Titan Owners Club Walk UK 2019 announced.

Hi all

Titan Owners Club have announced their second UK Walk. It will be happening on the 29th and 30th of June 2019. 

Information for the event can be found HERE. 

The last Walk was a big success, and it will now be held annually. 

Chapter Approved 2018 Edition Review

Hi all. 

We have been fortunate to get an early release of the Chapter Approved 2018 Edition for review. So let's have a look. 

I loved Chapter Approved from back in the day, and the 2018 edition is very similar in content to its previous incarnation. So let’s get in and have a look at a few of our (Shadow and My) favourite parts. 

Cities of Death. 

This is a bit of a shock as I still have the old City fight books, so just having the updated 8th edition rules within this book immediately adds to its value. 

The book details how you can bring city fights to the tabletop with 6 new missions and 3 new Warlord Traits to muck around with. 

Of the new missions, the Gauntlet is my favourite. Many a time we have played Gauntlet-esque missions in our narrative games, where one force desperately needs to fight their way between two forces. The fast paced action where cover is a real issue is has always appealed to me. 

Speaking of cover, the basic jist when it comes to shooting is; if a model is partly obscured it is -1 to hit. If half of the firing squad can see an enemy unobscured, but the first half only see them as obscured, then it is case by case basis. 

It is beneficial to gain a height advantage in 8th edition city fights as you you get additional AP modifiers too. 

BETA Codex Adepta Sororitas. 

YES!! A great touch to see a Beta Codex in Chapter Approved. This is to be treated as a work in progress Beta, and placeholder Codex until the full book comes out hopefully in a year or so’s time. It even gives you the email address to send your feedback in to; 40kfaq@gwplc.com. 

The Codex gives background on the organisation, the 6 main Orders (Bloody Rose, Argent Shroud etc.) and a few pages showcasing colour schemes of the metal range of models. 

Shadow has prepared a review of the following two sections. 

Custom Characters

Commander Dante, Marneus Augustus Calgar, Col. Gaunt, Asdrubael Vect.  What do they all have in common?  They are known and (in)famous characters in the Warhammer 40,000 lore.  What do only two of them have?  Established rules.

Chapter Approved 2018 brings a new Character Creation system to the tabletop game’s Narrative Play mode.  This new feature in Chapter Approved gives characters like Gaunt and Vect a chance to hit the tabletop in a more relaxed setting.  Better yet, it allows you to bring your own “head canon” characters in as well.

Character Creation in CA2018 is quite simple.

1.) Pick the datasheet that you wish to build from, as long as it is not a named character and has the CHARACTER keyword.

2.) Change the sub-faction keyword to the relevant sub-faction, such as Captain Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines having the Ultramarines keyword in place of the Chapter keyword.

3.) Select if the character is a Hero, Mighty Hero, or Legendary hero.

4.) Roll on the provided tables or choose the attributes you wish to give your character.

The structure of this easy-to-use system is defined in Chapter Approved in more detail, but the basics are simple to grasp.  Regular Hero models will receive four (4) buffs from the tables,Mighty Heroes will receive six (6), while Legendary Heroes will receive eight (8).  Players are free to pick and choose any combination they wish on these tables and bring their character to life; or let chance decide the fate of the warrior.  There are some minor restrictions, such as psychic powers being limited to pskyers, not “stacking” an ability or similar abilities, and the inability to improve relics.

With a system like this in place there is likely to be a lot of wonder why there are no points values assigned to the various updgrades or tables so that this system could be used in Narrative and Matched Play.  While that would bring balance to the abilities, it would only address individual perks and not look at the new character in a holistic manner.  Players can indeed create some over-the-top and broken combinations and the system is definitely ripe for exploitation, which is the most likely reason that this is limited to Open Play.

With that said, the system is fun, simple to use, and gives Warhammer 40k fans the chance to bring someone they have come to love to life.  A powerful Captain of your Astartes can now run around with 2+ armor, a Master-Crafter thunder hammer, and the abilities that you always dreamed he had using this new system.  Chapter Approved even adds an example page showing how they created a character based on their theme.

Battle Honours

Warfare is as likely to see a veteran cut down as it is a greenhorn, but there is something to be said about veteran warriors when it comes to fighting.  They can anchor a battleline and keep it from shattering, or deliver a punishing salvo that creates the opening needed to crush an opponent.  Battle Honours represent the most fearsome units in 40k by bringing your veterans to life.

