Featuring the Knight Houses of Ryusei and their household militia, the Ryusei Katanas, and the Skitarii maniples, Cybernetica Cohorts and Titan Legions of the forge world, Draconis IV.
My blog is primarily my own personal fluff in the Warhammer 40,000 universe regarding the Draconis system such as the Knight House Yato in Ryusei, their Household Militia, the Draconian Defenders, and the Forge World of Draconis IV with its Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood, Cybernetica cohorts and Skitarii legions, and the Titan Legion, Legio Draconis, known as the Dark Dragons.
This had to come up when I went to bed yesterday...ugh. Well, anyway, we have rules for the new Bellatus Knight Destrier, as well as the Hastarii Skitarii.
We also have rules for Thalia Ghuld, who buffs Skitarii. So now, when you crush someone with Skitarii, you can tell them to "Get Ghuld."
The Hastarii Exterminators use Eradication Casters, which are more anti-infantry than anything. You get 2 shots each, and they're Anti-infantry 4+, plus if you choose to dissipate them, you double your range to 30". If your target is close enough, you can focus to get an extra AP -1.
The Hastarii Fusiliers, on the other hand, are anti-tank. Their neutron fusil is only 24" range, and they get one shot each, but at Strength 12 AP -3 and Damage D6+1, they'll wreck a tank. They come with a phosphor blaster mounted on their shoulder for anti-infantry, and surprisingly, you can't swap it for the shoulder-mounted arc blaster on the Exterminators. That...sucks. I would prefer to have them in a dedicated anti-tank role. Oh, well.
But I'm more interested in the new Knight Destrier! Obviously, given that I'm primarily an Imperial Knight player. I'll get one the moment he's released.
What's cool is that you have 4 different weapon options available, in any configuration (except doubling them). Want to go all-in on range? Sure! Take a Chastiser gatling cannon and a frag bombard. Need a dedicated close combat variant to keep up with your Knight Gallant? Then pair the thundershock spear with the Bellatus reaper chainsword. Want a more balanced version? Combine a single ranged weapon with either melee weapon.
There's no carapace weapon and you only get a single heavy stubber for the torso gun, but you do have ram jets, allowing you to add D3" to the Knight Destrier's already impressive 12" move, making them faster than even the Armigers. Whoa!
Oh, and if you shoot at an enemy unit within range of an objective marker, you get to Ignore Cover! Blow them apart with the frag bombard's grenades, which is basically a mini-rapid-fire battle cannon or mow them down with the consistent rate of fire from the Chastiser gatling cannon, which is essentially a shorter-ranged Avenger gatling cannon with less AP! And if you equip both thundershock spear and bellatus reaper chainsword? You can an extra 2 attacks for both! Though I think you can only choose to use one in the fight phase...either way, this rocks!
I'll try to magnetize my Knight. We'll see how it goes!
Sorry, I'm kind of dumb. And exhausted. They released a new Yarrick reveal CGI trailer on Monday and I forgot to cover the damned thing. Even though this is an Astra Militarum blog...well, to be fair, it's actually more of an Imperial Knight and Adeptus Mechanicus blog, but with my Ryuusei Katanas and Imperial Guard being my introduction to Warhammer 40,000 (I basically got into the hobby by reading Ciaphas Cain novels), I really should be on top of things.
Unfortunately, with the exception of today (Friday), I've been working until 8pm or later, and returning home after 9pm, so forgive me for being too exhausted to stay on top of news. Fortunately, thanks to that hard work, I was able to end work earlier than usual today, and now I'm no longer exhausted. So I can actually cover the rerelease of Yarrick animation in 4k. Warhammer 40,000 CGI films, now in 4K. Think about that...never mind. My puns suck.
Anyway, long story short, Yarrick is back! Lord Commissar Sebastian Yarrick, Hero of Hive Hades and savior of Armageddon, is back! He even comes with a new model, which I'll be getting for sure.
