Astra Militarum: Part 1

 

THE LOST & THE CANNED

Astra Militarum: Extended review Part 1

A quick forward before we get to the good stuff. Originally this article was meant to be published as one long overview of the new Astra Militarum Codex (imperial guard) I soon realized that I did not have the time to sit and pour over every detail in one sitting, and as stated below, this is not a codex review. This is more of a collection of my personal observations and musings on the new book, which I will put out as a series of articles focusing on the individual parts of the book that I was not able (read not fully prepped) to go over on the podcast. Part one is about the units that were removed in this release.

This article is the follow up to my last appearance on the Stuff of Legends podcast where we went over the new Astra Militarum and Tempestus books. Unfortunately, we did not get to cover everything we wanted to due to the time constraints, so I wanted to do an extended version to cover some of the items we skipped during the show.

This is not going to be an in depth codex overview, there are plenty of other people covering that, and honestly I am not really that much into the meta aspect of the game, rather this article will focus mostly on a few key details about some of the unit changes/removals and changes to the background fluff. This is all basic stuff with my own personal spin on a few areas of interest.

Starting off, let have a brief moment of silence for those units who are no longer with us:

-Sly Marbo.

-Lukas Bastonne.

-Mogul Kaimr.

-Kubrik Chenkov.

-Al'rahem.

-Solar Macharius.

-Every piece of artillery except the basilisk.

 

A quick breakdown for why I believe some of these characters are absent from the latest iteration of the codex starting from the top.

Sly Marbo:

This one actually seems kinda obvious, first off he was a pretty OP character, now that’s not to Say that there are not plenty of those still hanging about in other books (elder cough cough) but he was less a man and more of a strength 8 blast with unlimited range. But I don’t think that’s the reason he got pulled. The word of the day in 6^th edition is ‘supplement’ as in there is a good chance Marbo will be returning to us in one of them. It has long been rumored that Catachans will be getting their own book/data sheet after the release of the main guard codex and I still believe this to be the case, so keep an eye out in the near future as I am sure he will be popping back up at some point.

Side note: His model is still available for purchase on the new GW site, so either selling off the remaining stock, or waiting for an update.

 

 

Bastonne:

This guy never really saw a lot of play as an HQ in 5^th ed, sure he had some interesting fluff but for the most part he was just another upgrade with a few special perks that were not really worth the points, he also suffers from ‘lack of model” syndrome, so yeah poof!

Mogul Kamir:

Real shame about this one, I can’t say for sure why he’s gone, I mean you could technically gussiy up any odd rough rider and call him Kamir, and I will have to check, but I do believe he had a model at one point. Rough riders are still in the main book so a supplement seems unlikely (maybe a data sheet with expanded rules) as far as I can tell though he was just one of those units that fell out of favor, I was actually surprised to see rough riders at all in this edition, but they do still have that unique flavor about them, and allow all kinds of fun kitbashes with bikes, so yeah, not sure where he’s gotten off to.

Chenkov:

I was really bummed he got the axe, though like Marbo I have a sneaking suspicion he may be coming back in a future supplement and in a plastic/finecast kit (he was metal and not called Chenkov on the site prior to the great metal purge) With the new points drop on conscripts he would still be a solid choice regardless of what faction you were playing, he was a tad broken, and may have been even more so in 6^th, but I also did not see him on the table that often, so maybe he was shelved due to lack of demand. While I’ll miss being able to flood the table with an endless tide of bodies, its not much harder to accomplish the same task with regular conscripts in any 750+ game.

Al'rahem:

The legend is gone, but the rules live on. Old model, old rules. The new order (order here) essentially gives any unit a similar ability to his “like the wind” perk. After handing off that ability to move troops around quickly to any random command squad/HQ choice there was not much reason  to keep him in the main codex. Still though, there’s hope for a supplement, or possibly a new sculpt/model (fingers crossed)

Solar Macharius:

He was dead and gone by 5^th, so he only makes the list on a technicality but still he got a whole page (no stats just a big piece of fluffly filler) He had a model and rules prior to 5^th though, but I am guessing he got the rough customer treatment like all the other old fluffy HQs (sans Yarrick and Strayken) Macharius seems like he would be the one least likely to see a datasheet/re-release though just based on his recent exclusion from two consecutive codex’s, who knows, maybe FW will step in on this one.

Update: He does have page in the Astra book, they just decided to hide it under a heavy dose of dark printing and pseudo latin that I didn’t catch of the first read through.

