Major fluff changes!

Recently i have been going back over my chapters and regiments back stories. This is something i like to do every so often but with the release a 8th and the new guard, BA and DA codeces, it was even more necessary. Apart from the obvious changes to the BA and DA fluff from there respective codeces, i have also had a major reshuffle of my own fluff.

The various guard regiments have not received much in the way of an update, as to be honest, they don't really need one. There has been so bits added about the great rift and it's effect on the system, which is not much, as the segmentum pacificus doesn't really seem affected or even mentioned much in the books.

The Eagle Knights have had more of an update, due to the events surrounding the defense of Baal and the conning of Guilliman and his primaris marines. The 3rd, my company are not overly effected, but will be receiving reinforcements due to the chapters reorganisation. This means there will be more units to add in the future.

The biggest changes are happening around the other 4 marine chapters. I have back stories for the DA based Dark Guardians, the Imperial Fists based Emperor's Disciples, the Black Templars based Brazen Hawks and the Wolves based Stone Dragons. 5 marine forces is 3 to many really and the Hawks were dropped quite early, as i never really liked the force as i always felt i had created them for the sake of it, although i did quite like the fluff i had created. Next on the chopping board were the Disciples, as although i like the fluff and the force, the new Fists tactics didn't inspire me and i never warmed to the colour scheme, yes i could have changed the colour scheme and i had tweaked it in the past, but by this point i had fallen out of love with the Fists as a whole. This has left the Guardians and the Dragons, both of which, in terms of fluff and colour scheme, i like.

The Guardians are very different to the Knights. The Knights are about jump packs and assault, where as the guardians are about termies and bikes. To very different forces both visually and in play style. Granted the Knights have morphed a bit to include some more shooty units, such as sternguard from the Disciples, however the main principal will still be jump pack assault. The big question at the moment is the Dragons, as the Wolves codex is yet to be released. The plan is still several long range units, a contemptor dread and several elite units. When the Wolves codex does drop, which of you believe the rumours will be sometime this year, then i will firm up the list.

So, with dropping the Disciples and Hawks, i now have quite a bit of fluff that i no longer need, but that i do quite like. Solution? I'm going to delete the Disciples and Hawks pages from the blog but not before merging the Disciples and the Dragons and also the Hawks and Guardians fluff together, something I'm in the process of right now. This will mean that both of the forces will see quite a change in the back stories, but hopefully one that will add depth to what is already there. In terms of the Guardians, i hope it will tie in nicely with current events on the codex.

One thing is still bothering me though, while i don't really care about the Brazen Hawks name, it was just a random name i came up with, i have an attachment to the Emperor's Disciples name, as this was the first chapter name i came up with many years ago, when i first got back in to 40k. My guard at that time went by the name Segedunum Yeomanry, named after a local Roman fort at the time but i was not very attached to it, so it got changed to the Hjaltland LI. At that time i was intending on finishing the guard force and then creating a supporting marine force, which over many months and lots of thought, became to be called the Emperor's Disciples, taking the Imperial Fists chapter tactic, a gun line marine force supporting a gun line guard army. The Disciples have remained part of the plan ever since, being formed in to 500 point forces, the 1000 point, then full 2000 point lists, before dropping back down through 1000 and 500 point lists until they were dropped completely. But now i have dropped them, i want to keep the name going somehow, as it's something that has always been part of my 40k revival.

I had thought about merging the names as well as the fluff, but Emperor's Dragons or Stone Disciples don't ring as well as the originals. So how do i keep the name or do i not bother and just let it be one of those things that dies as the hobby progresses?

BA jump pack changes

Before we start, I'll warn you that this is going to be a pure bitch and moan post, filled with lots of negativity, grumpiness and whining.

Now you are suitable warned, let get on with the rant and it all centres around one item, the humble Astartes jump pack. And what is the problem here you might ask? Well, with the actual jump pack, nothing. The gripe lies with the fact that either the blood angels are incredibly untidy and forgetful or GW is further eroding the individuality of the Blood Angles, intentionally or otherwise.

My big issue come with the changes from 7th to 8th, not in a sense of the rules but unit options. In 7th we had the command squad, firmed of 3 veterans, a champion and a Sanguinary Novitiate. Within this squad, one of the unit could take a standard, as an extra, and the unit could take jump packs. That is all of the unit could take jump packs. So when 8th rolled around and they changed the way things worked, splitting up the command squad in to it's composite parts, one would have assumed that they would have kept all of the options the same, for the benefit of all those long standing BA players. Alas no, they gave us false hope, then shattered our dreams.

Ok, so that's a little dramatic but they did give us hope that all would continue as before on the model front with the BA index entries, which contained entries for Sanguinary Novitiate with jump pack, company champion with jump pack, company ancient with jump pack and company Veterans with jump pack. Now, i built my list and my forces for 7th, starting before any of the formations came out and my models reflected the options available at the time. With the release of the index it looked like BA were going to retain the options they had and there play style, maybe even give more emphasis to the fast, mobile infantry based forces that they were know for. I was excited, for BA could have all these extra jump pack units, playing in to the nature of the Blood Angles and there liking for jump packs. Regular marines couldn't take these units, but then they were getting there own unique units, so that was fine.