From the trusty Valrak, who insists that all rumors are lies until Games Workshop officially announce them (to be more accurate, Valrak got it from Boole), apparently Yarrick will be up against Wazdakka Gutsmek, who is leading his Kult of Speed against the forces of Armageddon. Yarrick was thought dead after...uh, an unfortunate encounter with Ghazghull or something, but the Space Wolves apparently yanked him out of his tank (The Fortress of Arrogance Baneblade, I assume?), brought him to Fenris, did some mumbo jumbo Rout magic think with their Rune Priests, and resurrected him. Now aided by bionics and an iron will, Yarrick returns to Armageddon to lead its Imperial defenders against Wazdakka's Waaagh! and vows to protect the world from the greenskins.
Krieg is cool.
That's one hell of a scene.
Hah! Not even the Orks can stand against the might of the Imperial Guard! First rank, fire! Second rank, fire!
More Krieg. Wait...what happened to the Armageddon Steel Legion?
Yeah, I mean these guys...what's with that weird skull on his mask?
...wait, what? You're kidding, right? You cannot be serious.
Yes, I am aware that the Death Korps of Krieg started life as an alternative paint scheme for the Armageddon Steel Legion. But they have evolved into their own kind of regiment, and the fatalistic Kriegers are very distinct from the mechanized regiment that the Steel Legion embodies.
I mean, I read about these guys in various codex and novels, especially Helsreach and Blood and Fire by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. They really grew on me. When you read about them in so many lore, novels and sources (codex, rulebooks, etc.), you get attached to them. You can't just kill them off or tell us to paint Krieg in Armageddon colors. I understand the practicality, but emotionally, humanly, no. It simply doesn't work like that.
I am aware that the logistics probably doesn't allow for an entirely new Imperial Guard range to be released, even as a Kill Team, but hopefully they'll consider it. Releasing all the different Guard regiments as Kill Teams would be awesome. Mordians. Armageddon Steel Legion. Valhallans. Vostroyans. Even Elysians. That would be awesome! Won't happen, but a man can dream. I'll say this, though...if they do ever release the Armageddon Steel Legion as a Kill Team, I'll buy at least a box to add them to my Guard army. They'll look cool and distinct alongside my Krieg, but that's the point - I like the diversity in my Guard army. It's boring seeing the same ranks of Kriegers, which is why I only have a single 20-men squad. But I like Krieg, which is why I add the Combat Engineers, Death Riders, Krieg Command squad and I plan to eventually add a heavy weapons team with the heavy flamer because it looks so distinct from the Cadians. It's fun to see the different regiments together.
It's not about the paint scheme. It's also the personality...the diversity. That's why we love the Guard.
Well, I've said all I can. We'll see what the future holds. After all, if I told you 5 years ago that there will be Krieg in plastic, nobody would have believed me. I didn't think we would ever get Kasrkin in plastic, and here we go...and I've a lot of Kasrkin, though half of them are kitbashed as Horus Heresy Grenadiers for my Imperial Army. It's the kitbashing and stuff, and having more regiments allow for more kitbashing. No, I don't want to kitbash with Genestealer Cultists, I would rather have Mordians and Cadians, or Vostroyans and Valhallans, or Krieg and Armageddon Steel Legion, to mix and match. That will be awesome.
Anyway, we'll see. Perhaps they'll announce a Guard Kill Team in Adepticon. We know for sure Solar Auxilia is getting more stuff...I predict we're getting super-heavy tanks for Solar Auxilia, so the Baneblade, Shadowsword and Stormblade in plastic, but a new Journal Tactica, The Solar Blades, Super-heavy tanks of the Solar Auxilia. Nah, that won't happen, but I can speculate, right?
Oh, the Legio Custodes Battle Group has been announced! They'll be up for preorder next Saturday.
I do want it, but I don't have the money, unfortunately. My hobby budget for the month has instead gone to...
Yep. If I have to choose between Custodes and a super-heavy tank, I'll choose the super-heavy tank. He's gonna be a good brother to my Stormblade, and I can play tank armies. Well, only my Solar Auxilia has an armored cohort, with my 4 Leman Russ tanks, a Valdor tank destroyer and 3 Dracosans carry Veletaris. Unsurprisingly, I have no Astartes tanks. I sold my Thousand Sons Predator Executioner tanks last year, but I have no regrets. Mostly because I already have Leman Russ Executioner tanks, and quite frankly, they look better than the Predator. However, I might, after getting a Leman Russ tank commander, buy a Sicaran Venator tank. Eventually.
