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As much as I often whine about Space Marine bloat and the range imbalance with non-marine factions, I DO feel the pain of folks who are losing those models. Despite marines being what they are, I imagine the people mourning those units feel almost exactly how I felt watching GW ignore Drukhari Beasts and the Court... Again. I will say that I'm not enough of a Marine guy to notice all the differences in armour design that fans do... And when I do notice them, they don't seem to be as radically different as the fans feel they are. I think the bigger difference is the tactical flexibility and load out options. The Fortis, Indomitor and Spectrus Kill Teams are great demonstrations of what "Primaris" Marines could be. I mean, I LIKE Deathwatch, and I don't want to see them lose the "Kill Team" feel by letting ALL marines mix and match like that... But it might be better for the game as a whole, because the "Take ALL Bolters (or ALL flamers, or ALL plasma, etc) and like it!" approach just isn't how marines should play in 40k. Perhaps there's a happy medium flexibility on the way for the three types of "Primaris" that allows them to recover some of the "Tactical" niche while still allowing Deathwatch to feel sufficiently specialized to continue on. Devastators though... Expecting people to use those TERRIBLE multi-rocket silliness Desolators or whatever they're called just because no other infantry heavy weapon unit exists is just beyond the pale. They might be the worst models GW has ever sculpted. A true Devastator equivalent in Primaris armour, whether Tacticus or Gravis, would really go a long way. I don't generally advocate for new Marine units, but if Devastors go, I feel like a Primaris equivalent will be necessary to replace them. @phandaal I too am a huge Gravis fan, in as much as I'm a Marine fan. The Indomitor Deathwatch Kill Team is my favourite I think.

All this proves to me is that it's about the friends we make along the way. So, when's the wedding?

Well boy golly do I have good news for you! It's going to carry on FOREVER!

Amazing that you're even saying something like this. Imagine if the sort of Primaris shake up happened to the Craftworld Eldar. Imagine if all the current designs started slowly getting phased out in favour of the current crop of Corsair kits or a new Ynnari aesthetic. Would you say the same thing to the people who like the old Aspect Warriors in that scenario? You act as if people being more discerning about the faction they picked years ago is some sort of insult pointed directly at you. You're entitled to your opinion, but often times your posts feel like you personally made it your task to make a "BUT I LIKE IT" type post every time someone expressed even the slightest bit of dislike towards a new release or even just a preference for an older design.

Sounds like you should collect a different faction? I don't particularly like the Eldar aesthetic, so I don't collect the army. I'm not sure what you expect given your position. You dislike the lore, the look, the kits. It's just not the army for you. You'd probably have way more fun collecting something else, unless of course, complaining is what brings you the most joy. That's also a stance people don't want to admit they've taken.

Goodness time flies. I couldn’t believe it had been 2 months since I last updated. To be fair I’ve been ploughing through some rather bland projects to clear the backlog before the next edition drops. Curse gw throwing out all the releases in the past few months. I’ve waded through the last of my scenery, namely the boarding actions and necromunda scenery, which has taken so many hours of trimming it’s been an endurance test! I had fun putting together the eldar corsairs and used it as an opportunity to rebase some of my Alaitoc still on small bases and sort through some harlequins, selling the old metals off. I finally revisited the ultramarines adding the new releases and converting some of the already assembled stuff with upgrades and spares. Next month hoping to round off a few outstanding chaosy bits before plunging headlong into 11th.

Yes, because they generally share the same aesthetic issues, Knee flanges which I find endlessly stupid looking, the basic chest plate design which lacks variation, which is further exacerbated by the repeat poses used across models, the lack of jump pack harnesses, the homogenization of details that were once unit specific, the giant round bit on the power pack, the amour bits over the ball bits in the power pack, lack of boot variation, the lack of of any variation besides what hangs near the crotch. And honestly, the lack of soul in the design. Go look at the Jump Pack Chaplain post where the new one and the old Lemartes are side by side and try to tell me the new one has even half the character of old lemartes. If you can, I'm happy for you, for me, I can happily say I'm saving my money and much prefer my smaller legion of the damned based chaplain kitbash. While it's true that I like the old stuff, I'd love it if the new stuff appealed to me too, but it just hasn't yet. If GW go back to older design aesthetics or methods I'll buy in again, otherwise, I've got a 3d printer, and a bunch of old style stl's. At the end of the day, I'm pretty much playing nothing but legends, and I have my own tables anyway so it's not like I gotta care otherwise.

Unfortunately he's not ready for love. Miss Primaris is available, but after 9 years he's still pining for her squattier cousin, Miss Firstborn.

Depends. We need to see what Mojake's 'cherry bomb flushed down the toilet' does.

A non-mushroom cloud causing distance. I know I wasn’t around for part of the game, so may have missed some details, but have we as players just engineered our own rocks fall TPK?

I am a huge fan of Gravis armor. Dozens of them fully painted up, with more in storage. I was the crazy guy buying Heavy Intercessors in full 10-man units when we could still only get them from box splitters. Might even be my favorite of the new Primaris range. As a Terminator enjoyer since the OG Deathwing game, something about the chonk just speaks to me. I wouldn't worry about it. You cannot argue with someone who treats their own confusion as a rebuttal. It's what we call a "self-licking ice cream cone."

My thoughts aren't "primaris gud" Ignore the Primaris name and just assess the models. In my opinion, most of the models are excellent and I like them more than what came before in most, but not all cases. But I do think that complaining about this faction for 9 straight years has got old. That's also not a hot take. Edit: what back foot am I on? I like the faction and lore and I don't need to see complaints about it in every topic. Here's a reality check for you: The 11th edition starter is all Primaris and Tactical Marines are probably going to Legends. It would be nice if I didn't read complaints about this in every topic from the same people. If you want to paddle in the pool of negativity, make a new topic about it. I'll make sure not to contribute to it.

