New Blood Angels, Assassins & Tau Duke It Out In Warhammer 40,000 This Week
November 21, 2015 by brennon
There's quite a traffic jam when it comes to what's appearing in Warhammer 40,000 this week thanks to Games Workshop. The Blood Angels gain new character kits and the Imperial Guard a new bundle. Following up from that the Tau also get to enjoy a new supplement with Mont'Ka...
Blood Angels
For those cursed with the Red Thirst we have both a Chaplain and a Terminator Captain for you to help command forces in battle. The Chaplain is looking superb with his winged jumpack and stylised crozius arcanum. I've always had a soft spot for Chaplains.
The Terminator Captain was previous seen in Shield Of Baal: Deathstorm but is now available as a single blister pack figure. I did like the model back then although noted he had very standard gear choices.
I think if I was picking him up now I'd give him a helmeted head and maybe swap out the stormbolter for a combi-weapon and the thunder hammer for a power sword as I feel they're more 'Blood Angel'. You could even use one of the runic looking blades from the Stormcast Eternals.
Astra Militarum & Assassins
A little addition for the Astra Militarum this time around but something for those who are sticklers for detail. If you wanted to get the right combination of technology and tactics then the Tech-Command set could be worth picking up.
You get yourself a Leman Russ, which features the rather awesome commander, and then a Tech Priest to keep it working on the battlefield.
All of the Assassins are now available too with the Eversor, Vindicare, Callidus and Culexus all ready to mark their targets and take them down.
I think my favourite is still the Vindicare. I love the idea of a sniper, although the Eversor is a close second.
Tau
One of the bigger releases for this week is the announcement of the Mont'Ka Supplement which will effectively make the Farsight Enclave even more awesome. When I collected Tau I always loved the idea of Farsight and his more forward thinking and aggressive followers outfitted with blades and creepy Necron technology.
Here's the story so far...
"Following a humbling defeat at the hands of Commander Shadowsun, the forces of the Imperium return to the former hive world of Agrellan, now the Tau Empire’s youngest Sept world of Mu’gulath Bay. Countless regiments of Guardsmen are thrown into the meat grinder as the Imperial commanders vow to reclaim the world from the Tau, and even deadlier assets wait in orbit.
Yet while the Imperium may believe it is they who will land the decisive strike, they have reckoned without the return of the exiled Commander Farsight – though considered a renegade by his people, he is the master of Mont’ka, the strategy of the killing blow."
Inside the book you get...
- Eleven new Formations for Codex: Tau Empire;
- New Detachment and Farsight Enclaves Tactical objectives;
- Eight Lords of War and ten Formations for Codex: Astra Militarum;
- Full rules for the Officio Assassinorum Assassins, including the Execution Force Formation
It sounds like quite a fun new campaign and everyone who I have talked to about this has been enjoying the ongoing campaigns that Games Workshop have been putting together.
What will you be picking up for Warhammer 40,000?
"When I collected Tau I always loved the idea of Farsight and his more forward thinking and aggressive followers outfitted with blades and creepy Necron technology..."
This Chaplain is awesome! I really hope that this is GW’s new direction
…it’s not! Look at some of the older versions – so much better. So many of the new minis are just boring.
They keep falling further behind… except in price.
Wow how Original
…it is the truth though!
I think its the CAD process. It seems to make stuff somewhat souless compared to physical sculpting.
Yup, nailed it @jazzfrezi .
If it is soulless, then I think that is more an element of art direction or individual skill rather than the CAD process. All of Corvus Belli’s stuff is entirely CAD sculpted and looks very characterful and dynamic.
You’re also right @enginseer . I’ve done CAD work before, and on human figures as well (yikes! 20 years ago). The medium is really only limited by the artist, and perhaps, more importantly, by their technical skills. There’s a whole lot of “lazy” evident in GW’s recent designs, which I’m guessing is due to the inexperience of their new artists (they couldn’t afford the artists that now successfully compete against them), or alternately, they are not giving their current stable sufficient time to churn out anything better. Having said that, I think sculpting things like cloaks and the lay of… Read more »
Its nice, but its not £20 nice, plus i already have (in lead i might add, none of the white metal rubbish 😉 ) all the other BA chappies i will ever need.
