BrookM wrote:
I'm thinking of picking up a vanilla CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA in a few months or so and I'm curious if anybody else around here also has one, if so, could you tell me how pose-able the model is (both arms and legs), aside from the inflexible ammo feed running from shoulder-mounted weapon to lower back?

 aka_mythos wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
I'm thinking of picking up a vanilla CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA in a few months or so and I'm curious if anybody else around here also has one, if so, could you tell me how pose-able the model is (both arms and legs), aside from the inflexible ammo feed running from shoulder-mounted weapon to lower back?

The legs and arms are solid pieces with hands and feet separate pieces and a little room for articulation. The arms and legs connect to the torso and crotch with a sorta ball and socket giving a degree of possibility. With the main gun being shoulder mounted it doesn't need much articulation. I found you can bend under hot water or shave down the ammo belt as needed.

 Ashiraya wrote:
Don't forget to put a CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA in your CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA so you can CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA while you CASTELLAX BATTLE-AUTOMATA.

 Darth Bob wrote:
I really want some of those Scyllax guys, but I have a horrible feeling with regards to how many of those little syringe pieces will be broken in transport.

Tempest.
Alan Bligh, Andy Hoare, Tony Cottrell

The other totally packed-out seminar… previewing Book 5 of the FW hardbacks.

Release date – Spring 2015, hopefully in time for the Grand ReOpening of Warhammer World in May.
Book 5 is about the Word Bearers’ assault on Calth – covers about 30 hours of battle. Does NOT cover the underworld war, that comes later.
Factions covered – Ultramarines, Word Bearers, Mechanicum, Imperial Militia, Warp Cults, Knights Titan Legions.

AB: Background on the XIII Legion – the biggest legion of them all, approx ¼ million legionaries. More background on the Word Bearers and how they are changing. More background on Knights and Titans, including one loyalist Titan Legion that dies on Calth. Army lists – militia and cults, Some new Legion units.
Calth – is representative of the Imperium as a whole, a work in progress, growing – and smashed by the Horus Heresy.
AH: A new Knight house (didn’t hear it very well – something like Vornher?) – the largest in the Segmentum. We created them specifically to destroy them… although there may be a handful (not on Calth) that may survive.
TC: Book 6 will probably cover the Shadow Crusade – hopefully will be released before the end of the year/ Will hopefully cover the World Eaters, the underworld war, etc.
Also planning an FW ‘Modelling Masterclass’ book, to be brought out between Books 5 & 6.
Then Book 7 – Prospero?
The next Primarch model in the Character series will be Guilliman – also hopefully ready for May.

Q: Are you going to produce rules for the Shattered Legions?
AB: We couldn’t fit it into Book 4. The Shettered Legions will require a different approach, all based around small-unit rules for Marines. We’re not sure what book it will go in – unlikely to be the next one… maybe a separate smaller book? Not sure yet.

Q: Can you tell us more about the Imperial Militia and Warp Cults?
AB: This won’t be a huge army list – you will have numbers on your side, but not much in the way of elite forces. Lots of diverse options, from poorly-equipped troops with outdated weapons to something closer to that of the Imperial Army.

Q: Will Daemon Angron be in the next book?
AB: Wait and see…

Q: When you come to do Prospero, which models will you bring out first – the 1000 Sons or the Space Wolves?
TC: We’ll do them both at the same time.

Q: How did you choose the weapons for Guilliman, seeing as he’s known to have a huge armoury of them.
TC: There was a lot of debate over that one, we finally went with power first and sword.
AB: There was a vast selection available, but all of the primarchs have such.
TC: And they are all followed by a little caddy? <laughter>
AB: Fist and sword seemed particularly symbolic for Guilliman.
AH: He’s armed as he was at the end of “Betrayer”.

Q: Will the two Calth books be done as a boxed set?
TC: We may do a slip case for the two.

Q: Will we see a weapons upgrade pack of gladii for the Ultramarines?
TC: Possibly.

Q: Will there be much on daemons in the Calth books?
AB: More in the second than in the first.
AH: They’ll only be mentioned relatively briefly, there’s not enough warp presence initially for them to manifest much.

Q: When will we get the character model of Corax?
TC: <hints at him being released before Russ & Magnus> Some of the preparation work has already been done, but there’s not a fixed schedule.

Q: Which characters of the XIII Legion will get rules?
AB: Guilliman, a certain dreadnought, a very important captain. Some will be saved for the second Calth book. There will be 2-3 speciality units.
TC: And there will be at least one new Word Bearers character, plus revised rules for some of the existing EB characters.

Q: Prospero – what will be in it? And what do you see as being the main challenge?
AB: It will be hard to do the Custodes and Sisters Of Silence properly. Plus various agents of either side. Doing the Thousand Sons will be tricky – got to get the psychic rules just right.

Q: Will there be rules for Oll Persson and other non-Astartes?
AB: Probably not… but we may eventually do an “Agents Of…” book.

Q: <sorry, didn’t hear the question>
AB: One thing that is covered in Book 5 is what the Ultramarines were like and what they did before Guilliman was found. What Ultramar is, why the XIII Legion is so large, and why the Emperor lets them have what is basically their own mini empire – the reason for them ruling 500+ worlds.