Just don't bother. I wonder if he's actually capable of forming thoughts that aren't "Primaris gud" at this point.

I painted up a hippogriff for a review on Tabletop Battles (formerly Goonhammer). it’s a very nice kit. I built mine without instructions due to someone else having them. Managed it without any major issues. There are some nice features and they get a lot of detail on not that many pieces, so it builds reasonably quickly. I had a spare Death Rider torso, which I used as the commander instead of the Cadian you get with the kit. That will match my infantry (and cavalry) better. Review here: https://www.goonhammer.com/40k-centaur-hippogriff

I'm not going to argue with you if you're going to assume how I feel about this hobby. I wouldn't have bought any of the models I bought over the past 10 years (post 8th edition era) and I wouldn't be spending time converting the same miniatures if the hobby made me miserable. It's clear you're on the back foot because you're constantly making concessions to arguments people made in this thread, but you still somehow sneak in a snipe at people you see as detractors.

Awww was that Obie's first use of the term 'Warband'? Atesh loves Obie tooooooo. @FabiusV4lcoranYes, sir!!!

I've been building when I really should be painting, but that does mean I have now assembled all my flawless blades. Not a bad kit, good diversity of poses and fairly easy to assemble - worst part of it is trying to glue the grenades in place, what with the round bulbus grenades the EC models have (not sure what they are meant to represent in fluff terms - the non-pineapple, non-egg type grenades), but that's an EC problem, not one specific to these models. Anyway, I assembled them with some 3d printed capes I got in a trade (some GW parts for a boat load of 3D prints, the one I did to get my non-Cypher's head - great deal for me, I feel) - I felt the models were too fluid to work well with my usual chaos warriors swap, and I was feeling too lazy to see if I could make it work. Anyway, these work well and the less bulky shoulders (as the capes and fur don't go up there) suits the models. Here are my 2 3-man squads - one with bare heads and the big sword, the other with helmets and the twin swords, They also have different shoulder pads, but I'll show that off when I paint them. Other than the capes, they are all the stock (so GW build instructions) builds asides for some head swaps. And here's the 6-man squad. The 2 on the left are GW recommended builds, the 4 on the right are not (as there are only 8 GW instructed builds, and I didn't want to double up). I'm pretty happy with all my non-standard builds, but my favourite is this guy: Trickiest part was the piping between the flask on the back of the backpack and where it connects with tubing on the leftside of the models - the capes get in the way, so I had to bend it over the edge of the cape and hold it in place with the tip of my hobby knife while the glue dried. For some, I also had to trim the tubing on the side of the model to make it fit. That said, the tubes seem to be staying in place when glued, which is good.

Classic storm shields are debatable. Same with the swords. Some Primaris swords look odd and have thick hilts. Also Tacticus models differ based on box, the difference usually being the style of legs which affects the ease of modifying them. On some it's quite tricky to remove the flared kneepad and requires some reconstruction with putty. You clearly have little experience working with these models beyond just gluing them together out of the box. Yeah, Aggressor pot bellies look brilliant. It's not a grudge, it's just different aesthetic taste. Ultimately Games Workshop is going to phase out the model kits with parts I prefer using in my conversions and they will be replaced with miniatures that have parts that don't appeal to me or I think are ugly. For example the new Deathwing Terminators. I don't like them at all, I don't like that the Dark Angel Terminator plasma cannon is no longer present in a Terminator box I can easily buy. I hate that it's a rubbish Cawl design that replaced it and that the only way to get it is to buy an overpriced upgrade set that comes with a bunch of stuff I don't have any use for. I usually just convert my own Terminator plasma cannons out of what's currently available (Devastators) but for how long will those things still be available is unknown. I also don't see much comfort in older marks being represented as just different helmets in some kits. It doesn't feel like a proper representation of actual armour marks without the other parts, it just feels like lame fanservice. Some stuff for me is non-negotiable, for example you won't see a single Primaris style power pack or the Mark X crab face helmet on any of the Marines I assemble.

The whole aesthetic? Every single model? I completely understand if a certain type of model isn't to your liking, but I'm supposed to believe they dislike the entire range? Even something like the Bladeguard Vets? They have Crusader style helmets, classic Storm Shields and Swords. Very different look from Aggressors. General Tacticus models are perfectly fine and extremely easy to modify if you miss certain classical flares. It goes back to my point about having the luxury to be able to ignore multiple units without limiting the reach of your army.

Every GW "flying model" now days... I think if the head and arms are separate it may be a useful model.

YITH I finished my Hunter Druht (some of the 10 pictured here) after it being at 9/10 painted. The last model. Some of the 10.

The sidecar attack bike is unique in 40k. The ATV is just copying what the Orks have already done. Better.

The brutes are done. As is my vow I believe. I'm going to add eithersome myrmidons, urserax and/or a culexus assassin.

Ankle-thrusters and that horrible Primaris jump pack aside I think the sculpt itself is very good. The pose seems...off, somehow. Very awkward, and the smoke plume suuuuucks. Generally a good model though. Would make very good conversion base.

