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Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

With a new IG codex coming out , along with very shiny new models , and uh... rules changes that invalidate most of my armies this would be a good time to look at back at the book that got me into the IG in the first place.

I first started buying 40k books long before I could afford to keep up with models, so you can see my reviews of the Rogue Trader IG list here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/769332.page

And the 2nd edition codex here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/236065.page

But as I said I couldn't get into the models until a few years later along with the release of plastics and of course...



This book!

Now the 3rd Edition Codexes were not great books by any measure. Thin (this one is 48 pages), poorly bound (I had covers come off in my first read), and with few options for your army. BUT they were playable, unlike 1st edition with the rules scattered in a dozen places, or 2nd edition which required 2 box sets and dozens of cards, a 3rd edition codex and the rule book were all you needed.



It also, IMHO saw a real renaissance of GW's storytelling and graphic design. Rogue Trader and many of the other 1st edition books stood out against the other books of the time for their quality of design. 2nd edition books were easier to follow and had clearer rules but lacked the thoughts of the day...

Hope is the beginning of unhappiness


And other in-universe touches.

But 3rd edition brought them back in spades.



Rather than 3rd person omnipotent narration about the Guard we had in-universe letters from officers and guardsmen.



It also had the return of fan armies and conversions!



Not to mention atmospheric art, and the return of Grimdark random bionics.

So pick up your lasgun and let's dig into Codex Imperial Guard 3rd edition.

We'll also dig into some of the mini-dexes from that time.

Oh and this is post #25000 for me, so uh, yay me.

 
   
Made in us
Cowboy Wannabe




Sacramento

Yay indeed, but isn't this your second main account? Something Something unsupervised internet access?

As for the 3rd edition guard codex, I loved how codexes of this era were just packed with content. With so few pages, there was little to waste. (plus they were cheap too, so you could afford to get random ones to see if you liked the army etc)

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

And we're back!

The Imperial Guard around 2000 was in transition. The RT metals and plastics were long out of print (other than Yarrick of course), and the 2nd edition metals were... in an odd situation.



There were 5 different regiments, each with their own uniforms and aesthetic, each in hard to convert metal, and not one of the lines was complete. Each one was missing one or more special weapon, not to mention medics, banners and other specialists.



To this GW added plastic Catachans, which at 20 models for ~$25 actually made the army affordable. However like the metals it was a notoriously incomplete set. You get lasguns, knives, flamers and radios but no other special weapons or heavy weapons, or chain swords, or bionics or... Plastic command squads and heavy weapons would not follow for another few years.

But still they were compatible with other GW kits like the Empire Militia, Zombies and even marines in a pinch allowing talented, or not so talented, models for make some unique forces.





They're really not as terrible as some people have claimed. I especially liked how the guns were independent of the hands (Cadians had the hands molded to the guns). The running pose was derpy and the decision to make a whole army of Rambos was questionable (no one thought to wear sleeves in the poison toxic jungle? or a helmet? or a hat even?) but overall it was possible to make some interesting things out of them.

But what do I know, my first army was a Catachan-Zombie kitbash because I hated the idea of the Rambo army so much.



At the time the Force Organization chart was a new addition to the game, forcing players to take lots of troops and limiting their access to heroes and elite units. But this was a problem for the IG who have, arguably, the worst basic troops in the game.

Arguably? Who would be worse? Orks? Maybe? 3rd edition Eldar Guardians?




The codex made up for it with the platoon structure (1st and 2nd edition also had this). A troop choice would be a minimum of a command squad and 2 troop squads (25 models), but could max out with 55 men in a single troop choice! 330 men in an army! Meanwhile the army's HQ unit was a 5-man command squad to which you could add up to 15 heavy weapon teams!




Oddly transports were very limited, you could get an Armor Fist squad of mechanized infantry but only one per platoon, or basically 3 per army.

