworld Warhammer Legends

So first off all, follow the link above to Part 2 and read that, because most of it is identical. Anything that used to be a Hellforged Varian of an SM vehicle is now the same as its SM variant, just with Chaos Keywords. The only difference really to note is that now Chaos follows their space marine equivalents almost directly, where as in the previous edition Imperial Armour index, some weapons were uniquely made "Chaosy" like Ectoplasma cannons instead of plasma cannons and Butcher Cannons instead of Autocannons, and now they all share instead.

This covers the Contemptor, Leviathan, Land Raider Variants, Predator, Scorpius, Sicaran Variants, Deredeo, Rapiers, and Super heavy tanks and any Space Marine Flyer. This also goes for the Terrax Termite drill, even though it is not Hellforged. Of note, the Chaos Vindicator Laser Destroyer was forgotten in the FW compendium and is only in the FAQ on warhammer community.

Many of these vehicles have marital legacy as well, covered extensively in the SM Article linked above. But for this one, lets just same I am not a fan.

Additionally, at the time the books came out, they had removed the ability for 1k Sons and Death Guard to take any of the Heretic Astartes vehicles. Fortunately this has been fixed in the FAQ, and they now operate as Bubonic or Arcana Astartes.

And before I go to the Data Sheets, its sad to see all the Dark Mechanicum, Vraks Characters, Spine beasts, plague toads and Plaguehulk all go to legends

Chaos Space Marines

Decimator- Improved. Went up in W (but now has a degrading profile). Butcher cannons were nerfed and lost a point of S and no longer modify target LD. The C-Beam Cannon was made into a conversion beamer, which up close doesn't have a good of AP, overall this is a improvement because of the more consistent damage, more shots and blast. The Hellflamer was boosted with range like all flamers. Slight nerf to the soulburner as it now has to roll to wound to do a mortal wound, but its on a 2+. The storm laser gained range by 12" and gained a shot. And the decimator claw went from +2S to x2S. And all of this with really no change in points

Greater Blight Drone- Nerfed IMO. Now a single profile instead of a degrading one. Lost a point of LD but gained a point of WS. Lost 3W and infernal regenaration but gained disgustingly resilient. Gained shots on their bile maw, going from a D3 pistol to a d6 assault, but lost a point of S, AP and went from D3 damage to 1. Blightreaper cannons went from 2D to 1D and Plague Probes went from D3 damage to 1D. The biggest thing IMO is their 4+ explosion went from 7" D3 mortals to 6" 1 Mortal. They also separated this out for a datasheet for Death Guard specifically,

Dreadclaw Drop Pod- Major Nerfs. Slower, Lost a wound, lost Toughness, but no longer degrades on S and A... but really how much charging are you doing with a Dreadclaw? Thermal Jets are now an ability instead of a weapon that does mortal wounds to 1 unit instead of automatic hits on all units it passes over. It lost the Mchina Malifica and/or Hateful Assault abilities, meaning it no longer eats its people to heal or add attacks for charging. When it explodes it does only 1 mortal instead of D3 (and D6 against psykers!). Its blade struts did get stronger, and it didn't change points. I don't know why they hit it so hard with nerf bats. BUT it did gain drop pod assault, so its got that going for it.

Blood Slaughterer- First of all it went to a single profile from a degrading one, so that is a nice boon. But instead of starting at S8 and 6A it now stay at S7 and 5A the whole time and is 9W instead of 10W, but it is BS 3+ and the Impaler Harpoon did gain 6" in range. It no longer has blind fury, but that's probably a good thing. Points went down by 15 points (per the last munitorum field manual). Overall probably a neutral change, but these aren't that common to begin with because they ultimately are just meh. Probably some cool tech in a Daemon Engine list, but nothing to write home about.

Hell Blade- Minimum speed went barely up and it gained a wound. Helstorms turned into Auto cannons, which is a major improvement, gaining 12", doubling the number of shots and increasing S. They are 1 less AP and 1 less D and no change to do mortals (on a wound of a 6+ on the old profile). But the damage output is going to average higher and be more consistent. In unfotunately lost is Skyborn Predator rule though, which made it deadlier against other fliers. It did go up 5 points for base profile, but if you swap out for Lascannons, its 5 points cheaper.

