New guard - rules

 Following on from the previous posts, here are the rules and points for the new units.

We'll start with the main man, Commissar Yarrick. Now we've seen the rules before and I did run through them but I've had a little think and I have watched a few videos about the rules and while I still think that the Counter strategist ability is going to be difficult to pull off properly, players with the skills and ability to use it properly will find this very powerful. I think that Decisive command will still be my go to ability. 

I also think that at 150 points, your going to need to make the most of this unit, either sings the orders trick or counter strategist every turn and probably having him sit near a super heavy to give out the order to you Baneblade. I still would like this model but I really don't think he will find his way to the table very often, only when my Hellhammer get fielded as well. 

Commissar Graves is another matter entirely. On foot she is 65 points and 110 points mounted. On foot i don't think she is very good. I don't think she really has anything over the regular commissar at half the price. Yes she can give fall back and shoot or charge but so do other characters, mainly the Cadians Castellan, and out of the units that she can join, only a few of them will benefit from falling back and shooting. I would just bring a regular commissar rather than Graves on foot. 

In her vehicle she is a different prospect. The extra range on the Brutal Discipline is useful, and means you can cover a large area of the board. Being able to issue orders to units disembarking is also very useful. You'll have to keep her close to transports, but that shouldn't be an issue with a 12 inch move and T8 and 12 wounds with a 4 plus invulnerable save. Granted she isn't invincible but she will be very resilient. 

She also has some punch with the Gatling cannon and stubber. You won't be taking down whole squads of marines but you can pick of a few stragglers. I think we will see Graves in transport more than on foot, as she offers more for not many more points. 

Next we have the two new guard vehicles and here things get a bit strange for me. The Hippogryph is a fast light vehicle with a similar profile to the Taurox Prime except less wounds. It still strikes me as basically a Prime without transport but it's role will be very different. It's going to fall more inline with the Armoured Sentinel, as a mobile gun platform and given that all the guns have assault, it's going to be getting around the place, even more so with the Convoy Escort Vehicle rule. 

This thing is going to be moving between 14 and 24 inches a turn (19 on average), significantly further than the Armoured Sentinel or Prime. At 70 points, it's also on par with the Armoured Sentinel but cheaper than the Prime, although without the transport, so it's pretty comparable. As I mentioned in previously, I can see this being used mostly with the Vigilator cannon or Gatling cannon rather than the lascannon or melta. This is because the lascannon is only a single shot and the melta is short ranged and single shots are unreliable and short range just invites a counter charge, which it is unlikely to survive. Move fast, strike and retreat is going to be the way to use this I think. Standing and fighting is Leman Russ territory. 

The Centaur RSV is also a little odd but I do see it's use. I thought that this would be a cheap and fast transport, a throw away vehicle but it's not. It's 85 points, the same as a chimera and 10 more than the Taurox (standard, not prime). There are some differences between the vehicles, with a cascading toughness (Chimera - 9, Taurox - 8, RSV - 7) but they are all similar wounds wise (Chimera - 11, Taurox and RSV - 10). 

The main difference between them though is the role they will play. None will be cheap disposable units but each has a distinct role. The Chimera being the slow but powerful transport, able to take some punishment and dish it out as well. The Taurox is the fast one, being able to advance and disembark, meaning you can get your troops up the field and in place quickly. The Centaur RSV is the mobile fire base with it's firing deck 12. Maybe load up with Kasrkin and their special weapons, or some heavy weapons squads for 6 lascannon or missile shots. I would suggest Krieg heavy weapons squads and their flamers but you can only get one unit in due to the fire coordinator. If you could get rid of a couple of fire coordinators, 6 krieg heavy flamers in the back of one of these things would be very nasty indeed! 

The Centaur RSV is about loading up and parking on an objective or fire position and dominating it with whatever is in the back. This is about creating a mobile fire base rather than as a pure transport like the Chimera or Taurox, both of which are about getting guys where they need to go and dumping them out. This is about getting them where they need to go and keeping them save inside. It's not what I would have liked, I would have liked something along the lines of the old Centaur light carrier, small, fast, 6 man transport for running small teams of Krieg Engineers, Scions or Command Squads, but I will take the new version nonetheless. 