The army list itself is fairly sparse. Priests, tech priests and most other oddball units were allies found in the main rule book. Troops were the usual 10 man team with 1 special and 1 heavy that had been the template since Rogue Trader and would remain the template until the new codex...



One interesting addition was vet squads. With 3 special weapons, a heavy, hitting on 3+ they were a great way to multiply your force's firepower and include some unique models.



So powerful in fact they were limited to just 1 per army.



The army list was rounded out with a strange selection of special characters. Most of the officers from 2nd edition did not get any special rules, though their models were still around. Lord Solar Macharius had appeared in the 2nd edition book but got a model for the first time in 3rd. Commissar Yarrick kept his RT era model and would not get an upgrade for a few years and poor Nork Deddog...



He got rules but didn't even have a model, just a fantasy conversion with some insanely expensive bits from metal models!



The IG also got Col Schaffer's Last Chancers, a Dirty Dozen sort of elite team who could take on a whole army by themselves (if you played several games and cheated like a dog to give them a chance)!

Overall it was a fun but flawed list with some neat opportunities but strange limitations.

Join us next time when we close out the codex and start to look at some of the many (MANY!) supplemental books that would build on it.

 
   
Made in au
Axis & Allies Player




A great read as always, Kid.

In my younger days I didn't get the appeal of the Guard. Why play as ordinary guys when you could play as unfeasibly cool stabby aliens? As I got older, though, I slowly started to feel more and more sympathetic to the ordinary guys who were up against the unfeasibly cool stabby aliens.


Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Now the 3rd Edition Codexes were not great books by any measure. Thin (this one is 48 pages), poorly bound (I had covers come off in my first read), and with few options for your army. BUT they were playable, unlike 1st edition with the rules scattered in a dozen places, or 2nd edition which required 2 box sets and dozens of cards, a 3rd edition codex and the rule book were all you needed.


Agree 100%. I reckon 3rd ed had the most practical codexes for actual physical gaming (if you ignore the dodgy cover binding). Short, light, quick to flip through, and (most) stats and special rules in a single entry for each unit. None of the annoying flipping back and forth between the 'bestiary' and the 'army list' that you got in 2nd and 4th.

The limited space--due to the need to get heaps of codexes out in a hurry to replace the 2nd ed books--also inspired the writers to come up with creative ways to give you all the info you needed without reams of text. I particularly like the 'letter home to the farm', which fills you in on all sorts of info on troop mobilisation, warzones, settlements, etc., in a few paragraphs while disguising it as Luke Skywalker's grand day out.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
the decision to make a whole army of Rambos was questionable (no one thought to wear sleeves in the poison toxic jungle? or a helmet? or a hat even?)


Bah, Amazonian tribes get by just fine without any pants.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
The IG also got Col Schaffer's Last Chancers, a Dirty Dozen sort of elite team who could take on a whole army by themselves (if you played several games and cheated like a dog to give them a chance)!


I'm sure you'll get to them, but the Last Chancers got their expanded rules in White Dwarf around the same time. I don't know what quantity of doglike cheating was needed for that version.

I also liked the article in WD (by Jervis I think) about making an army to represent a lone garrison on a frontier world somewhere, with eccentric habits like riding alien velociraptors. (Yes, I'll take any excuse for cool stabby aliens.)

Early 3rd ed seemed to have a 'frontier world' vibe in general, maybe due to the style of terrain shown in WD articles and battle reports. Lots of isolated farms and hab-units among the rocks and trees. It shifted more and more toward heavily built-up city ruins in late 3rd, though.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Join us next time when we close out the codex and start to look at some of the many (MANY!) supplemental books that would build on it.


You'd better not forget the Xenonian warrior women. Or possibly Xenanian.
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

And we're back to close out the IG Codex.

As I said one welcome thing about this generation of Codexes was the return of fan armies, conversions and atmospheric art. 2nd edition codexes seems to have a policy against showing conversions (why tease fans with models that don't exist) only allowing a few to creep in late in the game and even then with little chaos star asterisks to mark them.



But in this book they're on proud display.





