Sunday, July 10, 2022

World Eaters First Game - Reactions


I didn't keep track of stuff too closely or take pictures during my first game of World Eaters using the new codex and Index Hereticus, but this is more an article for my reactions to the units, upgrades, etc.1

Well, the World Eaters smashed and overwhelmed the Aeldari alliance of Drukhari, Harlequins, and Corsairs. Tempest of War cards again proved to be great fun. Forgot to play the mission card for a couple of turns, this game there was a warp storm going on potentially causing mortal wounds to units holding objectives. A poor berzerker did get zapped for a mortal wound, psychic energy blasting out of the purple crystals we use as objectives and causing the nails to bite deep.

I won the roll off both for being defender and going first, which was mostly responsible for me pulling ahead on points. The primary rewarded points for holding 1/2/more objectives than the opponent, which I scored every turn due to the objective placement. I did exploit this advantage in deployment zone, but offered to rearrange the objectives when the game began due to the obvious advantage. My opponent said he placed them deliberately and was thus cool with it, and intended of course to kill and sweep my World Eaters off of them. That isn’t what happened, as Khorne would have it. I got a secondary to perform an action at the end of the movement phase with an Obsec unit that I got first turn, as an added bonus.

I managed to forget my cultists at home, so after cutting the chainfist on the terminator champion and a couple of plasma pistols from the chosen, I brought a fifth unit of 5 Berzerkers. The first turn I didn’t even use any CP, and due to the upgrades and buffs in the army along with conservative use of CP the low number wasn’t a huge problem.

Terminator lord with Gorefather: Managed to not roll any 6’s to wound in 2 combat phases, wiped a couple of skyweavers and provided some rerolls aura. This game he didn’t really matter too much, I’m sure with better rolls he can really shine. 6” heroic intervention did allow him to join a combat a turn early, which he bounced off of the first combat, then ripped them apart the next turn. He had 7 attacks on the charge, and the -1 to hit from Gorefather doesn’t matter, since harlequins have -1 to hit anyway. He bumped up to 8 attacks on the charge after wiping the skyweavers, but didn’t get to fight again before the game ended.

Daemon prince utilized jump to reposition and maximize his aura. The mantle of traitors allowed me to snipe out his rerolls aura to core anywhere on the table, so he alternated between havocs and Berzerkers. He killed a shadowseer in combat, the mantle allowing him to use Skulls for the Skull Throne for free to get 2 CP back. My opponent charged and killed him out of deep strike with a solitaire. I think the mantle is a great choice for him, as he should be able to kill at least one character in a game. His aura along with the lord’s allowed the dark apostle to skip dark zealotry, as well as something in the Aeldari army that turned off auras. +1“ advance and charge aura is an autoinclude for me as a warlord trait.

Dark Apostle was outstanding. I used Wrathful Entreaty to keep the chaincannon havocs in wanton destruction, and also used illusory supplication on them while in cover. Both powers are just great. His warlord trait (eternal vendetta) was good, I marked a troupe of 8 and fragged them with the havocs turn 1 (2 lived and ran). This is a really versatile ability and will be useful every game.

Havocs were meh to badass. Meh was 4 krak missiles bouncing off a voidweaver. Better was frag missile fire turn 1 blasting a troupe apart with exploding 6's and re-roll 1's aura from the terminator lord. Badass was chaincannon havocs just blasting away with wrathful entreaty on turns 2 and 3. Turn 1 they were out of range and I didn’t want to leave cover. With illusory supplication they tanked a bunch of shooting from a couple of voidweavers and death jesters, losing just the champion. They also charged and fought, dealing a few wounds to the solitaire after he wiped the prince. It was nice to have long range with the missile launchers, as they at least had targets every turn. 

Red Butchers with the black rune were tough! I dropped them mid table turn 2 to engage multiple targets, and their combi-bolters did serious work. They blasted the enemy warlord to death, then endured most of the Aeldari shooting and charges from 2 troupes, a death jester, and a shadowseer. 8 were cut down and the last 2 fled from failed morale and combat attrition. I interrupted to fight twice, but despite decent rolls the harlequins passed the vast majority of their invuln saves. This pile of enemy units was  then immediately both shot to death and charged by multiple units. It was a rout, and pretty much signaled the end for the Aeldari alliance. Black rune autoinclude on terminators in a brick of 10, my friends. 

