Plastic Cerastus Knight Lancer

Chapter Master Valrak has been vindicated! If you've been following his videos as I have, you would have heard from one rumor video that there's a plastic Cerastus Knight lancer in the works. Well, wonder no more. Games Workshop has officially announced him in Warhammer Fest!

I'll probably buy one to replace my current resin one (who's in pretty bad shape and difficult to repair), or maybe give him a friend if I get too sentimental and refuse to throw him away. So yeah. I'll only be able to afford him when I return to the US in the fall, so I can't get him in the summer. Oh, well.

Gonna make use of the new plastic kit to make better poses than the weird one my current resin one is doing (I fethed up when assembling - and I hate assembling resin). We'll see. At least parts won't break off as easily, and even if they do, they'll be easier to repair.

Also...Horus Heresy roadmap!

Hmm, looks like new projects for me next year, but we'll see. The only notable thing I want this year is the Knight Lancer, and I'll probably get more stuff for Adeptus Titanicus and maybe a fledging Dark Angels Dreadwing platoon (or Risen Fallen Knights), but we'll see. Still, this looks promising, and melee weapons (?) and plastic assault squad mean I might be able to convert a Destroyer squad for Dreadwing. Again, we'll see. I don't know how it's going to work out eventually, but yeah. The only thing I know for sure is Knight Lancer and a bit of Dreadwing (you saw my Cataphractii Terminators yesterday). Well, the Terminators are Deathwing because I like the idea of Knights with swords and I was trying to be thematic, but they're attached to a Dreadwing platoon. Anyway, we'll see. I might just get Interemptors and go Deathwing instead, with Dreadwing and maybe Ironwing Dreadnoughts attached to them, but that's...all up in the air, and I might change my mind eventually.

But Knights? Hell, no. I'm primarily a Knight player, so yeah. Maybe we'll eventually see a plastic kit for the Acastus Knight Porphyrion. Who knows? In any case, that's why I'm posting about Horus Heresy and not Leviathan. I'm excited for 10th edition, but I'm more interested in the lore, and they're more about Space Marines and Tyranids. I'm a Knight player, so...I probably will just buy and read Darius Hinks's Leviathan and that's it. And get the Crusade book to...well, run a Crusade campaign for my Knights/Imperial Guard. Might be a great time to field a new plastic Knight Lancer for Crusade, though I think Tanaka (my self-insert, heh) might want to remain in Kazan and keep his melta thermal cannon. We'll have him follow Lord Takeda in Kensei instead!

Good lord, apparently their descendants pilot the exact same Knight suits 10,000 years later. Heh.

Cataphractii Terminators

I assembled 5 Cataphractii Terminators today. They are meant to be Deathwing knights in the 1st Legion. Yeah, they are more for Horus Heresy. That's why they are all armed with swords - they get a bonus to hit with swords and the sergeant (or knight-sergeant) is armed with a Calibanite warblade or whatever it's called.

I also gave them all volkite chargers and a single plasma blaster. Dark Angels specialize in plasma weaponry, after all. Yay! The volkite chargers come from the Horus Heresy plastic special weapons set, and I had to cut off the hands and shave them off. It was a bit of work and they look pretty bad, actually, but I don't care, ha ha. As long as it works!

I don't plan on building a huge Dark Angels army. They are meant to be a small force that end up becoming Fallen after the Breaking. But like Zabiel, they are going to join Lion El'Jonson and stay loyal to the Imperium. We will take Imperium Nihilus from the forces of the Despoiler and expand the Lion's Protectorate centering on Avalus. For the Emperor!

Gairoid Sigma

Princeps Sakamoto Ryuji took a deep breath, his eyes closed as he fought to rein in the ferocious machine spirit linked to him through the mind impulse unit. He could feel the flaring beats of the plasma reactor that served as the heart of Kagutsuchi, the colossal war engine stalking through the broken hab blocks of the once proud hive city of Neotou Magna. The immense Warlord Titan could almost sense the enemy loping through the shatter spires and toppled towers just opposite the ravaged Shibuya District, and it growled, wanting to unleash the full wrath of its Sunfury plasma annihilator.

"Patience," Ryuji whispered in an attempt to placate Kagutsuchi. He shared its eagerness to hunt the traitors, but he wasn't reckless. He knew that the Loyalists were outnumbered and outgunned. Under the Archtraitor's orders, Legio Mortis had landed a full battle group on Gairoid Sigma. Horus Lupercal had acceded to the requests of the new leader of the so-called True Mechanicum, Kelbor-Hal desiring the forge complex just behind Neotou Magna. Only the Titans of Legio Draconis and the Knights of House Yato stood between the Death Heads and the real prize.

"Massive energy signature detected forty-five meters ahead, about 45 degrees to the front," Machida Machiko, one of the moderatii operating aboard Kagutsuchi, reported. "Most likely Warlord Titan class."

"Bring the plasma annihilator to full power," Ryuji ordered.

"Charging plasma annihilator to 100% capacity, aye," Machida Machiya, the other moderatus, said. The Machida twins were superlatively competent moderatii, having fought in countless engagements alongside Ryuji. He had full trust in the veterans, the crew serving as well-oiled cogs in a single machine.

Praise the Omnissiah.

"We cannot allow them to get to the forge complex," Ryuji continued, eying the auspex. A second energy signature had appeared, also looking like it was another Warlord Titan. Unsurprising. As the Warmaster's favorite and one of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus, Legio Mortis was more well equipped and well supplied than most Titan Legions. He wouldn't be surprised to see a third, or even a fourth Warlord Titan. He also had to look out for the smaller wolf-like Warhound Titans that hunted in packs, and the flexible Reaver Titans flanking him.

In contrast, the Dark Dragons could only field no more than a couple of Titans. This was more of a Knight Household battle group than a Titan one. There weren't even enough Titans to form a single maniple. That was why Ryuji counseled caution, holding Kagutsuchi back even while the enemy approached. He would not lose one of Legio Draconis's few Titan engines because of impatience.

"You would think the Praetorian would send more reinforcements to protect a forge complex this precious," Machiko remarked bitterly.

"Lord Dorn has little choice," Ryuji replied stiffly. "Our forces are stretched. The enemy are many, and we too few. We will have to make do with what we have."

"Will that be enough, though?" Machiya asked softly. Ryuji hesitated, understanding his Moderatus's conceern. They had seen the battle reports when they made landfall. Legio Mortis had torn through the hive world's Militia and Skitarii Legion almost effortlessly, their Titans razing entire armored companies and incinerating whole infantry formations. True to their moniker, the Death Heads had sown nothing but death. Even the maniples of battle-automata sent by the desperate Archmagos to stop them were crushed.

However, the forge complex could not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Traitors. A Mechanicum enclave - or was it Adeptus Mechanicus enclave now, after the event that they termed the Binary Succession? - had been constructed on Gairoid Sigma millennia ago, housing a precious Standard Template Construct that allowed the Martian tech-priests to establish an industrial base on the hive world of Gairoid Prime to fabricate legions upon legions of automata. The Legio Cybernetica had considered this a vital asset to be protected at all costs, and though the Taghmata of Draconis IV had marshalled an impressive force of combat automata from various forge worlds, the scale of the conflict meant that this would be decided by Titan warfare. Even the formidable siege-automata of the Legio Cybernetica were no match for the apocalyptic firepower of the Death Heads. Already, fields of shattered Thanatar siege-automata and corpses of Castellax battle-automata lay slumped in the line just beyond Neotou Magna, their desperate last stand blasted apart by the colossal war engines.

Now, only the Dark Dragons and their allied Knight Lances stood against the enemy.

"First contact within engagement range!" Machiko yelled.

"Void shields to full!" Ryuji barked, and the Moderatii responded. The Tech-priest, Magos Deuron Delta, coaxed the plasma reactor, solidifying the protective screens that wreathed the immense Warlord Titan. As Kagutsuchi turned to face the enemy, devastating lances of blinding light ripped out, slicing a hab block in half and hammering into the shimmering barriers. Sparks flew from a console as one of the void shields blew out, but Deuron Delta was already working on bringing it back.

A corrupted Titan lumbered out, and while Ryuji saw that Machiko's assessment was correct, the once proud Warlord Titan was now a shadow of its former self. Patches of putrid organic flesh had grown over formerly gleaming hulls, with giant eyes blinking across its torso. Tentacles flailed from one shoulder, wrapping themselves around the now clawed barrel of its Belicosa volcano cannon. The head that was supposed to house the cockpit now devolved into a skull-like visage, with actual rotting bone protruding from the armored adamantium.

"By the Omnissiah, what is that?" Machiko gasped in horror.

"Matching energy signature and cross-referencing records," Machiya responded tensely, disbelief lacing his usually calm voice. "That's the Mortem Canis."

"What in Holy Mars happened to it?!" Machiko repeated.

"Corruption. Does it matter? We have to destroy the Mortem Canis." Ryuji forced the anger down, his hands curling into balls of fists. Reacting to his emotions, Kagutsuchi brought up its plasma annihilator and volkite destructor. "Let's burn away its void shields first."

"Aye, activating volkite destructor," Machiko replied, breaking out of her stupor and going to work at her console. Her blue eyes hardened, even as she brushed her fringe out of her face, her short black hair matted with perspiration. A second later, a ruby beam speared out and collided against the approaching Mortem Canis. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but the heat rays continued to bombard the now glowing void shields. Then there was a thunderous bang as the volkite weapon overheated the void shields of the corrupted Warlord Titan, popping its energy barriers out of existence.

"Fire the plasma destructor! Maximal fire!"

"Firing!" Machiya responded to his Princeps's order. "Also targeting the Mortem Canis with the turbo laser destructors!"

There was a bellow as the Sunfury plasma annihilator built up to solar temperatures before unleashing a colossal blast that scorched the torso of the reeling Mortem Canis. The Death Head engine stumbled, attempting to swerve aside before the destructive lasers of Kagutsuchi's carapace weapons slammed into the softening armored plates. The flesh caught fire and ignited, turning into an inferno that wreathed its foul silhouette, but still, the Legio Mortis Titan refused to fall. It responded with a volley from its laser blasters, but Ryuji was already guiding Kagutsuchi around a hab-block, using it as cover to weather the tempestuous bombardment.

Both volcano cannons fired, erasing entire civitas towers from existence, but one lance missed completely, while the other collapsed another of Kagutsuchi's void shields.

"How's the restoration going?" Ryuji yelled.

