This year’s calendar is shaking up the formula by stuffing a wide selection of different treats behind each door of the Red Gobbo’s workshop, from new game rules and painting guides to unreleased Warhammer fiction and – as always – a special reveal on Grotmas Day. There’s no knowing quite what you’ll get, so make sure to check in with Da Red Gobbo each day.
There’s less than a week until the first box opens on Monday 1st December, and a little snotling told us that it has something to do with a newly promoted Captain everyone’s been talking about lately. Can’t imagine who that would be.
DEC 1 - Titus Short story
DEC 2 - The Helsmiths of Hashut join the battle for Ghyran
DEC 3 - HH Painting Guide
DEC 4 - Nighthaunt Short story
DEC 5 - Veteran Detachment for the Astra Militarum
DEC 6 - Nightmare Hunt Chaos Detachment!
DEC 7 - Blood Angels Detachment
DEC 8 - Harlequins Detachment
DEC 9 - Emperor's Children Detachment
DEC 10 - Unleash the Great Wolf in a ferocious new Space Wolves Detachment
DEC 11 - How to Paint Traitors
DEC 12 - Darkwater in AoS Rules
DEC 13 - A Space Wolf Story
DEC 14 - 2 Player Spearhead
DEC 15 - Eye of Terror Mini-Story
DEC 16 - An AoS Nurgle Story
DEC 17 - FEC Story
DEC 18 - Space Marine Minigame
DEC 19 - Aeldari Story
new game rules and painting guides to unreleased Warhammer fiction
Well, could be anything. New rules may be fine, but painting guides are not really exciting. Fiction neither unless there're some glimpses for the future.
Grotmas Calendar Day 1 – Titus arrives in Ultramar
Ultramarines
5 min
01 Dec 25
Welcome! It’s the first instalment of the Grotmas calendar! And today Da Red Gobbo has found some Warhammer 40,000 fiction. It looks like even news of Captain Titus and the Ultramarines can make a huge difference to a battle zone's morale…
The planet of Idarus was dying. General Strayk felt it with the intuition shared by all cornered prey. The ferrocrete shuddered under his feet, as though the arable tower knew it too and was made tremulous by fear, rather than by the stampeding of colossal Tyranid swarms. The dense crop-beds it had been built to nurture hissed like surf upon shingle as the tectonic vibration set their tendrils shivering.
Strayk’s temporary command post was fifteen stories above ground level, insulated near the tower’s core from the horrors without, yet still Strayk could hear the Tyranids. Their alien cries carried even into this shielded sanctum with such clarity that he wondered whether they were actually in his head. Had his soldiers not flinched at each bestial howl and distant shriek, he would have been inclined to believe he was going mad.
‘Time for that yet, one suspects,’ he muttered to himself as he massaged his temples.
‘Beg pardon, sir?’ asked Osper. The depressingly familiar note of concern was back in her voice. It made Strayk wince.
‘Nothing of note, adjutant. Just an old man’s mutterings,’ he replied. He forced himself to square his shoulders and set his jaw. He was painfully conscious that Osper – and all the other soldiers under his command – were looking to him for hope.
‘Very good, sir,’ she replied, then braced herself against the map table as the arable tower shook. Lumens swung on their cords, light and shadow wheeling drunkenly and adding to Strayk’s nauseating sense of dislocation. Imperial Guardsmen clung to their vox sets, to the tower’s aqua-flow units, or to one another. Strayk felt their wide-eyed stares. He heard their unvoiced questions. What had hit the tower? Had the Tyranids reached them? Were they all about to die?
As the shaking subsided, he pasted on a confident smile. In his youth, he knew, it would have looked handsome and roguish, the sort of conspirator’s grin that invited others to share in his effortless confidence. Now old, exhausted and full of fear, he hoped it had at least the ghost of its former impact.
‘If that’s the best the filthy xenos can do, then this tower will still be standing long after they’re ashes. And so shall we!’ he barked. ‘The Emperor protects!’
‘The Emperor protects,’ came the chorused reply, trained instinct as much as genuine conviction. Still, the familiarity of the utterance steadied the troops a little, even if some of them clearly struggled to believe the sentiment.
