Forge World for Skitarii!

It seems that Forge World has announced that they will be creating Forge World upgrades and stuff for the Mechanicus, and they have posted on their Bulletin some cool pictures of Skitarii Rangers with original weapons!

You can see it on the Forge World Bulletin by clicking here. I look forward to seeing what they have for the Skitarii! It'll most likely be featured in the next Imperial Armor.

For the Omnissiah!

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada

I've finally purchased Battlefleet Gothic: Armada after making use of the Steam sales. Yes, I waited for a sale before finally getting my hands on it. As I said, I don't have a steady income anymore, so I can't recklessly spend my money.

I've installed it in my computer, and will be playing the single-player campaign shortly. This will be fun. I will probably try to write something about each mission, I don't know how I'll do it. Maybe I'll write my own narrative, my own take on events (leading a Mechanicus fleet against Abbadon), and stuff like that. That might be fun. We shall see.

As I said, this will mark my shift from tabletop to PC gaming, though my book reviews will remain. I love Warhammer 40K for its lore and fluff, so it doesn't matter if I can no longer play the tabletop game. If I can continue to get my hands on Black Library books and games that appeal to me, then I'll pursue Warhammer 40K in that direction.

For the Emperor! We'll begin halting Chaos's Crusade against our worlds...soon. I hope.

The World Engine

The World Engine, by Ben Counter, is quite simply...out of this world.

Featuring the Astral Knights, who apparently are a successor chapter to the Imperial Fists (really? Not mentioned in the novel), The World Engine is actually Borsis, some sort of artificial planet (later revealed to have been built by the C'tan, Yggra'nya (who comes up with these names?). The story? Badass Astral Knights decide to ram their awesome battleship, Tempestus (who by the way is the biggest and most powerful ship in the Varv Deliverance Fleet) into Borsis.

Okay, sorry about that. Let's back that up a bit. First, the Varv Deliverance Fleet is sent to halt the destructive trail of the World Engine, which had carved a path of carnage through the Vidar Sector. As it turns out, none of the Imperium's ships were able to penetrate the damn thing's shields, teleportation of Terminators failed (with the poor Space Marines getting terminated, most likely in the Warp or getting turned into some bloody matter thanks to the failed teleportation), and the fleet is getting its ass kicked. After losing one of their last battleships, and more than half of the fleet, the dudes decide to pull back and watch for now.

However, Chapter Master Artor Amhrad, the most badass Space Marine I ever have the chance to read about - even more badass than the wimpy Ultramarines, with Venetius being a pussy and wanting to wait for backup, even at the expense of the hive planet Varvenkast and its population of billions - decides to ram Tempestus into Borsis in an awesome attempt to deliver his entire chapter. The plan succeeded (otherwise we wouldn't have a story about it) obviously, and the Astral Knights, despite losing several of their number in the crash, jumped out to find themselves on the artificial planet, only to awaken the Necrons.

After that, cue epic battle between Adeptus Astartes and Necrons - except that our Space Marines are outnumbered one to gazillion (okay, 1,000 Astral Knights versus millions of Necrons). But our Astral Knights put up a good fight, using hit and run and performing surgical strikes on vulnerable target areas. Thanks to the slaves, they find out vital information concerning Heqiroth and the current dynasty, the Nephrekh dynasty. Despite securing help from an unlikely ally, the former overlord Turakhin, the Astral Knights continue to sustain grievous losses against a never-ending army.

I can almost imagine Chapter Master Amhrad giving a speech here. "We've been fighting a long time. Outnumbered by Necrons...humans have a strength that cannot be measured. This is Artor Amhrad. If you're listening to this, you're the Astral Knights."

Badass aside, Amhrad could only come up with one way of victory, thanks mostly to Chief Librarian Hylahi using psychic powers to contact some godlike entity (blasphemy! The only godlike entity is the Emperor!). Deciding to cut his losses but knowing there was no way off Borsis for his Astral Knights, Amhrad went for broke. Showing the middle finger to the Necrons and telling them to screw themselves, he suckered them into protecting Heqiroth by throwing the entire chapter, led by Captain Khabyar of the Ninth Reserve Devastator Company, at the Necrons. The chapter basically was exterminated in this last-stand battle worthy of being put alongside King Leonidas and his 300 badasses. Still, it was just as planned, for Amhrad had secretly led a tiny strikeforce into a secret location in Borsis.