New guard - vehicles

 We have two new vehicles for the guard, and as before, I'm significantly behind on posts and so we know more about these vehicles now but I will give my first impressions here and talk more about the rules in a future post. 

First up is the Centaur RSV, a light half track style transport. 

I really like these, much more than the taurox, which it has a passing resemblance to on the front end. When this was released it looked like we were going to get the final link in a triad of transports, with chimera as the heavy powerful transport, the Taurox as the fast mobile transport and this forming the cheap and light transport. Given the additional information we now have, this doesn't quite work out. 

Even so, I really like this and would like to have a couple of these in my collection. 

The second new vehicle is the Hippogryph AFV. To me this initially looked like a non-transport Taurox prime, or a wheeled armoured sentinel, although it does have some bigger weapons than the sentinel. 

Again, I do like this vehicle. It reminds me of the old British army Saladin's and Fox's. I think that it's not going to be a heavy hitting or resilient vehicles, more of a fast scout vehicle, and I think the melta and lascannon options will be the weakest options. The Gatling cannon and battle cannon will be the go to options I think. 

Lastly, we have the battle force box. I really want this, especially if I can grab an additional Centaur at the same time. I want a Dorn as a tank commander and two Hippogryphs and two Centaurs would give me everything I would want. The Cadians are a little surplus to requirements but I think my boys would be happy to take them off my hands for his Tau. 

New guard - commissar's

 So I'm quite a bit behind the curve on this, as there have been a whole bunch of 11th edition previews and new model releases over the last couple of weeks and I haven't written a single word for the blog in nearly two months! With work, kids and holidays, there just hasn't been the time to write, plus a small obsession with Football Manager Handheld 2011 on the PSP has also contributed to a lack of posts! (Took Hereford from Blue Square Premier to Premiership in 5 seasons! Now I'm floundering in the lower mid premiership table though)

Anyway, new 40k models! And what a model!

The old man of Hades Hive returns, with slightly wonky backstory but we'll overlook that for the moment. 

All the elements of the classic Yarrick are there, although not quite the same as the original, it is a very nice resculpt of the last version. 

The details on the new model looks amazing and I definitely want to get my hands on this model at some point, even if he just lives in the display cabinet. 

Just to show how far behind I am with posting, they have not only released the model previews but also the rules!

Yarricks rules are pretty good really, keeping his Iron Will (or Will of Iron) ability, although it is now even better going from a 50\50 chance to a about an 85% chance of coming back and on 3 wounds rather than 1. The Hero of Hades Hive abilities are also very useful, with Decisive Command being the stand out one for me, especially early game, when units are close to each other. Inspiring Hero is good but not as good as Decisive command and may be better late game but there are other ways of dealing with battle shock and leadership tests, although with the release of 11th battle shock may become a lot more important! counter strategist is probably the worse of the three and seems very situational. The ability to shoot is good, and as it stands you can use this and then overwatch! But your still relying on a unit moving in to range. 

It's good to see old bale eye back bit it could have done with the pistol keyword to let you do this in combat as well!

Next we have a new named commissar, Commissar Graves, and while the model is a very nicely detailed model, it's not for me. I like the new transport and plan on getting a couple (to add to the taurox's I haven't brought yet!), this is not for me. 

It's also nice that it's a two pack, one vehicle born and one on foot but even the foot slogging version just doesn't do it for me. Don't ask me why I don't like them but there is just something about them that I don't like, especially the vehicle model, maybe it just took over the top for me, another, different paint job my be better. 

I'm really excited for this wave of guard releases, although still no sign of updated Catachans, which is still concerning! Next up we'll look at the other guard vehicles. 

Resolutions 2026

 So despite the fact that we are nearly two months in to the year, here are my yearly resolutions for 2026! There won't be as many as last year, as given it's already the end of February a d I have picked up a brush about 4 times and built half a dozen models, several of which were 2 piece models!

Anyway, here's the list! (Not in any particular order)

1) Build, 2) paint and 3) varnish Grey Knights Terminators

Not yet purchased but I do want these. They will be for my Imperial Agents army but my find themselves very quickly relegated to the display cabinet if 11th does away with the Agents codex!

