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Progress on the base. Mostly the rubble and pillar along with some initial base coats on the dead marine.

Aaand back on the Tyrant's Legion/Astral Claws train gang! With playing a lot of 3rd, and the whole Badab Schism crap putting a bad taste in my mouth I dropped out of Badab madness for a bit there, but new year, new me etc haha So I've started work again on my Tyrant's Legion, but trying to keep it 3rd edition aligned from a model standpoint (the 3.5 Codex Badab will be ready for public use in a few days!). So in light on the attempted 3rd vibes, I've opted to try and use as many 2nd/3rd edition assets as possible for my Tyrant's Legion infantry. Thus giving you my first test model. So the bulk of the model is based off an ah... '3d backup' of an old metal Valhallan, which are great models if you remove the giant hands, old crap lasguns and slightly dorky (but still charming) heads, which I've done for the above model (and the ones following). I've replaced said points of concern with a modified autogun, a very basic cadian-style helmet with a Tyrant's Legion icon and some mitten-like gloves to lean into 'they in the cold' vibe I want for the force, especially the humans! I like to imagine the Tyrant's Legion isn't overly standardised across the different areas of the Maelstrom, but would have some 'non-negotiables' which, going forward at least for the Auxilia, will be the Helmet and Autogun, I imagine these are the bare minimum requirements outlaid by the Tyrant. Then uniforms, mess-kit, bedding etc are what ever is available locally. I've opted for this colour scheme to have a green overcoat...maybe from mothballed supplies, maybe some stolen equipment caches, maybe from the dead, who knows, with the gloves, pants etc the urban grey that is briefly mentioned in the forge world books. Finally I've got the black helmet with the blue stripe to allude back to the Astral Claws, while still hopefully stnading out against the marines. Anyway, here are the rest of the human forces I've got primed and ready to go: These all follow the same logic as the model above, just different poses and heads. This is the Auxilia Command Squad with their Prefect Tribune. Again I wanted to try and base the forces of era-vibish infantry, so these guys are nominally vostroyan firstborn..3d backups.. with their hands, weapons and heads replaced to make them into some form of bodyguard squad for a minor Badabian noble who has been given control of the cohort. Not sure what colour I should do these guys in, but would be super open to suggestions! Finally, one of the (smaller) big guns that never tire. Now this isn't based off a classic 3rd edition model, as I want my Tyrant's Legion to be, yes kind of guard, but also, clearly not.. and to that end I'll be using a lot of Nfeyma's amazing vehicles as Badab/Maelstrom zone second-line knock offs of true Imperial Guard gear. With the above bassis I kind of love the idea that the chassis it is mounted on is some form of civilian or industrial vehicle that has then had the basilisk super structure mounted onto its back and rolle out to the front lines. I've added some armour panels onto the windows etc to attempt to make it look sort of 'up armoured, but not enough'. I've then added the classic spiked dozerblade to again, try and drag some visiual cues back to early 3rd edition. And a small sign of things to come... Anyway I'll keep posting stuff up here as I shotgun stuff out to the socials as B&C is my happy place and I love that such a dope forum is still kicking! P.S. if you have any solid winter guard vehicles or schemes, even if they are just whitewashed, let me know!

Thank you for your expansion. I can't say I disagree with a lot here. I miss 4th/5th. I thought 8th was the best modern version before the tournament crowd got hold of the game. The soul of the game definitely isn't what it was that's for sure.

I have felt every edition since 8th has been a downgrade in terms of playability, the mechanics of 40K (Strats, Gear changes, Unit Cards, the model is the load out) have become increasingly obnoxious, and the open beta that was 10th has been laughable for the entire 3 years of its life. "Power Level" was a terrible idea when AoS first came out, and its a terrible idea now, over a decade later. If 11th has a desire to be a continuation, its a continuation down the wrong path, and the game of 40K itself is worse for it, and since they didnt get rid of strats AND they made all gear 'free' AND they have changed army composition for the worse AND they keep finding ways to reduce the points/power level per model, leading to larger more unwieldly and time consuming games? Frankly I have never thought less of the game. The lore? Love it or hate it, it is what it is. The models? Fantastic, love them. The actual crunch? The rules of 40K? Delete it and go back to what worked.

