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A look back at GW releases over 2010.

An excellent miniature or inspired rule mechanic
An odd release or something that doesn't quite work
Another one of GW's "WTF were you thinking?!" moments

Tyranids

Plastic Trygon/Mawloc
Moving Warriors from HQ/Elites to Troops
Pyrovore, a £20 metal miniature with sod all game value

Beastmen

Plastic Bestiogrs at last!
Considering this was the last Army Book before 8th Edition, Beastmen are strangely weak under the new rule system
Plastic Minotaurs, quite literally "butt ugly"

Blood Angels

EDIT - Sanguinary Guard (by popular demand, my original choice was Seth)
The FNP bubbles seem a bit over powered
Deep Striking Land Raiders

Battle Missions

Nice to see new missions...
...but written by JJ and shows it

Orcs

River Trolls
A bit out of the blue maybe, but an otherwise excellent release
No complaints here

Spearhead

A Fire Prism that doesn't fall over. Yay!
Guard players no doubt thought some of the other artillery tanks (i.e. Collosus) were more deserving of new kits
A not particularly inspiring rule set blatantly designed to shift big plastic kits

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition

The new Lores of Magic, not just the return of Purple Sun, but also the more subtle effects like buffs and hexes
Still no impact hits for cavalry (this is what cavalry does GW!)
Man eating trees & rivers of blood - terrain goes silly

Daemons

The Changeling, a neat execution of an awkward concept
No Plastic Plague Bearers and the Bloodcrushers were prohibitively expensive
The Daemon Prince got a lot of hate, but the dopey looking Fateweaver was more deserving of people's ire

Island of Blood

Most of the minis were great, but choosing to sell 5 Plastic Sea Guard seperately showed a bit of respect to High Elf collectors
Lots of Clanrats, but a missed opportunity for new Night Runners/Giant Rats?
No major complaints, but it does make you want a new Rat Ogre kit to match the ones in the box

High Elves

Both the White Lions and Dragon Princes were nice kits
What with this release and Island of Blood, the High Elf Spearmen and Archers now look a bit rubbish
They weren't awful, but the Plastic Phoenix Guard looked worse than the metal models, particularly in the helmet area

Dark Eldar

All of it!
Ok, if I have to quibble, could we have had Wracks now and waited for Hellions?
None, a near perfect release

Warhammer/40K Scenery

The Dreadstone Blight, a nice subtle terrain piece that doesn't dominate the battlefield
The Witchfate Tor looks and sounds evil, so why is it covered with Sigmar iconography
The knock kneed Space Marine statue

A pretty good look back, although I see you deffered your Chibihawk patter Stormraven for next year lol.

Have to disagree about the BA though, I may seem biased based on I paint em, but the plastics released provided such an incredible amount of conversion bits that they really can be made into one of the best looking marine armies around. I for one was very, very satisfied with the kits. That, and Astorath and Lemartes both look BOSS. So would Sanguinor if it wasnt for the Rick James hair. lol

Flashman wrote:Blood Angels

Nothing outstanding IMO (Seth was cool though)
...

Dark Eldar

All of it!

Nice impartial reporting there.

Sanguinary Guard are probably the most striking space marine models ever produced. For those who dislike them, there are plenty who think they are a must-have, even among non BA players. I didn't see anything special about Seth. It was nice for Fleashtearers to finally get a Character, but he is just another bald screaming guy... My pick would have be Astorath.

BA also saw the introduction of the Storm Raven rules, which is noteworthy because it's the first completely new vehicle for space marines since Rogue Trader.

FNP bubbles are not overpowered at all in a world of Mech IG and TWC, they end up being quite wholesome and balanced. And there is really nothing that crazy or broken about Thunder Hawk inserted Land Raiders, and they were somewhat necessary given the theme of the army.

The real face palm moment from the BA dex was probably the complete screwing over of everyone's favourite BA unit... The Death Company.

Overall the BA dex was a nice balanced release, that brought some good models, and interesting developments with it.

Enlighten me.

How exactly was the Death Company "screwed over"?

Beastmen

Plastic Bestiogrs at last!
Considering this was the last Army Book before 8th Edition, Beastmen are strangely weak under the new rule system
Plastic Minotaurs, quite literally "butt ugly"

As a beastmen player I can agree with the first 2 points, but...

The minotaurs were decent with a better paint job than what was showcased for them, and the variety of options/customization is still better then most minotaurs I've seen from competitors. Yes there are some stunning minotaurs from other miniature companies, but no real options for different weapons and such without some involved work.

