January Balance Dataslate Rumors

Just a disclaimer - this is a rumor, and the source is from Simply Warhammer.

You can watch the short video, but long story short - and of most interest to me, in particular - is that Imperial Knights will be getting their Bondsman abilities back. The Titanic Knights, I mean. Meaning, my Cerastus Knight Lancer can advance and charge, my Knight Errant can advance and shoot with assault weapons. Yay. I'm not sure what else to say, but that seems really cool. Doesn't seem like we'll be getting any point cuts, but I don't think we really need them, especially with our Bondsman abilities back. Well, that's all the news I have. Till then!

Painted Cerastus Knight Lancer and Serberys Raiders!

I finished painting my Cerastus Knight Lancer! He's the plastic one, and I gave my friend the old resin one. So now I have a plastic one, and I prefer plastic. He was more fun to assemble, and I think I might get a Castigator just to have the same fun experience again. We'll see, I'm not that much of a spendthrift, and there's still plastic Solar Auxilia to consider.

I also got ahold of Serberys Raiders for cheap, and again, they're for my eventual 3,000 point Onslaught army. Yay! So the plastic Knight Lancer replaces the old resin one in my current Skitarii Hunter Cohort, and I have three Serberys Raiders for a bigger game! Also, I had a Tech-priest Enginseer that came with the Serberys Raiders. Unfortunately, I lost my first one on the bus, dropping my bag and the guy spilled out and fell somewhere on the floor. Oh no...

Sigh. I'll get a replacement because it's not worth the trouble contacting MetroTransit and all, and I think I have a discount and combined shipping when I buy a couple for a total of three (including the new one I painted today). They'll be assisting my Skitarii Hunter Cohort! I think. Anyway, hopefully this will be fun.

A Rout on Kajiya

Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya glanced over his shoulder as his Hunter Cohort made good speed, bound across the blasted landscape of the forge world, Kajiya, on either prosthetic legs, cyber-canids or hovertanks. Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma had been instructed by the priesthood of Kaijya to proceed to the evacuation zone after the vengeful Space Marines of the Boreal Swords Chapter had descended upon the forge world once more to demand a tithe.

The last battle had not proceeded the Adeptus Mechanicus's way, and the Boreal Swords had run all roughshod over the Skitarii. 44-Kariya was determined that the outcome would not be repeated this time, and made all haste to reach the transports waiting for them at the end. They would return to fight another day, this time with Titan Legions and full lances of Knights from their allies, House Yato.

Right now, only Sir Kanda's Cerastus Knight Lancer was present. His steed was loping ahead, scouting for threats, but he was looking in the wrong direction. The Sydonian Dragoons were suddenly blasted apart by melta beams from the rear, as the Boreal Swords Chapter landed in force. The Eradicators had spilled from a Thunderhawk gunship, their melta rifles and multimelta glowing from the heat.

Sigma 44-Kariya cursed. The Sydonian Dragoons had doubled back to serve as a rearguard, to ensure the Skitarii ddin't get caught by surprise, but the Total Obliteration meted out by the Eradicators was absolute. Fortunately, they were the only ones within range, aside from one of two Redemptor Dreadnoughts who lumbered forward to pelt Skitarii with plasma. The Serberys Raiders, led by 72-Kishida, vanished under a cloud of superheated matter, their bionics unable to withstand the plasma macro-incinerator from the Redemptor Dreadnought. Three Inceptors descended, their jumppacks screaming and their gravis armor red-hot from reentry, and their plasma guns spat at the shimmering emanatus force field generated by an Onager Dunecrawler that created a protective bubble around its escorting Skitarii.  A few of the cybernetic warriors fell, but since the entire maniple had reached the evacuation zone, the Skitarii Marshal decided that they could turn around and fight.

Calculating vectors and trajectories, and transmitting firing solutions through the noosphere, the Hunter Cohort turned upon their Space Marine hunters. The neutron laser spat, but missed, while a Skitarii Ranger's arc rifle sent convlusions through a Redemptor Dreadnought. Meanwhile, 28-Tetsuo's squadron of Ironstrider Ballistarii, supported by an Onager Dunecrawler, fired into the Terminators who had teleported right on the tail-end of the Serberys Sulfurhounds. The Serberys Sulfurhounds turned around to unleash both phosphor rounds and sulfur breaths onto the Terminators, and the combined firepower was enough to bring a couple of the walking tanks down. Meanwhile, the Inceptors were taken down by an Onager Dunecrawler with Icarus array, along with hard rounds from the Skitarii Rangers, who avenged their fallen with galvanic, plasma and transuranium rounds of their own.

"I'm going back," Skitarii Marshal Rho 29-Tataki said. His Skorpius Dunerider spun around and zoomed back toward the Boreal Swords, the Skitarii Vanguard spilling out. Supported by cognis heavy stubbers from their transport, their radium rounds and plasma smacked into the Eradicators, killing all but two of them. The return fire wrecked their Skorpius Dunerider, and the Bladeguard Veterans charged into them, hacking them apart with their crackling power swords. Despite a valiant defiance, Rho 29-Tataki found himself laid low by the superlative skill of the transhuman warriors, his cybernetically augmented soldiers no match for the Omnissiah's genius.

The Serberys Sulfurhounds charged into the Terminators, and with their bionic resilience, survived the power fists while taking down a few more with their linebreaker charge, trampling them under clawed limbs. By the time the dust settled, five Serberys cavalry were engaging approximately two Terminators and a Chaplain in combat. The Chaplain exhorted his charges in fury, swinging his crozius, but the Alpha parried it with his crackling arc maul.

Despite their losses, the Boreal Swords advanced steadily. The second Redemptor Dreadnought with the onslaught gatling cannons fired upon the Skitarii Rangers and decimated the squad, despite the glowing emanatus force field generated by the Onager Dunecrawler they were escorting. Meanwhile, the Bladeguard Veterans charged into the Serberys Sulfurhounds from behind while they were still busily engaging the Terminators, and wiped them out. Sir Kanda cursed when his Knight Lancer took fire from the Sternguard Veterans, whose bolt rifles were somehow dealing devastating wounds to his Knight, but aside from those, he held strong, even as the first Redemptor Dreadnought assailed his ion shield with flares of plasma.