The World War II themed Tsargrad table gets a 2 page thread.



There is even this odd reference to something called the 'real world' as a possible source of inspiration. Which is odd since GW corporate officers have said, under oath, that their creations are original with no prior inspiration. I'm probably just misreading it.




Even better there is a 2 page series of IG regiments from across the galaxy.



While some are existing regiments like the Praetorians...



And others could be made with existing models like RT guard...



Most are just flights of fancy to inspire fans and models.

I personally think the redacted guys should be some sort of Ordo Xenos storm troopers, unmarked and anonymous sent in to clean out whole districts after a Xenos infestation.





I like how some Necromunda gangs sneak in, and if you squint you'll find the first appearance of the Death Korps of Krieg in there too.



And on the next page the somewhat less successful Woad Warriors who believe that faith can conquer bullets. And yes, he is wearing a helmet and body paint and nothing else. You can do a search for Celtic Woad, but I wouldn't do it at work if I were you.

I also like the guys whose world was purged. Geeze. What's a few extra spikes among friends man?



And there's a whole spread of different Rough Rider units.



And tankers!

Like I said the thinnest of the IG books, but in many ways the one with the most potential.

I praised the art earlier so let's close out with some more examples. I scanned and uploaded them darnit, so I'm going to use them!















One lousy thing about 40k since at least the Space Wolf Codex in 2nd edition is that while marines use 90% of the same models, different colored marines get their own rules. While guard, who might use totally different models in different armies use the same rules.

Well join us next time when we take a look at Codex Catachan Jungle Fighters with the first attempt to really differentiate the regiments.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/12/03 21:25:05


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

I always liked how the example soldiers were in some variation of a ready stance, but the Mordian was at full attention!

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I always liked how the example soldiers were in some variation of a ready stance, but the Mordian was at full attention!


As it should be. Would you expect anything less?

   
Made in us
Insect-Infested Nurgle Chaos Lord






C'mon KK, you don't point out the Lucky 13s (fourth row, far right) in that lineup of regiments. The guys with the huge hats who suffered massive losses in the battle of the low corridor.

That one seems like an open goal for you.


Games Workshop Delenda Est.

Users on ignore- 53.

If you break apart my or anyone else's posts line by line I will not read them. 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

And we're back!

At this time putting out a plastic set was a major investment for GW and when they did they tried to get the most out of it. So naturally the Plastic Catachans were not just featured in the IG Codex (actually they're not really featured that much, Cadians even got the cover) they got their own codex!



I can see it now...

James Workshop - The Imperial Guard are our horde army, but for many Light Years have only been available in costly metal. Though it pains me to imagine the Great Unwashed paying less, I feel the time has come to make the Imperial Guard... but in plastic!
Minion - Excellent sir I will have the boys start on plastic Cadians right away.
James Workshop - I say thee... nay.
Minion - But sir the Cadians are clear rip offs of the Colonial Marines from Aliens, everyone wants them in plastic.
James Workshop - Nay. (Lights cigar with £100 note) Why should the Great Unwashed want well-equipped sci-fi troopers? Such a thing is not needed in this year of our Lord 2000. No I have my finger on the pulse of our culture and I tell you what the Great Unwashed wants is... Rambo.
Minion - Rambo sir? The guy from the top grossing movie of 1985?! 15 years before this current year which is 2000? Rambo?
James Workshop - (Taking a long drag of his Cuban cigar). Aye, the children of today, which as you said is the year 2000, want more Rambo.


And so we got Codex Rambo. Which is certainly a Codex. With paper and staples and everything.

What's the difference you ask between an Imperial Guard army (which happens to have Catachans in it because they cost half as much as metal guys and can be converted) and a Catachan Imperial Guard army?

Perhaps this visual aid will help.



Catachan Jungle Fighter Imperial Guard Army



Catachan Death World Veterans Army

Notice the difference? Notice anything missing?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play an Imperial Guard army but with no tanks, or artillery or any of the units that actually work? AND you get to pay more for the squishiest troops in the game? Well this is book for you!

