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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

"Eldrad only has attack 1 with a bodyguard of ws4 a1 warlocks, surely we can best him assault with our dedicated assault chaos marines"
-Abaddon gets stabbed through the throat

Image

"I am going to fight Abaddon with one hand while putting most of my mental focus on scrying the future. Huh Abaddon ran away already?"
-Eldrad

All this be retconned though, Trazyn of Necron has taken the place of Eldrad it seems. Maybe Abaddon will conquer Cadia then get punched in the face by a loyalist Primarch.
Last edited by OgreBattle on Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Ghremdal »

They have fortune up, so its all good for the Elder dudes.
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Post by Zinegata »

maglag wrote:You know, Abaddon gets a lot of flak from the fandom...
He gets a lot of flak from the fandom precisely because Chaos wankers keep pretending he's not a complete idiot like everyone else in the whole 40K roster except for a couple who are lucky enough to have been in an Abnett novel. And given that Abnett has basically stopped writing for BL, that means everyone in 40K is now doomed to idiocy.
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Post by maglag »

Fair enuff that everybody in 40K is an idiot, but Abby is somewhat less of an idiot in that he understands that the forces of chaos are stronger working together than constantly fighting among themselves.
OgreBattle wrote:"Eldrad only has attack 1 with a bodyguard of ws4 a1 warlocks, surely we can best him assault with our dedicated assault chaos marines"
-Abaddon gets stabbed through the throat

Image

"I am going to fight Abaddon with one hand while putting most of my mental focus on scrying the future. Huh Abaddon ran away already?"
-Eldrad

All this be retconned though, Trazyn of Necron has taken the place of Eldrad it seems.
You forgot to mention what happened next.

In the climax of the Black Crusade, Eldrad attempted to retake a Blackstone Fortress alongside a coterie of seers, but the fortress was already occupied by Slaanesh, the Great Enemy. As Eldrad realised his folly his soul was devoured, and the greatest Farseer of the Eldar was lost.

Abby got a minor flesh wound.

Eldrad got nommed by Slaanesh. At a Blackstone Fortress. Which had been set up by Abby.

Who would you say came out on top from that Black Crusade?

Anyway, we may be about to witness the birth of the first Chaos Necron Overlord.
Last edited by maglag on Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by OgreBattle »

So the Fall of Cadia book is apparently leaked, highlights include...

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2017/01/the- ... ssive.html

* Inquisitor Greyfax is one of Trazyn's Pokemon so she may be from thousands of years in the past. Greyfax hates Celestine and accuses her of being a daemon.

* Abaddon makes it to Cadia and has a punch fest with Creed, Creed loses an arm, then Celestine CREED's in to punch up Abaddon

* Trazyn starts looting stuff

* Techpriest Cawl activates the pylons, it shoots a beam into the Eye and shrinks it a bit but then the eye pushes back and the pylons go crazy, the stable gateway out of the eye grows 3x larger (oops!)

* The pylons via Cawl makes the daemons of the emperor Legion of the Damned and greater daemon of the emperor Celestine start losing power, which saps the morale of the boosts the morale of the atheist Black Legion who're totally not as reliant on daemons and warp power as the Imperium is.

* Abaddon overcomes the power drained greater daemon Celestine, but then gets stabbed in the spine and runs away

* Cawl realises he's made a terrible mistake with the pylons

* Cadia explodes

Image

Keep in mind this is the first book of a series so who knows what happens next, probably something involving Eldar as the Harlequins/DE/Eldrad didn't show up. I have a feeling they'll pull off some kinda time loop shenanigans so like every retconned 40k event actually occured in a time cycle and the 40k galaxy is trapped at 1 second to midnight.


*Rather interestingly back in 2003 this was the result I was hoping for, Cadia exploding so Chaos finally has a big win and the Imperium is less of an invincible juggernaut and also a house of dominos (check mate) effect where a focus on fighting Chaos means orks can conquer more worlds, Tau can expand without ultramarine interference, and so on.

How the Necrons respond will also be interestingly as the immortal metal space mummies are among the most diversely opinionated species in the setting.
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Post by maglag »

OgreBattle wrote: * Trazyn starts looting stuff
That's like Saying water is wet.
OgreBattle wrote: * The pylons via Cawl makes the daemons of the emperor Legion of the Damned and greater daemon of the emperor Celestine start losing power, which saps the morale of the boosts the morale of the atheist Black Legion who're totally not as reliant on daemons and warp power as the Imperium is.
See, that's why Abaddon is smarter than most humies in 40K. He knows gods at best are tools to be used for your advantage whenever convenient, and you must be ready to act on your own when said gods inevitably fail you.
OgreBattle wrote: * Abaddon overcomes the power drained greater daemon Celestine, but then gets stabbed in the spine and runs away performs a tactical redeployment to a place that isn't about to explode violently.
Fixed that for you.
OgreBattle wrote: * Cawl realises he's made a terrible mistake with the pylons

* Cadia explodes
See, now that's a proper failure, blowing up the planet you're supposed to defend at all costs. When you were winning. While you're still on it.

OgreBattle wrote: Image

Keep in mind this is the first book of a series so who knows what happens next. I have a feeling they'll pull off some kinda time loop shenanigans so like every retconned 40k event actually occured in a time cycle and the 40k galaxy is trapped at 1 second to midnight.
Nah, it's the Warhammer end times IN SPACE! The Eye of Terror 3 times as big means the forces of chaos get to pour out full power this time.

Because despite all the hate it got, End Times and Age of Segma ended up greatly increasing warhammer fantasy model sales (in particular after they actually published points costs for AoS), and that's GW's #1 priority.

Also Celestine and Cadia scratched off.

We can now start taking bets on the order the main 40K names are gonna die now.

What I'm pretty sure is that Abby is coming back to Terra for sure this time.

Then emprah comes back to life and eventually ressurects all of his slaves as greater daemons of order. Celestine will just need to be patched up since she indeed was already a greater daemon of order. :biggrin:

EDIT: Oh, and I just noticed that it was Creed who earned the title of armless failure in the middle of all this.

It would take some kind of strategic genius to pull that off-

AAABBBBBDDDDOOOONNN!!!!
Last edited by maglag on Wed Jan 11, 2017 6:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Koumei »

They'll need to make a new mini for Abaddon, where the arms actually stay on.

Anyway, rumours have it that they're not doing AoS for 40k, instead just "patching the existing rules up a bit" (probably in ways that nobody wants) and then releasing some kind of optional "FORGING THE NARRATIVE" (drink) thing that can work as a ruleset for more "random bullshit" games. So, basically there'll be a $50 two-sheet print-out that lets you use AoS style rules but nobody will do that.

But obviously they're pushing for bigger minis and fancy kits with lots of bits to snap off in transit, which is also kind of AoS-ish.

