Dark Master Progress

It has been very slow progress to get to this point, but happy with the Dark Master Be'Lakor thus far. 

There are some fiddlesome bits to the build, to be clear. The most obvious being which left arm to select for the build. There are two left arms, and each requires a different chest. It is therefore vital to figure out which chest is required for which left arm -- this might not be totally obvious from the instructions, so always dry fit these two components in combination with each other before gluing into place. 

I personally like the details on the blade and around the face. This one is going to be great to paint up once I reach that stage. That said, I'm not looking forward to the chain mail armour parts or the chains in general - they always feel awkward to get looking right. Regardless, the miniature is a gorgeous build and it is easy to see why this particular kit has proven so popular. 

Greater Possessed

On my "to buy" list for a while was the Greater Possessed model that came out quite a while ago now. I really liked the sculpt and wondered whether it would be of comparable size and detail level as the Val Gorbak from 30k Word Bearers legion.

Overall, I like the sculpt and the size of the miniature is indeed rather comparable to the Val Gorbak resin models. However, the sculpt is done in a different way and the detail is simply different to what is found on the Forge World models. I don't think this matters at all for the table top, and they would fit right in with the Word Bearers legion for any 30k game.

For my model, I wanted some red Word Bearers colours on the armour, and to have blue "flesh" coloured bits at the extremities. The images show what I came up with.

They have come out reasonably well overall, and I'm pleased with the contrast of the blues and reds -- particularly against the resin base. I think this would be a fine addition to 30k Val Gorbak squads, and I might just use it as such. 

Horus Heresy Review: Samus Unbound, Daemon Lord of the Ruinstorm

Background. 

"Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw on your bones. Look out! Samus is here." [Horus Rising, Dan Abnett].

When Samus was introduced in the first book of the Horus Heresy, I thought the daemon came across as independent: a terror orientated one rather than simply a murderer. This explains why he slots in to the resplendent terror dominion in the game. Samus operates by possessing people and then turning on their allies. Simple, but effective. His fuller history -- to extensive to write about here -- is found in the Horus Heresy novels and is not limited to simply the action described in the first book of the series by Dan Abnett. 

Strengths. 

I really like the Born of Murder special rule that Samus has. It is highly characterful for this miniature and the background. In essence, if a character model is killed, Samus can use it as a nearby warp rift on the subsequent turn. 

The whispers of madness rule is what sets Samus apart though. He directly inhibits the reserves of the enemy, makes blessings harder to cast and causes enhanced fear as anything without stubborn or fearless halves their leadership score to charge Samus, or whilst in combat with him. This is crazy powerful. 

In addition to this, he has a very strong (Primarch like) stat line, combined with eternal warrior and a suite of emanations of horror to help in close combat. 

Weaknesses.

As may be expected, he can only be used in the resplendent terror dominion, and must be the warlord. His warlord trait is curiously Khornate: the path of blood which means he will almost always make his charge thanks to the mechanics. Although not strictly a weakness, it does mean playing Samus in a certain manner, and hence is restrictive, rather than weak.

Other than that, Samus costs like a Primarch. This is no surprise, but worth noting.

Overall.

Samus is a very powerful miniature to play on the battlefield, with or without the born of murder rule. It can really mess up enemy armies that are reliant on deep strike (descent of angels, or terminators) and is very strong in close combat. Aiding this is the speed of movement and charge distance modifier thanks to the warlord trait which will usually be something like 11 inches according to my calculations. A very worthwhile choice for anyone wanting to play independent daemons really. 

Assembled Alpha Legion Praetor Conversion

Following on from the unboxing of the newly released Alpha Legion Praetor in Cataphractii terminator armour, I have finally got this one assembled. 

Putting it together was relatively easy. The only snag was attaching the cape before anything else went on, and making sure that the cape slotted in to the right grooves in the back of the terminator armour. 

As can be seen in the images below, I have opted for a little conversion on the resin.

The addition of a warhammer fantasy or Age of Sigmar chaos sword is a significant development for me. Up until now, I have assembled the Alpha Legion under a few themes.

(1) Crusade era. Featuring the baseline weapons and everything else expected of the Legion in full fighting force during the glory era (or later parts of it at any rate).

(2) Early Heresy era. This is where I went slightly more themed around having some marines with the infamous mark V armour, and with more patchwork armour.

(3) Later Heresy era. Bereft of regular supply lines, I have converted a large number of marines to carry Eldar weapons that they have reversed engineered, as well as having scouts with Necron sniper weapons. They are making do in small cells basically. And possibly splintering from within thanks to the Alpha Legion civil war.

And now (4): Late Heresy and Scouring.

This is where some of their number start to turn to or generally explore chaos. Although they do not necessarily succumb in the slightest, the novel "Shroud of Night" serves as a bit of an inspiration here. The main character in that novel sports a chaos blade (daemon sword), although tries to master it rather than becoming the servant. 

The conversion clipped off the resin blade from the hand, and replaced it with a chaos weapon from the fantasy range. It was pinned in to place with a paperclip and glue and is sturdy enough. Whilst I still need to attend to the rest of the base, I'm hoping this marine will be a pleasure to paint up. Moreover, it serves as a bridge between 30k and 40k, and a miniature that I hope I can use in either game system. For the former, the blade will simply be a power weapon. For the latter, it can be used in a chaos space marines codex I think. Whilst I am tempted to convert up a few more not-quite-chaos-marines-yet Alpha Legion in the future, this will be the only one for a little while. 

