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Combat patrol is a bit disappointing.

The article cites SpikeyBits as "excellent"... you'll forgive me if I don't take it entirely seriously.

Not to mention we do have proof of people acting in ways that could indicate contempt for customers. For example, whoever made the decision to delete entire ranges of units/loadouts that were common until now could certainly be said to have contempt for the time people put into building their massive HH armies. Whoever is pushing for a harder split between ranges to make it more difficult for people to use their HH models in official 40k events after hard selling cross compatibility (i.e. Leviathan dreads) seems to not be all that concerned about how customers might feel. Whoever chose to release a premium cost rulebook that needs a large Day One DLC to fix it probably cares less about getting a quality product into people's hands than he does about getting people's money into GW's bank accounts. And so on. That kind of person is who people are referring to when they speak about "contempt," not the Peachies and Louises and the real nerdy fanboys grinding things out under The Man.

Or, hear me out, you might actually want to play the army because of what it is, rather than what people on the internet pretend is optimally efficient. Army rules aren't supposed to be merely a delivery system for maximum damage output (or whatever the current meta says is the new hotness), they're also supposed to convey a certain character and atmosphere. I mean, if I basically just wanted to do a lot of Excel sheets, I could get a job doing that.

Before the wave of complaints come in about retreading ground, I would just say that I am so excited to have a PoV on the Massacre written by French! Guy knows how to write pitched and grinding warfare better than most and I genuinely don't think BL has done the Massacre justice yet. So a straight win in my book.

It is not contempt. It's important to remember that the people working at Workshop are decent, caring folk who enjoy what they do. They're not paid squillions so there's a lot more love than folk imagine. What the edition feels like is competing business units vying for different outcomes for their own different BU reasons. I think everyone understands there's a 'tension' between the quality of a product and the sale/marketing of it. One side wants it to be good and hang when it goes out. The other wants to release, regardless. Both sides are understandable for different reasons. Language such as contempt are unfair to the individuals.

WarCom Article.

I may have just the thing.

Glad that guy showed his fingers in the leak, I cannot be accused with my sausage fingers.

All very well and good but it really should have been in the book.

I think they should stick to a six year cycle and have a new mid edition themed starter set released at the three year mark.

Looks like something got posted early on GW's German IG page. I thought I saw something about this guy getting a model recently but I don't remember where.

When the nightbringer first came out it blew my mind. This does its predecessor justice. "Nightbringer" sounds really dark and ominous. "Portador de la noche" sounds like someone who works the night shift at a Mexican hotel.

Fraters, I've had the best experience this last weekend and feel the need to share it. Sorry, if this might seem pointless to you Preface: For some time now, roughly a year, I've been falling out of love with 40k more and more. It all started in 9th, a rules system that I loathed (I nevertheless see the benefits and detail that brother PenitentOne cherishes). The mental load had gotten too far, I spent too much time flipping through an assortment of rulebooks and focussing less on the cool minis on the table. I always loved 40k for its visuals, its style and its lore. I loved the rules up until roughly 5th edition, but also enjoyed 8th. After that every game and prep felt like a chore. Never a competitive gamer, but someone who still plays the game with his oldest friend once every 3 months or so (and occasionaly with his godson, said friend's oldest son), I basically had to learn the rules for each game we played anew - 3 months is just too long a time to keep all the minutiae of current rules memorized. But games were taking longer and longer and we had continuallly less fun. When 10th launched, we played one game, hoping that unit cards and less stratagems would help. They did not. And it colored my entire love for the hobby - I've been into warhammer since around '96-'97, even worked freelance for the company at some point, participated in Golden Demon and all that. But the game itself was strangling my hobby enthusiasm, well, that and the really shoddy marketing GW has been putting out in the past 4-5 years (sorry, longtime marketing professional, I just can't stand their current approach, but enjoyed the way they handled it in the late 2010s). We basically abandoned the game, for most of the latter half of 9th we had been playing more and more AOS, since it had a better flow. That, too, felt quite stressful at times with the amount of special rules, but still was more manageable than current 40k. Through recent discussions we found that we longed for the days where marines basically were all the same, but differed because of their loadouts, i.e. tactical squad, assault squad, devastator squad. No such nonsense as tons of circumstancial special rules. We just really don't need our guys to all be special. And we just didn't have 3 to 4 hours for just one single game. So, people kept bringing up OnePageRules. To tell the truth, I usually don't care for alternate rules sets. But at this point I felt I had nothing to lose, really. So I looked at the rules (mildly interested), but then discovered that the armies are basically 40k factions with a different name. This was a game changer, because even my first tries had me building all my armies in no time. A closer look at their special rules revealed that these did fit the spirit of what these units were in my mind. Cool. I convinced my friend to give it a go. He was apprehensive at first, but agreed to try it because he saw that it was important to me to rekindle our love for 40k in some shape or form. And last weekend we tried it out. It was glorious! I haven't been as prepared (rules-wise) for a 40k game in ages, exactly because it's just one page of rules. Last week I built a 3-player-scenario for us to play, Blood Angels vs Death Guard vs Necrons. The scenario was pretty asymmetrical and more narrative, I had ChatGPT help with the odds regarding victory points, then I layoutet the entire thing to look as close as possible to official publications. So, with 3 players, having never played the rules set or the armies, we played a little over 3 hours. The game with its alternating unit activations kept us all in the game the entire time. It flowed. Every time we had to look up a rule it was done with a glance, no flipping, no checking 3 different books. And yet, the armies felt like they should - Necrons and Death Guard were hard to take out, marines felt like marines, power armour was tough. The only army builder was ace, offering short, concise descriptions of what the army special rules did. And what's more: the wording was on point and readable, even more so compared to what we saw with heresy 3.0. So, long story short, what is this all about? In recent time I've seen more and more of us veterans mention how they struggle with current 40k and where the game is going. Some of us switch to older editions, some just keep going, some drop out. What OPR has offered us is a modern, yet slim ruleset that feels reminiscent of 40k, but varies enough to be more approachable. That is has most if not all of the newer models covered (aside from named characters, which have been added by the community) is another boon and a leg up over, say, playing 5th ed. What I mean to say is: It took me quite some time to understand that I don't need to and should not wait for GW to fix their rules or change their business practices (I don't have time for a new edition every 3 years). There are alternatives that are worth playing. In my case it's OPR, for you it might be some form of oldhammer. I know your mileage may vary, I know that it's harder to pull off if all you have is pick-up games. But if you've got some friends who are as annoyed with current GWs rules writing, take a look around. You don't have to drop 40k - the lore we all know is still there. But rules are interchangeable, which GW ironically reminds us of every 3 years. :D P.S.: Sorry if this is too long, I might edit it down tomorrow or so. I just felt the need to pour it all out. :) Have some pics of our game in return, even tho 2 armies aren't painted.