"It's going!" Deucon Delta retorted, harried as he fought to bring the shields back online. "You do know there's only a 33.33% probability of bringing them back, right?"

"I thought you were boasting about the efficiency of your servitor clades?!"

"Second enemy unit heading straight for us!" Machiko snapped, her voice shrill.

"The Lupus Plaguis!" Machiya said. "It's bringing its Arioch power claw to bear!"

The second Legio Mortis Titan was armed for close combat, its power claw resembling one of those Ayakashi that Ryuji had seen in his homeworld of Draconis III than one normally fitted upon a Titan. Its other primary weapon, a Macro Gatling blaster, was now wrapped in rotting flesh, almost purplish appendages curling around its rusting barrels like vegetation. The carapace gatling blasters above its bestial form howled, hurling tank-sized shells at the Kagutsuchi.

"Stand your ground!" Ryuji snarled, knowing that the Dark Dragon Titan wouldn't be able to evade in time. Instead, he held firm and brought up both arms. Already, Machiya and Machiko had readied the steaming weapons for another round of firing, as well as the turbo laser destructors.

All four weapons roared in defiant fury, hammering the Lupus Plaguis and impeding its full body charge. Even so, the Death Head Titan moved swiftly, with an unnatural grace and predatory stride to its sprint. Ryuji had never seen a Warlord so quick.

"Brace for impact!" He ordered, knowing that there was little the crew of Kagutsuchi could do. Lupus Plaguis would gut them with its mutated power claw, eviscerating even the venerable engine. Worse, corrupted power fields glowed balefully around the excessively long talons, sending chills down his spine. Kagutsuchi growled, its machine spirit refusing to accept defeat, but the logical segment of the princeps's mind knew that death was imminent.

And then Lupus Plaguis stumbled.

"Knights of House Yato, charge!"

There was an accompanying cheer as a banner of Cerastus Knight Lancers slammed into the rear of Lupus Plaguis. Moving faster than the Warlord Titan, the swift Knights had maneuvered around the hab blocks and taken the much larger engine by surprise, exploiting a vulnerability in the rear. Weaving through torrents of shells spat by ardex defensor cannons, they rammed their Cerastus shock lances into the more vulnerable rear armor of the corrupted Titan, the shafts crackling with destructive energies that vaporized organic flesh and punched through corroded ceramite. Thrusting their powerful weapons, their arms moving like pistons, they stabbed repeatedly as Lupus Plaguis flailed about desperately, trying to veer around to catch them with its claw.

Then something steamed out of the punctured reactor. At a signal from the Daimyo, Lord Takeda, the banner of Knight Lancers dispersed and fled. Led by Kensei, Takeda's steed, they ducked back into the labyrinthine network of hab-blocks and districts of Neotou before Lupus Plaguis erupted into a supernova, leaving a charred crater.

"Engine kill!" Takeda roared in triumph.

Ryuji couldn't respond, for Mortem Canis was still bearing down on them, the severely damaged Death Head Warlord listing but stubbornly standing. Its volcano cannon erupted in incadescent fury, demolishing a neighboring hab-block and skimming the surface of Kagutsuchi's void shields, leaving a glowing furrow on the barrier.

"Finish it off," Ryuji snarled, and the Machida twins complied. Lasers and plasma slammed into the teetering Titan, bisecting it. With a groan that almost sounded like a wild beast, and shrieks of agony that sounded so very human, Mortem Canis separated at the glowing lines left across its waist, its steaming torso toppling over and crashing to the ground.

The impact must have triggered the already damaged plasma reactor, for half of its body disappeared in a fireball that set the fleshy legs ablaze, engulfing the taloned feet in an inferno.

Ryuji exhaled in relief, turning Kagutsuchi about. As he suspected, the battle was far from over. The void shields had stabilized, but were weakened from the exchange earlier. And he could see more shapes lurking in the storm of dust and shadows. Warhounds stalked out, their plasma blastguns and Vulcan mega-bolters barking as they set upon Kagutsuchi in a pack. Ryuji turned his attention on them, but he was relieved to see the banners of House Yato Knights intercept them.

Accompanied by two banners of Questoris Knights, Takeda and his surviving Knight Lancers crashed into the flank of the bounding Warhounds. If the Warhound Titans were wolves, the Knights were more akin to hunting hounds, smaller but no less deadly when set loose upon their prey. The Warhounds swerved about, more agile and faster than a Warlord, their weapons glowing as they unleashed apocalyptic fury on the courageously charging Knights.

More nobles of House Yato would die this day, but their sacrifice would not be in vain. Lances smashed into fanged snouts, piercing through armorglass and distintegrating the crew. Thermal cannons whistled as they focused melta beams on joints, sending the larger machines toppling over to be picked apart by whirring reaper chainswords.

Ryuji left the wolves and hunting hounds to their melee and focused on the real threat. A third Warlord had exited the gloom, its laser blasters snarling. More void shields collapsed, and a volcano cannon gouged into the arm, almost amputating Kagutsuchi.

"The plasma annihilator is offline!" Machiya reported tersely, scanning the damage diagnostics crawling through the pict-screen in front of him with his brown eyes.

"Void shields are down!" Machiko added, albeit unnecessarily. Ryuji gritted his teeth, wincing as blood leaked from his arm. Sympathetic welts had appeared, and he felt red-hot agony throbbing through his limb, the psychostigmatic feedback causing him to share the burden with Kagutsuchi's wailing machine spirit.

"Fire whatever weapons we have left! Target the enemy with the volkite destructor!"

Machiya hadn't identified the third Warlord yet, but he didn't have to. Right now, it was more imperative to survive...to rally and fight back. Ryuji would be damned if he allowed Kagutsuchi to be felled without resistance. By the Omnissiah, he would deal as much damage to the Traitor as possible before their demise. Perhaps the Knights of House Yato would avenge them, but they were embroiled in their own battle for survival, having disengaged from the fallen pack of Warhounds to confront a recently emerging Reaver that destroyed two Knight suits with its melta cannon. Takeda was even now desperately guiding his Bushi into a retreat, the Knights attempting to avoid direct conflict with the Reaver Titan's screaming chainblade. Rivulets of flesh and a rain of ichor dripped from the hideously mutated weapon as it struggled to unclog itself. Ryuji swore he could hear the Reaver shrieking in pain from the wielding of its own weapon.

It was not alone in its agony. He was seeing red as another superheated blast from the enemy Warlord's plasma seared through one of the turbo laser destructors, causing his shoulder to blister. He bit his lip, refusing to cry out in pain. It would not do for his crew to see their Princeps so weak.

Instead, he focused his hand on the target. There was a hum before the volkite destructor spat another superheated ray, splashing against the enemy's void shields and bursting them in a thermal shockwave. The Legio Mortis Warlord staggered as its void shields blinked out, but it retaliated with another volley from its volcano cannon, seeking to bring down the Legio Draconis Warlord as vengeance for its fallen brethren.

Ryuji saw the thermal buildup in the barrel of the mutated weapon and knew that this would be his last moments. Kagutsuchi growled in defiance, but the venerable machine spirit also acknowledged that it wouldn't withstand another hit from the Titan-killing armament.

And then the enemy detonated.

"What?"

"Friendly contact coming from the north!" Machiya shouted, his calm demeanor entirely forgotten. Ryuji blinked and glanced at the auspex, hearing a familiar voice over the vox.

"Good job, Princeps Sakamoto. Leave the rest to us."

Princeps Senioris Asakura Hiro, bringing the Warmaster Titan Amaterasu to the battlefield. The magnificent war engine trampled through the streets of Neotou, heedlessly knocking over towers and hab-blocks as it brought its formidable arsenal to bear. The plasma destructors spoke again, wreathing the burning silhouette of the enemy Warlord in the wrath of a star, sending the blazing frame toppling over and leaving little trace of the enemy.

"Thank you, Princeps Asakura. By the Omnissiah, you saved us."

"Only doing our duty, Ryuji. And excellent work bringing down its voids with the volkite. We wouldn't have been able to get a clear shot otherwise."

Even though Kagutsuchi had brought down the void shields, a Warlord Titan was still a heavily armored and durable engine that could survive a couple of hits from even a volcano cannon. Yet a single salvo from Amaterasu had laid it low, and a second blast destroyed it completely. Ryuji watched the magnificence of the Warmaster Titan in awe, reminded of the miracles that the Machine-God had wrought to bring such a force to manifestation in the material world.

Meanwhile, the Knights had also dealt with the Reaver, leaving a smoking husk slumped against a half-shattered hab-block. Their number had diminished, but their resolve had not. The surviving walkers were regrouping, rallying around the stalwart figure of Amaterasu. Ryuji made to join them, but the vox crackled to life once more.

"Retreat for repairs for now, Ryuji," Asakura ordered, the plasma destructors of his engine releasing clouds of steam as it turned around to confront the newly arrived forces of Legio Mortis. "Leave Neotou to us. We will hold the line."

A smile curled across Ryuji's lips as he obeyed the Princeps Senioris. No matter what engines the Death Heads threw at the Dark Dragons, they had lost. Even the venerable Legio Mortis didn't have the same firepower of a Warmaster Titan. Legio Draconis had focused on quality over quantity, and Kelbor-Hal and Lupercal had underestimated their foes.

The moment Legio Draconis walked, the fate of the Traitors had been sealed. The Cybernetica automata of Gairoid Sigma will belong to the Loyalists. So Lord Dorn had decreed, and so it will be.

The Emperor, in His aspect as the Omnissiah, was on their side this day.

Riding out the Tempest

"Yikes!"

I ducked instinctively as a roaring stream of volcanic fury howled overhead, smashing into a hab block and erasing it from existence. Molten glass dripped over atomised ceramite, leaving superheated air shimmering in its wake.

The Traitor Warlord Titan stomped over, its war horns blaring all manner of foul scrap code and whatever. I didn't even want to understand the nonsensical noise that it was emitting. I didn't recognize the colossal war engine, particularly because its appearance was so horribly mutated that it resembled more a grotesque daemon than a bipedal Titan. Only the dull blue and silver colors were reminders that it was from a once proud legio.

I knew of the Loyalist elements of Legio Tempestus, particularly those led by the Storm Lord, but evidently this stray maniple was one of Karania's. The fallen princeps had somehow swayed a good portion of his Titan Legion to the banner of Horus, and even now they launched attacks across the Imperium. House Yato had been sent to reinforce the flagging military of Argent. Without any Titans to back up the fleeing population, the citizens of Argent were ripe for slaughter.