"As expected of the vaunted Adeptus Astartes," he muttered. He spun his armored steed around and charged straight at the Bladeguard Veterans and Sternguard, determined to take revenge on them.

The Onager Dunecrawlers and Ironstrider Ballisatrii continued to fire upon the Redemptor Dreadnoughts, but though they did some damage, they failed to completely destroy the adamantium hulls of the walking ancients, despite neutron lasers, cognis twin lascannons and even arc rifles hitting home. The Knight Lancer's spear sent out an arc of esoteric energies that wounded a Bladeguard Veteran, but the following tank shock took out two of them, his feet trampling them and crushing them into oblivion. The following sweep wiped out the Bladeguard Veterans despite their fortitude, leaving just an injured captain who fought back and left the Lancer heavily damaged. Deciding that the Lancer was an Extremis level threat, the Sternguard Veterans unloaded everything they had into him, dealing more devastating wounds, and even the Dreadnought lumbered toward him, spitting more plasma and finally destroying him. Sir Kanda shut his eyes and whispered a prayer to the Omnissiah.

As he was ejected, his Throne Mechanicum launched out of the shuddering Knight suit, the Lancer exploded. The Bladeguard Captain disintegrated from the sheer force of the detonation, the plasma rolling outward to consume a single Terminator, finally destroy the Redemptor Dreadnought, and took a couple of Sternguard Veterans.

"A noble sacrifice, indeed," Sigma 44-Kariya murmured, and directed his Skitarii to continue firing. The Onager Dunecrawler took out the last surviving Terminator, leaving just the Chaplain. Meanwhile, the rest of the Skitarii retreated, heading straight for the transports that had landed, and completing the evacuation process. The Boreal Swords furiously pursued, refusing to allow their prey to escape, but despite their best efforts and transhuman physiology, only a single squad of Bladeguard Veterans succeeded in reaching an Onager Dunecrawler. More Skitarii Rangers fell to weight of fire from the Sternguard Veterans, whose deadly precision wiped out an entire squad with devastating wounds and volume of fire, but a single full squad was able to escape, along with three from the second one who had been decimated by the still surviving Redemptor Dreadnought.

"You're not getting away, you heretek fools!" The chaplain growled, but despite his and his Bladeguard Veterans' fury, their power swords and crozius were deflected by the sturdy emanatus force field of the Onager Dunecrawler. The Skitarii driver simply stared at them from within his armored cockpit, laughed in binharic, and proceeded to fall back, the walker ascending a ramp of a transport. The Bladeguard Veterans were forced to fall back when the still full squad of Skitarii Rangers provided covering fire, and a Tech-priest Enginseer, Magos Epsilon Muguruma, waved goodbye before checking the Onager Dunecrawler for damage. Nope. Not even a scratch. Whoa. That was...sad, for the vaunted Astartes to fail so badly.

44-Kariya sighed in relief as he counted his forces. Less than half had gotten away, but he had retained 3 Onager Dunecrawlers, 2 Ironstrider Ballistarii, a full squad of Skitarii Rangers, himself, and two Tech-priest Enginseers and their expertise. In other words, about 735 points of units above half-strength had survived the full battle, rendering the so-called rout a draw. Both the Skitarii Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma and the Boreal Swords First Company Veterans had scored 45 victory points each.

"Hey, I'll take that," the Skitarii Marshal muttered under his breath. The Tech-priests had estimated catastrophic losses and probably even a full rout, but he had managed to avoid it and even retrieved valuable armor and vehicles. He glared at the raging Boreal Swords below through the porthole, his occular augments allowing him to see them even from so high up. "We'll meet again...and Kajiya will not bow to the unreasonable demands of the Boreal Swords. The might of the Mechanicus will fall upon your chapter."

With that, the transports screamed toward the safety of the closest forge temples, leaving the bitter Boreal Swords behind.

Plastic Cerastus Knight Lancer

I always wanted to try assembling the new Cerastus Knight Lancer in plastic and I finally got to it! Yay!

"There's a Knight Lancer coming at me? No problem. I have an arc rifle."

He will replace my current resin one (which I will give my friend). Always a fun challenge to assemble a plastic Knight. Pretty pleased with how he turned out. Now I just have to paint him and I can field him in games, whether it's 40k or Horus Heresy!

I just realized there's a very brave Skitarii ranger pointing an arc rifle at the poor Knight in that picture...

Looks like he's going to suffer Devastating Wounds from the arc rifle's Anti-Vehicle 4+ attacks. And he's definitely with 15"...

Genefather Spoilers

I've finished reading Genefather a couple of days ago (and already started Sea of Souls), so I thought I should provide a quick spoiler thing. So we begin with Alpha Primus getting a premonition, and it's probably to illustrate his psychic powers, which we learn later is because he has Magnus's gene-seed mixed into him. Belisarius, in the meantime, is creating Qvo-89, and this version of Qvo is the closest has has ever gotten to cloning Friedisch.

Fabius Bile shows up on a ruined maiden world with a webway gate, and Dark Mechanicum people come to him to make a deal. Apparently, Bile is looking for Belisarius for some reason. Kolumbari-Enas, the First Among Equals (I'm just gonna call him Kolumbari-Enas) and Alixia-Dyos are Disciples of Nul - and if you're also a Horus Heresy fan, you'll know Sota-Nul is a tech-priestess of the Dark Mechanicum. This will be significant here.

Kolumbari-Enas knows how to find Belisarius, and he offers the knowledge to Bile, in return for a robot. Unfortunately, right now Bile only has a bunch of beastmen and a single cloned New (Wo)Man named Porter, who's like this genetically enhanced hybrid human assassin. Dunno what happened to his Creations of Bile. No sign of Igori from the previous books, so we have Porter and Brutus (the leader of the beastmen) instead. No Bile-modified Chaos Space Marine or Renegades. Just beastmen. Huh.

Anyway, because of this, Bile knows he doesn't have the forces to invade the Zar Quaesitor and get what he wants. So Kolumbari-Enas proposes they seek the aid of the Lord of Ghordrenvel, Dandimus Thrule. Thrule, by the way, is a Lord Discordant, so he has plenty of daemon engines. Bile goes along for now.

