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It is with a heavy heart that we pass on the news of another battle brother having fallen. This time to a battle with cancer. I knew Jamie as Insane Psycopath but towards the end of his time here on the B&C he was Iron-Daemon Forge. He was a member of the board since 2004 and a long time moderator in our Chaos areas. You may have seen his Iron Warriors army in WD485. He was a tremendous member of this community and the 40k community at large. He will be missed. Our condolences to his friends and family.

Hey guys and girls, and everybody in between.. I don’t know if this is an acceptable topic but I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. From the people who run these forums to everybody that posts here. This site has been such a source of comfort for me. I’m a veteran who has struggled the last few years but when ever I come here to lurk and read posts it’s always taken my mind off things and I’ve always appreciated this corner of the web as a sort of refuge and an escape. I love reading the rumours and looking at the comments between everybody, as well as watching peoples hobby progress. It might seem like it’s not much but it’s meant a lot to me to share this space with you all - so thank you! : ) All the best to you all and keep on keeping on! < 3

Well.. Thats kinda what a drop pod does :)

Paul Sawyer, "Fat Bloke" has brain cancer, Nick Davis said in Twitter this afternoon, and sadly only a real miracle can save him. It so terrible and sad read this. I really love his time in the White Dwarf Magazine, the longest editor served on it I belive. He is a true legend and a really nice person. Personally I'm totally devastated. I don't have more proper words now. Sorry. https://x.com/alt_world/status/1830981990658576818 Paul himself tell this from FB:

In response to a suggestion to add a reaction to express sadness/sorrow, we created the Support reaction. Like the other reactions (minus Respectfully Disagree), this reaction garners a reputation point for the recipient; and all reactions are counted in a badge/achievement progression for giving reactions to other members' content. (click to see a larger version) The concept behind the Support reaction is that you are expressing your support for some other member. Maybe they've just experienced a personal loss. Maybe they're working hard on a project and need encouragement. Maybe it's some other situation in which you support them. The imagery is based on some really old lore explaining the Crimson Fists Chapter icon being based on a ritual in which Rogal Dorn would clasp left hands, palm(s) cut open to intermingle blood, with fellow Space Marines. The original versions didn't work well because the black outlines blended too much with the crimson and dark blue. Eventually, we decided upon the lighter colors you see. We're still looking into options for a sadness/sorrow reaction, but figured this one was ready for prime time.

Please join me in both congratulating and thanking @Gillyfish for becoming an Administrator here at the Bolter & Chainsword. Many of you are familiar with his numerous contributions to the community over the years as both a hobbyist and moderator. The members of the staff are especially aware of his contributions behind the scenes, many of which go unnoticed by the larger community, though they have a positive impact on your enjoyment of both the hobby and the community. Stepping up into the role of an Administrator is further sign of his commitment to the hobby and the community, and I know that we will all benefit from his efforts in this new role.

Nyo Pity! Nyo Remorse! Nyo Fear! Nya!

