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Brothers, Sisters, I had an argument with one of my closest 40k friend that dealt with this very issue. Yes, the same thing I missed. I actually agree with you, Brother Razorblade. I'm here to share with you others' point of view. "Narrative" does NOT mean the same thing to others There IS a fundamental issue, a definitional issue. GW categorises "Narrative" as opposed to "Competitive". The argument was with Timperial Guard, whom I played Dungeons & Dragons with, who also reads the HH novels. It was from a 1st ed 30k game. Timperial Guard and I allied together against an opponent's army as big as ours combined. I played Dark Mechanicum, Timperial Guard was Death Guard and insisted on bringing Mortarion. Great against MEQs, but our opponent used mostly Terminators instead. We won that game, but as we cleared up after our opponent left, I simply asked him, why bring Mortarion? I think I kept pressing him, because at some point he snapped, shouting that he was a "Narrative" player, implying I was pushing him on being a "Competitive" army, but I wasn't! I shouted back I was a "Narrative" player, too! My point was Mortarion wasn't just a Primarch, a great warrior, he was also a commander! He wouldn't join every battle because he'd delegate it out to one of his subordinates! Even from a "Narrative" sense, it wouldn't even fit the history! It went on. He kept on invoking the HH novels. I was making points from FW's Black Books, written like an incomplete history. And that breaking point lead to enlightenment. It wasn't just different sources, it was more like... "Re-enacting" vs. "Roleplaying" I say "Re-enacting" and "Roleplaying" in quotes, because they're rough terms, but a useful shorthand. Timperial Guard played 30k to "Re-enact" what he read in the novels. In those stories involving Death Guard, OF COURSE Mortarion would show up to lead his armies, he's a main character! That was his reason for getting into 30k in the 1st place, the novels lead to the game, for him! I was more "Roleplaying" like in Western video game RPGs, we make OUR OWN characters, spend a whole night in the character creation screen, go into the game right before bed just to save that character. I got into 30k to figure out how my own character would react to the historic event that is HH. (It's interesting to note character creation is less of a thing in Japanese RPGs; they're happy with pre-made characters.) It was the moment I dropped the word "Re-enact" that immediately calmed things down. I said something like, "Oh, you're re-enacting the (HH) novels." I was going off the lore, too, but the way it was laid out in FW Black Books, like a massive sociopolitical event. He replied like, "Yeah...like a Napoleonic Wargame." He realised the difference, too, thus he invoked Napoleonic Wargames, or just Napoleonic Re-enactment in general. There, it was very important to paint your miniatures or cosplay very accurately, like you're trying to reproduce that event exactly. That is a different mindset than me, wanting to create my own story. I apologised 1st, I think. Not only did I understand him now, AND the difference between us...but OF COURSE I'd also want HIM to use Mortarion so that my characters could be the Techpriests that marched shoulder to shoulder with the Pale Lord of Death, that'd enhance MY story. And how is it that 40k had Crusade rules in previous editions but not 30k? 30k Marines were ON the Great Crusade! Those are NOT Roleplaying games, in fact Necromunda Roleplay will be a thing (probably soon to be re-named)...but they're "Roleplaying" a bit, y'know? Like the idea of a progression system is kinda like RPGs, and asymmetrical scenarios like a few characters facing a horde, that's RPG stuff. And it's not just progression systems, those games you cited are designed for Campaign-play, not just 1 game. Honestly, the Horus Heresy WAS an actual Campaign, it was a Campaign to get to Terra, then the Siege of Terra. Even in 1st ed, new units were added to reflect that. You see how 30k is more "Re-enactment" than it is "Roleplaying", which is how you and I probably consider more "Narrative"? And that's the difference I see even in this thread. We're all seeped into the same lore, but they're talking more along the lines of "Re-enactment" whereas "Roleplaying" isn't exactly the right term, but you see it's closer to how you and I see "Narrative", Brother Razorblade? The biggest thing about that argument between Timperial Guard and I is what I see here, we don't disagree, we were talking past each other. Our very definition of "Narrative" was different, and everything built on that fundamental point changed. It was very interesting then as now to think about.