Hell Talon- Faster as it degrades and gained 2 wounds and basically doubled attacks. Same weapon changes as the hellblade. The bomb was greatly simplified from 3 different affects to choose from to one you can use twice. Less useful against large units, but better against a cluster of small units, potentially decent for sniping characters with. 30 points cheaper too.

Greater Brass Scorpion- Gained 8W, went from 8/6/4 Attacks to flat 6 and 10/8/5 S to flat 8. Degrades with WS/BS now. The Soulshatter bombard is now just a Demolisher Cannon, and lost 2 points of S and no longer does more damage against Vehicles, Buildings and Monsters. The Hell Crusher Claws did gain a profile for mauling through hordes, making 3 attacks for each 1. Scorpion cannon got weaker and less damage but gained 5 shots. And the hellmaws gained a range boost like other flamers. Explodes now on a 5+ instead a 4+ which is dissapointing. No longer forces perils onto psykers targeting it, but instead can ignore psychic powers on a 4+. Ultimately though, its a model with 28 wounds, and that makes it a 9th ed vulnerability with targeting rules.

Kytan Ravager- No longer degrades in Attacks, instead in WS and BS. Gained 4W and now stays S8 instead of 10/8/5. Its slash melee attacks went from D3 damage to 2 flat, so it should average out to be the same, bit can no longer whiff. 30 point increase. But this is still a unit at 26W, which is a huge liability in 9th edition.

Kharybdis Assault Claw- 75 point increase for the same nerfs really as the Dreadclaw above. It did gain 4 wounds and flattens out on S at 8, but it degrades worse with WS and BS now, has fewer attacks, and slows down. The Storm luncher is improved with a krak and frag version instead of 1 middile version. Blade struts are improved as they were on the Deadclaw. but the melta array is unfortunately half the S, down from 16 to 8. It does and the standard 9th ed damage bonus for melta though.

Chaos Daemons-

Uraka the Warfiend- Stat line improvements in M, S, W and A. Big Nerf to his shooting attack, going from D3 to 1 shot and D6 damage to 3. Range did double though and it is stronger. Melee damage improved to 3, but lost its ability to do d6 damage on a wound of a 6, so while more consistent, the big exciting gamble is gone. His tally mechanic was greatly simplified, but isn't as good overall IMO. And instead of a +S and A aura he now has a reroll aura. 5 point reduction.

Mamon Transfigured- Much like Uraka, he had some stat line boosts, shooting profile impovements and more consistent damage out put for melee, all with a significant 70 point drop.

Cor'Bax Utterblight- some stat line tweeks as well for better more consitent output. Gaping Maw as nerfed extensively though, but it did gain the ability to swallow a model whole instead. Its putrid demise (explode) got smaller as well. IMO this daemon was nerfed when all the others were boosted.

Scabeiathrax the Bloated- Massive points drop with some minor decreases in stats to bring him into the realm of playable. Horrific Vomit was made both more consistent and gained blast. Blade or decay has a higher average damage output now and rerolls built in. He does do 1 less psychic power a turn than previously, but IMO he still has "it" and isn't a bad thing to consider, but Im not aware of current GUO stats either.

An'ggrath the Unbound- Much like Scabbie, massive points drop with some minor decreases in stats to bring him into the realm of playable. The axe of khorne picked up a second profile for dealing with hordes, and its higher damage profile wend fromd6 to d3+3.

Aetaos'rau'keres- Points more than cut in half from 1500 to 700 with only minor stat reductions and a few improvements event (such as max S). It did go from 2d6 to d6 shots on its staff however, with 1 less S, and its warpfire talons are less for doing extra damage to large things through mortals to know being used to fight hordes. The mantle of twisted fate was made more effective and it gained the master of magics rule, making it a buff aura for S.

Zarakynel- Decent point drop, about 150. but not as significant as above. some minor stat line tweeks, both good and bad. Its slicing claws went from being a strong melee weapon to being a dedicated anti-horde weapon, generating up to 24 A with them. The Soul eater blade also improved in its killing potential with higher S.

