The Chime of Eons - The Threat Beyond (Part 2)

If you hadn't spotted already, this is the second half of the article, split for reasons of data management. Or to put it another way, I wrote too much and added too many pictures, so had to clumsily lop it in half.

The first half is here:

http://www.cardgamed...at-beyond-r1317

The second half is here:





Other Cards


Cacophonic Choir

A slight divergence here, as I rant about Daemonettes!

As Lesser Daemons of Slaanesh, the God of Pleasure, its perhaps justified-in-fiction that "daemonettes" tend to be dressed like stars of S&M pornography. What is less forgivable for GW is that they are fixed in gender at all, and that with a name like "daemonette" they join the ranks of Smurfette, Ms. Pacman et al in their defining characteristic being their feminimity: a sure sign of male-centred writing!

40k is historically guilty of this on many levels.

For example, the Space Marines are an all boys club with dozens of distinctive Chapters defined by their own stereotypes (Space Vikings, Space Vampires, Space Romans and so on). Meanwhile Sisters of Battle are female, and their defining characteristic is... that they are female. This is absolutely the case: their existence in the universe's fiction comes from the fact that they are not male (as the Ecclesiarchy was forbidden from having men under arms), amd their English and cod latin names refer to the fact they are female. The faction as a whole has as much detail and definition to it as any single Space Marine chapter.

As another example, take the Eldar, who I admit I was initially drawn to as they seemed the most equal opportunity of employers. There are a whole bunch of Warrior Aspects, each of which is defined in a different way. Then there's the Howling Banshees who are defined by the fact they are an all-female order.

Its likely not intentional, but GW does this all the time. When there's a female group or female character, its noted as exceptional that they are female. When there is a male group or male character, their gender passes without comment or note, or at least without emphasis.

To be fair to GW, they're hardly alone in being a medium that is guilty of this, and to be very clear, a poor record on gender depiction doesn't stop the 40k universe being compelling or interesting, in the same way that ridiculous male-gaze artwork doesn't stop Marvel Comics producing some great stories and characters. Also, while they can't really be categorised as a positively progressive company, they are making positive progress over time, such as with their depiction of dark eldar wyches in art and miniatures.

Fluff renames and revisions have happened in the past for stylistic reasons - Screamer-Killers became Carnifices, for example, so I'd love to see GW bring Daemonettes in line with modern sensibilities, giving them a gender neutral name, and giving them a wider spread of genders.

Back to the card!

Cacophonic Choir is a known Slaaneshi psychic power from the wargame, with a warp-infused outburst of screams that inflicts pain on insanity on those who hear it. Two of the traits are well placed then, and the assignment of "maneuver" in this LCG seems to be tied more or less to "exhaust your warlord to". The only fluff issue here then is that neither of the current Warlords ought to be able to use Slaaneshi psychic powers, and if we ever get a Khornate Warlord (as followers of Khorne disdain sorcery and hate psykers) it'll be even more out of place.




Evil Sunz Warbiker

Because of where we've been so far with this LCG, this card will forever be "Ork'an Recruit" in my mind, belonging as it does to the 2-cost set of "Warlord Groupies" (as Killax has dubbed them, for their +2 attack with a warlord theme).

This card brings another Ork Klan into the LCG: the Evil Sunz are characterised by their love of speed. While all orks love fighting, loud guns and going really fast, the Evil Sunz are the ones who place the third of those as the most enjoyable.

It's not entirely clear why this card's fiction justifies a warlord-groupie ability. In fact, aside from the Bork'an Recruits, this ability hasn't made sense for any of the cards of this subset yet. Similarly unclear is why some bike cards get the Vehicle trait, and some don't: the dividing line at present seems to be that jetbikes are vehicles but landbikes aren't. This seems a little odd, to me.




Fire Warrior Grenadiers

And to round things out, here's the "3 cost groupie" for Tau. The Shas'la trait of many Tau infantry is repeated here.

I've commented before that its annoying that some Tau ranks are traited while others aren't, but my suspicion here is that some sort of Fire Warrior themed non-Unit card will arrive in the future, and that this trait has been placed for this purpose. Shas'la more or less translates as Warrior, of course, and the Soldier trait is also found on this unit, so it seems an unecomomical and inconsistent use of traits to single this out.

Notable on this card is the T'au sept symbol on the shoulder pad, combined with Bork'an colour scheme. Grenadier seems justified by the fact that a greande is being thrown.