You’re gonna love this. Not only am I old enough to have played Confrontation, we had no terrain so my brother and I used piles of cassette tapes in their plastic cases to create the fire corridors and junctions of the underhive. Those tapes became our running joke go to for years. Don’t know what tapes are, kids? Ask your grandparents.

Weirdly I haven't seen anything on here or heard any fanfare about this since they announced it was in production, but boltgun 2 just dropped on all platforms! https://youtu.be/7uH1MM1tQVU?is=M0t5YtZiI90M9Da7

I beg your pardon! I find the term pejorative in the extreme! I identify as Macro-adolescent, I'll have you know!

EH YES. Same thing over and over since the days of RGMW and Portent. Constant predictions of demise, warhammer is dying, GW is dying, Hasbro is going to buy GW, GW won't survive the LOTR bubble bursting, this price rise is it where people stop buying x 27, GW is going to crash out because Kirby won't leave the company, GW is going to crash out becuase Kevin Rountree will be worse than Kirby, COVID restrictions will end GW etc etc. Now its people not understanding how shares work. Its quite funny watching the same sentiment repeated over and over again over the years

Not at all, GW's target audience are teenagers who are starting from scratch and thus need to buy everything new. The expected retention period is 2-3 years. Veteran hobbyists who frequent boards like this are vocal but are a minority when it comes to sales because we already have armies (often more than one). Sure we will buy shiny new units from time to time but we are less likely to splash out on a whole new army than newcomers are.

I have a solution in 2 words. Godzilla crossover.

For me, narrative gameplay depends on three things: Well designed missions which can be linked together into a series of events. Options which enable and empower theme-lists, to a specific level of power. Emergent narrative within gameplay because of player buy-in (either because of player culture or because of mechanical rewards, i.e. well designed missions). The Black Books were good at 1 and 3. 2 depended on faction/subfaction and who you ask I think 3.0 flattened out the power curve while still enabling 2 (I think I'm in the minority based on previous threads about losing RoW). The core rules did a lot to enable more weapons and unit types being good to take. The detachment system allows a good amount of flexibility to make a themed-list. I haven't really got into the Journals, so I can't say how they do on 1.

Well the Chapter Master's head arrived before Helbrecht (who should be today actually). I am happy with this head. Now to decide if I want to try and add more ornamentation to his chest and greaves.

Man, I got into GW hobbies in early 2nd ed 40k and talking about cassettes gives me the mental image of my bother's Commodore 64 and my Sinclair Spectrum. Curse you, I can feel myself fossilising as I type th-

N1SB and jaxom gave some views on looking at what it means to be narrative. I would also like to represent some different levels of viewing narratives in gaming. 1.) Army themed around background: essentially, building your army around a "narrative concept" inspired by the background, and units picked to reflect that narrative (rather than for optimal winning-ness). May involve special conversions/kit-bashing, unique paint jobs, thematically decorated bases, names for characters (squads, vehicles), written background on their past etc. or other works which give them personality. Depending on how well a game is balanced, the theme of your force may or may not result in disadvantage on tabletop games against more optimised builds. 2.) Group development gaming: this is specific to games where your group (gang, warband, cult etc.) is involved in a continuous series of battles against their rivals, without any over-arcing plot (e.g. Necromunda). As the games progress, the group develops (experience, injuries, resources, new members), but the battles have little effect on the larger surroundings (other than some local resources temporarily changing ownership). The continuing series of battles also results in the group gaining a history. 3.) Narrative missions ("re-enactment"): rather than fighting over some abstract victory conditions in some abstract location, the battle takes place in a specific locale during a specific time period, with a meaningful objective. Special rules may apply to represent various conditions. For example, force A is guarding a strategic industrial city, that side B needs to invade. An advance party of the invading force makes a drop pod landing on a lightly defended area that houses power generator systems for a battery of orbital defence lasers - they need to do destroy the generators quickly before the defending side can rush in reinforcements. 4.) Grand narrative campaigns: a series of related games (involving two or more players), where the sides involved are fighting for control of some vital, strategic assets. For example, the drop pod assault described above could form the first one in a series of battles over the control of said industrial city, with the outcomes of the individual battles affecting following ones (and eventually the final outcome of the campaign).

Everyone too busy playing to make a thread

Oh yeah, and besides fixing the game you know what else would be great? Not browsing the site and seeing the vast majority of what you could want, Temp Out of Stock. Great for their bottom line, because they dont have stock taking up space, bad for the health of the game.