Berzerkers were great. So many attacks. In wanton slaughter and with fury of Khorne, even a 5 man unit puts out just a bloody fountain of hits and wounds. I’m glad I forgot my cultists at home and brought a fifth unit. Having a second wound at long last on my Berzerkers feels like such a victory in and of itself, like the Nicolas Cage Con Air hair blowing in the wind meme. They’re not hard to kill, but even 2 or 3 pose a fairly big threat to Eldar infantry. Only one unit was wiped, after chopping through a unit of wyches during my turn.

Chosen were great. I used daemon shells and relentless devastation to shred a unit of incubi escorting drazhar in turn 2, which allowed me to hang back with them those extra 6” and deny drazhar the charge during his turn. Used fury of the first to rapid fire a few more wounds off drazhar in turn 3 before charging and killing him. The black mace bounced off his invuln save but the rest of the unit just cut him to shreds. I forgot about their special rule after wiping the incubi, but it likely wouldn’t have mattered. Their 3rd wound is such a sweet bonus for them.

Really fun game against my buddy, we had a blast but things tipped in my favor fairly quickly. My opponent didn’t feel like any of my units or combos were particularly cheesy or unfun, but both the black rune and armor of contempt are effective at neutering a lot of damage. He certainly could have picked stronger abilities than he did, although most of his upgrades and combos were really good. Mortal wounds are something my army has no defense against, which really hurt the terminators in particular. Exploding hits on pistols really do matter, at least against filthy knife ears.

The army is so fun to play. After all this time, it finally feels like chaos space marines have  arrived. Every unit felt like it pulled its weight, though I only used the master of executions to screen out his solitaire from deep striking in my deployment zone. 

I know the World Eaters codex will totally change things, but for now this is very satisfying. Also sharing units with my Word Bearers will allow me to try all sorts of things. I only wish we were earlier into this edition. Still, no complaints other than loss of jump lords. 

Friday, July 8, 2022

ANGRON: Response to Critiques



Anyone following news and rumors for Warhammer 40,000 is aware that images of Angron, the new Berzerkers, and some other stuff has been "leaked" today. In response, Games Workshop released a Warhammer Community article to divert that buzz and attention to their website.

I personally think Angron looks AMAZING. Seeing him now, there isn't anything about him that I'd change. I'm not alone in this, as the responses appear to be overwhelmingly positive. Of course, opinions are subjective and such things are a matter of taste, and not everyone likes the new Angron model.

Across various social media sites and apps, I've seen some recurring critiques of this model. Whether this is a situation where many people are having the same reaction when they see the model, or if these reactions are quickly becoming memes that are parroted once they're seen, I can't say. Really, it doesn't matter, the point is, some people don't like it.

Fair enough! No reason everyone has to like everything; if we always agreed all the time life would be rather boring to me.

Still, I'd like to respond to these common critiques, which are: he looks too much like a bloodthirster, and that he isn't immediately identifiable as the non-daemon Angron we've seen depicted. When I've asked people to describe the sort of details they would have preferred to see that would make Angron less like a bloodthirster and more identifiable, I so far haven't been given any concrete answers - which is fine. It's not always easy to articulate details when what you've got in your mind is a gut reaction, generalized, vague, et cetera.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to say other people's opinions are wrong. Such a thing isn't possible, to begin with, but moreover everyone is entitled to them. At the same time, other people are free to respond to them if they disagree. Such is called having an argument, which is not in and of itself a negative thing. Now, if your point is simply, "I don't like it," then fair enough! However, we can have some degree of objectivity about the differences between things, and then make our own conclusions based on our observations. 

I'm going to break down the critiques into the following:

1a: His face looks too much like a bloodthirster.


1b: His face doesn't look like the classic artwork.


2: His body is just a bloodthirster.


3: His weapons aren't unique enough compared to bloodthirsters.


4: His armor isn't unique enough compared to bloodthirsters.


Responses:

1a & 1b: His face looks too much like a bloodthirster, and not like classic artwork.

Let's first take a good look at the face of Angron's new mini:





And now, let's take a look at both the faces of the most recent Bloodthirster kit, Skarbrand, the upcoming Ka'bandha model, the An'ggrath model from Forge World... 