Overall, much like SM, the Chaos SM stuff was nerfed pretty badly IMO. However, daemon players should rejoice. 9th edition is an infantry heavy edition, so with all the weapon profile changes to aid with hordes and the massive points drops. the have some good potential. Time shall tell if they get the love they deserve by players. Really their biggest impediment to use in play is model ownership and cost dollar wise.

Imperial Armour Compendium Critical Review: Part 5- Imperial Knights, Titan Legions, Chaos Knights and Chaos Titan Legions

2021-04-02T14:39:00.002-04:00

A Continuation of our 11 part review of the Imperial Armour Compendium. This time we are diving into the Imperial and Chaos Knights and Titans.

Sorry for the long delay. Just more and more life has gotten in the way and I find myself without time lately. I've gotten 1 model painted all of March and find myself falling asleep having gotten no hobbying done for the past several weeks. Also, several points changes and FAQs occurred since release.

This review will be an in depth 11 part series, and I will update and link each successive article below, so keep checking back for updates.

Part 1- Book Overview
Part 2- Space Marines
Part 3- Astra Militarum
Part 4- Grey Knights, Inqusition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes
Part 5- Imperial Knights, Titan Legions, Chaos Knights and Chaos Titan Legions
Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons
Part 7- Craftworlds and Drukhari
Part 8- Necrons and Orks
Part 9- T'au Empire and Tyranids
Part 10- Death Korps of Krieg Focused Discussion
Part 11- Forgeworld Warhammer Legends

First of all I want to discuss the Titans. Specifically, the titan legion rules

So now Titan Legions AND Secutarii can take a <TITAN LEGION> Keyword....

But there is nothing else to it. There are no benefits. No Warlord Traits. No Orders or Canticles or anything. I feel a bit deceived seeing as when GW was hyping the compendium on Warhammer Community, they mentioned "Rules for Titan Legions" as one of the new cool features.

Now it is cool that Secutarii are of the same <TITAN LEGION>, and what is neat is that they can make Heroic interventions up to 6" if it is withing 6" of a friendly <TITAN LEGION> Titanic model. Now what stinks about it is that there is no HQ unit with a <TITAN LEGION> keyword. Now while Secutarii do not stop Ad Mech units from taking a <FORGE WORLD>, they cannot take a <FORGE WORLD> themselves, and there are very few buffs for things without a <FORGEWORLD> as far as I can tell. This doubly stinks considering FW actually does make a titan techpriest model that could have easily been give <TITAN LEGION>, and been able to interact more with Secutarii.

Now for the Chaos Titans, they have <HERETIC TITAN LEGION>. What stinks about this for them is there is really no benefit what so ever. They have no Secutarii to interact with and there is no longer a Dark Mechanicum faction (the Hellwrights moved to legends and they lost the keyword).

As for the Titans themselves, I feel they were massively Nerfed.

First of all, void shields.

They used to be an Invulnerable save that degraded with damage, and could also be used against mortal wounds.

They now operate as a temporary wound bank. So each void shield is 3 temporary wounds and a 5+ invuln (that does not work vs mortal wounds either). Each time a invuln is failed, the shield losses a shield point. What is nice is that this is irrespective of damage. The problem is that they can still be taken down relatively fast and then leave you multi-thousand point model completely open to AP. Hot-shot lasguns en-Masse can and will do damage to a titan without voids. The voids do come back each command phase, but seeing as a Warhound only has 2 voids and will be facing a 2000 point army on its own, there will be plenty of shooting to force 6 failed saves each turn.

Now while each Titan did gain wounds, they all lost Toughness. Warhounds went from T9 to T8. Reavers T10 to T8. Warlords T16 to T9. Why? Wasn't the whole point of the system in 8th and 9th ed that you have stats over 10. With weapons that still go up to S16, S18 and even S20, this is disappointing IMO. The idea a Warlord Titan can be wounded on a 2+ is disheartening.

Besides that, they all went up in points significantly and lost rules for any weapons not currently made by Forgeworld in 28mm scale. So things like Saturnyne Lascutter and Incinerator Missile Banks are gone entirely, and things like Warhound weapons as a carapace option on the Reaver or Warlord are no longer an option.