I do not like them, hobby man. I will not build them, if I can. Would you build them with a fox? I would not build them with a fox! Would you build them in a box? I would not build them in a box! Would you build them with a brush? I would not build them in a rush! Would you scrape off every line? I would not scrape them, coarse or fine! Would you bond them with some glue? I will not glue them, old or new! Would you paint them on the sprue? I would not paint them, red or blue! "But look!" cried out the hobby man. "Just try one sprue, I know you can!" He pushed a cutter in my hand, The sharpest tool in all the land. I took a piece, I clipped it free. The plastic snapped so easily! A little scrape, a touch of glue, The torso fit, the legs did too! A little snip upon the sprue, And suddenly the model grew! A tiny dab of plastic cement, I finally knew where the evening went! A shoulder pad, a tiny sword, I sat in joy, no longer bored! Say! I do like to build this kit! I like it, every single bit! I'll build them now with any fox! I'll build all models in the box! I'll build them fast, I'll build them slow, I'll build them all and watch them grow!

Other way around for me. I have zero confidence in CA not to make a colossal mess of the launch, especially when the recent Shogun 2 'Remaster' has them up to their usual tricks. I'm sure in a couple of years post-release it'll be in a decent state and it will be too profitable for them to write it off (not that it saved Three Kingdoms mind you...), but until then I'm firmly in the 'wait and see' category. King Art Games by comparison seem pretty receptive to feedback and with more of a finger on the pulse of what the community is looking for, rather than a tactless assumption that everybody will buy-in no matter what. I'm still not pre-ordering mind you, but I expect I'll be picking it up a lot sooner than TW.

Thanks @The Pounder Helbrecht arrived and has been slightly butchered to make a start on the Master of Sanctity. I figured a knightly Chapter wouldn't be opposed to a whopping two-handed Crozius I'm really glad the serf worked out. The Dark Angels vehicle book bit is the same length as the combi-melta luckily.

Can we maybe all focus on the topic at hand and keep the finance/doom and gloom to the appropriate threads so this one dosen't get locked?

Maybe don't call everyone manbabies?

I think N1SB's comments in the 'FT blog' thread cover the stock market aspect, market expectations, trying to fit GW sales to an annual cycle, and indeed the impact of Space Marine II and the oil supply crisis from a place of evidenced expertise and is definitely worth a read if you haven't seen it.

Nagashnee, I understand that emotions run high, but you have just been explicitly warned about exactly this. Please edit your post to remove this sociopolitical commentary and other rule-breaking behaviour. Otherwise, I will have no recourse but to report you to the relevant authorities (and Roomsky).

I don't think most people understand how share prices work.

I'm just glad the weekend ended on a late wednesday evening and didn't extend indefinitely for a change. Anyhow, the Flight of the Eisenstein cover is, in my opinion, as discussed previously weeks ago, excellent and an improvement over the original. Much more suitable, introspective, etc. I've said my piece on it before, though. Reminder: We're two days away from the ebook/hardback release of Fehervari's Cold Covenant - but the audiobook might launch early the night to Saturday on Audible, depending on the unlock time. I for one have my credit ready and waiting for the listing to drop!

Again want to state my like for the cover. The first three weren't my thing, but this Id rate higher than the original

Just a small update to report I have largely blocked in the base blue mix talassar/arlethernatic 3:1 and the Abaddon black for blacks and undercoat of leather holsters etc. I spilled a little black on the shoulder pads though so I had to tidy up with iron breaker and more blue mix which was not seamless at all. I should be able to largely cover that up with the legion decals though.

