The Knight Atrapos is here!

 

Warhammer Community has just announce that the Knight Atrapos is here!

He looks awesome, doesn't he?

Nice. I can't wait to get a banner! I'll need to get these guys in addition to my banner of Knight Styrix! Perhaps I should build a Mechanicus Lance and an Imperial Knight Lance (or was it Loyalist Lance?)! That would be awesome! Right now I have 6 of the regular Questoris Knights (2 banners) and 6 Cerastus Knight Lancers (2 banners). I'll probably be able to field 2 Lances with these guys. Oh, and I also have 2 Acastus Knights Porphyrion, though they can't be part of any Lances now. Oh well. Anyway, we'll see!

Cerastus Knight-Atrapos!

 

The Cerastus Knight-Atrapos has been announced! Forge World is releasing them and their rules! I'm getting these guys in addition to my Knights Styrix (I need to order those guys soon). I have the 40K version from Forge World, so I want a mini-sized versions of them too so that I can accurately represent my Knight House even in Adeptus Titanicus. You can check the news out on Warhammer Community!

Anyway, what do these guys have? Of course...the graviton singularity cannon!

Uh, it's only Strength 6 and 1 shot, though, which is kind of...lackluster. Yeah, you can do Coordinated Strike at potentially Strength 10 but only one shot, but...I dunno about that. That's kind of disappointing, but then again, I guess blast 3" is cool (that means 2 hits if you don't roll a miss?).

Nice to see this rule come into play for Adeptus Titanicus too! Cool! This also combos with the Knight-Atrapos's melee attack, which is exactly what I'm going to field the Knights for. Get in close, smack them with the Atrapos lascutter! Best of all, it's Fusion too! Woohoo! 8 attacks at close range from a banner of 4 dudes, with Fusion, that's gonna tear a Warlord Titan apart, never mind Warhound! And with Macro-Extinction Protocols...yeah, this is gonna be good.

It has the same defensive buffs that the Knight Styrix has, so I'm really looking forward to fielding a small banner of these guys in my Knight Household Army! A Cerastus Knight Lance of Knight Atrapos and Knight Lancers, combined with a Questoris Knight Lance of Knights Errant, Knights Crusader and Knights Styrix! I dunno if we'll ever get Knights Preceptor, but at this point I'm so spoiled by all the Knight choices I don't really care. I wonder if we'll eventually get Armiger and Dominus class Knights? Oh, and don't forget, there's still the Acastus Knight Asterius that they have yet to release. Huh.

Well, we'll see! As for me, I can't wait to expand my Knight Household!

Defense of Metalica

 

Yup, Warzone Charadon is here. War comes to Metalica, and my Knights of House Yato shall rally to the defense of the venerable forge world. Typhus and his Death Guard company (1st company, right?) shall fall before the might of adamantium, steel and faith. The Imperial Knights of House Yato - and of Draconis III - shall prevail against the plague lords. We will destroy Nurgle's forces and ensure the sanctity of Metalica.

We will bring death to the Death Guard! And we shall drown the Dark Eldar/Drukhari in darkness!

I don't know what new rules we will get for the Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights (Death Guard and Drukhari also will get new rules), but as usual I'm more interested in the lore. I can't play anyway. It sucks, but with Covid-19 wrecking havoc in the States...yeah. Lockdown and quarantine it is. Damn Nurgle and his stupid plagues. Not fun when it happens in real life, eh? But I'm more interested in the lore, as usual, and I hope Battlefleet Draconis is enough to drive away Typhus's plague fleet and the Terminus Est. Not that we will show up in the lore, but hey, at least I'll have my Knights of House Yato appear somewhere in Metalica to fight off the Death Guard or something...don't worry, our faith in the Emperor will make us immune to whatever plagues Nurgle conjures!

Knight Styrix and Knight Magaera up for preorder!

 

The Forge World Knights are finally up for preorder! Yay! You can go to Forge World to preorder them now! Honestly, I'll just buy them next week because there aren't any bonuses to preordering. Hopefully they don't run out by then...