There isn't anything in the ability to suggest Tau Grenades, however. It'd have been nice fiction wise, and good for the game, if the grenadiers had some ability to slow down enemies rushing to assault them, and this might have been nicely represented with an anti-Ambush ability of some sort. As it is, this is another instant of design symmetry winning over fiction representation.

Lets stop the complaining for a second, and talk about grenades!

Pretty much every faction uses grenades in one form or another. The Tau don't routinely use much by way of the crude explosives and incendiaries that other races prefer: the main Fire Warrior issues are Photon Grenades and EMP Grenades. Tau Photon grenades combine a multi-spectrum burst with a sonic blast, and are noted to not only blind the unprotected eye, but also to scramle and disrupt the optical devices of more primitive races. EMP grenades release an electronicmagnetic pulse (duh) that disrupts nearby electrical circuitry. Its worth noting that the Imperium has parallel technologies for both of these grenade types (Blind and Haywire grenades, respectively) and that the descriptions of those devices suggest they're actually higher tech and more effective than the Tau versions. However, the Tau grenades are seen much more often on frontline infantry, which suggests superior manufacturing capabilities, and likely a better understanding of the technologies they are manufacturing. It's surely only a matter of time before Tau grenade tech overtakes the static Imperial tech!



Firedrake Terminators

The Salamanders! The XVIII Legion have always been my second favourite loyalist chapter, and one that I collected a small number of minis for, till I got bored of painting green and black!

Dedicated to principles of self-sacrifice, self-reliance and loyalty, the Salamanders are an unusual chapter in many ways. Their homeworld of Nocturne is riven with volcanic activity, including a fifteen year cycle of massive tectonic disruption called The Time of Trials. Whilst a Codex Chapter, they also have their own semi-heretical Promethean Cult, whose rituals are linked with fire and the volcanoes of their homeworld.

The tectonc movements of Nocturne also cause it to suffer from widely fluctuating gravity (and IRL, one of the reasons I love this Chapter is how this statement makes my physicist friends slap their foreheads in exasperation) and as a result the Chapter has little experience or resources by way of antigrav vehicles or flyers, instead preferring to keep their boots and tank treads firmly on the ground. It is also a world that is steeped in radiation, which reacts with their geneseed to give the Salamanders jet black skin and burning red eyes. The Salamanders geneseed might be defective in other ways too, with a tendency to marginally slower reflexes than other marines (though the Chapter themselves claim this is a deliberate result of Chapter doctrines discouraging hastiness and encouraging care and deliberation).

Also fascinating is the nature of their Primarch, who has been identified as being a Perpetual. Perpetuals are those that are almost impossible to destroy, thanks to incredible regenerative abilities or the ability to reincarnate. The Emperor himself is said to be a Perpetual, and the two shared a close bond, such that through most of the Crusade and the Heresy, Vulkan remained by the Emperor's side rather than lead his own geneseed Legion. After the Heresy, Vulkan is notable in being missing in action rather than confirmed to be dead, and the Salamanders believe that he will come back to them once they have proved themselves worthy, by assembling the nine Artefacts of Vulkan that he left scattered across the galaxy. So far, five have been claimed.

Because they believe Vulkan to be still wandering the galaxy, the Salamanders their Chapter Master bears the title Regent of Prometheus, knowing that he is only Vulkan's proxy till the Primarch returns.

The Salamanders themselves have never been numerous: early in the Heresy their first engagement was the Assault on the Tempest Galleries, which saw their numbers reduced from 26000 to 1000. This mauling has left their numbers low since, and they now have only seven permanent companies.

Firedrakes are monstrous beasts native to Nocturne, and for most intents and purposes can be assumed to be dragons. Also, the First Company of the Salamanders bears the same name.

The First Company, as the fluff lovers will already know, is the company of veteran marines. The First Company has the option of Terminator armour, and the Salamanders are well blessed in this regard. As a Chapter that reveres fire, forge and artifice, they are amongst the best equipped. The thunder hammer shown has a flame-effect typical of the Salamanders (as they have an affinity for fire and heat based weaponry), the ornate armour and storm shield variant suggest their skill as warsmiths, and the glowing red eyes are just right.