It's taken me a while but now i realise that this was false hope and with the codex we have yet again been moved closer to becoming red Ultramarines. We have lost some unique units and we have gained some very generic units, we may even be loosing the most unique unit of them all, the death company. Although i have a funny feeling that the black rage will show itself again but that's for another time. So, are we really becoming red Ultramarines and are GW slowly killing the flavour of the Blood Angles or was this just purely a marketing move, bringing the codex inline with the current model range?

It seems that the second option is more likely, as there doesn't seem to be a specific Blood Angles command squad, just the generic marines one. This means, no jump packs, as there are none in the box. However, GW do sell jump packs separately, at 5 pound for 5, which isn't to bad. This means you can easily convert you Command squad to a jump pack Command squad with ease. I know GW have been pushing the whole, no model, no entry thing for a while but it annoys me that something many people would have spent a long time building and painting has been ditched in a second. At this point your probably thinking, well why not just carry on with the index entries and the answer is simple, i could. However, for how long? If they change the points values of a unit, it will be the codex version, not the index one, so would i adjust that unit by the same or leave it? What happens if they adjust all the other jump pack equipped characters, should i adjust mine as well? There is such a variation in the effective cost of a jump pack, ranging from just 3 points on a vet, up to 30 points on a champion. Novitiate and ancient are 5 and 9 respectively, with the Sanguinary priest  coming in at 17 points extra for a jump pack. If jump packs were all the same points cost it would be easier to amend if needs be, but  I as it stands it's a bit of a mess. It's the main reason that sticking with the codex is my preferred choice, but i don't particularly like the loss of the units by doing so.

Maybe one day they will put the units back in but i highly doubt that they will. If they have been removed at this stage, it's unlikely to think that they would put them back in at a later date, especially as they will be phasing out the standard marine over the next few years anyway but that's another rant for another time.

Reconstructive surgery

So, remember these guys?

Well, i decided that i would do some reconstructive surgery on them to bring them in line with the new codex.  As a result, this happened:

However, no sooner had i disassembled everything i ran into another issue. Company Veterans with jump packs are no longer a codex option! What!?

Yes, it appears that not only have Sanguinary priests and Sanguinary Novitiates lost there jump packs, but so to have company Veterans, company champions and company ancients. I'll do a separate post about all this, as i can see it turning into quite a rant. Needless to say, I've had to have a bit of a rethink.

The way that i see it, there were three options;

1) Continue as i was, using the index entries and points.

2) turn the squad in to a vanguard vets squad using spare jump pack

3) keep them as company vets but remove the jump packs.

In the end, i decided to keep them as company vets, removing the jump packs. I decided this for a couple of reasons. The first one being that i would like to keep the force as codex compliant as possible. There will be a few exceptions, but on the whole, i plan to stick to the codex. Secondly i already have a vanguard squad, who aesthetically, look very different to this squad. Another reason for keeping them as company vets is the rules, namely the bodyguard ability. It's not something i will use very often, but it could come in handy towards the end of the game to deny slay the warlord. Lastly, it also ticks my fluff box by having a command support squad.

New company Veterans squad.

Rebuilt storm shield carriers and their new packs. (Yes i have just spotted the centre vet has his pack already. The one in front of him should go with the vet below)

Sgt on left and vet, both dual wielding pistols.

With the 5 models i will now have, i can run them as a 5 man unit or a 3 and a 2 man unit, giving me options. The loss of jump packs is annoying, but something that i can work around. It will not mean a great change in any of my game strategies, as i was just going to be running them in supporting roles, accompanying the captain and lieutenant. They don't really need that support, as they will be with a lot of other troops, namely assault marines, vanguard vets or the Death company. Loosing 3 vets won't make a massive difference overall. It does mean that the foot slogging officers will have the benefit of extra protection though, so it's good for them. I do now have 3 packs to find, paint and glue on though!

Old stuff day

I spent quite a while looking back through my posts from the last year for a post to stick up here for a second look but I had quite a job finding something I felt was actually worth while posting. In the end I came across a post that I had all but forgotten about and thought that it was worth reposting. The orriginal post was here; starting em young, but I have reposted it in its entirety for ease and convenience.  

So, the other week, the little man was pestering me to play with the "little men", so we went upstairs to play with some old push fit style (possibly Assault on Black Reach models?) models. At this point he started asking about painting, so after a few more days of pestering, i gave in and let him paint a few models. Now, i was thinking that he could paint one of the little push fit ones, but the little man had other ideas. Que the DV bikes. Oh, and because the litle man was having a go, the young lady had to join in!

The young ladies, age 2 and a half

The young mans, age 5 and a half.

Of course, as the kids were having a little go, I though that I would too. This is the first draft of the Dark Guardians incomplete paint scheme.

Dad, age 34