Year of Change

I am probably making something from nothing, but I noticed this new header in the Warhammer Community website.

Will 2020 be a Year of Change then? I don't know if the presence of Tzeentch Daemons is a precursor to something...you know, like Thousand Sons. Unfortunately, I don't see any Thousand Sons in the background. I see some weird horned beast that's from the Disciples of Tzeentch from Age of Sigmar, so I guess this is more for Age of Sigmar than Warhammer 40,000, hence the complete lack of Rubric Marines and Thousand Sons Sorcerers, but that's fine. The point is that...it seems that 2020 will be a Year of Change, so all Tzeentchians unite! The Thousand Sons will rise again! Take note, I'm not speculating on any new Tzeentch units or models for Warhammer 40,000 or Age of Sigmar, because quite frankly I doubt they will get any so soon after the new release of Disciples of Tzeentch a couple of years ago (was it 2017? Wow, time really flies, doesn't it?).

Yeah, I guess I'll rebuild a Thousand Sons army for 2020. I say "army" but I probably would just have nothing but 2 squads of Scarab Occult Terminators, a single Sorcerer in Terminator armor, and that's it. They will just run around with either Renegade Knights or Hereticus Militarum (Traitor Guard in Low Gothic for us normal folks if we don't want to speak fancily). And a single Contemptor Dreadnought. Heh.

Also, I noticed the New Year Open Day on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to more reveals. What would they be? Thousand Sons stuff in Ritual of the Damned? Grey Knights are pretty cool too, but I'll probably just get a single Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator Armor - speaking of which, my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor got eaten by my friend's dog when I gave it to him to paint him. Ouch. Anyway, yeah. Or would it be news on Adeptus Titanicus? Will we ever get a Schism of Mars Supplement for Adeptus Titanicus featuring the Knights of House Taranis? That would be cool! It would also expand on the civil war in the Mechanicum, and the thousands of engagements between Knights and Titans on Martian Soil! Nemesis Warbringer Titan? Ordo Sinister? Would we be getting the other options for our Acastus and Cerastus Knights?

We shall see.

Hammer of the Emperor

I just saw this on Warhammer Community and thought I should give everyone a heads up. We're getting a new omnibus for Astra Militarum, called Hammer of the Emperor.



Yay...awesome. Except that I've already read all 3 novels. Just from looking at the authors' names and the description on the website: "In these tales, you’ll cross sandy wastes with the Tallarn Desert Raiders, traverse frozen tundra alongside the Valhallan Ice Warriors and wage armoured war with a tank company seeking a lost Imperial relic." I already know what novels these are and I've read all of them. They are Desert Raiders by Lucien Soulban (obviously the Tallarn story, where two Tallarn regiments end up on a desert world with boat equipment and are forced to fight Tyranids...grimdark story where they got annihilated...ouch), Ice Guard by Steve Lyons (basically a squad of Valhallan Ice Warriors must go rescue some Ecclesiarchy "Saint" from the hands of Chaos traitors, only to discover that he sold his soul out in exchange for his life, and got kicked out of the dropship to his death by the Valhallan Colonel Steele), and Gunheads by Steve Parker (which is about a Cadian tank regiment - that includes mechanized Kasrkin, by the way - that goes in an Ork-infested world in search of Commissar Yarrick's legendary Baneblade, the Fortress of Arrogance). So no new Astra Militarum stories here, just a repackaging of old stories. Don't we have all the Glory Imperialis, Honor Imperialis and the old Hammer of the Emperor omnibuses? They just gave the Hammer of the Emperor a new cover...oh well.

Since I already read and own all of those books, I don't think I'll be buying this one. Sorry. Besides, wouldn't it be more appropriate to do a Baneblade or Super-heavy Tank omnibus that collects all of Guy Haley's Baneblade stories into a single collection? Baneblade, Shadowsword, Stormlord and Iron Harvest? That sounds like an omnibus to me...oh. We need a third full-length novel, considering how Stormlord and Iron Harvest are both short stories. Never mind. Maybe the next one will be Hellhammer, eh? Not that Guy Haley will ever write that, given how his schedule is congested right now. Oh well.

