Ish

It's a long shot, I realize, but I am always on the hunt for back issues of the series Batman Family which was published by DC Comics 1975 to 1978. It ran for twenty issues.

I don't think of any faction in Warhammer 40,000 as "good guys," there might be individual characters within the factions that lean towards the "good" end of the spectrum, but for the most part its all a giant cluster of Black versus Gray. The T'au wish to remake the galaxy in their own sterile image, but at least at the end of the process there'd be a galaxy left. The Eldar will gladly trade a hundred-thousand human lives in order to save one of their own, but if they can help the humans without undo risk to themselves, they will. The myriad factions of the Imperium may squabble among themselves, but they squabble about what to do with the galaxy - not how best to destroy it. The Space Orks may be insanely hellbent on causing destruction, but the destruction they cause is just a side effect to their attempts to create a more comfortable reality for themselves. The Necron Dynasties just want to be left alone and are willing to massacre untold millions in order to secure their privacy... But, at least they aren't the Tyranids. Chaos, by doing the will of the Ruinous Powers, would destroy all - not just worlds, not just the galaxy, but the universe itself - and they're cheerfully unapologetic about it!

If Cityfight makes a comeback in popularity with the forthcoming revamp, then Stealth Suits will probably be extremely valuable in those missions.

In simplified numerology, every letter of the alphabet is given a value equal to its place in the sequence. A equals one, B equals 2, and so forth. If you apply this system and then add up the values of all the letters into a total sum... Do you know what word equals “81”? Do you? ZOATS! 26+15+1+20+19 = 81! The return of the Zoats is going to happen on the eighty-first day of the Vigilis campaign! CONFIRMED!

’Dakka Dakka Dakka’ strikes me as a rule that is so damned perfect at making the Space Orks play like and feel like they are “supposed to” that I’m kind of dumbfounded they haven’t had it for years. I’m really looking forward to future games against the interstellar fungal football hooligans... GW can try to push the Chaos vs. Imperium storyline as much as they want, but for me the “heart” of WH40k has always been two dozen Space Marines holding the line against hundreds of Orks.

Friend of mine from back in Michigan just shared this with me, from the current Codex: Space Wolves... I’m not crying. It’s just really dusty in here.

About a year and a half ago there were messages on various WH40k Facebook groups and other social media platforms about a young Space Wolves fan named Brandon, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The community really banded together, people sent him artwork, bought him miniatures to paint, some visited him in hospital to play games... Reportedly someone even turned up in full Space Wolves cosplay to cheer up the young Son of Russ. Well, this weekend we’ve got Vigilis Defiant and this little gem from GW:

It was a joke. I missed the question on purpose.

Unless they’re Primaris Marines, apparently. They’re kinda snobby about what they’ll ride in.

@WestRider Right you are. This is what happens when you start planning how to use a new book before you actually get to read it! I’m starting to that that Gray Shield’ing the White Scars Chapter Tactic on a squad of Inceptors (bolter or plasma) could be pretty handy too, since they “proc” mortal wounds on the charge (6+) but aren’t otherwise all that great in mêlée... Although if you also toss the Liberators Stratagem (two for one hits when rolling 6’s) they suddenly punch well above their weight.

I am Alpharius!

Nope, I'm afraid not. They are considered to have the keyword of the appropriate Chapter for purposes of resolving the Chapter Tactic that you choose when using the Warlord Trait and only for that purpose. GW was actually careful to word it to stop those sorts of shenanigans.

I can't think of any reason you couldn't use the artillery as Big Guns

Unless you had a lot of Boar Boyz... Although you probably wouldn't get objections from any opponents if you wanted to "counts as" them as bikers.

Citadel Miniatures has only ever made two Canonness miniatures (below). 1997: Combi-Flamer (left hand) and Icon (right hand) 2004: Power Sword or Eviscerator (right hand), Bolt Pistol or Inferno Gun (left hand) It wasn't uncommon for players to use one of the Sister Superior models (1997: boltgun and power sword, combi-flamer and power maul, boltgun and grenade; 2004: bolt pistol and chainsword, plasma pistol and chainsword) as a stand-in for the Canonness... And of course, the ancient art of chopping off a mini's hand and gluing something else in its place was pretty common too.