Simply put, Amhrad trolled Heqiroth.

Deciding that since they're going to die anyway, the Astral Knights might as well take the Necrons with them. Not a bad trade, I mean it's about 1,000 Space Marines for millions of Necrons. I would take that any time. Anyway, Amhrad went and wrecked the containment field inside Borsis to release the Kraken...uh, I mean, release the C'tan imprisoned inside the heart of Borsis (and powering it). Giving the finger to the Necrons and Heqiroth, and particularly to Judicator Metzoi (you won the battle but you lost the war, xenos scum!), he allowed the wrathful Yggra'nya out of his cage. The C'tan, having been betrayed by the Necrontyr and sealed inside the Borsis he had built for them (he's the Worldbuilder, apparently) - and furious that the Necrontyr used the weapons the C'tan gave them on their benefactors, needless to say he was eager for revenge. He went and destroyed every single Necron on Borsis, granting Heqiroth a particularly painful death, then flew off from the crumbling Borsis like the Phoenix Force or Xel'Naga entity from Starcraft. That shut down the shields and allowed the Varv Deliverance Fleet to pummel and annihilate Borsis, turning it into chunks of metal and rock. Viva la Exterminatus!

Apparently there's a backstory about how Borsis was heading to Mars, presumably to awaken the Void Dragon we read about in Graham McNeill's Mechanicum from the Horus Heresy series, and an afterstory that included the reclamation of the Tempestus's wreck from the remains of Borsis. I think Venetius stopped being a dick and had the entire chapter of Astral Knights enshrined as monuments in the ship or something. Yay. Unfortunately, the survivors of the Astral Knights, about 30 or so left in Obsidia and didn't take part in the mission, weren't enough to rebuild the chapter, and they were ultimately replaced by the Sable Swords. The leftovers were convinced by the Sable Swords dude to embark on a crusade or something until their chapter dies out.

Ouch. Grimdark as hell.

Oh, right. The review. Well, if you've read all that and think, hmm...that's not badass, then...I have nothing to say. If you've read that and think, man, that is one hell of a story. I had best find the book and read it, then we've become battle brothers. Ben Counter has done it again. I knew he had it in him. I mean, his Grey Knights Omnibus was one of the few Space Marines novels I could stomach, and The World Engine not only didn't disappoint me, it surpassed my expectations. The battles were intense. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any other story in which the Space Marines fight like the Imperial Guard! The Astral Knights were basically sent to their deaths Astra Militarum style, fighting footslogging battles as infantry. If only they had the numbers...if only a regiment of Imperial Guard managed to make it down with them, with all their Leman Russ tanks and artillery...if only, if only. Man, that would have made for a better story, but admittedly the average Guardsman isn't going to survive a crash to the surface of Borsis, never mind the hazardous environment.

Well, to sum it up, the Astral Knights felt very human. Yes, we all know Space Marines are genhanced supersoldiers, but these guys were human. They were vulnerable, they could be killed (and easily too, by the Necrons), they felt emotions such as pride and hubris. Ben Counter's Marines weren't grown in vats. They often are normal men handpicked to be implanted with the geneseed and surgically altered to become Adeptus Astartes. That's why they retain their human memories, and are prone to having their fragile human pscyhe fall apart. They are fallible, unlike the Mary Sue Ultramarines I sometimes read about (man, that was obnoxious), and that makes them even more powerful as characters.

The epic battles just add an awesome slice of seasoning.

Verdict? This book is a must-buy and a must-read. You don't often see a single Space Marine chapter doing something so badass it puts even the Ultrasmurfs...uh, Ultramarines to shame, yet at the same time retain all the flaws and characteristics that make them oh so human. Buy it and read it now. I guarantee you'll enjoy the ride (unless you got turned off by my summary above, then it's probably not for you).

For the Emperor!

Not good

I've always been a big fan of Warhammer 40K, having been introduced to the universe via Ciaphas Cain. Yeah, I first heard about it from Dawn of War, and while I always wanted to play those games, I never had a chance to. I should buy them on Steam, but the games are so old and oudated I'm not sure I want to.