Good to see the drop pod kit has been saved under the 30k label.

We have a few changes that are in the works, but these will be rolled out over time. For now, I'm only going to tell you about two of the changes. The first is a reorganization of our Forums. This is what you'll see in the very near future (notes are in italics): ++ GUESTS, ADVERTISERS, AND LOGGED OUT MEMBERS ++ + REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT + + RECOVERING ACCESS TO YOUR ACCOUNT + + ADVERTISING AT THE B&C + This category and the forums within are only seen by guests and by members who aren't logged in. The forums either point to or duplicate information that is provided elsewhere, but it appears at the top of the site to give these visitors important information without having to search for it. ++ WELCOME TO THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD ++ + WELCOME + This forum and category are only seen by new members in the + FRATER NOVUS + group, welcoming them to the community and providing basic information as they begin their participation within the community. ++ COMMUNITY ++ + NEWS, RUMORS, AND BOARD ANNOUNCEMENTS + + AMICUS AEDES + + EVENTS + + INTRODUCE YOURSELF + + THE LEGIO BOLTER & CHAINSWORD + ++ SITE FEATURES ++ Links to each of the other (non-Forums) site features such as Blogs, Clubs, etc. are provided here (in addition to appearing in buttons at the top of the site). ++ AN ETERNITY OF WAR: SETTING AND LORE ++ + AGE OF THE IMPERIUM + + AGE OF DARKNESS + + BLACK LIBRARY + ++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++ + WARHAMMER 40,000 GAME + + WARHAMMER: THE HORUS HERESY + + EPIC SCALE HORUS HERESY GAMES + + KILL TEAM + + NECROMUNDA + + ROLEPLAYING GAMES + + PBP GAMES + + OTHER GAMES + ++ FORGE: HOBBYIST CREATIVITY ++ + GENERAL PCA QUESTIONS + + WORKS IN PROGRESS + + HALL OF HONOUR + + TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S + + THE LIBER + + FAN FICTION + + Fanthology + + SPECIAL PROJECTS + + Legio Imprint + ++ IMPERIUM ++ + ADEPTA SORORITAS + + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + + BLACK TEMPLARS + + BLOOD ANGELS + + DARK ANGELS + + GREY KNIGHTS + + SPACE WOLVES + + ULTRAMARINES + + ADEPTUS MECHANICUS / MECHANICUM + + ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA + + IMPERIAL KNIGHTS + + TALONS OF THE EMPEROR + + THE IMPERIUM OF MANKIND + ++ CHAOS ++ + CHAOS DAEMONS / DAEMONS OF THE RUINSTORM + + CHAOS KNIGHTS + + HERETIC ASTARTES / TRAITOR LEGIONES ASTARTES + + DEATH GUARD + + EMPEROR'S CHILDREN + + THOUSAND SONS + + WORLD EATERS + + REALM OF CHAOS + ++ XENOS ++ + AELDARI + + DRUKHARI + + GENESTEALER CULTS + + LEAGUES OF VOTANN + + NECRONS + + ORKS + + T'AU EMPIRE + + TYRANIDS + ++ ORDO ADMINISTRATUM ++ + ABOUT THE COMMUNITY + + BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 + + BUG REPORTS + + THE SUGGESTION BOX + Here's a rundown of the changes: We're moving some categories up in the sequencing. Not counting the two categories that are only visible to certain members (the ones in orange text), the first two categories that you'll see will remain the same (++ COMMUNITY ++ and ++ SITE FEATURES ++). We decided that we wanted the next three categories to revolve around the three pillars of the hobby: lore, gameplay, and hobbyist creativity. Prior to this, those three categories were scattered throughout the sequencing, with the metafaction categories appearing above most of them. We believe that it is very easy for members to find the metafaction categories and the corresponding (sub)faction (sub)forums in which they are interested, but members often overlook some of the (sub)forums dedicated to the three pillars of the hobby because of where they appear on the site. By consolidating categories and (sub)forums and moving them to the front of the sequencing, we hope to see more participation in discussion about these pillars of the hobby. Each of those pillars and their corresponding categories and (sub)forums is discussed in the following three paragraphs. The current ++ IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE ++ is being adjusted, losing the + OTHER GAMES + forum and its subforums, retaining the + BLACK LIBRARY + forum, gaining the existing + AGE OF DARKNESS + (dedicated to the lore of the Horus Heresy era and prior times), and gaining a new forum for the + AGE OF THE IMPERIUM + (dedicated to the lore of the setting from the time the Emperor was interred on the Golden Throne through the present). The overall category is being re-named ++ AN ETERNITY OF WAR: SETTING AND LORE ++ to make its purpose clear. The current ++ STRATEGIUM ++ category is being expanded. First, the three forums currently in that category (+ OFFICIAL RULES +, + TACTICA +, and + LIBER VICTORUM +) are being combined into a single forum dedicated to the Warhammer 40,000 game. All of the forums and subforums that are dedicated to various games are being moved into this category. The concept is that discussion about rules, tactics, army list composition, battle reports, and anything else related to actually playing the game will be discussed in the forum named for the game. And for those games that don't have a dedicated forum there is the + OTHER GAMES + forum. Of note, the subforums of the + WARHAMMER: THE HORUS HERESY + forum (+ Rules +, + Tactica +, and + Army Lists +) will be merged into the parent forum since there isn't enough activity in any of those subforums to warrant their existence. The overall category is being re-named ++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++ to make its purpose clear. The current ++ FORGE ++ is being expanded from just discussing aspects of painting, converting, and modeling via the + GENERAL PCA QUESTIONS +, + WORKS IN PROGRESS +, + HALL OF HONOUR +, and + TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S + forums (and the latter's subforums) to also include other aspects of hobbyist creativity, including + THE LIBER + (DIY creation), + FAN FICTION + (speaks for itself), and + SPECIAL PROJECTS + (wide ranging projects). The subforums of + TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S + (+ Bases and Terrain Tutorials +, + Painting Tutorials +, + Modelling Tutorials +, and + Photography Tutorials +) will be merged into that forum and tags will be used to identify tutorial types. The overall category is being re-named ++ FORGE: HOBBYIST CREATIVITY ++ to make its purpose clear. The metafaction categories and their (sub)forums remain virtually identical to their current state in terms of what they cover. You'll notice that the names of a few are changing to make their intended subject matter clearer, but these (sub)forums have been intended to cover these factions for years. As a general rule, we are including the Horus Heresy counterparts in the (sub)forum names now. For example, the current + ADEPTUS ASTARTES + forum is being changed to + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + and + ASTRA MILITARUM + is being changed to + ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA +. The one notable change in these categories is that the current ++ ADEPTUS ASTARTES ++ category is being merged back into the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category and the + GREY KNIGHTS + forum will become a subforum of the + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + forum. We're still limiting the Astartes subforums to those Chapters/Legions for which there are codices/codex supplements, with the others covered in the parent forum because there isn't sufficient content about those other Chapters/Legions to warrant dedicated subforums. The other change you'll notice is that we're going to adjust the sidebar blocks. The intent with this change is to better promote the other (non-Forums) features. We haven't quite hammered out the exact details here, but you can expect the following: Blocks for recent blog activity and recent club activity will be moved to the top of the page, appearing where you currently see the mission statement. The mission statement image will be removed, replaced as a banner in the rotation. The existing blocks for recent blog activity and recent club activity in the sidebar will be removed (since they're going to appear at the top of the page) and the other sidebar blocks will be expanded to give more content (though we'll try to get the total vertical space to be somewhat close to the space needed for the categories and (sub)forums). The blocks in the sidebar and the top of the page will appear in all of the forums and subforums (not just on the main Forums page). Some of the blocks that appear on the main Forums page won't appear on the (sub)forum pages, so the other blocks may be tweaked. The good news here is that the vertical size of the (sub)forums is consistent so we can fine tune the sidebar blocks to align with the (sub)forum height. The Forums restructuring and the changes to the sidebars/blocks will happen in the next seven days (not sooner than Friday). There's nothing to fear.