Essentially, you have to pay 1 CP during list building to "unlock" the Specialist Detachment. This gives you access to the Warlord Trait, the Relic(s), and the Stratagems. One of the Stratagems, "Indomitus Veterans," adds +1 Ld, +1 A, and the INDOMITUS CRUSADERS keyword to one of the units, but you gotta pay 1 CP to do it per unit... And everything else in the Specialist Detachment hinges on affecting only the Indomitus Veterans units. It's very situational and probably not the most efficient expenditure of Command Points. But it does seem fun and fluffy.

Well, I am Imperial Fists to begin with... White Scars and Black Templars make it easier to get into mêlée, but since it only benefits Primaris Captains, Lieutenants, Ancients, Intercessors, and Inceptors, well, none of those are really units that you want to put into mêlée. Raven Guard or Salamanders would be nice, but the Warlord Train only works for one turn and only on units you've paid 1 CP to upgrade into Indomitus Veterans. So that really limits its utility... Might as well just use a CP to get a re-roll. Iron Hands? Yeah, 6+ FNP just does not seem worth it. Even for the Iron Hand themselves!

So the new Indomitus Crusaders Specialist Detachment looks like something I will probably end up using a lot with my shiny new All-Primaris Imperial Fists army. It basically makes them better at everything they already did pretty damn well to begin with... Plus, it just seems nice and fluffy. I like nice and fluffy. But I can’t wrap my head around the Warlord Trait that the Specialist Detachment unlocks (quoted below). Although I love the idea of the tactic, it seems to me that the only real use for it is with the Ultramarines’ tactic. I can’t really see any benefit to picking any of the others... any ideas?

Picked up two of the Imperial Fists Supremacy Force holiday bundles, but I only need one of the two Primaris Captains that come in the set. He’s still “new on sprue,” since I haven’t even opened the box yet! Would like to trade him straight up for a Primaris Librarian, since my toy soldiers need help with the Dewey Decimal System.

Just finished the Amazon Prime Original adaptation of King Lear. Do I really need to give it a review? The cast list reads like a BAFTA alumni meeting: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Jim Carter, Andrew Scott, and many, many more. Not all of them are “household names,” but I assure you they’re all top-notch talent. Anthony Hopkins is an astoundingly good Lear, he delivers all the big speeches with all the fire and bombast they deserve, he gives the sad soliloquies all the pathos you could ask for... His every twitch, shrug, and pause for breath is perfect. One could forgive rest of the cast if they weren’t able to keep up, but they match him note for note. The script is abridged from the play’s text, but in such a way that nothing is really lost. Film can convey a lot of information visually (or even audibly) that has to be delivered in expository dialogue on stage. They cut the three-ish hour play down to just under two hours, but none of the crucial scenes or key speeches got touched. The setting is moved from the pseudo-medieval/pseudo-renaissance of the original play to a sort of pseudo-present day — it’s basically 2018 England, but with an absolute monarchy and a lot more militarized. (But, hey, the original original story of King Leir dates back to the 8th Century BCE, so...) As for the writing, it’s £^¢&ing William Shakespeare! The man’s been a hit for four centuries for a reason. Six out of five stars.

Pretty much just an “oh $#¡+” button for the inevitable mêlée your opponent will do his best to get your Fire Warriors stuck in — since basically everything in the game is better in a fist fight than Tau. I’d say that it is almost always better for a Tau unit to fall back out of close combat and let another unit(s) shoot the $#!+ out of the unit(s) that assaulted you, but if you cannot fall back (for instance you’re standing on a crucial Objective) then having pulse pistols on some of your guys to gives them a decent S5 counter-punch. I wouldn’t prioritize getting any, but if you find yourself with a 1,995 Point list once you’ve taken all your primary, secondary, and tertiary “must haves” you might as well grab a couple to make things an even 2,000 Points. They marginally more useful in Kill Team, since you won’t have the raw numbers to rely on, no Crisis Suits to hide behind, and the much smaller table size... and they do look cool.

Perfect! I don’t mind the generically imperial iconography at all, I just didn’t want to have to file off a bunch of Fenrisian wolves and such. What would you like in return for them?

I'd give good money to watch a movie where Snake Plissken saves Christmas.

The molded banners, plastic preferred but I won't turn up my nose as pewter or resin. I've never had much luck with paper banners as they don't travel very well and are a pain in the rear to do en mass (lessons I learned the hard way when I decided my noble Bretonnians had to have individual lance pennants during the Nineties...). Preferably ones without chapter specific iconography.

I'm looking for Space Marine Back Banners, you know the ones worn by everyone in the glory days of Second Edition. Sample seen below.