Finished another batch of my Night Lord kill team (Butcher with chain glaive, Heavy Bolter, normal bolter gunner and a communication marine)

Well, now I'm not only interested in what I can come up with but also motivated. Juggling between projects may be tough and while I probably should focus on painting more vanilla stuff... something clicked in my head and rekindled the youthful passion. I guess the idea shattered my defences due to being slightly overworked. In this state of mind, during breaks, I usually seek refuge in looking at or thinking about hobby-stuff. I love this comment. And it comes from a place of authority so I can't disregard it. Thanks, it made my day! *** After a long week (or is it only Wednesday?!), I finally hit some calmer waters at work — and I did a thing. Feeling slightly ridiculous and very much like my 12‑year‑old self, I dug out my Caestus bits, grabbed a piece of cardboard, my trusty knife, and… well, I went for it. Since I lack both spatial imagination and any real Photoshop skills, I resorted to good old caveman methods to help me visualise what I had in mind. Here are some quick, rough photos. Let’s call them photographic design notes. Preliminary assumptions for the project: I want the top section of the model to be bulkier. I want the cockpit moved closer to the front. The biggest design decision right now is the wing placement. The first version I considered puts the wings toward the front, similar to the Corvus Blackstar or the Dark Angels’ flyers: Variant I: And the other possibility I'm considering is something more 'traditional' when it comes to the SM Flyer design ethos: a brick with some wings towards the back (Storm Speeder, original Caestus, to a degree, the Stormraven variants): Variant II: (Please disregard the larger wing on the right side of the photo; the go-to design is the smaller wing on the right; the strip of cardboard on the wing is supposed to be an engine.) By the way, I'm probably too tired to function properly - I'm getting ideas :D For the first time, I've turned to the Abominable Intelligence for some image-related assistance, requesting a render of the vehicle in the photo. And... I've gotta say, it's not that bad! Here's a render generated by Copilot: Sitting on the floor surrounded by scraps of cardboard while putting these mock‑ups together wasn’t exactly my proudest moment. The result is pretty crude, but honestly? It was fun — and surprisingly useful. Now I know the central section of the fuselage can be extended without much trouble, and with the right detailing it should look great. I can also go back to the photos and think more clearly about which direction I want to take this project. Variant I — the brickified, steroid‑pumped faux Corvus/Blackstar — is very tempting. I’ve always liked the Corvus design, but I never bought one because it felt too small. Using a papercraft Caestus as the base feels like a natural “Primarisification” of the concept. Variant II — the oversized faux Caestus — gives me a slightly better chance of fitting a wing‑mounted engine and has a more aggressive silhouette overall. So… while I still haven’t fully made up my mind, doing these mock‑ups convinced me that I will be moving forward with the project. I’m not sure when, but I think some notebook revisions are in order. The Caestus is back on the menu! *** Advice and comments are very welcome! But please bear in mind that given the potential time investment, I'll have to make the final call.

Like... in tennis? :-)

1 of 6 Cataphractii from the box. This guy is probably going to end up as a character, either a Warmonger or a Centurion in Terminator plate.

I'm not entirely sure the Chem Dogs are a rumour. Just speculation as far as I know.

Time for a good laugh The new SW beastslayer list i was about to test got a bigger nerf than Ctan 3 repex + combi lt is +45 pts The non pantheon Ctan got a +40 ish points hit 11th edition cant come fast enough...

I have just remembered one other big advantage the Priest has over the Judiciar is you can add a Priest to the squad and still a Captain or Lieutenant. That opens up a lot of combos and stacked Enhancements. Even the combo of Lethal Hits and and extra -1AP is pretty good.

Adding in one Inquisition Interrogator.

I, Lord_Ikka, vow to paint for the month of March (& Plodding Along) the following: 5 Einhyr Hearthguard, 3 Brohkyr Thunderkyn, 12 Steeljacks (6 melee, 6 volkanite).

I, Dwango, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 raider, 2 vindis, 1 rhino, 1 Assassin, 16 skitarii and 1 Marshall by month's end. The tanks are pretty much done. I'll take a pic when they have dried.