Not if we have anything to say about it, I thought to myself grimly.

"Tanaka!" Lord Takeda shouted, redirecting my attention to the present. As the Daimyo of our Knight Lance, he had the singular honor of piloting the Cerastus Knight Lancer, Kensei, and was leading the charge. "Bring your banner around and flank that Warlord!"

"Understood, my lord!"

I urged Kazan into a loping stride, even as Karyu and Hinowa followed, Suzuki and Taiyou guiding their armored stteds to follow my lead. Unlike Takeda and his banner, all of whom piloted advanced and ancient pattern Cerastus Knight Lancers dedicated wholly to the execution of war, Suzuki, Taiyou and I were given the helms of Questoris Knight Errants. Even so, the thermal cannons our engines wielded still presented a massive threat to the much larger war engines of Legio Tempestus.

Listening to the ghostly whispers in my Throne Mechanicum, I had Kazan lean low and swerved around another hab block, using the huge structure as cover, pushing my steed to full stride. Another tremor-shaking shell crashed against the faltering structure, demolishing it and sending debris raining on our midst, but with deft skill, I piloted Kazan away from the rubble. Suzuki cursed, Karyu almost buried underneath a pile of debris, but he managed to kick his Knight armor off at the last second and push it just meters away from an ignominious death.

On the opposite side, a third banner of Questoris Knight Wardens sprinted, also at full stride. Their reactors ran red-hot, shadowy steam pluming from their exhausts as they pushed their armors to their limits. Armed with Avenger Gatling cannons, there was little they could do against the heavily armored Titans, but I was sure that Sir Nijima would launch a coordinated strike at the most vulnerable portions of the much larger enemies. I had seen him deliver devastating volleys of depleted uranium rounds with pinpoint accuracy at weakened hullplates or joints, laying low even the mightiest of Titans.

"AAAAAAH!"

One of Lord Takeda's lifeguards vanished in an explosion of dirt and soil, the massive shell from the Mori Quake cannon landing right on him and erasing the poor guy. Fortunately, Takeda had the ability to render his banner never be Shaken, and the rest of his Knight Lancers simply shrugged off the concussive shockwaves and continued racing forward.

"Sir Kanda!" He snapped. "Covering fire!"

"Out of range, my lord," came the quipped reply. "And we have troubles of our own."

Despite myself, I glanced at the auspex and saw the duo of Warhounds loping forward like alpha predators. One was armed with two inferno guns, the barrels glowing with incadescent flame as the igniter sparked. The other spat a stream of mass reactives that chewed up the hab block that Kanda's banner of Acastus Knight Porphyrions were taking cover in, the Vulcan mega-bolter eating through its supply of ammunition at an incredible rate. Its twin curved around to flank the heavily armored Knights, only to stagger when it stepped on a plasma mine. Its heel was half-vaporized and it stumbled, its war-horn blaring in a bestial howl, but it righted itself almost gracefully, the semi-organic plating seeming to heal and regenerate right before our very eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I muttered.

"How far have these Traitors fallen?" Sir Kanda spat.

"Destroy them," Lord Takeda ordered coldly. "Don't think about it too much. The moment they turned their back on the Emperor, they had signed their own death warrants. These oath-breakers do not even deserve the honor of committing seppuku."

"On it," Kanda replied as a storm of missiles screamed from the carapace-mounted pods. They detonated against the staggering Warhound, engulfing it in a fiery conflagration. The bigger war engine reared up, its snout snarling and sporting fangs that glistened in the dim illumination afforded by the lume globes. Somehow, despite the devastation wrought by the Traitors, power was still being supplied by the city.

However, the void shields were down, flickering out with a bang that left a stink of ozone. The Warhound flailed about, but Kanda and his banner mercilessly bombarded it with their magna lascannons. Ruby beams stabbed out, slicing into the already weakened plate, damaged earlier by the plasma mine, and all but crippling it. With a metallic groan, the raptor-like limbs were severed, and the Warhound was laid low, its torso crashing to the ground and its cockpit buried by broken soil and rubble.

Unfortunately, the other Warhound had reached Sir Kanda's banner and was firing deadly lances from its turbo laser destructor, supported by hails from its Vulcan mega-bolter. I didn't have time to keep up with Kanda's status, because I had to duck under sweeping beams from the Warlord's turbo-laser destructor. One of Lord Takeda's guards faltered, the ion shield gauntlet mounted upon his Knight Lancer's arm blowing out as his ion shield overloaded from the high powered beams. Despite suffering severe damage, he coaxed his steed into a desperate charge.

"Charge!" Takeda ordered. We complied, charging in a straight line and rushing through the void shields of the Warlord to get underneath the arc of its weapons. The once venerable engine swung about desperately, its volcano cannon erupting furiously, but the apocalyptic volley went wide and instead blew up a macro cannon that the Tech-priests of the Dark Mechanicum had set up nearby.

The three surviving Knight Lancers smashed into the Warlord's torso with wrathful vengeance, their Cerastus shock lances crackling with disruptive energies. Lightning danced around the length of their deadly weapons, lending them power of the Motive Force as they breached the adamantium hull of the Warlord's hip and torso. The colossal war engine staggered, its reactor glowing white-hot when one of the lances punctured vital cables and containment fields.

Even so, it withstood the barrage and held firm, its feet digging in resolutely as it swung about.

Then Nijima crashed into the Warlord's leg, scything upward with his reaper chainsword. The disruptive field flared violently as the whirring blade sank into the breach, punching deeper into the already wailing reactor. For a moment, the Warlord froze.

And then it vanished in a supernova, the spreading fireball washing over Nijima's Knight Warden and disintegrating it. Another of Nijima's banner companions also fell, his steed burning from the superheated plasma that unfolded from the smoldering crater where the Warlord once stood, a raging tempest of flames. Even the tougher Cerastus Knight Lancers were knocked flat, with Sir Shindou's steed not rising again. To my relief, Takeda picked Kensei back up, supported by his final lifeguard.

"Good job, everybody," he managed, raising the lance of Kensei triumphantly, despite it being charred from the extreme heat. "Engine kill!"

"For House Yato and Draconis III!" We echoed, raising our reaper chainswords. What was left of us, anyway. For better or for worse, my banner of Knight Errants were too far away to get stuck in melee, but that also meant we escaped the devastating blast. Even so, the glory of our Lance mates was also our honor. "Long live the Emperor!"

"Uh, a little help here?" Kanda called. We turned around, Takeda regrouping our surviving Knights and rushing back to the Acastus Knight Porphyrions' position at full speed, but we wouldn't make it in time. The final Warhound was bearing down on the Acastus Knights Porphyrions, and one of them was already smoking and listing, its thick armor cracked open by the sheer volume of Vulcan mega-bolter shells and glowing furrows left by the lethal turbo-laser destructor.

However, they retaliated with a ferocious bombardment of missiles that blew out the void shields. The Warhound staggered and brayed, only for the magna lasers to find their mark on its head. The armorglass cracked as the lasers grazed against it, and a final volley of missiles finally blew it open. One warhead pierced through the molten breach made by the magna lasers and detonated inside the cockpit, engulfing the fallen Princeps and her deluded Moderatii in purifying flames. The decapitated Warhound swayed one last time before it fell, leveling a hab block behind it as it did.

"Engine kill!" Kanda crowed.

"Excellent work, Bushi of House Yato," Lord Takeda complimented, bringing his Knight Lancer to an exhausted halt. "Looks like we've managed to clear out the Traitor maniple here. Let's head back to base, get repairs and resupplies, and then go back out. There are still plenty of Traitor battlegroups roaming about Argent, and we won't rest until we've purged all of them."

"For the Emperor," I agreed, though inwardly I felt a little embarrassed that my banner didn't actually do anything this time. Fortunately, there was always a next time.

...I hope.

Major Narrative Events of 9th Edition

As 9th edition comes to a close, I figure I should round up and summarize the major narrative events of 9th edition. Why? Because I see tons of comments in social media whining about how the "story in 40K has not moved forward" or nothing major has happened or "the Imperium always wins." That last part, in particular, really annoys me because it's simply not true.

I'm glad to see some Chaos players who don't mind the Imperium winning - they just want to see Chaos go beyond cliche mustache-twirling villains who just act evil for no reason other than to get beaten up like dogs and sent packing. They want their faction to feel like a real threat, whose invasions have far-reaching consequences, like the repercussions of the Gathering Storm where the Great Rift opens and the Imperium - and galaxy - is cut in half. Did a catastrophe of similar magnitude occur in 9th edition? Not really - but we do have some major shifts in the story going forward, and as you know, a second Primarch has returned to the Imperium during this darkest hour. But that's not the only momentuous event that has transpired, and today, we'll be taking a good look at the stuff with tremendous impacts on the story - and the Imperium - going forward. Nothing as galaxy-changing as the Great Rift, to be sure, but still pretty massive if you ask me.

For more details and accuracy, you probably can find videos, spoilers and other stuff online. Oculus Imperia, Arbitor Ian, Grimdark Narrator, Luetin09 and Chapter Master Valrak have videos, and you can search up ShaskaiWarhambits on Reddit for his detailed summary. Instead, I'll just summarize the major events so that you know what to expect going into 10th edition, and whatever momentuous events have transpired. If you just want the "what do I need to know going into 10th edition," skip the long walls of text, scroll all the way down and read the To Sum Narrative 9th Edition Up section below.

Warzone Charadon

Basically, Typhus and the Death Guard and a bunch of allied Chaos warbands including a few from the Black Legion invaded the Charadon Sector, conquering a bunch of planets and finally making their way to the major Forge World of Metallica. The Metallican Gates, consisting of the Feiror, Rhodoir and Brezantius systems, which protect the warp routes leading to Metalica, were attacked by Typhus's Plague Fleets and Death Guard and his allies. The fringe systems of Chromyd, Alumax, and Duralim were sort of...locked in some stalemate, though Fabricator-General Zhleng's pulling back of Skitarii and Mechanicus forces from the fringe systems broke that stalemate, but fortunately, Cadians, Knights of House Raven and the Excruciators held, and even a Deimos Mechanicus fleet showed up, armed with anti-daemon weapons and supported by Grey Knights, and helped relieve the siege.