Scarab Occult Terminators

I gave into temptation and went and started a small Thousand Sons force. It's not a big army, it's just a small, elite force of nothing but Terminators. I doubt I'll be getting Ahriman and Rubric Marines, I just want to play an all-Terminators list. I know some people will start yelling at me for being stupid because of how much Terminators suck in the current meta, but I can't help it. I just love those beautiful Scarab Occult Terminator models. I'm going to play them no matter what.

So I went and bought the Fractal Blades Kill Team box, because I was interested in the lore and fluff of the Fractal Blades, and wanted to use it as a base, or inspiration to create my own Thousand Sons warband. There wasn't much to go on, unfortunately...some Terminator Sorcerer dude went around screwing other people for his quest for knowledge, and he captured an Aeldari Farseer to torture him for information. The Farseer took his revenge by changing the inflection of the Lord of Change's name that the Sorcerer wanted to summon, and boom! The wards that the Terminator Sorcerer wove couldn't contain the Lord of Change, who woke up all mad that this arrogant prick summoned him to order him about, and basically kicked his ass - and the asses of his accompanying Scarab Occult Terminators - into the Warp, where they got tortured, burned and torn apart before getting resurrected just so the Daemons could repeat the torment all over again. As you would expect with grimdark stuff, the Sorcerer went mad, but his Terminator bodyguards...well, they're just dust. So they didn't feel anything at all.



Anyway, the Warp (or Tzeentch) spat him out into Vigilus more than a century later, and he ended up hunting Blightlord Terminators of the Death Guard to get information on what happened to him. That's all I know, for the story ends there. Huh.



Well, enough of that. I assembled the Scarab Occult Terminators, thought that I want more Scarab Occult Terminators, and so bought the normal plastic gray box. As you can see, I have 2 squads of Scarab Occult Terminators now! YAY!



I decided to magnetize the second squad, so I can swap the Scarab Occult Sorcerer for a normal Rubric Terminator in case I decide to run a 10-men squad instead. I also magnetized the arm weapons for the second squad, so he can swap between soul reaper cannon and heavy warpflamer. All up to me, really.

I'll probably get a Thousand Sons Contemptor Dreadnought for now, and that will be all. I'll just ally them with my Imperial Knights, who I'll have to play as Renegade Knights or Chaos Knights...ugh. Just to make up the points total. We'll see. I don't think I'll get any more Thousand Sons, at least not in the near future. I'll wait for Psychic Awakening, see what new rules and stuff we get, and maybe plan accordingly. For now, I know for sure that I just want a bunch of Terminator Psykers, and a Contemptor Dreadnought!



Speaking of Terminator Psyker, I also kitbashed a single Scarab Occult Terminator into a Scarab Occult Sorcerer...whoops, I mean Sorcerer in Terminator Armor. So he's the HQ choice that will lead 3 elite units (2 Scarab Occult Terminator squads and a Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought) into battle in a Vanguard Detachment, allied to Knights. Whatever comes up in the Ritual of the Damned, I'll plan accordingly. For now, I'll just have fun with these guys and play with what I have! YAY!



Oh, to differentiate my Sorcerer in Terminator Armor from my Scarab Occult Sorcerers, I gave him a Familiar. Yeah, that little blue bird-thing is supposed to be a Familiar. Sorry, I know I suck at kitbashing, but at least I tried, right?

I can't wait to see how they turn out in battle! But I'll have to paint them first! Like my Adeptus Mechanicus, I think I'll follow the existing paint scheme rather than just paint them black and gold like last time. That black and gold paint scheme was just so dull and boring...

Nine Cults of the Thousand Sons

Merry Christmas, everybody! Here's a Warhammer Community article to celebrate the festive season with!



