Thousand Sons

Oh, hey! We finally get Thousand Sons stuff!

This means we can field an entire army of psykers! WOOHOO!

I am so looking forward to this. I don't know if Dreadnoughts can get the psychic keyword, but I suspect the normal ones can't, and only the Osiron Dreadnought can, so yeah. Interesting. In any event, I'll look forward to seeing what I can do with my Thousand Sons! I probably will not be building too big an army, mostly because I plan to ally them with Knights, but even so, I can't wait!

Definitely turning the bulk of the new Horus Heresy box into Thousand Sons! I just need the parts and stuff, I think.

Training Turned Real

"Oh, good thing we trained for this just yesterday!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ogami snarled, tilting his head to glare at Tanaka through his holo-screen in his Throne Mechanicum. The latter sighed heavily.

"Remember yesterday's training exercise against the Encarmine Angels? We were simulating the mission, Icons of Domination. Looks like we'll be conducting it again in reality...against the Tyranids."

"They're coming!" Suzuki warned, piloting Hebi forward. Ahead, they could see the endless hordes of claws and chitin swarming forward. The Harpy screeched as it zoomed forward. Recalling the havoc it wreaked among the Knights of House Yato during their previous encounter, Tanaka took aim and fired his volcano lance. The Harpy disintegrated in midflight and crashed, its blackened carcass falling just meters away from Kanda's Knight Moirax. His plasma decimator, combined with Sendo's lightning locks, took out an entire horde of Gargoyles, the plasma and electric arcs annihilating them into cinders.

"Good shot!" Sendo cheered.

Unfortunately, Chiba's Knight Moirax rocked when the Exocrine fired, its bioplasma detonating against his ion shields. The integrity of his armor held, but just barely.

"I'm in trouble here!" Sato shouted, his Kaen clawed apart by Genestealers. "Where the hell did these come from?!"

"They, uh, infiltrated," Tanaka suggested.

"Not funny! Someone help me! Holy Throne! Is that a Brood Lord? Ugh!?"

"I'm coming!" Suzuki yelled, pushing Hebi forward in a loping stride. He was too late, for Sato's Kaen blew apart in a colossal conflagration that dealt mortal wounds to both the Genestealers and the Broodlord. Suzuki swore colorfully and vowed vengeance. He crashed against the Broodlord in a counteroffensive, scything it down with his reaper chain-cleaver.

"Good job, Sir Suzuki!" Ogami praised him, his Okami following Hebi's lead and heroically intervening to cleave the swarming Genestealers with his Reaper chainsword. Three more went down, unable to do anything. With only four left, the Genestealers were unable to maintain coherency and they were off the objective. That allowed Watanabe to deftly maneuver Tsurugi into the objective and raise a totem.

The Gargoyles and a small unit of Termagaunts had already raised their blasphemous totems on the other side of the battlefield, some weird bio-organic thing that resembled the effigies of the star gods that Genestealer Cultists worshipped. Tanaka had no idea what they were supposed to be, but he had no intention of finding out.

Kanda managed to reach the center objective and construct a totem to the Cult Mechanicus there, while Chiba mirroed his movements and did the same. The Imperial Forces now had three totems to the Tyranids' two, but the issue was surviving until then. Despite Ogami firing his las-impulsor and other weapons, he was barely able to wound any of the Tyranid Warriors.

Then the Tyranids hit the Knights of House Yato like a brick.

Watanabe cried as his Tsurugi was cleaved apart by the Tyranid Warriors and Tyranid Prime. Ogami rotated his ion shields to deflect the ferocious barrage of bioplasma from the inexocrably advancing Tyrannofex, and he charged the Tyranid Warriors to avenge his fallen retainer. Meanwhile, Kanda's Knight Moirax was blown apart by psychic powers from the Neurotrope and Zoanthropes. Chiba, on the other hand, was cut down by the winged Hive Tyrant, who cleverly flew away after it claimed its victim.

The Knights of House Yato were losing way too many of their warriors.

"Those Zoanthropes are a huge threat," Tanaka murmured, redirecting his fire upon them and killing several. His volcano lance erupted with incadescent fury and vaporized the Exorcine on the far side of the ruins, raising a ragged cheer from Sendo, who proceeded to murder a few more Zoanthropes, leaving all but one. Following Suzuki, he charged into the remaining Zoanthrope and stomped it to death. Meanwhile, Ogami continued to cut down the Tyranid Warriors with a combination of las and Reaper chainsword.