Crimson Slaughter

Apart from sounding like a great name for a Khorne Champion, the Crimson Slaughter are the talk of the town for being the second codex expansion for the Chaos Space Marine codex. Although the codex is looking weak at the edges apart from a couple of star units (heldrakes!) due to the creep in power levels (I'm looking at you Knights with D class weapons!) and more recent codex releases, the Crimson Slaughter expansion doesn't seem (based on the rumours and lo downs from those with the release already) to do terribly much to address it.

Having chaos possessed marines as troops is both cute and fluffy: to be certain! But unless they're backed up with a method to get in to melee range, and a few good variant rules, I'm not sure how much of an impact (apart from making a gorgeous looking army with a fully themed and painted set of marines) they're going to have to be honest.

The replacement of the possessed ability chart seems nice enough. A 3+ invulnerable save is excellent in the current meta, but them being treated as beasts instead of infantry will probably do precious little. Rending and wounding on a 3+ isn't too shabby and could glance a rhino transport to smithereens in extremis, but again, we're faced with the problem of actually getting them in to range.

The alleged relics (crusader, 2+ armour save and IWND) for 40 points isn't too bad, but depends on the exact set up the Chaos Lord has; and indeed: its battle field role.  Access to divination for 25 points seems okay, but again, what is the power level of the librarian/chaos sorcerer in question and is it still randomly determined powers?  So many questions!  Can't wait to see what the codex expansion actually brings with it!

CSM and Daemons Review: Be'Lakor

I admit it: I bought the Be'Lakor dataslate when it became available. Well, it was actually a holiday season gift from my wife (I have the best wife!).

At a basic level, Be'Lakor is a new HQ choice for either chaos daemons or for chaos space marines. He is a pricey unit - to be clear - but probably correctly (i.e. fairly) priced. Hence there is no "discount" for taking him.  But his abilities are a force to be reckoned with - he is a real "force multiplier" in a number of ways. And: he DOES have eternal warrior which is a great bonus to have in there.

Stat line wise, he is very similar to a regular daemon prince. His sword is pretty special, having both types of 'bane and strength modifier (and then some).  On top of this is his 4+ invulnerable save coupled with a Nurgle-like shrouding ability (which ties in to his whole "shadow" theme that he has going on). But he does not have any alignment to the big four chaos power in warhammer: he is the only undivided chaos daemon prince available. 

To my mind though, the real benefit (and the reason to take him) are on the psychic side of things. He has access to all telepathy skills.  Why is this such a great thing? Well: think of being able to guarantee invisibility.  But it gets better: mental fortitude or hallucination can be extremely potent in their own rights if played right. Want more? Well, Be'Lakor gains bonus warp charges if enemies fail morale checks.  Hello terrify!  There's little not to like about such a combination in the game! Use Endurance on him if possible to help him keep alive and kicking should the flying shrouded jink'ed basic version be not to your liking.  And use puppet master (and the rest) to utterly disrupt your opponents battle plans. Especially those Tau that you're starting to really be annoyed with.

Play wise, I think I'd be seeing him as a chaos space marines HQ mostly. Even if I were fielding daemons, I would use Be'Lackor as an HQ of an allied chaos space marine force organization chart (so as to keep the warlord traits of someone better, like Fateweaver!). In such a mould, Be'Lakor brings a little extra pain to the table of the daemons flying circus style lists that are popular at the moment. And he doesn't remove too much either (possible a Tzeentch daemon prince, rather than a Slaanesh one, plus a few daemonettes).  Hence I can easily see him being taken with a minimal detachment of cultists to make it work.

In short: tailored to the right list, Be'Lakor will see competitive play and will be a pain to opponents in the hands of a competent player. And I think he will certainly see play in casual games too, for variation and shadowy themed armies (Night Lords? Alpha Legion?).

Wargames Gallery: Succumb to Chaos

Look closely and you will see the lone loyalist captain making his last stand before succumbing to the overwhelming forces of chaos.

Wargames Gallery: Chaos Terminators Advance

Having teleported on to the battlefield and laid down withering firepower, the squad of Warp Hornets terminators advances on their prey.

Review: Liber Chaotica V (Undivided)

Included in the "complete" compilation of the previous four volumes comes a fifth, free volume based on the undivided nature of chaos.

This volume is not as extensive as any of the preceeding volumes and seems a bit more of an afterthought (or easter egg even) than the others.  That's not to say that is isn't well considered or written: it is.  It just doesn't do as much justice to the material as Slaanesh or Nurgle does.  

Commencing with a discourse on the Ever-Chosen, the book descends rapidly in to an un-targeted review of the pantheons of the races of the Warhammer world.  I think Tzeentch could have done this in a much more (shall we say) "insidious" manner.  Its not that the material doesn't fit, but I just wonder if it should have been shuffled elsewhere and with a different "accent"?

The volume is rounded out with an essay on the "unaligned powers" (but where is Malal? ha!) that aligns well with material from the Lost and the Damned and terminates with Be'lakor.  

Given the brevity of the volume, this one is the weakest of the series -- it could have been made much better.  More could have been made of it through greater exploration of the nature of chaos (perhaps even shifting the ideas of souls given in the Tzeentch volume to here) and giving greater emphasis to the independents rather than the Warhammer pantheons.  A brief vision of even Horus could (nay: should!) have also been added, let alone the Black Legion.