They come in banners of 2-4, so I'll get a full banner of 4. Oh, and they come with command terminals, so you don't have to worry about their rules. 2 of them cost US$50 (ugh, that's expensive). I'm still getting 4 of them, heh. I love Knights. Now all we have left is the Cerastus Knight Atrapos.

Crucible of Retribution

 

So I got my hands on Crucible of Retribution. I'm not sure what to say, but...well, there wasn't much. They did have some new awesome Titan Legions and Knight Houses in the book. I was particularly taken in by House Moritain, because they have such awesome lore. I mean, scholar-Knights! That's pretty much the same as my Thousand Sons! I also like their Seneschal Traits, which were pretty awesome even if they are a little suitational. No matter, I'll try them out here and there. My Imperial Knights are pretty much samurai Knights, heh, so we'll do the whole Zen and Bushido culture in Imperial Knights, and I think House Moritain's lore captures that perfectly too. Well, when I have the chance, I'll try them out. I'm still waiting for the Knight Styrix, so that I can add a banner of them to my Knight Lance. I haven't given up on playing a Knight Household Army, which I will support with a single Titan reinforcement.

The Legio Trait and Legio Specific Wargear of Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps) appeal to me too. I'm considering using those instead of making my own Titan Legion Traits from Defense of Ryza, but we'll see. Legio Draconis (Dark Dragons) might be better off having their own individuality, but I can't really think of any of the Legio Traits in Defense of Ryza that appeals to me, other than Elite Magos. We'll see, I guess. I also like Legio Damicium, their Legio Trait and refusal to bow against all odds are awesome. Also helps that they are from Urdesh. I know Urdesh was reconquered by the Imperium and is now a Loyalist world, but did they ever rebuild Legio Damicium? It'll be sad if the Unbroken Lords remain forever broken. Legio Tempestus (Storm Lords) was rebuilt and is now a Loyalist Titan Legion (see Dan Abnett's Titanicus for more details - they relocated to Orestes after the Horus Heresy and took part in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade). But...man, I didn't think Urdesh fell to Chaos during the Heresy.

Speaking of which, the story of Crucible of Retribution chronicles the war in the Belt of Iron. So on one side, you have the Loyalist Forge World: Atar-Median - the homeworld of Legio Atarus (Firebrands), Graia - the homeworld of Legio Astraman (Morning Stars) and Arachnus - the homeworld of Legio Venator (Iron Spiders). Well...Arachnus fell to anarchy and broke away as a Blackshield after a calamitous civil war, but we'll get into that later. Reinforcing them is Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps), one of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus of Mars. Standing against them are the three Traitor Forge Worlds: Valia-Maximal - the homeworld of Legio Laniaskara (Impalers), Kalibrax - the homeworld of Legio Kulisaetai (Gatekeepers), and Urdesh - the homeworld of Legio Damicium (Unbroken Lords). Eventually, Arachnus will betray the Imperium and become a Blackshield world, and the traitor elements of Legio Venator rename themselves to Legio Tritonis (Dark Tide). There is also the Protectorate of Unsubdued Steel, a Blackshield faction, though I have no idea what happened to them eventually.

When the Horus Heresy struck, there was a Cold War of sorts, only for it to erupt into open war when a fleet of Iron Warriors warped in to help Legio Kulisaetai and the Mechanicum Taghmata forces of Kalibrax to conquer Atar-Median. Obviously they weren't going to take that lying down, so they launched a preemptive strike before Kalibrax and their Iron Warrior allies could finish their preparations, securing a swift victory.

Unfortunately, the three traitor Forge Worlds wouldn't just sit back and watch. They launched an invasion and basically conquered five out of seven systems in the Belt of Iron, thus triggering the Cataclysm of Iron. Needless to say, Atar-Median and Graia, along with the Loyalist elements of Legio Venator, fought back and reconquered the systems, driving the Traitors out. The Traitors refused to go down without a fight and resorted to scorched earth tactics, often nuking or virus-bombing the holdings they were driven out of, turning entire planets into radioactive or toxic wastelands. Ugh. That sucks.

