Horus Heresy Skitarii Battle Group (inc plastic Vulturax) + Steel Hand of Mars Journal

[Mogger351]

3 minutes ago, Lord Marshal said:

I'm surprised how much flak they're getting. The 40k Skitarii always felt kind of 'off' to me in a slightly goofy way (albeit less than most of the range), whereas these feel like they stepped right out of a Blanche piece.

 

It's partly the stilts, partly the fact it's new stuff when lots of old parts of the range are wildly expensive and perpetually out of stock

[Nagashsnee]

17 minutes ago, Mogger351 said:

It's partly the stilts, partly the fact it's new stuff when lots of old parts of the range are wildly expensive and perpetually out of stock

Boxes of 8! 8! Not undersell this.  They will be 100% priced as a normal 10 model unit, but its boxes of 8.

[Trokair]

These new Battle-Pilgryms instantly gave me John Blanche inspired vibes. Anybody know if there is specific artwork that could have inspired these?

[Doobles57]

I'm a little surprised that I appear to be in the minority that loves these. The 40K Skitarii are ok but never felt truly weird enough for my liking. These a lot more my taste. 

 

I'm not sure I fully get the "stilt" hate either. These feel a lot closer to the Sicarians' legs than being anything like the Skatros 

[MagicHat]

I like the stilts and wish the Secutarii had them, kinda hard to keep up with titans stride without some kind off boost.

Also, a couple of them are carrying rad grenades.

 

Someone clearly tried to paint them in the colours of a Blanche artwork, but it is simply missing something to make it work. 

Once I have them in hand, I will probably like them a lot more in another colour scheme.

And the Vultarax they clearly made and said "Well... I guess Skitarii used those, that way we can include them in their box!"

 

Marshal and Vultarax looks absolutely ace btw.

Get a box for sure, if their rules aren't a complete dissappointment like the Thralls I will probably get a second.

 

Still kinda wish it was Myrmidons, would have given a great way to access weapons for your characters.

 

So the question is what will be included in a Skitarii conclaves list?

Pilgrym.

Marshal.

Vultarax.

Triaros on the cover.

[Gorgoff]

5 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

I'm surprised how much flak they're getting. The 40k Skitarii always felt kind of 'off' to me in a slightly goofy way (albeit less than most of the range), whereas these feel like they stepped right out of a Blanche piece.

 

You say that like that it was a good thing. 

 

Never liked nost of the blanche stuff. The proportions, the weird colors and the way to thick brushes never striked me as good.

He has good artworks but for the most parts it doesn't even look finished.

His pictures of the primsrchs must be the worst depiction of them by far for example. 

For me at least of course. 

Edited Saturday at 03:52 PM by Gorgoff

[Evil Eye]

I quite like the Skitarii. They're a bit odd but they do have that Blanche "demented rotting future sci-fi" look which I'm a big fan of. Also the plastic Vulturax looks great, and I see it being very useful for Chaos conversions (especially with its resemblance to the old FW Blight Drone).

[RedFox]

Sorry to be that guy, but these needs to come to 40k

[Mogger351]

11 minutes ago, RedFox said:

Sorry to be that guy, but these needs to come to 40k

Not before their 40k cousins make the move to 30k

[Trokair]

The Mechanicum and Adeptus Mechanicus devision needs to be squashed.

If need be for fluff reason make certain units be limited or some such, but the bulk of units should be avlaible in both systems. 

[Crimson Longinus]

1 minute ago, Trokair said:

The Mechanicum and Adeptus Mechanicus devision needs to be squashed.

If need be for fluff reason make certain units be limited or some such, but the bulk of units should be avlaible in both systems. 

 

Same is true for a lot of stuff, such as marine vehicles. But for some reason GW wants to create this artificial divide. There are a bunch of HH models I'd buy if they had proper 40K rules. 

[Scribe]

24 minutes ago, Mogger351 said:

Not before their 40k cousins make the move to 30k

 

I mean if I could make that deal? Done.

 

Allowing the 30K stuff into 40K would likely be enough to get me back in, at least I would start buying stuff again.

[sitnam]

27 minutes ago, Trokair said:

The Mechanicum and Adeptus Mechanicus devision needs to be squashed.

If need be for fluff reason make certain units be limited or some such, but the bulk of units should be avlaible in both systems. 

 

I'd love to see SOME stuff transfer between the settings, but it has been 10,000 years. The factions of 40k should look very different from their 30k ancestors . 

[Crimson Longinus]

Just now, sitnam said:

 

I'd love to see SOME stuff transfer between the settings, but it has been 10,000 years. The factions of 40k should look very different from their 30k ancestors . 

 

I mean, they should, if GW treated the time in any sort of even vaguely plausible way, but they don't. Like they just released a guy that apparently has been hanging around on Necromunda for more than ten thousand years and is older than the Imperium. And of course the whole Imperium was just basically in stasis all of that time between the end of Heresy and the mess of the Primarchs returning; nothing happened and nothing changed. Heresy feels like it happened a few centuries ago from 40K at most, certainly not ten millennia. 

