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[DarkChaplain]

I mean, Grimnar and Dante got shown up by the new Necromunda character guy last night. The guy is supposedly older than the Imperium of Man. He beats out Bjorn, for feth's sake!

 

As for dead Marine Characters, Lazarus succeeded Balthasar, the guy from Dark Vengeance, who turned into the generic Company Master Dark Angels model. The bloke had a novella, audio drama about his ascension and appeared in other books, and was axed for a new model that might have just as well been him.

There was also the dead Chapter Master of the Raven Guard, who Shrike succeeded, before stepping down for the new bloke. That Chapter Master didn't have a model, though.

 

[darkhorse0607]

6 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

You all act like we havent been over this 100 times before

 

And we will do it another 100 times. Until morale improves

 

3 hours ago, Tolmeus said:

Maybe as a side question to the other fraters: Which named character was the last to actually die (Captain Acheran excluded for the moment). Has it been Captain Tycho of the Blood Angels?

 

For Space Marine characters that's a good question and it kind of depends on how deep you want to go with it. For example, Shadowsun killed Severax, the former Chapter Master of the Raven Guard, but he never had a model/he was always off to the side, so I don't know if you want to count stuff like that or the Chapter Master of the Novamarines that was killed by Typhus in Plague Wars

 

For non-Space Marine characters, the easy answer would be Yarrick. You know, until they reverse course and bring him back like they've already hinted at

[Taliesin]

Pleased that I was able to pick up Hereticus illustrated edition, very nice editions.

[Taliesin]

10 hours ago, Tolmeus said:

Honestly, I am surprised by the range of books BL or GW chose to reprint for the HH. I would have thought that they are going for the first 12 books in the series again and than produce the following next chronological 12 books as the next batch. But apparently they chose the HH books, which can still be bought now in the Online Shop as paperback. At some point GW made the call that these 12 books are seemingly the core of the HH. 

 

I do think it's great to get HH books again since we had just recently the discussion that these are still in high demand. But I don't like that they chose to print a "best-of-HH".

 

I just think its a positive that they are doing these re-releases for people that want hardbacks.

Its also somewhat interesting to see what they consider 12 essential novels before Siege of Terra. I was surprised book 4 was in that, I would have thought Thousands Sons would be in there.

[Krelious]

22 minutes ago, Taliesin said:

 

I just think its a positive that they are doing these re-releases for people that want hardbacks.

Its also somewhat interesting to see what they consider 12 essential novels before Siege of Terra. I was surprised book 4 was in that, I would have thought Thousands Sons would be in there.

Given that its a first 12 id imagine they are testing the waters to see demand and sales and its likely they will do another batch of 12. There's just too many books. If anything im surprised they did Slaves to Darkness because that one felt like a big Nothing Burger.

[Tolmeus]

1 hour ago, Krelious said:

Slaves to Darkness because that one felt like a big Nothing Burger.

 

French did a good job putting all the loose ends together in order to be able to start the Siege of Terra. Some plot points could have been better, true enough( Sons of Horus IMO).

Nonetheless, the rest was good enough. Not a 10/10, but a solid and definetly necessary entry.

Edited 15 hours ago by Tolmeus

[Ubiquitous1984]

Chris Wraight was done dirty by this 12-book selection.  Other than that seems a solid list.  A Thousand Sons was a cracking book that I would have also included.  

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

13 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

Blood Angels went thru the devastation of 90%+ chapter loses without losing 1 single named character. 

 

I actually didn't mind that so much given the details. Usually I'm shaking my head at some of the ridiculous plot armor afforded to characters in 40K, where the grimdark should be reaping a much higher toll.

 

With the Devastation though, there were only five named Blood Angel models at the time (I assume you're only talking named characters with models, because they lost a lot of named characters without models):

 

Dante - it's not like Tyranids were just randomly teleporting in and attacking everyone in equal numbers. He was at the center of the stronghold and every time he ventured out to engage in combat, he was surrounded by his Sanguinary Guard (almost all of whom did die), as well as some of the other Chapter Masters and their retinues. It wasn't a case of hiding - he let the front lines do their job while he stood ready to take the fight to the bugs where needed. And as much as he hated it, he understood - as did everyone else on Baal - that the chances of any of them surviving were higher with Dante alive to direct his remaining forces. And even with the intervention of the Sanguinor and the Legion of the Damned, he essentially DID die... except he wasn't allowed to as a certain angel still had uses for him alive.

 

Mephiston - He got buried underground well before the bugs arrived. By the time he dug out, it was over. Not the most satisfying way of taking him off the table, but also not exactly Bronn dodging dragon breath at short range twice in the same battle.

 

Astorath - wasn't even there. In fact, the Diamor engagement was already in the lore and really needed to be worked in between Cryptus and the opening of the Rift. So it was both an obligation and an opportunity for Astorath and most of First and Second Company to survive by being needed elsewhere (the Seventh Company made it as well, though they were a fringe benefit),

 

Corbulo - Maybe the biggest stretch, but then again two of the six company Captains who were at Baal managed to survive, so as long as there were ANY surivivors aside from Dante, it may as well have been the guy who was mostly behind everyone else trying to keep them alive.

 

(Ironically, given that they decided to apparently retire his datasheet even though the Primaris Sanguinary Priest is clearly based on him, Haley could have killed Corbulo off anyway).

 

Lemartes - Wasn't even mentioned. It seems like all of the Death Company at Baal were supposed to have been killed (though I don't think that's explicitly stated). But Lemartes still has enough presence of mind that he could have jumped out of a losing situation when he saw it and rallied to Dante's side right at the end.