Happy New Year, Brothers and Sororitas. People do an end-of-year review, but due to recent revelations, I'll do one of 2007. Games Workshop has faced major crises in the past. It's not just like their prices are too damn high; that's not a crisis, that's a constant! I've seen people say it's because of incidental things like Gorkamorka (the Ork skirmish game) or Pokemon. We've previously looked at the financial data, like we found Pokemon cards from the US really hurt UK GW stores at the turn of the millennium, but at the same time GW was competing in the US; it was like 2 40k armies contesting each other's home objectives, everyone felt they were losing. 2007 was not like that. GW was making losses in 2007, negative profits, they were in the red. They were so burned it directly lead to a decade of decline. That was when GW, to stay afloat, did mass closures of GW stores, and even those they kept, went from 4-man stores to 1-man stores. It wasn't until 2016 when things start turning around. What happened? Rick Priestley, the great granddaddy of Warhammer, explained it just in the course of talking about other things. All credit goes to him, Filmdeg Miniatures and my friend Timperial Guard for these insights, BUT a very special thanks to Brother Corvus, whom I recently found would help out B&C by going to Reddit and actually advertise our discussions on GW's financial results, he's bringing in more players...a point very apropos to THIS discussion. +++ Yes, I'm using this graph again +++ Actually, I think I only put this together this year? Finally found really old financial data, like bitz from a 1st ed mini I finally assembled. This shows GW's revenue and profits, just remember their years begin in June (thus big summer launches) and end in May. GW had a "management buyout" and basically got a huge influx of investment in 1992, which allowed them to breakthrough in 1993 with 40k as an actual box set, making it a lot more accessible to players. Before then, 40k rules were actually spread over White Dwarf magazines; they'd be collected in Compilations and Compendiums. 40k 2nd ed as a boxed set, with the awesome Blood Angel on the cover and a cardboard Ork Dreadnought, was like a game changer. It included things like an Index for all the miniatures they had released at that point. Things were swell until Pokemon arrived at the turn of the millennium, and GW took a hit, but soon after GW was boosted by one thing... +++ One Ring +++ ...or should I say, One Ring? The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was just coming out, from 2002 to 2004. Rick Priestley and Andy Jones started a licensing discussion with New Line Cinema and Weta for GW to make The Lord of the Rings miniatures game. I've been meaning to test it with my Dead Men of Dunharrow. LotR was THE pop culture franchise of the time. It has 17 Oscars, only topped by DC (7), Marvel (4) AND Star Wars (7) IF you combined them all together. A new film in 2001, 2002 and 2003, I remember it as almost a Christmas tradition GW's best decision up to that point, doubled their business. By that, I mean, GW's revenue went from from £78 million before LotR to £152 million after Return of the King. Like, srsly. New Line Cinema and Weta, who now licenses the Warhammer IP to make their own products, were totally supportive of GW's miniature games. I bought the special collector's edition of the LotR trilogy, they had extra DVDs where they showed the actors their miniatures. I remember Liv Tyler didn't recognise hers (I don't blame her.) Everything was good. It wasn't like Hollywood producers were screwing GW, then a small British company, out of money. What happened? +++ Rick Priestley Explains All +++ Remember that Rick Priestley was not only the head designer of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, but he is business savvy. When I hear him talk I can tell he's a great salesman, because he his every bit as jaded in private as every great salesman I know. Rick Priestley was also an executive director on the GW board. In case it's unclear, he's drawing a rising trend line with his hand, increasing revenue with the LotR product revenue. The new LotR miniatures games were going to bring in fans of the films. That was EXACTLY what happened, but even he probably didn't anticipate such success. This next bit is important. GW's plan was: bring new fans into GW stores with LotR, then keep them there with Warhammer (fantasy or 40k). To clarify this image, Rick Priestley is now breaking out a dance move, like on da skreets back in the '80s (Jervis Johnson would carry the boombox, Andy Chambers would be rapping JUST KIDDING Andy Chambers was a total metalhead and you know it). Actually, what he's showing was GW's sales were supposed to flatten out, plateau. That did NOT happen. GW revenue did NOT hold steady, it declined, because GW did NOT hold onto the new LotR customers. That would lead to 2007. +++ Taking an Objective vs. Holding an Objective +++ You know how in 40k, there's units that are great at taking objectives, but bad at holding them? I was thinking Genestealers because we got that awesome new mini, I wish all our miniatures were like that. Genestealers have always been great at clearing an objective, but I don't want them standing around one, they'll just get shot up. And that was the issue with LotR. The trilogy was way better than other adaptations before. They couldn't even recapture that with The Hobbit trilogy afterwards. The problem was those films came out from 2002 to 2003, and that was it. When the films were coming out, GW sales went up with it...but there were only 3 films. The objective I was describing are customers; victory points are merely money (hehe, merely). Anyone who had a customer-facing role, whether it's salespeople or hospitality or customer service, know the adage, "Customer 1st". It does NOT mean the customer is always right (often, they're not, that's why they need your help) or customer is king (though many do think they are). Your humble techpriest worked at a hotel concierge in his youth, and I had any number of responsibilities, but the guidance was, whatever it is, drop everything and deal with...the Customer 1st. The customer is often times the solution to all other problems, and even when the customer himself IS the problem, you're better off playing