Belisarius receives a message from Roboute Guilliman, telling him to hurry up with the noctilith research so that they can close the Great Rift (on a small scale, anyway). He then talks to the Guilliman Inferior for help. Yes, the Guilliman Inferior is a simulacrum of Guilliman's mind, but not exactly a clone. More like an AI, actually, designed to simulate his responses, but he's also different from the real Guilliman.

Frenk Gamma-87-Nu-3-Psi arrives at the forge world of Accatran, as a servant of the Inquisitor. Archmagos Hryonalis Anaxerxes is a renowned Tech-priest Dominus, and he plans to represent Accatran at the meeting on Pontus Avernes, an artificial world in a quadruple star system. Apparently, Frenk wants to arrest Belisarius on charges of heretek and treason.

The other two are Lector Dognis Kalisperis (who later is revealed to be a traitor, and Alixia-Dyos hiding inside the box that is supposed to be Kalisperis) and Archmagos Logis Magnacomptroller Covarix Sestertius.

Belisarius plays regicide with a cryptek, AsanethAyu, trying to convince her to help him seal the Great Rift. Obviously, she doesn't agree. Being a necron, AsanethAyu looks down on humans and just wants to annihilate us. Lovely. On the bright side, it seems like Belisarius and Trazyn the Infinite are pals. Heh. AsanethAyu isn't very fond of Trazyn and thinks he's too compassionate.

Bile shows up at Thrule's place, and is not impressed. He offers Thrule gene-seed in exchange for his services, and Thrule "tests" Bile and his beastmen by sending a bunch of daemon engines at them in some arena. Needless to say, Bile, Porter, Brutus, Kolumbari-Enas and the beastmen wreck the daemon engines, impressing Thrule, and he agrees to help them.

The Zar Quaesitor arrives in the Avernes system, which as I said, is a quadruple star system, but during the Dark Age of Technology, humanity built a habitable space platform in the Goldilocks zone. Nice. The holds of the Ark Mechanicus have been emptied because Belisarius has given the majority of his military assets to Fleet Primus when he left the Indomitus Crusade. He used to have macroclades of Skitarii, an entire household of House Taranis Knights, Primaris Space Marines and armies of Magi. Now, he just has like a single macroclade of Skitarii, led by Marshal Melissima Artos-Septus Iota, two Lances of House Taranis Knights led by Scion Magnus Baron Roosev Maven Taranis - a descendant of Raaf Maven, I bet, and Datasmith X99 Bolus, who has five Kastelan robots with him. Also, Oswen, a cartophraser, happens to show up with a map to the barely explored Pontus Avernes. Suspiciously convenient.

They land on Pontus Arvenes, to meet up with the Tech-priests from Accatran, Tigrus and Metalica. While Belisarius, Qvo-89, X99 and his Kastelan robots attend the meeting, the Knights of House Taranis land to provide further security. Alpha Primus and the Skitarii remain aboard the Zar Quaesitor but remain on standby.

The Knights of House Taranis include:

Scion Magnus Baron Roosev Maven Taranis, pilot of the Cerastus Knight Acheron, Iurgium

2 Armiger Warglaives

2 Armiger Helverins

Questoris Knights, Danubia, Vanitas and Foebreaker

Scion Waldemar, pilot of the Dominus Knight Castellan, Salutatia

First Knight Allacer Maven Taranis (Roosev's brother), pilot of the Cerastus Knight Lancer, Contegris

Yes, I'm a Knight guy. Of course I'm going to give inordinate attention to the Knights. Too bad. Add them to the Lexicanum or Warhammer 40k Wiki, that's fine.

Anyway, while the Taranis Knights patrol, Alixia-Dyos releases some warp-tainted Dark Mechanicum tech to signal her allies. Roosev notices something, but can't find her. Oh dear.

At the meeting, Frenk makes accusations of Belisarius, but he counters every single one of them with cold logic, and thus Anaxerxes - who assumes the role of judge and arbitrator - dismisses Frenk's accusations and basically tells him to shut the binharic up. Then Belisarius shares his plan: there is a region of space called Calligan's Maw near a supermassive black hole, and a world is caught at the very edge of the event horizon. Thus, time has slowed to a crawl for that world, which the necrons call Irtanathep. On that world, Belisarius believes, is a pylon control nexus that can serve as an integrated control system for his devices to close the Cicatrix Maledictum.

By the way, Belisarius received this information when the Pharos was destroyed during the events of Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, so you probably want to read that book because Genefather makes references to it. And To Speak as One, if you want to know what AsanethAyu the cryptek is doing on Zar Quaesitor and why Frenk and the Inquisition are so pissed off at our dear Belisarius.

Anaxerxes and the other magi from the various forge worlds discuss what to do after hearing all this, and Belisarius leaves them to it. In the meantime, Alpha Primus has a psychic premonition, and Belisarius returns to his ship, while leaving Qvo-89 and X99 to explore the pyramid where the tech-priests and magi had gathered, to map the place out. Unsurprisingly, Oswen shows up with his map and helps with the exploration, though Qvo-89 is reluctant. The presence of a webway gate and certain Aeldari aesthetics have Belisarius and Qvo089 speculating that Pontus Arvenes was a place of alliance, where the old humans of the Dark Age of Technology held peaceful meetings with the Aeldari here, and that the artificial world was built to cater to xenos visitors.

Bile shows up to tell Belisarius to hand over the Sangprimus Portum. Naturally, Belisarius refuses. Then Bile blacks out his ship, using Qvo-89 as a conduit. Apparently, Alixia-Dyos - who left the box that was supposed to be Kalisperis - grabbed Qvo-89 when he was down exploring the webway gate below the pyramid and thrust a dataspike into his eye, using his connetion to the Zar Quaesitor to shut down systems. At this point, Qvo-89 was separated from X99 and the Kastelan robots, so that's how he ended up abducted. This allows Bile and his forces to land on the ship and wreak havoc, though the beastmen end up getting slaughtering by the Skitarii (with the exception of Brutus). They are only a distraction, though. While Iota and the Skitarii muster in force to protect the Sangprimus Portum, Bile heads straight to Alpha Primus.

Meanwhile, Bile's trap has unleashed the cryptek, and now a vengeful AsanethAyu is hellbent on killing Belisarius. Of course, our dear Archmagos Dominus outwits her, grabbing a plasma carbine and blasting her head off. Heh. He grabs her head and rushes toward Alpha Primus, realizing Bile's true intentions.