Unfortunately, though the Metallican Gates stood strong, Typhus conducted a foul ritual on St Bartolph's Throne and opened a warp tunnel to Metallica itself, and also suddenly turning the tides of battle in the Chaos factions' favor because the dead arose and beseiged the Imperial defenders. Unfortunately, this same warp tunnel was pretty much a warp rift named the Sore that prevented Imperial reinforcements from reaching Metallica, and thus the Forge World stood alone against Typhus and the Death Guard. Khleng realized that he was pretty much screwed.

Kolossi, the homeworld of House Raven, was invaded by Be'lakor and his Disciples, and they spirited it away deep into Imperium Nihilus. Now this is a major event - just like the fall of Cadia, we lost a major planet of the Imperium - a Knight World and home to the biggest Questor Mechanicus House in the Imperium. So all those Chaos fanboys screaming their heads off about Chaos never winning, demanding for another Cadia to fall or whatever because they apparently aren't impressed with unnamed or insignificant worlds falling to Chaos (just see their comments regarding the Choral Engine on Malakbael and how they view that world as insignificant despite Angron scoring a complete victory) can shut the feth up and feth off. Holy Terra, these rabid fanboys are giving other Chaos players a bad name.

Fortunately, 80% of House Raven are off planet, and they are now a fleet-based Knight House. Still, losing 1/5 of your forces and Knight suits is a pretty massive blow. Ugh.

Abbess Sanctorum Marvenn Vahl - because she received a shiny new model and they have to write her into the current timeline and narrative events somehow - showed up with an Adepta Sororitas fleet complete with regiments of Imperial Guard, allied Space Marines, Knight Lances and even several Custodes, beat up the Death Guard and Thousand Sons at the Tri-Forge Cluster in Phlegyr Sector and saved the Imperial defenders there, and continued moving on to purge the Chaos forces in the Charadon Sector. Unfortunately, this being grimdark 40K, she ended up annihilating Imperial defenders alongside the Archenemy, with the noblebright Ultramarines protesting, only to relent because of Vahl's seal. She's a High Lady of Terra, after all. Ugh. Anyway, they reclaimed Feiror system, but...y'know, pyrrhic victory because grimdark and the Imperium can't have nice things.

Typhus and the Death Guard fought through the Skitarii and Mechanicus forces of Metallica, and despite the Skitarii Veteran Cohorts dominating the meta at that time and probably kicking the asses of the poor Death Guard and other Chaos warbands who only had one wound Legionnaires back then, Typhus and an elite core of Terminators managed to sneak into Khleng's sanctum after suffering heavy losses. The Dark Mechanicum dudes they were escorting plugged the Nemesis Wurm into poor Fabricator-general Khleng and infected him with...warp magicks and scrapcode, mutating him into it that shall not be named.

With his objective achieved, Typhus and his surviving subordinates left, but they lost 80% of their forces. Totally worth it because they crippled Metallica. Needless to say, this was a nice reflection of the meta at the time - Death Guard winning on objectives and points despite being all but tabled by Skitarii Veteran Cohorts and other Adeptus Mechanicus armies. Hey, I'm not a meta-chaser - if you've been following my blog, you know I have a Skitarii army since 2015, and my Draconis IV forge world uses the Ryza Forge World dogma instead of Lucius. Anyway, not only did Khleng die a horrible death, Metallica suffered repeated Nemesis Wurm infections that continue to feth around with their industrial production, destroy technological knowledge, cause irreversible damage and...well, safe to say Metallica is crippled and doomed to a slow death. Yikes. Kolossi was also lost, and though Lord Grevan swore an oath to search for it and wreak retribution on those responsible for its spiriting away, I doubt he'll ever be able to defeat Be'lakor and his Disciples. Oh, and House Raven heard Inquisitorial information that there's a Daemon World rumored to be in Nihilus, with Chaos Knights claiming to hail from the House Korvax providing a clue to what had transpired on now corrupted Kolossi and their once noble Knight pilots and steeds.

Though I'm not at all against Chaos having this victory, as a Knight player, losing a major Knight world and 20% of House Raven - who are corrupted into Chaos Knights - hurts. And I mean hurts a lot. Ugh. This makes me sad as the Tanith after they lost their homeworld. Sigh.

Warzone Octarius

Everyone heard of Inquisitor Fidus Kryptman? He even shows up in one of Graham McNeil's Ultramarine novels, meeting Uriel Ventris. Cool guy, except until he started nuking and enacting Exterminatus on Imperial Worlds just to deny biomass to the invading Hive Fleet Leviathan. What's cool though is that he sent a bunch of Genestealers to the Ork Empire in the Octarius Sector - ruled by the Overfiend of Octarius - to lure the Tyranids into the Orks so that they can wipe each other out or at least buy time for the Imperium to...do something later. Anyway, the Tyranids gorged themselves on the unlimited buffet of greenskin biomass, while the Orks indulged themselves in slaughter and combat while growing bigger and stronger with every fight. So...uh, Kryptman ended up making the situation worse somehow.

Enter Inquisitor Nashir. Drawing up the Cordon Impenetra, he all but abandoned the worlds inside the Octarius Sector and instead withdrew all their military assets and resources to the worlds in the Cordon Impenetra, sub-sectors on the border of the Octarius Sector that would contain the war between the Orks and the Tyranids. Of note is the system of Sigma Ulstari, a forge world system that was crucial to the containment effort by supplying the materiel required for war. Unfortunately, the Pankallis Breakout happened, with Tyranids and Orks spilling out of the Octarius Sector into the Cordon Impenetra before the worlds were fully prepared to repel them and contain the outbreak. Yikes.

The Semythis System was conquered by Orks while the Gydisk System was overrun by Tyranids. Fortunately, the Knights of House Yato - if you recall one narrative campaign I organized a couple of years ago - fought off the Tyranids alongside a Black Templars Crusade, the Encarmine Angels, Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Guard forces - and saved one of the planets, uh, Gydisk Sigma. The Orks continued onward to Kernak and Kusolst, while the Tyranids swarmed toward Anelanni and Bianzeer.

They were countered by the Deathwatch, who were allied by the Dark Krakens - a Salamanders Successor Chapter that have an Index Astartes in White Dwarf - and Obsidian Jaguars, as well as Skitarii legions, Titans and Knights from Ryza and Estaban. Did you say Estaban? Yeah, that's the second homeworld of Legio Tempestus, alongside Orestes. Or Legio Tempestor? Maybe they changed their name slightly to Legio Tempestor in Estaban since the Titan Legion in Orestes is already Legio Tempestus. Both descended from the same Legio Tempestus from Mars, though.

House Xiphon, hailing from the Knight World of Kernak IV, fell to the Orks. Ouch. The Forge World of Kenark III also fell to the Orks. Double ouch. The Ryzan fleet sent there was almost annihilated, and surviving Imperial forces withdrew to Kernark II. The Annelanni system also fell to the Tyranids, with the Knights of House Feurus on Soebus being destroyed, and the fortress world of Vand and its regiments of Imperial Guard being cracked open by hyperadaptive and evolving Tyranids. The Tyranids also gained aerial superiority in Phrankis. For Emperor's sake, stop killing my Knights and Guardsmen.

Fortunately, against all odds, the hardy miners and Guardsmen of the Bianzeer's Hollow System, reinforced by Deathwatch, held against the Tyranids and even secured a victory there. Finally. The Kusolst system also held, thanks to Nashir supplying them with void shields and tanks. It's also the best defended system in the sub-sector, and also had a large Imperial Navy presence, so they repelled and defeated the Orks and Tyranids that came at them. Phew.

Unfortunately, Xessor and Suvardosha were next, with the Tyranids and Orks on the way to attack those two systems respectively. We never find out what happened to them, so...whatever.

Oh, side story about the Veloria Experiment. Too long, didn't read? Inquisitor Van Roth and the Deathwatch's attempts to exploit and make use of a stolen Ork Mek's crown that was capable of disrupting the Tyranids' synapse failed, and they and their Aeldari allies (don't ask) were annihilated by the Orks.

Other side stories: Khornate warband plunging into the Octarius Sector and killing Orks and Tyranids alike to get BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! I think they are in Da Maw. Necrons awakened inside one of the planets within the Octarius Sector and began killing Tyranids, including bio-titans. This was the time before Tyranids had a new codex and dominated the meta, instead having to rely on the Hive Fleet Leviathan supplement from these campaign books and Crusher Stampede Army of Renown from White Dwarf to remain competitive, so...the Necrons with their Core vehicles and Silent King could wipe the floor with them.

Back to the main story, so...yeah, as I said, we're forgetting about Inquisitor Nashir, Xessor and Suvardosha, and instead we are focusing on the forge world of Sigma-Ulstari and its system. Tyranids invaded, first attacking the ocean world of Deuteria and got their asses kicked by the locals and Imperial Guardsmen in there. Or navy. Nah, Imperial Guardsmen on seafaring ships. You know what I mean.

Other Tyranids attacked Sigma-Ulstari directly, but they were routed by the Skitarii Legions, Imperial Guard regiments, Titan Legions and Knight Lances there, first weakened by the toxic wastelands that covered the forge world. A second wave came, and they were annihilated once more, though at a steeper cost in Imperial lives. Unfortunately, the third and final wave came, much larger than the previous waves - and worse, the Tyranids in this wave had evolved and adapted to the toxic wastelands in Sigma-Ulstari, and were about to wipe out the Imperial defenders when Warboss Tuskagrob Wurldkilla showed up in a massive Ork fleet. Remember the Khornate warband I mentioned earlier? Yeah, they've killed a bunch of Orks and Tyranids, and they stole Wurldkilla's kill. So without Tyranids to fight, he ended up leading a Waaagh! to Sigma-Ulstari, where he exterminated the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan, drawing their attention away from the Imperial defenders.

Unfortunately, once he wiped out the Tyranids, he turned his attention to the beleaguered Imperial defenders, bringing with him Gargants and Orkeosauruses (basically super Gargantuan Squiggoths). Fabricator General Einrekh Phlagustok realized how screwed he and his forge world were, especially when his calls to Inquisitor Nashir and other worlds in the Cordon Impenetra for aid went unanswered (I told you he wouldn't show up again). Fortunately, a Black Templars Crusade fleet and Task Force V of the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus, commanded by High Marshal Helbrecht and High Admiral Herika Ajon respectively, warped into the system, destroyed both the fleets of the Orks and Hive Fleet Leviathan, landed on Sigma-Ulstari, and Helbrecht - sporting a shiny new model after crossing the Rubicon Primaris and benefiting from the Black Templars' unique rules from their new codex supplement - kicked Wurldkilla's ass while his Black Templars with their brand new Primaris Marshal, Sword Brethren, axe-wielding Castellan, Emperor's Champion, and Primaris Crusader squads nuked the poor Orkeosauruses. Uphold the Honor of the Emperor, baby!