Anyway, the stats for the new three are as follows:
Bell-end Crawler: 200 points, 5 5 5 6 5 3 3 10 2+ Infantry (Independent Character). Very Bulky, despite being bigger than some Extremely Bulky or indeed Monstrous Creatures. So the only way to Instant-Death him (which you want to do) is via things that have the Instant Death rule specifically. Because he has a re-rollable Feel No Pain, and at the start of each turn he just straight-up regenerates 1d3 Wounds because Fuck You. I guess metal actually heals faster than flesh.

It's a necessary level of resiliency for a really special character, but he's just this new guy out of nowhere. I'd want to see that on Tyranid "heroes" and Daemon Primarchs - such as if there was some kind of psychic one who has a name similar to a chocolate coated ice cream.

Anyway, he has the Canticles of the Archmagos and Omnissiah, the Arc Scourge, MC Power Axe, Mechadendrite Hive, Scryer Skull, Refractor Field (so that's what, a 5++?) and a Strength 10 Master-Crafted Melta Gun that makes 1d3 shots.

-

Celestine is also 200 points, but that includes her 2 Geminae Superior. They're all Jump Infantry (Character), with Celestine as an Independent Character, and the other two are always attached to her even if she joins another unit. Frags and Kraks for everyone. She is 7 7 3 3 5 7 5 10 2+/4++ with Eternal Warrior (this is necessary and also to be expected), and a sword that hits at S 5 AP 3 Armourbane and Master-Crafted but can also be fired as a Heavy Flamer. She has Martyrdom and a 12" bubble of "use her Leadership for Faith/Hymns", a 1/game Orbital Bombardment, and at the start of every turn she regenerates a slain Gemini. Also the usual Fearless, Hit and Run, Adamantium Will, and Saintly Blessings. And yes, 1/game she has the Leadership Test to return from the dead at full Wounds... and regenerate one Gemini when that happens.

The Geminae are 5 4 3 3 2 4 2 10 3+/4++ without Eternal Warrior, with Bolt Pistol and Power Sword, and they get H&R, Adamantium Will, Fearless, Saintly Blessings, and Celestine's Wounds are automatically transferred to them first. So if you double-tap her with a Plasma Gun, they both die and she is unharmed and then one comes back next turn. If you hit them with a Plasma Cannon, then she takes a wound and the other two just die.

Finally, at 150 there is Pokequisitor Greyfox, who is Psychic/Dark type (and thus super-weak against Tyranids). 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 10 3+ (no Invulnerable, so a single Plasma shot vapes her), Independent Character Infantry. Frags, Kraks, Psyk-Outs, Psy-Occulum, MC Condemnor and MC Power Sword. That's a fairly standard and sensible gear lay-out, I mean, a lot of Master-Crafting there but no unique special relics. Stubborn, Preferred Enemy (Psykers), 24" aura of No Infiltration Allowed.

Psyker Mastery 2 (so only 1 higher than an Inquisitor normally is, not just LOL LEVEL 4, U JELLY TZEENTCH?), with all powers taken from Telepathy (which IIRC is "Invisibility plus a bunch of crap you don't care about") plus her own special one. At WC 1 it's a 12" Pinning Test but, even if the test is passed (see: fighting Chaos consisting only of Fearless units and free VotLW so Ld 9-10 all round) they can't Run, Turbo Boost, Sweeping Advance or fire Overwatch. At WC 3 it's a 12" radius nova of that.

Also, when Denying the Witch she counts as a higher level psyker than the enemy caster, boosting the chances but not granting extra dice.

---

So of the three, I'd only be willing to take the Pokemon in smaller games - even 1500 would really give me pause on taking Celestine. When you get into 2500 and more, then it'd be okay to spend 550 points on the group.
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Post by OgreBattle »

I suspect Cawl is actually a Carnifex who infiltrated the admech

Gangs of Commoragh info:
Image

Comes with shown models. Too bad Scourges aren't included, they have an interestingplace in the spire ecology as the guys who perch on the top gathering lightning energy and having lots of money for surgery
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Post by Stahlseele »

GeeDubyaTF actually moving "the storyline" forward? O.O
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Post by maglag »

Koumei wrote: Celestine is also 200 points, but that includes her 2 Geminae Superior. They're all Jump Infantry (Character), with Celestine as an Independent Character, and the other two are always attached to her even if she joins another unit. Frags and Kraks for everyone. She is 7 7 3 3 5 7 5 10 2+/4++ with Eternal Warrior (this is necessary and also to be expected), and a sword that hits at S 5 AP 3 Armourbane and Master-Crafted but can also be fired as a Heavy Flamer. She has Martyrdom and a 12" bubble of "use her Leadership for Faith/Hymns", a 1/game Orbital Bombardment, and at the start of every turn she regenerates a slain Gemini. Also the usual Fearless, Hit and Run, Adamantium Will, and Saintly Blessings. And yes, 1/game she has the Leadership Test to return from the dead at full Wounds... and regenerate one Gemini when that happens.

The Geminae are 5 4 3 3 2 4 2 10 3+/4++ without Eternal Warrior, with Bolt Pistol and Power Sword, and they get H&R, Adamantium Will, Fearless, Saintly Blessings, and Celestine's Wounds are automatically transferred to them first. So if you double-tap her with a Plasma Gun, they both die and she is unharmed and then one comes back next turn. If you hit them with a Plasma Cannon, then she takes a wound and the other two just die.
Koumei, you seem to have only seen the first page of the new Saint Celestine.
Image
But she actually has a second page for her Saintly Blessings last special ability:
"Saintly Blessings: Celestine can give a 12" radius buff to friendly non-vehicle Army of the Imperium units at the start of each of your turns. Each buff can only be used once per game, and affect units based on their Battlefield Role (independent chars get effected as long as they stay in the unit):
HQ Units: Zealot until the start of the next turn
Troops: FNP 6+ until the start of next turn. If models already have FNP, they get a +1 bonus to FNP instead...
Elites: Counter-Attack and Furious Charge until start of next turn
Fast Attack: Crusader and Fleet until start of next turn
Heavy Support: Relentless until start of next turn
Lord of War: It Will Not Die for the rest of the game.
In addition to all that, any army that contains Celestine (or is from a Wrathful Crusade formation or Castallens of the Imperium detachment) lets characters take items from the new Ecclesiarchy Relics list. Choices include a 35pt Eternal Warrior relic, 15pt S4 AP2 pistol that ignores invulnerable saves, a 35pt relic that gives a 4+ invuln save and stops Deep Strikes within 12" (if they scatter within 12", auto mishap!) and a 30pt Power Sword that on a pass Ld Test becomes S+2, AP2."
So besides being a killy durable commander she's also a bit of a force multiplier and allows some extra toys to your other dudes. Relentless Heavy Support? Yes please.
Last edited by maglag on Wed Jan 11, 2017 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Koumei »

That's even better. Nice.