I've been thinking about Chemos lately, and decided to do a deep dive into everything I could find about it. As always: thoughts, additions, and corrections are most welcome. // To get the basics out of the way, on a galactic map Chemos was a coreward world of the Ultima Segmentum; southwest of The Maelstrom, with Badab and Chogoris to its east and Ryza and Catachan to its northwest. I tried my best to locate the first use of Chemos for the name of the Emperor's Children's homeworld, but was unable to find anything from before 2001's Index Astartes article. I imagine there to be a list somewhere in Rogue Trader or 2nd edition, giving the names of all the Primarchs and their homeworlds... but if it exists then I haven't managed to track it down. (Any help here would be appreciated.) I'm also not sure how GW chooses to pronounce it officially, as I don't listen to audiobooks. (Again - any help here would be appreciated). My natural inclination is towards "KAY-mose", but I can imagine others saying "KEM-us" or "KEE-mose", etc. When it comes to the inspiration for the name, I have in the past seen people wonder if it might be a reference to Chemicals or Chemotherapy. Fabius Bile was (in his 1996 lore) referred to as 'The Chem-Master' (amongst his other nicknames), and there is the concept of the Emperor's Children suffering from the gene-cancer known as The Blight. (Though it was only introduced in Nick Kyme's 2015 story Chirurgeon, as far as I'm aware. Previously, in 2012's The Horus Heresy: Book One - Betrayal, the accident which had destroyed the Emperor's Children's gene-seed was twofold. First, a large stock of it was lost when the ship transporting it to Luna was destroyed/went missing. We eventually find out that it was nicked by Trazyn the Infinite, per 2017's Fabius Bile: Clonelord. Secondly, the gene-seed vaults on Terra were infected with "a fast acting viral blight" which damaged the reserves of many of the Legions; but the Emperor's Children were hit the hardest and had their reserves completely wiped out. So, as pre-2015 "The Blight" didn't exist, Chemos cannot have been named after it.) Historically (in the real world), Chemos (as 'Chemosh', and pronounced along the lines of "KAY-maash") was the god of the Moabites and interestingly may have origins as an epithet for Nergal (who in turn likely inspired the name Nurgle). King Solomon permitted the worship of Chemosh (as well as Astarte and Milcom) amongst foreigners in Israel; but these practises were ended by King Josiah during his purges. In the Book of Kings, the Moabite King Mesha is recorded as sacrificing his son to Chemosh on the walls of Divon to defeat the Israelites. (Mesha's version of events doesn't include him sacrificing anyone; he just claims to have been victorious thanks to the power of Chemosh. The modern city is Dhiban, in Jordan.) Chemos (no 'h' at the end) is then present in John Milton's popular and influential fanfic, Paradise Lost (1667), as one of the daemons hanging out with the Satan: Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons, From Aroar to Nebo and the wild Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleälè to the Asphaltic pool. Peor his other name, when he enticed Israel, in Sittim on their march from Nile, To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate; Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. So we can probably assume that whoever named the Emperor's Children's homeworld as Chemos was doing so in reference to Milton's daemon of obscenity and lust. // The 2001 Index Astartes article describes Chemos thusly: Chemos was a mining colony, which depended on interstellar trade for food before the Age of Strife. A bleak and inhospitable world lit by two distant suns, and surrounded by a nebular dust cloud, Chemos knew no day or night; but only a permanent grey twilight in which no stars were ever seen in the sky. Once cut-off, humanity starved to death; except for in the few Factory-Fortresses where citizens worked every waking hour to man the vapour mines, synthesisers, and recyclers. They were able to just barely produce enough food to hang on, and art and leisure were sacrificed on the altar of survival. Only efficiency was valued. When a meteor was seen impacting near the Factory-Fortress of Callax, its Executives sent out a few scouts (all that could be spared) to investigate for evidence of continued human existence beyond Chemos. They found a child. Orphans on Chemos were put to death, as there were no resources to care for them. The veteran Captain who found the child had to make a special appeal to the Executives to be allowed to adopt him, and was only permitted this due to his value to Callax. He named the boy Fulgrim, after the long-discarded Chemosian god of creation. In Callax the young Fulgrim laboured in the fulfillment of his responsibilities to the Executive, working for days without end. Not only was he physically tireless, but he came to know the machines and began contemplating their improvement. He quickly became an Engineer, and by the age of 15 was promoted to one of the Executives of Callax. Fulgrim managed to convince his fellow Executives to stop merely trying to survive, and instead fight to improve. Under him, teams of Engineers travelled to long-dead outposts, reopened ancient mines, and brought to Callax the materials necessary for the construction of new, more sophisticated machines. Recycling efficiency improved to the point where Callax began producing more than it consumed for the first time in millennia. Fulgrim took pride in reintroducing the art and culture which had been cast aside in the name of survival. As Callax grew the other Factory-Fortresses of Chemos allied themselves to it, and by the age of 50 he ruled all of Chemos. Chemos had no formal army, only the 'Caretakers'; the police-soldiery responsible for maintaining order in the Factory-Fortresses. When Fulgrim hosted the Emperor he did so in his "spartan quarters", and he was excited at the sight of the Third Legion's civilised artistry (the sort of thing he had "longed to return to Chemos"). Once it had entered the Imperium, Chemos expanded its industrial base and became a source of processed minerals. The Emperor's Children's Fortress-Monastery was constructed in the centre of Callax, and drew recruits from the planet's strongest, bravest, and brightest. (The Chemosian recruits proved themselves resourceful, "but even so only a handful of them passed the rigorous tests...") Once he left, Fulgrim never returned to Chemos. After the lifting of the Siege, Chemos was assaulted by Imperial forces. Following this, the system was quarantined and no information on Chemos has been recorded (even including, oddly, any record of Exterminatus). Officially, as of 2023, the Primarchs were scattered around 792.M30, while the discovery of Chemos/Fulgrim is 38 years later in 830.M30. This means that Fulgrim being 50 when he united the planet has either been retconned, or is the result of some timey-wimey Warp shenanigans sending him back to an earlier date than he left Earth. Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (1988) mentions that it took 60 years for the Emperor's Children to see action (after the accident which destroyed their gene-seed), which is repeated in the 1996 Codex, and probably what 2001's "50 years old" figure is playing off of. I absolutely love this lore, and this Index Astartes article is what first brought me into the fold. (Adding to my Iron Warriors.) I really like the idea that the grand, superior, gaudy Emperor's Children come from a backwater mining colony. I like the idea of the Legion at this early stage having Chemosian "nouveau riche" clashing with the Terran "old money". I also like the idea that Fulgrim never went back, and like to think it's not because he was busy but... why would he want to go back? It's also a really interesting backstory for Fulgrim. He wasn't part of some warrior tribe, or knightly order, or noble resistance. He didn't kill his way to the top. He was child labourer, who went into a trade, started dreaming up technical creations, succeeded upwards until he was running the place, and then had his world ally themselves to him. Chemos had no armies - they didn't have any resources to throw against each others' walls. And then: boom, the Emperor appears, hands Fulgrim a Legion, and he retools himself into the perfect warrior. I'll also note that at this point in the development of the Emperor's Children, they had no associations with duelling. (In the Index Astartes articles, that was an aspect of the Imperial Fists; duelling culture had been common amongst their Terran marines and Dorn had promoted it to the Inwit recruits in an attempt to foster unity. Also, a year later, Lucius the Eternal was introduced and only had a WS of 5 - the same as Typhus and Ahriman, and less than Abaddon's 6 or Khârn's 7.) To me, it makes a degree of sense that Fulgrim would not have grown up with any sort of instruction in swordsmanship (his adoptive father was an Engineer), nor would I expect the Executives of such a place to have anything of the sort. I'll also note that while Fulgrim had begun reintroducing art and leisure, I imagine that to be "work only 12 hours a day; seven days a week; minus a holiday to mark Fulgrim's arrival" and not that he transformed Chemos into any sort of idyllic paradise. He polished that turd, but it was still a turd. To back this idea, I'll note that his quarters were "spartan" and he was overwhelmed by the artistry displayed by the Third Legionaries presented to him. With the Heresy kicking off in 005.M31, Chemos would have spent 175 years under Imperial rule (importing various goods, and thus no longer being trapped in survival mode). So there's plenty of time for it to have developed a duelling culture, etc. post-compliance. Especially if Fulgrim had also adopted such. // In 2007's Fulgrim (Graham McNeill), Chemos' description is in tune with the IA article: "...a world that knew neither day nor night, thanks to a nebular dust cloud that isolated the planet from its distant suns. A perpetual grey twilight through which the stars never shone was all [Solomon Demeter] had known..." On the other hand, Lord Commander Vespasian notes that Lord Commander Illios had been "...a warrior who had fought with Fulgrim against rival tribes of Chemos..." and had helped transform the world from one of misery into one of culture and learning. To me... I like the idea from 2001 of Fulgrim taking over Chemos non-militarily, so a reference to him fighting rival tribes sits ill with me. I also like the idea of Chemos still being a dump (just a better dump) until it comes into compliance with the Imperium. Multiple characters in Fulgrim use the exclamation "by Chemos". It notes that the Legion grew with a steady stream of recruits from both Chemos and Terra (with both Julius Kaesoron and Solomon Demeter being from the former). Eidolon apparently has a landscape painting of Chemos hanging above his bed, which... sadly seems to not be a joke about the walls in his room being painted grey. (I guess the implication must be that Chemos has been terraformed to a significant degree by the time of the Horus Heresy.) // In 2012's Angel Exterminatus (Graham McNeill) there are four 'Theogonies' introducing the three 'Books' of the novel. In the first we witness Perturabo's arrival on Olympus, second Ferrus Manus' initial taste of Medusa, and then... Three Callax scouts are sheltering from the razor particulate of a "wire storm" in a "ruined manufactory" on Chemos. Their names are Ptolea, Sullax, and Coryn, and despite their shelter setting off their rad-counters, it's better than being torn apart by the storm. They were in one of the generating stations that had long ago laid waste to the planet, releasing toxins that had burned the atmosphere and boiled away the seas. Callax is described as a bleak fortress, with high iron walls; beneath a sky referred to as "the Umbral" and surrounded by a "chem wilderness" full of "chem-dust". Everything is reused, nothing is new. Water is extracted by vapour mills, and food is reconstituted bodily waste. Coryn has a chapbook which has been passed down for generations, and is the only source of colour he has ever known - both in its illustrations, as well as the tales it tells of gods and feasts, blue skies and stars. (His father told him that stars still exist, but no one really believes that - his father said a lot of things. His father's limbs had become too weak to work the forges, and his mind was slipping; he'd soon no longer be of any use to logistics.) Coryn mentions to Ptolea (his "dwelling-sister") that he'd always hoped to pass the chapbook on to a child, if he could ever get permission for one. Sullax says that the radiation will see to that never happening, and when told that he didn't have to come counters that Coryn is his "work-brother" and if he dies then Sullax would have to cover his quota. Coryn thinks about how he had to persuade the Executive to dispatch them to investigate the violet comet, and feels guilty about the radiation making them infertile - or possibly worse, unproductive. The impact site is oddly still and calm, and smelled sweet and fragrant (not like the expected toxins). As they approach, they see cohering light; fleeting images of eyes, golden wings, genetic helixes, and a thousand wheels turning like in the heart of a great machine. Ptolea and Sullax are a bit weary, but Coryn confidently approaches as the light coils into itself to be reborn from its own self-immolation. He feels a presence brush his mind, and everything he was, it knew. Everything he knew, it knew. At the heart of the light was a baby boy. Sullax pulls a knife to kill the child, as that's what's done to orphans. Ptolea and Coryn object, and Sullax points out that they don't need the burden. Ptolea shoots Sullax, and Coryn feels nothing - Sullax had threatened