Thrule's renegades and deamon engines show up on Pontus Arvenes, and engage the Knights of House Taranis in combat. Roosev leads a charge, and the Knights absolutely wreck the Chaos Space Marines and daemon engines...until Thrule shows up and disables Iurgium. Uh oh.

Meanwhile, servitors pour out from the webway gate. Qvo-89 slowly musters his will and fights back against Alixia-Dyos's intrusion, severing the Dark Mechanicum's connection and reactivating the Zar Quaesitor. The Kastelan robots and X99 show up, pulverizing the servitors and demolishing the webway gate after Alixia-Dyos and her servitors flee through it, ensuring they won't come back. The Skitarii push back and slaughter the remnants of the beastmen, and Alpha Primus slays Brutus in combat before confronting Fabius Bile. Porter attacks, but is defeated by Alpha Primus, though he underestimates her and leaves her be instead of finishing her off once and for all, eager as he is to apprehend Bile. Unfortuantely, this proves to be his undoing, for Porter springs once more and dishelms him. Though he handily smacks her away, Bile sprays him with toxin to incapacitate him.

Bile also senses Magnus's gene-seed in Alpha Primus, and realizes how amazing he is. He's a chimera, a blend of several geneseeds, though only Magnus's is confirmed so far. He proceeds to take Alpha Primus's progenoid glands.

Belisarius finally arrives, a bit too late, and Bile holds Alpha Primus hostage. Belisarius admits that Alpha Primus is his son, and Bile doesn't kill him. Instead, he and Porter leave, and with a heavy heart, Belisarius orders the Zar Quaesitor not to fire on his ship and allow him to leave, because Bile has some toxin syringe jabbed into Alpha Primus. Fortunately, it'll disable once Bile escapes to the warp, so Belisarius is able to remove that and save his son.

Meanwhile, Thrule hacks into Iurgium, and this is where the ghosts in the Throne Mechanicum come into play. The long dead Elder Maven shows up and banishes the data daemons and scrap code that threaten to overwhelm Iurgium's systems, and Roosev is able to regain control of his Knight before defeating Thrule. With that, the battle for Pontus Arvenes ends in the Mechanicus and House Taranis's victory...though admittedly, Bile got away and achieved his goal, so it's Bile's victory over Belisarius. Oh, well. Anaxerxes and the other magi and their Skitarii were able to keep the daemon engines, servitors and Chaos Space Marines at bay too, defeating them with the help of the Knights.

In the aftermath, Accatran and Tigrus support Belisarius's endeavors, but Metalica refuses, and help Frenk petition Mars to declare him a heretek and have his rank revoked. Kolumbari-Enas and the Disciples of Nul now have the robot from Bile and they proceed to revive Sota-Nul in the robot, using it as a vessel for her. Bile admires the artistry in Belisarius's creation of Alpha-Primus's gene-seed. Belisarius fails to persuade the beheaded AsanethAyu to help him and seals her head inside somewhere. Fortunately, he now has Qvo-89 to play regicide with.

That's where it ends, and I think this is basically the outcome:

Bile has Alpha-Primus's gene-seed and will create new Space Marines for Abaddon.

The Disciples of Nul might revive Sota-Nul.

Belisarius Cawl and the Tech-priests of Tigrus and Accatran are heading to Calligan's Maw to steal Necron tech and test out his machines to seal the Cicatrix Maledictum for good.

The Excertus Imperialis

The Excertus Imperialis. Basically the Horus Heresy era counterpart of the Departmento Munitorum, Astra Militarum and Navis Imperialis. The vast, sprawling body of the Imperium's military and support structure is known collectively as the Excertus Imperialis, and it encompasses the billions of second line and support troops, functionaries, laborers, void crew, logisticians and the myriad of other personnel. The Solar Auxilia and the Imperial Army, or Imperialis Auxilia, are but divisions under this immense entity.

I had an idea about doing a video, like Arbitor Ian or Luetin09 or Oculus Imperia, but I don't think anyone wants to listen to my horrible voice. So I'll spare everyone the suffering of having to listen to me ramble and instead provide a written article on what we know about the Excertus Imperialis. Logistics aside, we probably want to look at the main military arms that are under the Excertus Imperialis: The Solar Auxilia and the Imperialis Auxilia, or Imperial Army. The Imperialis Militia, also known as Imperial Militia, are part of the Imperialis Auxilia, but they form the lowest and most common run of the wider Imperial Army. They are, in effect, the counterpart to the modern 41st millennium's Planetary Defense Force.

However, in reality, there is very little to distinguish between the better armed or more culturally warlike Imperialis Militias from the supposedly superior Imperialis Auxilia. Much like the 41st millennium, each Imperial world offers up a tithe, so a proportion of their militia regiments to serve in the starfaring Imperial Army, but otherwise, their wargear, weapons, equipment and vehicles are largely the same. Until you see the Third Line rule and the restrictions of taking only a single Leman Russ tank per slot instead of the option of taking squadrons (unless you take the Industrial Stronghold Provenance), and roll your eyes. Damn.

As for the Imperial Army, you probably would have heard of the Old One Hundred. The first mention of them stemmed from Dan Abnett's Legion, and Dan Abnett - being known for his signature Gaunt's Ghosts series - developed a narrative stemming from the more human perspective of the Horus Heresy, focusing on the men of the Imperial Army. Legion proved to be divisive, but I personally think it's a great book. It was also where we first heard about the Old One Hundred, with the novel featuring the Geno Chiliads and the Lucifer Blacks, who become a mainstay in Imperium lore, often guarding the Imperial Palace alongside the Palatine Sentinels (who, strangely enough, aren't Old One Hundred, and are instead employed by the Adeptus Custodes). Lucifer Blacks are among the Imperial Army regiments who have transformed into an Imperial Guard regiment in the modern 41st millennium, though the fate of so many others remain unknown. The Lucifer Blacks are known to serve both during the War of the Beast in the 32nd millennium, as well as defending the palace during the Khornate invasion at Lion's Gate shortly before Roboute Guilliman's return.