I can't remember what non-vehicle Lords of War the Imperium has though - maybe a few Spaz Moran commanders?

We also have a bunch of formations that, much like the Thousand Sons (and for that matter the special ones for Emperor's Children and Deathguard), really require putting a lot of points worth of stuff down. But it's an option, and makes the mix-and-matching easier. Bit sad that with all the Imperial factions listed, they didn't include Sisters of Silence or Legion of Custard. I suppose the official stance is "If a single Custodian were there, Cadia wouldn't have blown up because he'd have killed literally everyone on his own. Everyone. From both sides."

Interesting thing about the Relics is the availability: Ecclesiarchy Relics are available to the Wrathful Crusade, Castellans of the Imperium, and "any army with Saint Celestine".

-Skull of Petronella the Pious (30pts) - Bearer, and all models in a unit they join, have a 6++ (ie they join a Conscripts blob to grant Ld 10 and a 6++ to 30 models)
-Blade of the Worthy (30pts) - replaces a melee weapon. Power Sword, pass a Ld test to make it S +2 AP 2, strikes at normal Initiative. Probably best taken on a Space Marine.
-Castigator (15pts) - Range: 12", S4, AP2, Pistol, no Invulnerable Saves. Noice. Possibly an auto-include for a Canoness once the Cloak of Saint Aspira and Mantle of Ophelia are already taken?
-The Font of Fury (10pts) - 1/game 8" S3 AP- Assault 1, Large Blast, Poison 4+ (or 2+ against Chaos factions). At 10 points that's worth thinking about at least.
-Shroud of the Anti-Martyr (35pts) - Bearer has Eternal Warrior. Expensive but certainly an option. Possibly works best on an Inquisitor or Company Commander?
-Desvalle's Holy Circle (35pts) - Bearer has a 4+ Invulnerable. Enemy units cannot Deep-Strike within 12" of the bearer. If they scatter within 12" of the Bearer, they suffer an automatic Deep Strike Mishap. Another expensive one but again, you can see the uses for it. Probably works best on Jump Infantry, which means a Space Marine Captain/Chaplain.

And the new Mechanicus ones can be taken in the Mechanicus-themed Formations or anything with Bell-end Cawl.
-Numinasta's Casket of Electromancy (30pts) - Once per game, can fire this instead of another ranged weapon. Automatically targets and hits all enemy units (including Flyers and Flying Monstrous Creatures) within range, regardless of LoS. Range: 2d6", S3, AP -, Assault 1, Haywire, One Use Only. Short range, expensive, has its uses though.
-Quantum Annihilator (30pts) - Replaces a weapon. Range: 18", S 2d6, AP2, Assault D3, 11-12 for Strength is just an auto-Wound at Instant Death, or an auto-Penetration. That's 1/12, so don't expect to see that crop up every game, but you'll remember the one time you kill some kind of superunit that doesn't have EW.
-Sacrifactum Autorepulsor (15pts) - Enemies charging the bearer or their unit suffer a -2 Charge Penalty that stacks with any other penalty. Do they have other charge penalties they can stack together there?
-Memento-Mortispex (30pts) - At the start of each of your turns, choose a rule to apply to the bearer and their unit (or weapons as appropriate): Cognis Weapons (BS2 snapfire, Flamers do 3 hits rather than d3 with Wall of Death in overwatch), Monster Hunter, Skyfire or Tank Hunter. Absolutely worth taking. "Hi, the Melta users have Skyfire. Go fuck yourself." Another one of those things that works well on Jump Infantry, so again, Space Marines.
-Omnissiah's Grace (10pts) - 6++ or increase an existing Invulnerable by 1 (3++ maximum).
-Saint Curia's Autopurger (25pts) - Models charging the bearer and their unit do not get extra attacks for charging. All models that are locked in combat with the bearer and their unit must pass a Toughness test at I10 step, or suffer 1 Wound for each test failed (can take saves as normal).
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Post by maglag »

You know, I would say Celestine and Crawler actually work better in low points game.

The reasoning being that they both regenerate wounds every round, so their biggest vulnerability is being focused fire and dying in one turn. The longer they last, the more valuale their regen is.

With bigger the armies, there will be more guns on your opponent's side to focus fire Celestine/Crawler in one round.

However in a smaller points battle, your opponent will have less guns. In a 750 points game Celestine takes a bit over 1/4 your points yes, but your enemy should have at most one unit able to drop a high-stregth pie plate (if any), which Celestine can tank just fine, followed by jumping and murdering it with her AP 3 armor bane weapon, then keep ressurecting her personal harem and not die for the rest of the battle while purging the rest of the enemy.

Whereas in a big battle you can easily end up staring at the barrel of a pair of knights or three or a couple trios of riptides or librarium conclaves dropping vortexes and overall more nasty stuff than you can hope to tank in one turn.
Last edited by maglag on Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Koumei »

I forgot for a moment how many things there are that don't cause Instant Death but do cause flat-out 1d6 Wounds (or more). So that's a good point, the more Lords of War they bring to the table, the more they can focus on annihilating those two - even though that does leave the rest of your army free of them for the turn or two that it takes.
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Post by Judging__Eagle »

Koumei wrote:They'll need to make a new mini for Abaddon, where the arms actually stay on.
Hmm.

Coming as a 2ed 40k Chaos player; who got into chaos (specifically Black Legion; b/c fuck the Chaos gods, except as, previously mentioned, as implements of, not replacements for mortals), all that I can say... is that I have mixed feelings.

The original sculpt of Abby is fine enough visually; as a large metal model; the modeller must realize that they need to drill & pin the parts together, if they'll have any chance of staying together. I put together the 1" long zombie dragon minis for my undead Warmaster army that way. There's also been some other Abaddon models; they're not bad either.

The thing is, I feel like new model or not, it will barely affect the chaos army meta. I haven't made use of Abby in any of the armies that I've ever actually played Chaos in anything post 2e WH40k. Expensive commanders make fielding more units harder, just like SM, CSM benefit from having lots of boots on the ground (mostly b/c they're so well rounded as units). So I've mostly used a points-cheaper "warm-body" commander than a similarly fragile, much more expensive, target like Abby would likely be.

Really, making an other "new" abby won't matter unless the rules for them are worth using at tournament level games (impossiblue, this is GeeDubs, they only work alright at company-scaled wargames, and tend to have buggy releases for everything else).

Side note on Warmaster & 40k Epic: GW can't be solely credited with them being any good; most of their mechanics (like blind bidding actions; orders-based movement; necessity for overwhelming odds to be certain of success; prodecureally generated argument resolution; etc.) are very similar to those used in Kriegspiele.
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Post by OgreBattle »

The 80's/90's sculpts before the age of digital are still charming. I like the heroic scale 28mm with big heads and hands (Jes Goodwin Harlequins are a joy to paint), it's like an SNES game.

