titanomancy

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Don't ever let anyone ever tell you that scale creep isn't real. Scale creep is very, very real, and it will hurt you.

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The embiggening will continue until morale improves. As previously predicted, Deathwatch have gotten their much-needed update to bring them in line with the rest of the Space Marine range.

It's a bit of a bummer that some of the loadouts seem to be locked to the Gravis and Phobos armour builds but even with the pivot back to classic Space Marines, I don't think we're likely to be rid of them going forward. They're just kind of here, now.

Of course, you need to have xenos to kill and the new Necron canoptek constructs don't disappoint. The Geomancer is another solid variation on the Cryptek theme and more scuttling robotic horrors are always welcome. The best part, though, has gotta be the new Tomb World terrain.

It's a pleasant surprise that they're still doing this kind of modular terrain after the overall cool reception to Gallowdark. Naturally, you should expect this to completely replacing the Boarding Actions terrain set so maybe grab it now if you haven't, already, if you like that kind of Space Hulk-y stuff.

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I think this represents the final and complete failure of the Primaris experiment. Darnath Lysander was quite literally killed off to make room for a goon in Gravis armour, but Terminators are back and now so is he. The hate for Kayvaan Shrike's Primaris redesign was so palpable that he's been entirely replaced with a functionally identical lightning claw assault captain.

My only complaint is that the White Scars shouldn't be getting a jetbike before Samael is updated, but it's a fine looking model nonetheless. Quality sculpts across the board.

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I am actually mad about this. I don't care how big a deal Lord Helmawr thinks he is, disintegrators should not be so commonplace in 40k that you can equip your enforcers with them.

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POV: You have been found guilty of mind crimes.

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"Where do you think our fans hang out?"

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We've put it off for as long as we can, but now Saturnine is here.

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How exciting! A new squad of Space Marine Heroes. But, wait, what's that footnote in the WarCom article?

Every display unit will have eight blind boxes, but there is no guarantee you will get all seven miniatures if you buy a full dispenser of eight boxes.

That's a deal breaker.

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Games Workshop doesn't want you to know this, but you can just de-Primarisize their kits with third-party accessories.

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"With regret, Interrogator, the Lord-Captain's interpretation of the Lex is technically correct; the Emperor's word is the Emperor's Law, and the Emperor did say, 'fuck xenos.'

"I don't think that's how He meant it, though."

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Mozgus looking physiognomy.

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Are particle shredders just Terran gauss flayers?

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Techpriest: attaches conversion beamer aperture backwards

"Behold! The inversion beamer!"

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Fall in, frater, we're going crusading.

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I had always kind of felt that the 2nd edition Space Marine Captain was meant to be the miniature version of "hero" Captain from the 2nd edition cover art, but then GW actually went and put out a miniature of him for Games Day 2012, rat tail and all.

Anyway, it's always fun to see classic models revisited with modern sculpts. There are a couple of others that haven't been primarisized, yet, that I wouldn't mind seeing in the embiggened scale.

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Wow, how convenient is it that the best reference image of Ulrach Branthan is already on Tumblr?

Alas, as a reblog, I can't post a content source so you'll never know where to find these extremely handsome and on-model .STLs.

Captain Ulrach Branthan

by Akim Kaliberda

(Sons of the Selenar Internal Art)

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So here's my big takeaway from today's previews.

I have a reliable source who reliably informed me six months ago that this was going to preview at Adepticon, in the exact same way that Age of Darkness kicked off three years ago. I doubted him at the time for reasons previously described.

This preview was undoubtedly forced by the Facebook Marketplace leak. I'm not prepared to accept that it was a fake leak for publicity, they wouldn't have moved forward with the preview without a release date otherwise.

That release date is still TBD, which I would bet money is a direct result of the tariff situation, and the sooner that's resolved, the sooner we'll see Saturnine up for pre-order. That is unlikely to be before July, so I would not hold my breath that it makes the original date.

I do think that there is a strong likelihood that GW eventually just throws their hands up and releases it, lest the delay cascade into other product launches. Horus Heresy is a big enough part of their bottom line that it has the potential to impact other sales, and while I wouldn't be in a huge hurry to swallow the tariffs if I don't have to, I also wouldn't want to cannibalize my autumn and festive season sales, worldwide, just because the American business is going to be a little more expensive for a while.

That being said, we're in an uncomfortable place for the price of the box, already. Age of Darkness is currently $315, American, and that's just on the wrong side of the three hundred dollar price point of diminishing returns it started at before inflation price hikes. Strictly, that point is at two hundred dollars (as we learned from Blood of the Phoenix in 2019), but there is a second, more diminishing point at three, and that's where Age of Darkness started when it hit shelves three years ago.

I'm personally not thrilled at the prospect of paying $350 for a box no matter how spectacular the models are. It wouldn't be the first time they've targeted such a lofty price point - the Grand Master Edition of Legions Imperialis retailed for $350 in 2018 as a limited release, but whether due to the niche appeal or prohibitive price point, pricing that steeply didn't bear out with subsequent starters like Necromunda: Dark Uprising, Ash Wastes and the first Age of Darkness starter, which all kept at or below three bills; and the subsequent Necromunda: Hive Secundus and Hive War boxes are currently less than two, albeit for considerably less content.

The box's content is the real sticking point. I don't see a world in which a squad of Saturnine Terminators is priced less than a squad of Centurions ($80 x 2), or the Saturnine Dreadnought less than a Thanatar Siege Automata ($105). Assuming price parity to the Legion Mk.VI Tactical Squad for the new Mk.IIs ($84 x 2), you're already at $433 before characters, the Araknae, double disintegrator sprues, rule book and accessories.

So, yeah. I think it's gonna be expensive. $350 might be lowballing it.