The Neurothrope and Termagaunts fell back, intimidated by the dominating Dominus Knight Castellan. Kazan tried to pursue them, but he had to stand his ground to weather a barrage from a flanking squad of Termagaunts. On the other side, the winged Hive Tyrant swooped down on poor Ogami, clawing Okami and smiting the Knight with a few shots. The Tyrannofex also bombarded Okami, but Ogami skillfully wielded his ion shields to protect all but the worst shots. Unfortunately, Suzuki was not as lucky, and Hebi was brought down by the Tyrannofex's rupture cannon after the Neurothrope wisely retreated.

Fortunately, Ogami was able to withstand their blows, and he hacked down another two Tyranid Warriors, leaving just one, along with the Tyranid Prime. He finished the last Tyranid Warrior off with his las-impulsor, wounded the winged Hive Tyrant with a volley of Stormspear missiles, and then cut the Tyranid Prime apart with his Reaper chainsword. Tanaka followed his example, charging into the Termagaunts and stomping four of them to death. His meltaguns and volcano lance blasted into the Tyranofex, but he failed to kill it, the creature being incredibly tenacious. At least he managed to reduce the numbers of the Termagaunts in the big squad further.

The Tyranids would not be denied, however, and the Termagaunts surged toward the objective where Sendo had placed his totem. The Tervigon knocked his Knight Moirax over, trampling on him and scything the poor armored suit apart. The flanking squad of Termagaunts ran off to the side, knowing that they stood no chance against Kazan, and they hoped to tear down Watanabe's totem and replace it with their own unholy one.

Tanaka could not afford to let them do that. Unfortunately, he was just one guy. Two, if he included the reckless Ogami.

"Sir Ogami," he began, only to watch Okami buckle under the weight of psychic attacks, the winged Hive Tyrant pounding the venerable Knight with destructive empyrean energies. The final straw came when the Tyrannofex blasted Okami apart with its rupture cannon.

"For the Emperor!" Ogami yelled defiantly before he began his noble sacrifice. The plasma reactor blew, turning into a colossal mushroom cloud that incinerated the squad of Termagaunts, completely wiping them out. The winged Hive Tyrant was a lot more fortunate, only being singed by the detonation. It bellowed furiously as it flapped its wings, withdrawing to a safe distance.

Not safe enough.

The siegebreaker cannons boomed and the volcano lance barked. The winged Hive Tyrant was ripped apart by esoteric energies, its corpse sliding down next to the slain Okami. With the biggest threat currently eliminated, he then turned the rest of his attention toward the surviving Termagaunts. Whatever survived the twin meltaguns and plasma decimator, he stomped to death with Kazan's titanic feet.

The Tervigon, enraged at the massacre of her vile spawn, threw herself at Kazan and clawed its adamantium armor. Fortunately, Tanaka was able to evade several of her attacks, the redoubtable Knight Castellan withstanding the scything talons.

Realizing that their brood had suffered too many losses, the Tervigon retreated, along with the Tyrannofex and Neurothrope. Tanaka wanted to pursue them, but he didn't. Like the Tyranids, the Knights of House Yato had sustained too many casualties. He was the sole survivor, Kazan being the only Knight still standing after the vicious battle.

"Phew..."

Leaning back in his Throne Mechanicum, Tanaka exhaled in relief. He scanned the area with Kazan's installed auspexes, relieved that the big bugs were gone. For now.

"Good thing we had that training exercise yesterday," he muttered darkly. "Otherwise we would have been screwed. Thank You, God-Emperor..."

...best of all, this was before House Yato was using the new codex rules too. And they were up against the Tyranids' shiny new codex and meta-winning abilities like Synpase Imperative, insane psychic powers, huge numbers of mortal wounds that made the Thousand Sons jealous, and crazy Stratagems. And they somehow prevailed - though just barely. With no Oaths, no Bondsmen Abilities, no Exalted Court, no new shiny Stratagems.

"Awesome!" Tanaka grinned. "If we're already managing somehow, I wonder just how good we would be if we finally upgrade our codex to the new one..."

Another Training Exercise with the Encarmine Angels

"Time for another training exercise!"