(Needless to say I was not a fan, nor was anyone else, I think I saw one Death World Vet army in all my years)



And from the beginning the problem is clear. The book is half Codex Catachan Death World Jungle Fighter Veteran Rambos and half Battlezone Jungle Fight and half modelling guide and half fluff.

The jungle fighting rules are interesting.



There's a random table for man-eating plants and such (because of course there's a random table), rules for seeing through the jungle (you can't), rules for getting spooked as you hike through the jungle (Dark Eldar roaming through the jungle wearing the flesh of people they've skinned are notoriously skitish you know), fluff for various beasties (but no rules ) and all kinds of stuff that makes a jungle fight a lot different from other battlefields.

And then the other half of the book is for the Jungle Fighting Veteran Rambo Catachans who ignore all these things



In exchange they are under different limits. No tanks, no artillery, no las cannons (for some odd reason), smaller and more expensive squads. Basically taking away all the things IG players are used to and leaving them with slightly less terrible infantry.

So if you fight them in the Jungle (having made a custom jungle table and rolled on the random chart) they are god-like , but if you face them is say... a city, or an open field, not so much .



Needless to say an army that requires a table of custom terrain and where your opponent will be at a distinct disadvantage just for showing up was never all that popular.

Still the Veteran Jungle Death World Rambo Fighters did have some interesting ideas.



Veteran squads (there's like 3 or 4 kinds) could ambush from hidden locations and had heavy flamers, special weapons and demo charges (basically a thrown battle cannon round that had a decent chance of blowing up your own squad if you rolled poorly). I especially like the rule that once a model throws his demo charge you have to replace it with identical model that does not have a demo charge. And if you don't have an extra model then you remove him as he goes home for a well-earned grox burger.

That's some choice GW nickle and diming right there!



But then there's stuff like the commissar rule. Roll a die for each commissar, on a 1 he's met an unfortunate accident before the battle and dies.





And of course no Catachan Jungle Veteran Death Fighter World list would be complete without the dynamic duo of Col Iron Hand Straken and Sly Marbo, who is totally NOT inspired by ANYTHING. We have that under oath.



The art is also very evocative, just look at that dude burning down the village to save it!





I have to praise the modeling section too. There are some great conversions in there, I really like the dino riders. They almost make me forget that that Veteran World Jungle Fight Deathers list doesn't have rough riders. Almost.



The fluff is also great with lists of various beasts



A guide to Catachan knives



And booby traps.

But still it quickly becomes clear how thin the idea of Codex Everyone is Rambo really is. When the army list consists of Death World Veteran Command HQ, Catachan Devils Squad, Death World Veteran Assault Team, Death World Veteran Snipers, Death World Infantry Platoon, and Death World Veterans Patrol... all of which are the same guys in t-shirts and bandanas things are feeling a bit too samey. (OK there were Ogryn and heavy weapon teams too.)



There were rules for including Catachans in normal IG armies which let you pick the best of the book and ignore the limits which I think is what most folks did.

With some work this could have been a stronger book with options that were competitive in all environments. For example give them advantages in all cover, not just jungles, give them universal infiltrate and/or outflank. Include some nasty beasts (Lizardmen models maybe?) and poison weapons and make this the guerilla/ambush army and I think it may have gone further.

And while I still say the plastic Catachans were Not Terrible, that isn't really the same thing as good. A few hat or helmet heads, guys with sleeves, a body with a closed flak jacket, leaner muscles, all these things would have made for a better kit.

But still it was an interesting book and it's obvious the artists and modellers had a blast so it's not all bad.

Come back next time when we take a look at the Catachan's opposites!

 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Come back next time when we take a look at the Catachan's opposites!
You're going to look at Codex: Cadia from the EOT book?

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Scarred Ultramarine Tyrannic War Veteran






Maple Valley, Washington, Holy Terra

I assume it's the Armageddon Steel Legion from Codex Armageddon next?