Nobody is stopping you from buying the Saturnine box. You are even allowed to buy all the journals and campaign books which will be released in the next three years. Open your wallet and spend as much as you like. No one is stopping you. Although DON´T come then in 2028 to a forum in order to bitch and moan that James Workshop has turned all your book purchases into toilet paper and your army into glass cabinet divas. It´s always funny that valid criticism is regarded as negative but shameless shilling for a soulless corporation is the highest form of virtue.

Fun idea for a thread, thanks @Mr Farson. I picked up a few models from the release, and have been working on this Saturnine terminator. The conversion's pretty minimal; I just wanted to remove the eagle from the chest and swap out the ray gun for a good old-fashioned boltgun. I also reshaped the eagle's head that forms part of the 'collar' to make an oval setting for a spirit stone pinched from a Striking Scorpion exarch, too. Finally, the helm spikes were trimmed off, and a loincloth was added. While I'm writing, what a pain in the [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] these models are to build! Forty-odd pieces to build a single infantryman? Six pieces just to build the power fist arm? While so many bits makes converting more approachable, I can't help feeling that some further refinement could have made things a bit more... fun if you just want to build them out of the box? While I like the result very much, it took me two evenings to get the model from sprue to this point. I'm all for posability and modularity, but... oof. Perhaps I've just got to the point where time is becoming more of a factor in my enjoyment of the hobby – or maybe I've got too used to single piece metal models as I've dug out my Steel Legion recently. Anyway, back to the conversion: the forearm is from a Squat prospector model (the power fist equivalent), which was fairly simple to integrate by trimming the ball of the elbow flat. The storm bolter itself was from my bits box – I think it's from a Justaerin Terminator, though I wouldn't swear to that. Size-wise, these are absolute chunks. Mine is pictured here alongside a 'truescale' marine and Captain Aethon in Terminator armour (a conversion based on the FW Custodes Terminators). I've put the Saturnine Terminator on two bases to account for the height of Captain Aethon's base.