The Firedrake Terminators also join a group of LCG cards that represent terminators of different Chapters, including the Blood Angel Veterans and Deathwing Guard. Whats great to see here is that all three units show Terminators in different ways, but that their stats and abilities are notably ones that typify their Chapters. The artwork showing the terminator smiting a Dark Eldar warrior is especially fitting here, as the Salamanders have a long history of conflict against that race. Its nice that in emergent play the Salamanders are both a great answer to many Dark Eldar threats (1HP Khymera and Incubi are somewhat easily beaten back) and also are most easily answered out of Dark Eldar cards (like a Klaivex Warleader, or an Archon's Terror).




Imperial Fist Siege Squad

Happy as I was to see my second favourite Chapter represented in the previous card, I was overjoyed when this late-previewed card was shown.

The Imperial Fists! These guys have long been my favourite of all the Space Marine Chapters. Also known as the Defenders of Terra, the Imperial Fists are both siegemasters and fortifiers, stubbornly resilient in both roles.

While Primarch Rogal Dorn was raised on the ice world of Inwit, the Chapter were rapidly rebased to Holy Terra itself, and were a central part of the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade. In the current era, they are mostly based on the Fortress Monastery starship Phalanx, though they recruit from many worlds, including Terra, Inwit, Necromunda and Pharos.

Technically their geneseed is flawed: two Space Marine modifications fail to take for them. One is the Betcher's Gland, that gives Space marines an acidic/poisonous bite. The other is the Sus-an membrane, which allows a physiological state of self induced suspended animation (in particular when greviously injured, to self stabilise the medical condition). The Fists themselves see these weaknesses as a point of pride, as it means that when they are faced with injury or defeat they can't retreat into coma: they have to fight on! They believe in willpower and resilience, and in stubborn determination.

Tellingly, despite their genetic flaws, the Imperial Fists are trusted by Administratum, and as such have dozens of successor chapters, with more Chapters based on their geneseed than any other Legion save the Ultramarines.

I love this Chapter for a few different reasons:

First, my first exposure to a Warhammer 40,000 novel was Ian Watson's Space Marine, and while there have been better novels in the Black Library line since, it made an indelible mark on my fifteen year old brain.

Second, the colours. You have to love the courage of a Chapter that wears bright yellow into battle, and stands proud in the firing line unflinching as comrades die around them. Yes, a colour scheme that involves large swathes of yellow is a goddamn nightmare to paint, but there's nothing like the visual impact of an Imperial Fists battle force.

Third, they're down to earth Imperial soldiers, through and through. The Ultramarines fancy themselves superior and are a little too squeaky clean. The Dark angels are a little too emo and self loathing. The Blood Angels and Space Wolves are just silly. The Imperial Fists are just space marines who fight and die for the cause. They defended the Imperial Palace during the Defence of Terra.

The Fists are, for me, what Space Marines are all about. They're just humans, but they're also superhuman. They come from many worlds, classes and backgrounds, but they're all soldiers. They served the Emperor, and they remained loyal through the Heresy because there was never any question in their mind to do otherwise. Their's is duty without ego, discipline without hidebound orthodoxy, war without rage.

So it doesn't really matter to the fiction lover in me what this card's ability is, or what the stats are. What matters is that I can field my favourite Chapter.

3 copies, in the deck. Don't try and stop me.



Kabalite Halfborn

Eldar are not the most numerous or fertile of peoples, and for the Dark Eldar of Commorragh family means "useful tools and weapons" and sometimes "bitter rivals who know too much about my weaknesses."

Combine this with a culture where murder is a common enough cause of death that its considered everyday, and a selfish devotion to the extension of ones own life, and its unsurprising that your typical Dark Eldar isn't someone who dreams of having a litter of children. Immortality through your descendants isn't worth anything to the Dark Eldar psyche - they're too busy pursuing immortality through not dying.

Commorragh runs on slaves, however, and while realspace raids might be a way of life for the Kabal, there will never be enough bodies. As such, the Dark Eldar have taken to cloning their race, and enslaving the "Half-born" that result. A few Half-born might excel enough to become a Kabalite Warrior, but prejudice runs deep so it is unlikely the Trueborn will ever let them proceed beyond the lowest of ranks.

This card is great. The game ability and lack of command icon encourages a player to throw them to the frontline and see them as essentially disposable, and may even be happy to see them die in place of more valuable servants. When you'd rather see your Halfborn minions die than your Khymera pets, you know that the game is doing well in representing the Dark Eldar mindset.

The art is nicely moody too: a warrior stood in the rain, looking menacing from his warrior gear, till you notice that the only weapon his masters have deigned to allow him is a simple knife, and till you note his posture and distant gaze. Is he looking for someone with better weapons to backstab, or is he looking out for Trueborn bullies who will take his life just for the sadistic joy of it?