"Calgar hates Tyranids."

Your #1 Fan  
   
Made in us
Master Engineer with a Brace of Pistols





washington state USA

I own a copy of the 3rd ed chapter approved that has the vehicle design rules but more importantly it has the guard armored company list, and the rules for schaffers last chancers.


We like to use the latter for some of our kill team games as one of the guys has all the old minis.







GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear 
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




This was a nice codex. But the second third edition one will always be one of my favourites.

You should add the Chapter Approved/WD rules intended for this codex here. Like the original armoured company rules.
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I built an entire table of jungle terrain thanks to this book and the rules. I used it once, as everyone refused to play on it.

I didn't even have a Catachan army so I suffered just as much as everyone else!

Some photos playing a different skirmish game on the board......







Sadly, that board is now long gone thanks to a move. I used floor tiles to make is modular, so it was heavy as heck! I kind of wish I still had it around.

:(



Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

And we're back!

Last time we looked at the IG army with no tanks that kind of sucked, so now let's look at the reverse the IG army with mandatory tanks that was kind of awesome.

(We'll have to wait a little bit to get to the inverse, the IG army that was all tanks and kind of sucked)

Yes it's time for...



CODEX: WHO THE HECK IS RUNNING THE IMPERIAL MINISTRY OF TOURISM?!

Armageddon? You named your planet Armageddon? What was Planet Death Planet already taken?





Armageddon of course was not a new creation for this codex, it first popped up in a GW board game in 1992



Part of a series of cardboard chit style games that GW did and were generally forgotten (OK Horus Heresy got a plastic mini remake from FFG). Battle for Armageddon might have been too but for introducing these two dudes.



Yarrick and Ghazghkull!

GW successfully made them the break out stars of the game with rules for Rogue Trader 40k and Epic.





There's some nice art for them too, Yarrick is seen here in custom Rhino, the Outpost of Confidence.



They reappeared in 2nd edition codexes and were semi regular presences in army lists and such and 8 years later with this codex they got new models or a 'glow up' as the hip kids like to say.

So come back next time as we dig into Codex Armageddon!

 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Yarrick and Ghazghkull!

GW successfully made them the break out stars of the game with rules for Rogue Trader 40k and Epic.
And just recently one of them got a stonking great new mini, and the other was killed off-screen.


Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
(We'll have to wait a little bit to get to the inverse, the IG army that was all tanks and kind of sucked)


Make sure you do the initial version for the 3rd edition (first codex) before doing the updated version for the 3rd edition (second codex).
Note. There was actually 3 versions, there were 2 for the 3rd edition (second codex) which had adjusted points and doctrines.

- The initial armoured company rules, intended to go with the 3rd edition (first codex) had weird and wonderful rules. Chapter Approved 2001.
- Updated armoured company rules, intended to go with the 3rd edition (second codex) removed all the special rules and tweaked the army list. Chapter Approved 2004.
- Online update for the 3rd edition (second codex) armoured company rules. Adjusted some point values, added doctrines. GW website.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2022/12/06 05:27:48


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

'Lucky Glancing Hits'. Certainly not a rule I'd call 'wonderful'.

Give me the Armoured Battlegroup list from Imperial Armour Volume 1 any day!

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

For the record I'm only going to take this up to (but not including) the 3.5 codex. Basically Codex Black Crusade and the plastic Cadians will be my cut off.

I may try and dig out some of the WD rules for Drop Troops and other regiments but we'll see. Not sure if I still have my old Imperial Armor books, I'll have to see about those too.

But that is still A LOT!

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka







It is worth noting that Armageddon was the setting for the intro scenarios within the 2nd edition starter set, where you played as Blood Angels vs. the Orks.

2021-4 Plog - Here we go again... - my fifth attempt at a Dakka PLOG

My Pile of Potential - updates ongoing...

Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.


 Kanluwen wrote:
This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.

Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...

tneva82 wrote:
You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something... 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut





 Dysartes wrote:
It is worth noting that Armageddon was the setting for the intro scenarios within the 2nd edition starter set, where you played as Blood Angels vs. the Orks.


And this batrep was the birth of Tycho.
   
Made in us
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought




San Jose, CA

H.B.M.C. wrote:
 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Yarrick and Ghazghkull!

GW successfully made them the break out stars of the game with rules for Rogue Trader 40k and Epic.
And just recently one of them got a stonking great new mini, and the other was killed off-screen.


Too soon man....too soon
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I can't believe they killed Ghazghull off screen!




What...... oh.......




Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
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Made in ie
Sinister Chaos Marine




Some really fond memories of playing against IG from the 3rd edition codex.

The Catachans codex on the other hand was a very mixed bag. Cool idea in theory but utterly woeful against anything wearing power armour. Requiring a full jungle themed table was near impossible as well considering the only gaming store near us for 3 hours only had 1 set of Citadel trees for sale for a stupid price.

 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Now I know there are some reports of Yarrick's death and it has upset a lot of people.

Some people claim this shows GW has become more mercenary and money grubbing than they were back when they required people with demo charges to buy a second model to depict it after it was thrown.

Frankly I blame the poor state of our school system and not teaching the classics.



I rolled a 4, he's fine.

And now let's dig into Codex Armageddon!

This is an article about Codex Armageddon you will remember.



Which raises some interesting questions. Now we all know that they don't speak English or Latin in the 41st Millennium, they're speaking some unknowable language that's about as comprehensible to us as a caveman grunting in proto-Indo-Europian. The English and Latin are just there for our convenience.

So what if Planet Armageddon is not actually named Armageddon but call Sigma Five or whatever, however after the two massive wars (sorry! ONE massive war, ONE!) Sigma Five has become synonymous with Armageddon. Maybe?

Or maybe the Imperial Ministry of Tourism is just really, really bad at their jobs.



Anyway hive world, important industrial center, two (ONE! I meant ONE!) massive invasions and now it's time for one more.



The Third (Second! ) War for Armageddon was a massive worldwide campaign with this Codex introducing 4 new ones. Ork Speed Freaks, Salamander Space Marines, the Broken Masters of Cheese and Lazy Painting, and what we are here for, the Steel Legion.



These guys don't look doomed at all. Nope.



I don't have much (OK anything) to say about the Speed Freaks.



The Salamanders were interesting for the first dark skinned marine chapter we've seen.



And as for the Grand Masters of Broken Rules...



Fall Forward, always hit on 3+, fearless in melee, 6+ invulnerable save, invisible powerfists...



And a mandatory special character. Which just raises so many questions.

High Marshall - Bob-
Roberticus - Roberticus sire.
High Marshall - Right, Roberticus, I need to you lead a patrol to sector 7g, get some guys and a rhino.
Roberticus - Yes sire, will you instruct the Emperor's Champion to accompany us?
High Marshall - The Emperor's Champion is defending the pass.
Roberticus - What about the other Emperor's Champion?
High Marshall - Attacking the Orks.
Roberticus - But what if we encounter the enemy? We cannot go into battle without the Emperor's Champion!
High Marshall - Sigh. I have an extra black swords and iron halo in my foot locker.
Roberticus - But who shall wield it?
High Marshall - Steve-
Roberticus - Stephanicus?
High Marshall - Stephanicus has been looking pretty pious lately, just hand them to him, tell him the Emperor chose him or whatever.
Roberticus - As you wish sire.


So yeah...

Maybe something good came of them eventually, but it sure ain't here.

Huh.

OK, it's time for bed, so maybe tomorrow I'll finally get to the Iron Gu- uh Steel Legion.


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

No mention how the crushing gravity of the Salamander homeworld makes them very strong and therefore... slower... in normal gravity?

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
.. .-.. .-.. ..- -- .. -. .- - ..






Toowoomba, Australia

Golden age of gaming for me.