‘He does – and we can all lend Him a hand in that regard, so let’s be about our duties,’ said Strayk with forced geniality. ‘Gospard, get me an update on 18th Company. Renwick, contact Lieutenant Urson and establish the status of the evacuation from the Northweald Macropaddocks. Borthlen, find out how soon we can expect armour reinforcements from Harrow Valley. The rest of you, full weapons check and prayers. Let’s be ready if we’re needed.’
Activity is the ally of courage, Strayk told himself as his soldiers hastened to obey. He had to hope he had reassured them that they were still fighting a war they could win. Now, if he could just make himself believe it too…
‘Sir?’ prompted Osper. Strayk realised with a guilty start that his mind had wandered again. If he could just get five minutes of quiet – or better yet, a few hours’ untroubled sleep. But then, if wishes were warships, there wouldn’t be an alien or heretic left to trouble the Imperium.
‘Yes, adjutant, let’s go through the – ’
‘Sir! Urgent report from the Astropathic sanctum!’
The voxman’s voice was just south of a shout. It carried a note of something so unfamiliar that it took Strayk’s tired mind a moment to parse it. Was that optimism? Excitement, even?
He shared a quizzical look with Osper.
‘Let’s have it then, lad,’ he prompted. Yes, he thought, excitement, no doubt. The voxman’s eyes were bright with it.
‘Sir, Senior Astropath Quatembe reports a response from offworld to their choir’s distress calls.’
‘Throne alive…’ breathed Osper.
‘Who?’ asked Strayk.
‘Senior Astropath asked that I convey their apologies, sir. They report a shadow upon the Empyrean, severe adverse psy-static hampering their comprehension, and casualties amongst the choir. They deciphered only a handful of concepts from a Senior Astropath Kornelius.’
Strayk stared expectantly at the voxman. The name meant nothing to him, so why was the young soldier so excited?
‘Sir, the concepts were parsed into immediate, reinforcement, Titus and… Ultramarines.’
The charge that ran through the command post was electric. The name ‘Titus’ meant no more to them than did ‘Kornelius’, but the mere mention of the Ultramarines did more to bolster morale than any speech General Strayk could have delivered. Throne, he thought. This was far better than all the sleep he could ever wish for.
‘The Ultramarines are – ’
‘ – going to be saved, we – ’
‘Emperor be praised, Emperor be – ’
‘Quiet!’ ordered Strayk, though this time his smile didn’t feel forced at all. To their credit, his exhausted, desperate soldiers fell silent as one.
‘This is exceptional news, better than we could have hoped. But it’ll be a poor show if the God-Emperor’s own Space Marines race all the way to Idarus to save our backsides only to find we all got eaten before they got here! So stay calm and proceed as ordered. Let’s make sure that when this Titus arrives with his Ultramarines, he’s damned well impressed!’
This time, when they shouted their assent, there was real force behind it.
‘The Emperor protects!’
‘The Emperor protects,’ replied General Strayk, feeling hope light a fire in his belly. ‘And so do his Ultramarines!’
You can find out even more about Demetrian Titus by checking out a dedicated Loremasters episode on Warhammer TV. You can also read up on how Titus went from Lieutenant to Captain.
Tomorrow we’re swinging by the Mortal Realms to make sure those who are owed a bounty from Ghyran are given what is rightfully theirs.
xeen wrote: Wow, this years grotmas calendar seems like it is going to be lame.
Let's just hope that for every low there will be an equally huge high. Okay-ish story on day one.... Give me a sweet surprise new model December 24th and we call it even.
Yeah, unfortunately they set the bar pretty high last year with the new detachments, can't see them meeting them with this year's unless there's a lot more to be released in a single day regarding rules for 40k or AoS.
You know what’s really festive? Ghosts. Yeah. It gets dark early around Christmas, and spooky stuff happens when it’s dark. Can you imagine a man – or a grot, even – breaking into your house and leaving stuff under your tree? It chills us to our very bones.
It’s fitting, then, that today’s Grotmas Calendar entry is a terrifying tale about the Nighthaunt.