...as well as past illustrations of Daemon Angron from official Games Workshop artwork:





My immediate reaction is that the new Angron's face and head are both very faithful to the existing artwork, and also that while there are similarities with the Bloodthirster heads, Angron looks unique in comparison. He is clearly (obviously) a daemon of Khorne, so the daemons will of course have a similar appearance. However, Angron completely lacks horns, and has the daemonic remnant of the butcher's nails inserted into his skull. Two of the bloodthirster heads are very bestial in nature, similar in anatomy to a sort of dog, which Angron definitely does not. They are also all roaring, screaming, being angry, and so on. As one might expect. A closed mouth for a daemon of Khorne? Why would their mouths ever be closed? It would certainly be a less exciting pose, if Angron had a closed mouth. There are similar elements to the black bloodthirster pictured above; it and Angron both have lots of little face horns/spikes. That bloodthirster head, however, also has an appearance sort of like a stylized skull, which is also different from Angron.

2: His body is just a bloodthirster.

To begin with, let's check out a bloodthirster:




And now a full shot of Angron, followed by some details:




To begin with, clearly Angron is a winged, bipedal (two legs) daemon of Khorne with lots of big muscles. That is very much like a bloodthirster, for sure. But notice what Angron has that they do not: a big ol' spiky clubby tail. The tail is a feature more in common with a daemon prince, which non-coincidentally is the sort of being this daemon Angron is.

3: His weapons aren't unique enough compared to bloodthirsters.

Let's take a look at the various weapons bloodthirsters, Skarbrand, and Kabandha wield:







And now, Angron's weapons:




When we look at the weaponry wielded by the bloodthirsters, Skarbrand, and Kabandha, we see a combination of axes, BIG AXES, whips, a hammer flail thingy, a punch-dagger thingy, and randomly Kabandha wielding something that looks an awful lot like a chainaxe.

When we look at what Angron is wielding, we see a big daemonic sword and a BIG CHAINAXE.

To begin with, none of the other daemons are wielding swords, so Angron's sword is immediately a unique weapon in comparison. And to follow that, Angron is wielding what is very obviously a chainaxe, complete with two rows of teeth, a backspike, and the motor section. The chainaxe-looking weapon Kabandha is wielding also has two rows of teeth, but lacks any of the technological elements that identify Angron's axe as a chainaxe. 

Is this Gorefather? Is the sword the Black Blade? Immediate glances and comparison to the classic artwork would suggest yes, but consider the blurb from the Warhammer Community article revealing Angron:

Earning his ‘Red Angel’ moniker, the entity once known as the Lord of the Red Sands retains other trappings from his long-ago life as a gladiator in the arenas of his brutal home world. The weapons may be new, but they’re still chained to his wrists – Nuceria-style.

This most likely is suggesting the weapons are new compared to what he wielded during his Nuceria days, as opposed to being completely new weapons. Established lore has Angron discarding Gorefather, which was most recently provided in the White Dwarf Index Hereticus for World Eaters:


His replacement weapon, the Black Blade, was shattered during a conflict with the Grey Knights. Sure looks like it, though...

Ultimately, who knows? It could be easily justified to say when Angron materializes in realspace, he can wield whatever the fuck he wants. On the other hand, he could have hunted down and slain whomever dared to wield Gorefather in his absence, and a new Black Sword could have been forged through a multitude of means. I'm sure we'll find out more about his armament as time goes on.

The point is less which weapons exactly he's wielding, as opposed to wielding a unique pair of weapons compared to the bloodthirsteres.

4: His armor isn't unique enough compared to bloodthirsters.

If you'd like, scroll up really quick to the pictures showcasing the weapons, and take a look at the various pieces of armor the Bloodthirsters are wearing. We see thick plates adorned with skulls, Khornate runes, and lots of pointy points.

Angron's armor is also all of those things. But it isn't just those things. He's wearing some extremely warped and altered version of his Armor of Mars





Taking a close look, we can see the same sort of cabling, ports, and connections present in a suit of power armor. However, the armor is integrated directly into his daemonic body. Cables go directly into his skin in various places, along with the Butcher's Nails. Angron also has chains wrapping around his wrists, keeping his weapons firmly in hand as has been tradition among the World Eaters since he introduced it to his legion.

The armored "hood" section covering his shoulders and upper back is also unique, and remnant of his Armor of Mars, as described by Warhammer Community:

Yet take a closer look and you can still see the origins of this Daemon Prince. The Butcher’s Nails are still present, now fused into his very form. Likewise, scraps of his old Nucerian warplate still remain – like the shoulder pad that pays homage to his former Legion...

There are also parts of his armor that are very close to Bloodthirster armor. The bracers and the knee plate stand out as very similar. The style is undeniably very similar, despite the fact that he's wearing a daemonic version of his old armor.