In any event, Valia-Maximal, bearing a grudge against Graia, sought to conquer Graia and its empire. Meanwhile, the remnants of Legio Venator, assisted by Legio Atarus and the forces of Atar-Median returned to take back Arachnus and its moons from the Blackshield traitors who prematurely declared their independence. Before that, they joined up with Legio Ignatum to bring Urdesh to heel and ended up annihilating Legio Damicium, breaking the Unbroken Lords. While recapturing Arachnus and subjugating Urdesh, Graia was somewhat forced to fend for itself, but they managed to fight back and attempted to conquer a line of bastion planets standing between them and Valia-Maximal. They failed most of their attempts, only succeeding once. As for Kalibrax, the oppressed had enough, and insurgents revolted, throwing a massive fleet that overwhelmed their orbital defenses and even allowed them to capture the orbital defence platforms. Without Titan Legions to support them, they contented themselves with blockading Kalibrax and awaiting reinforcemens, which would eventually come during the Great Scouring. As for Graia, they suddenly found their route of conquest opened up when the Traitor forces mysteriously disappeared. Invading the line of planets all the way until Valia-Maximal, they found that the Traitors were all...gone. Weird. No one knows what happened to them.

Oh, and there's Jerulas Station, which nobody knows what happened to it either. It got invaded by either a Blackshield force or xenos, for when Urdesh sent a research team down to investigate, two-thirds of their fleet got blown up. Ouch.

So it ends in an Imperium victory, but as always, it's a pyrrhic one. Because grimdark. At this point, it's hard to take the whole grimdark, pyrrhic victories seriously because that's all that happens. It's becoming pretty predictable and grinding at this rate. But okay. Still several mysteries and loose ends that never got tied up, like what happened to Valia-Maximal? Where did they all disappear to? What about the Protectorate of Unsubdued Steel? Did they get reconquered by the Imperium? And who's ruling over Jerulas Station right now? Lots of questions, no answers. Oh, well. I guess we'll find out in the 41st Millennium.

For now, I'll just await my banner of Knight Stryrix...and eventually Knight Atrapos. Speaking of which, House Col'Khak is pretty cool too, being founded on Atar-Planitia, sort of a sister world to Atar-Median. So they are subordinated to Legio Atarus and the Forge World of Atar-Median (seconded to the Mechanicum Taghmata forces there). Cool!

Speaking of which, is there really a difference between Skitarii and the Taghmata Omnissiah? I'm starting to think Taghmata is an umbrella term that basically emcompasses the Skitarii as well...like, why on Holy Terra/Mars would they separate the Skitarii from the Taghmata? That makes no sense. Even the Legio Cybernetica is part of the Taghmata. Do we still use Taghmata for the 41st Millennium, or do we just call them Adeptus Mechanicus Battle Congregations and Maniples? Ugh. As much as I love the rich lore of both the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 proper (as in properly in the 41st Millennium), sometimes they make things overly complicated.

...anyway, I'll go play with my Knights now. I think.

Knights Magaera and Styrix for Adeptus Titanicus

 Sorry for not posting for so long. It's unfortunate, but I got caught by university stuff and writing obligations. Had to redo my proposal a few times, spend a few weeks (or months) reading, as well as trying to write a new story from scratch. Before you ask, it's a trashy story not worth reading and nobody is interested in it (at least nobody in Warhammer 40,000, anyway, it's meant to be Japanese light novel styled, so basically...yeah, just call me an edgy weeb). Also, suffered from some depression, especially because some readers on the writing website I post on gave me lots of grief for my writing. I know I suck at writing, but damn, those guys really should lay off on the insults. If you hate my stories, then don't read them. Is there a need to leave nasty comments? I'm human too, you know.