The new sculpts with more crisp details are also nice, just stylistically different.

----

How do y'all feel about power swords/axes/spears/mauls all having different stats? On one hand that level of customization is nice to have for the ruleset so axe dude and sword dude feel different. On the other hand how they actually implemented the rules gives you situations where guardsmen always always take the i1 axe and Eldar have great incentives not to... but Eldar look great swinging axes so thats rules getting in the way of cosmetics.

There's also the question of a game that uses d6's for resolution should bother with minute difference between a 1h sword or 1h axe, especially when a dagger and chainsaw are "CCW"
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Post by Voss »

Pretty terrible, honestly. Most of that is the implementation, including the fixed point cost, regardless of the models stats, the way power fists shit on axes (going up to 2+ wound is usually worth it, and some models with axes still struggle with 5+ to wound on some targets, and it's worse against vehicles), the AP concerns make maces questionable at best, and spears are nearly nonexistent anyway, and would be shit even if they weren't.

It was a retro step that didn't actually bring any of the benefits of the old system (the game started with various power weapons having their own profile, but that was actually a little better since their strength was independent of the model using it (a power axe was always S5) plus the difference in the armor save modifier changed how they impacted heavily armored models...which were much rarer)

Part of the problem is it's a significant core change that didn't change any point values, because those were in other books. And that's just fucking stupid. The points are still based on 3rd edition rules, with some adjustments over time to individual units, and very few adjustments to unit upgrades and special weapons.


And yeah, it's way above the level of detail the rule set needs. The system in general needs an overhaul, but GW doesn't seem to know where to stop or start with overhauls. Scrapping the setting is a terrible plan (and the source of most of the backlash against Age of Smegma), but having 3 dice rolls (with potential rerolls on... all of them) for a single action per model per attack is fucking stupid. Improving the speed and interaction of the system is a major necessity.

The war of the ring rules (similar but not identical to the lotr strategy battle game) were a much better system of unit based rules, which is what 40k has changed into. They clearly don't want to go back to skirmish rules and want lots of models, vehicles and big shit, so they need to drop this skirmish system (with RPG elements) that they've been patching badly for 30 years.
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Post by OgreBattle »

The Daemonhunters Grey Knights codex had a nice spread of different abilities, halberds gave +2i, swords gave +1 to inv sv, pleasant variety for a skirmish scale kind of game.

Ok there's a way more thorough Fall of Cadia summary here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/po ... 13961.page

Trazyn got involved because one of his holy imperial doodads started ringing and breaking stuff in his room so he went over to his crystal ball to see what was up and decided "I'm gonna be a hero lol". His collection of imperials also includes space marines from 10k years ago.

Also Greyfax is a puritan inquisitor who's let out of her pokeball just in time to see greater daemon Celestine, werewolf marines, burning skeleton marines, and a metal space mummy. She hates chaos and psykers and anything to do with them and is also a very powerful psyker herself but that's the inquisition for ya.
The first chapter of the book picks up immediately following the first wave of the assault on Cadia. It is beaten back by the genius of Creed (after he assumes command following the treacherous slaughter of the existing Cadian High Command). He sets about rebuilding the shattered defences for the second wave he knows is incoming - Abaddon will make a point of pride to make Cadia fall. Making up the shattered defences are:

* Creed and the Cadian 8th, holding the last major fortress on Cadia - Kasr Kraf
* Black Templars of the Cruxis Crusade, led by Marshal Marius Amalrich. They are standing on the southern defences of Kasr Kraf
* Dark Angels 4th Company, led by Company Master Korahael (they are making their stand at the wreckage of their fallen Strike Cruiser to the North of Kasr Kraf, its guns still operational)
* Space Wolves of the Ironwolves Great Company, led by Wolf Lord Orven Highfell. They are initially garrisoning a ruined Kasr between the Dark Angel Strike Cruiser and Kasr Kraf, but you know Space Wolves and standing still...
* Space Wolves of the Firehowlers Great Company, led by Sven Bloodhowl. They have the only remaining Imperial Ship still under power in orbit, the Battle Barge Firemane's Fang
* Knights of House Raven, led by Baroness Vardus
* Battle Sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, led by the twin sister Canonesses Eleanor and Genevieve. They are holding the Shrine of Saint Morrican across the valley from Kasr Kraf
* Numerous other Cadian regiments and shattered Space Marine Chapters

Things look pretty grim when a scout ship reports that the Black Fleet of Abaddon is inbound to finish of Cadia, with a Blackstone Fortress called the Will of Eternity at its heart. It has the power to destroy a planet with a single shot, but the Imperium had prepared a special defence for it. Unfortunately the first assault left it it ruins - Cadia is doomed. Sven Bloodhowl and the Firehowlers, along with a host of Battle Brothers from shattered Chapters and even alongside some Cadian regiments, gather on the Firemane's Fang to lead a desperate assault on the Will of Eternity to delay it before it reaches Cadia ("you're telling me we're some kind of Suicide Squad?") whilst the Mechanicum frantically try to repair the anti-planet killer shields. The battle-cry goes up amongst the Cadian Defenders - "Cadia Stands!"


Elsewhere! Belasirus Cawl has been having some shady conversations with a Harlequin Shadowseer. She tells him to check out some backwater planet, long since abandoned by the Imperium in after the 4th Black Crusade swept by it in M34. On it, Cawl discovers evidence of massive orbital bombardments. Apparently the 4th Black Crusade didn't randomly sweep by this planet - Abaddon had been trying to destroy something on it. Fighting of some random Orks looking for a fight, Cawl discover something amazing - this planet has Pylons on it, just like the Cadian Pylons and it seems Abaddon was trying to destroy them! The Shadowseer tells him to go to Cadia


Elsewhere! Trazyn the Infinite is chilling in Solemnance when one of his treasures, the Bell of Saint Gerstahl, suddenly starts ringing and causing all sorts of havoc on each chime. After the bell kills 5 of his bodies, causes Solemance to send all his warriors into stasis-sleep, destroys a number of his priceless artefacts it stops after the 13th Chime. Trazyn is all wth? and goes to the Celstial Orrery (a perfect reflection of the galaxy) to try and figure out whats going on. He notices a lot of 'crimson stain' pulsing in intricate webs out of one place in particular. The Necrons have a ton of data on the place, but Trazyn deliberately ignores that. The Imperium calls it Cadia. Trazyn wonders whether he might try being the Saviour of the Galaxy for once. At the very least, there should be something shiny to steal on Cadia.