That base is sick! Great work @Kurgan the Lurker

Great stuff @Boc

Yesterday's WIP (impromptu date night with wife caused me to rush and forget to drill bolt pistols on one model and that same model is the most annoying build with part of the cloak having to glue into leg and leg glues to torso barely ) Bases were washed.

Looking forward to seeing it painted. :)

So I haven’t really got a Kill Team for the campaign, but I have been meaning to build and paint this model for a while, and it should be a suitable commander, atleast in fluff. Not sure what they will be commanding. I, Trokair , embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete one Secutarii Axiarch by month's end. Yesterday I did some mold clean up and part assembly. I suspect it might be akward to paint this guy once full assembled so I only went as far as these subassemblies. Each arm to what they are holding as the arm to body joint is probably the easiest to wiggle/fudge to make everything line up later on the base, compared to the hand joints. Then the entire torso including backpack and servo skull, and lastly the head, mostly so that I can chose which way he will look once everything is assembled and based.

I, ParaDigm, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 Bjorn the Fell Handed and 1 Murder Fang by month's end*. We will see how things go but may add in a pack of Wilven if there is time!

Ok, lets see how we do with more adventurous targets. For March I'm looking at: 1 - 4 Blackstone Fortress adversaries (Zoat, Ambull, Comissar & Ogryn) I decided they needed a respray in grey so didn't manage to progress them in Feb 2 - 13 bits of BSF terrain 3 - 5 MK2 HH Blood Angel Tacticals 4 - The 7 members of the Primaris 'Heroes' kill team, plus the random 8th duplicate & Captain Centos. 5 - 3 LI Malcador Infernus

I, W.A.Rorie, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 Imagifier and 5 Seraphims month's end. (Vow #2)

I, bouargh, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 arcuitor magisterium, 1 inquisitor Ostromondeus and 5 Wraithblades by month's end .

I preferred 4th edition over 3rd edition. 3rd was a huge change vs 2nd and the game moved from skirmish to more battles. There were a number of inconsistencies and you also avoided terminators because they were trash and died to plasma guns. 4th is where they cleaned up the rules (especially HtH where there were lots of problems). They added more resilience to models (FNP, terminators got 5++, etc). 5th added rules around big vehicles and 6th added flyer rules. 7th tried to streamline everything and each release cycle just kept trying to one up the prior releases and detachments kept giving away free units like 9 razor backs for free in a demi company.

March Vow done! Canoness Commander Helia Parnia, Order of the Parthenon, Reclaimatiom Fleet Khymara Sub sector

I put the finishing touches on 4 more of my Night Lords. One of them is the anniversary beaky marine, plus 3 members of my Night Lord Kill Team for the challenge (a chainsword warrior, a grenadier and a Shrivetalon with short flensing chainaxes). My vow for the rest of March: Finishing the rest of the Kill Team and maybe also painting some characters. I am not sure yet if I will manage to make a start on the other Kill Teams or finish up at least their leaders (Beastmen and Rogue Trader), this will depend on my time and motivation. With everything else going on in my life, I will not put additional pressure on myself just to finish up some plastic toy soldiers. Work is stressful enough and I do this to RELAX and ENJOY.

My commander: Marrak Sin-Eater Faction: Heretic Astartes (Night Lords) Starting Location: Zeta A5 Preferred Color: Dark Blue Here is Marrak Sin-Eater: Maybe I manage to finish the leaders of my other planned Kill Teams (Beastmen and Rogue Trader) in March, but not sure yet since real life work demands most of my attention at the moment, and will be away in April for a long holiday trip.

First print out of my new printer (Anycubic Mono 4 10K), Shard of the Deceiver commission to match the size of the new Nightbringer, and here it is with the intended finished position,

And adding my March Campaign Leader

I Combat_Vet, continue the 12 MoH Challenge and for the month of March vow to finish one Astartes Captain for the Marines Malevolent.

I Heraclite, continue the 12 MoH Challenge and for the month of march vow to finish 2 bladeguard veterans : For the purpose of the campaign, I also vow Colonel Schaeffer as my kill team leader : @Grotsmasha, regarding the campaign, any news on the expanded rules for the different types of tiles and interactions?