Dawn of War II doesn't appeal to me. I don't like squad based, tactical styled RTS. I prefer the first Dawn of War. I'll just wait for Dawn of War III.

Speaking of which, I'm kind of surprised that the Imperial Knight character is Lady Solaria. In the lore, only men can be Knights. I'm not being a misogynist, and I'm all for women being able to pilot Knights, but I'm surprised they didn't follow the lore. I wonder if there's a reason for that, or if there exists an all-women Knightly House. If there is, cool. I just want consistency. I mean, in the Codex, and in Graham McNeill's Knights of the Imperium, it's clearly stated that only men pilot the Knights, and women are forbidden (yeah, the universe itself is...misogynistic) to do so, given Baron Roland's reaction when he found out the true identity of the Freeblade. So how is it that we suddenly have a Lady Solaria piloting a Knight to fight alongside the Blood Ravens?

And what happened to the red Knights in the Dawn of War III trailer? I was looking forward to the details of that house.

I suspect Lady Solaria is a Freeblade...but that makes no sense. She wouldn't be a Lady then. Much like how Barons and Lords are titles of Knights - look at Baron Roland! - why would a Freeblade retain the title of Lady? In any case, I'll look forward to the lore. Yay. It'll be fun if the Adeptus Mechanicus gets its own army in the game...eventually, but I won't hold my breath on it.

Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to the Steam sales to get a cheaper copy of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. I'm also waiting for more details on Space Hulk: Deathwing, but Inquisitor: Martyr doesn't appeal to me. I don't like RPGs or Moba-styled games or hack-and-slash games. Was never a fan of Diablo and the other hack-and-slash RPGs. I mean, I would have been hooked onto Technomancer if it wasn't RPG but a shooter. But it's not a shooter, so the only game I get to play on Mars is Doom. Yay. Speaking of which, there was a debate on Social Media whether Doomguy can kick the Space Marines' asses. I'll have to say it depends on which Space Marine you're talking about. If it's Kaldor Draigo, then...oh well, his Mary Sue-ness will overwhelm Doomguy. Maybe. I dunno.

Aside from that, I've a bit of bad news. As I'm going to America to study, I'll have to sell off my physical Warhammer 40K army. I'm kind of sad, and I love my army, but I don't know when I'll be back and if I'll be able to buy my models back. By that time, I might as well buy a whole new Adeptus Mechanicus army. Sigh.

We'll see. But this blog will probably go into hibernation the moment I get to Minnesota. Unless I'm somehow able to get funds for building my army - and I won't, I need to study - I don't think I'll be able to do much there. Instead, I'll focus on procuring Black Library novels, writing book reviews and stuff. And maybe do some gaming, like for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. Or something. We shall see.

Speaking of which, I need to get to writing a review for World Engine by Ben Counter. It was awesome. As expected of Ben Counter! I mean, I read his Grey Knights Omnibus and actually like it, and this is from a guy who doesn't like most Space Marine novels.

Attack on Umbro Prime

Umbro Prime, the home and recruiting world of the Penumbra Dragon Militarum Tempestus Scions. At its heart lies a fortress-academy, where thousands of storm trooper cadets are trained and forged into one of the Imperium's most efficient and deadly weapons. For millennia, it has churned out a constant stream of storm troopers with indisputable pedigree, honors and courage, but today, the very planet that housed the training facilities that shaped such brave men will face its sternest test.

The Necrons had come, almost as if appearing from the darkness itself. Night Scythes slipped from the shadows, despositing eerily illuminated warriors and immortals at a distant canyon just out of reach of the fortress-academy's formidable anti-air batteries. As the skeletal soldiers and mechanical horrors muster their forces in a safe distance, their presence is not left unnoticed by a keen-eyed sentry on duty.

The sentry, Cadet Wilshmere, sounded the alarms, an act that would save thousands of his comrades' lives for they would have otherwise fallen victim to the Necrons' unsuspecting ambush. As servo-skulls flew around the corridors, shrieking at the top of their audio amplifiers, the sleeping cadets were roused and ordered into action. In less time than it took for them to wake up, the cadets immediately dressed in their uniforms and picked up their equipment, double-timing to their defensive positions.

