Goatboy’s 40k – “Basegate”, Space Vampires & Christmas!
Today I want to discuss some of the upcoming things we are going to see for 40k – from the wish listing to proven bits of rumor mongering.
Goatboy here and after gorging on 2 Thanksgivings I can finally burp out some 40k thoughts for my weekly Monday Soapbox derby. Today I want to discuss some of the upcoming things we are going to see for 40k – from the wish listing to proven bits of rumor mongering.
Let’s start with the biggest thing people were upset about – Basegate!
If you paid attention to the rumor sites you saw that GW is releasing a new base size for 40k. If you paid a bit more attention you say they actually released 2 but will discuss that in a little bit. The big change up is the introduction of the new 32mm base. This is a size that no one else uses and seems to get added onto specific troop/infantry choices. I don’t really care too much about this as I just feel it is a way to differentiate infantry a bit based on their stats just like Warhammer Fantasy does. But still it can be a big pain if tournaments force correct sizes. I haven’t been to an event that forces a lot of this as I still sometimes see old Daemon Princes on terminator bases as well as have fought against 25mm terminators. Most of the time the bigger base can be seen as a benefit as it allows you some more leeway in assaults and other things. Sure it can screw you on Deep striking but that isn’t nearly as big of an issue.
The new base size seems to be set up as the direct correlation for the fantasy bigger foot troop base size. This would mean any infantry that is supposed to be super human in size and strength should most likely go on this base size. Let’s look at the list of stuff that will use this size.
– Space Marines of all varieties – evil and good
– Nobz
– Specific HQ choices from the other smaller races
– Necron bigger troops/HQ/etc choices – Immortals
This really looks to be the only ones I could see getting the bigger bases added to their boxed sets. Everything else that fits into a troop/infantry type of mold should end up keeping with their old base sizes. It fits that really anything strength 3 or toughness 3 should stay on the common base we all knew and loved. I feel for the 3rd party base manufacturers and would think some kind of – upgrade your bases special might be a good way to entice people to rebase parts of their army. Heck I just end up making most of my bases so the idea of rebasing some things is a pain – but since I play evil Marines most of the time and you rarely see evil Marines in those armies I am not nearly as bothered by it.
The next thing in Basegate that I feel is not nearly as look at is the change to some of the Tyranid base sizes. The new base for the Fex is the Dreadknight/Flyer/Maulerfiend/etc base. This is such a big departure as we all knew the Monsterous Creature basic base is always the 60mm at the very least. So does this mean that we should rebase our other 4 wound MC’s? I see this base being a lot more of an issue as it is not a perfect circle. This can lead into fun turn and twist side ways charges that could catch a lot of players off guard. Plus it is such a bigger base that it kind of dwarfs the MC. I have a ton of Daemon Princes and the thought of getting this much more – difficult to have laying around base is a pain in my goat a$$.
The final weird base is the new brood lord. First of all that model is awesome and I am annoyed you have to buy that boxed set to get it. I don’t play Tyranids but if I did I would find some way to use that model. The weird thing is that it has an odd base for this type of creature. It looks like a weird biker/cavalry base and I wonder if that will start to rear its weird head soon on other models. Wouldn’t it be neat if GW would allow you to ship some incorrect bases back for new ones? You listening Plastic Crack Workshop?
Blood Angels
The next new thing is the return of Team Twilight to 7th edition. Blood Angels are coming back and already we see a new army that at least read the rest of the Space Marine Catalogue and bought some brown noise guns. The fact they get Grav Guns is pretty huge as this lets the army at least still function as well as their Marine Counterpart. You would think the Dark Angels would at least have read that extra bit in the Space Marine Sky Mall magazine and ordered a few. Heck if the DA had these guns then I think they might be a decent army. But that’s is another worm hole to go down and today it is all about the Space Vampires.