the perfect child, and suffered the appropriate fate. As Coryn cradles the boy, water begins to bubble and flow from the crack in the earth that had been beneath him. He hands the child to Ptolea, and shows her a page from his book: the ancient creation myth of a purple-hued god rising from primordial waters to turn a barren world into a fertile paradise. "It's the water-bringer... Fulgrim." (The forth Theogony is Lucius waking up in Fabius' burning lab, as the Apothecary fights off two of his rampaging monsters. Lucius rescues from the flames the chimera'd gene-seed that would go on to make Honsou, and then scampers when Fabius starts asking him about how he's alive.) This presents Chemos as not "naturally" being barely habitable, but (to some degree) it being the result of various power plants having disastrous meltdowns. We also see a bunch of references to chemical spillage, runoff, industrial waste, etc. A polluted world, rather than it just inherently sucking. (Perhaps McNeill wished to associate Chem-os with chem-icals.) I do like how absolutely bleak the Chemosians are (worried about not being able to work - and thus implicitly needing to be executed). The bits with baby Fulgrim, while not strictly about Chemos, are wild enough that I felt the need to include them. For some reason Fulgrim is a baby (while Perturabo and Ferrus Manus were young boys upon their arrivals). He's clearly a psyker, and there's some real crazy imagery going on. (Plus, of course, references to being a Phoenix.) He's got a supernatural grip on some people, who will casually murder friends to protect him. Very sinister origins. // 2012's The Horus Heresy: Book One - Betrayal describes drab Chemos as a grey-skinned grey-skied mining world, where hope was thin, drudgery life, and slow decay the fate of humanity. Privation was common, but Fulgrim became a beacon of hope to its people; and his coming saw a resurgence of craft, art, and intellectualism which had set the planet on the path to... not greatness, but betterment. It's speculated that in the scant 200 Emperor's Children presented to him Fulgrim saw an echo of Chemos' struggle. The Third Legion began recruiting from the planet, even though Imperial advisors suggested against this - there was little to mark the Chemosians as suitable candidates for the Legion, with the planet lacking any strong martial culture. Fulrgim disagreed; the Chemosians had the will to rise above their beginnings and become something greater, in his opinion. (The Terran nobility were noted to renew their tribute of sons at this point, and it was common for Fulgrim to accept the sons of various planets' aristocracies post-compliance.) Chemos is noted as having a Temperate-Subarctic climate, to be a Moderate Terran Analogue [77%], to be suffering ecosphere imbalance due to generational mining exhaustion, and to be (in early M31) undergoing environmental repair. The native population is listed at 500M people. It is the capital of the Aquitaine Sector of the Ultima Segmentum. // Graham McNeill's 2012 Priests of Mars contains a little reference to Chemos (and The Princess Bride). A Black Templar is duelling (and employs Bonetti's defense), with his opponent noting his grip was that of Thibault while his footwork "was that of the great swordsman of Chemos, Agrippa". Personally, while cute... this doesn't make much sense to me. My assumption would be that post-Heresy the Inquisition would have done its utmost to destroy all Chemosian teachings. Something might have snuck through, but of any Chapter the Black Templars definitely feel like they shouldn't be using Chemosian duelling techniques. If they had found a book instructing such, it would have been thrown to the flame. If they had found a school teaching such, the flame would have been thrown at it. // Amongst Lucius' sobriquets is 'Scion of Chemos'. 2013's Warlords of the Dark Millennium: Lucius the Eternal includes some further mentions of Chemos: It describes the planet of his youth as "dismal", with Lucius shining out "like a jewel in the earth." He had an immense reservoir of talent and a boyish handsomeness "that even the harsh air of his home planet could not mar." His "sponsored studies" turned to the art of war; though not grand strategy and tactical analysis, but duelling and the business of killing (which he was fascinated by). It is said that he surpassed the "classical styles taught by the weapons masters of Chemos" at a young age, and his rapier killed many beggars and brigands who he claimed had attacked him in the street. He scarred hundreds of his fellow pupils, and often "accidentally" cut off a finger or claimed an eye, while never being touched himself. He grew famous for fighting with a lackadaisical contempt when facing his peers (with his character repeatedly called into question), while he fought like a lad possessed when pitted against his tutors. In the tournament of the Golden Blades, held yearly by the "Elders of Chemos", the young Lucius was matched against a Champion twice his age. He was winning gracefully until his opponent kneed him in the gut, after which he sadistically took apart his foe - limb by limb. The Champion's supporters rushed the arena, and Lucius killed scores of them. There were too many, though, and Lucius would have met a gory end if he hadn't been scooped up by a spectating Sergeant of the Emperor's Children. He was never seen on Chemos again, having been inducted into the Legion. While it's not known when Lucius was initiated, it seems that Chemos was still geologically quite a mess. There were also apparently "beggars and brigands" that could believably attack young bravados in the street, so any claims that Chemos was a wonderful society post-compliance should be doubted. It had "classical styles" of duelling, which implies (to me) that duelling should have been a long-standing tradition, which... doesn't gel with my preferences. I suppose if Lucius was a relatively "young" ~75 (or less) at the time of the Heresy, then Chemos would have had around a century to establish a duelling tradition before he was inducted; I don't know if that's enough time for it's duelling culture to have "classic" styles, though I suppose it could be. There are "classic" styles of video games in the real world, after all, that are far younger. // The 'Kallax' shelf is released by Ikea in 2014. Coincidence? I think not. // In 2016's The Path of Heaven (Chris Wraight), Eidolon is described as "[gazing] down from the throne with the dull-eyed, listless mien of the Chemosian aristocracy... In what remained of the III Legion's military hierarchy, that still counted for much, although there were many, Lucius perhaps foremost, who had treated it with a contempt..." (In Eidolon: The Auric Hammer he is said to be from Terra instead.) Taking place mid-Heresy, Eidolon has a new breastplate chased with silver "bestiary from Old Terra and Chemos". The pre-Heresy colour scheme is described as the "old