Accompanying Daemonic Horde Wow it's been a while but here is at least something. In-between building my Roboutian Heresy space marines from the Armageddon box that at some point will be posted here, I have been painting the daemons that will be found wherever a Chaos Ultramarine campaigns. I attempted to keep a unified paint scheme, with their cloth and armour mirroring my Chaos Ultramarines. It's just coincidence that mostly Tzeentch army have blue accents but as you can see with the one bloodletter, this will be a unified daemon paint scheme. I do actually have my bloodthirster I'm half way done with, but it's larger than I'm used to so been slower but I'm happy to have gotten here, the daemon skin was quite fun to paint, I though it might become a chore as it's so samey but eventually I'll have some more bloodletters and more join one day. My photography leaves a lot to be desired, just can't ever get it less blurry, but individual close ups are below. Metal Bloodletter Burning Chariot/Fateskimmer Flamers Pink? Horrors Accursed Cultists Screamers

-Don't limit new releases to large boxes. I know GW has the hots for this right now, but what happens is that folks who want the box often cannot get the box (scalpers, availability, cost, etc), and by the time the kits release individually the hype cycle has moved on, or the people that were going to impulse buy it (for better or worse) have also calmed down or have decided to hold off. Release the giant boxes along with the individual kits and just drop the production number of the boxes. That way people who want them can have them, people who just want the new thing can also just buy that and don't feel like they're getting FOMO'd to death. -The Heresy needs some love. I just paint/collect so I am not going to talk rules, but it seems stuck in limbo. Yes, there have been plastic Mechanicum and Custodes. Great. That's not the majority of the player base. The marine range is half done, where you have a ton of stuff (Destroyers, Recon, Legion specific stuff, etc) that haven't transitioned over to plastic, and there's no word (official word) of what's actually happening. For example, if I were to start World Eaters right now, I could buy the resin stuff that's been out for over a decade, doesn't match the new releases, are underscaled at this point and can be a nightmare because the casts are old (or are missing things like Praetors). Or, I could just wait and hope that at some point they get something. That story can be told time after time. There are rumors of new plastic legion stuff (other than the "eventually" we got years ago), but when is that? They said that the legions would get the same support that SoH and IF got when the game relaunched, and that never happened. The armory kits stopped coming. Etc. One of the big attractions for the Heresy of yore was that you could make your marines feel like they were part of a legion (head upgrades, torsos, etc) and that's basically gone unless you have a 3D printer. The Heresy is one of their big game systems based off their financial reports, act like it. -Black Library. You want to increase profits for Black Library? How about publishing books that people have been asking for, for years now. Black Legion 3 has been a decade at this point. Watchers of the Throne 3. Lion 2. Pandemonium for you Abnett people. We are going on a year in December since Scouring 1 came out and there's not even a hint of when the next one is coming. While I am not trying to talk badly about specific authors or books, over the last year or so my hype for the lore side has basically died. We had Wicked and the Warped which was a blip on the excitement train, and some smaller gems like Apostle, but by and large it's been fairly flat for the last few years. Etc. -They need to do something to get people excited about Space Marines again for 40k. I know Xenos/Chaos fans are chucking their keyboards, but Space Marines are the big sell, and the big reaction from the community with Armageddon/new stuff has been a resounding meh. They can do better (look at the Red Corsair kits for an example or even the Armageddon Captain), but it seems like they're phoning it in for the most part. This is subjective obviously, but while SM are still extremely popular, there isn't much hype around them now. Even for Chaos, I was excited for a Red Corsair upgrade sprue or Iron Warriors upgrade sprue, and quite frankly what they released isn't even worth it. I think part of the problem for the 40k side right now is the momentum they built going into the summer. In the Spring you had Huron and friends, Titus, Yarrick+IG stuff, animated trailers everywhere, hype was hyping, Then Armageddon launched and then it just fizzled out. There aren't any codices coming for the rest of the year, they haven't done built hype for anything else (i.e. WARHAMMER DAY GW, THE MINIATURE IS GOING UP FOR ORDER BEFORE YOU EVEN ANNOUNCED A DATE), and for the first time this year, it just seems kind of blah/aimless, rather than building towards anything.

Great post, touching on concepts I love that are central to 40K and have always been. What is it to be a man in such a world universe? What is it to be a young man coming of age? What is it like to accept the burden of duty? Of your role as a man in such a setting? The Knightly (and yes very British, its coded into the DNA of the whole thing!) and Class systems. Yes, all of these things are 100% on point. So yeah, all of that should be the focus of a story of a young man, about to, expected to, having a duty to, accept the mantle of his station, and easily could have been.