Right, and this was where my own Black Templar Crusade came from, and how they ended up showing up in Gydisk Sigma to kick the Tyranids off the planet and aid the Knights of House Yato, Adeptus Mechanicus, Encarmine Angels and Imperial Guard in winning back the system. Well...just Gydisk Sigma, not the whole system.

On Octaria, though, something tipped the balance. With the appearance of the Great Rift, Khorne launched the Blood Crusade and massacred Orks and Tyranids alike. Then just as suddenly, the Khorne Daemons vanished after eight hours because...you know. Khorne. And that was a corny...ahem, Khorny way to make an exit. Regardless, both Octarius Orks and Hive Fleet Leviathan were heavily depleted after the massacre, but the Tyranids couldn't feed on Daemons because they didn't leave any biomass behind, so the Orks had an advantage, which they pressed with the Overfiend calling a Waaagh! to scour the Octarius system clean of the Tyranids. The Overfiend killed the Swarmlord, who promptly reincarnated, adapted, evolved and outthought the relatively simple-minded Orks.

Long story short, the Swarmlord led the Tyranid swarms to conquer each Ork world in the Octarius system, thus isolating Octaria itself, and then it launched an attack on the Overfiend himself while denying the warboss reinforcements from other Orks. It failed to exhaust the Overfiend despite throwing countless hordes and Carnifexes at him, but then it cut the cables to his power klaw and rendered it dead weight, thus forcing an opening that it exploited to kill the Overfiend. The Swarmlord then devoured the Overfiend and ate his...brain. Yeah. Gross. Apparently, the new Ork models and Beastsnagga boxset didn't help them. Uh, now that I think about it, the cover illustration for Warzone Octarius Book 2: Critical Mass was a massive spoiler because it literally showed the Swarmlord chewing on the poor Overfiend's head. In any event, Hive Fleet Leviathan won the Octarius war, and the Orks are about to get slaughtered. This is bad news, and presumably it has something to do with 10th edition and the Hive Fleet Leviathan tendril that shows up in Segmentum Pacificus.

Warzone Nachmund

Well, not much to say here other than Vigilus was quite literally alone. Won't go into too many details, but basically Chaos - led by Black Legion warbands - conquered all the other worlds in the Vigilus system. The cover of Vigilus Alone is misleading. Despite Abaddon being featured, he hardly showed up and instead remained on his precious Vengeful Spirit to throw a tantrum at the dude running off with his ship. Or something. But he never actually took part in the war to follow. Anyway, on Vigilus, people mistakenly believed that Marneus Calgar was dead following his one-sided defeat by the Despoiler and venerated him as a Saint. The fools - do they not know he just got a new shiny model after being Primaris-ized in the Vigilus Defiant campaign back in the later end of 8th edition? No way they'll kill him off that quickly in Vigilus Ablaze, not when they need to milk his shiny new model. That said, the faith manifested in many different ways. The Adepta Sororitas of the Crusade of Mina's Consecration somehow arrived on Vigilus instead of Yolaris, their intended destination, and they recruited the Imperials to their cause, making use of the faith that had sprung, and began purging Vigilus of Traitors, Xenos and Heretics.

Meanwhile, Inquisitor Erasmus Cartavolnus discovered that the Black Legion had been constructing Noctlith Crowns all over Vigilus to widen the Warp Rift to swallow Vigilus. He stirred the Imperial defenders to a zealous frenzy, recruiting Imperial Guardsmen, Knights, Skitarii and Battle Sisters and launched a Crusade against the Chaos Warbands still on Vigilus, who were in disarray and infighting after Abaddon's departure when the Vengful Spirit almost got nuked by a vortex missile. Or Deathstrike missile. Same thing, really. Anyway, despite being a Crusade of mere mortals (except for the Knights), buoyed by their faith in Saint Calgar, they pretty much demolished the forces of Chaos and wrecked the Noctlith Crowns, thus saving Vigilus from being swallowed by the warp. Celestine also showed up to speak to the Canoness and purge the Hivesprawl of Dontoria, which was infected by Nurgle. Being Battle Sisters, they pretty much put Dontoria to the torch and burn it.

But Vigilus stood alone, and Abaddon ignored it for now because he had something to do at Dharrovar. And then he disappeared to enact the Arks of Omen, instead sending Haarken Worldclaimer to obtain the Nachmund Gauntlet in his stead. Meanwhile, Imperial forces launched an assault on Dharrovar, the fallen Knight World that is home to House Mandrakor. They, uh, failed. Instead, they were almost wiped out when Haarken Worldclaimer showed up with a vast host of Black Legion and other Chaos warbands, and they were forced to retreat. Even though they evacuated from Dharrovar, the Imperial forces suffered tremendous casualties. Ouch. They were then harried by the vast armada of Haarken Worldclaimer and chased all the way back to Imperium Sanctus.

Sangua Terra, the main world on the other side of the Nachmund Gauntlet (and thus the mirror to Vigilus), was where the Imperials made their last stand, forming the Sanctus Wall. Unfortunately, given the colossal size of the Black Legion armada, they knew they were pretty much frakked. Fortunately, Battle Group Lambdax from the Indomitus Crusade was coming to reinforce them, but they wouldn't make it in time. So Lady Admiral Quirin Prisca launched a suicidal mission with a sizable fleet taken from Sanctus Wall's defenses to stall the Traitors' advance. She tried to make use of the Traitors' disunity to her advantage, and the Imperial fleet managed to inflict good damage on the Heretics' armada. Unfortunately, so vast was Haarken Worldclaimer's forces that defeat was inevitable, and her fleet was destroyed, though he was impressed with her skill and tactics, and the courage and determination of the Imperial Navy.

Their sacrifice was not in vain. A few survivors rejoined Sanctus Wall, reinforcements from Battle Group Lambdax have finally arrived, and even now retreating Imperial forces continued to trickle through the Nachmund Gauntlet. Unfortunately, Lady Admiral Prisca had been captured by Haarken Worldclaimer, who even now continued to torture her for vital information while planning to reveal her to demoralize the Imperials later. Apparently, because they would be demoralized when hearing of her survival after venerating her as a Saint and naming a battleship after her. Right. For now, he ordered the vast Black Legion armada to make the jump to the Sanctus Wall.

...and yeah, it ends on a cliffhanger. That's it. I guess we never get to see the climactic clash between the might of an Indomitus Crusade Battle Group and a vast Black Legion armada.

Pariah Nexus

The Silent King had arrived and united the dynasties under his rule, and under his command, they destroy the Imperial armies gathered in the Pariah Nexus, his war barque showing up often. He eradicated the humans on Rorgaestis III, atomized the Bhorsis and its moon, along with the humans on it, with his war barque, and even destroyed a sanctified stronghold of Adepta Sororitas who had proven immune to the effects of the pylons. Eventually, the humans were pushed back to the edges of the Pariah Nexus, though they did achieve a couple of victories here and there.

However, this was not the only Pariah Nexus - there were others in the fringe of the galaxy and they were growing, and would all link up to cut off the warp from the galaxy forever.

Meanwhile, Battle Group Kallidus and its groupmaster, Marran, were stuck in the growing Pariah Nexus, and unable to send an astropathic message for help. Epistolary Thengrest of the Imperial Fists then gathered psykers to combine their powers to send an astropathic message from within the Pariah Nexus, though that obviously came at the cost of burning all of them out. Yikes. First, though, the psykers gathered on Cherrist, which was the first world where the Imperium achieved victory against the Necrons thanks to Stern and the Adepta Sororitas. Lieutenant Stornvor of the Imperial Fists fortified the systems while Marshal Arnulf of the Back Templars and allied Sisters of Battle from the Order of our Martyred Lady and Stormtroopers...ahem, Militarum Tempestus launched a counteroffensive against the Necrons.

The Black Templars needed help in the Vernarius system from both the Imperial Fists and the tanks of the Death Korps of Krieg to purge the Necrons, though preferably they would have destroyed the Necrons before the Imperial Fists arrived to fortify the place. Unfortunately, despite their initial victories, the Silent King arrived and began crushing the Imperial resistance. Fortunately, they defended long enough for the psykers to give up their lives to send an astropathic message.

And...Roboute Guilliman is coming. He has directed his fleet toward the Nephilim sub-sector, toward the Pariah Nexus.

Arks of Omen

Again, you probably want to watch Arbitor Ian or Valrak's channel, or read ShaskaiWarhambits on Reddit for more details, but here's a quick summary of the major events happening throughout the series.

Abaddon met Vashtorr, who convinced him to ally with him to find fragments of the Key. In return, Vashtorr constructed vast space hulk ships named Arks of Omen, while Abaddon supplied him with the manpower needed to crew these colossal Arks and set across the galaxy to find these Key fragments. Apparently, the Key is some galaxy-changing weapon that would give them the edge required to win against the Imperium. Abaddon could defeat the Imperium once and for all and rule the galaxy, while Vashtorr would ascend to become the fifth Chaos God. I guess it's good to dream, eh? Anyway, they send these Arks of Omen out in Balefleets, which are massive Chaos armadas with the Ark as a flagship.

One of the Key fragments could be found in Malakbael, where the Choral Engine emitted a psychic beacon within Imperium Nihilus that allowed navigators to plot relatively safe routes. Indomitus Fleet Quartus arrived and under Fleetmaster Trincus Abconcis, they initially made use of the Choral Engine to conquer and take back Imperial systems from foul xenos. Unfortunately, the Inquisitor, Glori Emagna - who introduced Abconcis to the Choral Engine in the first place - and a Grey Knights strike force led by Grand Master Drystann Cromm, warned him of Angron and the World Eaters, who arrived, smashed apart the defenses of Indomitus Fleet Quartus, landed on Malakbael, caused Khorne Daemons to be summoned - including eight Bloodthirsters - so that they could join the fun, smashed the Choral Engine, blew up the planet, and set off the Murder-curse that infected 80% of Indomitus Fleet Quartus and turned them into Khorne Berzerkers/Cultists, and caused the whole damned fleet to be declared Excommunicate Traitoris. Only the Grey Knights, Custodes and Sisters of Silence were immune to the murder-curse. Bloody hell. Oh, and Emagna got her head cut off by a Bloodthirster while Cromm was split in half by Angron.

