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@Mike Zulu Yeah, it's Necro's fault, blame (thank?) him! I let Gerhardt take a Power Sword as SigWargear before I technically should have done, because it was a key thing for him to have as part of his character. And then I promised everyone else that (to be fair) I wouldn't leave it long before bumping you all up to the same level? (To be honest, I also find what is available for Req at Renown Initiated to be a little on the dull side, so I do tend to move things on a bit quicker than the crb suggests? It does make it a longer wait to hit Distinguished, but I don't think that's a particularly bad thing) And yep, I hadn't spotted that, but I guess Zidemi will indeed get a shiny new bionic!

@Lysimachus I will take Exceptional Bionic Heart as my Specialty's free Cybernetic for crossing into Respected Renown. I will, however, require 2D10-TB days (1 minimum) of rest for the procedure - since the max roll is 12, can I assume this won't conflict with our next mission? (It's not clear which heart I replace (if not both). I guess I can choose either primary or secondary?) I will also spend 400 XP on "Cleanse and Purify" (Salamanders Table), and bank the remainder.

1. How many regular people play war games in your group? I moved, so still trying to find a new group. I was part of a few groups in the past, about 30+ people total 2. How long have you been in the hobby? about 25 years. Took a break on the gaming side during 8th. Still hobbied. 3. Is your group growing? My old group is about the same number, people coming and going. 4. What games does your group play? 40k primarily, with smatterings of sigmar, heresy, and an interest in old world 5. How often do people leave your group? How often do new people come into your group? As mentioned, mostly the same, with people coming and going. 6. Age Range of oldest player? 50+ 7. Age Range of Youngest Player? Teens 8. Average age of player? 30's 9. Where do you play regularly (Ex: Hobby store, friend's house, rented out space, tournament, etc)? Depending on the group, hobby store/tournament or friends house. 10. Do you think the hobby is growing or dying? Please explain why. Based strictly on what I have seen from my old group and the local area I moved to, I think the hobby is slowly going down. Covid was a mixed bag as sales increased for a period but hobby spaces to play were limited. Fracturing the groups a bit. There is also a general exhaustion with GW. With rules-design and codex releases(sick of the edition cycle and buying book after book), model unavailability and FOMO, high prices, general practices, and recent social media drama. My old groups have lessened activity and my new local store recently stopped selling their products altogether due to frustration with GW. A few have expressed interest in OPR and actively using it.

Gerhardt: "A... pleasure to meet you, Librariu-uuuhhh. Oh Emperor please no <dry heaves> URGH! <HORK> Mercifully for Codicier Dendinius, Gerhardt, like the rest of the progeny of Dorn, lacks a functioning Betcher's Gland, and thus is spared permanent facial disfigurement via projectile vomit.

To be fair, C:SM has more units than it knows what do to with. With that many options, half the list is probably going to get left by the wayside. Until, you know, they prune more but that's a conversation that's been hashed out plenty.

Yes, you need to put a lord with them, but skorpekhs will punch above their point cost, and still need a reasonable investment into them to be killed off. Lethals, devastating, impact hits from the lord, rerolls to hit, good strength and ap all means they will mince most things on the charge. Then probably die, but they’ve done their job by then

Heh, yeah... I was originally going to dive into the Heresy book series, game series, and do more than a passing mention of the recent books, but... after I got done going through the codexes it seemed way too massive as-is. (You'll also note that I fly through the later editions.) Fundamentally though, as the Index Astartes article on the Emperor's Children was very foundational to my conception of the Legion, I view the Horus Heresy as merely the stage that allowed them to become the Emperor's Children of the 41 Millenium. They had to be highly disciplined and tightly wound in order to come undone, y'know? And if I had done more on the Horus Heresy, I definitely would have added it to my thoughts about the lack of models affecting the rules (and the 40k fiction). But as you say, a whole generation of Emperor's Children players have come about with basically nothing in the main game, and a plethora of really cool stuff going on in 30k. And so it's natural that 40k armies look more and more like 30k armies. (Including the paint scheme - I think I see more people do purple and gold than black and pink.) I also don't think much of that is fundamentally opposed to being melded into Noise Marines. Their art tends to be inherently full of body horror, the result of the purposeful modification done by mad scientists. No one is more drug addled and flamboyant than a Noise Marine, and while Sonic Weapons are iconic to them, that's probably because that's all one's been able to buy to denote that something is a Noise Marine for twenty years. They can be duellists. They're just Warp Screaming and Photon Flash Flaring while they're at it - duelists who like to include pyrotechnics and a flesh rupturing beat. (A piece of art from the IA article that's always been one of my favourites. A trio of Noise Marines, one with Sonic Blaster, one with Bolt... Pistol (?), and one with a blade.) (Honestly, I'm just glad anybody bothered to read all that.)

Yeah, my Alpha Legion collection has a full 10-man Possessed squad, but they're all painted in various loyalist chapters. Great little narrative bit about "We won't do this, but we're not above shoving daemons into POWs."

Kinda, I was toying with a pet Snow Leopard for a while. Yes. (Seriously, for a moment - I'll get back to you ) ^ Wisdom of the Ancients, right here. (Starts hoarding XP to buy limbs).

Beware an overgenerous GM, things are about to get ‘interesting’...