Old One Hundred regiments include:

Luficer Blacks

Geno Chiliad

ConFed Gun Brotherhoods

Thorosian Voltigeurs

Ouranti Draks

Angkorian Dragoons

Antioch Miles Vesperi

Catharti Arraigners

Cordesh Cavalry

Golden Hegara

Inferallti Hussars

Kimmerine Corps Bellum

Kushtun Naganda

Qui-Helic Guard

Tupelov Lancers

The Old One Hundred were among the very first human armies who served alongside the Emperor and his Thunder Warrior regiments during the Unification Wars. Upon the Emperor's victory and the unification of Terra, the survivors of these human armies formed the core of the newly formed Imperial Army, and they were regarded very highly.

Other Imperial Army regiments include the Prosperine Spireguard, whose loyalty remained to the Thousand Sons Legion during the Horus Heresy, and continued to serve them even into the 32nd millennium. The Calth Irregulars and Calth Infantry formed part of the Ultramar Auxilia, serving alongside the Ultramarines Legion. The Byzant Janizars appear to be loyal to the Luna Wolves, and the Caliban Jaegers fought beside the Dark Angels to defend Caliban during the Horus Heresy. The Fasadian Heavy Infantry remained loyal to the Emperor and fought during the Titandeath event in Beta-Garmon. The Veridan Korracts were known to fight alongside the Iron Hands, who viewed them with disdain because they were...uh, flesh and thus weak. Don't ask. The Charonid Sentinels and Terranic Auxilia served alongside the Space Wolves during the burning of Prospero, clashing against the Prosperine Spireguard as the VIth Legion hunted the Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons.

The Imperial Militia, to sum it up, are planetary defense forces raised to put down rebellions and insurrections, and defend against xenos raiders. Each regiment is specific to their homeworld, and there is a vast variety in the way they are equipped or dressed. While, in lore, this is down to the sheer number of worlds throughout the Imperium (a million worlds) and how each is basically isolated from each other by unimaginable distances, which means each world has developed its own culture, history, patterns of uniform, equipment, technology, armor, weapons, vehicles, etc., in the tabletop, it's up to the player to kitbash and customize their own Imperial Army regiment. The rules...are not great, especially with Third Line, but the idea is probably to field lots of cheap, low quality troops and vehicles. But that's where the Provenances come in, allowing you to kitbash anything from elite grenadiers wielding volkite weapons to lots of Third Line tanks to entire phalanxes of cavalry riding horses or bikes and wielding spears. The sky's the limit, as they say.

On the other hand, for a more uniform experience, you have the Solar Auxilia. At the point of the Horus Heresy, the elite Solar Auxilia make up 25% of the Imperial Army. Probably to justify why there's so many Solar Auxilia armies running around on the tabletop as opposed to, say, Imperial Militia or Imperial Army armies. Based off the revered Saturnine Hoplites...uh, actually, based off the Void Hoplites of the Saturnye Order and organized into cohorts (with the first ten cohorts known collectively as the Saturnye Rams), they form the bulk of the first line armies.

They're mostly recognizable because of their Solar Pattern Void Armor, which is basically an environmentally sealed carapace armor that allows them to fight in the void. Yeah, they are also meant to serve as armsmen aboard voidcraft and spacefaring vessels. The precursor to Imperial Navy Breachers of the modern 41st millennium. Their vehicles and tanks are mostly specialized, enclosed armor that allow them to operate in any environment, including the void. Mars-Solar pattern Leman Russ tanks, for example, have radiological shielding, and can operate in hostile environments. They also have super-heavy tanks. Yay.

Now, the thing about the Solar Auxilia is that...well, we all know how varied the Imperial Army can be, right? With a million worlds, and at least just as many different Imperial Army regiments, it's hard to have a uniform model line where anyone can pick up and not wonder, "Hey, why do all these Imperial Army regiments look the same when they're from different worlds?" Especially for those hobbyists who are less interested in kitbashing, customizing and more interested in playing, and love the idea of fielding mortal human armies instead of the same old transhuman Astartes. So you need a line of army to cater to that huge group of players who don't have the time or interest to kitbash and come up with their homebrewed Imperial Army regiment.

Enter the Solar Auxilia.

The Solar Auxilia is a great solution, really, because it's more of a pattern of army regiment than anything. You can have a myriad of worlds adopt the Solar Auxilia Cohorts, void armor, training, formations, and even vehicles, because they are just that effective, and thus everyone wants to emulate these elite soldiers of the Imperial Army. And yet, you don't need them to all come from Terra or Saturn. You have the Cthonian Headhunters who accompany the Luna Wolves or Sons of Horus, and are feral. Paint them however you want, and say they are raised from your own homebrewed planet. Though the model range is uniform, there's still room for some customization, such as paintjobs and stuff. At the same time, it explains why there's so many of them. All these different worlds see how effective they are on the battlefield, so they try to adopt the same doctrines, and field the same kind of void carapace armor, equipment and weapons. There you go. No need to think about why your Solar Auxilia army from your homebrewed planet looks like your friend's Solar Auxilia army from another world. But because they're from different worlds, they naturally have different paintjobs and colors, probably as allegiances to their planetary governors or as camouflage for that specific planet's environment.

However, after Forge World released the model range for Solar Auxilia, back after Black book #4: Conquest was published with new rules, they also had to cater for those players who did want to kitbash. Those who are willing to invest lots of effort into creating their homebrewed Imperial Army regiments by kitbashing and going wild with whatever bits they can find from the Citadel range. Hence, in Black book #5: Tempest, the rules for Imperial Militia and Cults were released, allowing hobbyists who did have the time and desire to customize their own unique Imperial Army regiments. Let their imagination go wild! You know, like those crazy human armies that had Dark Age of Technology weapons who attempted to resist the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade? How would it be like to create an army like that, huh? Or those who agreed to Compliance, and later wielded their Old Night arsenal against the Traitors who attempt to conquer their worlds to seize their weapons for the Warmaster?

Hordes of conscripts back with artillery, like those serving alongside the Iron Warriors? You got it. Squats? Okay. Rough Riders on horseback wielding lances? Sure. Abhumans, ogryns, beasts and mutants? Certainly. Chaos spawn, warp cultists and monsters? Go for it. Cyborg soldiers that are not quite Skitarii but have close ties to the Mechanicum? Hell, yeah! Elite soldiers wielding weapons from the Dark Age of Technology and riding Rhinos or Land Raiders? Enjoy!

Provenances

Speaking of which, I thought I should compare the Provenances of 1.0 and 2.0 and see what's the difference.