Ksi'm'yen Orbital City

A third phase Tau colony, the Sept World Ksi'm'yen was conquered largely by stealth, and has since been associated with luck, subtlety and opportunistic subterfuge. We don't really know much more than this.

The artwork here seems to be a conscious nod to Bespin's Cloud City from Star Wars, though I have to admit it matches the Tau aesthetic wonderfully.

The game effect doesn't make a great deal of sense. Distance factors aside, its not clear why Ksi'm'yen's orbital cities (and its non-unique, so we're talking city plural) provides a taxi service for Ethereals.

Despite this, the card is actually extremely strong in the overall game style it creates: finally, we can truly play Tau in a way that employs the Mont'ka and Kau'yon approaches. Game scale considerations aside, there's few cards in the game that make the style of war feel more Tau than this one.



Mighty Wraithknight

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan of the Adjective Thing naming convention, as it seems somewhat less evocative than using terminology that is meaningful within the fiction.

A Wraithknight is a ghost-construct, guided by the spirits of the dead in much the same way the smaller Wraithlord and Wraithguard are.

Their pilots are unusual in that there are always two: a living twin and a deceased one. The dead twin's spirit is interred within the Wraithknight's spirit stone, and the psychic empathic link of the living twin is utilised through a near-permanent trance state in the Wraithknight's cockpit. Only with this bridge between the living and the dead can this war machine be sustained and controlled, so they are understandably rare.

The weapon shown here is a Ghostglaive: essentially a big ass psychic sword. The card ability... well, it pretty much makes no sense at all for the Wraithknight's fiction, but its no secret that most Eldar players of this LCG play the card in the hope of being able to drop it in with a Gift of Isha play, and thats somewhat appropriate.

For a war machine of this size, its disappointing to see such small stats. I'd have preferred to see this statline for a Wraithlord, to be more in keeping with the chosen scale of the game.

Some of you might be wondering why a Lord is lower in the pecking order than a Knight, in wraith-unit naming terms. This comes from how the models were developed historically.

The Eldar Army has had spirit units for some time, though the Wraithguard were the first ones to get the wraith-moniker. At that time, the dreadnought sized war machine was called the Eldar Dreadnought. When GW looked to give each faction more of an individual flavour (in the 3rd edition of the tabletop game) they renamed a lot of Eldar tech. Instead of an Eldar Dreadnought with a Plasma Cannon we now had a Wraithlord with a Starcannon.

Going back again, before the Wraithlord was so named, there was another 40k wargame called Adeptus Titannicus. This game was fought on the Epic Scale, and so had teeny weeny infantry models, with the normal model scale being occupied by giant war machines named Titans.
At some stage in that game's development, it was decided that a mid-size unit halfway between Dreadnoughts and Titans was needed, and "Knight" seemed a decent enough designation. Imperial Knights came first, but Eldar were popular, so we saw Eldar Knights too.

Winding forward again, to 6th edition of the 40k wargame proper, and GW had noted that the resin titan kits from Forgeworld (allowing Titans to be built at the tabletop game scale) were somewhat popular. As is often the case, GW followed Forgeworld and started introducing official 40k scale rules for big walkers. The (plastic) casting and costing wasn't really up to bringing the standard size Titans to the usual 40k scale, so they aimed at the mid-size big walkers. The Imperium saw Reaver Titans (who are light support titans in the Epic game, somewhat smaller than the main Warlord Titans), and the Eldar got the Eldar Knights revisited, though modern naming conventions made them Wraithknights.

Thats why the pecking order counterintuitively goes Knights, Lords, Guard.


Mork's Great Heap

This card's flavour-text references another small-scale Titan that made it to the 40k scale: the Ork Stompa. Stompas are what Meks build when they haven't got the parts or manpower (orkpower? gretchinpower?) for a Gargant. They're bigger than a Dread, but smaller than a Gargant.

I love that the art shows a ruddy great hole through the centre of the mini-gargant, and the idea here that the wreck is an inspiration to the boyz is very Orkish, and a great addition to the game lore.

"Fight 'arder boyz, cos we could be great again."


Nocturne-Ultima Storm Bolter

I've complained previously about the Godwyn Pattern Bolter being a card, and a lot of my complaints about that card relate to this one too.

