Soldier of Dorn

A lot of my "headcanon" (if you can call it that) is more than anything nowadays a willful ignorance of canonical "truths". Truth be told, I mostly just got tired at discussing ad nauseam subjectively unimportant details like whether Sorositas are celibate or not; whether the size of Space Marine chapters makes any sense and how big they should be; or whether X codex contradicting Y Black Library story constitutes a retcon or not, and if so to what degree. I don't think most questions about 40k are important enough to have absolute answers and I'd rather wind up with a contradiction in my internal narrative (after all, we're told the historical record of the setting is full of them to begin with, so why not just accept that as part of our storytelling when we set out to do so?) than be too stiff-necked in my approach to how the universe functions. It's an extension of what my understanding of "loose canon" is (though I'm told, apparently, that my understanding is either outdated in how the Studio approaches things or that they are taking a different tack in this brave new world post-Cicatrix Maledictum), though I have perhaps taken it further, as it has something of a baring on how I approach fiction in general nowadays. Truth be told, I haven't really kept up with most of the newer 40k publications (I'd honestly say I stopped keeping super up-to-date when Gathering Storm came along) so I'm not overly aware of what might be considered "officially canon" or not. Some specifics though, on what I sometimes believe about 40k, that might come into conflict with established canon: There were closer to 20 million Space Marines in the Great Crusade, rather than the ~2m number that we get if we rely on current official sources. I like the thought of hundreds of crusade fleets with tens of thousands of Space Marines each in a massive push across the galaxy, and when I approach the Heresy I tend to think of numbers with that in mind. Record-keeping among the Space Marines (and among the Imperium at large) is much worse than consensus suggests, with chapters frequently getting into disputes over the existence of their primarchs, their status as Progenitor or Successor chapters, or even their relative lengths of their histories, largely because I think homebrewing primarchs without falling into the alternate universe or being reliant on the 2nd/11th Legion explanations is an interesting prospect. There are also a lot more Space Marine chapters than the official number, but that's more a consequence of me coming up with 20+ chapters a few years ago when I sat down and tried to homebrew a couple than anything else. The Imperium sprawls far into many parts of the galaxy where it has limited influence , and the only really ideologically "pure" parts of the Imperium are those within easy reach of the five major Segmentum Fortresses. Beyond that, there exist breakpoints where Imperial Navy logistics becomes unsustainable and petty warlords and Rogue Traders rule over pockets of the Imperium, untouched by Administratum oversight or Inquisitorial authority. Chaos is all but unknowable and the stories we're presented of things like Skarbrand's exile and the Kidnapping of Isha are pure myth, invented by Chaos worshipers in a perverse orthodoxy of sorts. The Major Chaos Gods, the Great Game, the established Daemonological hierarchy, etc. -- it's all a shaping of perception by a tradition that holds fast primarily in the major Warpstorms at the galaxy's heart like the Eye of Terror and the Maelstrom. Chaos takes indefinite shapes and forms, and the system given us by the majority of official sources is only one explanation for how everything works.

I posted this in the N&R forum, but on the very first spread of the preview video, if you push the brightness and contrast of the image you can see what appears to be the Imperial Fists special character from the book, Lord-Castellan Evander Garrius. Appears to be a pretty neat model with dual power fists, nice to finally have a Terminator special character for the Legion.

It's worth noting that at the very beginning of the video what is presumably the Imperial Fists special character is partly visible in the center of the photograph on the opening page. Edited somewhat to make it more clear: Certainly an interesting design with the dual fists. Not sure I like it, but it is nonetheless exciting.

This is not an email notification I expected to see! Brilliant stuff as ever.

Article link Really love this vehicle. That being said, I don't know quite what it is about it, but despite considering myself principally a Heresy fan, I would rather see this as a relic vehicle within a successor chapter like the Carcharodons, the Red Talons, or the Marines Malevolent (or a homebrew!) prior to including this in one of my Heresy armies. Can't quite put my finger on it.

I abhor cell phone post-processing on my miniature photos for the most part: I currently use a Pixel 3a, which isn't any small shakes in the camera department, but the wide-angle lens (I believe it's somewhere around a 18mm full-frame equivalent) and the inherent HDR that comes about as a necessity of the small sensor size makes the camera a poor choice for lightbox photography, at least to my tastes, and perhaps to yours, although it suffices more often than not for quick workbench snaps. For a long time I used a cheap mid-2000s point and shoot solely circumvent that effect, despite its lack of quantitative resolution. For recommendations, I'd say if you know you're going to be using it primarily indoors for miniature photography, older/entry level hardware, the sort that appeals to students, will fulfill your needs handily: you're not going to need weather sealing, in-body stabilization isn't going to be a huge factor and honestly anything above 12MP or so is more than enough, as long as it's got decent dynamic range (which most interchangable lens cameras produced in the past fifteen years or so will have.) A kit lens (the default lens that often comes with a camera) will be more than sufficient although I do enjoy using primes in my own mini photography, and in terms of brand you'll probably have the best luck looking for a Canon, as there's just so many of them floating around, especially the budget Rebels -- you can get a T2i or T3i for less than $200, complete with lens, on eBay with not a whole lot of difficulty. Another good suggestion might be the 5d Classic if you can get it in the low-to-mid $200s range -- it's a beast of a camera that will see you through model photography with ease.