armour of Chemos"; "the colours of the Legion as they had been forged on Chemos." // Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix (Josh Reynolds, 2017) has a number of points where Fulgrim reflects on the world of his upbringing: When Fulgrim travelled to Terra he visited the noble families of Europa and got them to renew the contribution of sons to the Third, in an effort to boost the number of initiates; he also had claimed the firstborn sons of a thousand conquered worlds. The story takes place around 837-840.M30 (after Guilliman is discovered, before Magnus), and involves a small team of seven Emperor's Children taking a world (as a show of superiority). Narvo Quinn, a Terran, thinks of the new Chemosian marines: "...there was little to mark the natives of Chemos out as suitable warriors. They were drones, drudges and dullards. That the Phoenician doted on them so was a constant irritation to him." He notes that it seems that the upper ranks of the Legion are quickly being filled by Chemosians. Lord Commander Abdemon, when reminiscing about his first glimpse of Fulgrim, describes him atop his "fortress of glass and steel", wearing gleaming "executive robes". Chemos he calls a "drab, silent world" except for where Fulgrim strode - there, colour and sound flourished. He watches Cyrius (not yet a Lord Commander) duelling, and notes that many Chemosians are duellists. "They possessed a strong thread of personal combat in their cultural weave. It revealed itself not simply in blade-work, but in all forms of activity, even poetry and music." When talking with Fabius, Fulgrim notes that he had known workaholics on Chemos. Left to themselves, they could work themselves to death. Fulgrim also learned on Chemos the importance of having the right man for the job, and believes Fabius is the one who can cure The Blight. Fulgrim has gone out of his way to quash any talk of the "necessary evils" previously committed by Fabius (so that he doesn't face distraction/challenge). There are spiders, of a sort, on Chemos; which ever spin their webs - never slowing or stopping. They refine chemical sludge into perfect crystalline latticework. Chemosian shaft-cats are also named. (Cyrius' sword's hilt is carved from one's jaw.) The "remaining oceans" on Chemos are almost devoid of life, despite Fulgrim's efforts. The waters are grey and cold. Fulgrim reminisces about the Sulpha people of Chemos. They had been nomadic tribes that believed the only fit occupations for men were duelling and dancing. Fulgrim had spent time with them, and learned their ways. A wild folk, they had been the last thing on Chemos not under his control, and so he had destroyed them. He wonders how he would have turned out, had he been found my them instead of two downtrodden factory workers (Corrin and Tullea). "Life in the fortress-factory of Callax had broken them early..." Fulgrim keeps busts of his parents in his room: unadorned marble, expressions of weary acceptance. It is said that Fulgrim took control of Callax "within a few months of being put to work there." Chemos was a dying world, it's mines tapped and ores plundered. The Sulpha people had been the largest of the primitive groups, but not the only one. He remembers fierce fighting against the cannibal tribes in factories gone cold, the doomed expedition to Deep Processor One, and "the monstrous thing he'd faced on the fourble board" (a reference to the episode The Thing on the Fourble Board of the late 40s radio fantasy/horror show Quiet, Please!). There is also mention of folk heroes like Dig-Operator Jak and Nimble Tolliver. For 50 years he waged war against the planet's decline, and on the day he won the Emperor appeared. Fulgrim recognises the bureaucracy that's forming in the Imperium, and thinks that his brothers don't see it (though maybe Horus has an inkling). Fulgrim had grown up in such, and been forced to navigate spheres of influence as he broke down and rebuilt the Executive system. It is said that on Chemos, treachery was just another weapon in the Executive's arsenal; deals were made and broken easily, and honour was a fluid concept. "An oath to a fool was no oath at all. The only true consequences were those you couldn't adapt to." When the Emperor's Children are about to deploy, there are Chemosian musicians playing them off. "It was a dolorous composition... Something from Chemos, she supposed, given the origins of the musicians. A drab little world, with equally sombre music." Fulgrim's Stormbird Firebird is equipped with a bafflefield that Fulgrim designed as a boy to protect the ears of deep-ore hauler crews. It is mentioned that there used to be wretched slums on Chemos, but not any more. Fulgrim says that "The Phoenician" was a nickname bestowed upon him by an unknown member of the Emperor's court, as a reference to his purple panoply. This is in conflict with Fulgrim, which states that the title is a reference to the Phoenix, and it is then a bit perplexing that the book names the capital of Chemos as Phoenicia. And this does not appear to be a recent change - "[Phoenicia] had withstood many of the ravages that afflicted the rest of the world, and under Fulgrim's guidance, it had ascended to heights undreamt of by its citizens." Fulgrim describes it as being quite beautiful. The Emperor's Children fight alongside the Archite Palatines - a Solar Auxilia regiment drawn from the noble houses of Europa, Terra. A character wonders about "Fulgrim's programme of inducting common-born Chemosians into the Legion." They conclude that "Even the most illustrious bloodline needed an infusion from hardy peasant stock every century or so, after all." Fulgrim remembers labour disputes during his upbringing - worker protests, and the harsh responses of the Executives (including searing gas and the use of shock-batons by the Caretakers). Fulgrim was with his parents, amongst the protestors. As he grew older his views shifted, and he replaced concepts like right and wrong with efficiency and necessity; a broken cog had to be replaced. Fulgrim still valued broken cogs, though, and believed that they could become something new and beautiful. He notes that secret societies were rife on Chemos during his youth - with masks, secret handshakes, and childish cyphers. They were a rebellious response to the "Brutal working conditions, malnourishment, inadequate shelter. Crimes of negligence, rather than intent... The workers were deprived of their humanity in order to increase compliance." One of the Emperor's Children is recording the sounds of gunfire and musing about setting them to music later. He notes that he's always found gunfire soothing - "He'd heard similar sounds often enough on Chemos as a child... The whine of low velocity slugs hitting sheet metal, and the screaming that followed. Always the screaming." Another marine, when in a cacophonous ore-processing facility, thinks that it reminds him of Chemos. Or what he imagines Chemos to be like, since