ImAGeek wrote:

 SickSix wrote:
Awesome stuff. The Tau titan is a bit ridiculous. I mean it's really cool in a Gundam/anime/mecha style but, would take 10 minutes just to resolve all of it's shooting!

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Oooh, better watch out, the Tzeentch one has Soul Blaze on the heavy stubber!

Right, I'm back in a hotel now so can do more of a detailed breakdown.
I think I've posted all of the pictures that I took. I spoke to Blake Spence about the Mastadon first thing (it was the first thing in the display room), and that is a fantastic kit. Rules are still being worked on, and the model on show was a first Production run to which they need to fine tune the molds. In terms of transport capacity it is alleged to hold between 30 and 40, and is designed to cut through and blow through walls to deliver shock troops - it's like a Karybdiss, but as a tank. It was originally thought up with front tracks based on the Sicarian and the rear as a Land Raider. Front doors have Frag Assault launchers, and are operated on moving Pistons - this thing could a pain to put together. It has Void Shields (2x bubble things on the top in the middle) and has a rear turret that can fit razorback size armaments. I'm recalling loving it, and can see this being a purchase. Timeframes are unclear, but there's still a month or two of work left on it.
Spent a long time talking to Alan Bligh about various bits and pieces. For the non heresy stuff, they'll be releasing warscrolls for their Warhammer Forge things in the next month or two, and they would like to do another book in the future if time permits. For 40k they are looking to do more Imperial Armour, and the hint is that Tau may be involved (hence the giant battle suit). They would like to do more, but they have a lot of projects and could really do with more writers to get through all the things they would like to do. I asked about a 40k Mechanicus book using 30k models and rules, and the response I got was "we'd be stupid not too" - the caveat that I was given was that a lot of the Cybernetica stuff would most likely be out of production for 10,000 years and they can't rebuild it, and also likely to be forbidden tech. I think it's something they are throwing about in the early design process at the moment.
With respect to the Heresy stuff - book 6 is now almost certainly Shattered Legions, but they may sneak in a chapter at the end of the book with 'the remaining legions' specific rules and Rites of War, just not named characters or Primarchs. This follows nicely with the upgrades we've been seeing, and is an acknowledgement to players that want to get started with their legion before the specified book comes out. As an aside I heard second hand, and not via Alan Bligh, that book 6 would be called Retalliation, and would feature Iron Warriors. Which also coincides with the artwork that was being done as demos, they were working on a Salamanders Falchion (so Shattered Legions) and Iron Warrior legionnaires.
Alan also had a Mechanicum red book on his desk, which is Production ready and awaiting arrival on the ship - so should be 5-6 weeks before it comes up for order. Alan mentioned going forward that if there were a large shift in the basic 40k rules that needed addressing they would update the red book rather than the main books, so no Massacre 2nd Edition. Also red book has Orinatus rules in it, 2 different profiles.
For Prospero, it sounds like the rules have progressed but are still being play tested, now the delays are coming in from model design. There are 4 unique looking armies to consider, and according to Alan the Wolves are very different to their 40k iteration, and he's looking forward to seeing how people react to them. Customers sound like they're going down full army route (another "we'd be silly not to" remark) and sound like they'd eventually get Terminators, Dreadnoughrs, and other units.
He is working on a lot of stuff in parallel, even within the Heresy side, including some preliminary stuff on the other untouched legions. He remarked that some of the nuggets of information in Unremembered Empire about the Dark Angels was based on some of his thoughts that he'd provided to the author and they had dropped in. Discussing how Black Library and ForgeWorld operate, there isn't any delay on either the ForgeWorld or Black Library sides to keep the timeline in sync, but ForgeWorld do have to keep an eye on not accidentally spoiling upcoming books when writing their own background and narratives.
The Moddelling Masterclass book is looking good, and should be coming available in the next couple of months. Saw snapshots of the photos for painting an Imperial Fist Falchion, and a Warlord Titan.
Simon Egan is not giving away anything on the next Primarch he's working on. Heard him get asked a number of times, and every time he stated he wasn't allowed to say anything or drop any hints, which he didn't. My thought - if book 6 is Shattered Legions and Iron Warriors, the only Legion without a Primarch would be the Raven Guard, so personally I think it would make sense for it to be Corax. But, that's just my opinion.
Transfers look like they're getting a big push now, and saw Imperial Fist sheets being worked upon by Holly Goodwin. There's an entire book of various Legion and Legio sheets that are closing to Production, so these should be coming out thick and fast soon enough.
Of the new sneak peeks, I was really impressed with the Techmarines. I couldn't get a decent photo due to the light coming in from the outside, but did try some basic iPhone imagine manipulation to show them up. They have a bit of an iron Hands feel to them, but the armour is very unique. With two there I'm assuming it must be similar to theApothecaries where they come in 2 to a pack.
The only downside was that the Design area was as hot as Hell! I don't know if that room had air con or not, but with the Bugmans kitchen next door, lots of studio lights, and an increasingly busy area, it quickly became unbearable for me. They had industrial floor fans, but by mid morning they were only blowing the warm air about. I don't know how the ForgeWorld team managed to survive in there, so Kudos to them all.
I'll try and have a think back to see what other nuggets I managed to glean. I couldn't find anything about the Stormbird, or rules for the new release models (although it looks like one was spied). Several characters sound like they're getting rules, but whether they will or not is another matter.