Commissar Calloren, the headmaster of the fortress-academy, oversaw the positioning of the cadets as they took up their positions in hastily dug trenches or lay in prone positions behind fortified walls. As he gazed over the frightened and tense expressions of the fresh-faced recruits, even his battle-hardened heart and iron will couldn't help but buckle when he thought of the immense threat looming in front of them. For all their Spartan training and harsh discipline, they were but children. Most of them were still firmly rooted in their teenage years, bright-eyed and not having tasted actual combat in their entire lives.

Shaking his head, he turned to Sergeant Major Johan, who was barking out orders to a couple of cadets that were lugging a heavy weapon behind them. The missile launcher made a screeching sound as the metal rubbed against the rockcrete.

"Do you think they are ready?"

First Sergeant Johan, who had been serving as Sergeant Major of the fortress-academy for over five decades, looked at the distant canyon grimly, faintly making out the eerie green flashes of the Necrons' signature gauss weaponry. Taking a deep breath, he glanced over the bustling cadets who still hadn't taken up positions, then gazed at the skeletal staff of old, retired officers who were taking charge, their grizzled figures bearing down on the children. He forced a hoarse laugh.

"I don't think any of us are ready."

Imperial Guardsman - the game

Given the wide range of Warhammer 40K games we have in the last couple of decades, I think we can say we PC gamers have been pretty blessed. There's Fire Warrior, which allows you to play as Tau, but that's pretty much the only exception. And then we have the famous Dawn of War series, where if you remember, the trailer for the third game in the series has just been released! Then we have Battlefleet: Gothic Armada, which I haven't gotten yet because I lack the money and funds (argh), and a few shooters in addition to Fire Warrior. The acclaimed Space Marine, which never got as sequel, the upcoming Space Hulk: Deathwing, and probably the RPG-3rd person shooter hybrid Inquisitor.

In the face of so many Warhammer 40K video games, I have a single proposal to make. It's going to sound stupid, and is probably stupid and will never see the light of day, even if I were to make a Kickstarter project. But I wish there is an Imperial Guardsman game. Yeah, sure, I know Space Marines are the poster boys for the Warhammer 40K universe, but I'm not a big fan of Space Marines. I didn't even enjoy most of the Deathwatch short stories in Deathwatch: Ignition. Funnily enough, the only stories I enjoyed was the Blood Ravens and Space Wolf one, and the first story, One Bullet (which is by Ben Counter, one of my favorite Black Library authors). Oh well. The rest just painted Space Marines as this boring, one-dimensional dudes whose sense of duty is overwhelming, blah blah. Only the Ultramarines in the first story, Blood Raven and the Space Wolf, and maybe the White Scar dude, actually received character development.

As I suspected, the Imperial Guard novels are the ones I enjoy the most, because being frail and imperfect human beings, the Imperial Guardsmen have the most room to grow, such as Ibram Gaunt, Ciaphas Cain and more. Superhuman genhanced soldiers don't mean godlike beings who are infallible, which is why I enjoy Ben Counter's depiction of Space Marines more than anyone else's. His Grey Knight series are quite the enjoyable read, as Justicar Alaric isn't exactly this "oh, duty is everything" infallible supersoldier as most other Space Marines tend to lean toward. Ugh. I enjoyed his One Bullet story, but I didn't like his Flesh of the Angel. Oh well.

But video games are a whole other story. Gamers like to feel empowered. They don't want to feel weak and helpless. That's why playing as a strong Space Marine would feel much more appealing to them than playing as a frail and fragile Imperial Guardsman.

So how do you make a good game about an Imperial Guardsman that will appeal to gamers? Well, the first solution is to make it a survival horror game. Space Hulk: Deathwing has the right idea. We could have a game where a colony or Hive City has been overrun by Tyranids and Genestealers, and you're forced to navigate your way through the dark, shadowy city as a mere Guardsman. A mere mortal, as you will. With no Terminator Armor to protect you, and your first weapon being a laughably weak flashlight...uh, lasgun, that will make for quite the awesome survival horror experience.

But it wouldn't just be Tyranids. As it turns out, there's other enemies such as Orks and the enigmatic Eldar infiltrating the Hive City for their own reasons. The Orks had been attacking the Hive World before the Tyranids arrived, and there continues to be clashes and skirmishes between the two xenos, which makes for some fun and interesting strategic compoments. You can wait for the Tyranids and Orks to weaken each other before jumping in and finishing off the survivors. Whereas the Eldar are here to bring off some soulstone or wraithstone that contains a collective of Eldar souls before the Tyranids get to them.