he's never actually travelled there and has no desire to ever do so. Cyrius thinks about how he was the son of an Executive, and that aristocracy was the same everywhere (no matter what it called itself locally). When duelling some opponents he bows low to them, which is considered an insult on Chemos (ascribing more respect to someone than they deserve). A bit of an interesting mix. We get people both expressing that Chemosians are boring dirt-farmers, but also... that duelling is very much a Chemosian thing? (And this is only around a decade after compliance - even if the book uses the "50 year old Fulgrim" figure which no longer matches GW's dates - so there's no time for a duelling culture to have matured post-compliance.) We also have the presentation of Chemosian society in the factory-fortresses as a little more "normal". Cyrius thinking of the Executives as being run-of-the-mill aristocracy, and not something interesting and unique. The workers striking for better conditions, instead of needing to work every waking hour at the recyclers to stave off death. There being slums, and the sounds of gunfire, etc. The introduction of the Sulpha clans are a little wonky for me, as if nomadic peoples could survive outside the factory-fortresses it makes Chemos sound a little less awful. What were these nomadic swordsmen/dancers eating and drinking? (Technically, their existence doesn't break the idea of Chemos lacking a "strong martial culture", as by the time the Imperium showed up Fulgrim had killed them all.) Of course, I'm not a fan of their introduction, as that means that Fulgrim was a "warrior" pre-compliance. Also not a fan of the "cannibal clans", for both the reason that it's more people able to exist on Chemos and... like, Chemosians should all be cannibals? The factory-fortresses reprocess everything; surely they're all eating their dead as well. (Not sure why there is the name change of "Coryn and Ptolea" to "Corrin and Tullea".) // 2017's Fabius Bile: Clonelord (Josh Reynolds) mentions "obscene Chemosian gutter-poetry". It describes the accent of Chemos as "lilting", and mentions that on Chemos that Fulgrim himself had conducted biological experiments (such as procedures to extend lifespans and cure various ailments like "glowlung"). Fabius had knelt to Fulgrim on Chemos, as one of the 200 Legionaries presented at their reunification. The book says that Fulgrim means "water-bringer" or "saviour" in the language of "old Chemos". In 2020's Fabius Bile: Manflayer (Josh Reynolds), Fulgrim's daemon world is possibly named Callax (as of 140.M31), though that might just be the name of the place a character is in. When Bile arrives, he notes it to be a drab, grey "mote of factorum grit" - a recreation of Chemos. A barren landscape of tumbled stones and dust dunes amidst rusting heaps of abandoned machinery, beneath a sky leached of colour, with the lifeless skeletons of refineries and factories dotting the horizon. It is said that Chemos had been a warring planet before Fulgrim took it over, and on his daemon world Fulgrim has recreated his rise to power (repeatedly attempting to "perfect" his choices). There appear to be mountains in the distance, but they're actually mounds of corpses - and a character comments that Fulgrim was "Always so wasteful... You’d think growing up on a world like Chemos would have taught him better." As the characters progress they meet others: monks carving erotic imagery on each other, pilgrims bathing in acidic pools of runoff, Noise Marines engaged in sonic duels that reverberate for miles, and inhuman merchants hawking things including weapons forged in the hour of Chemos' destruction, "gilded copies of the Chemosian Cantos", and the skull of the last High Executive. Fulgrim is residing in the Garden of Sixfold Pleasure, which does not (in M37) appear very garden-ish but consists instead of abandoned hab-blocks and manufactoria surrounded by high walls of flesh. He mentions that he "took" Chemos. (And not, as in 2001, that the factory-fortresses allied to him because he was making things better.) At one point Narvo Quinn (a Terran) reflects on his reason for seeking out Fulgrim: trying to repair the Legion, in a way that Eidolon, Julius Kaesoron, Lucius (or even Fabius) weren't interested in. "No Chemosian-born gutter-rat, certainly" he thinks. // David Guymer's novella Dreadwing (2018) is about the Dark Angels campaign of destruction against the homeworlds of the Traitor Legions on their way to Terra (in an effort to get said Traitor Legions to peel off support from their attack on the Sol System, and force them to defend their seats of power). They are surprised by the lack of care that the Emperor's Children (et al) seem to have for Chemos (et al); noting that if Caliban was threatened they'd have "set phosphex to the galaxy, to the Throneworld itself, before allowing such harm to come to [it]." Later in the story an Emperor's Children voidship Captain/daemon tells a Dark Angels strike group: "Prince Fulgrim forwards his regards, and tenders his regrets. He assures you that he entertains no hard feelings over the destruction of Chemos. He has quite outgrown it, you see, and would have inflicted the same upon your world if he could but care enough to recall its name." // In White Dwarf 178 (2022) Chemos is said to have been completely obliterated by the Dark Angels via seismic macro-charges, followed by orbital bombardment, which caused the detonation of the planet's core (with slabs Chemos sent tumbling out into space). The First Legion declared the system Perdita, and set up warning beacons threatening reprisal against any who dared enter. Notably, it describes Chemos as having had "glittering metropolises" at the time of its destruction. // Apocryphally, the Fandom Wiki says "Terraforming technology was reinvented, allowing forests, oceans, plains and rainforests to spread from the reclaimed outposts and bring life to the planet... As beautiful forests were planted on ground once mined for metals and wondrous cities of glass, gold, crystal and steel rose to new heights of glory... From the blue sky came... No longer would a traveler from another world see crumbling factory-fortresses, now they would see a paradise planet of beautiful forests, shining, wealthy cities, marble palaces and monuments of marble and diamond. "Beautiful Clemos", as it was known, provided the majority of the early Imperium's scholars, actors, merchants and great beauties. The grand fortress-monastery of the Emperor's Children was established on the magnificent forested hills near Callax (now having grown into a shining city of art, pleasure and commerce that bore no resemblance to the factory-fortress of old)...", but that wesite (very frustratingly) refuses to properly source anything. Googling around, some of it might have been lifted from a 2019 entry on this blog, which also doesn't present a source? If anyone knows where this comes from, I'd be much obliged.