Razorgor (despite owning 4 myself) deserves the butt ugly.

Beastmen magic lore should've got a too, but I can see that just 3 items was your theme for the whole post.

I'm so glad people are calling the Stormraven the Chibihawk. That is one of the moments of 2010. And right under the door, too. Good show, lads!

SmackCakes wrote:Nice impartial reporting there.

I thought so

This is just my opinion and is therefore not very impartial at all.

True, the man can only state his own opinion, still, was an enjoyable and mostly agreeable read sir!

skrulnik wrote:Enlighten me.

How exactly was the Death Company "screwed over"?

They lost rending and can no longer be controlled.

skrulnik wrote:Enlighten me.

How exactly was the Death Company "screwed over"?

Well if you really haven't already read numerous other Death Company topics...

Then okay I will... The first kick in the nuts is 'Black Rage'. The BA player actually has less control over the Death Company then his/her opponent (outside of transports). It also stipulates that DC can never score, which makes them pretty worthless inside of transports. Eventually they are supposed to get out and assault something.

In reality this is almost impossible. Death Company must always make their full move towards the closest enemy. So if you happen to have 5 LC terminators, or a dread, or banshees, and someone disembarks a squad of Death Company within 2 feet of them. Congratulations! all you have to do is jog a few inches towards them so you're in the "18-13" inch sweet spot, and then next turn a super expensive MEQ unit will set itself up to be assaulted and butchered by you next turn. There is also the situation that so many others have pointed out, where Death Company are forced to chase a fast unit around for the whole game, or forced to attack a Land Raider which they have no hope of destroying while they get flamed... Not that you need flamers against them since they are never allowed to actively seek cover. The only way to ensure Death Company get the assault is to either give them Jump Packs (which offers them enough manoeuvrability to counter rage) or to put them into an Assault Vehicle like a Land Raider or Storm Raven.

This brings me to the second kick in the nuts... Cost. 10 Death Company with Jump Packs and reasonable upgrades (something like 2x PW 1xPF), weighs in at a whopping 405 points (this is for 10 guys who could be wiped out with one Plasma Cannon shot and would get no save whatsoever). The same squad minus the jump packs in a Land Raider is a staggering 505 points.

No competitive player is going to want Death Company, not when you can get 10x Assault Marines +Priest with Furious Charge, FNP (and possibly fearless) for 265 points.

Even if you are just a casual player or the kind of player that only takes models because they look cool. You are still going to be hard pressed to find space for such an expensive indulgence in 1750 list.

Death Company have been among my favourite GW creations since they were first released in the 90s. They were the reason I went out an bought 2nd edition, and when I unpacked the 20 tac marines within... the first thing I did was paint them black with red crosses on their armour. I think the new models are amazing and I've already bought 5 boxes of them... But that does not change the fact that they are probably the worst unit in the BA dex (Not mentioning Death Company Tycho). It's unlikely that any of my DC will find their way into my list sadly, though I tried as hard as anyone to find a place for them.

I hope you feel enlightened now anyway.

Arschbombe wrote:

skrulnik wrote:Enlighten me.

How exactly was the Death Company "screwed over"?

They lost rending and can no longer be controlled.

They gained access to power weapons/fists and Chaplains can still control them if I'm not mistaken?

Brother SRM wrote:

Arschbombe wrote:

skrulnik wrote:Enlighten me.

How exactly was the Death Company "screwed over"?

They lost rending and can no longer be controlled.

They gained access to power weapons/fists and Chaplains can still control them if I'm not mistaken?

You are mistaken about the chaplain, there is no way to control death company anymore. Other than performing some kind of circus act with Rhinos blocking their line of site, which might work, but doesn't sound very practical.

Nice post and the river trolls make a bit more sense when you see that a new release for O&G is coming in the spring!

Dark Eldar

All of it!
Ok, if I have to quibble, could we have had Wracks now and waited for Hellions?
None, a near perfect release


I agreethe wracks would look cool, but IMHO I think hellions are more important. Anyway, in the 2nd wave there will most likely be new haemonculi and wracks/grotesques.

RiTides wrote:Nice post and the river trolls make a bit more sense when you see that a new release for O&G is coming in the spring!

Cheers, I think River Trolls are my favourite minis this year. I love small details and the angler fish lure sprouting from one of the heads was genius in my eyes.

@SmackCakes
So your giant rant boils down to... They can be kited, and they are expensive.

I've used them numerous times, and the problems you state are controllable.
Use the rest of your force to funnel the enemy to them, if it looks like they could kite.
Don't take them in units larger than 5, which is where they put out enough attacks to shred damn near anything.