Elsewhere! Specifically, the orbit of Terra!! Even more specifically, aboard the Phalanx!!! Be'lakor has decided to trump Abaddon and launch an attack directly at Terra - no stuffing around at Cadia for him. With the help of the Iron Warriors Warsmith Shon'tu, he creates a warp rift right in the middle of the Phalanx, with the intent to board and capture it and turn it against Terra. On board are... not much. Most of the Imperial Fists are elsewhere. All that remains to repel the chaos forces are the newly reconstituted 3rd Company, led by Captain Tor Garadon (ironically stationed there because they are inexperienced) and 30odd marines from the 1st Company. They are massively outnumbered by the combined Demon and Iron Warrior assault, are getting overrun and are losing control of the Phalanx to machine viruses from the Iron Warriors. In desperation, Garadon turns the guns of the Phalanx on itself in order to 'cut away the disease like a chirurgeon'. It costs the Phalanx a full 10th of its mass, but it stops the machine virus from taking hold and also takes out most of the Iron Warriors. As soon as control is back, Garadon orders a blind jump into the Warp in order to remove the potential for the Phalanx to be turned against Terra. Be'lakor is kinda pissed his plan has basically failed, but since they are now in the warp all his Demon forces are powered up and at least they can destroy the Phalanx. So he gets cocky and throws his Demons carelessly into the fray, victory is inevitable. At least it was inevitable until the Legion of the Dammed turn up to kick his arse. Better luck next time Be'lakor! (should have cast Invisibility). Curiously, the Legion of the Dammed have stuck around though, and Garadon has no idea why. He makes to return to Mars for urgent repairs, however a distress call is picked up - Cadia is real trouble. Garadon decides that the defence of Cadia is the most important, so he turns around and makes for Cadia. The Legion of the Dammed Sergeant gives him a ghostly bro-nod.


Back on Cadia! The Imperial defenders look on with horror as the Will of Eternity appears in orbit. The Mechiancum are no-where near finished repairs to the shields. The Will of Eternity fires..... and the beam is stopped in the clouds! Huzzah! It worked! But how?!?! Says the Magos in charge, looking around at all the slain tech-priests at the shield generator. Looking closer he notices all sorts of filthy Xenos technology integrated into the Mechanicus technology..........


Oh well, time for a conventional assault then. The Black Fleet commences orbital Bombardment of the defences, Void Shield generators straining, Drop Pods and Landing Craft coming down the thousands etc. Long story short, lots of fighting and pew pew pew. Battle Sisters kick arse. Defenders are forced back, traitor Titans of Legio Vulcanam are advancing (despite a Valkyrie kamikaze into the lead Warlord Titan, A-Wing vs Super Star Destroyer style). The Demon Prince Urkanthos, Abaddons second in command, drops in to lead the final assault. Final Gate goes down, Urkanthos shrugs off everything the Cadians can throw at him as heads straight for the shield generator protecting against the Planet Killer only to find the Battle Sisters in his way. The twin Cannoness Genevieve and Eleanor duel with him, but he kills them both (not before Genevieve headbutts him right between the eyes as her dying act of defiance though! Fkn Badass! And Eleanor stick her sword right through his chest, doing the only real wound to him). Urkanthos proceeds down to destroy the shield generator. A Chaos Baneblade is wrecking havoc amongst the Cadians, and the Black Templars rally to try and stop it and just as it swings its guns around to blow them away it suddenly freezes... and turns around and starts shooting the Chaos Forces... no-one notices a sneaky Necron Lord lurking about.... Creed uses the distraction as a last ditch effort to run his forces over to protect the shield generator, but upon seeing the dead Battle Sisters who tried to stop the Demon Prince he knows that Cadia is lost. So he goes to order a rally in one last stand, when he notices his officers holding devotional icons and uttering "The Emperor Protects". Not really one for faith, he gets kinda angry at this, but as he turns he can't help a "Well I'll be dammed"

Saint Celestine had answered their prayers.

Celestine emerging from the Heavens and slaughtering all the Demons before her re-energises all the Imperial Forces present, like a shot in the arm. Only the Adeptus Astartes are unaffected (Black Templars feel it though). The tide turns for a moment, the Defenders rallying to Celestine. But then the Traitor Legionnaires crash back into the defences. But no biggie, Celestine has that under control too - behind her, landing ships drop out of the sky and drop fresh ranks of Battle Sisters onto the field, their Battle Hymns sounding. Apparently she found a transport floating dead through the Warp, carrying 5 full companies of Battle Sisters from the Order of Our Martyred Lady lost some 1400 years ago. She hooked a Sister up and led them to another Ship en-route to Cadia. Urkanthos comes back from destroying the shield generator, looking to make his escape before the planet blows up, but runs straight into Celestine. Celestine is like "you're dead" and Urkanthos is like "lol, you can't fight me alone I'm like favoured of Khorne and Right Hand of Abaddon and stuff" and Celestine is like "HEROES NEVER DIE!" and gets a clutch rez on Genevieve and Eleanor and all 3 proceed to soundly kick his arse. What about the Blackstone Fortress about to blow up Cadia? Oh yeah btw, that ship Celestine hooked the Sisters up with was the Phalanx and it just suddenly jumped in amongst the Black Fleet.



The Phalanx bears straight down on the Will of Eternity. It's taking on the entire Black Fleet by itself but, hell, its a fleet in of itself. Garadon knows he's gotta kill the Blackstone Fortress, so he saves all his firepower for the opportune moment... and a section of the Will of Eternity's shields go down! Turns out Sven Bloodhowl's Suicide Squad made it aboard after all and they managed to sabotage the shields! Taking the shot, the Phalanx pours all its firepower into the Blackstone Fortress and blows it the hell up (along with like a third of the Black Fleet), the wreckage breaking into a few large chunks that sit in orbit like moons. The Black Fleet, having just been sucker punched hard by the Phalanx, pulls away to regroup. Down on the planet, Kell replants the Standard of the Cadian 8th atop the Kriegan Gates as the Battle Sisters and Cadians route the attacking Chaos Forces. Creed breathes a sigh of relief, but knows it's only a fleeting victory.


Aboard the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon looks out over another failure. No more though - Cadia has defied him for far too long. Abaddon gathers his forces for and will lead the next assault himself. This time its personal.


The Imperial Forces consolidate. A trickle of re-enforcements arrive; The Crimson Fists 5th Company led by Captain Ruis Tracinto, Knights from House Taranis, tanks from the Cadian Armoured 51st and finally Belisarius Cawl's Mechanicus fleet. Whilst most of his Skitarri were depleted fighting those Orks, his fleet is still relatively strong. It takes up position with the Phalanx in orbit over Kasr Kraf. A Council of War is held, and Cawl outlines his discoveries about the Pylons and Abaddons intentions with them - it seems the Pylons are literally holding back the flood of the Immaterium into the galaxy. This explains the rising darkness of the last 10,000 years, and the increasing prevalence of warp storms - as Abaddon's Black Crusades have ran on the number of Pylons they've destroyed as gone up and the Warp leaks faster into realspace. Turns out Abaddon's Black Crusades haven't been failures after all, just a series of plays in a very, very long game! Creed, who'd been thinking about retreating from Cadia to preserve forces, realises that's no longer an option. The Cadian Pylons can't be allowed to fall. Cadia must stand!