Grey Knights? Dark Angels? Nah...none of my business. I mean, I love the Grey Knights, especially since I read Ben Counter's Grey Knights omnibus, and was invested in the lore way before I started the tabletop game - which was when I learned about Matt Ward and the 5th Edition Grey Knights disaster - but I don't think I'll ever build a Grey Knights army. I think. We'll see. I have no idea.

What I am more interested in, however, is my favorite Legion. The Thousand Sons Legion. Also because I read the A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill before I played the tabletop game (though I ended up reading the Ahriman omnibus after I got into the tabletop). In any case, I don't think I'll be planning on doing much on my Thousand Sons army (especially since I sold the entire thing last year or early this year). Maybe grab a few Scarab Occult Terminators because I really, really love those models, and have a Sorcerer in Terminator Armor lead them, much like Ignis. Master of Ruin, who leads the Order of Ruin. Funnily enough, I have a bunch of Castellax-achea battle-automata in my Skitarii Legion, so they can just as easily serve the Thousand Sons...except that they have no rules in 40K. That sucks. Ugh. Oh well...

Actually, that will be what I shall do. Create a small Order of Ruin force, supported by battle-automata and...I don't know. I don't really want to play Daemon Engines, but we'll see. Anyway, I plan to just start off with Scarab Occult Terminators, a Sorcerer Lord in Terminator Armor, and a single Contemptor Dreadnought. I'll expand from there, or stop at there (and play Kill Team, or just ally my guys with Imperial...I mean Chaos Knights). That's probably what I will do for now.

What will Thousand Sons get from this Psychic Awakening campaign, though?

"The Thousand Sons can now dedicate their Sorcerers to one of the nine Cults of the Legion – a callback to their arcane roots on fallen Prospero – providing them with a plethora of new tactical options."

That's it? Yeah. Oh well...I guess we'll find out more when the date draws closer. Needless to say, we will not be getting any new units or new models. No Sorcerer Dreadnought/Helbrute like the Blood Angels. No Master of Possession or the Venomcrawler like in the other Legions. Just new rules. I hope the rules more than make up for their lack of stuff, and we wouldn't be treated so cavalierly and discarded to become fodder for Imperium victory. I don't like Dark Angels.

Oh. And Dark Angels will not be getting the Lion. Sorry, folks. But that's how it is...I guess. But hey, you'll be getting this instead.



Me, I might just get the Cultists for my Thousand Sons, but...I doubt it. We'll see.

Painted Knights!

I really, really hate resin. It's so bloody brittle, and when it breaks, it's so heard to repair and glue them back together. My Cerastus Knight Lancer broke apart when I brought it home, and I spent 2 hours fixing it. Two whole hours. Just because the super glue wouldn't stick the resin together. I really hate working with resin. Ugh.

Well, other than that, I managed to paint all my Knights! My Cerastus Knight Castigator, for example, took the same color scheme as my Cerastus Knight Lancer, with a few differences, given their different armaments. Yay!



I also painted the Acastus Knight Asterius. I magnetized the arms, but they're still pretty wonky. Still, I magnetized them to take them apart for easier transport. Because the damned thing, being resin, breaks apart too easily. This was like the third or fourth time I had to glue him together. So yeah...I really hate resin.



But he looks really cool, doesn't he? I love Acastus Knights. The amount of firepower they put out is awesome. The twin conversion beam cannons, in particular, look to be very devastating, especially at long range!



I also painted my Primaris Psyker. He looks pretty cool...I hope. I made him a Draconian combat psyker, so he's more of a Guardsman than he is of the Psykana Division. He fights alongside Guardsmen as a Guardsmen himself. Yay!



Well, I hope he doesn't look too unnatural.



And then I also painted all the carapace weapons for my Warlord Titan! The turbo-laser destructor, the Vulcan mega-bolter and paired gatling blasters. Now I can swap between the three different carapace weapons, depending on the points, or needs of the game! Yay! Honestly, I'll probably stick to the turbo-laser destructor the most, but it's nice to have all the different options. Obviously I magnetized them.







I can't wait to field all of them in actual games! Look forward to seeing them wreak havoc in the battlefield!