The Nocturne-Ultima, as its name and as the card suggests, is a Salamander variant. Salamander gear is more or less master crafted by default, though that doesn't really justify the massive damage output this card allows, nor its significant cost. A nice touch here in the art is the non-standard power armour, combining the Mk 8 chest piece with the Mk 7 helmet, even if the proportions of the hands seem a little off.



Noise Marine Zealots

Yada, yada, warlord groupie, whine whine.

Okay, got that out of the way. Let me tell you about geeks and heavy metal! Put your boots on, because we're going down memory lane, and it the pavement is seriously sticky with something icky...

Lets face it - most Games Workshop fans are male, and most heavy metal fans are male. This isn't an absolute thing, nor any judgment on who the fans of these things ought to be, just an observation of population trends.

Head into most any UK Games Workshop in the 1980s and early 1990s, and it'd smell something like a men's locker room, with the sweat-condensation on the goldfish bowl windows, and the squeaky pubertal voices of excited teen boys chatting about why there's no girls allowed in the space marine club would be drowned out by the heavy metal chords of Slayer and Iron Maiden. I know this to be true, because I was there. Games Workshop was (and save for evisceration of staffing levels kind of still is) a boy's treehouse where you chat about boy's stuff and talk about boy's music.

Let's be clear now - this isn't something I'm celebrating, and I really wish there were more women involved in this hobby of ours, but if you've been to any Conquest LCG tournaments, you'll know its still very much a male-dominated scene.

By the early 1990s, Games Workshop had already left behind its enthusiastic amateur roots, and undergone its transformation into serious money making company. Whether thats a good or bad thing, I'll leave you to judge, but when Bryan Ansell took over, the company's culture changed.

Here's a thing then: in 1991, someone fairly clever in GW had a brainwave regarding geeks and metal music, and thought there might be a way to monetise this connection.

Warhammer Records was born!

Seriously, I am shitting you not. Games Workshop made a foray into the record industry, and signed a band called D-Rok, who released an album called Oblivion. GW pushed this band like crazy, running a special feature them in White Dwarf, giving them much advert space, tying one of their tracks to the Electronic Arts Space Hulk computer game (that track featuring no less a luminary than BRIAN MAY on guitars) and... well, let's not spoil the surprise.

Let's show you the track listing for Oblivion instead!

1 Noise Marines
2 King Hibited
3 Renegade
4 Turn This Ship Around
5 Litany - Into The Void
6 Stealer's Kiss
7 Oblivion
8 Red Planet Blues
9 Welcome To My World
10 Chainsaw Man
11 Get Out Of My Way

The final thing GW did to push the album was this: they took the lyrics for Noise Marines, were "inspired by them" and added rules for Noise Marines to the Warhammer 40,000 games.

Fiction was hastily created to explain why there were luridly dressed chaos space marines armed with electric guitars, minis were sculpted, and a rules set was provided that was somewhat OP, even by the standards of the wargame at the time.

It all worked. Oblivion went multi-platinum, and Warhammer Records went from small indie-label to one of the movers and shakers of the music world, and now Games Workshop is more famous for its musical output than its games.

No wait, that last paragraph was a horrific and horrendous lie.

What actually happened was that the album bombed, D-Rok never released a second album and Warhammer Records never signed another band. Perhaps a large driving factor behind this was (and I say this as an afficionado of smelly teenage heavy metal music) D-Rok were not very good.

What we were left with, however, was the permanent presence of the Noise Marines in 40k canon. The Emperor's Children fluff has been fudged and awkwardly forced to incorporate them into their own fiction, and now their a kooky crazy part of the wider mythos of 40k.

Even now, when I hear the fans bemoaning corporate GW's ever rising prices and shareholders-first mentality (ok, yes, I am one of those fans) I can't help but remember that Games Workshop is a company that I am disappointed in because I love them. This is a crazy ass games company that put miniature gaming on the high street, and who started with in 1975 with three guys selling imported D&D stuff to the Brits. They've grown up, they've become a lot more professional looking, but we've bene on a hell of a journey with them. Part of that journey was Warhammer Records, and that moment of madness has left its mark, being part of what makes 40k so damn metal.


Seer's Exodus

...would be a great name for a Nu-Metal band.

The art here shows a Biel Tan Farseer leading a Seer Council. Despite the cool card name, clearly this represents the Eldar fleeing like the damn space elf cowards they are.