Cawl gets a strange visitor... at first he thinks it's the Harlequin, but turns out its Trazyn! Trazyn offers his assistance in figuring out the secrets of the Pylons. Cawl is distrustful, but Trazyn points out that he has no desire to see Chaos rule the galaxy. Cawl realises that he's hopelessly lost in the Pylon technology anyway, so accepts his help and quickly figures out the Pylons. He's got a plan now!


Abaddon launches the next assault. Long story short again, lots of fighting, lots of pew pew pew. Battle Sisters, now led by Saint Celestine and the Twin Gemini, continue to kick all sorts of arse. The Battle Sisters get a pretty good showing in this book imo. Anyway, Abaddons forces eventually close the circle around the Imperial Defence, and its capped off by Abaddon teleporting into Creed's Command Centre to cut the head off the command. It's only by Kell's last heroic effort that he's able to push Creed onto a Valkyrie to escape, before Abaddon cuts Kell down. With the Cadian Command in tatters, the Imperial Defence begins to fall and get overrun. The Cadian 8th fall back into the underground catacombs where the Pylons and Cawl are, pursued by Abaddon and his Terminators. On the surface, only the Battle Sisters have managed to push back the attacks.


Down in the tunnels, the Cadians and the remaining Skitarri desperately try to hold Abaddon back. Cawl is furiously trying to finish his work on the Pylons, and Trazyn is lurking about watching with interest. He can see that the Abaddon is going to overrun them quickly, and he umms and ahhs about whether to be a Saviour or just steal something and knick off. Deciding that there's probably better loot the longer he stays at the battle, he decides to help out throws out a tesseract labyrinth. What's in the labyrinth? Why just a cheeky collection of Imperial forces Trazyn's collected over the millennia is all! It pops out right in front of Abaddon's forces - suddenly there is a just post-Heresy era Ultramarine force in his face (Contemptor Dreadnaughts and all), a regiment of Vostroyan, snipers from the long dead Tanith, Salamanders though lost during the Klovian disaster and even a Custode! Everyone is confused as hell, but the immediate facts are pretty clear - they are Imperials and there are Chaos baddies in front of them! Attack! One other force came out of the tesseract too.. Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax of the Ordo Hereticus and her bodyguard. Not one to act rashly, for rashness leads to Heresy, she surveys the battlefield..


Trazyn's Pokeball has given Cawl enough time to finish his adjustments to the Pylon. It just needs to power up now. It's chaos killing time! Noticing Cawl over by the pylon has given Abaddon pause though - has his plan over the last 10,000 years finally been figured out? Had he made a mistake by dallying around trying to crush Cadia in a show of strength rather than just blowing it out of the sky and moving on? Horus made similar mistakes, by falling to his pride, and is Abaddon now following suit? When in doubt.... summon demons!


The chaos forces begin to overpower the Imperials. The last of the Heresy-era Ultramarines goes down, Demonettes rip through the Vostroyan ranks, Legion of the Dammed (who had come down from the Phalanx) spit hot soulfire, but its not looking good for the Imperials. But then the Space Wolves arrive. Or rather, the Wulfen arrive. The Ironwolves have been mostly lost to the curse fighting up on the surface, but now they've come down to fight their last breathes for Russ and the Allfather. A massive section of the ceiling caves in atop the Cadians, and Abaddon's forces use it drive into them heading straight for the man at the centre of it - Creed. But Celestine intervenes, using the hole in the roof to join the battle, blasting Demons aside as she beelines straight for Abaddon. 1v1 she might struggle against Abaddon, but her two Gemini are at her side. The Challenge is on.


Greyfax stand off the side, watching with revulsion. What the hell is with all this Heresy in Her Imperium? Battle Sisters idolising a clearly heretical saint? Astartes revelling in their own mutations? FLAMING SPIRITS SHOOTING MAGIC BULLET GUNS??!? Then she notices Trazyn lurking off to the side, and she's had enough - she goes to shoot the filthy Xenos in the face, but he flicks his hands and paralyses her. Mindshackle Scarab. Greyfax is furious he's "corrupted her, as he did Valeria". Trazyn points out that maybe Greyfax should be more concerned about the Chaos forces...


Cawl watches as the Pylon powers up. Has he done the right thing? Trazyn gave him all this info, but he doesn't really understand it. Is the Necron deceiving him? No, the massive problem of Chaos takes precedence. Lets see what happens. The Pylon starts pulsing, louder and louder soon echoing across the battlefield. Warriors from both sides fall to their knees, Psykers lose their minds (literally) as their connection to the Immaterium fades away. A beam of black light shoots out of the Pylon into the sky, narrowly missing the Phalanx, and spears right into the Eye of Terror.... and the Eye of Terror beings to shrink!!!!! The demons in the battle to blink out of existence, demon-fused traiters find half their bodies being ripped out of them and Psykers are dropping dead everywhere (Greyfax is one of the few with the strong-will to resist it). Even Abaddon stumbles. But so too do the Imperial suffer - The Legion of the Dammed fade away and most disconcertingly the light of Celestine begins to fade, and with that the valour that was inspiring the mortal Guardsmen. Not a problem for the mortal legionaries of the Black Legion though, all they see is the light of the hated Corpse-God fading away. Abaddon recovers from his stumble, and now the challenge has swung decisively his way. What was evenly matched is now anything but as Celestine falters. Even without the Dark Gods blessing, Abaddon is still one of the greatest Astartes ever known. Her bodyguard are forced away, and Abaddon wounds her forcing to the ground. Creed watches the only hope of the Imperial Forces fall to the ground, and charges the Cadian 8th in a desperate attempt to save Celestine as Abaddon raises Drach'nyen for the final blow.....


...but recoils away in agony as he gets mind blasted by Inquisitor Greyfax, channeling all her anger at the state of the battle into tapping into the fading warp and unleashing a psychic assault on Abaddon. She's realised that yes, that's Heresy but the immediate needs of the Imperium come first. Kill Abaddon now, deal with Celestine, the Wulfen etc later. The Cadian 8th throw themselves on Abaddon, desperate to save Celestine by buying her time with their lives. The remaining Vostroyan are cut down, but Greyfax rallies her bodyguard and starts laying volley fire into the chaos forces (her bodyguard are more afraid of her than of the the Chaos warriors lol). Creed leads another charge into Abaddon, pops a terminator with his hot-shot laspistol but suddenly Abaddon is in his face, the Talon of Horus taking his arm off as Abaddon lifts him off his feet by his neck. "Cadia is dead!" he taunts him, "No, Cadia stands whilst even one of its soldiers does!" Creed replies. "Celestine is dead, the will of Cadia is broken and the Imperium will follow. I've already set this world's fate in motion, even before I landed," Abaddon growls. Creed feels the life being chocked out of him, the humiliation of Cadia - which has stood for 10 millennia, falling under his watch catching up with him when a cry of agony brings him back. Celestine stands, her sword ran through Abaddon. "The Emperor Protects," she breathes.