Hey, what a way to introduce Angron getting a shiny new miniature alongside the likes of his brothers, Magnus and Mortarion, and also the first standalone World Eaters codex ever!

Vashtorr then attacked the Rock, seeking the Key Fragment - revealed to be the Tulchucha. The Dark Angels, unaware of Vashtorr's plan, had initially arrived in the Valvire system because they had heard rumors of the Fallen running around in Marwent's Reach. Already, Task Force XII of Fleet Primus was there, headed by Ultramarines Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius, and reinforced by Knights of House Raven because they heard that Chaos Knights of House Korvax - their corrupted brethren and probably holding a clue to the disappearance of Kolossi - were there. Unfortunately for the Dark Angels, a Balefleet under the command of Vashtorr warped in real close and began besieging the Rock. For a moment, Azrael - who only recently crossed the Rubicon because he wanted a shiny new miniature for himself like Calgar and the others, and thus not at 100% strength - lost to Vashtorr, and it appeared that the Arkifane would succeed in grabbing the Key fragment.

But Be'lakor being the asshole that he was, warped in - the so-called "Fallen" revealing themselves to be Disciples of Be'lakor - and royally screwed Vashtorr over. Partially because he didn't want his rival to become the fifth Chaos God, I guess. They teleported back to the surface of the Rock, fought some more, and then Be'lakor laughed and ran away when the Ultramarines and House Raven Knights from earlier showed up to reinforce the Dark Angels. They basically kicked Vashtorr's ass, and he was forced to retreat.

For some reason, Farsight was...there. With a fancy new Crisis suit because he's long due a shiny new, updated miniature. Yay. His Enclaves were under attack by Orks who were trying to outdakka the shooting specialists T'au, and he was about to win once and for all when a Chaos Balefleet warp into the system and messed up his plans, and realizing that the T'au couldn't defeat both enemies, he decided to lure them into...you guess it, Arthas Moloch. While the Alpha Legionnaires masquerading as Deathwatch snuck into Arthas Moloch and stole an ancient Dark Angels fighter jet from the days of the Horus Heresy, the Black Legion Daemon Prince leading the Balefleet chased down Farsight, along with the Orks who always wanted a good scrap. Farsight cunningly learned from his old colleague, Shadowsun, the art of Kauyon, and baited both foes into some ground on Arthas Moloch where he spilled their blood and unleashed Khorne Daemons and Bloodletters on them. While the Black Legion and Orks were embroiled in fighting the Bloodletters and other Khorne Daemons, Farsight and his T'au ran away.

The Orks weren't impressed, and the Warboss demanded that his Weirdboy get rid of the Daemons, which he complied by blowing up the structure that was powering the warp portal where the Bloodletters were coming from. That banished all the Khorne Daemons, and the Black Legion decided to cut their losses and leave, especially since the Daemon Prince dude heard that Vashtorr had his fragment. Suddenly finding themselves bereft of any opponents to krump, the Orks decided to beat it too.

Once both villains were gone, Farsight returned to Arthas Moloch and discovered that...yeah, it was coming back to life! Vegetation was regrowing, and the soil had become healthier. Apparently, with the warp structure destroyed by the Weirdboy, whatever daemonic energies that were fouling the place had dissipated, and the world was returning to normal and life finds a way.

The Dark Angels, edgy and furious after Vashtorr's invasion of the Rock, went to the Somnium Stars to take revenge on him. They knew this was a trap because all the prisoners they captured from Vashtorr's failed conquest of the Rock all said Somnium Stars at the same time when interrogated, but they still couldn't allow this slight to pass. The full might of the 1st Legion - the Dark Angels had gathered all of their successors together in a single colossal armada - had arrived, but what they found further enraged them.

A twisted parody of Caliban awaited them, renamed Wyrmwood. Apparently, Caliban was the Key because it was a leftover planet with technology from the Old Ones used to make the Webway or something, so Vashtorr was collecting pieces of Caliban - after it was blown up during the battle between Lion El'Jonson and Luther, the Dark Angels and the Fallen - to put it back together. While the Dark Angels descended upon Wyrmwood, they were ambushed by Abaddon's armada, led by the newly repaired Vengeful Spirit, and pretty much suffered a bunch of losses. Worse, when Azrael and friends arrived on Wyrmwood/Caliban, looking to beat up Vashtorr, they found Angron instead. So they ended up being the ones whose asses were kicked. Ouch.

Meanwhile, a new fleet showed up - and guess who, it's the Blood Angels and Dante with his shiny new miniature after crossing the Rubicon! Apparently, Dante and the Blood Angels had been tracking down Balefleets and boarding Arks of Omen, only to find them scoured of Traitors and some trees or vegetation growing in them. This led them to none other than the Lion, who had been gathering Loyal Fallen during the events of Mike Brooks's novel, The Lion: Son of the Forest, and redeeming them. No longer known as the Fallen, these redeemed Dark Angels are now the...Risen!

Cheesy, I know.

Anyway, Dante informed the Dark Angels fleet that Lion El'Jonson, their Primarch, was there with him, but he had deployed through means unknowable. The combined Dark Angels and Blood Angels fleets - the Angels of Death! - smashed apart Abaddon's reeling fleet, while Dante and his Sanguinary Guard, along with companies of Blood Angels landed in drop pods and aircraft, bolstering the beleaguered Dark Angels and routing the World Eaters and Dark Mechanicum dudes there.

Unfortunately, they still couldn't beat Angron. By now, Angron had massacred the Deathwing and half-killed Belial, he had kicked Azrael's ass, and now he was slaughtering the Sanguinary Guard while smacking poor Dante about. The poor Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus just can't catch a break. Before Angron could behead Dante, though, the Lion appeared and dueled him in an epic clash that had them rolling about and smashing their surroundings like a kaiju film. Also, to celebrate both the Lion and Angron having new models in 9th edition! The Risen also showed up and reinforced the Dark Angels, though Azrael seemed pretty pissed off.

Eventually, Lion El'Jonson defeated Angron, banishing him with the Emperor's Shield by smashing the edge into his face and pretty much cutting off his head. However, while they were busy, Vashtorr had teleported aboard the Rock to grab Tulchucha, who was more than willing to leave with him. With that, Vashtorr had all the major key fragments on hand to complete his Key, and Caliban/Wyrmwood was complete. Suddenly, it began...uh, shaking and emanating all sorts of weird empyric energies, and the Dark Angels and Blood Angels realized that they would be royally frakked if they remained on the planet when whatever Vashtorr was doing was completed.

So they beat it out of there, flying away on extraction craft and evacuating the planet. Even Lion, who joined his sons and retreated. Then Caliban/Wyrmwood vanished, and apparently, Vashtorr was using this ancient technology from the Old Ones to traverse the Webway or...something. I dunno. Abaddon, with his fleet ravaged from the combined might of the Dark Angels and Blood Angels, tactically withdrew, but he was laughing because Chaos won. However, he was less amused when he heard that Lion El'Jonson crashed the party, and he began to wonder if a newly returned Loyalist Primach was going to show up every time one of his plans were brought to fruition.

Meanwhile, in the epilogue, Lord Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz discovered that things had gone to feth, and that Abaddon and Vashtorr had succeeded, and so he utilized all Inquisitorial assets to...do something, I guess.

To Sum Narrative 9th Edition Up

Metallica is crippled.

Kolossi has been spirited away by Be'lakor, and House Raven lost their home world. The corrupted Knights on the now Daemon World have formed House Korvax, which House Raven swears to destroy.

The Overfiend of Octarius has been killed and devoured by the Swarmlord. Hive Fleet Leviathan has won the Octarius War, and the Orks fight amongst themselves to determine a new Overfiend.

Vigilus somehow continues to stand alone, the invasion of the Chaos Knight World Dharrovar failed, and Haarken Worldclaimer is leading a colossal armada through the Nachmund Gauntlet to invade Imperium Sanctus.

The Silent King is now in the Pariah Nexus with his giant war barque, and Roboute Guilliman is about to go meet him in battle.

Abaddon and Vashtorr have achieved their objectives with the Arks of Omen and Chaos won. Indomitus Fleet Quartus is gone, turned traitor mostly. Arthas Moloch is restored and Farsight will probably recolonize it for his Enclaves. Vashtorr has his Key, but at least the Imperium has a second Primarch back. Caliban has been put back together as Wyrmwood. Perhaps that will have an impact on the Dark Angels later?

What do you think will happen in 10th Edition? I know Hive Fleet Leviathan invading from Segmentum Pacificus will take a major spotlight, but I'm pretty sure they'll continue to devote dedicated narratives to these arcs as well.

Painted Adeptus Titanicus terrain

I finally did it. I finally painted my Adeptus Titanicus terrain! Now I can assemble an entire city for my Knights and Titans to fight in or hide inside! Woohoo!

I guess I should go rest now. I can't wait to see how it all plays out on Saturday. Hopefully, I get to play Adeptus Titanicus on Saturday! I'm looking forward to it!

I know they are badly painted, but I don't care. Better with those colors than plastic gray. Besides, I will just say the smears and smudges are battle damage, stuff and scars left by colossal exchanges between Titans and even Knights! Also, I stuck to red roofs for the buildings just like my first few pieces. Christmas theme, heh. But more practically, I used Contrast paints like Blood Angels red and Black Templars black since I spray painted them wraith bone or something. Anyway, I will set up a city on Saturday. Till then!

The Imperialis Militia is here!

Warhammer Community finally gives us the PDF for the Imperialis Militia! I am not Goonhammer, so I don't have the talent, skill or whatever it is that they have to allow them to churn out articles at light speed. So I apologize for the late article...not that anyone will be reading this anyway, so I guess it's fine. Anyway, let's not waste any time and get to it.

Allies Chart

Imperialis Militia basically counts as Imperial Army in the allies chart, so you can refer to that when taking allies (or taking Imperial Militia as allies). However, if you take Kinfolk Helots, Abhuman Muster or Ogryn Conscripts Provenances, then all Space Marine Legions and the Solar Auxilia don't trust (distrust?) you. For some reason, the Legio Custodes will only fight alongside all Militia armies if commanded by the Emperor.