4) Build, 5) paint and 6) varnish Sisters Rhino

Another model that hasn’t been purchased yet! Either way, I plan to get one of these this year for my sisters to trundle round in, but may suffer the same fate as the Grey Knights above. 

7) paint and 8) varnish Death Korps Engineers

These are primed and ready and I have a paint scheme in mind, slightly different from the regular Krieg but easily identifiable as part of the same army. Just need time to paint now!

9) Build, 10) paint and 11) varnish Field Ordnance Battery 

I abe 4 guns, for two squads, on order from Forbidden Planet. Hopefully they will turn up soon and then I can get building so I have a squad of each type of gun. These will be built to be Krieg in style to match the rest of the Krieg models I have. 

12) paint and 13) varnish Death Korps heavy weapons squads

Three squads ready to paint. These will be in the same scheme as the main force. 

14) paint and 15) varnish Death Korps Command Squad

These are half painted already, with 6 of the 12 models painted. I will be doing these first, as soon as I get some time! 

16) kitbash, 17) paint and 18) varnish Eagle Knights vanguard vets

I have tem models ready to kitbash in to vanguard vets for the Eagle Knights. I have been holding off a bit as these are one of the few first born kits still around and I expect an update soon, possibly for 11th. That means these will be on the back burner for a little bit until I see what happens or I run out of other stuff to paint (which is unlikely!)

19) paint and 20) varnish Kasrkin

The last on the list are the Kasrkin models that need painting and varnishing. Technically there are 10 Kasrkin and 2 Castellans but I'm just limping them in together here as they are going to be painted basically the same. 

So a little bit of a smaller list this year but still quite a few items on the list, 9 of which relate to models I don't even own yet! I am hopeful that despite a slow start to the year and the wee one grows bigger he will start sleeping in the evenings and maybe even for propped naps in the day when I can get some painting done. Time will tell and come the end of the year, I will have painted everything or, more likely, I won't have. Either way, the target is set, it's time to get moving!

2025 review

So we're only a couple of months late on this one! After playing catch up with post from last year, it's time to take a look back over last year's resolutions. There were a lot last year, a bit optimistic I think, but given the event of last year, I'm not surprised there are several outstanding. 

1) Finish painting Drop Pod

This has been done, and it was done just in time for them releasing a brand new drop pod!

2) Paint Land Raider

Again, this was done, although I do need to go back and add some transfers at some point. 

3) Varnish Field Ordnance Battery 

Varnished and based, although not yet used in game. I also have some more on route. 

4) Quickshade Rough Riders

Another success, all 10 varnished. 

5) Varnish additional sisters of battle

Additional models all done and sorted. 

6) Paint Subduction squads

Two squads plus extra painted and varnished up. 

7) Paint Sanguinary Guard 

A full squad of 6 finished, plus some additional characters completed as well!

8) Paint Armiger Helverins

Painted up and transfers completed. I'm not sure though if I've varnished them or not!

9) Paint Emperor's Disciples Blade Guard

All 6 done, alongside some more characters. 

10) Paint Sisters Canoness 

Two jump canoness painted, varnished and bases. 

11-15) as above but varnish models

As mentioned above, all the models have been varnished. 

16) Varnish Inquisitorial Agents models

Pretty sure I've done this, but can't actually remember. 

17-19) Build, paint and varnish Grey Knights Terminators

Ok, so the first fail of the list, and it's a big fail! I don't actually own these models yet! I am still planning on getting them, but have been holding off due to some rumours of a range refresh. 

20-22) Build, paint and varnish Sisters Rhino

Another failure and in the same way, I have yet to actually buy this model, so building and painting are a bit tricky. I do intend on getting the model, it's just a case of when. 

23-25) Build, paint and varnish Death Korps Engineers

Three squads and a bit built and primed but not painted yet. Hopefully I will get these painted this year and they will be on the 2026 resolutions list. 

26-28) Build, paint and varnish Death Korps Artillery 

Another unit that I do not own and as time has passed, I'm not actually sure I want to. I don't think the rules are great and I'm not overly keen on the models. They are nice little diorama pieces in their own right, but there is just something about them that I don't really like. 