Overall, Titan Legions lost a lot more than they gained.

I could go into specific weapons changes and details on the datasheet, but its largely pointless. These are rarely seen and if you own one, the reason for doing so has more to do with the model and collecting than actual game play. But it is still lamentable to see them reduced in power so much, especially since they were relatively easy to destroy even before.

Next up, Forge World Knights

Cerastus Knights all lost a wound, but the Lancer did gain an Attack. Also, all but the lancer lost 2" of Movement, and now move as fast a Questoris Knight. They also all lost the Blessed Autosimulcra, meaning they no longer can gain a wound at the start of each turn. This used to be on a 5+, so it wasn't that reliable, but I am not sure why it had to go. Last of all, the Atrapos' Invuln save went from being a 4+ base to a 5+ and it lost its Macro Extinction protocols.

They all have Titanic Feet and the Super Heavy Walker rules... which aren't reprinted in the Compendium and you have to go to Codex Imperial Knights/Chaos Knights to read.

For weapons, the Lancer's lance got a nice boost with a stronger profile on the turn it charges, with moth higher S and Damage.

The Castigator's bolt cannon gained 2 shots. The Tempest Warblade went to Damage 3 from 5, but it now makes hit rolls for each attack it has, essentially doubling its attacks. It did loose its ability to do an additional D3 mortals for each wound roll of a 6, but this likely all washes out with the increase in attacks, though Mortals were nice to bypass invulns and FNP.

The Acheron Reaper Chainfist got a nice bonus with a second profile that has higher damage (flat 6) at 2x S and AP -4, and the sweep attack now makes 3 hit rolls for each attack and no longer is -1 to hit.

The Atrapos weapons had some rather extensive changes. The Lascutter shooting now no longer generates bonus attacks if it slays its target, but instead rerolls to wound, making it more reliable against larger targets. In Melee it went from 1 profile with S8 AP-3 3D to 2 profiles, S6 AP-2 3D that makes 3 hits for each attack or a S12 AP-4 6D focused attack that has a reroll to wound vs monsters and vehicles. But the rerolls to hit vs monsters and vehicles is gone unfortunately. The Graviton Singularity Cannon also changed, gaining a dual profile. What is nice is there is a mode of fire that no longer risks doing damage to the Knight, and then if gained a boosted profile with an additional D6 shots shooting up to S14 and AP-4. The only thing is now on a roll of 1-3, instead of just a roll of 1, that mode does D3 mortal wounds (instead of 1). More reward, more risk.

So the Cerastus Knights are interesting. I don't think the FW compedium hurt them, in fact most of the multi-profiles were a boon, but really it is 9th edition that has done them the greatest disservice of all. At 26 Wounds, they are always vulnerable to shooting, and with only 3+ saves and 5+ invulns, they are just a tad too vulnerable IMO for their costs, and the Atrapos in particular took a hit.

Next up, Questoris Knights: The Magaera and Styrix. Neither had stat line changes to speak of but had some nice weapon changes. They did loose the Blessed Auosimulacra just like their Cerastus cousins. And they have the same issue IRT Titanic Feet and the Super Heavy Walker rules. Their Preysight went from just ignoring +1 to cover saves to ignoring benefits of cover, which is nice.

The Hekaton Siege claw for both gained a dual profile, one of which makes 3 hits per attack at user 2 and a crush attack that is the same stat line as in 8th with an added bonus of +2D versus vehicles and monsters.

The Twin Rad Cleanser also got a big boost with 3" extra range and wounding on a 2+ vice a 3+.

For the Magaera, the Phased Plasma Fusil is boosted with +1S and the Lightning Cannon gained 2 shots, moved to flat 3 damage, gained a point of AP and additional hits on an unmodified 6 to hits.

For the Styrix, the Graviton Crusher gained a point of AP and the Volkite Chieoroville does 2 mortal wounds on a wound of 6+, instead of just generating an additional hit.

The clear winner between the two is the Mageara IMO, and is worth looking at if you are taking a Knight or Knight Army... but as with the Cerastus, knights suffer from the rules of 9th more than from any shortfalls in their datasheets.