That wraps it up. I don't think I've made any particularly impressive comparisons or observations, but I've laid out my rebuttals to the listed complaints I've been seeing today across the internet. I don't intend to change anyone's mind or insist that their opinions are "wrong," but at the same time do intend to at least demonstrate why I disagree with those opinions.

Is Angron unique? Yes. Is he "just like" the existing bloodthirster models? No, but he is similar. OF COURSE HE IS! He's a daemon of Khorne. Any entity of a given god of chaos shares a design aesthetic. Khorne's minions are covered in his rune, skulls, chains, and axes. And sometimes CHAINAXES. 

What do you think? Do you like the new model? Is he really all that different from the existing daemons of Khorne models? What would you have changed about this model to set him apart or fulfill the vision you hold in your mind of what Angron should have looked like?

ANGRON IS A-COMING!

FINALLY!

It has long been rumored that a sculpt of Angron has been ready and waiting for release. Truly, this rumor has persisted for years, at least since 8th edition. Whether or not this sculpt has been waiting that long, who can say? What we can say, is that ANGRON IS COMING, and he looks amazing!



Games Workshop revealed the model in a Warhammer Community article today, after a "leaked" photo of Angron, new Khorne Berzerkers, and at least two other mystery sculpts - plus new Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum minis - made the rounds on the internet: 



I say "leaked" because I'm not convinced the potato-quality image wasn't released by Games Workshop, but I will save this theory for another article.

Let's take a closer look at Angron's new miniature:




The daemon primarch of the twelfth legion is looking appropriately brutal. Clearly a powerful daemon of Khorne, while still identifiable as a unique entity with throwbacks to his mortal form. Speaking of throwbacks, let's take a look at some artwork of Angron that we're likely all familiar with, as well as more recent imagery from Horus Heresy novel artwork:






I think the 3D artist was faithful to the existing imagery while still achieving a modern look that one assumes will not be out of place alongside his sons. 

For fans of Angron and the World Eaters, this new range of miniatures is shaping up to be incredible. I expect the Berzerkers are going to look so good they'll steal the show from their angry angry pappy. I am super eager to see whatever's coming next!

Sunday, June 5, 2022

White Dwarf 477: World Eaters Rules Up for Pre-order!

 Pre-orders are up for White Dwarf Issue 477, which contains the Index Hereticus: World Eaters supplement for the incoming Codex: Chaos Space Marines for Warhammer 40,000.




I'm immediately thrilled to see the same artwork used for the cover of Codex: Khorne Daemonkin from the 7th edition of 40K. The artwork is rad as hell, and if the rules are anything like Khorne Daemonkin, there are going to be fun times ahead.

With the proliferation of unique rules and mechanics for each codex, growing increasingly disparate as the edition goes on, I think it's fair to say we'll see a few things to set the World Eaters apart from their generic Chaos Space Marine cousins, as well as legionaries of the Thousand Sons and Death Guard.

Browsing the image previews, let's take a look at the World Eaters specific content within this issue:


A little blurry, but here's what the above image says:

  • 74 INDEX HERETICUS: Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! And background and rules for all you frenzied World Eaters fans out there.
  • 88: KILL. MAIM. BURN. : A short story about Kharn the Betrayer doing what he does best. There is killing. There is maining. There is burning. All the boxes are ticked!
  • 92: GALACTIC WAR HOSTS: WORLD EATERS: It's time to paint the town red with this inspirational gallery of World Eaters converted and painted by talented readers and studio staff.
  • 104: BLOOD SPATTER: WORLD EATERS OF KHORNE: A Paint Splatter focusing on the red and brass-clad lunatics of the World Eaters Legion. Plus tips on painting blood spatter and skulls, naturally!

There are also going to be stratagem and datasheet cards for the Index Hereticus:


Very cool, though nothing new to see in the picture above. I think as per the reveal there will be rules for Kharn and Berzerkers, and the only stratagem we can see the title of above is for Scorn of Sorcery, which (if unchanged) allows the World Eaters player to deny an enemy psychic power on a d6 roll of 4+. 

I am preordering this issue now! I don't buy White Dwarf often but this one is directly relevant and the cards are neat to have. Zone Mortalis rules are a bonus.

You can preorder White Dwarf Issue 477 here.

Sunday, May 15, 2022

9th Edition World Eaters Rules Incoming!

 9th Edition World Eaters Rules Incoming!

During Warhammerfest 2022, Games Workshop revealed that Codex: World Eaters is finally on its way!