The release looks like they will be fixing the Blood Angels to be more in line with their marine counterparts. Their is talk about some new Death Company things with Terminators and other options. I hope they come out with a crazy new book but I feel like this will just be making them another neat marine option if you are tired of just taking White Scar Counts as all the time. I do like they gave them Grav and it looks like a redone tactical box. I thought the new Space Marine tactical box was a really nice kit and if they build on top of that and add in some fanged unhelmeted heads and other neat options this will be a cool kit. The sad thing is that the Blood Talons are no longer the death machines they once were but I expect that as anything that is infinite in a sense is deemed unfit for 40k right now.
I do like they get their own spell set with 7 spells. This makes them a good mixture of how the Space Wolves were and regular Space Marines. The first spell – quickening seems pretty good for an assault based Character. I am going to guess we see more character boosters, a reworked blood lance, and some kind of defensive shrouding spell. Heck if it wasn’t for the dang Serpent we might all be complaining about the strength of shrouding instead of hit and run. Still I always liked the Blood Angels as they are just the right amounts of Grimdark mixed with a decent look. It helps that I love to paint red models. I just wish GW would make a weapon pack that is just 2 Plasma, 2 Flamers, 2 Melta, 2 Grav, and 2 combi weapons like they have in the tactical sprue. They could charge 15 bucks for that and I am sure people would buy it. But hey I am just a lowly blogger on a soapbox so what do I know?
GW Advent Goodies?!
The final thing is that we will most likely have another 31 days of Dataslates/Battle Scrolls/Etc from the Black Library. The question is what left over characters with models will we see? Let’s do some scrying and see if I can get lucky with my guesses. Come on GW Santa!
Chaos/Daemon Guess
Doom rider. This guy still has a model, he could have really awesome set of rules to activate Chaos Bikers as troops, and who doesn’t like a bad guy who does Space Dust all the time? I hope we see some formations too – could use a super sweet Maulerfiend formation. Or heck just a bunch of Chaos Lords to actually make the cool unit of Jugger Riders of doom that doesn’t count as Thunder Wolves. Plus Daemons need some formation love too I swear! Will the rumored Veterans of the Long War upgrades come out in a data slate too? For a company that loves the bad guy they sure like to make the army not nearly as good.
Dark Eldar
Will we see Vect finally coming back? You would think this would be a most excellent Xmas gift for some Dark Eldar players? The question is – is will his rules change or be any good? I could also see the Baron and some other characters coming back. They don’t have models but it could be a nice data slate to sell.
Marines
I could see a new set of formations or some kind of character detachment. I don’t expect a whole lot for Marines beyond some extra stories that will most likely focus on the Blood Angels.
Orks
Orks have a ton of formations, detachments, and other options so unless they want to introduce some new formations I expect the Ork gifts to be small. It helped that all their characters had models.
Tyranids
The book with the most extra stuff to try and fix them will probably have nothing this Xmas. I did hear that all the Nids don’t believe in Santa Claus so they don’t deserve any Holiday Cheer.
Astra Militarum
I think all their characters are here so most likely will just see some stories for the Army men. They have a few formations so maybe will see that?
Necrons
They are getting a new book next year – so they get nothing! Also I bet Mind Shackle Scarabs bits the dust too!
Knights
I bet we see some new character knights. This is one of the easiest bits of fluff/writing as it is basically new and they can easily come up with whatever back story they want for King Super Jerk who always stomps 3 times and gets +1 to his stomp rolls. Oh he also has fleet, charges 10d6 and his data slate is only 10 dollars!
Sisters/Inquisition/Tau/Etc
I don’t think will see anything for the other armies. Usually the 31 days of Xmas is full of stories, some rules, and other nonsense based on the Bad Guys and their favorite good guys – the Marines. The extra armies are just going to have to sit this one down and look at Facebook on their phones.
Right now I think 40k is doing alright with lots of options for players to use and hopefully some decent fun had when throwing dice on the table top. I still have hope that we see some things to fix Chaos Space marines a bit and let those evil guys come back to the table top in force. I think I’m tired of playing minimum cultists.
What do you most want GW to give you for Christmas?