1. How many regular people play war games in your group? I'd say we don't have a group, but there is a chain of about a dozen people who overlap on various games, so my opponent for one game may never play my opponent for another game as they have no games in common 2. How long have you been in the hobby? 30+ years 3. Is your group growing? No, it's maybe 're-gathering' some people who reach the life stage to pick up things again, but no truly new players 4. What games does your group play? What don't we? Historicals in everything from 2mm to 28mm for periods from the 7 years war to cold war, Malifaux, Infinity, Dropzone and dropfleet. From GW it's pretty much just 40k, Blackstone fortress, Old World and Bloodbowl. We do 'technically have and have played Warcry, Underworlds and Kill team but they all got a 'not worth the effort' after a few trial games. 5. How often do people leave your group? How often do new people come into your group? People more get more or less active, we're probably pretty stable since lockdowns. 6. Age Range of oldest player? upper 40s 7. Age Range of Youngest Player? upper 30s 8. Average age of player? low 40s I guess 9. Where do you play regularly (Ex: Hobby store, friend's house, rented out space, tournament, etc)? Houses and a store 10. Do you think the hobby is growing or dying? Please explain why. Neither, I think it's contracting, but it's a re-balance caused by cost of living going up and it having expanded beyond what was sustainable in the lockdown years, it'll probably level off about 80/90% of where it is now.

Eh, I don’t think they’re inept at it, necessarily. It’s just that, for their mainline games anyway, rules-qua-rules isn’t really GW’s priority. Rules are marketing first, and a game second, and their marketing mantra is “ease of entry.” Their goal is for a player to be able to walk into a store (ideally a GW/Warhammer one), pick up a Codex and be able to purchase any model they see inside. That first interaction/purchase is something GW is very, very focused on, and it drives more decisions than I think a lot of people realize. GW rules designers, both current and former, talk about it pretty openly. This is why Legends exists - it’s a place for all those models that you can’t get on store shelves anymore. This is why they don’t get much in the way of updates or balance considerations. It’s also a driver for lots of other rules decisions that make no sense as rules decisions. Why don’t we have a Force Organization Chart anymore? Ease of entry. Why doesn’t wargear have associated points values anymore? Ease of entry. Having those things complicates that first sale, so away they go. This isn’t actually all terrible, IMO. Sure, it’s made 40K an increasingly shallow and boring game experience for long-term players, but there’s a sort of freedom in understanding and accepting GW’s reasoning for their own actions. Once you do that, the idea of abandoning or disallowing Legends units becomes fairly absurd. If GW doesn’t care, why should we? Use your old models. Enjoy yourself and don’t sweat ideas like “balance” or “competitiveness.” They’re not what the game is designed for.

Wow, I wasn't aware that we were going straight up to Respected Renown. This also means Zidemi gets a free Exceptional Cybernetic... (pg 176)

This looks really promising. Once I get my 3d printer rehomed I may just give some of these a go.

Interesting, I'll have to go look this up, is it like followers in Black Crusade? I am unsure if I have done a good or a bad thing... What are you after, mate?

It is. Scout is huge, self orders is huge, the Melta Mine is a strategic item that denies an extra 3" bubble around the Kasrkin otherwise a vehicle takes a potentially big hit. Scions don't get good unless you bring a command squad with them, and now you're more expensive than the Kasrkin (if youre using them for the same purposes). You also can't reinforcements the command squad, so every scion squad gets worse after it dies compared to Kasrkin, who remain exactly as powerful coming out of reinforcements. Kasrkin also getting access to double orders is a big deal. I think there's still plenty of play left in the Kasrkin even at 120, though I think they go from being an almost automatic 3-of to being a considered 2-of. Scions are great action monkeys or deep striking threats. I don't think they got the exact same use as Kasrkin tho there is some overlap. I'm considering running two squads of five just to have some chance at dropping them somewhere unexpectedly to pick up some freebies.

He's looking absolutely stellar! Very glad you had a great time painting him :)

If only there was a way to balance it. You know, like a base unit cost and then an equipment cost. I wonder why this hasn't been tried before. /sigh It's a moot point anyway. We're in the era of single Datasheet loadouts with no/minimal options and they want to do away with the Firstborn stuff anyway

JJ DC are paying for the sins of "Here's 10 power fists and 10 Inferno pistols, good luck surviving." Yes, 95% of DC squads arent those load outs, but they have to balance for the strongest possible loadouts.

You are absolutely right! I read the datasheet wrong. So yeah, not worth the extra 20 points for kasrkin at all.

Welcome brother. How's your Chapter Master doing? Ours is in a jar on Chogoris.

Double plasma/melta with a plasma pistol on the Sarg will still kill 5 Marines on average which isn't nothing (gets better if you can get First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire! on them too) But with the Kasrkin it's the Scout and 4+ armor you're getting them for to plant on objectives. We're guard. We kill the mean things with vehicles. Everything on two legs is there to die for the objectives or keep things off the vehicles.

Just remember. No matter how bad your chapter gets it. The Imperial Fists have it worse lol

The Death Company Dread is very playable now, my 2000 point list went up 5 points. DC JP didn't need a points increase. It's not as if we have been dominating the meta, our good units got a points increase while cheaper SG are still very fragile T4 marines who cost more than DC and die as quickly. DC JP are still way better than SG. I'm indifferent this points change is swings and roundabouts. Grateful for the DC dread points drop.