preventive defense right away. Imho, it's always better to start with the customer then work backwards to your product...if only because you can change a product, not a customer. The built-in assumption GW had was they can convert LotR players into Warhammer players. It turns out, LotR customers wanted LotR. Big surprise. +++ Now We Reach the Problem +++ Now we get to the crux of the issue and I bring in my friend, Timperial Guard. I've mentioned him before, he's the one that worked in plastic mold injection manufacturing, was the one that told me the a huge part of the energy cost is constantly melting the plastic at 200°C to 400°C, now a head teacher in Design & Technology. And Timperial Guard worked part-time at a GW store during this time. He was hired due to the flood of LotR customers coming in. He actually told me about his time as a redshirt long before this, but after hearing from Rick Priestley, it finally made sense. Timperial Guard is a great painter, the type that would do actual paintings of like landscapes on the pauldrons of Imperial Knights. He's like, "oh, for me, it's easier to paint a landscape than to apply a transfer," the bastard. The story he tells is he just sat at their painting area, painting sample miniatures for the store, mentoring younger players with their own painting, doing the Duncan. Never had to work the till, didn't have to sell. The situation was the GW Store Manager was so busy selling to LotR customers he had Timperial Guard do paint stuff. Anyone who's worked his way up into a managerial role, who's supposed to step back and train the young guys coming up, it's always easier to do the job yourself than to teach others. That's what happened here. All these new LotR players were coming in, the GW Store Manager never had time to train up Timperial Guard. Rick Priestley gives this harsh criticism...an overly harsh critique, I think...of people like Timperial Guard, how they don't know how to sell, they don't know anything except painting some miniatures and demoing a few games. I told Timperial Guard (he's actually a really good guy) about this and he's like, "Ya that was me!" Anyone who's done sales, you know what he means, even if it is too harsh. Timperial Guard absolutely knows stuff, he's a great painter, he's so good at demoing that he's the one who explains the rules to us to any new boardgame WE get (like he'll digest the rules for us), he's a head teacher at a top school...but he lacks salesmanship. LotR created easy times for GW. But selling is hard. The guys who came up in the easy times of LotR MAY not have learned those hard lessons. Once the LotR effect wore off, not only do you no longer have the benefits of LotR, but a lot of new GW Store staff that may lack experience. Yet GW was running everything as if the LotR bump was still there, just expecting their their stores to sell like before. It's not fair to anyone. There's a bit of lead-lag time before disaster struck. Return of the King came out in December 2003, GW sales kept going up to May 2004. By 2006, GW reverted back to almost pre-LotR levels, but it was NOT business-as-usual. To accommodate this LotR influx, GW had expanded, and maintained costs with that expansion. Edit - re-reading this, I think it had less to even to do with the quality of GW Store staff than Rick Priestley said, it's just GW hired more people, expanded faster than they should, with the hype of LotR driving them. Even with the best salespeople, outcome would have been similar, because I think LotR players were their own thing. It was when those costs caught up with GW that lead to 2007. Then GW slashed & burned themselves for a decade to survive. +++ Conclusion +++ TL;DR - LotR brought GW lots more revenue, GW increased costs to meet LotR demand, but even when LotR ended, GW kept the costs to go into the red. People mistakenly blame Pokemon or even Gorkamorka, like saying they were driving GW to bankruptcy. Untrue. It was ironically the success of LotR. LotR was NOT to blame. LotR fans were NOT to blame. NEITHER were New Line Cinema NOR Weta to be blamed, they're so supportive they continue to partner with GW NOW. Liv Tyler was NOT to blame, that was a lousy sculpt of her! Timperial Guard was NOT to blame, nor were the other young hires. His manager was NOT to blame, he was dealing the situation the best he could. But what about GW's upper management, the CEO, etc.? I'd be very careful about blaming GW's executive board, because they were trying to keep all their people employed. They'd brought in all these guys riding the high of LotR, if they laid them off right away we'd accuse them of corporate greed, putting profits over people, etc. They held on to these new hires for as long as they could, and that's what's actually backfired. Rick Priestley does kinda blame them, but I really wanted to remind him, he himself was a board member, he'd be implicated, too! The thing about the One Ring is, yes, it is evil, infused with Sauron's essence. But it's not all the One Ring's fault. The desire of people around it is an evil in itself, independent of the One Ring. They may believe they're doing the right thing, like Boromir wanting to use the weapon of the enemy against himself, it is a gift. 2007 is a long time ago, but those lessons might still be relevant now. Back then, it was LotR, New Line Cinema, Weta, Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Ian McKellen, John Rhys Davies, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, all them Hobbits, and also Viggo Mortenson and Orlando Bloom and Andy Serkis and Karl Urban whose careers were launched AND YES EVEN LIV TYLER. 2025 and onwards will be totally different, NOT the same. Now it's Amazon, Henry Cavill, Hollywood, mainstream, Space Marine II...oh...wait. I kid, I kid, LotR and Warhammer are very different. For example, people who would go to a Warhammer Store because of a Warhammer Amazon series...I mean, it's a Warhammer Store. That would be a good Objective Holding unit right there, they'd have OC of at least 2. But never forget the Hollywood lesson from the original King Kong to the remakes... It was Beauty killed the Beast. It always is, and it always will be. +++ Sources +++ All public GW's financial documents: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02670969 Filmdeg LotR with Rick Priestley:

Are you sure this is real? The other YouTube channels told me he walked away 35 times and burnt his Custodes army in his backgarden.

She's finally done, for real this time. I had called her done this winter but i ended up hating the house sigil i made on the left pauldron then i got in my head about the stoles so i went back to the drawing board. Anyways, really happy i went back and gave her the love she clearly didnt get from her family. The whole journey is here, I love all the great ideas and gut checks by this community so thank you!

This is pretty great and I feel called out:

This meeting could have been an E-mail.

Janovich is about as far from a reliable narrator as they come, so I'd be very doubtful about anything he's sharing. Also a very, very close associated with the likes of Arch and Gamza - which really puts the nail in the coffin there. Actually, to add - Janovich was directly involved in harassing SODAZ out of the community after they announced they'd signed on with Games Workshop. Abusive little twerp.

Youd have a big pile of unpainted shares

Admin please remove if this is not news, but....im not aware of this model to the best of my knowledge having been presented or available but this arrived in my buddy's mail today and was not ordered....

Inject this directly into my veins https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/8ovvyar9/astartes-ii-teaser-trailer-watch-it-right-now/

Get ready to dust off your first born marines for warhammer 40k - the old world

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/s7lkrfhr/stand-out-from-the-flock-with-the-new-warhammer-tactical-rock/ lol.

Where there's a whip, there's a way.

Combat patrol is a bit disappointing.

I shot off an email as well. 14 of my armies aren’t viable without major rework, and without RoW they’ll never work the same way again. Slapping in a couple centurions isn’t fixing anything. Every single army has models that are no longer valid. I included pictures so they don’t think I’m blowing smoke.