But what am I going to do with so many tanks? Well...
Epic Leviathan Missions. Knights. Super-heavy tanks and armored warfare. Hell, yeah. I'm looking forward to this. As usual, after I get my hands on this book, I'll cover the lore and narrative inside. I might also write about the Leviathan missions if you're interested.
I've to say, though, inflation is terrible. When I preordered them from my friendly local gaming store, even after my membership discount, the combined prices of both the Glaive and Mailed Fist were almost SG$300 (about US$235). Considering they cost US$239, I'm only getting a $4 discount from my membership that's supposed to give me 20%? Did they charge Singapore extra tariffs on Warhammer 40,000 products or something? That's why I can only choose one or the other. I don't have the budget for both Legio Custodes and a Glaive. Ugh.
Anyway, I'll see you guys in a couple of weeks, either to talk about the Journal Tactica Mailed Fist or my assembled Glaive. Till then.
As Valrak said, this new Knight chassis is bigger than an Armiger but smaller than a Questoris. Apparently, he has two rocket booters strapped to the back to make him go faster, and large counterweights on his legs to keep his balance.
He can be equipped with either a thundershock spear or a Bellatus reaper chainsword. On the other hand, he can take a chastiser gatling cannon or a frag bombard. Cool! If you ask me, I'll just magnetize them because Ryuusei just builds different.
They'll be released alongside the new heavy Hastarii Skitarii. Yay! I'll be getting both! Once I assemble him, I'll put him beside the others! Also, this makes up for our lack of variety regarding War Dogs. Chaos has the War Dog options include the chaincannon and claw and havoc launcher and stuff, plus 5 different combinations, and we lack the same variety for a time. But now we have a new Imperial Knight chassis that's exclusive to us! Woohoo! Imperial Knights are awesome! YAY!
I wonder what's the lore behind them? I guess we'll find out! Maybe I should get the Eye of Terror book just to check out the new Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights lore and stuff! I can't wait!
Warhammer Community has announced a new Tech-priest Character and a new Skitarii unit - the Hastarii Heavy Skitarii! This is for the new Eye of Terror campaign book that features Iron Warriors as enemies.
Archmagos Terminus Thulia Ghuld is a veteran of the Ordo Reductor. This confirms that the Ordo Reductor still exists even in the 41st Millennium, yay! We need more Ordo Reductor lore and characters! Pretty cool. Her specialty is war, and she is revered by the Skitarii. And guess what? The Skitarii has a new unit! Woohoo! Introducing the Heavy Hastarii Infantry.
Seems like they come in squads of 5 and can be armed with either a short range eradication casters. These are the Hastarii Exterminators, and it's like the eradication beamer mounted on Onager Dunecrawlers. The other variant is the Hastarii Fusiliers, who carry neutron fusils, which are the neutron lasers. They can also mount a shoulder arc rifle or phosphor blaster. Cool!
The Facebook page has even more cool pictures of them! Wow, just look at them! Apparently, some people on Facebook comment that they look like the original Necron Immortals. Interesting.
However, there's more to come! According the Chapter Master Valrak, we'll also be seeing a release of a medium Knight, a chassis that's between the size of a Questoris and an Armiger. I wonder what that will be? I guess we'll find out next week!
I assembled my Vultarax Strato-automata! Now he takes to the skies alongside the flying-type Archmagos Rho Lert! Hah!
He's meant to be a scout and support unit for my Skitarii Conclave, Excipio-Rho-Omega. Arc blaster to haywire and stun vehicles (used to glance them to death). I used to have the resin version, but I enjoyed assembling the plastic version! He looks good beside my Skitarii. Sometimes I'll just field him in my Legio Cybernetica army, but that's mainly composed of ground automata like the Castellax, Domitar and Thanatar chassis. I'm replacing all the resin models I used to own with plastic, and I'm pleased.
Now the only one left is the Domitar battle-automata! I can't wait!