1.0

Warrior Elite: +1 to Leadership, and Militia Levy become Support squads.

Gene-crafted: +1 to Strength, but no Feel No Pain.

Cyber-augmetics: 6++ invulnerable save or +1 bonus to an invulnerable save to a max of 3++. Reduce Run and Sweeping Advance rolls by -1. Can't take with Gene-crafted.

Alchem-jackers: Stubborn during Assault, and if they fail morale, they are pinned instead of Falling Back. Taking Frenzon gives them Rage and forces them to make Sweeping Advances.

Survivors of the Dark Age: +1 to their armor save to a max of 3+. Must take Grenadiers as Troops, and Inducted Levy becomes Support squads. Can't take with Cult Horde or Tainted Flesh. Taking Advanced Weapons gives +1 Strength to las weapons and rotor cannons for Grenadiers and command squads, and they can also take Rhinos or Land Raiders as Dedicated Transports.

Feral Warriors: +1 to weapon skill to a max of 4, while Ogryns get +1 Attack. Can't take more vehicles than infantry. Taking Blade and Fury gives non-Ogryns +1 Attack.

Abhuman Helots: +1 to Toughness but -1 to Initiative. Taking Discipline Collars gives them Stubborn, but failing a morale check with double 6s kills them (probably blow off their heads). Attached Characters can Fall Back.

Traitor only - Cult Horde: Gain Zealot, but must charge an enemy if able, even if they fire rapid fire or heavy weapons (not Relentless, so you still make snap shots with heavy weapons). Actually, you make snap shots with all shooting attacks and can't go to ground. Can't take Grenadiers, and can't take with Survivors of the Dark Age.

Traitor only - Tainted Flesh: Gain Fear and Feel No Pain (6+), and close combat attacks gain Rending. Must take Levy squads as Troops, and can't take more infantry units than Levy squads, with the exception of HQ choices, which are restricted to Force Commander and Rogue Psyker. Can take Mutant Spawn as Heavy Support, and can't take with Survivors of the Dark Age, Gene-Crafted or Alchem-jackers.

2.0

Warrior Elite: +1 Leadership, Levy squads become Support squads, and Grenadiers lose Support squads. Grenadiers the only real change here, aside from them naturally becoming Support squads without this Provenance.

Legacy of the Great Crusade: Grenadiers, Command squads and Discipline Masters get BS4 (they got nerfed to BS3 in 2.0), and Force Commander has Initiative 5.

Clanfolk Levy: Cavalry taken as Compulsory Troops get +1 Leadership (but can't take them as non-Compulsory Troops), and you get 4 additional Fast Attack slots - all for Cavalry only.

Gene-crafted: Completely changed to getting something on a dice roll for each unit at the start of the battle. A 1 means the unit starts the battle pinned. 2-5 gives them one of the following: Fleet (2), move Through Cover or Night Vision. 6 gives them all of those, or you can choose one: Relentless, Stubborn, and Adamantium Will (6+). Uh...I prefer the old +1 Strength.

Cyber-augmetics: Gets Feel No Pain (6+) and Slow and Purposeful. Can't take with Gene-crafted. Basically, the invulnerable save is changed to Feel No Pain, but you do get to fire heavy weapons without Snap Shots.

Alchem-jacker: Stubborn during Assault, and Pinned if they fail morale during shooting phase if they still have over half their models left. Taking Frenzon gives them Furious Charge (1). I guess they changed the Pinned thing to only shooting phase and needing more than half to survive (probably because they overcompensated for Fearless mobs in 1.0), and Frenzon now gives them Furious Charge instead of Rage.

Survivors of the Dark Age: Grenadiers and Command squads can take Rhinos, Termite Assault Drills or Land Raiders as Dedicated Transport, but they become Third Line and BS3. Can take Voidjumpers that make them jet pack infantry with 2 pistols each. Other than the Rhinos and Land Raiders as Dedicated Transport, it's completely changed.

Armory of Old Night: Upgrade lasguns to lasrifles for free. Grenadiers and Command squads can take volkite serpentas, volkite chargers and volkite culverins or needle pistols, assault needlers, needle vulnus and needle cannons, while the Force Commander has access to paragon blade and archeotech pistol. The other half of the old Survivors of the Dark Age, but better than the previous +1 Strength to las weapons. Volkite, dudes! Volkite! Woohoo!

Feral Warriors: +1 to Weapon Skill, and must charge. Can take chainaxes. Seems better for Ogryns, otherwise, it's the same, except that you get chainaxes instead of +1 attack.

Kinfolk Helots: +1 to Toughness and -1 to Movement and Initiative. Characters get Battlesmith (6+) or (5+) if they are Independent. Can't take with Ogryn Conscripts. Abhuman Helots without Discipline Collars, and now Kin (or Squats). Space Dwarves. Whatever. Good riddance, the Discipline Collars were dumb.

Abhuman Muster: +1 Strength, -1 BS, become Bulky (2), get Hammer of Wrath (1) or (2) if they're Independent Characters or Monstrous. Can't take with Ogryn Conscripts. I guess this is where Gene-crafted went...no more Discipline Collars. Yay.

Debased Rabble: Must be Traitor. Gain Crusader and Hatred, but must charge. Can't take Grenadiers or with Survivors of the Dark Age. Basically the old Cult Horde, but Crusader and Hatred instead of Zealot. At least you don't have to worry about snap shots when shooting.

Tainted Flesh: Fear (1) and Furious Charge (1), but must take Levy squads, and can't take more infantry units than Levy squads, except HQ choices, which can only be Force Commander and Rogue Psyker. Can't take with Survivors of the Dark Age, Gene-Crafted, Ogryn Conscripts or Alchem-jackers. Same as 1.0 except that Feel No Pain is replaced by Furious Charge, and no more Rending.

Ogryn Conscripts: Ogryns are Troops, and get Line if they are Compulsory Troops. Characters can now join Ogryn squads even though they are Monstrous.

Industrial Stronghold: Gain 2 extra Heavy Support slots for Leman Russ tanks, and you can take up to 6 in each slot. Can't take with Unending Horde, Debased Rabble, Tainted Flesh or Ogryn Conscripts, for obvious reasons. Basically, they nerfed our ability to take lots of vehicles and made it a Provenance.