This is assuming creative assembly can stick the landing with TW WH40K. Their track record hasn't been super stellar lately (?) as suggested by the completely bungled recent release and then subsequent recall of shogun 2 complete edition. Dow 4 is being handled by a different developer than relic, so remains to be seen how well they perform here, but i'm willing to give them a shot. I expect i'll pick up both games unless either (or both)turns out to be a disaster

Its like I never expected the attack helicopter meme to become a reality in warhammer 40k but i can guess thats going to be part of the book. "On all levels except physical, I am a 40 ft tall knight robot, mom!" "As long as you purge the heretics I don't care what you call yourself."

If we cant talk about and explore the cover of the novel, there is little point in posting the cover of the novel. If we cant talk about feudal customs, there is little point in taking about a book taking place around customs on a knight world. Especially as hd3 pointed out the cover and the story description is LITERALLY about someone claiming their dynastic birthright and based on the cover i assume being crowned something or the other in the end. See the core issue and one that i truly find fascinating is that the imperium IS STILL making knights. So throne mechanicums with no prior experience or spirits are coming off the factory line. The imperium and the mechanicum is also still settling worlds, and some of those are chosen to be forge worlds, agri worlds, factory worlds and some KNIGHT worlds. Then of course you have mechanicum knight houses and bases and maybe even worlds. Heck there is a knight house on the howling griffons astartes home world. A world the marines keep in a state of constant warfare on purpose to farm recruits from. How would a feudal aristocracy react to a constant outside force starting conflicts with the sole purpose of having the population kill each other? Can you even have a feudal system in such conditions? What would the political structure....oh wait no no topics. So there is nothing stopping a new knight house being democratic (democracy does exist in 40k), or non feudal parliamentary monarchy, or ANY other type of goverment. It also means that the well knightly culture of a knight house is not nature (as we know not all houses have it) but nurture. Sure the thrones push certain character traits....unless they dont like in house tarranis, which also gets new knights, so Mars at least can make knights WITHOUT any character changing side effects (which depending on source is either no one get this tech, or else its just super duper rare). Also the throne takes between decades and centuries (again source depending) to start making enough of a dent for cultural changes. And of course the mechanicum houses exist which are just a WHOLE different set of worms. The warhammer CENTRIC point, is that there is no lore reason a knight household has to have 1)feudal nature, 2) much in the way of medieval feudal character 3) dynastic politics. Like space marines and ultramarines or imperial guard and cadians MOST will be like that (tho just how many mech houses exist in the lore vs what they push mini wise is a question). But between the codex standard making of a marine and throwing kids in blood filled coffins to make angels, oceans lie. If however we talk about the classic feudal world knights, then we will talk about feudalism, serfdom, class systems and knightly traditions. Or we might as well not talk about it. Which is where it gets complicated, cause things like feudalism and knighthood ARE complicated, they are also very different dependent on place and time period one is refrencing while talking about them. And as BL engages more non British/ do actual research/ want to explore themes not just pew pew authors we will get different perspectives on these which are and this is the key part EQUALLY valid. And a huge part of the fan of warhammer for me is exploring these things. Plus classism, monarchies, the role of the rich and in built aristocracy are all very very much still active modern day topics. If anyone should know this its the British. So how do we talk about a book on a faction where the chair you sit on CHANGES your identity without discusing identity? On feudal/knight rituals without refering to well....feudal/knight rituals? On a persons view of themselves and how they want to be refered to when their life resolves around straping into a chair that changes your sence of self?...sometimes...depending on the house....on the culture...and how old you suit/house/planet is..... So report away is what i am saying. I want to talk about Imperial Knights.

I haven’t subscribed to the magazine but I always have 3 projects on the go at a time!

He is I believe quoting from the GW official email newsletter if I'm not mistaken.

Hadn't taken a look at this paint before this, thanks for letting me know! Looks like a great colour. It's a bit funny they named a new paint after a recently discontinued kit though.