Makes me laugh how its £1 cheaper (and £8.50 if you buy it from an independent shop with 10% retail discount GW gives them) to buy execution force, than it is to buy the 4 assassins separately and you get a fun for a rainy afternoon game to boot, plus some chaos stuff.
I think the sculpt on the Chaplain is up there with some of the best they have produced of late, it’s certainly not a cheap model, but I think it’ll be on my buy at some point list. Beyond that I cannot say I’m impressed, I know that GW never said the ‘exclusive’ minis in their starter sets and the Assassin game would always remain exclusive, but I did hope that they would. Deathstorm Baal (and the earlier Strikeforce Ultra) was an excuse for GW to get rid of overstock minis, with Baal it as terminators and Tyranids, I know… Read more »
I don’t understand…”certainly not a cheap model, but I think it’ll be on my buy at some point list.”
This is why Wacoshop just keep putting the prices up and selling fake ‘limited editions’.
None of the models above were ever listed as limited editions. Some of the were in limited (low-price) boxed sets but there was no claim that they were never going to be released separately. I know we get limited/collector’s edition books almost every month but I can’t think of any of those that made a reappearance.
The terminator captain was sold as limited edition in the death storm box, along with the genestealer broodlord.
Deathstorm was always going to be a “while stocks last” job but GW never referenced it or any of the contents as limited. I think ebay bestowed that title on them.
I never said they were – learn to read my boy!
“fake limited editions”
Were you speaking in code?
I still cant grasp how they can price single miniatures like this .. had each been a well proportioned work of art i could understand it, but id never buy a Vindicare assassin with clown boots for almost 300 sek … IN SANE
@htatmoto you’re not wrong, GW’s pricing is eyewatering, still buying from independents usually gives 20-25% off so at £15 for the Chaplain I’m just about ok with that – well not quite but hey ho. GW’s stance on pricing is nothing new, I think it’s fair to say they are moving in the right direction with their pricing for Betrayal at Calth which gives an awful lot of value for £95. Saying that, the cynic in me says they getting the kiddies hooked on plastic crack for the low low price of £95, then once they’re hopelessly hooked ramp up… Read more »
I am liking that Chaplain. That winged jump pack really fits him.
It’s the best jump pack I’ve seen them do, I think. It looks really modern (by which I mean, moving beyond the snail’s pace of Imperial technological design which has remained pretty static for 30 Earth years).
The models look great, but I do wish they updated some of the older character blood Angel models instead, like Mephiston or Dante.
Those two do have very old sculpts that were just twitched to finecast. Mephiston even has his old plastic back pack. Those two were sculpted back in 2nd and time has not really been kind to those sculpts compared to some little newer sculpts like Astorath’s sculpt.
Yeah dante’s always looked lame, and mephy badly needs a reculpt, i mean check out this dudes conversion http://masteroftheforge.com/2015/06/15/the-lord-of-death-again/
If GW came out with something half as nice as that id be all over it
I haven’t purchased a GW product in several years, that Chaplain almost broke that trend……until I saw the price. I’m sorry as a responsible father husband and general provider for a family I just cannot justify $33 dollars for a single minatures no matter how awesome it looks.
That Chaplin and the wall climbing assassin model look amazing!
Given the responses of Some people (Cspauls) it doesn’t matter what GW makes, in his eyes all is wrong.
You didn’t read his post did you? More like he doesn’t like what they are churning out and not at the prices they are charging.
I used to be Wacoshops’ biggest fan and I have bought mountains of minis since I was 17. However, the spark went. At 42 I thought it was time to quit since my interest had gone. Stupid price rises and then the sculpts started to get boring. Why would anyone keep buying?