+ The Many Wars of Armageddon + Have I mentioned that I've really got into the Armageddon setting over the past few years? Between recreating the Blood Angels of the Second War for Armageddon, and building Salamanders for the same period, I've also been working, on-and-off on a single-topic blog, The Ashes of Armageddon (which you're very welcome to peruse). Having built a wasteland-themed gaming table, my most recent twist on this particular region has been turning my attention to my personal favourite army, the Imperial Guard – and specifically the Steel Legion; and more specifically the 707th Regiment, part of the 7th Army Group. If you'd like a deep dive into Steel Legion lore, you can read more of how I've interpreted the various bits and bobs written about the guard during the Second Armageddon War in this article. ... and so I'm now turning to the point of this topic, which is using the same army for multiple editions, and covering all three wars (and potentially an upcoming fourth?) – which sparked the idea behind 'an eternity of war'! These Steel Legion have already fought in 6th edtion, 9th edition, 2nd edition (and even a couple of games under the old Age of Darkness rules), and a couple of friends have just invited me to get involved in a 3rd edition event. Here's how I'm preparing. +++ Rutger's rebreather gave a protesting click. He was too tired to be nervous about the filter – all he wanted was for the interminable waiting to be over. The High-and-Dries had been encamped in the Hemlock valley for more than a week now, the orks sending occasional probing attacks along the line – not enough to warrant a decisive response, but more than sufficient to keep the whole line at ready status. Why weren't they attacking? Little more than ten minutes later, Rutger would regret asking. +++ It's been fun to dig back into old versions. The various niggles about particular details ('such-and-such was always rubbish/overpowered/absent in this edition' or 'I never understood why [X} happened that way under these rules') fade away a bit when you hop from edition to edition – and trying to keep the army vaguely consistent is interesting as you find which units are always reliable (or reliably underperforming!), and which ones swing wildly from 'paperweight' to 'ah, that's why everyone takes loads of those'. In all the games I've played, the army has been built with a core of: a Command Squad; two platoons of at least two infantry squads (typically three each, so around 80 infantry all-in); plus a supporting Leman Russ tank or variant for each platoon. Like most Guard players I ever knew, I never had enough Chimeras to actually field the 'official' Steel Legion forces from Codex: Armageddon, so my army has mostly been fielded using whichever Guard Codex is appropriate for the edition. Here that's the first Codex: Imperial Guard released for 3rd edition – the one just before the doctrines one. The draft army list is below. I'm still 80pts short, so happy to hear of any suggestions you have – though please bear in mind this is very much a background-led army; and what's great in one edition is often pap in another! :) It's not just about the Imperium – I love the orks, too! +++ Steel Legion 707th – the 'High-and-dries' 4th–7th Army Groups – Untithed, or 'Marlen's Men' The 4th to 7th Armies were collectively known as the Untithed, and were made up of hurriedly-recalled Planetary Defence Force soldiers alongside barely-qualified recruits. With Von Strab and the Hive Governors unwilling to sanction the deployment of armour and vehicles intended for off-world export, the Untithed were in the unhappy position of being Steel Legion forces lacking in both transport and armoured support. Of those able to be gathered, the bulk were moved to the Palidus Line, with General Marlen taking overall command of the 4th through to the 7th Army groups; numbering around three-quarters of a million men and women across 130 or so Regiments. [...] Marked out by a white thunderbolt on a green field, the Regiments that would become known as the Firesweep and High-and-Dries were stationed south of the Palidus mountains, on the eastern banks of the Styx River. Initially collectively referred to as the Stygians, the nickname fell out of use early on as the Army Groups' individual characters became apparent. Disposition of the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Armies at the start of the invasion. [...] 'High-and-Dries' was a barely-tolerated regimental nickname that suggests the black humour of the soldiers that made up the 7th Army Group. Taking their name from their unique position as the only one of Marlen's Army Group to weather the initial assault, the Army Group's tenuous 'victory' proved short-lived as the Evil Suns ork tribe used their speed to surround and cut off the Army Group. While the Regiments that made it up – notably including the 7-7th Engineers – attempted to break out on a number of occasions, the sallies proved increasingly bloody and unrewarding, and the casualties only mounted up. Eventually, the Army Group was deemed non-combat viable. The individual Regiments – often now down to mere hundreds – ceased to attempt to create an ordered path of retreat, and instead were ordered to 'improvise and adapt'. This ill-chosen piece of strategic shorthand became infamous across the 7th Army Group as a euphemism for abandonment, and those that were able to escape the Evil Suns blockade never forgave their superiors. 1500pts HQ – 445pts Command HQ – 178pts Colonel (70) Carapace armour (5) Refractor field (15) Power weapon (10) Bolt pistol (3) Bionics (5) Standard Bearer (10) Regimental standard (20) Medic (10) Comm-link (15) Grenade launcher (15) Mortar squad – 95pts Anti-tank squad (35) – 115pts Missile launcher team (20) Lascannon team (30) Lascannon team (30) Commissar (40) – 57pts Carapace armour (5) Bolter (2) Power weapon (10) +++ Troops – 320pts Command section – 81pts Lieutenant (35) Power weapon (10) Bolt pistol (3) Carapace armour (5) Plasma gun (8) Missile launcher (15) Comm-link (5) Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts Flamer (3) Missile launcher (15) Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts Plasma gun (8) Heavy bolter (10) Infantry Squad (60) – 83pts Melta gun (8) Missile launcher (15) Troops – 320pts Command section – 81pts Lieutenant (35) Power weapon (10) Bolt pistol (3) Carapace armour (5) Plasma gun (8) Missile launcher (15) Comm-link (5) Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts Flamer (3) Missile launcher (15) Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts Plasma gun (8) Heavy bolter (10) Infantry Squad (60) – 83pts Melta gun (8) Missile launcher (15) +++ Heavy support – 335pts Leman Russ Vanquisher (175) – 190pts Hull-mounted lascannon (15) Leman Russ battle tank (140) – 145pts Hull-mounted heavy bolter (5) +++ As you can see above, much of this is already painted, but I recently was given a kind gift from a friend of mine; these specialists (and a few more) will be used to fill in some of the gaps in the Steel Legion range. I hope you'll follow along, and if you also enjoy the Second War for Armageddon – whether Imperial or Ork – please do comment and post your own forces; I'd love to hear more from you!