The Bolter and Chainsword presents: Some of you may remember the "Knives In The Void' Kill-Team Challenge from 2022/3. We had a really good turn out, and some fantastic Kill-Teams painted up! Well, it was originally planned that it should be an annual or even 6-monthly event… but two+ years have passed! Still, better late than never, right? So, what's it all about? Here's a quote from the previous Challenge: If you want to take part in this Challenge, the rules are very simple: Build and paint one Kill-Team of whichever Faction you like by the deadline date below! This can be any of the 36 teams currently available* for download for free from the WH Community site. At a minimum it must include a fully playable team - but if you wish to go further and paint up a full Roster of all the available Operative choices, go for it! *Also, we don't want to stop anyone who prefers an older Edition of Kill-Team from taking part, so you can also pick from the ‘retired’ teams included in any of the boxed games, or the Compendium, Annual or WD. Or even if you have homegrown rules for a Faction/Subfaction that doesn't have rules, we can work something out - as long as it's an appropriate squad size for that group, that's fine too! Kitbashing, conversions and counts-as are all welcome, but the finished product must still be recognisably '40k' and playable as one of the various Factions. So if you want to do true-scale Terminators using the Custodes rules? - cool! Penal Legion Vet Guardsmen a la the Dirty Dozen or Last Chancers? - nice! Space Skaven scavengers using the Kroot Farstalkers (or Genestealer Cult list)? - no problem! Of course, the current KT setting is on Volkus, in the shadow of the Massif Ballistus (hence this year's Challenge subtitle). So, while you aren't obliged to build or base your minis with a Cityfight theme, if you wish to do so that would be awesome! Along with the painted models, we want you to write up some background! It could be as simple as just giving all your operatives names, or it could include information about their personalities or previous missions/victories! You could even go mad and include the history of your DIY Chapter/Regiment/Craftworld/Dynasty/whatever, or write a whole short story about your guys' exploits! Multiple entries are allowed, but you must complete your first entry before vowing for a second. The plan is for the Challenge to begin on 1st March 2025 and end on 31st May 2025. That's 3 full months, so there should be plenty of time to complete a single squad! You'll notice that the start date is also still a couple of months away. The intent of announcing the Challenge now is to give Fraters a bit of time to plan, source bitz for conversions, build their minis, apply an undercoat, etc, etc. Then painting can begin on March 1st! If you have already recently started on a team, that's fine, as long as it's not too close to being complete you are welcome to join in! (This is all just for fun, after all!) Vows: I, (your name), vow to complete one Kill-Team of the (your chosen Faction), to be fully painted and based by the 31st May 2025, and to provide at least minimal fluff/background for them. May (the Emperor or whatever 40k deity you wish to swear by) curse me to darkness and ruination should I fail! Vows (along with starting pics or links to your WIP threads) should be posted in the Challenge sign-up thread down in the KT subforum: https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/384972-knives-in-the-shadows-sign-up-thread/ The winner (possibly Gold, Silver and Bronze, if there are sufficient participant numbers again) will be decided by means of a public vote. There aren't any prizes, but there will be badges for winning or taking part! The Factions will also be broken up into 4 'Grand Alliances': Loyal Astartes Imperials Chaos Xenos The Alliance with the most completed Kill Teams on the 31/05/25 will get extra bragging rights! We hope you can join us for the 2025 Challenge, and look forward to seeing the amazing teams that the Fraters create!

At long last.

To get the full experience I recommend playing with your brothers and falling out with most of them, your dad says he'll play but doesnt show up to 90% of the sessions.

I didnt want to set up a new thread so I decided to post here. Adrian Smith has posted more art on his instagram. He's also posted a number for free on his patreon here. https://www.patreon.com/posts/chaos-icons-ink-114881605

Who let the MKV dogs out?

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/0JMc7SDw/heresy-thursday-the-might-of-mars-comes-to-legions-imperialis/

FW built a new dropsite diorama in the theme of the box. These are the highest res ones I could find. Its outstanding:

My thoughts on Asurmen's new banner

Bad news, friends:

We have expanded the explanation of "off-topic" subject matter in the Basic Site Rules to include social/sociopolitical issues. Our previous thinking was that such issues are covered under politics, so this isn't a change to our intent. Over the years, however, multiple people have been confused by this perceived omission and discussions about very divisive social/sociopolitical issues have ensued, creating considerable disruption within the community. Explicitly listing social/sociopolitical issues with other off-topic subject matter is intended to provide clarity. This isn't to say that these issues aren't important or that they shouldn't be discussed. The Bolter & Chainsword, however, is not the place for that discussion. This is a place for all members of the Warhammer 40,000 hobby community to come together and to help each other to better understand and enjoy the hobby, despite our differences. Given the diversity within the community, disagreement is inevitable and we all need to conduct ourselves with respect towards all members, including those with whom we might disagree on any given issue. Just as the members of the larger Bolter and Chainsword community represent a wide variety of worldviews and geographic locations, the same can be said of the staff members. Our stance is to be as neutral and unbiased on every issue as possible. Regardless of individual opinions, our goal as a team is to have community rules that are as fair and reasonable as possible, and to enforce those rules firmly and fairly. Due to overarching external issues and the increasing polarization of society, we believe it is necessary to remind the community that we will not take a side in any debates on controversial issues. B&C staff members have personal views and opinions and are as entitled to express themselves as other members of the community, but as a staff we will not weigh in on debates in an official capacity. If a staff member does not clearly indicate that they are providing official guidance within their authority (e.g., using their "mod voice"), they are providing their own personal input as a fellow hobbyist. This does not mean that the staff will not do its job of moderating discussions, but that when a contentious discussion is locked or a member is disciplined, it is due to rules violations or the disruptive nature of the controversy, not a staff member's personal opinions on the contentious issue. Keep the conversation civil and constructive and the chances are you will be on the right side of what we are aiming for. We are all here because of our love of the hobby and want the community to be as engaging and enjoyable as possible.

I think we should hold off on judgement until the roadmap is FAQ'd

I'd certainly hope to not find a host of racist comments, to be fair. This is a very strange hill to die on.

To lighten the mood of those worried about 3 yrs edition cycling, here's a quick mock-up of a simple conversion that came to my mind - who doesn't miss musicians from WHFB?

We have inducted two additional members into the ranks of the Heroes of the Legio: @The Shadow Guard and @Captain Semper. The Shadow Guard One of the Moderati brought up in the Second Founding, back in the ezBoard days, TSG (as he is known) was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of the fans of the Unforgiven Chapters. Much of this happened externally via his personal websites, primarily Fortress of the Unforgiven (http://www.fortressoftheunforgiven.com/ < note that it is http, not https, so follow the link at your own discretion). Through TSG's efforts, members of the B&C community were instrumental in rules updates for the Dark Angels back in 3rd edition; and he helped to coordinate the efforts of the Unforgiven players during the Eye of Terror worldwide campaign that Games Workshop conducted. TSG also directly supported many other challenges that have been conducted here at the B&C over the years, especially those focused on the Unforgiven Chapters. These challenges include, but are not limited to, numerous E Tenebrae Lux challenges (see below) and various challenges to create DIY Unforgiven Chapters. Captain Semper Many of us remember the E Tenebrae Lux (ETL) contests. These contests challenged members to assemble and paint models for their factions, with the factions competing with each other based on the points values completed by members of the community. These challenges brought the entire community together and involved considerable time and effort on his part, including regular updates, data analysis, the awarding of signature badges, and final summaries/reports. Anyone looking at these challenges can see how much work he put into these contests, and he ran seven of them over the years. The impact on the community was immense, motivating members to participate in one of the most important aspects of the hobby in a friendly competition. Captain Semper coordinated other efforts, too, and served as a member of the Moderati. This round of inductions has expanded the range of recipients slightly, now bringing Moderati into the mix. Our intent, however, is that members of the entire community (so the Frater Domus group) may also earn this badge. We are also exploring options to create additional badges focused on, among other things, members of the community that run challenges/contests/events. These always take time and effort and anyone willing to do this on behalf of the community is sacrificing some of their personal hobby time in the interests of the community. It will take some time to research, however, and we have lost much history over the years (either through simply forgetting about all of the interesting challenges/contests/events that members have run, or data being lost/deleted).