Next up the Acastus Knights- Porphyrion and Asterius. Now the Asterius was not in the previous Index, but it does have a PDF online for the Chaos one. Not sure when it came out though, so I am just going to be looking at the Porphyrion stat line from the Index vs the Compendium. If I recall correctly the Asterius only came into 40 in 9th anyways.

First up, like the Titans they took a T hit, going down by 1 point. It also lost a point of WS and BS at each level of damage, which is a big nerf IMO.

The Helios launcher no longer subtracts 1 to hit vs non FLY units, but only gains +1 against Aircraft and that really would just make it equal to the BS of the Index.

For the Asterius, the Conversion beamer can be stronger, but only very long ranges, which in 9th isn't very useful. Really only can be better than the Porphyrion Magna Cannons in large APOC games. However, the Mortar is nicer than the Helios missile launcher, but at Heavy 3D3, risks having a very low volume.

For the Points of both Acastus, I personally would rather have other knights. And as everything else here, they summer from the same issues in 9th as any Titanic unit.

Last up is the Knight Armiger Moriax. Previous PDF found here from FW still.

It lost 2" of movement, but no other detrimental stat line changes. Otherwise it had no other changes except picking up Blast on the conversion beamer.

So In summary, I would say Titans were Nerfed heavily while knights in general got some benefits (except my poor poor Atrapos). BUT this is 9th edition we are talking about, and there is a reason you are not seeing a lot of knights out there.

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 30- 9th Edition Trends and Primarch Discussion

2021-02-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

A little delayed in publishing, recorded in January, but still join us as Evan, Chris and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss the trends of codicies seen so far in 9th and the way the rules designs seem to be trending. Afterwards, we move onto a discussion (if it can be called that) about what primarchs should return and how.

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro

05:16 Hobby Progress

25:54 9th Edition Trends

1:06:18 Primarchs Discussion

Songs and Soundclips

Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag

Kaap mere- Bugotak

All Clips: Bruva Alfabusa/Emperor TTS on Youtube

Discordian's 2021 Hobby Plans

2021-01-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

Discordian here, with a random list of things to work on to start the year off. And boy is it random.

Battlefleet Gothic

2 Cruisers

6 Escorts

2 Cruisers

6 Escorts

This one is and will be an easy one to finish, half of it I finished the first week of this year.

But last year I had a super awesome friend 3D print a Dark Eldar fleet from STL files.

I even made a couple of Dark Eldar Impalers from Dark Eldar Impalers

Aeronautica

2 Tigershark Bombers

2 TIgershark AX

6 Barracudas

Ground Assets?

This might take a little time because my tau scheme is mostly white...

and white sucks to paint.

Dark Eldar

7 Wyches

Archon

Beastmaster

1 Kheradruakh Conversion

3 more Grotesques?

I really liked the new Shadowstalkers and figured they'd make good Wych stand-ins.

Wanted to make better Archon to match my Mandrakes using this guy

I made these from those FW Daemons, I keep going back and forth on weather I want more

Tau

~~4 Gun Drones~~

~~2 Marker Drones~~

Shaper

5 Rail Rifle Pathfinder Squad

3 Tanks (Devilfish/Hammerhead)

2 Piranhas

2 Remoras

1 Tigershark Bomber

2 Baracudas

So a lot more of this unfortunately....

For my piranhas, because I hate the ski-doo look

Eldar

~~1 Dire Avenger~~

2 Jetbikes

1 Warlock

1 Wraithknight

Dire avenger was easy. Now mostly I just need to repaint a whole Wraithknight.....

Grey Knights

2 Twin Heavy Bolters

I already had two of these for razorbacks, but I have no idea what happened to them. So I have the hulls and the mounts all set, just need to paint some guns because I'm an idiot.

Harlequins

10 Troupe conversion models

3 Special Starweavers…..

I picked up a box of Nighthaunt Revenants last year, and built them up last year. Now I just need to paint them.

Imperial Armour Compendium Critical Review: Part 4- Grey Knights, Inqusition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes

2020-12-25T08:00:00.004-05:00

A Continuation of our 11 part review of the Imperial Armour Compendium. This time we are diving into the Grey Knights, Inquisition, Ad Mech and Custodes portion of the book.