Abaddon lurches away, wounded like no wound he's felt in millennia. Revenge!!! But he realises his time is up - the Pylon continues to pulse, and the presence of the Warp has all but faded. If he wants to get away, he has to go know otherwise he won't be able to teleport out. It's time to go, and he and the surviving Black Legion teleport away. A small part of him even manages to acknowledge the achievement of the Cadian defense. They'd actually won. But still still lost Trazyn watches him ago, fingering a tesseract labyrinth. I'll get you next time Ezekyle!


Creed remembers what Abaddon had said to him "I've already set this world's fate in motion, even before I landed". Uh-oh. Greyfax falters under the pressure of not losing her mind to the absence of the warp. A hand steadies her shoulder - Celestine. "Get away from me witch," Greyfax spits. "If I am a witch, then why did you save me?" Celestine smiles. "I didn't save you, I shot Abaddon. There's a difference." Greyfax falters again, and Celestine smiles and steadies her again. Not gonna lie, I 'ship it.


Up in orbit, Abaddon gives the signal as the Black Fleet hauls arse away. Remember those fragments of the Blackstone Fortress? Well turns out there's engines attached to them, and they light up and drive the moon-sized chunks of debris straight at Cadia. The Phalanx realises whats going on and tries to shoot them down, but its no use. They barely get a warning off before the massive meteors slam into Cadia. 'Luckily' it impacts on the far side of Cadia. The planet begins to split apart. As the planet begins its death spasms, the Pylons start to fall. The push of the Pylons against the Warp fades, and the Eye of Terror bursts back out. Demons begin manifesting, draw in by warp rifts opening up all over Cadia. But as the Warp returns, so too does the Golden Light of Celestine. She stops the panic, and leads the Imperial forces up to the surface, only to see seas of molten lava everywhere as the planet's core is bursting apart. Creed falls to despair - they won, only to lose! Greyfax takes command and issues an evacuation order. Slowly, ships begin to land and evacuate the forces. Not all of its orderly though, and officers are forced to fire on their troops to prevent riots. Demons are harassing the evacuation too - the Imperial Fists aboard from the Phalanx are trying to provide cover, but they are few in number. Creed eventually snaps out of it, and orders the Cadian 8th with him. They will hold the perimeter for the evacuation. The Battle Sisters and Black Templars are the last to evacuate on Cawl's Arkship along with Greyfax and the Knights of House Taranis. The Cadian 8th, with Creed, are still holding the landing site. As they lift off, Greyfax swears she hears a voice bellow out over the winds - Cadia Stands!

The Imperial Fleet limps away from Cadia, Phalanx at the head and the Mechanicum ships holding the rear. Or the remains of Cadia anyway. It's being dragged into the warp... soon to become a Demon World? Time will tell. The Black Fleet harasses the evacuation fleet, but without much effort. Of the 850 million souls that stood on Cadia at the beginning of the attack, barely 2.5 million made it off the surface. Abaddon is content to let them survivors run and spread word of the defeat... until one of his Sorcerors reveals a vision. There is an artefact onboard Cawl's arkship. What is it? I'll quote this next part directly, because it seems pretty huge. Speculation please!


"[the Sorcerer] spoke a name. One Abaddon had put from his thoughts long ago. It seemed impossible, but such words had as much currency now as they had when Horus first set foot on Davin."


Whatever the name was, it spurs Abaddon on to capture Cawl's ship. The Evacuation fleet has just about made it to the edge of the system to jump into the Warp, when the Vengeful Spirit catches up. The Phalanx and the other Imperial Ships are too far into their jump countdown to abort and escape into the Warp. The Mechanicus ships, holding the rear, are not so lucky. Cawl tries to outrun the Chaos ships, using the rest of his ships as a sacrifice. The Vengeful Spirit burns straight through them. Celestine reveals a vision she has - head for the outer planet. Our Salvation is there. Greyfax is not at all keen on it, but has no other real choice. Cawl believes Celestine speaks as the voice of the Omnissiah so he's for it (and maybe he realises that's why that Harlequin sent to him to Cadia in the first place.... not to study the Pylons but to meet up with Celestine). Marshal Alamaric is also on board with whatever Celestine is up to.


They land on the planet, and begin a trek up its mountains with Cawl carrying the artefact on a Triaros Conveyor. Battle Sisters, Black Templars, House Taranis Knights, Greyfax's Militarum Tempestus bodyguard, Cawl, Greyfax and Marshal Amalrich are following Celestine as she leads them... somewhere. They initially manage to avoid the Black Legion forces searching for them, but soon run into patrols which eventually starts bringing masses of forces to them. Half of the Black Templars, led by the Crusade's Emperor's Champion, hold back in a sacrifice to buy them time. It doesn't seem like much, as the Black Legion hounds them up the mountains. But Celestine leads them on... right into an Eldar trap. For the Black Legion. Eldar forces burst out between the Imperials and the Black Legion, covering the Imperial Forces and laying waste to the Black Legion. It's too much - unprepared for fighting Eldar, the Black Legion fall back. Abaddon tries to push forward twice, and is twice beaten back by Eldar. Which Eldar forces do you ask? There's an "Ulthwe Strike Force, alongside Wyches of Commorragh, Warriors of Biel-Tan and a number of other craftworlds". Eldrad is there, as noticed by Cawl, who is surprised at all the disparate Eldar factions fighting together.


The Harlequin Shadowseer that Cawl had prior dealings with is there too. "What is this?" asks Cawl. "Into the light of a new dawn," the Shadowseer answers. Up ahead Cawl can see Celestine hovering above the opening of a Webway Portal, guiding the Imperials through. "The ending has passed.", says the Harlequin, "It is time for a new beginning. There is a parley to be struck, if you have the courage."


And thats it Except for this little edit I forgot about...


Creed stands alone on the ruined surface of Cadia, and watches as the last Mechanicum ship lifts off into the sky. Cadia was now little more than a graveyard. He felt his strength ebbing away, as his wounds finally caught up with him. The storm parts before him, but not a Demon stands before him. A metal giant in a scaled cloak. Creed's panicked shot goes wide as iridescent polygons flicker on the figures upraised palm, "Ursarkar E. Creed. This need not be your end. Eternity awaits." The giant's laughter follows Creed into darkness....