On the other hand, you can't stay jumping in the dark forever, especially as the Tyranid, Ork and Eldar enemies get progressively stronger. You have an upgrade path. So the Imperial Guardsman starts out with flak armor, but can upgrade to carapace armor to improve his endurance. There can be bonuses to upgrade the carapace armor to stormtrooper armor, which provides benefits such as better aiming, higher resistance to acid or projectile attacks, higher health, more ammo capacity, etc.

Weapons will definitely have an upgrade tree. You can eventually upgrade your pitiful lasgun into a powerful hot-shot lasgun, which then further evolves into a hot-shot volley gun. You also have the standard Imperial Guardsman armory available, such as the flamer, plasma gun and meltagun, as well as grenade launchers. The flamer can be upgraded into a heavy flamer which does increased damage and covers a wider area. The meltagun can be upgraded with tank and monster hunter, which in video game terms could mean it deals bonus damage to vehicles and monstrous creature-type enemies, increasing the chances of critical hits and blowing them up with one hit. The plasma gun provides a high rate of devastating firepower, but overheats easily, which causes it to stall and deal some damage to you. But an upgrade of Preferred Enemy could then remove that overheating problem, which allows you to spam plasma shots as much as possible in late game, if your ammo allows it.

This is more of a shooter than a melee game, so you're not encouraged to rush in and perform melee attacks. However, you have the option to do so via power fist or power weapon upgrades, which allow you to rush in and perform Glory Kills...uh, sorry, this isn't Doom. But anyway, yeah. There's an option for you to invest in melee should you desire. By the way, there are no iron sights or aiming down sights. You're an Imperial Guardsman who starts out with Ballistic Skill 3. Half your shots are bound to miss. The stormtrooper armor will help improve your aim by making the crosshairs smaller, but that's about it. We don't need no aiming down sights. We're Imperial Guard!

The kicker, and why you should play as an Imperial Guardsman instead of a Space Marine, is this: Imperial Knights. Space Marines will never become nobles who pilot Imperial Knights. On the other hand, Imperial Guardsmen could be men from these noble houses who decided to sign on with the Imperial Guard to fight the enemies of the Imperium of Man. In this particular game, the narrative begins when the Imperial Guardsman you play as learns that his elder brother, who pilots a Knight (House Yato of Draconis III, yay), has died in battle, and the Adeptus Mechanicus has enlisted the help of your platoon to salvage the fallen Knight machine. Well, because Knights are extremely valuable and relatively rare, and they can't allow it to fall into the hands of the enemies such as Orks. So in the final few missions, you basically get to climb into the repaired chasis of your brother's Knight, take over as the new Baron or noble, and pilot your Knight to wreak destruction on those hated Xenos. As they say in the first mission, "it must be fate that his brother's platoon is sent to reclaim his Knight."

The second and third-last missions could be you just going to town in your Knight and basically stomping and blasting all manners of xenos enemies, whether Tyranid, Ork or Eldar to bloody bits. At the end of those, you're introduced to the Super-heavies and Gargantuan Creatures of the respective xenos factions, like Stompa, Wraithknight and Hierophant. The last mission, Lords of War, changes things up by pitting you against multiple Stompas, Wraithknights and Hierophants, before wrapping things up with a Gargant and a Revenant Knight. Sweet. So you basically turn from Imperial Guardsman into an Imperial Knight by the end of the relatively long single-player campaign. Woohoo. Speaking of which, your Imperial Knight is customizable, so you can turn it into a Knight Warden, Paladin, Errant, Gallant (if you favor melee) or Crusader (if you love shooting). The carapace weapons can be swapped out, for example Ironstorm Missiles deal less direct damage but has a much wider area of effect, Stormspear Rockets deal massive amounts of direct damage, but has pitiful area of effect range. Twin Icarus Autocannons...well, forget Skyfire, let it deal a steady stream of continuous automatic fire that can suppress enemies, which can be useful (it's a chaingun versus the slow-firing missile launchers kind of thing). And if you like throwing stuff, switch the Reaper Chainsword with the Thunderstrike Gauntlet to hurl the dead enemies' bodies around after executing them with a Glory Kill! Uh...I mean execution attack.