This review will be an in depth 11 part series, and I will update and link each successive article below, so keep checking back for updates.

Part 1- Book Overview
Part 2- Space Marines
Part 3- Astra Militarum
Part 4- Grey Knights, Inquisition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes
Part 5- Imperial Knights, Titan Legions, Chaos Knights and Chaos Titan Legions
Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons
Part 7- Craftworlds and Drukhari
Part 8- Necrons and Orks
Part 9- T'au Empire and Tyranids
Part 10- Death Korps of Krieg Focused Discussion
Part 11- Forgeworld Warhammer Legends

Kicking off with Grey Knights and their TWO Datasheets. Of particular note, with the new FAQ, both these units no longer have Adeptus Astartes as a Keyword, but instead of Sanctic Astartes. Interesting indicator of things to come for Grey Knights, and definitely makes stratagems and keywords clearer in the future, closing opportunities for abuse. It is sad that the Doomglaive and the Vortimer Razorback are stuck in legends, but fortunately if you have these models they can still be used as a Venerable Dreadnought and a Razorback with Twin-Heavy Bolter (which isn't half bad as a support tank now). And I still find it incredibly odd that the only army with a full page of art in the whole book is Grey Knights.

Grey Knights Thunderhawk Gunship. Same treatment as the Adeptus Astartes one. 710 MASSIVE points decrease and no Martial Legacy. Missing stats on the sheet for a bunch of base wargear. Have to refer to the codex for Airborne, Hard to Hit, Hover Jet and Supersonic. Attacks went from 6/4/3/2 to 6/D6/D3. Lost a point of BS at its highest bracket. Has a rule to specify you ALWAYS measure to the hull which is important after Aresgate in competitve 9th edition. Hellstrike battery got the same bonuses as on the Fire Raptor and Storm Eagle. Thunderhawk heavy cannon went from D6 damage to D3+2 and blast. The Turbo-laser Heavy 3 instead of D3 and gained a point of AP, but damage went to flat 6 instead of 2D6, and lost its ability to do D3 mortal wounds on a wound roll of 6. Lost its invulnerable save which is BIG IMO. Cluster bombs did get alot better, procing on a 4+ instead of 5+ now, and up to 18 dice instead of 12 or 3D6 vs Vehicles/Monsters instead of 2D6.
Land Raider Banisher. 70 point reduction. This used to be the Vortimer pattern land raider redeemer, but renamed for some unknown reason., my guess is to avoid any potential <Land Raider Redeemer> keyword abuse potential. Attacks on the lowest profile went from 1 to D3. The Flamestorm cannons did become incinerators, so that is a nice touch. But the Psycannons lost 2 shots, but went up to 2 damage. Considering that Heavy Bolters did too though, this isn't as amazing, but since they are still S7, they are more likely to wound. It is a nice improvement, but it is still a Land Raider in a world with Repulsors, so take that under advisement.

Inquisition is next up with their two dataslates. Lok was never really a good competitive choice, but Rex had his uses, particularly in Custodes lists. He still has some play in him, but was needlessly nerfed IMO.

Inquisitor Solomon Lok- No points change. Frankly, with the number of things discontinued in Imperial Guard, I'm surprised he stayed around. For one, he is dead. He died in the Imperial Armour he showed up in. They try to make it seem like he may not be dead in his fluff blurb in the compedium, but he was last seen charging a Heirophant with a satchel of demo charges and no way off the planet so yeah... not sure there is a way out of that. Anyway he has no statline change, but his pistol gained a point of AP and his powersword is +1S, which makes him S4 in a T4 meta, so that is good. Unfortunately, he lost his 6+ to ignore wounds and in general isn't very useful as an inquisitor without Psychic powers. The model is cool, and I'd suggest just using it as a ordinary Xenos (or really any ordo) inquisitor.
Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex- 10 point reduction. Lost a point of WS but gained an Attack and a Wound. Went from cast 2 powers and denying 3 to casting 2 denying 2. His storm shield got the same change all storms shields got, which given he is in terminator armour is mathematically better in most cases. His shield now also gives him a 5+ to ignore wounds, which makes it odd that they took it from Lok. His bolt pistol gained a point of AP and his custom sword, Arias, gained +1 S making him S5 in combat. It also wend from D3 damage to flat 2 damage, unfortunately it went from doing a mortal wound against Daemons for every successful hit to doing a mortal wound for every successful wound. Over all a Nerf, but still not a terrible choice at 100 points.