I, Madao, continue the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge and for the month of March pledge to complete 6 skitarii (unfinished in Feb), 2 marshalls and 1 stiltboy.

Right, I haven't posted here in a long time. My Heresy journey started technically with the 'Badab War' books, since they got me back in to (then 4th or 5th ed. ?) WH40k after a long hiatus, as I initially played from 1989 to 1995 and then life happened. Anyhow, those beautiful Forgeworld books got me back into the game ... but hey, an edition change stole the excitement, as the Codex Space MArines uesd with the Badab books was now no longer valid. I guess one can see where this is going, but bear with me. HH 1st ed. was a blast, even with some trivial rule hickups and irregularities, and I played first edition for the entirety of its lifespan, with two Legions and one Militia & Cults list. HH 2nd hit, and it took a good while to get used to it, but eventually I managed. Notably, the circle of friends interested in the game had already start to shrink by this time. Two years into second edition, I sold all my armies (for various reasons) and started to collect two (to start with) new projects, Taghmata and Sisters of Silence. One year later, and boom, HH 3.0 and then ... 1.) None of the projects I started would be a valid army anymore in this edition, Mechanicum having lost most of the equipment and unigue appeal as well as undergoing drastic rule changes to Thallax which were meant to be a good chunk of my army. Sisters of Silence were reduced to one (1) unit and HQ. You know what James ? Go and bonk a hole in a wall. 2.) Rules that were once simple got overcomplicated to an absurd amount where the game now feels more like a piece of abstract modern art nobody asked for but without any art actually being in it. Army list selection is only enjoyable for people without a job, a life, a family or the mentally challenged. It's simply grievous and completely unecessary. The writing and composition of unit entries is just ... abyssmal. I cannot fathom how these products ever cleared quality control and were allowed to go to print. 3.) No one, repeat absolutely no one (as in not a single person) from my previous gaming group (in my previous country) plays HH anymore, nor has any form of interest of picking up the game again. I recently migrated halfways across the world and would theoretically be more than willing to start a new army if I would be able to find people still enjoying either first or second edition, but there's none to be found (and woohoo behold, there's no 3rd ed. players either in that regard). HH 3.0 effectively killed the game. Thanks James, I guess.

I, andes, continue the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge and for the month of March pledge to complete an Ork Big Mek.

I, W.A.Rorie, embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 Crucible of Champions Jump Pack Canoness by month's end*. *Once done I will add either her Seraphim Squad or an Imagifier depending on time remaining, but that will be a new vow.

I, Arkley , embark on the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of March pledge to complete 1 White Scars Outrider Sergeant by month's end. I am a bit early on the go but I am not getting it finished by the end of February :P

I look forward to 4.0 when they just flat remove non-box load out options like they did for 3.0 but backflipped when they spotted the fall out from it. Or have we forgotten about that excellent bit new edition goodness as well haha. I for one, after playing a game of 3.5ed 40k last night, love the Force Org and the hard Decisions it makes you take. Yes points can be a concern sometimes, but unilimted slots allows a lot of MSU bull:cuss:tery. At 3k in 3.5, without going completely nuts on weird upgrades, I think I would actually max out the force org without an ally or super heavy. which I kind of like.

I think I'd best start with a little disclaimer: I've been used to the force org chart since 3rd ed. 40K came out, so I am obviously not coming to it from a new perspective. However, while the force org isn't perfect (and all the force org shenanigans of various editions, armies and/or detachments did present problems), I find the force org has one big strength which is that it's easy to navigate. I don't know if newcomers feel the same, but it seems objectively simpler than the current model, which I find to be much messier as well as unengaging (which is subjective, of course). While I get many of the complaints some people have about the force org, I think it did a good job of enforcing a bit of structure as well as making an army look and feel like an (imperial) army. So I think it's a no-brainer for a game like Heresy. The new system just seems much more complicated and, frankly, a bit of a chore without any real benefit. But I freely admit I haven't taken the time to get used to it, which is always one of the things that make evaluating new editions and changes (at least the ones you don't immediately love) difficult. More broadly, this seems to be an issue with the edition in general; the rules were absolutely horrendous to get through and for all the legalese, it didn't even seem like they managed to make them less ambiguous (which I assume was the point). More than anything, 3rd was a surprise for me, because while I expected changes, I actually thought GW more or less had a strategy of letting AoS/40K go down the path of new, more streamlined core rules, while TOW/HH was there to cater to people who liked the old core rules with some tweaks. But that just goes to show how one might be wrong about even things that seem obvious, I guess. I hope HH sticks around and that they manage to strike a better balance between crunchy and streamlined next time. I'm not against some degree of streamlining and abstraction in my rulesets, but this edition seems to have added complexity in all the wrong places and streamlined all the wrong things, which genuinely surprised me as I really don't subscribe to the "GW suck at rules" school of thought (but in this case it just seems pointless to deny it; I don't think I've really heard anyone say anything truly positive about it, at least not anything that surpasses "it's actually pretty good, once you've played twenty games or so" and that seems like damning with faint praise).