Unending Horde: Infantry and Levy squads get to "revive" on a 4+ whenever they get wiped out (well, they are "new" reserve units), but attached Characters stay dead. Grenadiers become Elite.

Arms of the Omnissiah: Upgrade lasguns to lasrifles for free. Grenadiers and command squads can take laslocks and arc rifles, while the Force Commander can take a corposant stave and radium pistol (making him a Skitarii Marshal). He can also take a servo-arm, so if you want a Tech-priest...there you go. Can't take with Armory of Old Night. Funnily enough, you're still not sworn brothers with the Mechanicum like you would be if you take Cyber-augmetics (for both 1.0 and 2.0). What were they thinking? Pretty much the Mechanicum version of Armory of Old Night.

Augmented Levy: Levy squads get +1 Leadership, Stubborn, Rite of Pure Thought, and must be Compulsory Troops. Again, you can't have more Infantry units than Levy squads, except HQ choices, and Discipline Masters can't join Levy squads. Can't take Abhuman Muster, Tainted Flesh, Gene-crafted, Unending Hordes, Feral Warriors or Ogryn Conscripts. Almost an alternative version of Tainted Flesh, but with Tech-Thralls as your main troops.

Forge Remnants: Grenadiers and Command squads can take Triaros Armored Conveyors as Dedicated Transport, and you get 3 additional Heavy Support slots, but they must be Krios squadrons. Obviously, they become Third Line and BS3. Can't take with Survivors of the Dark Age or Clanfolk Levy. The Mechanicum version of Survivors of the Dark Age, in other words.

Well, the point of the Provenances is to demonstrate just how varied your Imperial Militia or Cult army can be, given that there are a million worlds, and there's room for you to customize them however you want. The addition of the Mechanicum-like Provenances is supposedly to allow you to assemble a Skitarii army when there's no Skitarii rules in Horus Heresy (seriously?). So you use Imperial Militia to assemble Skitarii, which is...uh, not exactly a satisfactory stopgap measure. But it's a fun kitbashing project, especially with arc rifles and laslocks. Probably use Skitarii Rangers with their galvanic rifles as Grenadiers with laslocks, and a couple of arc rifle gunners thrown into the mix, and there you go. Force Commander as a Skitarii Marshal, and with Warrior Elite, you have a pseudo Skitarii army right there. Hell, kitbash a single Onager Dunecrawler and call it your "Leman Russ" tank with gravis autocannon (replace the missile pod with a heavy bolter or lascannon). Or use a Skorpius Dunerider in place of a Cargo-8 Hauler, complete with the heavy stubbers that you always intended to equip it with.

For me, personally, my Imperialis Militia are Household Militia for my Questoris Knight Household, and as such, they have better gear and weapons than the common Imperial Army soldier. Since Knights are relics from the Dark Age of Technology, wonders dating back to before Old Night and the Age of Strife, it's feasible that Draconis III - a Knight World - has an extensive armory dating back to Old Night that came along with the Knights.

Hence the arsenal of volkite weapons at their disposal. Unfortunately, they separated the Armory of Old Night Provenance from the old Survivors of the Dark Age Provenance, or I would be putting them in Rhinos or even Land Raiders. Oh, well. Anyway, I would like to think that Household Militia are basically part of the Excertus Imperialis. Just as how the Cthonian Headhunters fought alongside the Luna Wolves and were loyal to the Sons of Horus, or the Prosperine Spireguard were subordinated to the Thousand Sons, or the Calth Irregulars and Infantry were part of the greater Ultramar Auxilia that served the Ultramarines, Knight Household Militia were also categorized as under the Excertus Imperialis, as part of the greater body of the Imperialis Auxilia.

Go wild, my friends, and let your imagination flow!

2023 Year in Review?

I see the folks at Goonhammer doing this, so I thought it would be fun. However, I don't do New Year Resolutions, and I don't really have hobby goals. I mean, I have plans and an idea of what I want to do, but I don't make them my goals - most of what I want to do are entirely dependent on my finances. For example, if I don't have a job this spring (and that's looking to be the case), obviously, I can't buy much. So it would be pointless having a hobby goal saying I intend to paint x models or whatever, because that's not feasible. Not only that, Games Workshop often announce new releases and new models. I didn't know in Deccember 2022 that they would release the Legiones Astartes Battle Group near the end of 2023, for example. Nor did I know when they would eventually release the PDF for Imperial Militia. I'll just buy and paint whatever and whenever I like, and that's that.

As for games, I usually have no problem getting games because I go to Dreamers Vault every Saturday. So I don't see a point in setting a goal for playing x games this year because...why? I play when I want to, I play to have fun, not to meet...some numerical goal. And I can't be bothered to keep count. Also, I could say I want to do better at Horus Heresy Renegade in 2024, but it's more likely that I'll be back in Singapore in November and thus unable to participate. So yeah. Life happens. So I have no intention of setting hobby goals or New Year resolutions. Instead, what I'm going to do for this article is do a review of what I have done, have fun, and enjoy staring at the armies I did manage to assemble and paint. I might do that next year too.

Ultimately, this is a hobby. I don't want to stress over it or try to meet objectives/goals. I just want to have fun and enjoy myself, then pat myself on the back for whatever I've accomplished, even if I didn't deliberately set out to accomplish those. For now, I'm going to look back and see what I did do over 2023.

First, I assembled and painted new additions to my Imperial Guard army. I believe I added a Rogal Dorn tank, a Death Korps of Krieg platoon, a Commissar, a Cadian Castellan, and several squads of Kasrkins, as well as Armored Sentinels. In addition to the tanks I already have (Leman Russ Executioners, a Carnodon tank and a Stormblade), as well as a Primaris Psyker and a Tech-priest Enginseer, I pretty much have nothing else to add to my Imperial Guard army. I'm satisfied with it, and have no intention of expanding further.

So that's the first thing I did for 2023. Imperial Guard.

I think I gave away 3 Sentinels (the old ones) and 1 Leman Russ tank to my friend, so they have been diminished a bit, but quite frankly, I don't think I need them anyway. So yeah.

I think I added a Warlord Titan, and more Knights (2 Knight Castigators and 2 Knight Styrixes) to my Adeptus Titanicus collection.