Next Up Adeptus Mechanicus. Its a shame we will never get Fires of Cyraxus. Here was a chance to port in some of those amazing 30k models, even if they just gave them legends rules, but unfortunately nope. An interesting thing is that the Secutarii got the <TITAN LEGION> keyword as a faction keyword but unfortunately there is no detachment in the game that has a LoW and elites choices in it, and there are no specific benefits for that keyword and there are no HQ units that can take that keyword. Fortunately they kept their rule that they can be in a Ad Mech detachment without ruining the <FORGE WORLD> keyword of that detachment. It will be nice if in the future there are more expansive rules for <TITAN LEGION> and they can all together replace <FORGE WORLD> so you can have all the Ad Mech units in a real Secutarii army (and allow them to ride in any transport). It isn't totally useless though, as they can perform Heroic Interventions if they are within 6" of a friendly Titan of the same legion, and can move 6" if they do so. It is really a great addition. I would be worried about them not being able to keep up with a titan, but really titans stay still in 40k because their weapons have such great ranges. Keep them nearby to a titan to protect against things like Sanguinary Guard.

Secutarii Hoplites- Previous Rules for them here from FW. 1 point increase per model, so 10 points more for the squad. Still a steal at 100 points with a 5+ Invuln and the mag inverter shields. Other than the mentioned heroic intervention and keyword changes above, not other difference.
Secutarii Peltasts- Previous Rules for them here from FW. No point changes. Lost the ignis blaze profile for their gun than gave them the ability to fire their weapons at targets out of line of sight, but both other profiles gained a point of S and the Flachette profile went from Rapid Fire 2 to Assault 3, but went down from 24" to 18". Still overall an improvement for their gun IMO. Not sure how much utility they bring to an Ad Mech army, but they definitely improved from what they were.
Terrax-Pattern Termite- Same treatment as elsewhere. 44 point increase. Gained 4 wounds. Attacks went from 6/D6/D3 to 3/D3/1, which is a big nerf for the Drill. Drill also lost its cascading mortal wounds and instead just went to D3+3 damage and D3+6 vs vehicles. This may be better, but its less flavorful IMO and is majorly offset by losing attacks. For some reason they finally included storm bolters here. Volkites gained 5" and they do mortals on a wound of 6. Heavy Flamer and melta cutter gained the game wide bonuses all flamers and meltas have been getting, but melta also went from heavy D6 to heavy 5 and gained 4" of range. So the drill got better at shooting, but worse at drilling, which seems to be the point. In the latest FAQ it also gained the ability to transport Secutarii units.

And finally Adeptus Custodes! The Forge World rules for 8th are all here and not in the previous Index. Really one of the only factions in the book that saw no nerfs, and maybe even improvements, over their previous rules.

