Hey, didn't there used to be a blog around here?

Hey everyone, uh... long time no see? Five and a half months, actually, give or take. A busy five and a half months at that. I've started a new job, taken some time to fall in love, even travelled around a bit. And somewhere in that wonderful chaos, USS just sort of slipped through the cracks, and it's left a raw feeling I need to remedy.

As an interesting aside, with the
release of Imperial Armor Apocalypse
Second Edition, most all of Forge
World's models are now standard
game legal. So cry havoc and let
slip the Hazard Suits of war!

I took a moment to read through my previous posts before starting in on this one, and there are a pair of things I want to address. There should probably be more than a pair, but we'll start with these. First is the Forge World Round-Up. I'm just easing my way back into this, but right now, I honestly have no plans on doing that. I'm sure we'll touch base on a couple of the units that they produce as they become relevant to my articles here, but going out of my way to cover a bunch of stuff I don't presently feel is topical just doesn't seem like a good time to me. I'd much rather focus on more entertaining things. That's sort of going to be the mantra around here, rather than pinning myself down with a specific mission statement, or some draconic set of rules (that were really only ever known to me) I'm just going to roll with things. Really, you probably won't notice a difference.

Second, the next article I had planned on writing before I vanished, was going to cover the Marathon and Halo connection. That one is probably still going to happen, since I'm really blown away by that topic and I'd love to share that excitement with you – but for now, it's getting tabled.

So while I was gone the Grey Knights set a new record for codex creep, rumors about the White Dwarf Sisters of Battle release proved to be true, the Necrons have been revived not just from their crypt worlds but from there nearly decade old codex, and 40k rumors persist regardless of the supposed “media blackout” GW has put in place.

The New Ancient

I didn't find the Sisters of Battle release to be engaging on any level. It was interesting, but felt more like a pity nod given to an army with a small following. The Necron release though, now that is a different story altogether. As a true shooting army I've been watching closely for any ques that could be picked up on that might foreshadow changes or themes in our own codex. From Destroyers having Preferred Enemy, their flyers making use of the recently developed Supersonic USR, to the employment of close combat units in an army whose strategy is dominated by ranged firepower – it's all been very, very interesting. It's not been lost on me how many Necron units, or pieces of Wargear have strongly resembled earlier Tau rumors – the re-worked Shield Generator rumor I find extremely similar to the way Quantum Shielding has turned out. Whether this implies that these rumors were originally connected to the Necron development cycle (transmuted through the rumor mill to be associated with the Tau), or if it shows a looming trend, only time will tell. I've been a particular fan of the changes they made to Necron lore – finding a way to give character to an army that was by it's very nature, soulless. What impresses me is how they did it without changing what the Necrons were – they still fit right into their old shoes (and that bit about the Blood Angels teaming up with them makes sense now – I still don't like it, but at least it makes sense). The only thing that troubles me is their shaky reception into the community. It's too soon to draw any conclusions, but it doesn't look like we have an army that's about to change the state of the meta. What I'm hoping that means, is that with the shadow of 6^th edition just on the horizon, the Necrons were written so that they'll come into their own with it's release. The other possibility is that we just don't know how to handle an army like this yet, being such a departure from the current up in your grill style of play.

Then we have the recent Tau rumors... and the Chaos rumors, the Black Templar rumors, the Eldar rumors, the other Chaos rumors. It's madness out there I tell you. The Tau rumors themselves are going to get a dedicated post, but I'll take this opportunity to make some broad sweeping comments on the others. Chaos being split is confusing to me, but I understand that the disparate factions that make up what we think of as the Chaos Legions are as different as the diverging loyalist Space Marine chapters can be from one another, and splitting them into two books might not be a bad idea. It's also possible that one of those two books is going to pull things other than Chaos Space Marines into scope, maybe offering an Imperial Guard analogue, or some strange mix. The Eldar are a fantastic race with so much possibility, and stand as perhaps the best chance for a Xenos army to really influence the meta (not to say that the Dark Eldar haven't left their mark). The Black Templar may well be budding in line to become the next codex, and rumors of there involvement with the 6^th Edition boxed set are interesting to be sure. All in all it's a very exciting, very changing time for those 40k players looking forward, and as more information comes out, we're going to see the forming landscape change quite a bit I'm sure.

So there you have it, five and a half months more or less crammed into a post. I'm sure I've left things out, I'm sure I could elaborate on details, but I think this will do for now. I'm happy to be back, and I think getting this return post up will go a ways to getting me back on the wagon. To those of you who have just recently found me, thanks for stopping by, and for those who have continued to follow me, thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoy everything that is to come.