Nosferato led a bigger army of his Encarmine Angels to challenge the Knights of House Yato, primarily because he wanted to avenge their last defeat. However, he also had another motive.

"We're training to fight against Aku's Thousand Sons thrallband! We got crushed by them a couple of times before, so now we're determined to beat them!"

"Um...aren't we the worst practice partners then?" Tanaka asked. Ensconced within his Throne Mechanicum of the venerable Knight Castellan, Kazan, he wasn't worried about facing the Encarmine Angels once more. The Thousand Sons thrallband, on the other hand... "We're not warp magick wielding sorcerers. We are dudes in Knight armor suits."

"That's fine. I've called in a few more Terminators, a host of Sanguinary Guard and a Leviathan Dreadnought. I'm sure we'll do better this time!"

Tanaka noticed that the Stormraven was missing. I guess Sir Nosfetaru is trying a new strategy this time.

"By the way," Suzuki said. "I think Aku and his thrallband ran off somewhere. Apparently, they were recalled to the Planet of the Sorcerers by the daemon primarch, Magnus, so we won't see them again."

"That sucks," Ogami complained. He turned his Knight Preceptor, Okami, toward the Encarmine Angels. "Well, we'll just practice, in case a Tyranid horde or another Thousand Sons thrallband attacks tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me. You guys can go first."

Tanaka was feeling generous, so he had everyone sit back while the Encarmine Angels played out their opening moves. According to Nosferato's instructions, the Encarmine Angels advanced, while the Devastator squad hung behind to search for Archeotech. The rest ran forward.

"Seriously?"

Tanaka opened fire with his volcano lance and obliterated the poor Leviathan Dreadnought from existence. Meanwhile, the three Armiger Warglaives rushed forward, with Suzuki and Sato attacking. A tactical squad fell, reduced heavily by the melta shots. Ogami also pressed forward, firing into the Assault Intercessor squad and cutting one of them down. Meanwhile, Kanda and Chiba took out a tactical squad with their grav pulsars and Sendo simultaneously performed an action to raise an idol on an objective marker. Watanabe followed his example, Tsurugi guarding a second objective marker while constructing an idol.

In contrast, only a single Encarmine Angels squad had managed to successfully raised an idol.

"We'll demonstrate our superiority in combat!" Ogami vowed as he charged into the surviving Assault Intercessors with Okami. Swinging his chainsword, he scythed them down. Not a single one survived.

Unfortunately, the Encarmine Angels turned the tables on the Knights of House Yato. Pummeling Okami with a combination of melta shots, grav pulses from grav cannons, and boltguns, they blasted past his ion shield and sent him staggering. The Librarian, enhanced by Quickening, rushed in and destroyed Okami with his force weapon.

"For our honored gene-father, Sanguinius!" He yelled, raising his force sword in triumph.

"UGH!" Ogami howled. "I died again! Why am I always the first to die?!"

"Hey, you were the only one who survived against the Tyranids the last time," Suzuki pointed out, rotating his ion shields to keep out the Terminators' storm bolter onslaught. "I guess we're returning to normal now."

Terminators appeared everywhere, showing up in the Knights' backline as well as in the front. The Sanguinary Guard also descended right behind Kazan and fired a mixture of plasma and Angelus boltguns. Fortunately, they didn't do too much damage. The Captain and Sanguinary Ancient then charged in and did some damage to Kazan, causing the Knight Castellan to reel. The Contemptor Dreadnought also fired and did some damange to Kanda's Knight Moirax.

"Yikes!"

Kanda and Chiba spun about to fire at the Terminators with storm shields, but only 3 of them were crushed by the gravitic weapons, their storm shields holding strong.

Falling back from the two angry Marines, Tanaka annihilated the Sanguinary Captain with meltaguns, as well as took out the surviving Terminators and Contemptor Dreadnought with a bunch of his weapons. On the other side, Suzuki vaporized a single Terminator with his melta weapons, and then charged in. Meanwhile, Watanabe moved on to construct a third idol on the center objective, while Sato took out the remaining tactical squad in front of the Devastators, who just barely survived the last onslaught.

Sendo opened fire with his paired lightning locks, but the third tactical squad were dug in cover deeply, and the electric currents bounced off most of their armor without much effect. At least he succeeded in killing two of them.

Then Tanaka attempted to stomp the Sanguinary Ancient, but failed to kill the dude with his nerfed stomps (Titanic Feet).