Loved my Praetorians done in khaki with Ratskin 'native' levy platoon attached.

Just sold off all my 3rd ed codexes couple months back as will never get time to read them again. :(

Thanks for the review, many happy memories back.

2024: Games Played:0/Models Bought:7/Sold:0/Painted: 53
2023: Games Played:0/Models Bought:287/Sold:0/Painted: 203
2020-2022: Games Played:42/Models Bought:1271/Sold:631/Painted:442
2016-19: Games Played:369/Models Bought:772/Sold:378/ Painted:268
2012-15: Games Played:412/Models Bought: 1163/Sold:730/Painted:436 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I wouldn't be sad if 10th edition 40K was just a word for word reprint of 3rd or 5th edition.


LOL

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Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

And we're back with the long-awaited review of the Iron Grenadier army list!



As noted the 3rd ( 2nd!) War for Armageddon was kind of an Imperial All-Stars Review with everyone and their cousins jumping in.



Besides Saint Yarrack (had he been sainted yet, it seems like he should have been sainted by now)...



We had battle fleets...



A half page of different Ork warbands



And this page with 24 (!!) Space Marine Chapters, 24 IG regiments (!!), also-rans like the SoBs and Arbites, guys like Skitarii and Ordo Xenos Kill Teams who wouldn't get rules or codexes for years, guys like the Officio Sabatorum and the Templars Psychologis who haven't been seen since but I would buy in a heartbeat, and basically more new fluff in a half page then we get in whole books.

Some of the guys here who get a single line of mention, like the Death Korps, the Savlar Chem Dogs, the Celestial Lions and Elysian Drop Troops would go on to get models, books, and a whole fandom.



There was a site that even had fluff and rules for some of them. An Ogryn regiment with no guns but 2 CC weapons, Ork Hunters who used Ork weapons against them, the poor doomed Celestial Lions, Ork Talla-Portas, all kinds of cool stuff.




I really liked this campaign.



but the guys we are here to see are the Armageddon Iron Gua-, no I mean the Meta-, (Checks Notes) Steel Legion!




Due to Armageddon's poisonous ash wastes the Steel Legion wore full body suits and gas masks and were required to ride around in Chimeras.



Rules wise they weren't that different, not as much as Catachans were. Basically any unit that could buy a Chimera had to, any unit that normally could not was now allowed to (except for rough riders, who were assumed to keep on their horses).



At the time the base 3rd edition rules treated all vehicles the same except for their stats, but with this codex the Chimera got a half page of special rules from firing out the top hatch to being amphibious.



The Steel Legion models were fan favorites and you can see why. Covered head to toe there was none of that pesky flesh to paint. Their proportions were a bit more normal than the 2nd edition metals, and they had a distinct World War II style (good taste and a desire to remain on topic prohibit me from saying which WWII army they resemble).

The puzzling part of course is why they were done in metal rather than plastic. Like other metal lines the Steel Legion was always incomplete, lacking the full range of special and heavy weapons, to say nothing of models like standard bearers and medics. While plastics technology then was a bit more limited there's no reason GW could not have made a kit on par with the Brettonians or High Elf Archers. But they didn't, and so trench coated, gas masked plastic guard was but a dream until the 2020s.

This was definitely a high water mark for the guard. Over the months to come there would be conversion articles and rules additions for armies like the Elysian Drop Troops, the Chem Dogs and others. The Black Library launched series like Gaunt's Ghosts. And Forge World started cranking out tank after tank for the IG with rules in an affordable soft cover!

So join us next time when we say, Tanks for the Memories!

 
   
Made in us
Master Engineer with a Brace of Pistols





washington state USA

 Easy E wrote:
I wouldn't be sad if 10th edition 40K was just a word for word reprint of 3rd or 5th edition.


LOL


Nobody says you can't just do that yourself. the books are easy enough to find as are the minis.

I own hard copies of codexes for just about every army in the game from various editions.





GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear 
   
 
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