 

Artillery:

Let’s make this section quick.

Medusa:

Short range, ok damage, Forgeworld model only.

Griffon:

Replaced by the Wyvern which is arguably better than its predecessor/cheaper.

Colossus:

Forgeworld only, small load considering the cost, just take a nova cannon costly.

There is one thing I want to get out of the way before wrapping up, all these models are still produced by Forgeworld, and still have current rules to support their use and inclusion in regular 40k lists. Imperial Armor has been doing a good job of filling the gaps left by GW’s clumsy economizing over the years. Overall not a total loss as it is an expensive alternative. There’s a lot of FW friendly rulings/gamebooks being put out by GW lately, so it would not be to hard to keep your old models in regular play despite not having an entry in the main book. 

Closing thoughts on the old and the lost, it happens with every release/update, GW phases out the older less popular specific characters and units in favor of whatever the new hotness is that go round I think we’ll see some of these guys back on the table in the not so distant future, and while a little disheartening to see some old favorites disappear into the warp, there will always be new hero’s to captivate the next generation of war gamers who are just coming into the hobby and will never know the loss of squats, or look longingly at beastmen regiments in back issues of white dwarf. This is the new school, and we are all now custodians of the lore prior to this release, so remember to share some of that wisdom with our newer players whenever possible, you just might be the one who inspires the next Dave Taylor, or (insert famous mini painter here)

 

Cheers

-Scott

BH Senior Taste Maker

Hobby Progress

Everything this week so far has been gear towards my upcoming Zone Mortalis throw down with D, which promises to either be a match up for the ages, or a quiet game in which two gentlemen trade jests over the others intimate nocturnal proclivities with livestock. Either way I am super pumped to finally get to play a ZM game for the first time, and really my first 40k game in the better part of a year (watching YouTube tutorials to brush up as I write this) I got a fair amount of stuff done this week, so bear with me while I itemize everything below.


First up is the sentinels, a couple of days ago I posted up a quick shot of the three that I actually managed to get painted. Here are the rest of the horde, all of which are now primed and ready for painting (did I mention a good part of my week was spent hovering over a bucket of simple green swill)

Thursday It got cold again, so my model priming efforts were shut down effectively for the evening, though I did manage to get these two guys done up for Sundays game (I also found out I was a bit short on special weapons squads, so I also put in a sizable bitz order on Ebay (more on that later) I do enjoy coming up with new ways to paint plasma effects but its still a pain to find one that looks right.

 

 

 

Today was a good day for hobby progress since the pin vice set I ordered off Amazon arrived this afternoon and I was able to drill out some of the gun barrels on my Contra Catachans (now known as Rick & Steve) which I also managed to get done up in decent time.

 I will say for $6 they are not bad, they have none of the polish that a dedicated hobby vise does and they were literally covered in grease when they arrived, but for the money they do a decent job, but they were clearly meant to be shop tools and they are not as precise as a GW/Xacto/Tamiya option, still though, hard to beat that $6 price tag.

                                  

Tetanus included in every bag!





Sgt. Steve

 

Spc. Rick

 

That's about it for me this week hobby wise, I expect to get a ton of pics from my ZM game tomorrow so keep an eye for that post in the near future, hopefully I'll start playing more games in general going forward, especially with the new guard codex dropping next week(you probably won't see me for a few days after that) Over all though its been a productive week, and I got to clear a few things off of my Trello.


Cheers

-Scott
BH Senior Dance Commander

P.S.
Almost forgot to mention, I will be making a guest appearance on the Stuff of Legends podcast Sunday, we are going to be talking about photography, and how you can use in the hobby and other fun topics. They don't have a dedicated landing page for the podcast, but I will post a link once its released.

A knight in off-white armor

Image credit Bell of Lost Souls

 

 

It would appear that Forgeworld has gone and made the decision of weather or not to convert my plastic Knight to one of the new FW kits when they eventually come out by producing their own made entirely of resin(at least I think that body is pure resin) I can't say enough how much I (and everyone and their mother) love Forgeworld pieces, they are like the JW Blue label of the hobby. The lancer of course is no exception, I love that they added interior details (I have to assume since no top down shots were give, but it dose have a hatch) One thing I will say is that I am not 100% sold on that shield, yeah I get it, energy fields and such, but it looks a tad flimsy when paired with the venerable bulk of the Knights frame.