I think there was a missed opportunity when it comes to the face options...

Got my first models in WHC today. I guess I’m allowed to share these now.

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

My latest painting project is Lucius the Eternal! Tricky model to paint this, as the different parts make it difficult to put together. Great mini though!

(not my best, but it had to happen.)

Can I get a hallelujah? 10 Chainswords Two Chainswords in sheathes Two Heavy Chainswords Two Charnabal Sabres Two Thunder Hammers Four Power Swords, with two being drawn and two in hand Two Power Lances Four Power Axes Four Power Mauls Four Power Fists Four Claw assemblies for turning the Power Fists into Lightning Claws* Two Augury Scanners Two Melta Bombs Two Slung Boltguns Two Hand Flamers Two Plasma Pistols Four Volkite Serpenta Four Phobos Bolt Pistols Four Umbra Bolt Pistols Four Tigrus Bolt Pistols Eight Hands split across four styles 10 Heads split across five styles 42 Arms split across 21 styles

And for everyone who is complaining about their current DC Dreads, just re-base it bro. King of the hill.

Okay, now that everyone has had some time to cool off, it's time to address a number of points that were brought up. Most of these points demonstrate misunderstandings of the rules. First and foremost, while this was an "amendment," it was not a substantive change to the site rules. There were no subjects that were previously allowed which are no longer allowed. The prohibition against the issues that might be covered under "sociopolitical" were already covered under "political" content, which has been prohibited here for 20+ years. Confusion stemmed from members applying the limited interpretation of "political/politics", thinking that only referred to governance, when our intent all along was the more extensive definition of the word (I'm referring to Wikipedia for the limited/extensive definitions because I doubt most of you have access to the books I have on politics and political science). Since we frequently saw grumbling that some removed/locked content wasn't about [the member's interpretation of] "politics," we felt it necessary to clarify the existing prohibition in our rules by adding "sociopolitical" to the examples of off-topic material. This "amendment" was nothing more than a clarification of long-standing prohibitions. This brings us to the real issue, which is the fact that these subjects and a great many others are off-topic. Basically, anything that doesn't relate to our mission statement is off-topic. The mission statement appears at the top of the screen and in the community rules, but here it is for those of you that might not be clear on the subject: We're not here to talk about how your team did in the big game, the latest movies, musical artists/styles that you enjoy, etc. Nor are we here to discuss actions of government that you support/oppose, recent/upcoming disasters, conflicting theories on education, etc. This isn't to say that those prohibited subjects aren't important. Of course they're important. We have strong opinions on those subjects, too. Those issues are not what this site and community exist for, however. We have enough disagreements over relevant Warhammer 40,000 subject matter without introducing controversy over unrelated issues. No matter how important any of us think some issue is, if it doesn't relate to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby, it is off-topic and prohibited here at the Bolter & Chainsword. There are plenty of places where you can discuss such issues, and some of those might even be places where you can hope to influence a positive and constructive outcome. One of the most ridiculous arguments was that prohibition against sociopolitical issues signaled advocacy for some position on some issue, the incorrect assumption being that the prohibition was focused on a specific issue or group of related issues (inclusivity being the catch-all term, I think). This argument is a logical fallacy. More importantly, it is a form of unintellectual bullying intended to intimidate the target (us, in this case) into either defending themself or allowing the discussion. You can take that garbage somewhere else. The prohibition is on all sociopolitical (and other off-topic) issues, and applies equally against any positions on those issues. This prohibition on off-topic subject matter doesn't take sides, doesn't contribute to the prolonging of any problems that you perceive, and doesn't make you a victim. Nor is anyone being silenced. You have just as much of a voice here as anyone else. Another ridiculous argument was that members are going to have to take sides on these issues and will need to do so here. While it is probably true that most, if not all, of us have formed some positions on various issues, there is no need for us to polarize into opposing sides here at the Bolter & Chainsword. This community represents members from across the globe, from all walks of life, different lifestyles, different stages of life, etc. We have different experiences and