However, as a cowardly space elf player, I do love what this card represents in game mechanic terms. While I've not brought myself to use it in a deck yet (as it really doesn't seem like a very good Event card), its excellent in representing the Eldar style of war, striking, then fading back into the shadows. Its a welcome return to the emphasis of the Eldar as a race who disdains attrition, who will surrender territory to play the long game, and who play like Eldar.



Shadow Field

This piece of Dark Eldar wargear does pretty much what you expect it to, and is part of what makes the Dark Eldar so silly as a faction.

Because they're Dark Eldar right, so they do stuff with darkness. And did we mention that they're really evil? Like Eldar, but evil?

For all my growing affection of the Dark Eldar, and for all my love of this card's mechanical effect, I have to say its wargear with names like "Shadow Field" which make me think that sometimes GW doesn't try too hard when designing new fiction for the 40k universe.



Slake the Thirst

Male gaze, kinky leathers, etc. etc. You know my feminist agenda by now, and will know that I don't much like the art for this card.

Fluff-wise, however, the game effect here is very nicely thematic. The discard then draw effect feels like its doing something, but its running on the spot. It might cause a little chaos, or it might not. Its a nice representation of the Dark Eldar Thirst as a whole, and how the pit of emptiness in their soul can never really be sated with the violence and suffering they inflict. The effect might cause a little psychological distress to your opponent, and causing a little psychological distress is exactly the sort of thing that Dark Eldar cards ought to do.


Slumbering Gardens

The art shows Imperial troops wandering through Eldar architecture and overgrown vegetation. It might be a scene from within a Craftworld, or more likely from an Exodite Maiden World.

The game effect doesn't make much more sense than the card name, but overall this is another card that feeds the wider Eldar meta-theme of subtlety and manipulation, and that I can applaud.

Its a shame that the only use for this card the community has been able to come up with is as a small boost to Aun'shi decks, as a kind of bargain bin version of the Orbital City.



Snakebite Thug

The Snakebite Clan are orks who consider their feral roots to be the proper orky way of life. As we've mentioned before, the orky reproductive cycle is based on spores, and there's not much by way of ork family life. Pretty much all orks start of as feral orks, unarmed save for fists and teeth, and their first weapon will normally be a low-tech melee weapon. Sooner or later though, most orks decide that technology is a good thing, and that a fast bike, a loud gun and a cybork body are things to aspire to.

Not so the Snakebites. They are devoted to the Old Ways, preferring to ride a boar than a bike, and preferring hides and leathers to fancy metal armour. To take a real world parallel, they're a bit like the old gamer who insists that the games of the 1970s and 80s were better, even if the new ones are better balanced, better produced and better written. The orkish fools!

Historically, I suspect the Snakebites were introduced to allow players with big collections of Warhammer Fantasy Orcs to take up 40k. Of course, that was back in the day when GW's market strategy was to expand their customer base any way possible, rather than maximise mini sales. Ah those good old days of the halcyon 1970s and 80s...

I love that this Thug is shown as having a scrap of leather with an Imperial aquila on it attached to his left wrist. That tells stories all on its own - is it a deliberate trophy of battle, or is it just an unnoticed sigil from the piece of scavenged armour that the Snakebite has converted into his wristguard?

The flavour text is nice, but seems counter to the mechanics, as lacking Brutal this card actually gets less deadly as it gets wounded. Nazdreg might make the text true of course, but he's not the only Warlord who can use this card!




Turbulent Rift

After a serious night at the curry house, I too have a turbulent rift.

Not really much to add, fluffwise about this card!


Conclusion

As you can probably tell, this is my favourite Warpack to date. Sure, there are some clunkers, but largely speaking the ever growing complexity of fiction representation in the Conquest LCG is... um... growing more complex.

This has been a long article, and likely your tea/beer is empty by now.

So kick back, relax, and look what I found on youtube:



Don't worry, I'm not rickrolling you all again. Its so much worse than that! When you're done, a little quiz...





The Surprisingly Small Font Very Short but slightly Thematic Quiz

1) Opposed to the power of the Ecclesiarchy, they seek to hamper it in order to free mankind. Who are these loyal servants of the Emperor?
2) What name connects Imperial Fists, Grey Knights, Imperial Knights and the PDF of an Imperial world near the Damocles Gulf?
3) Born of hubris he was yet one to chasten, and he betrayed the one he was most loyal to. Who is this friend of God?
4) They watch those who kill, and share the name of one from the Core. Who are they?
5) For shameful months he clashed with wolves and died at the hands of a high king. Who was he?