Sub-types

The Militia sub-type means your dudes are likelier to get run off the board. In crunch, this means if you lose over half of your models in a Militia unit, they can't regroup and will keep falling back until they run off the table. Ouch. If they are falling back and get successfully charged by an enemy unit, they automatically die. No Leadership tests needed. Yup. And if you're not Monstrous or a Sentinel and you get charged while already locked in combat, you make a morale check and then fall back if you fail - and the enemy gets to make Sweeping Advances.

In other words, you're screwed if your dudes get charged or if your Militia squads lose more than half of their men. Tough luck, but I suppose this is what it means to be a mortal fighting in a war of demigods.

Militia vehicles are all Third Line, which means all Glancing Hits count as Penetrating Hits, but in return your tanks are a lot cheaper and your opponent never scores victory points for wrecking them. Even your Baneblades, so no need to worry about Price of Failure. Yeah, seriously.

Mechanized units are Sentinels. Basically Dreadnoughts without Fearless and protection from Instant Death.

Warlord Traits

There are 6 Warlord Traits for your Imperial Militia commander, which are as follows:

Ruthless Tyrant: Fear (1), and roll a D6 for friendly units in fear of your Warlord if they are falling back. D6 models die, and they don't Fall Back. Also gives you an extra reaction during the assault phase. Nice.

Beloved of the People: If your Warlord dies, your dudes get +1 to their WS and Strength and 4+ Feel No Pain until the end of your next turn, and you get an extra reaction during the assault phase. If he's still alive, then you get an extra reaction during the shooting phase instead.

Merchant Princeling: All of your Warlord's weapons are Master-crafted, and you choose a single squad (any Militia unit) to be his Lifeguards, which grants them Heavy, and re-roll all hit rolls of 1s during any phase or Reaction. Your Warlord is stuck with his Lifeguard (which is what you want anyway), and you get an additional reaction during the assault phase.

Marcher Lord: Your Warlord is now Battle-hardened (1), and if your entire army is Imperialis Militia (no allies unless you bring Imperialis Militia allies with different Provenances, maybe?), then they are all immune to Fear. Also, as long as your Warlord is alive, you automatically pass the first Pinning test in any game turn, and an additional reaction during the shooting phase.

Connoisseur of Alien Curios: Roll a D6 once per game turn. On a 1, your Warlord dies a horrible death (unless he passes his invulnerable save), on a 2-3, he smacks an enemy unit with D6+1 Strength 8 AP 4 hits with a volkite weapon, on a 4-5, he and the unit he's attached to get Rage (2) and Furious Charge (2) until the end of the turn, and on a 6, he gets Eternal Warrior, 4+ Feel No Pain, and if you are lucky enough to roll a 6 again, he gets +1 to his Strength and Toughness for the rest of the game, which stacks until he reaches a maximum cap of Strength and Toughness 6. Oh, and you get an extra reaction during the movement phase.

Robber Baron: The Warlord and his attached unit gets +1 Strength whenever they successfully charge for that turn, but can't Sweeping Advance. Instead, you roll a D6, and on a 4, 5 and 6, you get D3 victory points...assuming you somehow beat your opponent in combat and force them to Fall Back somehow. You also get an extra reaction during the movement phase.

Units

HQ

Imperialis Militia Force Commander

Obviously, I'm not going to detail every single piece of wargear or characteristics. Go download the PDF for that - I even gave you the link above! No, instead, I'll summarize the essential stuff.

The Force Commander is basically your compulsory HQ and Warlord (if Imperialis Militia is your primary detachment and not allies). He's what you need to take for the Provenances. And by golly, you have a ton of options for your Provenances. You can select two Provenances and it applies to all Militia units - and by Militia units, I mean infantry, cavalry or those with the Militia sub-type. Vehicles and Sentinels (Mechanized) don't get the Provenances, sadly. Unless specified, like Industrial Stronghold, which we'll get into later. So no Tanks and Sentinels with +1 Toughness or 6+ Feel No Pain. We have 16 Provenances to choose from and you can mix and match. So what are they?

Warrior Elite: Your Militia units get +1 Leadership, Levy Squads become support and Grenadiers lose support and can be taken as Compulsory Troops. Yay! Awesome! This is for those who are kitbashing Kasrkins for their Imperialis Militia army (or Arbites or Navy Breachers).

Legacy of the Great Crusade: All Grenadiers, Militia Command Cadres and Discipline Masters get +1 BS to a max of BS4, and your Force Commander has an Initiative of 5 now. Combine with Warrior Elite to get pseudo Militarum Tempestus armies or Stormtroopers.

Clanfolk Levy: Cavalry squads are now Compulsory Troops, and they get +1 to their Leadership. However, you can't choose Cavalry squads for non-Compulsory Troops (huh?). Instead, you get 4 extra Fast Attack slots but these 4 must all be Cavalry squads. No Line, though, so...yeah. Still pretty cool, though. Ever wanted horse-riding Knights or cyberpunk bikers for your Imperial Guard...ahem, Militia army? This is your chance!

Gene-crafted: Roll a D6 for each unit at the beginning of the game and they get a bunch of different effects. On a 1, they start the battle Pinned unless they are in Reserve, then they can pretend nothing happened. On a 2-5, your infantry and cavalry get one of the following for the rest of the game: Fleet (2), Move Through Cover or Night Vision. On a 6, you can choose from Relentless, Stubborn, Adamantium Will (6+), or you can have all three Fleet (2), Move Through Cover and Night Vision, and you get them for the rest of the game. Kind of...dicey, if you ask me.

Cyber-augmetics: Pseudo Skitarii! Not only are you now Sworn Brothers with the Mechanicum, your dudes now have 6+ Feel No Pain and Slow and Purposeful. Cannot be selected with Gene-crafted, though.

Survivors of the Dark Age: Grenadiers and Militia Command Cadres can take Rhinos, Termite Drills and Land Raider Proteus Carriers as Dedicated Transports, but they are Third-line and BS3. It's something, I guess? Considering that we don't actually have Dedicated Transports - not even the Aurox or the Chimera - in this book, so yeah. Oh, and your Reconnaissance squads can take jet packs and two pistols (las or auto) for 20 points per unit. This includes non-Independent Characters like Commissars, ahem, I mean Discipline Masters, Medics and others, who get them for free if they join the recon squad. Cool. They are called Voidjumpers. Elysian Drop Troops?

Alchem-jackers: Your dudes don't suffer penalties to Leadership during the assault phase, and if they fail morale, as long as more than half their squad survive, they become Pinned instead of Falling Back. They also get a Frenzon option where you can upgrade them to get Furious Charge (1) for 25 points per unit. Pretty much an army of...Bane. You know, from Batman. And those Salvar Chem Dogs lovers, here you go.

Armory of Old Night: Your dudes can swap their lasguns out for lasrifles for free (the same ones Solar Auxilia use, with blast chargers). Grenadiers and Command Cadres can also upgrade their lasguns to volkite chargers or assault needlers; pistols to volkite serpentas or needler pistols; sniper rifles to needle vulnus; and heavy stubbers to volkite culverins or needle cannons for 30 points per squad. Awesome! Our very own Veletaris option, but even the Solar Auxilia can't take volkite culverins! Your Force Commander can also upgrade his power weapon to paragon blade for another 10 points, and take an archaeotech pistol for 10 points.

Feral Warriors: Your dudes get +1 to their WS whenever they charge successsfully, but they must charge at least one enemy unit that's within 12" if there any nearby. Your dudes also get chainaxes for 2 points each, or if they already have a chainsword, they can swap it for a chainaxe for 1 point each. This are probably your Khorne guys and World Eaters' auxiliaries.

Kinfolk Helots: Squats in the Imperial Militia! They get +1 Toughness, but -1 Initiative and Movement. Characters all gain 6+ Battlesmith or 5+ if they are Independent Characters. Cannot be chosen with Ogryn Conscripts. Because, y'know, these are dwarves. And I don't think you want Toughness 6 Ogryns Troops, do you? On the bright side, Elites Ogryns still get Tougness 6. I think.

Abhuman Muster: Beastmen in space. They get +1 Strength but -1 BS, are Bulky 2, and Characters get Hammer of Wrath (1) while Independent Characters and Monsters (like Ogryns) get Hammer of Wrath (2) instead. Again, can't take Ogryn Conscripts because no Strength 6 Ogryns Troops, but your Elites Ogryns still get Strength 6 and Hammer of Wrath (2). Yay.

Debased Rabble: Traitors only, and your dudes get Crusader and Hatred (Everything). Must always charge an enemy unit if able, though, and you cannot take Grenadiers. Hah! Also cannot take Survivors of the Dark Age with this.

Tainted Flesh: Traitors only. Your dudes get Fear (1) and Furious Charge (1). Levy squads must be Compulsory Troops, and you cannot have more Infantry units except HQ than Levy squads in total. Then again, the only HQ you can take are Force Commander and Rogue Psyker, which don't count toward the infantry units limited by the number of Levy squads. Can't take Survivors of the Dark Age, Gene-crafted, Ogryn Conscripts or Alchem-jackers with this. For some reason, you can still take Cyber-augmentics with Tainted Flesh for...Dark Mechanicum armies, I guess?

Ogryn Conscripts: You can take Ogryns as Troops, and those selected as Compulsory Troops get Line too! Discipline Masters, Medicae and Force Commanders can now join Ogryn Brute squads even though the latter are Monstrous.

Industrial Stronghold: Armored companies! You can have two extra Heavy Support choices, but they must be Leman Russ tanks. Best of all, your tanks can now include up to 5 extra Leman Russ tanks for 120 points each, which you can then further swap out turret weapons with. This is important because you can only normally take one Leman Russ per unit without this Provenance, which sucks if you're a treadhead. They're Third-line, though. But spamming Leman Russ tanks is the way to go! Also, you can't take Industrial Stronghold with Unending Horde, Debased Rabble, Tainted Flesh or Ogryn Conscripts. But if you're taking hordes of infantry in an army meant to be spamming Leman Russ tanks, then you're doing it wrong.

Unending Horde: Basically all your infantry squads and levy squads respawn in Reserves whenever you roll a 4+ whenever they are completely destroyed. Support Characters stay dead, so no cheating with that slain Medicae, though. Oh, Grenadiers can only be taken as Elites, but you probably want to fill out your Troops choice with infantry squads and levy squads anyway. This is your ENDLESS HORDE!

Discipline Master Cadre

Your Commissar. Enough said. Cheap at 20 points, but he's...a Commissar.

