Around the world, gamers will be waking up, eager to go get their pre-orders from their local stores, or their Games Workshop location. Or, if they were lucky enough, were able to secure a copy online during the “Great Website Apocalypse” a few weeks ago, where several hundred people and many more bots got theirs. If you are reading this and wish to get a box, I will make it known to you that Games Workshop has fixed this to some degree by making this Made to Order, so head over there if you need to!
Before I go on, I must stress that the only reason we can even gather in the manner I shall describe, is because Covid-19 has been managed exceptionally well in our part of the province of Ontario. With few confirmed cases, all contact traced to people well outside our circle, we have the ability now to gather in groups of certain sizes, which we fell far below. As well, we remained masked up, and social distanced as much as possible.
For us in Hanover, Ontario, we are blessed with a great local gaming store, The Giddy Goblin. Without fail, through proper diligence and not promising more then they can do, they have always managed to secure enough copies of any limited release for our local Clubhouse(of which most of our members shop there) to ensure no-one misses out, and today at midnight, they did not disappoint! Behold!
First, we had to praise our own Emperor equivalent…
Then, from 12:01, we played through Indomitus with the borrowed painted store copy of the models, and with our already owned armies, or spent our time building many new things. While I was in the latter category, quite a few did play some games, of which all were Crusade games! The system, while not perfect, like many Games Workshop rules out of the gate, they are still extremely flavourful and fun, although our painted store Ultramarines came out of the gate hard, with their Bladeguard cutting a swathe through all-comers.
The Power Level system has had issues before; being able to load up on weapon options regardless of points costs, was a potential balancing nightmare. While not perfect, the fact you have to spend precious Requisition points to change your load-out makes for no small measure of tactics. Do you spend the point on that? Or burn a couple and add an entirely new squad with a different load-out? We at Badly Painted Minis are not experts here, but it does ‘feel’ right.
A fun night(or morning, as it is more accurately described…) was fueled by Monster energy drinks, copious amounts of Tim Hortons, and several sugary snacks. Not entirely healthy, but the wave of hype was a tsunami; No one really escaped the sheer energy and optimism. Of course, no edition is perfect; issues with the Warhammer 40k App and balance and wording issues in regards to older books being used in a new edition did come out. But, as sane adults, we talked through many of these issues, and in lieu of any immediate solution from Games Workshop, decided to come up with a ‘community consensus’ on things.
The new models are beautiful; my experience is only with the Marine half of the box, so take that with a grain of salt. They really don’t need glue! A couple of Necron players noted that they objectively prefered the older models from a stylistic sense; classic Terminator(the movie, not the Marines, to be clear) feel of endless robots has been replaced in lore for a long time with dynastic warriors of an ancient race, but the Warrior models had not reflected that change. Now that they look the part, they are unsure about how much they like it.
As for us Marine players, the new models go together fairly well, and the push-fit nature, while annoying from a customization standpoint, are great for sub-assemblies. You can play before they are painted, and quickly take them apart to paint properly with little fuss later. For a box that is not a “Starter”, it certainly has the chops to be one…I suspect we will see these models in a Start Collecting or smaller, Know No Fear style starter box before long. My personal favourite is the new Captain, or ‘Marshall’ in my case, since I’m a Black Templar player. Honestly, while every bit of box art is Ultramarines for branding reasons, I see little need beyond adding a Templar cross or two to bring them into my chapter; they simply look the part already! For our resident players playing other Chapters, they have already taken their hobby knives, bits boxes, and 3D printed parts to them, adding their own Chapters unique flair; You will see these in a new post later today, as we document more fully our progress!
All in all, a great Launch Party, with plenty of social distancing, masks, and reasonable precautions, was had. While Games Workshop has had some missteps along the way, this has been a great introduction into their new Edition, and the excitement is almost electric. I look forward to telling you fine folks out there how we progress! This week will be full of Indomitus coverage, so stick around as we tell you what is great, what is not, and how a bunch of rural Southern Ontario locals play around with this great rule-set.
The Era Indomitus has begun! But, for now, I must bid you all a fond farewell. Stick around, and we hope we can provide some new takes on the Hobby. Stay safe, and have a great Launch Day!
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