"What happened to the 12 attacks?" He complained.

Suzuki had better luck, killing another couple of Terminators with his reaper chain-cleaver. The Terminator sergeant swung back, rocking Hebi, but the Armiger Warglaive withstood the Space Marine's assault.

The Sanguinary Guard retaliated ferociously against Tanaka, almost destroying his Knight Castellan. Kazan suffered horrible damage from inferno pistols and was almost laid low by their Encarmine blades, swaying unsteadily. Fortunately, the Paragon trait allowed Kazan to shrug off damage from a single strike.

"Phew, that was close." Tanaka sighed in relief. Unfortunately, Chiba saw his Armiger Moirax Knight smashed halfway by Nosferatu, who was determined to at least gain some honor for his crumbling Chapter. He also locked Kanda in combat, preventing the two Armigers Moirax from firing their blast weapons.

"This sucks!" Kanda complained.

Sendo continued to fire, but this time, only one tactical marine went down from his lightning locks. On the other hand, the Librarian fought against Sato's Armiger Warglaive and wounded him, while taking three damage.

Tanaka retreated and vaporized the Sanguinary Guard with his two twin meltaguns. Suzuki finished off the last Terminator with a meltagun shot, as did Sato, and the two of them tried to charge the Devastators. Suzuki's Hebi almost went down to their overwatch, and he only killed their sergeant in combat. Sato was too far away to succeed.

Watanabe toppled the idol that the first tactical squad had set up and put up House Yato's own.

"We're winning on objectives!" he cheered.

"Let's hope we survive as well," Tanaka grumbled as he charged and finally stomped the annoying Sanguinary Ancient to death. "Damn the nerfs to Titanic Feet."

The Chapter Master, Nosferatu, finally wrecked Chiba's Armiger Moirax with his relic hammer.

"Hah! That's two vehicles down! We're raking in the experience points!"

He then proceeded to smash Kanda's Armiger Moirax, but fortunately the latter survived with barely a few wounds remaining. The Devastators also fell back to search for more archeotech, realizing there was little point in staying locked in combat with an Armiger Warglaive. Hebi strained to chase after them.

"Don't worry, we'll charge again!" Suzuki growled. But he allowed Hebi to fire a melta shot...only to miss.

Kanda had his Knight Moirax fall back, and Tanaka was finally able to get a clear shot. All the guns went into Nosferatu, and the Chapter Master fell, his body annihilated (fortunately, this was just a training exercise, so he didn't die). The wounded tactical marine was taken out by another volley from Sendo's lightning locks, and only the guy with the multimelta was left.

Suzuki and Sato charged, and this time the overwatch did nothing to Suzuki's heavily damaged Hebi. Kaen got the first swing, and Sato was able to claim two kills, leaving just two Devastators on the battlefield.

"All right, we surrender."

With just three guys left, the Encarmine Angels surrendered, realizing there was little point in continuing the exercise. They had prepared to fight Thousand Sons, but the Knights were a completely different army.

"Well, it's always a learning experience," the wounded Nosferatu said, looking on the bright side. "At least Aku and his thrallband are gone, so there's that."

"Don't worry, we'll accompany you on as many training exercises as you want," Tanaka assured them with a friendly smile. "The more experience you get, the better you'll become!"

Thousand Sons Praetor and a bunch of Skitarii

I painted my couple of random Skitarii models - a single Ironstrider Ballistarius (which I can swap to a Sydonian Dragoon) and a Serberys Sulphurhound (so that I can have one huge squad of 6 instead of being forced to divide them into 2 squads of 3 because I have 2 Alphas). Not only that, I also painted my Thousand Sons Praetor for Horus Heresy!

That was quite a bit of work, especially when my other Serberys Sulphurhound model I was using for reference snapped off and I couldn't quite glue it back together (frustratingly, I made it worse by snapping its leg when I attempted to press the ankle back into the foot). Ugh. Oh, well, at least all my Skitarii are painted now. Just left with the Traitor Guardsmen and Forgefiend, which I might paint later today, depending on what I have in the afternoon. If I do paint them, I'll update this post later rather than create a new one.

For now, just look at what I do have painted. Yay.

I also managed to paint a second Forgefiend, 7 Traitor Guardsmen and a Warpsmith today as well! Productive hobby day, I must say. YAY!