It’s not the same at all because previously that single HQ unlocked elite, troop, fast attack and heavy support slots all in one go. Plus many of those units could take dedicated transports so didn’t need entire detachments just to take a land raider or something similar. The new system divides a lot of stuff that could previously have been found in one category into multiple ones. Previously you could’ve taken a HQ, command squad, a squad of legion terminators (generally including legion specific ones), veteran squad, rapier battery and a dread as well as given those infantry units dedicated transports and your wouldn’t have had to step outside your HQ and Elite slots. Now you’d need: Crusade Primary detachment Retinue Detachment Heavy Support detachment shock Assault detachment Armoured fist detachment Army Vanguard detachment Tactical Support detachment And what’s more, there’s no pay off for this extra complexity and HQ tax unless you count the headache of trying to organise it all into a list.

Except it's not. It used to be one HQ unlocks one single detachment template available to everyone with factions getting modifications to said template depending upon their rules. Now, it is dependent upon the HQ as to which partial templates are unlocked, if multiple partial templates are unlocked, and you have to choose from said available partial templates. And if you cannot fit your army in The limited availability of partial templates then you have to take more HQs to unlock more partials. Therefore the functionality has strongly changed. It hilariously almost reminds me of DLC purchasing.

Look, I love the old force org chat and trying to juggle the confines of it. Especially at 3k things could get a bit tight back in the day. HQs/Elites/Heavy Support feel less exciting when they are near infinite!

To get back on topic a little, I think at this point if the game hasn't failed yet, it will in the future unless drastic changes are taken. We're already starting to see 8th+ edition 40k seeping it's way into Hours Heresy if not from a rules standpoint (I'd argue it most certainly is) then a sales standpoint. Weird squad sizes, odd numbers on model counts in boxes so you have to buy more, and the list goes on 30k soared in popularity during 2nd edition because of a perceived stability in ruleset, active advertising for dual ruleset models, much better pricing on contents of boxes, the ability to make your army *your dudes*, and the movement of models from resin to plastic. The first two of those reasons are gone now, the 3rd and 4th are on their way out the door, so all that leaves is resin going to plastic and if these bits get anymore fiddly and parts count keeps increasing then outside of having to prep resin it's getting to be just as bad if not worse.

I'll just add that 3rd ed had dozens of supplements and 6 years of WD support, while other editions lacked: 3rd ed had Codex armageddon (BT, sallies, Speed Freeks, SteelLegion) codex eye of terror codex cityfight new monthly rules and updates in white dwarf (Chapter Approved) which gave us rules for the traitor legions 3rd also had genuine global campaigns in Armageddon and 13th Black crusade that obilised a global player base - this undoubtedly led to some great memories!

Codex: Cityfight came out in 2001, 4th edition came out in 2003, and with 4th ed we saw a stripped back version of the game, but space marine traits allowed chapter customisation, reslting in every chapter taing 2x specials instead of a special+heavy in tax squads. 4th also introduced shrike and lysander I recall, as well as the gorgeous chaplain and librarian models, and UM changed from yellow to gold trim.