Sorry for rambling. Don't mind me. But thanks to me being so busy, I couldn't even get excited about the latest Crucible of Retribution book in Adeptus Titanicus. The story didn't even appeal to me. I probably was looking forward to Schism of Mars, and when I learned that there was nothing new in there - no new Titans, no new Knights, I was disappointed. Where were the Knights Magaera and Styrix, where were the Knights Atrapos that we saw in Defense of Ryza? The story was about a bunch of forge worlds I had never heard before (with the exception of Graia and Urdesh - which was cool, especially since I am a fan of Dan Abenett's Gaunt's Ghosts series). But I really couldn't get excited about it because there were no major stakes, not like those that got referenced in the Horus Heresy novels such as Titandeath and Doom of Molech. Hell, even Ryza was cool because of all the plasma technology and how famous of a forge world it was. But the Crucible of Retribution felt flat somehow. That was why I ended up not posting about it, because it just didn't get me enthusiastic. Couple that with depression...and you know how it goes. I did preorder it on Saturday, though, and I'll go through the story and write about it if I feel motivated enough. Sigh.

I was also supposed to post about the Imperial Armor Compendium yesterday, but I got a little depressed when I saw that Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers were removed, along with the Leman Russ Annihilator and Leman Russ Conqueror. Well, seems like those are being moved to Legends, and the Grenadiers will most likely be folded into Militarum Tempestus Scions (same treatment as Kasrkins, I suppose). I was a bit cheered up when I saw the Stormblade, Carnodon, Vendetta and Secutarii Hoplites, which are a major part of my army, but ultimately I didn't really have the motivation to post, especially since I had to deal with a pretty condescending reader yesterday - a bugger who even falsely accused me of deleting one of his comments (why would I do that but not delete his other 30 comments?) and slandered me right in the front page of my story. My apologies. Sigh. It has really been a depressing couple of months.

But this news on Warhammer Community really cheered me up. We are getting Knights Magara and Styrix for Adeptus Titanicus! WOOHOO!

They look really awesome! I'll definitely be getting them for my Knight Household Army, which also represents my Knight House in the far future of the 41st Millennium. I don't have space or money to buy the actual Knights from Forge World, so I'll content myself with these little guys for Adeptus Titancus! YES!

Now, let's have a look at their rules.

My favorite volkite weapons! Yay! Hmm, interestingly enough, it has pretty low Strength, with a value of 4. Decent number of shots, 3, which means up to 12 in a banner of 4 Knights Stryrix (which I'll definitely get). Not only that, they have Voidbreaker, which means Titans must roll an extra dice whenever they take shield saves. Hah! That will make for effective shield-stripping! Not bad!

Seems like the their graviton guns have the concussive trait, and both Knights have Hekaton siege claws that are Strength 6 and have Rending, with 2 attacks each. Hmm, not bad. I can't wait to field them!

They also have ionic flare shields that reduce the Strength of incoming attacks, and Blessed Autosimulacra that allows wounded Knights to recover a lost Structure Point on a 6+. Sweet!

Interestingly enough, Knights Magaera have the Lightning cannon, which is Blast 3", Strength 5 and has Rending. Cool.

I'm sticking to my Knights Styrix, though. Because I love volkite weaponry. Still, it's interesting to see what the Knights Magaera have to offer (and I might just magnetize them). Their plasma fusils are Strength 4 at 2 attacks each, which is cool.

I have been looking forward so much to these Knights that I am momentarily able to snap out of my depression and post about them! I'll be eagerly awaiting their release and buy them once they are out. YAY! Knights of House Yato, we march!

Oh, as an aside, even during the midst of Corvid19, perhaps I might be able to join an Adeptus Titanicus campaign soon...

Black Templars and Imperial Guard

I finally finished painting my Black Templars and several of my Imperial Guard. I had a bunch of new Sentinels, so I painted two of them. While painting the Armored Setinels, I also decided to add a new paint scheme to my Leman Russ Executioner tanks. It ain't Imperial Guard without Castellan Green, after all, and the black paint scheme was a bit too plain, so I decided to add a bit of green to color things up.

As for the Black Templars, I was experimenting with the new Contrast paints. Needless to say...I screwed up. I have no idea how to use Contrast paints - they are so watery. They look a bit drab and diluted, despite my best efforts to coat layer upon layers. Oh, well. So much for using Black Templar Black for Black Templars. In any event, I did my best. I couldn't even paint the Templar Crosses properly, ugh. I have no idea how they do it.