viewpoints. If we focus on our differences, we will have nothing but discord. Our goal is to come together as a community, to achieve some level of harmony despite our differences. We can't do that if agitators are creating discontent over issues that aren't relevant to the community's purpose [the Warhammer 40,000 hobby]. It is actually incredibly easy to not focus on these issues - you just have to want to focus on enjoying the hobby and helping others to do so. Yet another incorrect argument was that the prohibition against off-topic political material applies to discussion of in-universe politics within the Warhammer 40,000 setting (similarly, religion, etc.). We have always allowed such discussion. The risk of such discussions, however, is that members start bringing up real-world issues. Once that starts to happen, especially when things become contentious, content is removed and/or locked. The examples of (in-universe) politics and religion being valid for discussion also demonstrate that there are touch points where other political/sociopolitical discussion might be allowed as long as it remains relevant to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby and things don't get too heated. Once temperatures start to rise and insults start getting thrown around, content is removed and/or locked. As one member put it, the finish bell is hit. I previously stated that this is a global community. Expecting everyone to agree is foolish. Human beings are flawed. Each of us is convinced that our viewpoints are "correct." Each of us has different viewpoints, however, and it is inevitable that there will be disagreements, even on issues where we might see our own viewpoint as being obviously "correct." If we were to enforce some sort of ideological purity requirement, the community would be exponentially smaller and of considerably less value. A truly diverse community inevitably leads to disagreements, and the most effective response is to accept that you are going to disagree with others and that others are going to disagree with you, but you can still interact peacefully. This doesn't mean that you can say anything you want, however. Courtesy and respect are the lubricants that keep things running smoothly. Messages of hatred and disrespect will lead to disciplinary action. Indeed, we have permanently banned members for such content, often fast-tracking such members to the airlock. Similarly, threatening violence against other members will lead to instant permanent banning. That's not to say that content with which you disagree is necessarily hate speech or a threat of violence. Someone celebrating the observation that demographics within the tabletop gaming community have shifted as more non-white people have joined is no more a message of white hate than not wanting female Adeptus Custodes or Adeptus Astartes is inherently misogynistic. People can have views that differ from yours without being hateful towards you or wishing violence upon you. Even though I've stated that the prohibition doesn't signal that we're taking sides on any issues, the principles presented in our community rules make our stance on inclusivity abundantly clear: We are all here united by our common enjoyment of the hobby. We are all here as equals. The differences between us neither define us nor divide us. The differences make us stronger as individuals and as a community. This site, this community, welcomes all hobbyists. Everyone is welcome here. It doesn't get much more inclusive than "everyone." We don't exclude based on race, nationality, religion, worldview, gender, sexuality, profession, education level, ability/disability, or any other factors. As long as you abide by the community rules, you are welcome within the community (even if you're a freckle-faced left-handed ginger ). We're here to share our love of the Warhammer 40,000 hobby, not to solve the problems of the world. At best we can hope to serve as a positive example, enabling our members to take the positive lessons they learn here and apply them elsewhere. We do this by coming together, not by fomenting discord.

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

well i couldn't wait and spent some time converting my 5-man intercessor squads into a single 10 man Greyhunter squad. my obsessive compulsion toward WYSISWYG is satisfied.

No, this is a Hearsay Thursday. Totally different.

I have had this miniature since it first came out. A regular opponent of mine had an Ork army, and as soon as I saw his charging across the table top, I knew I wanted to paint it. So I bought one. Sadly, like so many projects, he was built, undercoated, and then forgotten about. I actually thought I had lost him. Just the other day, I was tidying up my Games Room, and I stumbled across him once again. He has taken a little damage here and there (he was stashed away in a bag with a bunch of other classic metal minis), and he needed some other bits of cleaning up around the edges. But I finally decided to paint him. Just 20 years or so after he came out. Some pics on the table top!