So far, for me Grotmas is a total bust. Not a thing I've even been interested in enough to look at. I hope some of you have managed to find something you liked.
PenitentJake wrote: So far, for me Grotmas is a total bust. Not a thing I've even been interested in enough to look at. I hope some of you have managed to find something you liked.
Yup.
Lore stories are meh. They could be a regular part of WarCom, or just stuck into White Dwarf.
Grotmas should have some fun scenarios or rules variants.
Of course, I am deeply disappointed with the releases for Warhammer+ as well.
The animations have come too few and too slow, while the hobby & paint content is bland & flavorless
Last year actually had detatchments and armies of renown, with a couple of cool mini codexes for daemons and DW.
Xeen and Jake are right: most of this is stuff that should either be on Warcom already, or in a White Dwarf. The HH guide seems to be the worst so far(only the loyalists, and a little rushed even for Eavy Metal).
Lathe is, hopefully, not correct in this as well: Xmas day may have a reveal that will piss off every faction but one.(I hope that isn't the case for you guys)
I suspect we will get traitor paint guides on another day.
The stories have been OK? I’ve got very low expectations, so just enjoy what shows up. The detachments were nice last year, but I don’t expect mechanics at this point in the edition.
Yeah, it's pretty lame this year. I mean they had those detachements or a special rumour engine in the past but what we got so far is something they could have (and had) on WarCom every other day of the year. Sure, they don't owe us something, but it's a good opportunity to keep their fans (and customers) excited at the end of the year. But well, if they don't need it...
If they don't have at least 2-3 "Wow" days they are going to catch so much crap for this totally underwhelming Grotmas.
Hypothetically speaking, about the only things that could even make things right at this point would a day or two of "cool, wasn't expecting that" model reveals. Possibly foretelling a new Primarch or something.
parakuribo wrote: Lathe is, hopefully, not correct in this as well: Xmas day may have a reveal that will piss off every faction but one.(I hope that isn't the case for you guys)
I would love to be wrong... and not because I'm good at it.
cuda1179 wrote: If they don't have at least 2-3 "Wow" days they are going to catch so much crap for this totally underwhelming Grotmas.
Hypothetically speaking, about the only things that could even make things right at this point would a day or two of "cool, wasn't expecting that" model reveals. Possibly foretelling a new Primarch or something.
Maybe, silhouette looked like a stompa. Worst case, a teaser would mention them, but at the end it would show the current one knocked down with Primaris Captain Tycho in front of it(also all Meks, Dreds and Stompas are immediately transferred to Legends status).
Day 4, and so far really really disappointing. I do understand not doing something as awesome as the detachment things last year, it was probably a lot and they have a campaign coming up to dump that stuff in. But come on, they couldn't do a rumor engine type thing like they did for the Eldar/Chaos I think the year before? Some model reveals early to at least trick us into being excited? And someone can correct me, but isn't Grotmas a 40k thing? So far we got 2 sigmar, 1 HH, and one 40k, which was a story about Titus and like someone said above, that is something that they would have just put on WarCom anyway if it was like August with his mini coming out.
I guess this Grotmas is the one we have to spend with Dad after the divorce in his gakky one bedroom apartment listening to him complain about Mom and counting the seconds until it is over. (Sorry if that hits home for anyone, just a joke)
These are the usual balance update detachments, some with a little delay.
The September update didn't release with the normally scheduled 3 new detachments, WarCom said those would be added to the next update. So for December we get 6 detachments.
Interesting, glad that today's grotmas reveal is actually somewhat substantial with it being a detachment. I guess we might get a sprinkling of them depending on the faction. Hopefully this doesn't mean more Ultramarine stuff but it is cool that for this detachment there's an enhance for you to attach a Commissar to Ogryn/Bullgryn. Unfortunately, I feel like it's not as useful as maybe having a priest be able to attach to them, but nice to have the option.
Not sure if this will be a contender for the Combined Arms detachment, but at least there's more flavour to give it a feel for veterans without having to take tempestus or kasrkin since veteran guardsmen no longer exist as a datasheet.