As for multiplayer, let's just turn it into Titanfall. You can play as an Imperial Guardsman, Eldar (Fire Dragon or something?), Ork Mekboy or a Hormagaunt/Termagaunt. There's a timer at the bottom of your screen that slowly counts down, though you can speed it up by killing more enemies or dealing damage by shooting or meleeing. Up to you. Once the timer reaches zero, you can call down a "Titan". Of course, there will be different animations for each race. An Imperial Guardsman will look up at the sky as his Imperial Knight falls from above and lands in a crackling power field (yeah, let's rip off Titanfall). An Eldar will wait for a gate to open up before a Wraithknight walks out and then he transfers his body through Eldar witchcraft into its cockpit (fits with the fluff, as twin Eldars are needed to pilot the Wraithknight, and you play as the still-living twin). The Ork will blow something up and have a Stompa dig itself out of the ground or something. The Termagaunt will wrap itself in a cocoon before evolving and bursting out as a brand-new Hierophant a few seconds later or something. Hey, look! We have more variety for our mechs than Titanfall! Yay! These guys all have their customizable options, so yay. Then you can have Attrition, which is standard Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint Domination, which is capture zones or whatever, Frontier Defense, which is a 4-player co-op where you play as Imperial Guardsmen/Imperial Knights against waves of Tyranids and you must defend your promethium plant against them. Or something. Stuff like that.

What do you guys think? Obviously it's going to be hard to kickstart it with Kickstarter and I don't have the Information Technology or computer design skills to pull this off. I can only do storyboarding and concept design. Oh well. For the Emperor?

I did entertain other upgrade paths, for example, allowing the Imperial Guardsman to upgrade into either a Skitarius or a Primaris Psyker. The Skitarius option allows you to augment your character with physical enhancements to improve your damage, endurance and speed in melee combat, and turns you into a walking tank. Show them the weakness of the flesh! On the other hand, if you choose to stay human and not bother with grafting machine parts into yourself, you can become a Primaris Psyker and start hurling warp bolts at your enemies while conjuring up forcefields or turning yourself invisible. Yay. But the problem with this concept is that there's no way a Skitarius or a Psyker will be allowed to pilot an Imperial Knight, much for the same fluff reasons why a Space Marine wouldn't. So I decided to cut that out from the overall idea.

The Regimental Standard

Attention, all Imperial Guardsmen!

The Great Enemy has foolishly attempted their 13th invasion of Cadia, which will certainly fail thanks to the valiant efforts and courageous defiance of our glorious imperial defenders. Yet, in this dark hour, it is understandable that several of you will falter in the face of such an immense threat.

Therefore, your local Commissar will be recommending The Regimental Standard, a series of motivational articles that enlighten even the most simple-minded of Guardsmen and open their eyes to the glorious truth of the Emperor. It will debunk heretical myths about xenos and their supposed superiority, and offer sound advice when fighting alongside the noble Knights of the Imperium, or supporting the god-machines of the mighty Titan Legions. All Guardsmen are advised to read this invaluable handouts, particularly the night before a major battle. These handouts will be available online through the nosphere, so you can have easy and convenient access to it by visiting the nearest Adeptus Mechanicus Nosphere Cafe that are often set up to provide Guardsmen entertainment.

Many Guardsmen have responded positively to receiving The Regimental Standard. Commissar Koflyers Kane highly recommends it, explaining that there was a drastic decrease in the number of guilible fools in his regiment after they were exposed to Imperial knowledge. Trooper Caffran of the 845th Cadian, when interviewed by Commissar Kane, had this to say.

"I've never read such grot sh...I mean, I've never seen such an enlightening piece of work that humbled me when I realized my lack of knowledge...I'm honest, I'm not faking it because I'm having a bolt pistol pointed at my head..."

Remember, do not deface, challenge or produce heretical parodies of The Regimental Standard, as this represents the word of the Emperor Himself, and such blasphemy is punishable by death, meted out by the Commissariat.

Any Guardsmen who still have doubts after reading the Imperial truth are advised to visit their regimental Commissar for consultation and psychological re-evaluation.

Thought for today:
"Question not the word of the Emperor, but the words of your weak, human heart."