I assembled my corpus of Skitarii Battle Pilgryms and their Marshal. As I mentioned in my earlier post about Mechanicum Skitarii, the corpus is the equivalent of a squad if we're talking Imperial Army (or Imperial Guard), and I decided to make them a full corpus size of 16 because I would be wasting the 22 transport capacity of the Triaros otherwise. Yes, these guys will be getting a Triaros Armored Conveyor to themselves. I knew I bought one for a reason!
Though they look visually different from modern Skitarii because of their long prosthetic legs, you can see a few similiarities that will later make their way to 40K Skitarii, such as the helms. Yes, they're spiked for some reason (reminiscent of the MKIII power armor, or at least the updated version from 2024), but they resemble Vanguard helmets. Their voltlock arquebuses also bear some resemblance to the galvanic rifles that the Skitarii Rangers wield. Oh, and the robes, though this is more torn and tattered because they roam around Mars. The power sword is the same, and the back-mounted power plant is more roundish than the modern one (I think it's supposed to invoke the more rad-counter rad censer on the modern ones). I think. I'm not sure.
The Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal has a few options. I went with the Auctorit scepter and archeotech pistol, because they seem cooler to me. However, I also like the corposant stave and voltlock pistol (handgun?), so I kept them. I might use them for a kitbash of a second Skitarii Marshal!
This is how they compare against a Thallax. Thanks to the long prosthetic legs of the Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms, they are taller than the Thallax, but the Thallax is bulkier (they do have the Bulky 3 rule, after all) than the leaner and thinner Skitarii. The Thallax is also on a bigger base (32mm) as opposed to the 28.5mm base of the Skitarii. This makes sense. One is light infantry, the other is heavy infantry, designed to be shock troops for the Ordo Reductor. In contrast, Skitarii are fast moving skirmishers, capable of flanking maneuvers and pinpoint surgical strikes. Their longer legs allow them to run faster and cover more ground, though the Thallax has jump packs. The Thallax are also tougher, with Toughness 5, 3 wounds and 3+ armor save to the Skitarii's Toughness 4, 2 wounds and 4+ armor save, while both have a 6++ invulnerable save.
They tower over the modern Skitarii. Yes, I know I used Secutarii Hoplites as a comparison, but quite frankly, Secutarii also use the same Skitarii miniatures except with a few resin parts. Otherwise, they're identical in size, using the same 25mm base. You can see, unlike the huge Thallax, the Skitarii actually tower over the Secutarii (and by extension, modern Skitarii Rangers and Skitarii Vanguard). The Skitarii Battle Pilgrym Marshal is also much taller than the new Secutarii Axiarch that was released last year or so. Modern Skitarii and Secutarii Hoplites are around the same height as Guardsmen and Solar Auxilia (the new plastic models), so you can take your reference from there.
This is Skitarii Conclave Excipio-Rho-Omega, and they are primarily on Acquisition protocols. The aspect of technology they're focused on is plasma, so they comb the galaxy in search of ancient plasma archeotech that date back to the Dark Age of Technology. This puts their conclave in close proximity to both Ryza and Draconis IV, both Loyalist Forge Worlds that practically worship plasma. So when the Death of Innocence occurred, they decided that Kelbor-Hal forfeited his position as Fabricator General and declared for Zagreus Kane instead, a decision reinforced by both Ryza and Draconis IV remaining Loyalist. They are able to replenish their ranks and rebuld their Conclave thanks to the resources invested into them by Draconis IV, who also provide them the tanks and transports they need, including Triaros Armored Conveyors and Krios Venators. They even supply them with scouting Vultarax Strato-automata, so Excipio-Rho-Omega remain a well-stocked and well armed Conclave, especially when compared to other Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves. They are constantly on the hunt for plasma archeotech from the Dark Age of Technology, vowing that they will not allow such priceless relics fall into the hands of the Traitor Skitarii, the treacherous Kelbor-Hal and the insidious Dark Mechanicum.
The point of contact is...surprisingly, Archmagos Rho Lert, a renowned Magos Biologis residing in Draconis IV and known for his theses on the effects plasma has on botanic life. Oh, and on evolution. Using his contacts with Magi of the Autokrator who serve as his subordinates, he is able to supply the Loyalist Skitarii Conclave Exicpio-Rho-Omega and ally them to mutual goals. Securing plasma tech and protecting the Imperium from the Traitors!
