Warhammer Fest, Day 1: Afternoon Forge World Seminar

I'm currently in rainy Coventry, recovering in my secret lair near the Ricoh Arena, where Warhammerfest is being held. Before I go for dinner, I thought I'd fire out my notes on the Forge World afternoon presentation. Other people have already fired pictures all over the internet, so I'm mostly going to be doing the written down thing.

This is what mine would have looked like.
There are better ones elsewhere on the internet.
Go find them.

The first one up to the plate was Imperial Armour Volume 13: The Lost and the Damned. This is out in limited numbers at the weekend - there's a run of 2,000 with a slip case and poster. It contains:

• All the Chaos Vehicle and Daemon Engine rules
• Updated rules for older Chaos models
• Renegades and Heretics army list
• A few selected relics of the Heresy

Daemon possessed Fellblades were mentioned, as well as the Decimator being included. The army list is a single army list with many options - it expands on the army lists from Vraks, allowing you to field any of those armies, but also adds in options for Slaanesh and Tzeentch Renegades as well.

I also managed to get a quick chat in with Andy Hoare and a look at the book on one of the desks. The army list includes a lot of HQs which unlock options, and also purchasable upgrades for Warlords to unlock yet more options still. Renegades and Mutants are all in there, with a particular combination of traits intended to allow you to give models Hellguns to allow for Chaos Storm Troopers. There are also some references to Chaos Hereteks. The Kharybdis Assault Claw makes an appearance for Chaos as well.

Horus Heresy Book 4: Conquest is due at the end of November, so people can order it in time for Christmas. It is currently at the printers. It is the biggest book so far. There is a Forge World Knight on the cover, which gives a bit of an indication as to the book's focus and content. It covers:

• The Battles of the Cyclops Cluster
• Siege of Mezoa
• Conquest of Manachea
• Defence of Agathon

These are battles that aren't in the Horus Heresy Novels, but is about what Horus and friends did "in between the gaps". It covers the conquest of a significant portion of the Northern Imperium, as Horus takes control of a sector of space cut off from the rest of the Imperium by warp storms so he has a base of operations. For example, Manachea is a big Agri-World, and a bit of a bread basket for that sector of the Imperium.

Forces in the book are:

• Sons of Horus
• Death Guard
• Iron Hands
• Salamanders
• Imperial Fists
• Dark Mechanicum
• Mechanicum
• Solar Auxilia
• Knights
• Titans

There was a mention that some of the Loyalist forces have gone mad, others are engaging in revenge attacks to worlds that have allied or even capitulated to Horus, and others are waging a guerrilla war.

The world of Cyclotrathe was mentioned - a Dark Mechanicum world which isn't in the 40K background, because someone has (rightly) turned it to ash by the time 40K happens. This is where some of the worst of the Dark Mechanicum are, licensed by Horus to forge their own mini empire as long as they keep his armies supplied. Their forces are now carving out their own client empire, harvesting humans for their experiments.

There's a mention of the Knight Houses of the area, and their interlinked backgrounds. It covers why their histories and existing allegiances determine the side they end up on. One example given was a House which had only been a part of the Imperium for five years at the outbreak of the Heresy, so sided with the only faction they'd ever met - Horus. (Apparently, that didn't go so well for them!)

The Solar Auxilia are an elite branch of the Imperial Army. There was a Latin name for the Imperial Army, but someone mumbled, so I missed it.

The book will include a history of the battles, background for the Solar Auxilia, background for the Knight Houses, the background to 4 new Knight Houses of the 31st Millenium, a campaign system, a Solar Auxilia list, and a 30K only Knight list.

There will be a special edition of Conquest. That will include a slipcase, a post and QR sheets for each unit to save people lugging the whole book around.

There was then a big display of models. Go look at the Battle Bunnies blog to see pictures - I just have a list!

(Alpha Legion Contemptor, Word Bearer Contemptor, Imperial Fist Contemptor, Imperial Fist Templar Brethren, Imperial Fist Phalanx Warder Squad, Solar Auxilia Lasrifle section, Veletoris Storm Section with Volkites, Flamer Section, Leman Russ Incinerator with Volkite weapon, and a Chainfist and Volcano cannon for the Reaver Titan.)

There will be a Horus Heresy Model Masterclass Volume 1. It includes how they put the Istvaan III display board together. It will have the usual mix of display and more army standard tips and tricks.

Horus Heresy Book V: Tempest - work is just starting on this. It will be the Assault on Calth. It will show the Word Bearers getting more Chaos-y. We were shown some concept art for Word Bearers, Ultramarines and the Fire Masters Titan Legion.

There is a distinct desire to make the Ultramarines less dull. They are looking at white, gold, and marble as well as the usual blue, in a very Roman style. There was mention of Praetorian pattern armour and Invictarus special troops - who were very ornate with shields.

There was talk of future models with no pictures - two new Space Marine flyers, a new dreadnought (not a Contemptor, something new!), Solar Auxilia Storm Hammer, Solar Auxilia Ogryns (very different from the ones in 40K), more character series models - with pictures shown of parts of Sevatar and Konrad Curze. They will not be "too long".

Q&As

Any Iron Warriors? Some bits and pieces are on the way.

Warhammer Forge models going away? Some models will come back once they've looked again at sales and profitability. They will then likely add a few models next year.

Dark Angels? After Ultramarines but not too long. They want to do Thramas plus the Blood Angels at Signus Prime relatively soon.

Chaos Dwarves? No plans right now, but maybe.

Sigismund model? Will get around to him - it will take a year or two to get all the characters they want to do done.

Any Tau non flyer super heavies? There was an answer. Tony told us not to share it on forums or blogs. You may ask me in person if you have interest, or find someone who doesn't do what Tony asks.

What will be the breakdown of the Calth book? The final decisions on this aren't really made yet - they're still in early stages and playtesting the Ultramarines Legion rules. It's likely there will be more than one book and the first book will be the first 24 hours and the turnaround.

Any plans to do basics for the legions such as Blood Angels early so people can get started? Not really. They're resourced just about perfectly for books and models at the same pace right now - early Blood Angels models would mean more Ultramarines rules in the Calth books without models, and that wouldn't be fair. There are sometimes opportunities when they do books where fewer models are needed to sneak in a few extra models, but that's not often.

Will they do every character they've written rules for as a model? Nope. Some are better suited to conversion from a Praetor or Captain model. They won't necessarily do every one, but will where there is demand and a different enough model to merit it.

Will there be Heresy era Xenos? Not very likely at all. Horus Heresy is about a battle of man against man, and becomes a story about man versus Chaos. They will probably avoid Xenos outright as that's 40K's thing - but if they reach the Scouring, that's the time of the revenge of the Xenos. They won't cover pre-Davin Xenos as they'd have too limited a scope.

Dark Eldar? Don't expect more Dark Eldar models from FW until there is a dedicated Dark Eldar book.

Genos something something (from Legion)? Very unlikely. It was a small group. The Imperial Army is very broad, and they will generally do things that have a wider application. Solar Auxilia have many regiments but are also more elite, so more worthwhile doing as FW units.

Any book for Fantasy? No decided.

Chaos Knights? On the list to do conversion bits for.