Petitioner's City

You know, I do wonder if the 'old world' for 40k is, rather than Horus Heresy, a recreation of 2nd (and that era's rules and models) or early 3rd set in the centuries before the gathering storm, ie long before the 13th black crusade, or the Gothic war, or leviathan, or the third war for Armageddon, or other elements of 3rd which provided development on 2nd's more optimistic world. Could be a fascinating return to two (very) different forms of 40k

Id argue combat too, and shooting, and a whole whole lot more (I rewrote the game for my group, starting back in 2018, and have carried on ever since!).

Is there any evidence for this, or a supposition?

That's kind of you to say, Taliesin. Yes, I think this is a very over-occupied space, but the writers chose a very narrow focus within the conflict, which I feel was a mistake, as it isn't very interesting in and of itself - and I really agree it doesn't mesh well with the wider corpus of heresy literature, or characterisation in better works. Nor does the text in BG match the tone or breadth of interest of "AK" (beyond the sections adapted from or expanding upon Retribution).

Blood axe kommandos are 1994 according to this blog - https://sho3box.com/2018/10/16/kommandos-1/#:~:text=The Blood Axe Kommando miniatures,familiar Kev Adams ork sculpts.

The bas-de-page aren't to sell models, they are to evoke the story, they are essentially digital dioramas :) But like many here, I am very disappointed with the story in the book.

Err, Rick Priestley? Andy Chambers? And from that later era after these two? Graham McNeill? Nevermind Jervis too! Now if you really want to delve, have a look at the specialist games writers of the 00s - either when it was fanatic, or specialist arms - oft forgotten but brilliant creators, the group from which Bligh and French came!

It was Goulding who edited and I think commissioned it!

But you can accept you aren't the average hobbyist ? However I am not sure if GW is aiming at your level of dedication, rather than that of the average hobbyist who isn't going to do that?

I think an issue is that centurions have almost always been overlooked within the game - either for praetors or consuls - and have no real representation of their "line officer-ness" in their rules. It would be cool if they had a positive impact on their army - a leadership bonus, for example, or an extra reaction, or some bonus to certain activities. I guess like how hqs in 40k all have an "effect", be it an aura or something else. The other thing would be a series of "centurion rites of war" as an alternative to (or a selection from) master of the legion rites. We now have optaes who kinda fulfill everything a centurion does, but cheaper - and the company command squad works with either, so I imagine it will be an optae people go for more often, if ever considering them?

The other sculptor of Hibou Khan speaks! https://www.instagram.com/p/C5oFsTHN1jC/?igsh=MWE2eWxuazlsN2d2MQ==

Yeah I'm not sure, and definitely don't want to do bad scenarios or campaign at an event. I do feel the campaigns were clearly where a lot of heart went, but wonder if maybe also were so specific to Mr Bligh, Mr Hoare and Mr French's local play.

I take it no did play any of the black book campaigns!

Given both the shattered legions and legiones auxilia rules are linked to in the chat by @lansalt, I'm sure it's ok to share them @Ripper.McGuirl for @Etruscan https://imgur.com/a/3OQbqMb

I recommend Tymell's timeline both for trying to rationalise it, and also - helpfully - pointing out the errors (as above). It is something the wikis should be doing, but they do not seem interested in sources and source comparison to work this out (in another franchise, Trek writers often credit Memory Alpha and Memory Beta with keeping them correct - whereas our wikis cannot do that! :( ) Of course it's also something GW should be doing - but if the heresy team at BL has moved on, as they have, I can imagine the SDS team feel less beholden to their colleagues' work (plus, I doubt they have read all of it, as very few people have, nor attempted to catalogue the timeline). I am not sure if there is an Alan Merrett-esque figure attempting to make it all fit anymore either.