All the parts!

Today I realised I have hit a landmark. I finally have all of the parts I need to complete all 10 companies and a significant amount of support material.

There are still a few holes in the collection and I am a little light in terms of tanks and flyers, but after so many years of working towards it is finally some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

Now I just need to get everything painted, based and into a game!

8th Edition Warhammer 40,000

8th Edition Warhammer 40,000  is on the way and so far I have to say I like it. There is no faction destroying, no Warhammer ends times. GW are making fantastic offers of support refunding codexs bought in the last 8 weeks and are being very open about the upcoming rules.

I have  already seen stat lines for 2 wound Terminators and although this may not be the final outcome it has left me pretty happy and a single profile type for all units can only simply the game. Dreads and monstrous creatures will be on an equal footing for a change and that will clean up a lot of bitterness about the flyrants, Grey Knight Nemisis and the Wraithlord.

2nd ed movement distances are back which leaves me wondering what is going to happen to the charge range. It also makes me wonder about the effectiveness of vehicle shooting, but in my head I can already guess it will be something like not moved, moved, "ran" as it would be for infantry.

There is loads to come and it is very exciting as well as a huge accolade that GW has taken what was a hostile and largely negative community and managed to make huge strides in turning it around.

Keeping the faith

I am keeping the painting going with this somewhat mauled Chaplin and his half cybernetic head along with a few more arms for the Dreadnoughts. I am starting to think I need a mass basing session to get the snow flock on a few miniatures.

Iron within Iron without... no, wait!

Completely armless

Marked for Censure - Ultramarine Sergeants

Ultramarine Sergeants have long had a distinctive red helm, handy for spotting troop leaders in the swirl of combat and making snipers' jobs easier since some time in the 1980's.

It is a nice distinction and has a practical gaming purpose. In fact, when playing games of Apocalyptic proportion I often find that it is simpler to try and keep track of the Sergeants than it is to try and remember the plan for each squad. They are certainly easier to find. 

With the growing fluff of the 40k universe, indeed thanks to the 30k setting and Brother Sargent Aeonid Thiel we have come to know a lot more about the origins of the red helm and in Gathering Storm III we get to use the original artefact as war-gear.In fact Gathering Storm has sent me back to my painting table and over the last couple of days I have produced the Brother Sargents you can see in this post. I have been trying to push up my normal standard of painting and I have spend longer than usual on these, making sure to highlight the models.

Some of the keener eyed among you might wonder why the Ultra symbol is on the wrong arm of the Sargent above. This is because the article white stripe with the inset Ultra is listed as a Tactical squad marking in the Index Astartes and I think it is nice to mix in the other symbols, marking out suits of power armour that may have remained unchanged since a specific feat in their history, or just more generally following the Codex rule of changing up the markings to confuse the enemy.

Guilliman Returns!

Games Workshop have gotten ahead of the rumour-mill and announce that for the first time in 10 millennia a true son of the Emperor will walk the stars. Guilliman returns!

Gathering Storm III is going to be the latest release in a major advancement of the 40k universe narrative. It is big news for the Ultramarines, but I am left looking at the horizon with a little trepidation. Guilliman being the first to return to the loyalists leaves him open to a fast power creep and the end time narrative also heralded the literal end of the Warhammer franchise.

Leaping over this trepidation though, it is monumental news and exciting enough to get me back to building, painting, playing and (when I remember) blogging.