RUTHLESS DISCIPLINE
The officers of this company are wily,
iron‑willed veterans both respected and
feared by the troops under their command.
At their barked orders, even the weariest
soldiers redouble their efforts.
Add 1 to the number of Orders each
Astra Militarum Officer model from
your army can issue, as stated on
their datasheet.
While an Astra Militarum unit from your
army is affected by an Order, each time
a model in that unit makes an attack,
re‑roll a Hit roll of 1. If the target of that
attack is within range of an objective
marker, re‑roll a Wound roll of 1 as well.
Funny enough last night I mentioned that it was likely for there to be one detachment a week still to go along with the balance patch like the 3 new detachments we've seen before.
The big fumble in my mind was leading with the Titus fluff. It seems like someone really thought that bit of nothing was an effective way to get people excited to check every day until something substantial dropped.
LunarSol wrote: Funny enough last night I mentioned that it was likely for there to be one detachment a week still to go along with the balance patch like the 3 new detachments we've seen before.
The big fumble in my mind was leading with the Titus fluff. It seems like someone really thought that bit of nothing was an effective way to get people excited to check every day until something substantial dropped.
If they had lead with something strong, people would expect that level of quality every day and be disappointed that it wasn’t maintained.
But too weak a hook and nobody cares.
Nothing they do will make everyone happy. I suspect they only have a few solid gems, and are spacing them out over the month.
I'm pretty excited about this- I'm not downloading it yet, because I'm not at home, but my planned Astra Militarum armies are pretty heavy on Abhumans and Officers- Krieg with Ogryns and Cadians with Ratlings.
Like all of my armies, those two sub-groups combine for larger battles. I might have to build two boxes of Ogryns tonight to celebrate!
LunarSol wrote: Funny enough last night I mentioned that it was likely for there to be one detachment a week still to go along with the balance patch like the 3 new detachments we've seen before.
The big fumble in my mind was leading with the Titus fluff. It seems like someone really thought that bit of nothing was an effective way to get people excited to check every day until something substantial dropped.
If they had lead with something strong, people would expect that level of quality every day and be disappointed that it wasn’t maintained.
But too weak a hook and nobody cares.
Nothing they do will make everyone happy. I suspect they only have a few solid gems, and are spacing them out over the month.
Agreed. I just think they failed to appreciate HOW weak that Titus fluff was. It's literally the most generic Guardsman NPC chatter one can imagine and ends in Titus basically being a rumor we've already seen revealed in a much more substantial way. Like, I'm not saying they needed or should have lead with their best, just that it needed to be more than what we got to kick things off.
Other 5 Detachments are for Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Emperor's Children, Eldar, and CSM/Night Lords, apparently. There's a pic of the names in banner format floating around.
Platuan4th wrote: Other 5 Detachments are for Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Emperor's Children, Eldar, and CSM/Night Lords, apparently. There's a pic of the names in banner format floating around.
Well, Night Lords was at least right, and... ::sigh:: ...another battleshock-dependent detachment. At least it has stratagems for Advance-and-Charge and Fall-Back-and-Charge. And an Enhancement that lets a Jump Lord join Warp Talons.
Platuan4th wrote: Other 5 Detachments are for Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Emperor's Children, Eldar, and CSM/Night Lords, apparently. There's a pic of the names in banner format floating around.
Now it's Blood Angels, so that list is probably right. Sight.
Finally a decent reason to take Death Company with bolters?
Not really. Regular Intercessors (five points cheaper at 5-strong, same price at 10-strong) have twice the shots with their Bolt Rifles.
So even against specifically T8 and T9 targets, they're merely equal in damage.
I guess if you REALLY want that 6+ FNP... And we're assuming that it wasn't a mistake that's yet to be corrected too.
This Detachment is open to all Emperor’s Children armies, but it certainly encourages you to use Fulgrim himself. When charging you can give your units +1 Str and +1 AP to their melee attacks. On top of this Fulgrim can make use of two of the best strats in the detachment at a reduced CP cost.