Q: What will you be doing on the Mechanicum in Book 5?
AB: A few new units, some updates. There is an eventual plan to have a Mechanicum red book.
TC: The Ordinatus is NOT in Book 5.

Q: Will there be a book on the Death Of Innocence? < civil war on Mars>
AB: We’ve always planned on it, might include the blockade of Mars, the Solar War, etc.

Q: Will Argel Tal appear in Book 5?
AB+TC: Not in that book – maybe Book 6.

Q: Can you give us details on the new Legion units?
AB: A new fighter, a Stormbird – mainly vehicles this time.

Q: Can you give us any details on the campaign system in Book 5?
AH: It will be in a similar format to the other books. We want to avoid making it the wargame of “Know No Fear”. It will be broken down into 3 phases, and you will need to win all 3. If you win, you won’t save Calth – the objective is to survive and preserve as much as possible. Plus there will be some generic missions.

Q: Covering the changes in the various Traitor Legions, will you provide optional upgrade to existing army lists or bring out new lists?
AB: A bit of both. There will be more Rites Of War. There will be some extra units, some existing units will just be changed.

Q: How do you temper the rules when creating Primarchs?
AB: Right from the start we worked out the various power levels etc for all of the Primarchs and Legions – collaborated with John French.

Q: The XIII Legion have always been very ‘vanilla’ in 40K – how do you get past that on the tabletop in 30K?
AB: Ignore 40K. Examine what they are in 30K and it develops from there.

Q: Will there be any more legion relics in the campaign system?
AB: Probably… but no ‘book of relics’.

Q: Is there any reason that you have bypassed some of the Primarchs when bringing out character models?
TC: It’s not that easy to do them all in order – we will come back to do Corax, Perturabo etc… just prioritising.
AB: It’s a little hard to do rules for the Imperial Fists at Phall, so it was kind of hard to Dorn at that time.

Q: The new Guilliman model – will you be making it a set with Lorgar? (a la Fulgrim & Ferrus)
TC: No.

Q: Will you do the mission of the story in “Macragge’s Honour”?
AH: There will be some mission/campaign stuff related to it.

 ImAGeek wrote:
A few months I think.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Ohh Sisters of Silence

 warboss wrote:
I do wish that the whole Ultramar thing would have just been one book though but I also thought Istvaan should have been two total (one for the cleansing of the traitor legions and the other for the dropsite massacre). If a book centeres largely on two legions like Calth, it shouldn't drag on for two books. I realize that Angron and his angry men are there two but they've already been covered... twice!

 warboss wrote:
I do wish that the whole Ultramar thing would have just been one book though but I also thought Istvaan should have been two total (one for the cleansing of the traitor legions and the other for the dropsite massacre). If a book centeres largely on two legions like Calth, it shouldn't drag on for two books. I realize that Angron and his angry men are there two but they've already been covered... twice! That of course doesn't jive with stretching out the HH for 20 years though. It'll take several times longer for FW to cover the HH than it took in the fluff for it to actually happen. :( And it'll still be more succinct than BL's coverage which has officially turned every individual french fry in your order that you want to eat into a 4 course meal.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I do wish that the whole Ultramar thing would have just been one book though but I also thought Istvaan should have been two total (one for the cleansing of the traitor legions and the other for the dropsite massacre). If a book centeres largely on two legions like Calth, it shouldn't drag on for two books. I realize that Angron and his angry men are there two but they've already been covered... twice! That of course doesn't jive with stretching out the HH for 20 years though. It'll take several times longer for FW to cover the HH than it took in the fluff for it to actually happen. :( And it'll still be more succinct than BL's coverage which has officially turned every individual french fry in your order that you want to eat into a 4 course meal.

Look on the bright side - Calth will be two books. If Black Library were in charge of this series we'd get separate books (limited edition even-only books!) for what Guilliman had for lunch each day of the campaign.

 ImAGeek wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I do wish that the whole Ultramar thing would have just been one book though but I also thought Istvaan should have been two total (one for the cleansing of the traitor legions and the other for the dropsite massacre). If a book centeres largely on two legions like Calth, it shouldn't drag on for two books. I realize that Angron and his angry men are there two but they've already been covered... twice! That of course doesn't jive with stretching out the HH for 20 years though. It'll take several times longer for FW to cover the HH than it took in the fluff for it to actually happen. :( And it'll still be more succinct than BL's coverage which has officially turned every individual french fry in your order that you want to eat into a 4 course meal.

Look on the bright side - Calth will be two books. If Black Library were in charge of this series we'd get separate books (limited edition even-only books!) for what Guilliman had for lunch each day of the campaign.

And it's not Calth is two books, it's Calth, the whole Underground War, and the whole of the Shadow Crusade.

 ImAGeek wrote:
Yeah 2 books, book 6 for both the Shadow Crusade and Underground War. My point was its not like it's 2 books for just one event, its a monumental battle, the following years of fighting under the surface, and the whole of the crusades against the 500 worlds. It's quite a lot, too much for 1 book if they want to go into detail.