It looks to me like there's a bit of muddying 3rd-5th edition stuff - A lot of those expansions, like Cityfight, came in 4th, and the push to special characters came in 5th. That one still sits with me and stings a bit because I went from my cheap librarian leading my army to a counts-as Pedro Kantor for 3 units of Sternguard in drop pods for Steel Rain, because I lost the ability to infiltrate my tactical squads. But yeah, I remember 3rd-4th pretty fondly. Started at the tail end of 3rd, and loved the general feeling of being a small part of a very big sandbox. Did not love the combat mechanics so much - consolidating into fight after fight to roll up an entire army from a flank in one turn with things like Genestealers was not a great feeling - what @Magos Takatus said above is an excellent summary of other stuff from the edition, though. I miss things being a lot less lethal, too. And 1500 points was the norm until some point in 5th, IIRC, when it jumped first to 1750, then 1850.

This is kind of how I feel. 5th had some great stuff in it that's IMO worth backporting to 4th, and the Dark Eldar refresh was one of the best in 40K history, but there's a few bits of the core rules I dislike, notably TLOS (giving rise to Modelling For Advantage as a concept) and the wound-allocation rules leading to stuff like Nob Biker Spam. Though granted I feel the problem with those was they were abused by unscrupulous players rather than being inherently bad in and of themselves. I'm still torn on whether I like blast markers not having to roll to hit in 5th and instead relying entirely on scatter; it feels more immersive but it did make blasts quite powerful. My main gripe with 5th though was the Codices. Aside from the tail-end "Made for the next edition" 4th books just being a bit subpar (Orks lost a LOT of flavour and the Chaos book...moving on!) 5th had some really, really bad books, on both ends of the power spectrum. On the one hand you had Imperial Guard leafblowers, Blood Angels and Grey Knights everything, and then on the other hand you have Tyranids...I will never forgive them for what they did to the Carnifex. There's also the changes they made to the fluff, notably whatever the =][=EXPLETIVE=][= was going on with Necrons. Overall I think the best "mix" of (official) books is 4th core rules and a mix of 3.5E and 4E Codices; to be fair, you can kind of use any era-appropriate book you want and have a good time (4E Orks, 4E Chaos and the WD 4E Blood Angels aside). I personally think the 4E Tyranid book was the peak of the faction, but the 3E book wasn't half bad either. Tau to the best of my knowledge were a straight upgrade in 4th, as were Marines (the only things they "lost" re: weapon options were added back with Imperial Armour Volume 2). The one I'm not sure on is Eldar. I have the 4E Eldar book and it's pretty good, but I have heard the previous book was actually slightly better in some ways, enough that I'm tempted to pick it up. One thing I will say makes the edition a lot of fun is things like the vehicle/monster design rules from Chapter Approved, which along with the obvious massive amount of creativity it unlocks also allows you to backport newer models into the game. And lots of weapons and wargear are very easy to backport from 5th to 4th- my Chaos Dreadnought is armed with a conversion beamer swiped from the 5E Marine book, costed at 25 points (a weapon that gets better with range is not exactly an ideal choice on a platform that often wants to shoot the closest thing possible!).

The 3.5 Chaos Codex *to this day* is why I continue to play the game.

It was, I think, just a much easier game to play. Lots of that has to do with the fact that there’s something like twice as many armies out there now, with several of them having two or three times as many units as your average 3rd/3.5-era armies did. Hell, the 10th Edition Space Marine Codex might actually have more unit entries in it than there were in the entire game of 40K did during some parts of 3rd Ed. There were no Detachment types, no Strategems, and nothing compelling every single unit to have its own bespoke special rule(s). You had army lists with some special weapon choices and character customization options. 40K as a game was also just less visibly tied to the particulars of GW as a business. Not every option needed to have a model made of it, and sometimes whole units were left to convert. There’s good and bad to all of that, but there was a feeling that the game itself was something you had to take some personal ownership of in order to really play. Converting units, creating scenarios, building terrain, etc., it came down to what you were willing to do. It probably narrowed the potential player base down a lot, but the people who played really wanted to be doing it, and GW was, for a while, happy to showcase this kind of initiative. Now everything’s a walled garden of sales and highly engineered play types, and that rankles. …also, we were all 20 - 25 years younger, then. There’s a lot of appeal to that idea once you hit a certain age.

3.5 to mid 4th IMO were the peak of the game. Not only were the 3.5 to early-to-mid 4th Codices really well put together with a huge amount of customization, but the supplements were amazing.