There is a good mix of enhancements. You can let one of your units ignore hit & wound modifiers, you can force battleshock tests in the fight phase, a Foot Daemon Prince can have +1 Str and Attacks, and finally a Lord Exultant can lead Flawless Blades.
Two of the more powerful stratagems are both discounted when you use them on Fulgrim. You can move through terrain in the movement or charge phase, or when attacking a Character unit you can re-roll to hit and wound. The other 4 stratagems let you re-roll charges in an aura, make a Stimulus move towards the enemy (and engage them) if your unit was shot and lost any wounds, -1 to wound for weapons that are stronger than your units toughness and finally provide the detachment buff of +1 to Str and +1 AP to a shooting unit that targets an enemy within 12”.
There’s just one Detachment left behind the doors of the Grotmas Calendar
The best present so far today wasn't grotmas, but the new Terminator Assault Marine Update.
Thunder Hammer upgraded from WS 4+ to WS 3+
Twin Lightning Claws attack count increased from 5 to 6
Terminatus Assault datasheet rule (each enemy unit in Engagement Range must take a Battle-shock test) now triggers at the start of every Fight phase, as opposed to each time they end a charge move.
Lathe Biosas wrote: The best present so far today wasn't grotmas, but the new Terminator Assault Marine Update.
Thunder Hammer upgraded from WS 4+ to WS 3+
Twin Lightning Claws attack count increased from 5 to 6
Terminatus Assault datasheet rule (each enemy unit in Engagement Range must take a Battle-shock test) now triggers at the start of every Fight phase, as opposed to each time they end a charge move.
Lathe Biosas wrote: The best present so far today wasn't grotmas, but the new Terminator Assault Marine Update.
Thunder Hammer upgraded from WS 4+ to WS 3+
Twin Lightning Claws attack count increased from 5 to 6
Terminatus Assault datasheet rule (each enemy unit in Engagement Range must take a Battle-shock test) now triggers at the start of every Fight phase, as opposed to each time they end a charge move.
Terminator's stats seem to inflate every time their models do. I remember back in 3rd edition when they had NO invulnerable save, 2 attacks, and one wound.
Terminator's stats seem to inflate every time their models do. I remember back in 3rd edition when they had NO invulnerable save, 2 attacks, and one wound.
Terminators have always been worse then normal marines in the disconnect between their lore/fluff and what they do on the tabletop. Well, maybe when they were making saves on 2d6. But for most of their lives they were just not worth the points. Things with good AP would just shoot through their armor. Basic small arms would spam shots until they rolled those 1s.
I think they are finally in a good place. The multi-wound versions from 8th+ has gone a long way to making them viable.
Lathe Biosas wrote: The best present so far today wasn't grotmas, but the new Terminator Assault Marine Update.
Thunder Hammer upgraded from WS 4+ to WS 3+
Twin Lightning Claws attack count increased from 5 to 6
Terminatus Assault datasheet rule (each enemy unit in Engagement Range must take a Battle-shock test) now triggers at the start of every Fight phase, as opposed to each time they end a charge move.
Terminator's stats seem to inflate every time their models do. I remember back in 3rd edition when they had NO invulnerable save, 2 attacks, and one wound.
Takes a lot to come back from 2nd ed's 3+ save on 2D6...
This happens all the time, though honestly I'm okay with it as long as they don't mess with the points.
For a unit like the Deathwatch Terminators, there needs to be a reason to decide between fists and hammers. Assault Terminators don't have that choice, and so don't have that problem.
They seem to have completely missed the point of what made Grotmas so good last year - rules. People like new stuff for their games. New ways to play, new detachments, expanded campaign rules and so on. Just releasing all the same filler content you put out as standard and labelling it Grotmas is a huge let down.
Slipspace wrote: They seem to have completely missed the point of what made Grotmas so good last year - rules. People like new stuff for their games. New ways to play, new detachments, expanded campaign rules and so on. Just releasing all the same filler content you put out as standard and labelling it Grotmas is a huge let down.
Rules are nice and practical.
When they did the whole thing as a holiday rumor engine, dripping out hints of new minis I had a lot more fun.