Going by the fact that its the coronation on the cover, and as people on here LOVE to harp on about feudalism and knights (heaven forbid its any other type of knight world/house), he should be covered in makeup, silks (or whatever their expensive fabrics are), fancy robes and jewelry. The key point would be pagentry and show. A display of wealth, power and status. Silly things that would be 'traditional' would be in abudence, be it relics, regalia, vows or other rituals. He looks like someone being made to have a very uncomfortable day, that will dictate the rest of his life. Going by the description of a 'dying' world and the poor state of his suroundings, he looks like someone realising exactly what kind of society he is in, and how bad things are. There is a chance if the book does show the coronation and does go pure feudal nobility that the cover is depicting this houses/worlds ceremony ending or part way, and the specific outfit, sword, makeup, and scaring all playing a significant role in it. Or not at all, this is a BL book, the cover may not even be in the novel at all. Of course, IF the book does do feudal nobility, this would present the issue that some fraters dont want 'any of that modern stuff ' coming into conflict with the fact that having say a scene of all the male warrior nobility having their makeup applied just right (least they lose face and status at such a important event) or worrying over their dress and if it is colourfull/frilly/fancy enought could be for any period of human history.Or depending on the period of inspiration, have the knights talk about their skin care routines, no way being in a knight suit doesnt play havoc on your skin, and balm, salves and skin treatments were big bussiness back in the day. You know explore the feudal nobility of a knight world in a non modern way so as to not arouse any issues. Right guys?

Time to put off building more models!

Im still messing with the app but i was thinking something like Tacticus Fire, Ironstorm for tank support, then Tactical instead of Dev for a more defensive list. The ability to fall back then blast units that try to tie up your shooting for multiple turns seems more useful to me vs Dev when most of the rapid fire units have built in assault anyway.

How do they increase sales? I'm not sure they do. I mean, one thing to keep in mind is that they're not necessarily selling less as much as they're not selling more than they used to (and of course, we don't even know that; share prices are not actually linked to performance and profit growth may be hampered by other factors than sales). Which can still be a problem for a listed company, of course. I'd contend that the current situation is probably more that their sales/profits may have peaked, rather than that they're in decline (although from a corporate point of view that may be the same thing). Warhammer is much more mainstream than it used to be but whether it's the sort of hobby that can truly go mainstream is an open question. I've been quite amazed at how much it has grown over the last decade or so, but it's still a hobby that seems like it has a couple of inherent barriers to true mainstream status - at least to me, but then, I've been wrong before. I don't know whether they've actually hit their sales ceiling, but I'd say that realistically there is a ceiling somewhere. Getting a TV show out there might improve sales, but even then, there must be a point where the people who might actually want to get into Warhammer are already into it and aren't realistically going to buy more (or buy the same at a higher price point). I'm not saying we're at that point - stuff like the Amazon show or more licensing might help or they might cook up something else that will - but maybe we're approaching it?

Started on my Orks today. These are push to fit mini's and I used some thick superglue to fill in some of the seams and then sanded them down. The colors I have painted thus far are hard to see in the photo compared to the base color. The shirts are corvus black and the pants Skavenblight dinge. I was a bit tired and before I knew it I painted the linkage on the one orks shells brown thinking it was leather. I'll have to change that since it appears it's actually linkage from looking at the weapon being held. I'm a bit of a slow painter.

Do not read anything into four Horus Heresy Saga books (so far) being rereleased before we get a second Scouring book (or news of a second Scouring book). I wouldn't dare comment.

Product in a warehouse, costs you money, it doesnt make you money. If they can sell 100% of what they make, and they are hitting their 70% profit margins, then its to them, all upside.