Formosa wrote:So... Do I get an unequivocal apology in regards to the dark angels that are "nowhere on the horizon"

Formosa wrote:This is the first rumour I'm happy to go on the tracker about, I spoke to my mate whom works at forge world (in a prominent well known position) and the person has informed me that dark angels are now being worked on, they have had a brief about how they want the dark angels to behave, and are hashing out the pre lion el jonson fluff, this ive been told will be more extensive than any of the other pre primarch fluff as I was told it is key to the events that happen during and after the heresy, I asked what units to expect and they stated that nothing solid has been nailed down just yet, but throwing around names such as deathwing paladins, doom knights (not a clue what this could be) and several others, I personally don't know how long development takes bit this is exciting to me.

Glad to share all.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
This isn't personal, I don't know you and I'm not trying to pick a fight. What I will say is that if you're going about saying people from FW told you stuff at WW and there were people from FW at WW, you could potentially land those people in very serious gak if there was validity to you claim. If you think this forum isn't read by people in the company at high level, you'd be wrong. Hypothetically.

If they'd been started on, with units named, rules proposed, primarch worked on as you suggest, then the holy trinity would know about it, that's Alan, Neil and Andy. Hypothetically they have not touched on Dark Angels at all and the most you might see are some shoulder pads/torsos etc knocked out at some stage, as those don't require the big sanction, but rules, names of units, whole unit figure releases etc, newp...

 Sidstyler wrote:
That Tau model is so stupid. I really want to like it, it's a much better look than the riptide, but it's so fething over-the-top it's just not funny anymore. Three giant cannons on the back (don't look like rail weapons, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was a new look for them), what appears to be six ion accelerators with three on each arm (people cry enough as it is about just one), multiple smart missile systems and burst cannons on the torso, god only knows what else. It also looks ridiculously top heavy; way, way worse than the old broadside ever was. Personally I love back-mounted guns like that and miss the old silhouette the broadside used to have, but this is just stupid.

I was pissed off enough when the riptide came out. Even more annoyed when FW started putting out multiple new kits based on the riptide instead of, you know, cool models I'd actually like to buy like new vehicles and aircraft (or how about something out of left field and release a new infantry unit for once?). And now this, with rumors that GW is going to be releasing another big plastic robot like the riptide but with a ton of missiles. THIS ISN'T TAU. Tau relied on man-sized units like stealth suits and crisis suits/broadsides were as big as they could get, standing only two to two and a half times the size of a man. Anything bigger than that was too impractical and the role better filled by tanks and aircraft. They didn't need gak like this before to bust titans with, the tigersharks retro-fitted with starship-sized railguns were good enough, and if I'm not mistaken they even canonically have super heavy grav tanks and stuff that have yet to materialize as models, even though they would probably look really cool (if the hammerhead is anything to go by, which is still my favorite Tau model) as well as being perfectly fluffy. It was good fluff, made sense, and also had the bonus of not being trope-y, with the giant super robot theme being exactly what you'd expect from something that's meant to be anime-inspired. Tau USED TO BE one of the only exceptions, but GW threw that out the window because apparently Gundams = $$$.

Only thing that's missing now is a new warlord-sized suit with a dock for a smaller suit. Maybe we can get a new unit of riptide-sized suits specifically designed to fight daemons that are all piloted by emotional female Tau. Or how about a battlesuit the size of a GALAXY. Give me a god-damned break, I'm so fething mad now between this and AoS. Just kill everything I like about your games why don't you, who gives a gak anymore?

 ImAGeek wrote:

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:

Formosa wrote:So... Do I get an unequivocal apology in regards to the dark angels that are "nowhere on the horizon"

If you could show me where the new named units are, new Dark Angels background is and how I was wrong in saying 'you'll get a torsos and shoulder pads kit', that would be great.

There are 3 people who write this stuff up at the top end. They have not begun anything in relation to Dark Angels. I know this.

So, again, to reiterate, a unit kit isn't a legion release indication, Dark Angels continue to be nowhere on the horizon. The 3 might sit down tomorrow morning and decide that it's time to start thinking about them, but right now, the have not. As I mentioned previously, those unit upgrades and so on, the 'bits and pieces' don't require sanction and people can sculpt them and release them as they affect nothing in gaming. Anything larger requires meeting and approval, FW isn't like GW, it still has a unified design team who work together, rather than siloed.

I'll suggest to you that perhaps you know someone who's in casting or sculpting who's seen the Dark Angel kit and the rest was conjecture or speculation on their part, but again, 100%, the Dark Angels Legion has not been started on, there has been no, zero, ziltch discussion on named units or abilities or anything else. There has been no pondering in meetings nor enthusiastic idea bouncing at the pub, Dark Angels have not been looked at by the big 3 at all. There is no brief.

Please reread what you wrote and what I wrote in response.

Formosa wrote:This is the first rumour I'm happy to go on the tracker about, I spoke to my mate whom works at forge world (in a prominent well known position) and the person has informed me that dark angels are now being worked on, they have had a brief about how they want the dark angels to behave, and are hashing out the pre lion el jonson fluff, this ive been told will be more extensive than any of the other pre primarch fluff as I was told it is key to the events that happen during and after the heresy, I asked what units to expect and they stated that nothing solid has been nailed down just yet, but throwing around names such as deathwing paladins, doom knights (not a clue what this could be) and several others, I personally don't know how long development takes bit this is exciting to me.

Glad to share all.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
This isn't personal, I don't know you and I'm not trying to pick a fight. What I will say is that if you're going about saying people from FW told you stuff at WW and there were people from FW at WW, you could potentially land those people in very serious gak if there was validity to you claim. If you think this forum isn't read by people in the company at high level, you'd be wrong. Hypothetically.

If they'd been started on, with units named, rules proposed, primarch worked on as you suggest, then the holy trinity would know about it, that's Alan, Neil and Andy. Hypothetically they have not touched on Dark Angels at all and the most you might see are some shoulder pads/torsos etc knocked out at some stage, as those don't require the big sanction, but rules, names of units, whole unit figure releases etc, newp...