 

 

BoLS also has more pics of some of the other up an coming stuff from FW, mostly SM and Mechanicum (neither of which are on my Trello atm) I will say those staypuff terminators have my eye though. Check out the rest of the photos from the original post here

What Can I paint in 24 hours?

A question I never thought to ask myself un till yesterday morning when I started out on this mind numbing adventure. This all started last week when I heard that there was going to be a large Apoc game over at Legends. Well needless to say work and classes have been keeping my hobby time minimal (4-5 hours a week If I am lucky) So I set off to do several weeks worth of painting in the short span of one day (and then some, I kinda passed out after my third 5 hour energy after having made the mistake of sitting down on my awesomely comfortable microfiber couch to watch Cheech and Chong's next movie for a small break.) That being said let me just spill some wickedly touched up pictures down there for you good people to click on (24 hour paint bender with 3 hours of sleep has left me with no subtlety) enjoy.

This big guy took up a majority of my time, though most of the prep work and base coating was done the day before. I am quite pleased with how the fire turned out on this guy.

Again now subtlety here, everything in frame I painted in the course of the day (for the life of me I cant f

And last and quite literally least, ladies and gentlemen give it up for the B team, shakin it on the side lines because I simply just could not go any further (my thumbs now hurt when I try and open my paints)

And now the sad part of our story, I arrived at the shop only to find D and Dan where the only ones who showed up, what followed was a quite enjoyable but sevearly cut back game which topped out at 20k points, rather then the 200k I was expecting, rather than bi!#$ch and moan I quietly (and not so quietly) took out my rage on Dan's poor Imp guard, which where mercifully tabled down to the man (I even took out some scenery, that rock had it coming) So needless to say it was a fun game and I tip my hat to Dan who once again took a beating with a smile on his lips and a snappy comment for every tank D and I blasted into void space. My hat however does not tip to brother Ian who not only was unable to show for the game but apparently had done nothing to actually organize it. You sir will feel the full fury of my sass cannon once I have eaten and slumbered.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Zombie

Eldar Craftworld Ulthwe 23000 points worth

Here it is, the big show. D has been slaving away for the past six months on what is possibly one of the most impressive Eldar craftworld collections I have ever seen. Now I know there are probably a few people out there that say "mines bigger" D has extended an open challenge to anyone who wishes to throw down (with a cash prize to be determined) But in the mean time we hope you get some enjoyment out of this post. They may not be that outdated but Eldar don't get as much love as they used to in past so we love to see new eldar players come in and enjoy the collection which rotates out every week in the front cases, anyways I am dragging this out, enjoy some detail shots after the jump.




The scary thing is that the collection is still expanding with each passing month. Below are some pics of D's work in progress projects.


Cheers

Scott (Posting for D)
BH Senior Editor

The battle for Het begins...

This weekend all manner of war and destruction was let loose when Legends Games in Cupertino CA kicked off the first round of games in its new "Battle for Het" campaign tournament. It was a full house with standing room only as players from all over the Bay Area duked it out to claim first blood in bout one of the CTF tournament. We saw a lot of SM/IG lists but I spied a few Xenos in the mix as well. While this may not be the biggest game on the block it certainly marks a turning point in our development, as the series is a co opted by BH's own brother Ian.

So if your looking to work on your small game (lists limited to0 750pts and there's no entry fee) or just have fun, feel free to drop in on Friday or Saturday morning and sign up. Drop ins are always welcome (its a cumulative point system) and we are always looking to help new or returning players get back into the hobby. Both myself and Ian will be on hand to answer questions or offer help with getting set up if need be. If you have any questions or want to sign up for a game in advance email us at BayHammer@gmail.com

Cheers

Scott

BH Senior Editor

P.S.

I mentioned last week that we have been very busy with other projects, well this is one of them. Look out for more BH/Legends events and gatherings in the near future.

New Forge World piece: Ok things are just getting silly

So if you havent checked out the latest forge world newsletter you wont have noticed the new piece of kit pseudo storm raven like drop ship that they are supposedly releasing soon. Ill be honest, I like the stats, but the model looks like GW was trying to release a space marine piece that looked like something out of Homeworld 2 (or possibly a popular movie franchise which cant be mentioned without the concsent of George Lucas) Its not a bad model but lets be honest, this thing looks a trifle bit out of place in the grim and blocky universe that is Warhammer 40k. questions comments and hate mail all gladly accepted.

Cheers

Scott

BH Senior Editor

P.S.

due to some problems at the shop the regular BH radio show will not be airing.