Rogue Psyker

Traitor only, for obvious reasons. He has the Anathema psychic discipline, which means he can either summon Ruinstorm Daemons or shoot 12 Void Darts, though with his BS2, he'll probably miss most of the time. He can also shoot Lightning if you don't want to summon Ruinstorm Daemons for some reason.

Command Cadre

Your command squad with a Lieutenant. You start off with 5 guys, including the Lieutenant, and can take up to 20 dudes if you want, can take carapace armor to be pseudo storm troopers and can be a retinue for your Force Commander.

Troops

Infantry Squad

Your standard infantry squad. You start off with 20 guys, can take up to 3 squads of 20 in a single Troops slot, and swap your lasguns or autorifles with shotguns, pistols and close combat weapons, lascarbines or stubcarbines for points cost (the pistols and close combat weapons are free), they can all take krak grenades for 10 points, and 1 dude may take a special weapon. You know, the usual flamer, plasma gun, meltagun, sniper rifle/longlas, heavy stubber and grenade launcher. Oh...heavy stubber is new. No heavy weapons, though. They have Line, so you need them to score.

Levy Squad

Half the points cost of your standard infantry squad, but aside from the Sergeant, your 19 other dudes are only BS2. So Orks shooting. Your Conscripts, essentially. Yeah, Conscripts are back. You can take up to 50 guys per squad for 2 points per dude, you can swap their lasguns or autorifles for pistols and close combat weapons for free, give them frag grenades for 10 points, and take 3 squads per each Troops slot. That's potentially 150 dudes in a single Troops slot, my guys. Take note, these guys do not have Line, so they can't score. They can swamp an objective with bodies and deny opponents, though.

Oh, they are Expendable, though...which means the moment they fail their morale - and with Leadership 6, they will - they don't Fall Back. They just...die. Like, literally - the whole squad just goes poof. The bright side is that your opponent never scores any Victory Points for killing a Levy squad in this manner. You can mitigate this somewhat by attaching a Discipline Master to re-roll failed Morale checks while taking D3 AP- wounds.

Grenadier squad

Originally a support squad, which means you need Warrior Elite Provenance to make them Compulsory and non-support Troops, they are your stormtroopers, your elite soldiers. Only BS3, though, unless you took Legacy of the Great Crusade as well. More importantly, they have Line, so they are your only other Scoring units in the army, along with the standard infantry squad. You start with 10 guys in carapace armor (4+ save), and can take up to 20. They have similar options to the infantry squad in that they can swap their lasguns for shotguns, stubcarnines, lascarbines for free, but they can also take boltguns for 2 points per guy. They come stock with krak and frag grenades, so yay (well, they are Grenadiers, after all). Unlike the Infantry squad, though, you can swap 2 guys' weapons for 2 special weapons. Just like the modern 40K Cadians or Krieg guys, but the carapace armor means they are more akin to Kasrkins.

Fire Support Squad

Heavy weapon squads. Enough said.

Reconnaissance Squad

5 Scouts, going up to 10. Armed with shotguns that you can swap out for lascarbines or stubcarbines for 10 points, can Infiltrate and Scout and Move Through Cover. Can also give them all sniper rifles or longlas instead for 10 points per model, but that will make them super expensive, close to 175 points for 10 snipers and doubling their points cost for a minimum sized 5-men squad.

Elites

Medicae

Your medics that give the attached unit 6+ Feel No Pain.

Ogryn Brute Squad

What can I say? Your Ogryns. No power mauls or shock mauls, though, other than the Boss who gets a power weapon. So no Bullgryns. They can still take boarding shields and ripper guns, but their basic close combat weapons make them seem a little...lackluster in melee. Lots of attacks and high Strength and Toughness make up for it.

Field Gun Battery

This is an Elites choice, yes. It's also the new Field Ordnance Batteries you get from the Cadia Stands! box. Pretty much the same weapons mapped over to Horus Heresy 2.0 rules.

Fast Attack

Arvus Lighter

Uh...your little shuttle with front and side AV 11 and rear AV 10, and 2 Hull Points. Probably get shot down super quickly even if arriving from Deep Strike. Make sure your 12 guys riding inside bring their grav-chutes along.

Cargo-8 Hauler Squadron

Apparently, someone in the rules design team had the bright idea to sell the Necromunda stuff to Horus Heresy players. So this Ash Wastes truck is fairly cheap at 50 points, and you can have up to 3 of them per squadron to cart your infantry, levy and grenadier squads around. Any infantry unit, really. Yes, you heard that right. These trucks have a 22 transport capacity, so your infantry squads and levy squads can hop inside them with a Discipline Master and Medicae in tow. For your Grenadiers, you probably want to grab an Armored Container, which will reduce the Transport Capacity to 12, but increase its Side Armor to 12 and Rear Armor to 11. Front Armor is already 12, so no worries.

Cavalry Squad

5 Horsemen who can take Militia Lances. I say horsemen because most people will be using the Attilan Rough Riders for this, but bikers count - so you can use motorcycles and light vehicles to represent your Cavalry. I'm looking at you, Atalan Jackals. They can take carapace armor too, and one can take a special weapon as usual. The Militia Lances are Ungainly, meaning they can only be attacked with on the turn your bikers/horsemen successfully Charged, and no bonus additional attack for making the charge. They are also Brutal (2), but with only AP3 and WS3, don't charge them into a Contemptor Dreadnought expecting them to kill him. The melta lance, a special weapon, is One Use and only AP3. At least they have Sudden Strike (2), which means they hit on Initiative 5 on the charge unless they are Disordered.

Beastmasters

Um...this is a strange one. Basically 3 dudes get together to herd their pet War Beasts, which can either be a Mastiff (dog), Felidae (really big cat), Caiman (alligator), or a Raptor (I'm guessing a bird and not a dinosaur). Each has their own interesting set of rules, but...quite frankly, they don't seem very impressive in combat. No AP, nothing, so they'll get shredded by Space Marines in melee.

Sentinel Squadron

Sentinels. Doesn't seem to matter if they are Scout or Armored Sentinels...and you can't take plasma cannons, for some reason, but otherwise you have the usual wealth of options. No chainsaw too. The only new option is a multimelta, but why not just give us the damned plasma cannon? As the flavor text says, don't throw them at Space Marine Dreadnoughts or Mechanicum automata expecting them to win a fight. With only 3 wounds and no protection from Instant Death, despite their Toughness 6 and 3+ armor save, they aren't likely to survive in close combat...especially since they don't have Fearless. Funnily enough, they are more survivable against meltas and lascannons than vehicles are (and also their modern 40K counterparts). The most effective weapons against them are Instant Death ones. Brutal as well, though that will be...overkill.

Thunderbolt Fighter

Good old reliable Thunderbolt Fighter. Third-line means he's gonna crash after taking a couple of always Penetrating hits, but 120 points is a steal. Except that flyers are pretty bad in Horus Heresy 2.0 with the Interceptor Reaction, so...

Heavy Support

Rapier Battery

Rapiers with the usual flavor of heavy weapons. I don't think I need to elaborate.

Malcador Heavy Tank

The old, reliable Malcador Heavy Tank with AV 13 on the front and sides, and AV 12 in the rear, plus 5 Hull Points. Third-line makes him still relatively fragile, but Reinforced mitigates that somewhat. Comes with a choice of a battle cannon, vanquisher cannon or gravis lascannon, plus an array of heavy weapons. I assume this is the tank meant for any generic tank that you want to kitbash.

Leman Russ

Ah, the old workhorse of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Army. At 120 points, he's ridiculously cheap even with Third-line. Comes stock with the standard battle cannon, but you can swap it out for gravis lascannon, gravis autocannon, vanquisher cannon and co-axial autocannon (assuming this is a Forge World variant), a demolisher cannon, or an Executioner plasma cannon (yay!). No Eradicator nova cannon or Punisher gatling cannon, though...I suppose these variants haven't existed during the Horus Heresy. Glad we now have the plasma turret, though. The demolisher cannon and vanquisher cannon are one of your few sources of Brutal (the other surprisingly being your cavalry with milita lances and maybe an Ogryn boss with thunder hammer), though you need to pray for that Rending 6+ if you're throwing demolisher pie plates around. As usual, hull weapons range from lascannon to heavy bolter, heavy flamer and now a multi-laser. Plus the usual Solar Auxilia pintle mounted weapons.

HOWEVER, you can NO LONGER take sponsons. Yes, you read that right. Are sponsons not a thing in the Horus Heresy? What? Are you serious? You're joking, right? What happened to the sponsons for our Leman Russ tanks? Are we pretending they never existed?

Heavy Ordnance Battery

Your Earthshaker cannons with gunners or artillery crew. Again, Forge World models with fixed artillery emplacements. You can swap the earthshakers for Medusa mortars, which gives you Rending 6+. Whoopee. Oh, and you need to have at least 2 human gunners per each cannon or your artillery will only be shooting at BS1 and must re-roll the Hit rolls for Scatter dice. Also, if they are forced to Fall Back (because they lose half of their crew or lost combat), then the whole unit is immediately removed. Yikes.

Gorgon Heavy Transporter

A Super-heavy transport in the Heavy Support slot! Whoa! With a whooping Transport Capacity of 40, and front AV 15 and side AV 14, this thing ain't going anywhere unless someone shoots him in the rear. But even so, he's super-heavy with 8 Hull Points! The Third-line sucks, but just keep your front toward the enemy and you'll be fine. I hope. You can stock him with lots of heavy weapons - lascannons being the most expensive, but the Gorgon mortar batteries with their AP5 will only do good work against other Militia armies. Well, you're taking him for an awesome transport for 40 guys, not to shoot your opponent's army off the board.

Baneblade

This is the BANEBLADE!!

Enough said. Well, he's Third-line, but with front AV 14 and side AV 13 and rear AV 12, plus a whooping 9 Hull Points - and he's only 400 points, doesn't cost you Victory Points in the Price of Failure, I'd say he's totally worth it. Also...

...BANEBLADE!!

Anyway, that's all for the Imperialis Militia PDF. What will I do? That's a good question. Maybe I'll build an army of Grenadiers using Warrior Elite and equip them with volkite chargers and volkite culverins from the Armory of Old Night. Hopefully we get a Legacies PDF giving us Aurox and Carnodon tanks, but otherwise it just seems...a bit limiting. I'm not sure I want to cart my Draconian Grenadiers around in Cargo-8 Haulers. Anyway, we'll see. Till then!