Also leak image of said Eldar Just As Planners:
Image
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Post by OgreBattle »

https://www.warhammer-community.com/201 ... irst-look/
The Eldar Triarch are the Avatar, Sword, and Emissary of Ynnead

Next book is called "Fracture of Biel-Tan"

Image
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Post by Stahlseele »

That looks like a Chaos undivided Possessed Eldar/(Avatar)
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Post by Ghremdal »

Looks like a solitaire\possessed by slaneesh eldar in turned undead. So it fits with the harlequin lore.
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Post by Voss »

It looks like GW is indulging its fetish for unconvincing floaty shit, and CAD software that can't really do what they want it to.
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Post by Username17 »

It looks fucking awful is what it looks like.

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Post by Koumei »

FrankTrollman wrote:It looks fucking awful is what it looks like.
Very true.

Here we have what I imagine is the Sword of Ynnead (note the big-ass sword), which is presumably the Red "Probably a Dark Eldar" from the artwork before:
Image

And here we have the final one:
Image

I'm glad it's shit, I'm trying to save money and I already bought the Triumverate of the Imperium due to contractual obligations. It's appropriate that St. Celestine and Inquisitrix Greyfax shipped together, because going by the story, I'm shipping them together.

Also, it might sound promising for the Eldar that in the Fracture of Biel-Tan* we see the birth of a new Eldar god, but I remind you what happened last time an Eldar god was born:

Image
Censored above: world-ending heresy

Is this part of a bigger move to force Aeldar and Imperium to consolidate together as "Armies of Order"? I still hope not. I'd be okay with "Combined Forces of Chaos", "Combined Forces of the Imperium" (bloated as it is - splitting "All Space Marines" off would help matters there), and "Combined Forces of the Eldar" but that still leaves Orks, Nids, Tau and Tyranids as individual armies just sort of... sitting with their thumbs up their asses.

*Is that just Japanese? Like, the actual name is Biel, but she's small and childish so everyone calls her Biel-tan?
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Post by Voss »

Its more likely to consolidate eldar and dark eldar. Which... fluff abominations aside (not that infinite clone regeneration by the DE wasn't a abomination in its own right), giving eldar players the ability to field troops with a decent gun (rather than inside-charge-range suicide weapons) along with the more interesting troops is something nice, without the horrendous ally rules.

On the Imperium side, I can see a potential Age of Guilliman thing happening, and the Imperium that isn't overrun by chaos bullshit splitting into three:

Wild and Hairy Dudes: Space Wolves, Space Mongols and whatever friendslaves they bother to take.

Classic Imperium: the surviving fanatics and xenophobes that are the usual shit, centered on Terra, assuming Terra doesn't get blown the fuck up in another 'rocks fall, everyone dies' moment.

Return to 'Rationality': Guilliman wakes up, gets pissed and re-establishes the secret Imperium Secundus as Ultramar, because clearly everyone has gone fucking nuts and lost the plot. So they have to die. And aliens are still bad and have to die, because obviously. But he ditches the religious insanity that has characterized the last 10,000 years.


The warrior is actually a pretty decent model.

-Conspiracy theory says this is Prince Yriel of Iyanden, and some new novels gives him a dark eldar daddy, which is why he's restless and keeps going corsair on people (Princess Mommy apparently liked getting choked out). Because apparently deviance from the eldar path system is genetic now, and it's why he has impulses and desires. (which makes no sense- if the eldar emotional intensity problems (which caused the Fall) were a genetic thing, 10K years is more than enough time to breed that shit out).
I hope that summary is doing the novel a disservice, but suspect highly that it is not.

The emissary is...well. Ditch the insane headdress, the bustle and the bare feet, plus the stupidly large base for a basic infantry model, and you might have something decent there. The torso and arms aren't bad.
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Post by OgreBattle »

giving eldar players the ability to field troops with a decent gun
Scatter lasers and wraithcannons are fine troop guns if you ask me :p


Like Samhain -> Saim Hann, Biel Tann is named after the Gaelic festival Beltane:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane

The Y-Avatar is also pretty Necron Deceiver looking

but that still leaves Orks, Nids, Tau and Tyranids as individual armies just sort of
We need an "other guys" triumvate lead by the unerring wisdom of the Greater Waaaghmind

If I were to advance/reboot the 40k story I'd....
make it more like the 1500's where Europeans will unite to stomp infidels, but most the time they're bickering with one another.

Terra/Ecchisalary- like the Holy Roman Empire, they have da emprah's corpse and are super religious
- baroque armored IG are their regular force
- bondage nuns in titty plate and grey knights in plate plate are their elite force
- Inquisitors are their D&D adventurer force

Mars- like the Catholic Church, their tech priests travel across human kingdoms checking for tech heresy and being nosy
- servitor type dudes are their regular force
- big robots and cyborgs are their elite force
- Explorators are their D&D adventurer force

Spess Marine Kingdoms- They're blood descendants of the empra and don't see the ecchisalary as the spokespersons of their dad so religious schism ahoy. Rule over their own human populations
- they're kinda all elite by nature, some have human goons or a lot of wolves as fodder.
- 'questing knight' types are their D&D adventurer force

Traders- move between various human factions, have a colonist/Trade Company vibe like Dutch/Portuspanish/English. Mostly fleet based, sometimes pirates or mercs.

Uptight Craftworld Eldar- Like closed door policy Ming/Tokugawa. Largely travel through the webway, occasionally jumps into realspace because a webway path broke down or to resupply. Roll up Exodite worlds as their jealously guarded holdings in realspace.
- Aspect Warriors and guardian vehicles are their main force
- Warlocks and wraiths are their elite force
- Rangers are their D&D adventurer force

Dark Eldar- survivors of the fall that reside in the webway, have petty disputes with craftworlders. Eat souls.

Outcast Eldar- Eldar who got tired of stiff Craftworld life or grimstiff Dark life to become realspace pirates and mercs.
- They're all D&D adventurers, some are lvl9 and earned a fleet of their own

Harlequins- mysterious dudes that sometimes tell other eldar to cooperate for the revival/survival of the old empire
- They're all elite D&D adventurers

Fascist orks- have an organized empire of sorts, wear military outfits and has lotsa vehicles
Tricorner hat orks- fleet based orks that pillage, sometimes work as mercenaries to others
Feral orks- squigs squigs squigs squigs squigs

Necrons- Basically as they are now, Tomb Kings in Spaaace with some succumbing to insanity that turns them into unfeeling killer bots.
-Immortals are their D&D adventurer force

Tyranids- redesigned to be more like independent ant colonies instead of one super hivemind so they sometimes fight one another
- Genestealers are their D&D adventurer force

Tau- Honestly I don't like 'em much. It'd be more interesting to me if they were space goblins or normal humans in power armor.
Last edited by OgreBattle on Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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