Knights and Titans...and Sabbat Worlds Crusade!

Sorry for not updating in about a week. I was busy writing stuff for my second job. Had to update and publish stuff as much as possible. I know I'm an awful writer, and I really shouldn't be writing, but I enjoy writing stories, so...too bad, I guess?

That aside, I also have a bunch of stuff I managed to get over the week. First is the Apocalypse box set. One day I'll be able to play Apocalypse. I hope. I have no idea. We'll see. I have a lot of Knights now, so I should be able to.

Speaking of Knights, I managed to get a couple of these! Introducing my Acastus Knight Asterius!

The arms are off for now, I plan to magnetize them. No, I'm not going to turn him into a Knight Porphyrion (though I'll get one in future...I hope). It just makes it easier to transport him around. I'll need bigger magnets, though...ugh. We'll see. But I certainly plan to magnetize his arms and field him in Apocalypse, or at least play him in plenty of big games! I hope. We'll see. I do have a 4,000 point game coming up next month, so I'm looking forward to that.



I also managed to get myself a Cerastus Knight Castigator. So I have quite a few Cerastus Knights now! Yay! I've always liked the Knight Castigator. He looks just as cool as my Cerastus Knight Lancer. The day will come when I field them alongside each other and they charge forward at flank speed. Their melee weapons, in particular, are so cool. A Tempest Sword and a Shock Lance. Hell, yeah!

I also procured a bunch of carapace weapons for my Warlord Titan. Adeptus Titanicus - hence my unusually large number of Knights. Okay, I sold my Space Marines to get the funds for the Knights, but I plan to replicate my Knight Household in 40K for Adeptus Titanicus and vice-versa. So either I turn my Acastus Knights Porphyrion into Acastus Knights Asterius one day, or I get a Knight Porphyion in future. We'll see. I can't wait! But yeah, back to my Warlord Titan. He now has the options to mount carapace paired Vulcan mega-bolters, paired gatling blasters and paired turbo laser destructors (to be honest, I've always been using the turbo laser destructors anyway, I just used the Reaver Titan's carapace ones). But now I have the proper Warlord Titan turbo laser destructors. Yay!



 Wonder what will come out for Adeptus Titanicus next year? There are rumors they will be releasing the Nemesis Warbringer Titan for Adeptus Titanicus next year, so fingers crossed. Also heard about the Psi-Titans of Ordo Sinister, and the War within the Webway, but...you know. Salt and rumors and all that. Probably someone making stuff up, so do not get your hopes too high up. Saw it somewhere on Facebook, and now I can't find it, so just pretend it's false.

Anyway, I also kitbashed a plastic Primaris Psyker. I like the guy from Bloodlord (I think, I'm trying to remember the story where the Cadians are ordered to follow the Black Templars around, and they absolutely abhor that poor Cadian Primaris Psyker). So I decided to do a Primaris Psyker with a Cadian head. Yay! I like psykers, and my regiment wouldn't be complete without one. Hence he's here!



Hopefully I'll get them all painted...soon. I don't know when, but I sure as hell hope I get them painted properly! For the Emperor! Deus ave Omnissiah!

One last thing. I managed to get my hands on a copy of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade! It's such a beautiful book! I look forward to reading it! I received it on Friday, and even though I hurriedly tore my book out of the box, I still don't have the time to do any more than skim through it. I can't wait to read it in great detail tomorrow, though! I honestly look forward to devouring the contents of the awesome book! I've been a great fan of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, and this book is a godsend. The Gaunt's Ghosts series has always been one of my favorite military sci-fi series, and I'm so glad I followed Ibram all the way from his beginning as a young commissar to his current status as the Lord Militant Commander/Lord Executor and right-hand man of Warmaster Macaroth! Awesome! I can't wait!



For the Emperor!

Sabbat Worlds Crusade

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade book is out for pre-order! I'm going to get my copy! What about everyone else?



It costs US$65, and you can pre-order it in the Black Library website.