Custodian Guard w/ Adrasite/Pyrithite Spears. No points change for Adrasites, 5 point increase for Pyrithite. Really the only noticeable change is Pyrithite got the same melta changes (D6+2) all other melta has been getting in 9th. I haven't been seeing them used a lot in custodes lists, but really that comes down to Allarus and Dawneagles being better. However, I think some clever lists can really employ these guys and they have some more play in them in the 9th ed meta than they did in the 8th ed one.
Sagittarum Custodians- No points change. Also no significant change. Only difference being the Bolt Volley went up 1 damage, following suite with heavy bolters. But the fact tables got smaller in 9th and improvements in terrain rules have really made these an amazing Troop choice for Custodes.
Aquilon Custodians- 5 Point decrease for base wargear and Twin Adrathic destructor, but no points change if you run Talons and Firepikes. Infernus Firepikes went up to 15" from 12", gaining 3 like every flamer weapon in the game. While not as big a deal for them, since they were already over the 9" threshold for deepstrikes, 15" is impressive. Solerite power guantlets changed like all powerfists to flat 2 damage from D3. Really the only problem with Aquilons is they aren't Allarus...
Contemptor-Galatus and Achillus- 5 point reduction for the Galatus, no change for the Achillus. Gained an attack and a wound and gained Guardian Eternal like all SM dreads, reducing damage by 1 to a min of 1 for all attacks. The Galatus Warblade's shooting range increased 4 inches and the Achillus Dreadspear went to flat 3 damage for shooting, which is a big improvement from d3 Damage. The spear's melee profile also went to D3+3 from D6. The Achillus lost impaling lunge unfortunately, but the other gains it got outweigh that. While I like the improvements to the Galatus more, I feel the Achillus still has more use to a Custodes Army. It is just better at killing vehicles, where as the Galatus shines best against infatry, and Custodes already handle infantry superbly with every other unit. Deepstriking or outflanking a couple of Dreadnoughts though really can ruin your opponent's day.
Agamatus Custodians- 5 point reduction per model for base wargear and adrathic devastator. 20 point reduction over all for the las-pulsar. Otherwise no changes. Really the only reason you don't see these in play is the fact Dawneagles are just cheaper, points and dollar wise. That and the Achillus can do the job of the Las-pulsars for less points with more damage reliability.
Venatari Custodians- No points change. Only change is the lance went to flat 2 damage from D3 damage. But these are still Custodes with a 3+ save and Jetbikes still exist... sooo yeah. Cool models, not bad rules, just not the optimal pick.
Pallas-Grav Attack- 10 point reduction. In the past I didn't rate these all that well with the Caladius around, but with the way vehicles and cover work in 9th, they have more play in them and can really be a nuisance to your opponent and pair really well as support for Vertus Praetors.
Telemon Heavy Dreadnought- No points change. Gained Guardian Eternal WHICH IS GREAT, especially when you consider the Leviathan lost a point of T. Its explosion also only does d3 mortals instead of d6. He is a very large investment still in a meta with more and better ways to deal with big vehicles,, which is why you see Contemptors popping up more, but this guy is still great and you will see Custodes players running them.
Caladius Grav Tank- No points change. Only change is the loss of gravitic backwash, which is really unfortunate, especially with the changes to overwatch in 9th edition. That and the point reduction on the Pallas really made 2 Pallas worth it sometimes compared to a Caladius. But these are still great tanks and still have their uses in the game IMO. Maybe not as the super stars they once were with all the improvements to melta and other anti-tank weapons, but still not a bad choice.
Coronus Grav Carrier- 15 point decrease, no other changes. Its nice, but this is still an 18 wound model, which is a liability in 9th. And its a transport for a faction with jetbikes and a universal ability to deep strike. It just doesn't have great uses. Cool model. Great for Crusade and Narrative play. But just not something you will see much in match play. Never have and likely never will.
Orion Assault Dropship- No points change. Attacks nerfed like all the Astartes Aircraft down from 6/4/2 to 6/D6/D3. Otherwise no changes. When it comes down to it, this has the same downside of the Coronus- you are paying a lot for unnecessary transport capacity. 9th ed table are just too small to need it and you have so many ways to come onto the board now. What you really need is more firepower which leads to the...
Ares Gunship- Up 20 points. Same attack change as the Orion. The infernus firebomb also changed. You now roll 1 dice for each unit instead of 1d6 for each model in the unit up to 20 (or 3d6 for a vehicle and monster). It still is a 4+, but instead of 1 mortal wound it does D3. Big nerf against horde armies. An Ork mob of 20 boyz on average would have taken 10 mortals, and now suffers 2 mortals 50% of the time. Not really standing out to me as a FIREBOMB. The trade off is now it is each unit within 6" of the point you dropped it, but most of the time that is only 1 or 2 units, and against hordes, like those orks, you are still not going to average the same number of wounds. Weirdly, it really took a massive conflagration bomb and made it a great character sniping weapon, especially clustered support characters. Besides that though, this thing has some great uses in 9th BUT remember, anything that doesn't fit in the deployment zone (and this and the orion won't for some missions) can't do anything 1st turn. This will limit it in comp play, but it is still really good.

That is it for part 4. Sorry these are coming so slow. They take a bit to write, but I hope they are informative.