I'm thinking these guys can be used as a small Iron Warriors Patrol. Until the new codex comes out and stipulates that we can't take Cultists or Traitor Guardsmen unless we take an equal number of Legionnaires and/or Terminators, but I'll worry about it then. Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Might as well add a photo where they all have the grass.

Now the only model I have left to paint is the Warmaster Titan!

Rumors for new Astra Militarum models

Mordian Glory, on Youtube, has posted a video where he claims to have seen new Astra Militarum models. You can watch the video below.

Here's what he says is coming:

New Kasrkin models, has all the special weapons options (flamers, grenade launchers, meltaguns and plasma guns) except hot-shot volley guns. Maybe there are hot-shot volley guns, but he didn't see them.

New heavy weapon team sculpts. Only saw the heavy bolter and autocannon, though - they've been brought in line with newer sculpts.

New "Creed" or comamnder model. He thinks she might be female and one of Creed's descendants, but he can't tell, but otherwise a new commander model that looks like Creed (twin pistols, sash, greatcoat, etc.).

New Sentinel sculpts. Look sleeker than before, with the weapons on the side rather than underslung.

New Lord Commissar model, can confirm he comes with a power fist, looks amazing, and heroic pose.

Apparently, there will be new Atillan Rough Riders, but he hasn't seen them.

This, he can confirm, comes along with the new Rogal Dorn tank.

Preparing for the Horus Heresy

So we have a Warhammer Community article on Imperial Fists today! Yeah! As part of the VII Legion and my Horus Heresy stuff, I might as well collate what I do have for Horus Heresy. First of is my Black Templars Cataphractii Terminators, the Praetor in Terminator armor, the Chaplain in Terminator armor and 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts. The idea is that they are part of the Templar Brethren or something. And guess what? We have a Templar Assault Rite of War! Maybe I should be getting Templar Brethren for my guys or something.

Eventually, this little offshoot of the Imperial Fists will join Sigismund and become part of the Black Templars during the Scouring. But that's another story for another time...

Secondly, I have a bunch of new stuff. A Thousand Sons Praetor in Terminator armor, but I cut off his hand to replace his storm bolter with a volkite charger! Yay! He's next to seven Traitor Guardsmen from the Blackstone Fortress set because I plan to eventually build upon my Traitor Guard guys to have Prosperine Spireguard or some sort. I'll be getting the new Traitor Guardsmen models soon, and hopefully I'll be able to field them accordingly! We'll see!

I gave the Thousand Sons Praetor a volkite charger because I plan to build a Thousand Sons army with mostly volkite. Probably get the special weapons box and have a full tactical support squad with 10 volkite calivers or something. This will be cool! I hope.

Heart of the Swarm

"That's a lot of bugs," Tanaka remarked as he watched the Tyranid swarm sweep over the horizon. There were so many of them that they blotted out the sky, a rolling, living carpet of chitin, claws and fangs.

"We shall kill all of them!" Ogami shouted, barely able to rein in the ferocious spirit of Okami. The Knight Preceptor howled, a mechanical noise that echoed in the noosphere. The Armigers responded to Okami, adding their own growls.

Without hesitation, Okami plunged into the fray, accompanied by the Armiger Warglaives. Suzuki, in his Hebi, and the two new guys - Sato in Kaen and Watanabe in Tsurugi. Sendo in a new Armiger Moirax armed with a pair of lightning locks joined Kanda and Chiba, and they gathered near Tanaka's Kazan, the venerable Knight Castellan taking aim at the Tyrannofex in the distance.

The Genestealers pounced ahead of the fray, even as an Exorcine loosed shots at Ogami. Okami's ion shields rotated about to deflect the bio-plasma, as well as withstood a barrage from a swooping Harpy from above.

"Hah!" Ogami sneered. "Your puny attacks won't be able to break through my defenses!"

On the opposite end, however, the Tyranofex's powerful bombardment smashed through Kazan's ion shields and sent the Knight Castellan reeling.

"Ouch!" Tanaka complained as he fought with the controls in his Throne Mechanicum. He sighed when the venom cannons from the Tyranid Warriors further damaged his steed. The ion shields were failing him, it seemed, despite him spending three Command Points to rotate them. A waste of Command Points, if he ever saw one.