Six years later I am far happier – there are way better games and game companies out there. Remember, don’t drink the Koolaid!
that Culexus is Soulless 🙂
I am tempted to Batman one of those assassins using the Puppets of War heads
http://www.beastsofwar.com/puppets-war/hero-head-puppets-war/
Aye, some of the very old Space Marine character sculpts are looking very flat and below scale… like evil Abadon
Assassin Batman conversion will need a power-sword…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj23dwWHukY
Just a response to a lot of the other comments… GW, and 40k, has a very clear visual style dating back decades. It would be utterly bonkers for them to go all Infinity with them. Anything new has to fit in with the old, or you’d end up with a model that looked totally out of place in the force of 75+ minis. It’s actually an achievement to develop such a strong visual style that’s instantly recognisable. I’m not saying I love the He-man stuff they do, but it’s a strong style that clearly works. They actually seem to be… Read more »
A good post, I agree with you. A lot of the time I actually quite like GW models, but what I just find truly offensive are the prices. If the Chaplain cost £5 – £8 then I would say something along the lines of “A nice, but not amazing, model” and if I collected BA I would probably pick him up. At £20 my comment is more likely to be “That model is no good” because I am associating it with the huge price tag. Now I may be massively out of touch these days, but I do think that… Read more »
I really like the chaplin. but at £20?!?! no way… never gonna buy it. the assasins at £19.. prices are insane.
Will get my mini addiction covered from someone else 😉
Buy the execution force game, its £1 cheaper at gw list prices than the minis separately, even cheaper if you goto an independent which passes the 10% retail discount GW gives them to you.
Execution Force doesn’t make the over priced Chaplin any cheaper 😉
@jazzfrezi No it doesnt, shame as its nice, but not £20 nice, seeing as you could pick up a box of deathcompany for same price. Anyone know if you still have to have a chaplain to take a deathcompany, or has that rule fallen to the wayside sometime after 2nd edition?
As for execution force as the OP was mentioning the assassins as well my point still stands 😉
@nakchak You don’t need Chaplain to use Death Guard as those are like any elite choice but you can have Chaplain with them if you want.
Easy enough to build a Chaplin out of the Death Company box and be able to build well 5 Chaplins from it 😀
I really like the chaplain and I’ve been a fan of the assassins since Execution Force rolled out. I know some people aren’t fans of the “moving scenery” bases but I think they work really well.
Have to agree with the comments on the older characters though. I think Dante still looks passable but Mephiston is dire and in serious need of a makeover.
@irredeemable fully agree, but other way around, have hated dante since 2nd edition, which is why i have failed to purchase him in getting on for 20 years, just looked like a golden fart in armour, but I still like mephy, i think his artwork in codex: angels of death sold him to me…
I think GW couldnt go far wrong to hire this chap to sculpt replacements for those two:
http://masteroftheforge.com/2015/06/15/the-lord-of-death-again/
http://masteroftheforge.com/2015/06/17/commander-dante/
Would be all over them if GW released anything which looked half as good as them.
Never thought the day would come that a single plastic troop sized model would be $40 Canadian. I know our dollar is low at the moment, but this is ridiculous!
The assassins are all terrible minis too. And I want to know why the Vindicare is hiding behind something with his rifle sticking out. None of them are in any way dynamic. The look like plastic bits for a game. The metal ones are so much better.
Have to disagree the eversor looks great in the flesh, but most pics fail to capture the sense of movement in it, especially when viewed top down, like you would if you were playing a game with it
I thought the best shots of the Eversor were of an alternative red colour scheme that turned up in Warhammer Visions. Maybe it was just the angle of the photos but you really got a feel for the speed needed for a wall-run. I also happened to love the red. Gonna try it out on my own mini.
@irredeemable i found if you chamfer the peg on his foot so it leans forward you can make him look like he’s moving even faster, and even faster if you angle the claw hand back towards the rear of the base, very fluffy if you imagine him roid raging on frenzon