1 down, 1 to go,

TL:DW

Please don't attack me like this Google.

Following on in the grand old tradition of the calth conversion thread let's have a new one for Saturnine! Post up your conversions and kitbashes from the Saturnine box. Mine are pretty simple, arms from the iron hand praetor slapped onto the MK2 centurion and the mechahendrites from the same model mounted to the praetors back

DoW 1 and DoW 2 satisfy two very different bellies. Unlike DoW 3 that satisified none.

I mean they say it's the culmination of a story that starts with a box that isn't even previewed yet. It's likely this thing wasn't even supposed to be shown until winter anyway. They aren't going to bump the release up because it got leaked

Not quite sure I like the Saturnine vibe, so I decided to have a go at modifying it a little. In my head cannon, I’ve accepted that the marine wearing the armour is just a torso, so it’s a stage before a dreadnought! What do you reckon? Gotta love some volkite….. Cadmus

Well I fixed my dreadnought. Stuck a tiny raven skull (from the kill team Cassius guy) over the broken bit. I’d never got round to painting a couple of AT conversion beamers. Now my dread has inversion beamers. Also Sigismund wasn’t using his scenic base so Captain Morgan pose achieved.

Terrible take. It's a great, thematic codex that fits the army well. Yes it's a sidegrade as we lost some rules but gained a lot too. You sound like someone who just likes to complain about nothing.

Man, some people have all the luck.

I’m going to add this photo here as an illustration to the earlier comments on ‘contempt’ for customers. Call it whatever you’d like, this is not acceptable for a 70 USD book.

Dawn of war 2 was the best, easily.

Hasn't the "GW use old stock for bundle boxes" theory been fairly thoroughly debunked at this stage? Also, with the SA - Ogryn's aren't available at present and certainly not in plastic, so the range is basically Cohorts, Veletarii, the Command Section, the Sentinels and the tanks. Most of the tanks are probably too big for this, at least anything using the Malcador would be... so I don't know what you'd expect in this? Personally I think it's solid. Also, if memory serves the Mk II Rhino was out of stock for about 6 months after release and are presently out of stock in both the UK and US so... hardly "didn't move much."

Someone on Reddit beat me to it:

Revision 1 (July 29): added Actual results, that matched or exceeded Predictions Revision 2 (July 31): EMERGENCY UPDATE, Pricing Update within this year, partly due to upcoming Tariffs, images captioned Additions (Aug 9): Further discussion of the value of the Warhammer license to video games, and model PREfreshes on page 2 As per our B&C bi-annual tradition, we're preparing to talk about Games Workshop's financial report when it lands this week. Why? Because as a U.S. Midwestern farmer, who are all financial experts, said to me, "Know where your food comes from." Prediction: GW will report ABOUT £610 million Revenue and just under £240 million Profit. Growth is on par with a 40k year. Actual: GW reported £617 million Revenue and £261.3 million Profit, WAY OVER expected. Growth EXCEEDED a 40k year. But my absolute favourite bit is from their new chairman: "As the new chair, and a hobbyist myself..." He didn't say "Warhammer customer" or "Warhammer player." He called himself a "hobbyist." +++ How were last year's predictions? +++ Where we were right: we were 100% right GW would enter the FTSE 100, and that tariff's slated to stay at 10%. Where I was wrong: though expected, I was 100% wrong about GW price increases updates. I'm glad to be wrong. What I completely missed: Necron Wraiths and Crypteks went DOWN in points cost. Did not see that coming. +++ This year's story to "business news media" +++ So you know GW does 3-year product cycles. 40k, then Age of Sigmar, then Horus Heresy. This report is about an AoS year. (For reference, 40k is a HUGE growth year, then it levels off for AoS, then it's kinda janky with HH. 40k is the high watermark.) But actually AoS is not the real story. The video game Space Marine II is the breakout star. Its licensing revenue is pure profit. That's what every business news article will be reporting on, then maybe link it to the Amazon streaming series negotiations. Prediction: The CEO will declare, "Record licensing Revenue! But don't expect a repeat until Space Marine III comes out." Actual, I'm going to make a personal note here; I'm looking at my projections and, the CEO will never, ever confess this, but I think he held off price increases during a year of record energy costs...huge to GW as it needs to melt plastic into miniatures...because he knew there would be this massive Profit bump from a video game to offset it, hoping no one would notice. Remember, even he only holds his job at the pleasure of shareholders. Actual: "We are actively exploring further...opportunites, including Space Marine 3..." +++ This year's story to us, actual Hobbyists +++ I don't speak for us all, but I'm thinking, did the video Space Marine II bring players from screens to the tabletop? GW has NOT categorised Revenue by 40k/AoS/HH/etc. It DOES separate Core (i.e. its stuff) vs. Licensing (i.e. royalties). So we MAY see a bump from Space Marine II conversion to the Hobby separated from the royalties GW gets. To keep myself honest, I can think of at least 2 ways where there may be indicators of this, maybe more: Is this year's Core Revenue growth way higher than other AoS launch years? That'd be a bump AoS 4th came in July, Space Marine II and Titus mini in Sept. Were sales more back-loaded? There may be other signs, like little glitches in the Matrix, that we'll know when we see them. Prediction: It's hard. It assumes AoS is growing like previously, and a huge, observable bump from Space Marine II. Actual: There's a huge observable bump from beyond AoS AND other signs. I think I can convince you with 3 images. I said above what all you already know, 40k is a HUGE growth year, then it levels off for AoS, then it's kinda janky with HH. 8th ed came out 2017, spike in 2018. 9th ed out 2020, huge spike in 2021. 10th ed was weird because of "head of lettuce". (I won't go into it, but there were political reasons which caused currency fluctuations, so 10th ed seems smaller than it was.) AoS years...and I LOVE their miniatures, my favourite game is Warcry...usually performs below 40k. This year, it BLEW past 40k. I've confirmed it via their breakdown of Core Revenue (i.e. GW's own products) vs. Licensing Revenue (from 3rd parties). Then there was a glitch in the Matrix where GW lets slip something innocuous. It was in gross profit margin (i.e. price hikes). "as some of our new product releases sold to below planned levels in the first half of the year" (Before I forget, remember GW aims for a core gross margin of 70% and will increase prices to match that. It's pretty much as close as you can get without inventing new forms of mathematics at 69.5%, I will NOT say any more as not to jinx us. Oh, unless you're our American Fraters et Sororitas, YOU can get a price increase due to tariffs, more below.) "...as SOME of our new product releases sold to BELOW planned levels in the FIRST half of the year." (That's got this company-wide email vibe like, "SOME people, who will not be named...") What'd be so big that it would cause a disturbance in the Force? Probably unsold AoS 4th ed sets. So it implies AoS undersold, yet overall sales were like a 40k year...but WHERE did those sales come from? Translation: Trade is FLGS or Walmart, etc. Retail is Warhammer Stores. Online is JUST GW's webstore. Imagine yourself as totally new, you JUST learned about 40k through Space Marine II or that Amazon animation. Seriously, it's harder to forget than to remember, but try. You're new. Where would you go to look for 40k stuff? New players would go to the shops they know, they've driven past it, that sell D&D and baseball cards, MAYBE a Warhammer Store. Because you want to see the actual miniatures for the 1st time yourself, in realspace, not the immaterium of the GW website. Those places for Neophytes are exactly where the growth is happening, very heavily in what GW calls their Trade channel. GW got this huge bump beyond normal AoS years, then a hint that AoS prolly didn't grow that much, and the source of growth being exactly where a 1st time Hobbyist would go. The thing that I missed was I didn't watch that Amazon animated series episode, I know it's by the same guys that did Love Death Robots, but somewhere between those, huge influx of players. +++ Other forever stories +++ There have been ongoing stories with GW that never seem to end: Amazon deal, Factory 4, IT, tariffs. Amazon Prediction: GW will continue to have meetings for negotiations for more meetings to negotiate. Factory 4 Prediction: GW cleared some hurdle to build Factory 4 until they clear the next hurdle. "...construction of Factory 4 (F4) has now started and we aim to have this completed in the summer of 2026." This is actually a pretty big deal and Factory 4 has been way more interesting to me, because it's the bottleneck for everything else. GW can't grow without more miniatures to sell EXCEPT by raising prices, it won't bother opening too many new stores if they don't got product to sell. You play 40k completely differently when you think you can contest an objective vs. just hold on to the ones you got. For any business entity, WE'RE the objectives, they fight for us harder if they think they can score Victory Points. No product, no VPs. IT Prediction: GW will continue to upgrade its IT infrastructure until they need to upgrade again. Yup. Tariff Prediction: Report will use some jargon "we will continue monitoring the situation," etc. So apparently there's also a bat problem. Send in that Callidus or whatever to kill Curze pls. There's bats. Thanks to Brother Vassakov and Brother Joe below. So this is a protected species!? +++ Personal note this year +++ I'm being brief, only because I'm reading up on all the Horus Heresy rules. I'm bringing back the Shattered Xth, baby! +++ EMERGENCY UPDATE: Pricing Update within this year, partly due to upcoming tariffs +++ Sorry that this isn't out earlier, even more sorry for the bad news, but took time to avoid politics as per B&C rules. All kudos to Brother Skyler Boodie for pointing this out, and reminding me of a thing I never had to deal with: Tariffs. "We will also continue to...raise our RRPs (Recommended Retail Price)..." TL;DR - New tariffs in JUST 1 country should (i.e. will and is technically designed to) increase prices WORLDWIDE. Yes, this is 100% UNFAIR, YET also Rules-As-Written, GW is only taking that money to hand it to the tariffing government. Yes, it has to do with the 70% Core Gross (Profit) Margin, the key aspect being the number is grouped like a weighted average. (The normal term is Gross Profit Margin. GW considers miniatures/paints/books as its Core business, thus Core Gross Margin now.) Easiest to explain via a 40k example. You know how like a single Primaris Lieutenant costs as much as like half-a-squad of Intercessors? Each Marine is about the same amount of plastic...maybe a little bit more on the Lt., so you know that Lt. model is making GW even more profit than the other guys. But you only need 1 Lt. to lead 10 or 20 or 30 other Astartes, and it might even be cheaper in a Combat Patrol box, etc. So it's all averaged out, spread out. That same spreading out should, as in will and it's actually technically correct accounting-wise, be spread out to us all. The reason is it's part of Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), which actually mean cost of ALL goods sold, everywhere. Before, GW usually does it after-the-fact in an embarrassed way, usually because they forecasted Inventory wrong. Their fault. Now, GW states it in a matter-of-fact way. Just as I'm following B&C rules by staying out of politics, so is GW. Not their fault. This is the 1st time GW announced Pricing Updates beforehand in Financial Annual Reports. Even I forgot it affects everyone. So you know a Tariff is just another Sales Tax, right? Everyone knows that. Actually, a Tariff is worse than a Sales Tax. When a shop sells a box of product, the shop owner had already bought that box, and when he sells it to you, the government magically shows up to add a sales tax on you, but the shop owner deals with it, he just takes the money and will pay the government later. When a shop buys a Tariffed box of product, you're not even there yet, the government has already shown up and made the shop owner pay the Tariff IN ADVANCE, when that box makes landfall. Importers and I think Friendly Local Government Stores will be holding the bag. I'll give a sad but timely example with the Saturnine boxed set, which I'm finding out isn't selling well. I've noticed a few online distributors are now giving a 35% discount off RRP (Recommended Retail Price), which is (I think) like their entire sales margin, meaning they're just dumping Inventory at cost. If Tariffs were already implemented, a store would've already paid that Tariff. They'd charge that Tariff cost to customers. What if it doesn't sell? Then they would try to spread that already paid Tariff to all other paying customers in the future. Online shops in a tariffing country would do this. FLGSs, too. And, thus, so would GW. I'll think they'll price with a buffer. How big is the impact? The tariffing country is the most populous in North America which is GW's biggest region, almost as big as its native UK and entire Europe TOGETHER, and is about 40% of GW's Revenue, so maybe a quarter to a third to the Cost of (All) Goods Sold. I used a Primaris Lieutenant in the above example, and OF COURSE I'm wrong to, because he'd only be a tenth or a twentieth of your army's overall points cost. Imagine if it's a quarter to a third of your army getting nerfed with higher points. That's like my C'tan list. GW's financial annual reports now DO list percentage CHANGES to their Core Gross Margin, including a line for Cost of Goods Sold, but not how much Cost of Goods Sold is part of their Core Gross Margin overall. So it's like OLD pre-8th points changes where they tell you that a Thunder Hammer went up +5 points, but not how many points a Thunder Hammer used to cost, so you still needed the Codex. I'm trying to look in older annual reports now. To conclude, a Pricing Update is coming, because GW just said, and it makes sense due to Tariffs in a big part of GW's business.