29-31) Build, paint and varnish Field Ordnance Battery 

I have two squads of these on order from Forbidden Planet through the Combat Patrol Magazine. At roughly half price it's a good deal, plus I plan on using a number of the spare bits to finally convert up my Wyverns properly!

32-34) Build, paint and varnish Death Korps heavy weapons squads

I have build and primed two Kreig heavy weapons squads plus I've built an additional heavy weapons squad. I hope to get these painted up this year alongside all the other Krieg units!

35-37) Build, paint and varnish Death Korps Command Squad

I have built, primed and started to paint these models. About half the models are painted but I haven't made any progress in quite a few weeks. Again, I'll hopefully get all these painted up this year. 

So, I had quite the list last year. Not sure how I expected to get though all of them with a small person inbound! So how did I actually do? Well 19 and a bit completed out of 37, so just over 50 percent! Not to bad. I think some of them were a bit optimistic as I didn't even own the kits to several and sill don't! Some of them will go on this year's list, some of them will not but there will be more on that in the next post! 

All in all, I am pretty happy with the amount of stuff I have done and hopefully can finish off a lot of these this year. 

Northern Invasion photos

 I'm just going to photo dump all the other photos from the Northern Invasion 2025 tournament here for your viewing pleasure. 

Extra models

Alongside the marines I painted in the last post, I also had a number of other random models that I painted and built. 

The only models that I actually painted were these AoS Gryph hounds. 

I have painted these up to act as cyber-mastiffs for the subductor squads I painted up last year. I really only need two of them but I have several, eight actually, so decided to paint a more. Three others were nicked by my boy for his D&D character to act as familiar's for his elf ranger. (I think ones an actual pet and the other two are familiars)

I have two more that are unpainted as I don't actually have a need for them and so am waiting to paint them up, plus they are on bigger bases as the pose means they don't fit on 25mm bases, required for the doggos. 

Next up is a new Inquisitor. I already have four Inquisitors, Lord Inquisitor Laurissa and her cabal of Inquisitors, consisting of Inquisitor Sophiana, Inquisitor Tamhas and Inquisitor Jameelis, well, now they have been joined by Inquisitor Danihael. 

Inquisitor Tamhas has heavy Scion leanings, Inquisitor Sophiana has Sister of Battle vibes and Inquisitor Jameelis is AdMech influenced, so Inquisitor Danihael needed to lean another way, so he's gone more of the imperial guard route (or maybe imperial navy?). 

He is armed with a shotgun and sword, or combi-weapon and inquisitorial melee weapon. 

I'm not sure what colour scheme he will get yet, most of the inquisitors have a blacka and red scheme, except Sophiana, who has purple and black, but I'm tempted to go for a different scheme here, maye more green or blue(if I go navy). 

In addition I also built some more other models, the Combat Patrol issue 31, a Chaos Dark Apostle. This come with one chaos marine and two other models. After some minor conversion work, I've made a chaplain (maybe?)

Some minor work is still needed to finish off the green stuff work on the book. 

So of the chaos runes and details have been removed and one of the shoulder pads was replaced with a generic one. 

I'm looking forward to painting this model up but I actually don't know where I'm going to use it. It won't fit in to the Eagle Knights (Blood Angels), Dark Guardians (Dark Angels) or the Stone Dragons (Space Wolves) but might have fitted in to the Emperors Disciples (generic SM\Ultramarines) or Brazen Hawks (generic SM\Deathwatch). My first thought was Brazen Hawks but I'm pushing this towards Gravis armour. So that really only leaves the Emperors Disciples, or maybe I'll put it in to the Doom Eagles?

I will have to see what happens. The last models were the two Dark Disciples that came with the marine. These two required some work to remove the various chaos iconography and details but nothing too difficult. 

The most difficult part was filling in the chaos star on the book holder. This was filled with green stuff and I also put some scrolls on the top side. 

These will be painted up to match the three AoS models I painted a while back. I still have no idea what I'm ever going to use these as, but they will make a very cool looking squad of models (maybe some sort of Inquisitorial retinue?)

The AoS models in question.