    This is a standalone army separate from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. There have been rumors for years to the effect that a book was coming, and that at least some of the sculpts were long since completed. The so-called "reliable" rumor set of the past year or so included that World Eaters will be coming in late 2022, and this announcement from Games Workshop confirms it.

    As with Thousand Sons and Death Guard before them, the World Eaters being split off into a codex of their own will allow them to receive unique army rules and units, and according to the video above, finally let the legion of Khorne shine.

    To begin with, it looks like this "Index Hereticus" will be more like a supplement for the new Chaos Space Marines codex to get us by and not necessarily contain the same rules as the World Eaters codex. This is a reasonable concession, as otherwise we'd have to shove our angry boys into stasis on the shelf waiting for the new rules. 

    We know Kharn the Betrayer will be in the forthcoming codex, and in the reveal article Games Workshop confirmed the foregone conclusion - that there are new berzerkers sculps coming our way as well. We didn't get a preview of the berzerkers themselves, but we did get a shot of the 3D sculpts of their chainaxes, which are badass:

    


    Modern sculpts for World Eaters are something many of us have been pining for over the years, and the quality of these chainaxes tells us we'll be getting something special. The axes alone are something I've yearned for, especially the two-hander. One assumes it could share rules with the new heavy chainaxe previewed from the new Legionary (i.e. Chaos Space Marines) kit:


 


    Whether or not berzerkers lose their ability to fight twice remains to be seen. Games Workshop also dropped some tasty teasers regarding the units that will be in the upcoming World Eaters codex:

   "...the codex will contain old favourites, dark legends, and some things that you’ve never seen before… We’ll be bringing you more updates on Codex: World Eaters and these murderous new miniatures over the next few months on Warhammer Community."

    We can only speculate here, but my interest is piqued. Old favorites? Does this mean units that were part of Codex: Chaos Space Marines, and are being carried over? Does it mean old favorites that haven't had models or rules for a long time?

    Dark legends? Does this mean in-universe legends, such as Kharn, or things out of the Legends roster, such as the hallowed LORD OF KHORNE ON JUGGERNAUT?! *chainaxe teeth revving hard*

    Both Thousand Sons and Death Guard have multiple units that were created for and restricted to their armies, so we'll for sure be getting at least a few. I believe Death Guard have the greater number of unique units. Time will tell where World Eaters fall on the spectrum of having entirely new units and retaining units from Codex: Chaos Space Marines.

    Getting to the wishlisting (of course), units riding juggernauts of Khorne would be an absolute dream come true. At the very least, bringing back the Lord on Juggernaut would be great, and having additional characters and units that ride them would likely seal the fate of one of my organs for harvest and sale on the black market. 

    Players are speculating that Red Butchers may be removed as a stratagem and replaced with a new unit/sculpt by the same name. There may also be some sort of "blood cultist," or mortal members of the army. Khornegors are another option from the past.

    Without knowing exactly when the codex is coming, we do know that the Index Hereticus will be contained in the June 2022 issue of White Dwarf Magazine, on sale June 17, 2022:

    

    I'm scrambling to work on my Black Templars, because I have a feeling once Codex: Chaos Space Marines and the Index Hereticus come out, my hype will swing entirely back to the forces of chaos. If you've been putting off working on your Heretic (TRUE BELIEVING) Astartes due to the long wait for the codex, it's time to renew your efforts and prepare your forces to resume the Long War.

    Before long, the World Eaters will rejoin the fray as we've never seen them before, and everyone better clutch their blood and skulls real close. 

KILL! MAIM! BURN!



Friday, March 18, 2022

Chrysaetos Crusade Black Templars Gravis Marshal

Working on a gravis marshal. I really do not like the boltstorm gauntlet, so what began as something intended to only be minor is turning out to be a lot of work, but I'm actually pretty happy with the results. There is some more work to be done, including some green stuff, but I bet tomorrow I'll have him ready to be sprayed black. Man I wish I wasn't so clumsy with the iron halo, but I'll do my best to straighten the points.






Purple Capes

 Yesterday I sprayed the basecoat on the capes of the Chrysaetos Crusade's Sword Brethren unit of 10.

Since this army is very Byzantine-inspired in my head, purple cloaks seemed like the right choice over the classic red or other colors. Something signifying their elevated status within the chapter structure. Plus I really like purple and setting my army apart in subtle ways from the way it's presented in codices.

In this case, I used Vallejo Game Color 72.016 Royal Purple, and while it isn't perfect I'm very happy with the result:



I will hopefully be able to paint some highlights on their capes today.