Core rules should absolutely be free -- in fact they already are on Warhammer Community. In fact, since the instruction booklets include basic unit profiles, there is an argument (a poor one, but one that GW is making with their existence) that between what is freely available online and a couple boxes of miniatures, you have all you need to play a basic game of 40k. In fact, that's precisely what is written there: "Used alongside the core rules found on warhammer40000.com, the essential rules below will get your new unit on the battlefield. For the full rules for this unit, see the Codex relevant to your army." That being said, people don't do this and as usual it's because GW have completely bunged it up. To name but a few glaring flaws: Despite outlining different Power Level tiers in the core rules for missions, they don't include any hint of power levels in the instruction booklets. The statlines in the instruction booklets as well don't include anything beyond raw numbers, excluding various rules such as weapon types and the like which are already addressed in the core rules, and present the stats listed through the lens of some obtuse symbols that as far as I can tell, don't appear anywhere else. The rules PDF within its OWN PAGES directs you to reference the Core Rulebook. Et cetera, et cetera. They are presenting two fundamentally incompatible components to you with the promise that you'll be able to use them for an introductory version of the game, a boldfaced untruth on the face of it. Should 40k be free? is the primary question asked by this thread. Confessedly, I don't actually have an opinion on it, but GW have answered "yes." It's why they make overtures to that end. But games, whether free or paid, need to actually be playable, and that's where the whole thing breaks down. They've given the barest crumbs of the essentials in the free format and they're still lacking. At the very least provide power levels and, preferably, some level of rules interactivity beyond merely having their guns and being able to move. I'd even suggest, perhaps, that there could be rules levels as Classic Battletech has, with units and special rules having known introductory/standard/advanced complexities (although that invites a whole host of issues with the publication format of that game.)

Hey y'all, just popping in to say that I'm very much alive. Haven't really been working on my Imperial Fists or been active on the forum much, but that's what New Year's resolutions are for, aren't they? Not really much of an update -- every time I post, it's the same old story, it seems. Life happens and plans, where my great 30k love is concerned, seem to go awry... Not this time, though. By Jove, I swear by this time next year I'll have at least some semblance (1500 points) of an army -- among a couple other non-40k projects that have the gears turning. No more sticking around waiting for the desire or the inspiration to paint to hit before I start, just got to start doing it, as KBA mentioned, to "get into the groove." Anyways thanks as ever for the appreciative posts! As much as they're not necessarily the impetus of motivation (yet!) I am truly grateful and humble for the outpouring of undeserved praise I receive for the meager work I do on this project every once in a blue moon.

Yesterday in the hobby my copy of Fury of Magnus was (apparently) delivered to the wrong postal code. Today in the hobby I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that. So that's fun.

https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/the-return-of-iron-core https://wargamesatlantic.com/products/eisenkern-stormtroopers?variant=31903647662178 Wargames Atlantic has partnered with Mark Mondragon of Dreamforge Games to bring back the old Eisenkern Stormtroopers in a resculpted/retooled set. These were pretty popular as Imperial Guard minis for quite some time, and I'm sure a lot of people are happy to see them make a return.

Those flesh tones from the previous page are stunning, Apologist. I mean, the Inquisitrix is a gorgeous model but those flesh tones. Just... man, it's at times like this I wish I'd studied color theory more. You never cease to impress with your painting.

I love that APC. I don't know what it is or what purpose it could possibly serve, but I love it. The idea of a censured Space Marine being reborn into a servitor or a cherub is... disturbing to say the least: the most vile punishment for a warrior of the Imperium to endure. The oxgryn as well is just... wild. I don't really know how to comment on something like that. It's way outside my realm of expertise when it comes to 40k, which generally remains power-armored and bipedal, or armored with treads. It's really something and fits quite well into the weirdness and absurdity that is Inq28.

Ah... well. Hm. Things didn't go quite according to plan. That being said, they never do when it comes to me and paint. I wish I had some eloquent explanation to give, some lovely excuse as to why things didn't get painted. Unfortunately, it's been... what, six months? I honestly can't remember what happened then that kept me from the brushes. Most likely just laziness. Hopefully not this time. I recently got some lovely Mark I (Saturnine, though I dislike that appellation personally) Terminators from a fellow on Instagram, and have been slowly assembling them over the course of a few days. It's slow going -- I haven't hobbied for a while and it shows in my speed -- so I'm only really managing to assemble one a day or so, but they are coming. I'm also rather excited at the prospect of actually painting them! With any luck, that excitement will transfer into actually (maybe) getting these painted. Probably not, but there's hope yet! The heads are a bit small, but overall they size up well against other Terminators and are -- proportionally -- the best modern interpretations of that old Terminator on the market today. That is -- if they were still on the market today. Unfortunately the chap I purchased them from received a cease and desist from our friends up in Nottingham and no longer can produce them. And they scale well against the forumware Rogue Trader dreadnought that's been available from time to time over the past couple years (I don't think I've ever mentioned having this dude on the forum but I have one -- well, two, actually. But more on that another time.) They aren't the only retro-tastic Terminators I have, as I also have some of these, based on Bob Naismith's old Rogue Trader design, from when they were available a couple years ago. And a half-painted Colossus robot as well. I'll be digging all of these out of their place in the lead pile as I'm not 100% where they've gotten themselves to. Anyways, I'll try and have something proper to update this thread with in a bit as this seems a bit sparse. But I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things -- this is more serving as a sort of "yeah, I'm alive." sort of post. And also to give me a reason to use the new camera I bought earlier this year to take more photos of my miniatures and get the hang of lightroom.