Battle Honours is an expansion to the Warhammer 40k rules that tracks the progress of your units in campaign or a one-off game (based on Power Level for one-off games).  As units complete battles, destroy opposing units, or eleminate vehicles or other high value targets they’ll gain experience and eventually rank up.  A unit’s rank determines the level of Battle Honour they can obtain and how many they can hold.

This simple to use system is fully detailed in Chapter Approved 2018 and allows for Vehicles, Monsters, and Warriors (infantry, bikers, etc.) to evolve during a campaign.  It cannot be used on Characters, Swarms, Buildings, or Drones.  Another caveat is that each Battle Honour a unit gains raises its Power Rating by one (1).  Examples for Warriors include the ability to re-roll Advance or Charge rolls, ignoring Leadership penalties, and the ability to shoot or charge after using a Fall Back.  Ultimately, this system will take the most basic of raw recruits into powerful veterans that will never yield and bring the game further to life.

Summary

A welcome return to the Chapter Approved book. I think it is very well written and should be used as a tool to enhance the core ruleset in places with the likes of the Cities of Death rules, and additional Codex. The ability to create your own character for narrative based missions is great, as most people out there create a Commander model which gets gifted a slight backstory, which grows and grows as games are played. 

The Index Renegades Knights is a great addition, and hopefully one day there will be an assortment of upgrades from GW to enable you to convert the Plastic Imperial range to Chaos. 

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it would make a great Xmas present for any 8th edition gamer. 

Vigilus Campaign book Review

Hi all

Today we look at Vigilus Defiant, the upcoming Campaign book from Games Workshop. 

It is book 1 of a 2 book series detailing the conflict which unfolds on one linchpin planet of Segmentum Obscurus. It is a 200 page book with a LOT of information pertaining to this battleground and it’s many phases. 

Armies

The book is aimed at numerous different factions and therefore a broader group of gamers/collectors.

Imperial:

Ultramarines - Lead by Marneus Calgar himself, he leads the Imperial defence. 

Sisters of Battle - Order of our Martyred Lady, Bloody Rose, Ebon Chalice, Last Prioress and Argent Shroud. They seem to be lead by Temperance Blaise of the Order of Our Martyred Lady. 

Astra Militarum - All of the Major Regiment Homeworlds appear present (Catachan, Valhalla etc). The biggest battlegroup is lead by Proctor Commander Vendar of the Vigilant Guard. 

Adeptus Astartes - Around 25 other Chapters are present with 1-6 Companies. All the big players and a few new forces I haven’t seen before. 

Adeptus Mechanicus - Stygies VIII Skitarii forces are present on the planet. 

Imperial Knights - House Terryn played a huge part in the conflict, but numerous other Questor Imperialis, Scions of the Mechanicum and Freeblades were also present. 

Enemies:

Orks - a lot of Hordes!! Every Clan, caste and sub-culture made it to Vigilus, including Stompa Mobs and Grot Tribes including Squiggoths and Artillery batteries. 

Genestealer Cult - All children of Grandsire Wurm. On Vigilus, nearly every Settlement has its own gene-sect or brood cycle (including infiltrated Astra Militarum forces). 

Aeldari - Saim Hann were active and other Craftworlds. Spiritseer Qelanaris was the most encountered leader of Aeldari forces. These were both hostile and as allies throughout the conflict. 

Drukhari - raiding parties were active across Vigilus.  

Personally I don’t usually like Campaign books with such a numerous list of different factions fighting for their own goals, so I’m trying to read this book with an open mindset. I have always been a fan of the Forge World Campaign books and HH Black books where one faction faces off against another, to me it helps with the narrative and also makes it more cinematic. This immediately feels like it’s book 1 of 2 where a battleground has been created to cater for all Collectors to battle over, with a few pages of narrative for their Force “A” where they encounter Force “B” (the one which your buddy has). Let’s see how my opinion changes as I advance through it. 

Battlegrounds

So Vigilus was beset by Orks in a major invasion opposed by myriad regiments of Astra Militarum and Sisters of Battle. Marneus Calgar, came to the defence of the world with the Companies of numerous other Space Marine Chapters. 

Roboute Guilliman himself had declared the planet invaluable (probably why Abbadon is heading there in book 2). 

The Vigilant Guard (Vigilus’ home Regiment), is a very pious and faithful Regiment who wholeheartedly believe in the God Emperor of Mankind, after crusading or battling often with the Sisters of Battle (no description of what the Vigilant Guard dress like yet). 

There are “veins of a strange black mineral” running through the crust. It is being mined by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and sounds distinctively like Black Stone. 