That would be the last time I contemplated giving money to that store.

Yeah, that's the general idea I mean, the whole point of space marine codex supplements is that you have an army that can (and does) operate like a space marine army, but with some key deviations. The rules are supposed to reflect that, not necessarily provide a more "optimal" detachment than all the already existing detachments. So if you don't want to use the supplement and the detachments it brings, you can just not use it and play a regular space marine army. If you do want to use it, you can even pick and choose the units and detachments that you prefer. For example, I've always found that tactical marines were an essential part to a space marine army, so back in the day when I played Blood Angels, I always took some tacticals, even though I could have taken assault marines instead - not because it's somehow "better", but because it was my personal preference that fitted my vision of a Blood Angels army. This doesn't make me some kind of hero for taking a (nominally) "suboptimal" choice, it just makes me someone who has a certain idea about what I want in my army and like having the option to do so. At the end of the day, whether or not a given detachment is "better" than the detachments in the main codex is somewhat beside the point of codex supplements. If detachments were only supposed to be about being "best", there wouldn't be any reason to have more than one, as people would only ever use the "optimal" one anyway. In the real world, things work somewhat differently, of course.

And last 2 tanks complete, vow complete. Repulsor Gladiator All models

While I agree that we don't really know anything, I think it's fair to say that this bears a lot of the hallmarks of a product being rushed out to meet a deadline (so yeah, this is going to be filed under the tired old "3-year cycle bad" complaint at the end of the day). I can't say for sure whether the designers honestly thinks this is a better version of the game (they might even be right, if only the writing was less convoluted and less filled with errors), but I think it's fair to say that the writing is very obviously lacking proofreading, editing and a bunch of rewriting and that this is the cause of most of the complaints and dissatisafaction. Something which, taken together with everything else we know of the process, tells me that they haven't been given enough time to do their job properly, because these people clearly aren't idiots or bad writers. Riffing off of this, I sort of wonder how many problems would be solved by moving to a 5-year cycle and whether this would actually materially impact their revenue? I mean, they must be doing it this way because they think it makes them more money, but does it really? Or is shortening the cycle to 3 years actually going to lose them customers at a rate that offsets the initial benefits? I mean, obviously 40k is their main breadwinner, but both AoS, Old World and Heresy seem(ed?) to be doing fine and one would think they have enough other games that they could keep things going on a 5-year cycle without having slump years, but I (obviously) don't know. I just know that I can see the advantage of having a fixed cycle for editions and that I think 5 years seems much more reasonable both from the customer and the designer's point of view.

Now that they are done, I can move on to our next batch of new miniatures – a great big box of [PLASTICIZED CRACK]. They’ll definitely give [ADDICTED] fans a piece of [FOMO / ENVY / BUYER'S REMORSE] for the next [FISCAL QUARTER]. You're welcome.

Scale =/= proportions. And there has absolutely been scale creep across 40K; even putting aside the decision to make Chaos Space Marines true-scale and their loyalist counterparts slightly oversized whilst also getting an embarassing change of wardrobe and surplus vehicles from G.I. Joe, baseline humans are now drastically bigger than they used to be, to the point that the older human models actually scale better with newer Astartes than the newer ones (Sisters and Necromunda models are particularly egregious, the former needing 32mm bases). I would agree that new, better-scaled Grey Knights would be nice (even if I'll be very, very sad to see the back of the old kit because of how much stuff it has in it) but I am dreading the possibility of them deciding to make them cross the Rubicon rather than just, you know, upscaling the existing designs. There's also the whole argument as to how necessary the whole scale-creep thing actually was; proportions are always going to be somewhat exaggerated on 28mm heroic scale minis by necessity of both visual recognition and durability, and how good those stylized proportions look is always going to be a subjective thing. Case in point, this lovely old thing here: He's definitely not realistically proportioned, but he looks pretty fantastic, and definitely reads as having been made by a skilled sculptor with a particular artistic style in mind, rather than having been simply poorly sculpted. By contrast, we have Coteaz here, who is (slightly) more realistically proportioned than the Colonel, but, well... Ouch. In fact I'd argue artistically speaking he's a straight downgrade from his older, more stylized metal sculpt! And aside from proportions, even aiming for true scale is a debatable/subjective goal. Case in point, vehicles- historical wargames, which depict real armies using real vehicles that were actually used in real wars, often downsize vehicles a bit relative to the infantry just to make the game more playable. So when you have larger-than-life fictional vehicles crewed by 7-foot superhumans in bulky power armour, true-scaling everything at 28mm would make the game borderline unplayable. And in fact, it sort of already has; the scale creep of vehicles in recent years (as an example, the utterly baffling decision to stick the Sentinel on a bigger base) combined with the way terrain is handled now, means that tables have to be kept much more sparsely set up to accomodate the enormous footprints of modern models. Also not helped by people taking the rather small recommended table sizes as gospel and refusing to deviate from them, but I digress. I could go on but TLDR, it's considerably more complicated than just new models having "better proportions".