The shattered gate vomits the get of the storm… they fight beneath the staring eye… worlds blessed and worlds cursed… the defeated are yet defiant…
Wulfen? Would fit the 'get of the storm'
The black sun burns cursed iron… and lights the furnace of vengeance… steel and flesh and blood and ichor tear and flow… and from ruin shall rise infinite geometries of spite…
Agree with BorderCountess, this sounds like Iron Warriors.
‘Childer of Oleadros Delphos… faithful of Galagan… the time of whispers is ending… soon will come the time of knives… make ready, true believers… deliverance comes ironwrought and vengeful…’
Again sounds Iron Warriors-esque, maybe a new cultist unit?
Now that the gift giving is done, the smell of a feast is wafting through the air – but what’s that strange, acrid undercurrent? Drop back in tomorrow when dinner is served…
Now that the gift giving is done, the smell of a feast is wafting through the air – but what’s that strange, acrid undercurrent? Drop back in tomorrow when dinner is served…
The problem with Nurgle fiction is that it tends to be boring and repetitive.
Khorne berserkers make for a cool tabletop, but I couldn't fathom an entire story of Blood raging nutballs screaming incoherently at each other for an entire novel.
Same with ultra-powered groups like the Grey Knights.
No one knows they exist, so they can't really interact with anyone, they can't be corrupted, so that angle of potential conflict is tossed out the window... and they fight daemons who, much like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, swear revenge after being defeated... again.
Khorne berserkers make for a cool tabletop, but I couldn't fathom an entire story of Blood raging nutballs screaming incoherently at each other for an entire novel.
Same with ultra-powered groups like the Grey Knights.
No one knows they exist, so they can't really interact with anyone, they can't be corrupted, so that angle of potential conflict is tossed out the window... and they fight daemons who, much like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, swear revenge after being defeated... again.
That's not true at all. They can interact with any # of other characters throughout the story. After they've handled whatever daemonic problem was important enough to attract their attention though? Then they purge all the witnesses...
Khorne berserkers make for a cool tabletop, but I couldn't fathom an entire story of Blood raging nutballs screaming incoherently at each other for an entire novel.
Same with ultra-powered groups like the Grey Knights.
No one knows they exist, so they can't really interact with anyone, they can't be corrupted, so that angle of potential conflict is tossed out the window... and they fight daemons who, much like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, swear revenge after being defeated... again.
That's not true at all. They can interact with any # of other characters throughout the story. After they've handled whatever daemonic problem was important enough to attract their attention though? Then they purge all the witnesses...
They didn't purge anyone at the end of Wrath of Magnus, even after being led through the Fallen prison.
parakuribo wrote: DIDN'T. WE ALREADY. HAVE. SPACE MARINE II. RULES. FOR. KILL TEAM. ON WARCOM. ALREADY?!?!?
This is the standalone SMII co-op game that was published in WD. Honestly, putting the core rules out for free digitally is a great move because the game is a lot of fun. They've been adding units and missions in further WD issues, but the core game gives you plenty to start with.
Another story today. What's worse is that it's making Yriel, one of the holders of the 5 croneswords that supposedly are needed to defeat Slaanesh and fully awaken Ynnead, is now basically anti-Ynnead like pretty much all the main named Eldar characters. Really shows how they've given up Ynnead as a faction for Eldar and how they've written themselves into a corner.
Grimskul wrote: Another story today. What's worse is that it's making Yriel, one of the holders of the 5 croneswords that supposedly are needed to defeat Slaanesh and fully awaken Ynnead, is now basically anti-Ynnead like pretty much all the main named Eldar characters. Really shows how they've given up Ynnead as a faction for Eldar and how they've written themselves into a corner.
I think it was a cool idea of "how do we combine all the Aeldari factions into one army," but it was poorly executed.
This is such a waste. All these stories with nothing that is directly tied in with them. Story with Yriel.....he still has no model on sale. Would it have killed them to give us a look at the new model we pretty much all know is coming now? I had stopped looking at grotmas, and only looked today because Valrak surmised that anything that had to do with Yriel would include a model revel. So much for that. Wake me on Christmas when hopefully we will get something actually worth looking at..........