The book tells you all about its history since the Cicatrix Maledictum was created. It is one of a couple known routes from Imperium Nihilus to Imperium Sanctus (the other is south of Corinthe in an area of space formerly known as the Thirteen Realms during the Horus Heresy). Chances are, these two areas are rich in Blackstone veins which is the reason they are currently the only stable routes through the Great Rift. 

Soooo Vigilus is important for the Imperium as otherwise the Imperium is utterly divided. 

Each town or region of the planet (battlegrounds) have a few pages devoted to setting the scene for the Zone, including its history in the conflict, who on the Imperial side is charged with it’s defence and what forces assail it. 

For instance the region of Mortwald is a wealthy realm, used as a Rejuvenat Spa and relaxing getaway for the elite of the Imperium (see the Promotional pict slate below lol), where acres of agricultural land and picturesque forests are (currently) in abundance. The Rejuvenat treatment goes from stripping a few years off to having your head cut off and sutured onto a fresh young body (wow). The Emperor himself even blessed the planet and the Mortwald region due to their works. 

The elite dwell within bio domes of pure paradise, with running streams and glistening lakes. The exterior of these domes are dotted with brutal gun-nests and sentry crenellations, to ensure the elite maintained their lavish lifestyle. 

The perimeter of the Mortwald region is given over to tank traps, trenches, fortifications and sentry towers. . . . sooooo a good place for the Imperial Fists to rest their boots (which is what happens). 

The Imperial Fists under Dravastis Fane, man the defences along Catachan and Chadian Regiments to repel Ork invaders (Stompa Mob, Dread Mob and a Speed Mob). 

As with the other warzones, Mortwald has its own War Zone Rules (more about later). This helps set the scene when it comes to fighting in the bio-domes of Mortwald. 

The Speedwaaagh!

The Orks come crashing out of the Great Rift as soon as it is created. They drop onto the planet and after a brief interlude of racing around the world and infighting (use the Speed Freeks game here lol), start fighting humies. 

It is pretty cool to see all of the Race routes all over the planet on the maps. Each tract has a name like Krooldakka’s Warp-Kut and Hyperia Hyperway. These routes often join at their Scrap Cities, which there are around 10 of from the various crash sites. 

Crimson Fists!

It should be noted that Pedro Kentor is alive and well. Roboute reinforced the Crimson Fists (which were just below 300 strong) with 500 new Primaris Space Marines. This means, the Crimson Fists are no longer on death’s doorstep, and their Chapter is actually further into the Primaris fold now than many other Chapters. I’m sure it won’t be long before Pedro takes the upgrade to Primaris either. 

They have lots of new equipment too. 

War zone Rules

This section of the Campaign book lets you generate a battlefield which best befits the region in which you are Campaigning through. Also, it could be a good place to start to help you plan your Campaign (if you are limited to a particular terrain set for your gaming board, you could choose which is best for you before planning your Campaign). 

It also allows you to set up perimeter games for those zones which butt up to another type of War zone (Industrial connecting to wastes for example). 

You then divide the table into 6x 2’x2’ sections and roll on a scenery table. Mortwald is a place of exotic Fauna and military defence lines and Bastions, so this makes up the majority of the list. 

Marneus Calgar

“He was the first to undergo the extremely risky surgery to transform a Traditional Space Marine into a Primaris Marine,” 

He has a toughness of 5 now and 8 wounds. The Armour of Heraclus halfs all damage received by half rounding up, but is otherwise MK X Graves with a 2+/4+. 

Specialist Detachments 

If your army is Battle-forged you will have access to the Specialist Detachment Stratagems in this section.

Indomitus Crusaders:

This SD represents the Primaris Marines who Crusaded with Roboute during the Indomitus Crusade. 

I like this one a fair bit, especially the Grey Shield bit. It’s a bit Grey Knight, a bit Deathwatch. 

Primaris Chapters

The book has four pages devoted to 4x Chapters of Primaris Marines found in the Indomitus Crusade. These Chapters do look good, and the source images generally give you enough info to field them as an army (marking examples etc). I think what would have been a good touch, is for the author to have expanded on these Chapters a bit more, a bit like as in the FW Black Book Series. Adding more character to the still relatively fresh and new Primaris Marines Chapters, can only be a good thing. Very pleased they moved away from the cartoony imagery too!!