The only drawback is that, it turns out, GW's portfolio is absolutely huge. And many models are not available. So traversing these new waters (i.e. things that are not Space Marines) is quite tricky. It's quite clear that I've made a rookie mistake. Will see if it's fixable. Thanks for noting this! I appreciate it. Giving her freckles was one of those ideas that seemed cool but I weren't sure about the outcome. Getting the small face right-ish was really challenging. Yeah, haha - I've gotta admit - it was brave. To be honest, after doing some work on this mini, I suppose it was too brave and optimistic. It's quite apparent that I'm not yet ready to level my painting up to a degree that I envisaged. And I think that the biggest problem is my attitude and where my priorities lie. What I'm about to type might turn out a bit complain-y but it isn't, I assure you. I think that I'm not mentally ready to take on painting projects that last tens of hours. While focusing on tiny details and trying new things out is fun, I find this project a bit tiresome. After all, I have so much other cool stuff to do. It doesn't help that the results aren't as satisfying as I had hoped. I don't intend to complain - it's just that I've discovered that I don't have the knowledge, skills and time to do things properly. A big issue with the way I approach life is that I quickly forget about negative experiences and feelings. But this project reminds me how eventually grinding I found painting my Shield Captain. At this point in life, I'm just not ready to up my painting game. And I think it's important to note that this is neither good or bad - it's just something I feel to be natural. The NNM attempt has also been a very insightful experience and I think I've learnt a lot that I will use in my painting from now on. For example, I think I learnt some theory regarding how different shapes reflect light - something I never paid much attention to (probably didn't have to with power armour). Where I'm still failing is getting ambient lighting right: I think I manage quite well when it comes to parts of minis but I somehow can't get it right for all the parts combined. Consequently, I will be 'rushing' Celestine and will probably forfeit attempts at 'better painting' for the next couple of months. And by rushing, I probably mean just giving up on bettering myself - I think I'll concede and see where I end up with. Regardless, I already kind of know that she'll be one of the best miniatures I've painted to date. In the spirit of rushing things, I finished another stage. What's still on the to-do list is: sword; back of the cape; wings; servo skull and an attempt to glaze some colour/reflection on the "NNM" armour (I put NNM in quotes since, in the end, I don't think it'll be convincing enough).

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/aplo2bxs/revealed-the-new-flight-of-the-eisenstein-cover-for-the-horus-heresy-saga/ It comes to no surprise, but here is the next revised edition of the Horus Heresy Saga. Although this has already been discussed in this very thread, I too think the new cover looks really good. In fact, I’m already really looking forward to the next instalments. Unfortunately, there’s still no update on the ‘Scouring’ series and, for me personally, even more frustratingly, there’s still no further development regarding the Lion in 40k (it’s been three years!).

The Roboutian Heresy I've been a reader of the 40k AU fanfiction 'the Roboutian Heresy' by Zahariel, for like 5 years now, and recently I have moved towards putting my ideas into model form. Thus here I will be putting forward the models I have painted and kitbashed. Slowly adding stuff as I get to it, as much is primed and much is planned. The focus is largely on the Chaos vs Imperium as is the nature of this particular AU. Ten thousand years have passed since the end of the Heresy Guilliman ignited across the Imperium, and yet the Arch-Traitor and his brothers plot against those Loyal to the Emperor. The lone loyalist Astartes that started the whole project: A Night Lords lieutenant: The Chaos Ultramarines, Arch-Heretics of the Heresy A Dark Apostle of the Ultramarines, spreading his fathers evil: Marching alongside our Dark Apostle is the cultist dregs that march alongside And some brutish warp monstrosities

I'll try to be brief- my thread on this forum has all the pictures and links. I worked with an events crew to pull this off and I stopped running LVO events so I could do this instead. Its a 3 day experience. I'm doing my third one next year. Wrote a short players pack with a setting, fluff, short stories, custom art, and rules We also designed and play-tested 7 custom missions. One was a DMed multiplayer experience that ran all 3 days and anyone could join or exit when they wanted I designed and printed blanche themed tarot cards of different rarities that were part of decks assigned to each table Each table corresponded to a battlefield on a planet in a system. If a player won they got to draw a tarot card from the deck If you played the multiplayer experience, you could draw a 'destiny' card which let you spend or use tarot cards in interesting ways if you fulfilled the requirements Doing certain things during the 3 days could award a 'boon' or buff to a character model that was represented using a blanche themed card We 3d printed, painted, and provided a unique model with rules that could be included for no points cost. If it did certain things during a game it would grant bonus tarot cards to the controlling player. I kept track of how many cards were issued to different players on each battlefield. This determined who controlled and didn't control which worlds/parts of the system. If your side held a specific section you got benefits to the card mechanics. At this event, each player represented a splinter fleet trying to escape a dying star system. At the end of the event I counted up the value of each faction's cards. The summed total for each faction determined the overall winner. The cards in your hand and your destiny determined the fate of your fleet. I designed and manufactured a bunch of pins. If you won a game, you got a pin. Each player also got two unique pins to give away to people they thought were cool dudes or did impressive hobby. At the end of the event the person with the most cool dude/dudette pins got a prize. We also had a raffle and fake sponsorships. The player who was undefeated from the previous year's event was forced to wear a giant, heavy, golden chain called 'the lead weight'. None of their games contributed to the overall scores of the event. However, if somebody could beat them, the lead weight got passed onto a new player like a curse. None of the games were matched. You either found somebody to play with and then found a table or you waited at a table until somebody joined you. Fully painted was required. If you had an unpainted model in a unit, everyone else had preferred enemy (your unit). WYSIWYG was encouraged. That's a lot to say that we wrote some special missions and then put a card mechanic ontop of it :) Everything was an optional, opt-in, type of experience with peer pressure/social shaming to discourage the type of behaviours we didn't want to see. The core game wasn't touched besides the missions, so you could do this with another system. What made this unique to heresy? The narrative focused people who showed up and wanted this instead of matched play swiss pairings.