 

Otherwise, as I said - the Blood Angels lost four of their company captains along with their two non-company captains who led the chapter fleet. They lost their Deputy High Chaplain and almost all of their Sanguinary Guard. The survival of most of the rest was due more to completely avoiding the Devastation than surviving it.

 

[NTaW]

16 minutes ago, Lord Nord in Gravis Armour said:

Lemartes - Wasn't even mentioned.

 

He was, but only in passing as Dante wondered what he'd do with the amassed force of Death Company. He was off at Diamor with the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Companies fighting Chaos.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

13 minutes ago, NTaW said:

 

He was, but only in passing as Dante wondered what he'd do with the amassed force of Death Company. He was off at Diamor with the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Companies fighting Chaos.

 

Thanks. It's been a few years. So he had the same "I wasn't even theh! It was Owen!" excuse that Astorath had.

 

I did check Devastation, and it was indeed the 1st, 2nd, and 7th companies that made it to Diamor more or less intact. The 5th arrived just ahead of them, but they mostly got jobbed out in a mass Chaos indoctrination.

[NTaW]

22 minutes ago, Lord Nord in Gravis Armour said:

 

Thanks. It's been a few years. So he had the same "I wasn't even theh! It was Owen!" excuse that Astorath had.

 

I did check Devastation, and it was indeed the 1st, 2nd, and 7th companies that made it to Diamor more or less intact. The 5th arrived just ahead of them, but they mostly got jobbed out in a mass Chaos indoctrination.

 

Forgot the 7th! Is Karlaen still the Captain of the 1st Company? He used to have a model and datasheet. I know he's in Devastation at the end but don't have the newest Supplement which likely lists the Captains.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

14 minutes ago, NTaW said:

 

Forgot the 7th! Is Karlaen still the Captain of the 1st Company? He used to have a model and datasheet. I know he's in Devastation at the end but don't have the newest Supplement which likely lists the Captains.

 

Yeah, he's the 1st Company Captain throughout the Haley novels. He is definitely mentioned in the 10th-Ed Blood Angels Codex.

 

EDIT: For the record, the 10th-Ed Codex does NOT list all of the Captains (probably smart, given GW's recent "left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" approach which gave us Captain Orfeo, a guy who simply cannot exist). However, Karlaen is mentioned separately as still leading the 1st Company.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Lord Nord in Gravis Armour

[Felix Antipodes]

If we are talking named but not having an actual model, haven’t the Imperial Fists gone through a Chapter Master (or two?) since Tycho bit the dust?

Edited 8 hours ago by Felix Antipodes

[wecanhaveallthree]

RE: The Tetrarchs, it was pointed out to me that this campaign is happening during the Indomitus Crusade. This would probably put it squarely in the Plague Wars (or the War of Flies, or whatever the conflict was called before Guilliman considered his job with Indomitus done and headed back home). So the Tetrarchs don't exist yet. Rejoice! It also means that this Necron invasion managed to avoid the Plague Wars! Uncanny! And that Guilliman didn't even consider Titus - who must surely have been successful in stabilising Ultramar in the absence of both Primarch and Chapter Master (presumably Calgar's off in Vigilus at this point) - for a Tetrarch position. Discriminatory! 

 

I would also like to mention that with Titus' ascent and list of fantastic deeds, he's probably within striking distance of the coveted Chapter Master position (Agemman's a Tetrarch, so he doesn't count). With Cato Sicarius off playing equerry, who's got a better claim to the mantle if Calgar bites it? Titus is probably going to grapple with the Nightbringer in some form during this conflict, which puts him on the same reputational level as Ventris and Sicarius.

 

E: Now I think about it, why didn't Agemman get this task? Imagine being First Captain, getting whipped by M'kar, having the Chapter leadership lose faith in you? I assume he's off fighting in the Fourth Tyrannic War, but my timeline's a bit fuzzy. 

 

We could see CHAPTER MASTER DEMETRIAN TITUS in our lifetime, fraters. Are you not entertained? 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by wecanhaveallthree
what we do in edits echoes for eternity

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

54 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

RE: The Tetrarchs, it was pointed out to me that this campaign is happening during the Indomitus Crusade. This would probably put it squarely in the Plague Wars (or the War of Flies, or whatever the conflict was called before Guilliman considered his job with Indomitus done and headed back home). So the Tetrarchs don't exist yet. Rejoice! It also means that this Necron invasion managed to avoid the Plague Wars! Uncanny! And that Guilliman didn't even consider Titus - who must surely have been successful in stabilising Ultramar in the absence of both Primarch and Chapter Master (presumably Calgar's off in Vigilus at this point) - for a Tetrarch position. Discriminatory! 

 

No.

 

The timing of the Indomitus Crusade was retconned with the 2020 publication of Godblight and the revised versions of Dark Imperium and Plague War. The Triumph at Raukos (which kicked off Dark Imperium) now only marks the ending of the first phase of the Indomitus Crusade. The Crusade itself continues well after the Dark Imperium trilogy.

 

Also, Calgar had already returned from Vigilus before Dark Imperium and, even though he's promised to return, I don't believe there's been any mention of him actually doing so anywhere in the lore. Plus, with the developments on the Sanctus side of the Rift being mentioned in The Silent King, that means the Nachmund Guantlet is no longer in the Imperium's hands, though occasional blockade runners will still press through. Guilliman's own journey into Nihilus now seems to have taken place via the Attilan Gate, but according to the promo copy for Archmagos, he's now* stuck on the Nihilus side waiting for Cawl to stablize the Gate before he can come back.

 

("Now" being "almost twenty years" since the start of the Crusade, so six to eight years after Godblight and four to six years after The Devastation of Baal, though I wouldn't be surpised if they just move DoB forward in time a few years again).

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Lord Nord in Gravis Armour