Next two down (gladiator is magnetized to be impulsor too) Tank 1 Tank 2

A WIP on a Sons of Horus guy. Saw that shotgun was a weapons option so have gone for a 'Hicks' look with him. Im setting my force during the Scouring so going for a veterans/survivors feel to them. The base mini is a chaos marine with all iconography removed. Helmet & shoulder pad are from Archie's Forge, while the other shoulder pad I added railway rivets to. Finally, will give max nerd points to anyone that can recognise the shotgun (I will say it has been in the bits box for a while!)

Oh I'm super late to this. I'm basically just gonna add some SteamCharts numbers to quantify just how successful some of the games are. Let's start with the big surprise hit of 2024; Helldivers 2 has lost more than 90% of it's players since launch. Usually that would be a death sentence for most games if not for the insane numbers the actually pulled, thus keeping them very comfortable in a 5-digit playercount. Paired with their monetization system of somewhat frequent warbonds (formerly monthly, now every second or third?) costing 10 bucks each (or available for free since you can grind the premium currency by playing the game, a behaviour encouraged and acknowledged by the developers) as well as some rotating cosmetics for varied prices, we have a game that seriously overperforms even just on Steam/PC alone. 34th place at the time of writing (it can fluctuate quite a bit, and currently it's at early morning for EU and night for the US) and sharing the page with Elden Ring: Nightreign, Palworld, and the freshest Gachaslop scam Uwamusume; Pretty Derby. Total War: Warhammer 3 "only" lost 85% of its players, which would not be a great sign, but similar to HD2 had a pretty good start with a 1666k peak that also settled into a comfortable 5-digit player count. The DLC approach for this was already mentioned and it shakes out to around 10 bucks per legendary hero for WH3, but also includes DLC for the Prequels and the Prequels themselves since they amalgamate into a form of supergame. Don't know if Sega accounts for that, but the latter parts of a series incentivising the purchase of any previous parts to that degree is pretty unusual across the gaming landscape. 63th place at the time of writing puts it on the same page as Ark: Survival Evolved, Rocket League, and the special edition of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Now to Space Marine 2, which achieved a higher peak than Warhammer 3 but dipped off harder at 95%, still retains a 5-digit player count during peak hours but, dips to "mere" 4-digit player counts when not at peak. This is still a healthy amount of players, even before including Playstation and Xbox players. Pair this with a DLC monetization of 5 to 10 bucks per pack or 40 bucks for the first year season pass (saving you around 16 bucks, but also including an individually non-available champion cosmetic set that would be 8 bucks) and you'll have a game that can rake in some cash, and obviously beyond what was expected, seeing as both a Sequel and a full second year of support was announced with new enemies, new weapons, a new Class, a new PvP-mode, and of course a new swathe of cosmetic DLC. I would also refer to the SM2 thread doomed to languish in +OTHER GAMES+ away from the light of News or Amicus, where I tend to repost/link the big Update posts when I remember it. Anyway, back to actual numbers; As of writing SM2 is at 128 in SteamCharts, putting it amongst peers such as Kindom Come: Deliverance 2, Deltarune, and everyones favourite, Deep Rock Galactic. Actual qualities of the games, their devs, or their respective communities aside, Warhammer 3 and Space Marine 2 are the most successful games amongst Warhammer video games, with only the 'tides (Darktide and Vermintide 2) coming close with all time peaks of 107k and 106k players each. The next healthiest would be Rogue Trader peaking at 37k and, thanks to the recent DLC release now peaking at 7k, but never dipping below a peak of 4k After this we have Warhammer 2 which still pull peaks of 2k players since they can play with WH3 players via Immortal Empires Then Gladius at 1k though it has been recently "Free to Own" on steam allowing it to be added to their libraries for anyone that wanted it. Dawn of War: Soulstorm also retains a 1k daily peak, kept alive by an impressive modding community. Do keep in mind that player retention is a separate number to sales, and mostly relevant for online games, so games like Chaosgate and Boltgun, which are mostly focused on offline singleplayer, completely dropping off after everyone played it is entirely normal, so their peaks of 400 and 160 repsectively (so more than a 99% dropoff) are perfectly fine. On the other end we have poor Speed Freeks, which seeminlgy cannot muster more than 30 players at peak after a very acceptable 2k player peak.

That's the plan. Although the sprue that's missing is the tactical upgrade one which I've got too many of already to be frank. So I'm not that fussed. Cunning way to push me to start a new Necro gang though. I'm onto you GW...

Fulgrim has been sat on my desk, at various stages of completion since he came out. He is a big complicated model, so there has been loads of interruptions (mostly the heat if I am honest!), but he is finally complete!

Let's keep it on topic folks. Complaining about people complaining about people complaining about people complaining is off topic. And I typed that rather than copy and pasted it.

And with that, my vow is complete. 8 Ironhead Squats, 1 Sagitaur, and an Einhyr Champion, based and ready! Thank the Votann I'm done and have no plans for a second pledge later this week, right? ...right?

The negativity on this forum. Holy moly.

Vow completed. The wreckas are ready to smash their way across the stars!