The Genestealers charged and slashed at Okami, only to have a couple of them stomped to oblivion. Fortunately, Watanabe moved Tsurugi forward and swept his reaper chain-cleaver across, killing another three and halving their original number.

"Time for us to strike back!" Ogami yelled, stepping over the Genestealers and firing his las-impulsor at the Broodlord that failed to make its charge along with its brethren. It was vaporized in a single volley. On the other end, the missiles from the Stormspear rocket pod struck the Exocrine but did very little damage.

Suzuki vaporized two Tyranid Warriors with his thermal spear, and Tanaka took care of another few with his plasma decimator and siegebreaker cannons. The volcano lance struck the Tyranofex and took a hefty chunk of flesh and chitin off, but the monstrous creature still lived, smoldering like a volcanic crater.

"Whoops, I should have fired more shots at it," Tanaka muttered.

The Armiger Moirax Knights cleared the Termagaunts off the board with their lightning locks and graviton pulsars, while Watanabe continued to combat the Genestealers. Sato moved Kaen up to support Ogami's charge, but he didn't manage to do much. Fortunately, he charged into the Gargoyles that had flocked ahead and killed a few of them. Ogami retreated to kill another three Genestealers along with Watanabe, but two survived.

The Harpy bombed Okami, seeing an opportunity, but the Knight Preceptor stood strong, shrugging off mortal wounds and damage from the Exocrine and the Harpy's ranged weapons. The Tervigon spawned more Termagaunts to shore up the numbers they had lost, while the sole surviving Tyranid Warrior, Tyranid Warrior Prime and Tyranofex hacked into Suzuki's Armiger Warglaive.

"Not this time!"

Suzuki managed to kill a few Tyranid Warriors earlier in combat, but the last one decided to fall back, leaving the combat to his Prime and Tyranofex. Though Suzuki survived the onslaught from the Tyranofex, he struck back and killed the Tyranid Warrior Prime. However, his foe fought on death and cut him down along with it.

"Yikes! No way! That's unfair!"

"It is what it is," Tanaka said with a sigh when Kazan rocked from another bio-plasma bombardment from the Tyranofex. A winged Hive Tyrant had also dove from the skies to assail Chiba's Knight Moirax with psychic powers, but fortunately it didn't do too much damage.

Sato's Kaen was ripped apart by the Tervigon, which pounced on him. Sato groaned as his Knight fell, blowing up and knocking a few of the Zoantropes down, as well as killing three Gargoyles outright.

"I think that was an overextension," he grumbled.

The Knights fought back valiantly. The four meltaguns opened up, but the Winged Hive Tyrant formed a barrier that withstood the thermal shots. Fortunately, the siegebreaker cannons ripped it apart in an explosive hail of shrapnel, and the beast fell. The volcano lance boomed once more, and this time, the Tyranofex disappeared for good.

Sendo opened up with his lightning locks and obliterated all but one of the Termagaunts at the back. Watanabe managed to damage the Tervigon with his thermal spear, but it continued to survive. On the other hand, Ogami slew the Exocrine with his las-impulsor before charging into the Gargoyles and stomping them to death. Most of them, anyway...he ended up fluffing his stomps, and the majority of them fled.

"Looking good!" Ogami shouted encouragingly. "Let's wipe these bugs out!"

"Don't speak too soon," Tanaka warned. Sure enough, the Tyranids had yet to unleash their true power. The Zoanthropes hovered forward, unleashing psychic powers that smashed Kanda's Knight Moirax to bits. Even as Ogami slew the Tervigon, the Harpy flew forward and finished off Tanaka's heavily damaged Kazan.

"Oh, for the love of the Emperor..."

Tanaka sighed as he slouched against his Throne Mechanicum, his Knight a wreck. Well, nothing a few sacristans couldn't repair, but it sucked to be out of the fight for now. He wished he could have done more.

The Zoanthropes continued to pound the Knights with psychic powers, obliterating both Chiba's Knight Moirax and Watanabe's Tsurugi. That shifted the battle firmly in the Tyranids' favor, and Sendo was forced to fall back with his Knight Moirax, while firing and killing the rest of the Termagaunts.

"Do you think I'll let you win?!" Ogami raged, and he fired at the sole surviving Tyranid Warrior, killing it with missiles. He then pursued the Zoanthropes, scything three of them down with his las-impulsor. Little good it could do, for Sendo's Knight fell to the bombardment from the Harpy.