I do not think they are better/worse than last edition.

The best thing about them is no more opponents bitching about me having free models.

@Flashman Sorry for the de-rail.

I like the post! The river trolls might be on my "buy to paint at christmas" list, it's them or brettonian knights...

Some more moments for you:

Venomthrope w/BS4 – one of the best BS’s in the Tyranid Codex and... it can’t shoot =

Carnifex Broods =

Everything that Robbin Cruddance does =

Bloodfists =
Bloodtalons =
Bloodshard Rounds =
Bloodstrike Missiles =

The Sanguinor = X1,000,000



And my big positive of the year:

New Mandrake Models =

The rules are equal parts and , but the models are dead sexy.

- Small Eldar updates = Re-done fire prism.
- I only care about Eldar. Im not asking for the whole army to be redone. I would like to see a few new plastic mini's come out every year. GW's production and update line sux.
- Don't get me started here.

Just an opinionated addendum to Tyranids:

Tyranids

- Plastic Trygon/Mawloc; new models fit the aesthetic really well; Mycetic Spores
- Surprisingly large amount of Codex entries with no models
- Pyrovore; no frag grenades/fleshhooks.

Ah yes, and Blood Angels:

Blood Angels

- Beautiful new models. I hate space marines and I bought a box of Sanguinary Guard to paint.
- Deep Striking land raiders?!
- Blood Angels' bloodfist bloodtalon bloody bloody bloodstrike bloodround blood blood sanguinary blood chalice of bloody blood blood

SmackCakes wrote:
Sanguinary Guard are probably the most striking space marine models ever produced. For those who dislike them, there are plenty who think they are a must-have, even among non 40k players.

Guilty as charged.

I completely agree with SmackCakes concerning the Snaguinary Guard. I don't even like the Blood Angels and I bought one of the kits.

Next year has necrons, DH and the chibbi hawk. This is gunna be good.

Friend of mine plays Dark Angels... and bought a box of Sang Guard. They're amazing models.

I hope the plastic GK's top them.

I bought a box of the Sanguinary Guard for use in my Raven Guard army!

They are that good!

Alpharius wrote:I bought a box of the Sanguinary Guard for use in my Raven Guard army!

They are that good!

I would get them, but I dont know what I would use them for...

2010 has been a bit of an odd year. In terms of ruleset quality, releases such as battle missions, spearhead, Blood Angels and Tyranids have been fairly hit and miss. In terms of model quality, 2010 has been a good year.

I will say that the Blood Angels book, whilst not over powered, definitely an odd book that provides too much synergy. Some of the things in the book that erk me include Sanguinary priests giving both an FNP and FC bubble (should only confer 1 USR IMO) in conjunction with the 3 for 1 elite slot makes them somewhat abuseable. Mephiston’s odd statline, deepstriking LRs, fast vindicators and the overuse of non IC status characters. The tyranids codex IMO could have also used more planning. Battle Missions and Spearhead I think or a case of too little on development, too much on marketing/hype. Hopefully 2011 will offer more balance and consistency in rules design.

Some of the standout models in 2010 IMO include Deathcompany, Sanguinary Guard (provided the nipples are shaved off), the new plastic Daemon Prince and the new DE range in general. Hopefully 2011 will continue this trend.

I would have to put in a plug for the Manticore/Deathstrike. It is a lovely kit, and the Manticore is a great unit in the game.

I didn't realize there was such disdain for the Battle Missions book...

Given that so many people liked them, I have edited the first post to give the Sanguinary Guard a

NELS1031 wrote:
As a beastmen player I can agree with the first 2 points, but...

The minotaurs were decent with a better paint job than what was showcased for them, and the variety of options/customization is still better then most minotaurs I've seen from competitors. Yes there are some stunning minotaurs from other miniature companies, but no real options for different weapons and such without some involved work.

I'm not sure that's enough to redeem the minotaurs. The fact that there are so few photos of good looking minotaurs floating around should tell people something. Even Dakka only has two plastic mino pics in the gallery as of this post. And while I would say that both of them have decent paint jobs, the model itself still looks silly to me. The only passable photos of the new minos I've seen all use color schemes so dark that they obscure the detail- and I would say any model that requires you to paint it so as to hide the model in order to improve it is a model.

As for the rest of you with your Sanguinary Guard love, all I have to say is, "The wings! OMG, the wings!" I'm no SM fan at the best of times, but to imagine that one of their elite honor guards fights better by attaching giant, chunky, blocks of non-functional steel/ceramite puts them straight in Canis Wolfborn territory.