Well, the current edition is not. It's steaming hot garbage. So don't look at that for your 'narrative needs'. If you can manage to get hold of the so-called 'Black Books', which were essentially the camapaign books for first edition, and start to browse the lore, background and campaign missions / setup presented therein, then you'll understand. 1.0 vs 3.0 is like having your favourite movie of all time with a great script written by a talented person swapped out for an unecessary remake where the writing is a piece of low-effort AI-assisted trash.

(Been mulling over this subject and the answers I had for it and decided after consideration to post...) The problems GW has are myriad and often linked and exacerbated by each other. Number 1 issue is it's a niche pastime/hobby that was fooled into thinking it's mainstream when it isn't. GW have used this incorrect assumption to drive many of their decisions. Their sanitised clear out of many concepts, the removal of "everyone is evil" for a more "Space Marines are the good guys". Their push for expensive premium prices. Sure those things are individually terminal but added together and it's a way to forget your core customer base, thus driving them away whilst always going for the new customer. How many times have we seen someone say triumphantly on this very forum "GW doesn't care about you, they want new customers and youngsters" and frankly I think they do and this is correct. But this is poor economics. Those new customers get into the hobby because of existing customers. The core of an audience is retained customers, giving a bedrock to build upon. Using an example, anecdotal but repeated everywhere I go and everyone I talk to in "real life"... my kids, my friends' kids, people I know casually... none of them are into the hobby and not for the want of trying. Why put time and money into warhammer when they could just buy a video game? So in short, we've see a drop off of core customer base. People like me who don't like the business practices of replacing my collection every 3 years, replacing my Space Marines for new and bigger Space Marines as if I've unlimited time and resource and no sentimentality, the increased costs added to all of this... Even little things like my Greco-Roman Ultramarines no longer being Greco-Roman, bar their names. I mean, yeah screw my ethnicity right? And like all bubbles, it'll overextend and burst. Or the steady push to the top of the hill goes down the other side. Insert analogy here as required! Games Workshop have pushed products into mainstream areas. Sports Direct for goodness sake! Usually specific items but it inflates sales but only as one off purchases and doesn't net many long term, bedrock customers. Games Workshop needs to remember what it is. It's not mainstream, it'll never be mainstream. Start catering to HOBBYISTS instead of CUSTOMERS. And to do that, put the new editions back to 5+ years. Protect and respect your customer investment. Part of the barrier here is likely needing constant growth all the time, but that's fallacy I've got a bee in my bonnet about. Stability can provide riches too, but then you need investors who want such things. That's the top down issue. Instead of short term growth, go for long term stability. The investors will change but good riddance. Those investors will destroy the company in a crash one day.

Just wait december the first half-year financial report after the launch of a new 40k edition and we'll see if they actually need to further improve their sales, or if they have already improved compared to last year.

Off topic from Tone Pro - have you tried colour forge sprays? Reliquary red as a deep bas and an over spray of Sanguine red gives a really nice, solid base On topic, for the above that I am playing around with.... I had decided I was going to switch to Flesh Tearers for my 'BA' as I disliked painting the yellow (and I actually have a smal AoBR flesh tearer force I want to update) however I may pick up the yellows to finishe the test squad off first

Governments world wide promoting the idea that we're in financial crisis, inflation, supply problems, and at least a superficial unhappiness with everyday life means folk spend less on things like this, or new kitchens, or new homes, or new cars, or new watches, or holidays. It'll pass, or collapse. My money is on it passing.

Yes, but that's because I tend to buy lots of basic space marines and some tanks and dreads for the joy of assembling them.