And so the battle ended, with only Ogami surviving.

"...that's quite the change," Tanaka commented. "Usually Ogami is always the first to fall. He's the only one who survived the battle this time."

Unfortunately, Ogami wasn't satisfied. He was raging and yelling, waving his reaper chainsword at the retreating Harpy, Zoanthropes and Neurothrope. Apparently the Hive mind had decided that it had lost too much and decided to pull back for the day. Not to worry, for it would return, stronger, better and more highly evolved. The Tyranids were an adaptative race, after all.

This was the first time this particular horde had faced Knights...and they knew what sort of mutations they needed in future.

"Not good, not good at all," Tanaka muttered under his breath. Meanwhile Ogami continued to bellow at the departing Tyranids.

"Get back here, you cowards! Come and fight me! I'll show you..."

"Oh, just shut up already!" Suzuki yelled. "We're done! Let's just get our Knight suits repaired and move on to the next battle!"

"Unless you want to pursue the Tyranids on your own," Kanda added sourly.

Ogami, mercifully, fell silent, and watched over the fallen steeds of his comrades while the sacristans rushed over to begin enacting repairs.

"At least we won this time," he said.

"This time," Tanaka repeated grimly. "I don't know if we'll be lucky enough to win the next battle against the Tyranids, though."

Warmaster Titan

I finally bought a Warmaster Titan of my own. I was about to say I assembled it, but the seller had already assembled most of it. I only put together the pieces from the C sprue. Fortunately, he gave me the plasma blastguns - which were the ones I wanted. Otherwise I would be...well, screwed, I guess. Thank the Omnissiah.

Anyway, I can't wait to field this guy in an Adeptus Titanicus game alongside my Knights! My forge world, Draconis IV, is renowned for producing plasma weapons - that's why it's nicknamed the second Ryza - so having a plasma-focused Warmaster Titan fits into the lore of my Titan Legion. Legio Draconis or the Dark Dragons, having plasma-based Titans! The Warlord Titan has Sunfury plasma annihilators as well, along with volkite weapons.

The Dire Wolves are also coming soon. I can't wait!

New Horus Heresy stuff

I stayed up to follow the Warhammer Fest stream and find out more about the Horus Heresy stuff! As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll just leave these images here.

By the way, the box costs less then US$300. That's quite the amazing deal!

We get codex for the Legions as well. Emperor help you if you play Imperial Fists and Thousand Sons like me, then you'll have to choose between them. Ugh.

MK VI Armor released separately. And in squads of 20, to make it easier for you to build your legion!

My favorite armor! Iron armor is best armor!

MK IV is also back in boxes of 20.

Confirmed new Kratos tank, with many different weapon options.

Yeah, I'm practically drooling over the volkite.

Deimos pattern Rhino is back too. Lots of exciting stuff for Horus Heresy. I can't wait!

Traitor Guard!

Oh, we're getting new Traitor Guard models! YES! Definitely going to get a box. Currently, as you guys already know, I have a small squad of Traitor Guardsmen from the Blackstone Fortress set that I used as Cultists for my Thousand Sons. And now they're about to get more reinforcements! You can check Warhammer Community for more details.

I can't wait to build a Traitor Guardsmen army with these new models, though I'm more about the tanks. But hey, we still need a minimal amount of infantry, so yeah. They'll either accompany my Thousand Sons to battle, or I'll figure something out for them.

Anyway, you get a Traitor Commissar and his bodyguard Ogryn back - they were Blackstone Fortress Traitor Command, but they are pretty hard to get now. So I'm glad they are back!

Anyway, we'll see how it goes and hope they get a separate kit release like the Death Korps of Krieg! I wonder how the rules for them will look. Will we be able to field them as a separate army? Can we take an Astra Militarum (or Militarum Traitoris) detachment alongside our Heretic Astartes army/Chaos Knights? Even if we can't, I'll just run them as regular Cultists next to my Thousand Sons. Hopefully they put an FAQ or balance dataslate that allows us to use Renegade/Traitor Guardsmen datasheets for Thousand Sons and maybe Death Guard, otherwise it just feels...kind of weird that the other Chaos regiments can use them, but we can't. Like, really?

Just want to represent the Prosperine Spireguard fighting alongside my Thousand Sons, that's all...well, we'll see!