Goatboy’s Warhammer 40k: Where on Terra Will GW Release Be’lakor’s Rules?
Goatboy here and Be’lakor kinda has 40K rules. But we need to know exactly where GW will drop the complete ones!
While this week’s releases really look AoS related we did get a 40k drop. Well, a model with some hinted at rules, no real points, and some missing information. Be’lakor is going to hit the tabletop – or at least the theory hammer tabletop as we all are wondering what his full rules are, where they are going to be, and if it is an actual sweet release. We all know the model looks awesome – but is going to be any good?
First, we see his stats and his rules from that little snippet of info from the Warhammer Community release. There isn’t a ton more than that as we don’t have any points at all. He is big, he is beefy, and looks like he will be coming in hot and wreck something if he gets there. So that is cool other than the ability to not hide anymore. I guess he can hide behind obscuring terrain so that is cool at least. He did get slower than his smaller, more nimble model but with his base being so big he should “cover” more tabletop than before. But no matter what we ask – where is he going to be?
Where Will He Arrive – Daemons or CSM?
Is he the Herald of a new Daemon Book? We have heard chatter some kind of Chaos book is coming and most likely it isn’t Thousand Sons so that would leave either Chaos Space Marines or Chaos Daemons. Bel’akor could fit in both depending on how they go with his spells and abilities. He was always a weird one when he first showed back up with a random Dataslate we had to pay for and then showing up at the end of the Chaos Daemon book with powers that don’t work on himself. So where is he going to go?
Chaos Daemons?
If he went Chaos Daemons then we are going to see a whole new Daemon book. I am hoping for something brand new with some updated abilities, fixed options, and just a better overall theme involved in the book. I think something that pushes better “One Chaos God” type detachments might be interesting – but we’ll have to see. Throwing him in this one would mean that I hope he has his own spell list that isn’t just a malfunctioning CSM version. He would most likely be allowed in any detachment, doesn’t break their God allegiance, and would be useful. I don’t know if I want to see his power level on par with a Daemonic Primarch, but rather see him sit in the Greater Daemon realm of things. We will have to see. There are a ton of Daemon units that had updated rules (even more than once) that need to get replaced in a new book. Heck, it is one of the main armies that have too many pieces in so many different places with points issues, some odd rules issues, and other fun stuff.
CSMs?
Of course, if he doesn’t show up in Daemons then we would see Chaos Space Marines. I really want the Chaos Space Marines book to be like an evil mirror of the Marine one – but that might be asking for too much. We are also missing a lot of units that should have been released from Shadowspear. Where are my Venomcrawlers? What about my Obliterators? Where are all my extra wounds? If he shows up in that book it would be neat as he could be another grand “leader” type option for Chaos Space Marines. He again won’t wreck the Legion rules they might get so he could be interesting. You get to have a giant monster for CSM that isn’t just the army helping out Morty or Magnus.
Campaign Books?
Instead of those two, I wonder if will see him just show up in another Campaign book. That feels like the most likely option as GW could utilize the book to throw some rules for him and then a few extra little tidbits for upcoming books. The chatter of Sisters might see some kind of distinct Sisters army rule like the Cult of Strife from the last book. Mix that with a Daemon-centric incursion force lead by Bel’akor that would allow him to take all kinds of Daemons that somehow work together. We got Admech in the last one so instead will probably see the dreaded Marine Army of Renown that will most likely be some kind of Primaris based force. Another kick in the – take only the new big boy toys and not those old geezer marines. I am sure there would be one other option too with my secret desire to see a Chaos Knight option but who knows.
Grrr, Be’lakor!
Overall I am just more annoyed his full Dataslate isn’t showing up in the book and instead we get that “halfway” set of rules like we all drool over when we know an upcoming codex is coming out. As this guy kind of straddles 2 books it is hard to get excited for which release might rear its evil head. I was hoping by the time of writing this GW would dump out his true data slate so we can pour over his Keywords and other options – but will just have to wait for whatever release ends up dragging this giant shadow daemon out into the open.
Where do you think GW will drop Be’lakor into the Grimdark?