 

So given that none of this makes any sort of sense anyway, just let people use whatever toy soldiers they want. 

[Scribe]

8 minutes ago, sitnam said:

 

I'd love to see SOME stuff transfer between the settings, but it has been 10,000 years. The factions of 40k should look very different from their 30k ancestors . 

 

For a conservative, hidebound, 'bless the toaster to make it work' faction that operates off of templates and not advancement?

 

I think not.

[GryphonnePromethean]

22 minutes ago, sitnam said:

 

I'd love to see SOME stuff transfer between the settings, but it has been 10,000 years. The factions of 40k should look very different from their 30k ancestors . 

I feel like a "20% of your points can be archaeotech" rule would split the difference in a fun way that encouraged people to just buy everything rather than feel like they have to marry one game system and then feel weird about it every time the other gets a cool update. 

[Trokair]

1 minute ago, sitnam said:

 

I'd love to see SOME stuff transfer between the settings, but it has been 10,000 years. The factions of 40k should look very different from their 30k ancestors . 

 

To an extend yes, but of all the Imperial factions the Adeptus Mechanicus is probably the most conservative. 

 

Things like the Cybernetica robots were defiantly de-commission/phased out in favour of the Kastellan as the Castellax and co where seen as to risky with their independent mind/machine spirit.

But anything that has been proven to work would continue to be used, so the Krios, Triaros and so forth. Same with Thallax or Myrmidon.

 

The 40k Codex shows us the Skitarii – the standing military branch of the Mechanicus, plus some combat orientated cults (elctropriest, safe mode cybernetic) but other military leaning cults such as Myrmidon or specialised branches like Ordo Reductor still exist.

The 30k List in contrast has shown us the Taghmata, a more feudal like call to arms by high ranking members of the Mechanicum calling on any military relevant assets in their domain/sphere of allegiance.

 

As I understand it the Skitarii where around in 30k time in some capacity, but not as the official standing army, but rather one military leaning force amongst many. So would be great to see them added as a subfaction alongside the Cybernetica, Lacrymata, and so on.

 

Anyway this runs the risk of going off topic so I will end on saying that think I like the look of these new Battle Pilgrims, even if the legs feel a bit wired. And I would like to see more of a unit availability crossover between 30k and 40k for the mechanicum/mechanicus (with reasonable limitations based on fluff/lore).

[SvenIronhand]

16 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

For a conservative, hidebound, 'bless the toaster to make it work' faction that operates off of templates and not advancement?

 

I think not.

Well, consider how absolutely pantsed Mars got with the schism (the scrap code, etc.) and some difference makes sense.

 

That said, I prefer the less uniform aesthetics of the ‘Tech-Guard’, pre-codex Skitarii so neither these nor their 40K cousins really do much for me.

Edited Saturday at 05:49 PM by SvenIronhand

[Scribe]

4 minutes ago, SvenIronhand said:

Well, consider how absolutely pantsed Mars got with the schism (the scrap code, etc.) and some difference makes sense.

 

Right but that's one, important, planet out of how many that would, or should, have the basic ability to produce the army.

[Crimson Longinus]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

 

For a conservative, hidebound, 'bless the toaster to make it work' faction that operates off of templates and not advancement?

 

I think not.

 

Mate. The Great Pyramids were built, the Epic of Gilgamesh written and the woolly mammoths died all less than five thousand years ago. Ten millennia is about twice the length of the recorded human history. It is pathetically absurd that things would remain is stasis in way they do in 40K, no matter what level of conservatism there would be. 

[Mogger351]

Worth noting the admech forces of 40k were pretty much verbatim present and the exact same in 32k with the war of the beast.

[sitnam]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

 

For a conservative, hidebound, 'bless the toaster to make it work' faction that operates off of templates and not advancement?

 

I think not.

The conservatism and lack of innovation doesn't forestall 10,000 years of change. Forge-Worlds and STC's get lost, new worlds and templates are founded, varying  subfactions wax and wane in political power. By their very nature and history the AdMech and Mechanicum are not the same 

[Scribe]

11 minutes ago, Crimson Longinus said:

 

Mate. The Great Pyramids were built, the Epic of Gilgamesh written and the woolly mammoths died all less than five thousand years ago. Ten millennia is about twice the length of the recorded human history. It is pathetically absurd that things would remain is stasis in way they do in 40K, no matter what level of conservatism there would be. 

 

Everything about 40K is absurd, intentionally. Its the point.

[Crimson Longinus]

6 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

Everything about 40K is absurd, intentionally. Its the point.

 

Yes. Thus we might as well have nice 30K automata in 40K as the lore makes no sense either way but the models are cool. 

[Astartes Consul]

For my money, these are great and much closer to the strange, uncanny valley sort of vibe that 30k  should have.

 

The 40k kit and the Titan Guard resin ones could both be mistaken for high tech Imperial Guard at a glance. These very much not. 
 

The choice of colour palette doesn’t do the models justice I think. So I’m interested to see what they look like in different colours.

Edited Saturday at 07:03 PM by Astartes Consul