In any event, I now have a small Black Templars force to go along with my Imperial Guard Crusade (or Imperial Knights, depending). The only thing I have left is the infantry squad for my Imperial Guard. Not only that, I'll probably grab myself a Gladiator Lancer tank for my Black Templars (because I love tanks). We'll see. I don't know if I'll add Relic Terminators or make this an all Primaris force, but as October draws closer, I'll take my time to decide.

Black Templars! CHARGE! Why Black Templars? Well...because I've recently been reading the Beast Arises series, along with Black Legion, and Sigismund's stories from the Horus Heresy. So I kind of decided to go with them because I like their Knight scheme and the way they just charge into combat. Heh.

Gundam

 So I managed to obtain a Strike Noir Gundam, along with a Blaze Zaku Phantom. I originally intended to get the Blaze Zaku Phantom so that I could do the whole Cerberus Zaku Phantom, but the silhouette wizard packs don't fit. The joints at the back do not match. What a disappointment. I don't know what to say.

On the other hand, the Strike Noir is a gorgeous model. Love the Strike Noir Gundam. He looks so cool! Best of all, he's black, so he also matches my black Cerberus Bucue Hound. These are my two favorite Gundams! Well, I dunno if the Cereberus Bucue Hound counts as a Gundam, but whatever. They look cool and that's all that matters!

Tomorrow I will return to Warhammer 40,000. I was getting Gundam models because I wanted to use them as reference for my mecha story, but my mecha story has fizzled out and was cancelled because it had no "commercial value." So I was advised to give up on it. I didn't really like it, though. I'll return to it another time and start it from scratch rather than try to rewrite an existing draft.

But yeah, the Cerberus Bucue Hound will be my inspiration for one of my mechas. One day I'll write it. One day. But I won't hold my breath. Oh well.

Some progress on building and painting

 After I finally passed my preliminary examination earlier this week (I barely scraped through, thank the Emperor), I finally could take a breather and do some Warhammer 40,000 hobby stuff. Phew. So I built an Armored Sentinel so that I can get ready for an Astra Militarum Crusade force (I'm building a Patrol Detachment and supporting my Leman Russ tanks with a single squadron of three Armored Sentinels), and even got a Platoon Commander. Okay, he's supposed to be a Company Commander, but my HQ slots are all filled up with Tank Commanders, and I plan to have only a single Infantry Squad (because I only want tanks). They will load up in my Vendetta gunshop if I ever have enough points for the damned thing. In any event, he's going to lead my Infantry Squad in capturing objectives or something.

Here's a closeup of Colonel Duke. He's a Catachan, but he got saved by my Draconians after he single-handedly took out a...uh, Dark Eldar Archon who hunted his entire squad down and skinned them alive in a death world. Okay, I know I'm ripping off Predator, but I couldn't help it.

I also did the Martian Iron Earth for the bases of my Adeptus Mechanicus guys, so my Serberys Sulfurhounds, Kastelan Robots and Thanatar siege-automata all have Martian Iron Earth bases now. Yay. I don't know if we will ever get rules for the Mechanicum automata in 40K, but I will keep praying to the Omnissiah for Forge World (okay, seems like it's the people at the main Games Workshop office who are working on the rules now) to release the rules for them someday. Someday...

I also painted a single Traitor Guardsmen (the rest all came painted, so I only needed to paint one), an Exalted Sorcerer on disc and a Heldrake. The Heldrake was such a pain to paint. Ugh. Fortunately, I'm done since I only need two and I already painted the first one long ago. Was it last month? Wow, time really flies, eh?

The Daimyos of House Yato

Daimyos...what on Holy Terra?! Somebody at Games Workshop or Forge World has been reading my blog! HA HA HA HA! I don't freaking believe it! I'm dying from laughter!

For context, if you're following my blog, then you already know that the nobles who pilot the Knight suits of House Yato are usually led by Daimyos, the equivalent of Barons of other Knight Houses. Our High King is the Shogun. And now this blurb in Defense of Ryza has officially confirmed that the use of the title Daimyo for Knight Houses is CANON!

Thank you very much, Games Workshop and Forge World!

The Knights of House Yato shall fight for Ryza!!!!