Digest from afar on the Horus Heresy Weekender

Another weekend gone, and this one was a Horus Heresy Weekender curtesy of Forge World. I did not have chance to attend this one sadly, but I have been watching the proceedings and reveals from a distance and thought that I would share a few random thoughts and digests about it here.

Most obviously, the main news was concerning the long-awaited and long-anticipated release of the miniature for Sanguinius. There is no doubt about it from me that this is a crazy brilliant Primarch miniature. The sculpt is dynamic and superbly executed. I love the pose (and yes: the pose is correct since that is the grip one would use for the action that is being performed, despite some argument on various other parts of the internet). I very much look forward to reviewing his statistics and abilities here on Warpstone Flux once I am able to obtain a copy of the new book. 

One issue with the miniature is the short-term and exclusive nature of his base. This is a bit of a concern since every Primarch to date has had his base released alongside him and has always been available ever since. I really don't like the idea of a bespoke base only being available for a short time. I can see that Forge World will receive a lot of grief from collectors and gamers alike about this choice (and I would emphasise the word choice here). It would have been better to offer two prices for the miniature -- one with and one without the scenic base if that was the way they wished to play it. Making is exclusive is poor form for me, bearing in mind that I never did manage to get my hands on Skorr for my Alpha Legion army and I regularly run Skorr armies at low points values! I share your pain, battle brothers. 

Keeping the focus on the miniatures, I am thrilled to see models from multiple legions getting attention. Sticking with the Blood Angels for a moment, the new legion terminators look splendid ... so splendid that I might just Coils of the Hydra some of them potentially. I will await their rules. Fabulous that Raldoran is also getting a model as well. Love the pose on that, even if it is reminiscent of a certain Imperial Fists high ranking member ;) The jump pack contemptor is just something else though. It's a game changer for the Blood Angels. Not quite auto-win, but merits thoughts about how to counter it. 

The White Scars are looking significantly supplied as well with the range expanded by legion terminators (once again looking glorious), leviathan and contemptor dedicated dreadnoughts, alongside praetors that continue the theme of these legions gaining specific praetor models. The eagle on the terminator White Scars praetor looks amazing. I think the White Scars have the potential to be one of the most powerful legions if built and played right -- it will be like the way of Saim-Hann all over again once we start facing them regularly. [For newer readers, the Way of Saim-Hann was an elder army all mounted on very fast moving jet bikes and similar. The play style was to largely not engage until the final turn of the game at which point to sweep on all objectives simultaneously and hope the game ended. It won a lot in the right hands and started a play style that still exists to this day under different guises.] 

Good to see previous armies also being supported with the Space Wolves finally getting some miniatures for the Deathsworn. Also good to see the new dreadnought drop pod arrive. I clearly need to get a couple of them later on I think (unless I start a new army ... but that's a thought for a different day). 

News of the Dark Mechanicum gaining an army in the future is also very welcome. Even if it will be in book 9 along with the Dark Angels. Still very much looking forward to reviewing their rules. 

Speaking of news: the main one for me is the release of Book Eight: Malevolence. Blood Angels, White Scars, and the brewing Alpha Legion civil war means that this release is going to be an instant-buy for me. For some of the previous releases, I have held off until Christmas or my birthday. Not with this one. Its too jam packed with glory to ignore. That, and being a daemons player in 40k since before they became anywhere near competitive means I'm double stoked that the daemons are coming to 30k for the legions to fight with. I genuinely hope it is not just Khorne either. Please let it be the full pantheon along with named other daemons that have come out from Forge World over the years. I have my fingers crossed for this. 

I cannot claim that Necromunda excites me much at the present time -- although I totally get it. So I will press on to say that the Black Library release of the Buried Dagger is looking like it will do what has been promised in the wind for a long time: corrupt the Death Guard and set the stage for the final Siege of Terra. Also great to see the new range of buildings and add-on weapons for Adeptus Titanicus as well. They look good and modular. 

Finally, I am left wondering what the ninth book will be called. A pity that Alan Bligh had passed on, as I think it would have been brilliant to have met him and talked with him about what he thought it might have been named. We remember you Alan. 

[Image copyright belongs to Forge World and no claim is indicated by its use here.]