23 June 2017

Return To 40k



Every time Games Workshop produce another incarnation of Warhammer 40k I feel obliged to take a look, given that it's played such a massive part in my hobby life over the years.

8th Edition has been slightly different in that GW have highlighted some of the the key changes in the build up to release. I've been intrigued by the simplification of the Warhammer world with AoS (without ever actually playing it) and what I was hearing was that 40k was going to follow suit. This gave me some hope that things may actually change to the point where I could welcome 40k back into my life. It's been a long time time since the glory days of 4th Edition and I've had no interested in the versions since, especially as things escalated towards apocalypse type battle with flyers and war machines.

Then GW played their ace card – Death Guard marines in the starter box – ah, dammit, this was not going to be a cheap return to 40k. As has become the norm in recent years, said models were of the highest quality (even if there are still a few dodgy poses). That was it then, I would have to shell out close to £100 to see what it was all about – even though the rules are technically free (how does that work?!).

I managed to miss the postman on release day and have to wait 24hrs to go to the sorting office and collect my parcel. I was excited, but with a certain level of reservation – disappointment for so many years will do that to you! Upon opening the box I have to say it is a very smart product. The only company I have come across that presents it's products as beautifully as this is Apple (they're in a league of their own, but this was pretty good). Taking the time and effort to present products to this degree makes the unboxing experience so much more enjoyable. It shows that the company cares what the customer thinks.

The contents was pretty solid. The fact that you got the hardback edition of the full rulebook, instead of an A5 lite version, was a good decision. That helped make it feel like a quality purchase and good value for money. The models are as stunning as ever and, again, helps to give a feeling of quality and value. The Primaris marines went on Ebay and sold in less than an hour, so I've made most of the cost back already.


After building my first few Death Guard models I decided to crack out my current army and rebase them on the larger 32mm bases. However, when old and new Death Guard stood side by side I noticed there was a significant scale discrepancy. Not unlike a Primaris marine next to a standard one, the size difference was quite noticeable and looked quite odd – disaster!

Now I'm left with a bit of a quandary. Do I relegate my old Death Guard to be standard nurgle marines and the new plastics are Death Guard? Do I sell my old DG marines and start a new army? Do I stick to the old ones and not bother with the new ones?


To complicate things more, my two favourite conversions of all time – my Nurgle Heldrake and Nurgle Forgefiend – can't be taken in a pure Death Guard army!! Neither can my Nurgle Biker!


So for now I'm simply putting together the models. Just like last time I built some Nurgle on the back of a 40k box set (above), I jumped straight in with a conversion. More on that another time.


17 comments:

  1. It's strange how 40k and GW appeal to some. How can they justify the cost of this stuff?

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    1. GW must consider it a quality product to price things in such a way, and their customers must consider it the same to pay it.

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    2. In thw grand scheme of things it's not that expensive. In comparison to most hobbies the cost of entry isn't as high. The problem is that hobbies are just an expensive thing to do, in some ways gaming requires a mire all or nothing approach unlike say foot ball, you can support a team just by watching it on normal TV, but most true fans get the shirts, the TV subscriptions and many then go on to by season Tickets. In gaming you do kinda need to shell out for the army and the core books but at least they are usable year after year.

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    3. From a miniature hobby perspective, GW are by far the most expensive, however I would argue that (despite an inability to understand the concept of less is more and bathe everything in skulls) the quality of their models is probably the best I've experienced. But they're never going to sell them at bargain basement prices. Compared to many other hobbies, I agree, miniature collecting/gaming is quite cheap.

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  2. Nice! Really looking forward to seeing you paint up the new Nurgle stuff!

    I wouldn't sweat the scale difference too much - unless you're planning on mixing and matching between units they size won't be all that apparent on the tabletop. I think the new guys will fit right in with your existing force!

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    1. I appreciate the optimism, alas I'm a perfectionist and the difference in height and bulk will bother me over time. I am liking the idea of the old guys being regular Nurgle marines, seems a decent solution given I'll want to use my Heldrake and Forgefiend, but we will see.

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    2. I'm also considering using my old metal plague marines as nurgle marked CSMs but won't know until I start building.

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  3. Ah, I am sensing a case of déjà vu here? I had an inkling a post like this was coming especially having seen how excited Bull was about the new releases over on his blog. I can't deny they do look rather tasty and I know how much history is involved here so I expect to read some wonderful posts about your pitched battles in due course. When I saw the two Death Guard models side by side, I was at all bothered about the scale discrepancy, which probably stems from my collection of miniatures been drawn from different manufacturers, I would just simply build the bases up on the original models, maybe with pieces of slate to get the height level and then use tiny broken pieces of the same slate to tie in the bases of the new models.

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    1. I hear what you're saying about building up the base – my Typhus model gets away with the scale difference due in part to the height of his base but also he's in heavier armour. It's not so much the height of the new models (although the other new ones I've built since this post tower over the old ones), but their bulk. The old models look like children in comparison. I'll probably hold off making a decision until the new modular plastics are released in due course.

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    2. Very sensible, wait until there is more stuff to buy. :D

      In all seriousness, I see what you mean, I have just gone back and had another look at the picture. Bulky is a good word for them, but the pose is quite cool too.

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    3. Just had another look myself after reading these comments, I'm seriously thinking of grabbing a bix or two of blight kings to give me plenty of parts to convert up my old ones to bulk them out.if I don't just use them as marked marines. Decisions decisions.

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    4. The putrid blightkings are lovely models, but at £34 for 5 models GW can keep them I'm afraid, lol.

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  4. This is what I feared and why I still haven't picked up 8th edition.
    Once again they made changes with the sole purpose of selling more models (clever from a business perspective) and some models become unusable. I've experienced this a bit to often for this game already.
    Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing your painted models

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    1. The cynical side of me agrees 100% but these bigger models do feel better than the old ones, from a scale perspective, so the optimistic side of me is thinking it was a design decision by GW with financial benefits ;)

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  5. Death guard can include the units you mentioned. It's right on the DG page in the Index Chaos.

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    1. On page 57 of the chaos index it shows what can and can't be included in a pure Death Guard list – Heldrakes, Forgefiends and Bikes are not on that list unfortunately :(

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  6. run new death guard as chosen and possessd perhaps? old marines as standard plague marines??

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