Oh, and as you can see, my Imperial Militia are there too. So that's my second army of 2023. Imperial Militia. I say "army" but they really are more of Household Militia for my Questoris Knight Household in Horus Heresy. A tiny Allied Detachment to back up my Knights than an actual army.

Speaking of which, I pretty much completed my Thousand Sons army for Horus Heresy.

Doesn't look that different from my Thousand Sons army from 2022, and that's mostly because the only additions in 2023 are 5 more Cataphractii Terminators and 5 more Life Wards for my Numerologist Cabal. I plan to add the new Librarian Consul for Thousand Sons to my army, but that's something for next year because they'll only ship it next week (January 5th). Oh, well. I *might* get more MKIII Marines and turn them into Thousand Sons Despoilers, depending on whether Games Workshop release melee weapon upgrades in plastic for Horus Heresy, and also depending on whether I can afford it. If I do so, I might just sell the MKVI Marines and go all in on MKIII (plus I think I want to go Pyrae Despoilers instead of Pavoni Tactical squads anyway).

It is also possible I might just sell my Thousand Sons because I need to return to Singapore and I don't know if I can ship all of my stuff home. I know for sure I'm shipping my Knights back.

As for my favorite and first army, Imperial Knights, I added 2 Armiger Helverins. And here they are, along with my Imperial Militia (their Household Militia). I don't know if I plan to add any more Armigers, but chances are, I probably will not. Never mind the lack of money and that they are always out of stock, I won't be using them much unless I get to play massive games, and even then, I'll just proxy my Armiger Moirax as Helverins.

After that, I finished assembling and painting my Dark Angels battle group. Kind of proud of what I did with them. They're missing a Champion Consul (who's still out of stock, infuriatingly enough) and maybe a Rhino, but that's something for next year, I suppose. Again, depending on how much money I have, I might eventually get a Dark Angels Contemptor Dreadnought, but we'll see.

Last of all, I added a bunch of Skitarii to my Skitarii Hunter Cohort so that I can play 3,000 point games. I already have a huge Skitarii force, so...it wasn't that much. And I also got them cheaply because I bought them secondhanded (though I had to assemble and paint them myself). Getting them ready for the Pariah Nexus Crusade next year. Unfortunately, they didn't announce it in this week's preorders today. Yikes. I was so looking forward to it. Sigh. I *might* get a Sydonian Skratos, but again, that depends.

That's all! Again, I don't do hobby goals, but I do have concrete things I need to get done, as well as some ideas. I have a plastic Cerastus Knight Lancer that I plan to assemble and paint this week. Why the rush, you might ask? Well, because I want to play with him. Honestly, the only reason why I assemble and paint models is to field them on the tabletop and watch them wreak havoc on my opponents or withstand blistering volleys from my foes (that's why I play Knights, because I love the durability). Unfortunately, I'll have to tone down on the Knights because they seem...a bit too strong this edition. I don't know why. Aside from the matched play game against Adeptus Custodes, they have been stomping every other opponent in Crusade, and it's not fun for my opponents.

Hence the Skitarii Hunter Cohort. Yeah, I have one Knight, heh, but the point is to have friendlier and less one-sided games. I want my opponents to have fun too.

I *might* get a Cerastus Knight Castigator in the summer, while doing an internship. I don't know. Again, it depends on how much money I have. If I'm broke as feth, then obviously I won't. Probably wait until I get a job in Singapore before I spend some of my first paycheck on a Knight Castigator. Otherwise, yeah. That, along with plastic Solar Auxilia, is what I'll have my eye on for 2024, but again, if I'm broke as a joke, then obviously, I'll prioritize food, rent and bills. Needs must, and all that. I can tell you this for sure: I can't afford Legions Imperialis, and I probably will not be getting Space Marines or Solar Auxilia for Epic scale. Until Games Workshop releases rules for me to use Knights as my primary army, I probably won't play Legions Imperialis...simply because I can't afford it. I would love to play it, but...quite frankly, I don't have the money for it, and it's a bit daunting to assemble and paint an entirely new army. Sigh. That might or might not change, depending on what happens next year. Maybe I might finally get recognized for my efforts and be hired as a professional novelist or something (fat hope, that will never happen - if it does, I promise you I'll spend a significant amount on Legions Imperialis, building an entire armored company of super-heavy tanks, Leman Russ tanks and Heavy Aethon Sentinels). But...yeah.

Whether I get new models or armies or not, I will definitely be playing more games, whether it's Pariah Nexus Crusade, Horus Heresy or even Adeptus Titanicus. Looking forward to expanding more on Crusade next year! Not only am I excited to see the narrative progress, read up on what Belisarius Cawl is up to and join him in his quest to get both blackstone and steal Necron tech, I want to actually field my Skitarii Hunter Cohort against Necrons and see how they fare! If my Skitarii get crushed too many times, I'll switch back to Knights, and we'll see how that goes. If it's still too one-sided, then...we'll adjust accordingly.

I'll also be posting blog articles whenever I can. I have an Excertus Imperialis article planned eventually (more on Imperial Militia than Solar Auxilia, but we'll see). And if I have the time and energy, I'll do a repeat on the article I did for 7th edition Adeptus Mechanicus, but this time on Thousand Sons (Coven). Maybe Imperial Guard (Cadian Battle Group). But I might not bother because I need to rewrite my dissertation, and that takes up a lot of time and energy. We'll see. Like I said, I don't like setting myself "hobby goals" or New Year Resolution. So no promises, but it's fun to entertain ideas, and I enjoy writing them. Besides, nobody reads them (or wants to read them) anyway, so I don't feel any pressure to write them. I'll also throw in spoilers for whatever novels I read, and the next one coming up is Genefather by Guy Haley. That one, I think people read, because I usually post the link on the Warhammer 40,000 Lore thread in Reddit.

Oh, and to cap off what has been a fairly good 2023, here's my crowning glory.

I actually won a tournament. Heh. Yeah, it says Adeptus Titanicus, but I'm not the best Princeps. I'm the best Daimyo (basically the equivalent of Baron for my Knight House) because I fielded a Knight Household Army for the tournament. I basically went all Knights (or Knight Lances with a single supporting Warlord Titan). Yay! I guess this pretty much sums up my year. Great fun with my Knights, whether it's 28mm scale or Adeptus Titanicus. Knights of House Yato, we march!