There are some work-arounds. Now squads are pretty much fixed, you can represent them however you want. You see that 5-man tactical squad with a missile launcher? As far as your opponent is concerned, that is now a 5-man Intercessor squad with auxiliary grenade launcher. Not everything can be proxied but there is certainly no need to shelve your Firstborn stuff, particularly if you like the models and would struggle to paint a new army.

This is true, in particular the Blood Claws. Their style of amour removes some of the plates and knee rims, looks smoother and much better than regular MKX. Should have made it the standard MKX look. Particularly with the MKVII style faceplate.

Realized that this guy is the only model I have, or will likely have, who has a Comms device. @Grotsmasha, do you mind if I sideline these Pathfinders until June?

Hopefully this. The primaris models are a massive improvement, but the lore is rather painful.

Once the final Marine kit disappears, I give it one more edition before its "Primaris? What Primaris?" And it's just Astartes again.

The holidays finally paid off, after taking my kids to the cinema in the morning, I set to work on my vow in the afternoon and finished Warrior Woman, and then started and finished Rocket Girl (my campaign model)

It just occurred to me that an all Firstborn army could be played using the Leagues of Votann rules. Even the heights line up.

You just keep playing them. They aren't being removed from the game. One weekend a month you can't play then at an RT and then you go back to your normal play and use them if you want to.

April vow finished, last model done - Inquisition kill-team member (Heavy)

No, they made a weird dude with a ball-gag and a "hug me" pose and called it Lemartes. I wanted an upscale of this model. The dude in the OP is not perfect but he is a lot closer to what I was hoping for.

Now that you mention it... GW been doing awful alot repeat or mirror poses with primaris huh

The only thing for me is that putting these side by side is that the old Lemartes is a far superior model! Pose, detail, character - it's just much more lovely :( If they had just scaled up the Lemartes model - maybe made it generic rather than BA specific, yes, but that is a gorgeous mini!

Looking at the angle of the foot and the ruin, it might be possible to trim out the smoke and have the foot directly on the ruins in a "leaping" pose. I am not worried about the structural strength as the smoke looks about at thick as the foot anyway. I just don't like the smoke effects in general. Overall it is a really good model. I am actually thinking I might proxy him as Lemartes as I don't actually like the Primaris Lemmy model. This one looks much closer the previous version of the character.

I painted the rhino I made a while back, not bad for maybe 1.5h of effort... The lights are a little too simple looking but maybe they're OK.

I wound up printing a land buggy which is hilarious because a long time ago I made something similar out of a kitbash. But not to be complacent with printing I also scratch built a custom heavy bolter.

So as per usual long time no posting... I am still working on the Witch Hunters and have just got Inquisitor Karamazov in finecast but not had a lot of free time of late. I am currently working on this small detachment of Custodes using the new plastic kits combined with the older kits. Still extremely WIP and as you may be able to tell I am using the male kits, not because I have anything against female Custodes I just prefer the male toros. This limits me to three poses unfortunately and one of the three has the back of the foot cut off to fit the capes so I am currently resculpting this area. I have shaped the heel and made an indentation to start sculpting the ball on the ankle. It's going ok so far. I have used all old kit heads for these guys as I prefer them over the newer coneheads. The shield captain in the middle uses Warden kit arms which work well and has a sheathed paragon blade. As I want no cloaks you can see on some where I have trimmed the cloak off the shoulders. It's a really bizarre choice to detail the backs of the models then add a massive slab of plastic to block it all. These will be heresy second edition. As for my review of the kit, if you want mono-pose models with a few head swaps then they are fine. I personally don't think the kit is very good as you are limited to three male and three female models and can't change weapons between them. Male parts look oversized on female and female parts look comical on male because they are a lot smaller in areas like hands. Such a horrible kit to work with as a conversion fan. I do have buyers regret getting these to be honest but hoping they will make nice allies to some Solar Auxilia I have sat in a box.

Converted 10 Tech-Thralls from the AdMech battle group box into Poxwalkers/Plague Zombies using the contents of my bits box and random clippings from the Plaguemarines I turned into Imperial Space Marines. I don't collect Chaos and these were built for someone else. These were mostly made without any putty, just plastic cement and some melted sprue pieces. My only motivation was to get rid of the Tech-Thralls and now I don't know what to do with the other 10 as I dislike the zombie-like poses on the models. If I could trade the other 10 for a handful of classic Space Marine weapons, power packs or helmets I'd do it. Added to the backlog: Eye of Terror AdMech Battalion Box 1 Thallax Cohort 2 Castellax Battle-automata 1 Triaros APC

But apart from that, I also finished the Iron Priest, take a look. One of my favourite characters I've done so far :) Also-also, I finished these Vanguard Veteran (or Wolfguard with Jump packs, if you will) conversions: I accidently damaged the last guy while removing him from his cork handle, so I'll have to redo some bits again though. anyway. Thanks for looking!

I've learned with my adventures trying to show off minis on the internet, photography is kind of hard. I think your doing a good job with the resources at hand Also, despite not playing in over a decade, I love Mass Effect. Great tribute id say!

Oh and I did finally do the tee for this thing despite saying I wouldn’t. Seemed pointless doing 90% of the work then stopping. Nothing fancy just a scheme to blend with the tank.

Hi all. A combination of seasonal illness and busy work has put me out of the equation for a few weeks, but I managed to have a productive hobby January. I started out with the guard artillery as above then progressed to a big krieg project - 1500 points in total. Suffice to say I managed to get everything assembled / sprayed and made a load of trenchboard bases courtesy of Gregg’s / costa. Am now moving onto assembling the few things I didn’t get round to last year scenery wise, namely boarding actions terrain, while painting up some krieg test models.

...Well, as usual real life delays the inevitable. Here's a couple of pics of Mr Falchion and one with his Legendary guardians. Next up, I hope to finish my LI Drop Pod Support Detachment... basing this weekend all going well.

Sorry a couple more

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