Campaign Rules

This Campaign system is a pretty cool system. It’s a linear system which advances with the timeline, where it gives you a quite relaxed approach to running a Campaign, yet with a fair bit of depth. It recommends which scenarios are played during each round (a round is what ever best suits your gaming group and can be as long as whatever is agreed). Each round also has special rules, for instance Round 3 has a special rule: Rise from the Shadows; add 1 to hit rolls for shooting attacks made by Genestealer Cult units that target the closest enemy unit.

The victor is decided by amassing Glory points which can be achieved by winning, fighting on a Vigilus Battlezone/Vigilus Mission or Bonus objectives. This book contains 3 Phases of the War of Beasts Campaign, each of which has 6 rounds. 

It also has a Campaigns in the Dark Imperium section which adds a series of unfortunate events to your Campaign rounds. These can be planned/drawn randomly/rolled on/ chosen by the victor or loser of previous round etc. They add some really decent and simple touches too. 

Summary

Well all in all it’s a great book. The Campaign system is simple and easy to understand, but still adds some great depth and detail without managing to complicate the structure. The additional missions will go down really well (as we all love new missions). 

I still think it is a bit overcrowded as Campaign books go, I do prefer two forces with different sub armies, as I think you can set more of a scene. 

The book is very very well written, and you can tell a lot of effort has gone in to making it a polished book, akin in quality of writing and lore to that of the FW Black Books. I hope they keep this standard up!

Thanks for reading. 

Warbringer Nemesis Titan Delivered

Hi all

Kaelo had his Warbringer Nemesis delivered today, and so I got to get my mits on this lovely Engine and it’s assembly guide. 

A fair few components!!! This looks fun :) though my initial opinion is that it looks easier than a Reaver and Warlord. 

Legs and feet. Well that's damn simple. 

Waist. Step 11 looks like an important one to me too. I have always had issues with pistons at the waist in the past on my other Titan projects. 

Torso. 18 looks critical too. Dry fitting is definitely key. 

Shoulders and defence guns. Interested to see how the guns can be magnetised in stage 34. Looking at point 38, I wonder what it would look like to get Warhounds grade weaponry on those slots with lesser shoulder guards. Will there be a regular Warbringer with out the Nemesis class upgrade?

Further advice. I do like the Head option now with the magnetic capability. Good job FW. 

Fin. 

Blackstone Fortress: Ur-Ghul

Hi all

I just had a night where I wanted an easy win. I was late home, and not in the mood for making buildings or painting Morty. So with a huge Blackstone Fortress box to still plough through I decided to take on 4 Ur-Ghul models following Peachy’s painting guide. 

Undercoat White. 

Wash with a mix of 1 part Coelia Greenshade and 2 parts Lahmian. 

Drybrush with Ulthuan Grey. 

Wash the teeth, nostril eyes and hands with Druchi Violet (one hand at a time and using a Drybrush to soften the merge line whilst it is still wet). 

A bit of bloodletter over the nostril eyes and follow it up with a little highlight of Ulthuan Grey again to pick out the details. 

Great fun and easy. 

The Buried Dagger

Looks like it’s about to go a bit smelly for Morty and his Death Guard! 

February will see Mortarion and his Legion turn to Nurgle in book 54 by James Swallow. Also, Malcador sounds as though he is a big character in this book. 

DESCRIPTION
The skies darken over Terra as the final battle for the Throne looms ever closer... As the Traitor primarchs muster to the Warmaster’s banner, it is Mortarion who is sent ahead as the vanguard of the Traitor forces. But as he and his warriors make way, they become lost in the warp and stricken by a terrible plague. Once thought of as the unbreakable, the legendary Death Guard are brought to their knees. To save his Legion, Mortarion must strike a most terrible bargain that will damn his sons for eternity. Meanwhile, in the cloisters of Holy Terra, a plot is afoot to create sedition and carnage in advance of the Horus’s armies. Taking matters into his own hands, Malcador the Sigillite seeks to put a stop to any insurrection but discovers a plot that he will need all of his cunning and battle-craft to overcome.

Written by James Swallow

This title will be available to order from the 23rd February 2019 as an eBook and Hardback.

Cant wait!

Drake Seta

Warbringer is on pre order!

Hi all. The Warbringer Nemesis is up for pre-order (perfect as it’s payday). 

Head is £60 (another option will be out soonish). 

The weapons have now been referenced as Battle Titan Weapons (compatible with Warbringer and Reaver). Note there are a few welcome changes too. 

It’s a lovely kit with so much detail. 

£980 all in. It’s worth slowly starting to compile bits now, then do the big purchase of the body later :)

Drake