ISSUE 46

13 December 2014

Editor: Jes Bickham
jes@whitedwarf.co.uk

Publisher: Paul Lyons
paul@whitedwarf.co.uk

Welcome to issue 46! In this issue the Blood Angels continue to wreak vengeance against the enemies of man, with a new plastic Terminator Assault Squad and Librarian teleporting in for duty. You can see them take to the field of war against the Tyranids in our Battle Report, a fitting match-up as the final instalment of the Shield of Baal campaign, Exterminatus, goes up for pre-order today. It’s a splendidly epic conclusion to an already-epic alien invasion – we look forward to hearing how your own Shield of Baal games go!

Clad in tactical dreadnought armour, Blood Angels Terminator Assault squads are called upon to fulfil the most daring and dangerous missions, when the fighting must be done face-to-face, and the skills of the 1st Company will be tested to the limit.

The 1st Company of the Blood Angels Chapter are among the most experienced and vaunted warriors in the Imperium, veterans who have earned their scars and plaudits through countless campaigns. From this battle-hardened cadre, Captain Karlaen selects warriors worthy of undertaking deadly close combat missions, such as spearheading a ground offensive, purging enemy bunker networks or storming space hulks.

When such missions are called for, the Terminators take up deadly close combat weapons from the Chapter armouries, lightning claws or thunder hammers and storm shields. Lightning claws are lethal slashing weapons, blades sheathed in a disruptive power field that can slice through armour plates and alien chitin, leaving only the acrid stink of burning meat. In contrast, thunder hammers unleash inexorable, bone-shattering blows that can pulverise their targets with concussive force, while storm shields present an all but impenetrable wall that can stop any attack, from power fists to lascannon blasts.

While the wargear of Blood Angels Terminator squads is functional first and foremost, it is also embellished by the extraordinary skills of the Chapter’s artisans. Every storm shield features sculpted details showing the Chapter icon, wreathed skulls and so on. Their shoulder pads are similarly elaborate, with the left bearing the crux terminatus and the right the Chapter’s insignia. Stylised haloes sit atop the Terminator’s shoulders and tilting plates bear the personal heraldry of each squad member.

Above - Within the Blood Angels Terminator Assault squad there are six distinct storm shields, each of which bears a different heraldic device, from a winged blood chalice or blood drop to the haloed skull.

Above left - The kit includes enough thunder hammers to arm the whole squad. Each is subtly different with sculpted details at the top of the handle and a wing design in the reverse head.

Above right - The Sergeant’s storm shield is a work of art, with scrollwork, a chalice and cartouche and even a scroll for you to paint on your Sergeant’s name.

Above - The set includes a 1st Company banner. As a vaunted heirloom of the Chapter, this banner is topped with a gilded icon of Sanguinius himself and hung with purity seals and blood drop gems.

Above left - There are also five pairs of lightning claws contained within the kit, so you can arm the whole squad for flesh-ripping duties if you wish. These come in matching pairs, each of which has a different sculpted detail on the reverse of the gauntlets.

Above right - Each Terminator wears a stylised Chapter symbol on his right shoulder pad. There are eight different ones to choose from.

Above left - Among the five crux terminatus pads, this one has a scroll for the Blood Angel’s name.

Above centre - Each squad member has a unique tilting plate. The kit has 12 in total.

Above right - There are five personal icons in the kit, which the Terminators can wear on their shoulders.

Space Marine Librarians are powerful battle psykers, combining the prowess of a Space Marine with the power to bend the Warp to their will. In battle it is their duty to smite the foe with eldritch energies and shield their battle brothers with the power of their mind.

Space Marine Librarians are warrior scholars who have both passed through the rigorous training to become a battle brother and proven their strength of will and mental fortitude in mastering their nascent psychic powers.

The Blood Angels Librarian comes clad in Terminator armour to protect him while he discharges his duty, complete with an integrated psychic hood. This arcane device enables him to blunt the power of enemy psychic attacks, protecting those around him from the witch and the Daemon. The Librarian’s armour is hung with devices, honours and icons that connect him to the Blood Angels Chapter.

He also comes armed with a huge two-handed force axe, and a combi-melta gun, formidable weapons to augment his deadly psychic mastery.

Left - The Librarian’s face gazes out from beneath the psychic hood that helps him dispel enemy psychic powers. Above this you can see a chained tome, framed with a gilded statue of Sanguinius.

Right - The kit includes this combi-melta (capable of mowing down infantry or killing a tank) or a hand with an open palm.

When orders come from the Dark Lord, Azog leads a mighty army to crush the Dwarves at Erebor.

Mutilated and humiliated in battle against the Dwarves long ago, Azog has longed for revenge. Although the Dwarves have evaded him and his hunters until now, his chance for retribution is finally at hand. At the head of a vast and cruel host, Azog intends to crush the defenders of The Lonely Mountain and claim it for his Dark Lord, Sauron.

Azog is a dominating Finecast miniature, a towering Orc whose scarred and pallid flesh ripples with muscles. In one hand he carries a five-flanged mace that seems a fitting tribute to Sauron’s own mighty weapon. His other arm has a spike-claw jammed through the livid flesh, as much a weapon for maiming his foes as a functional prosthetic.

At the head of a vast army of Gundabad Orcs, Bolg joins his father’s attack on Erebor.

Bolg, like his tyrannical father Azog, is a formidable Orcish warrior, a vicious and bad-tempered creature who commands a massive army of Orcs from the mountainous stronghold of Gundabad. As the forces gather for what will be remembered as The Battle of the Five Armies, Bolg marches at the head of a massive army of Gundabad Orcs, ready to crush Dwarves, Elves or anyone else who stands in his way.

With both a foot model and a mounted version riding on a hulking Warg included in the box, Bolg, Castellan of Mount Gundabad is produced in Citadel Finecast resin. Both versions of the model are clad in thick, Gundabad Orc armour, and wield a twin-bladed war axe.

In the wake of Smaug’s attack, it falls to Bard the Bowman to unite the people of Lake-town.

Though Bard the Bowman is best-known as the boatman who brings barrels back to Lake-town, he is descended from a line of great and noble men. A natural leader and skilled warrior, it is to him that the people of Lake-town must turn in the aftermath of its destruction.

As the Orcish hordes advance on Erebor, Bard the Bowman must look to the future of his folk, for they will need to fight with great courage if they are to survive. Bard the Bowman, Girion’s Heir comes as a foot and a mounted model. The mounted version, riding upon a white horse, is the embodiment of a heroic leader, sword (complete with fish-tail hilt) held high in a rallying call. The foot version shows Bard the Bowman running into the fray.

Tyranids, Necrons, Blood Angels and a nasty virus: this novella is crammed with consequence.

By Joe Parrino
128 pages | Hardback

Tight, taut and stuffed with atmosphere, this novella serves as both a prequel to the events of the Shield of Baal campaign and a cracking tale in its own right.

Three strands converge here to highly entertaining effect: Anrakyr the Traveller is attempting to awaken the Tomb World of Perdita as Hive Fleet Leviathan begins its consumption of the Cryptus system, while beneath the planet’s surface newly-awakened Necrons deal with both a universe much-changed and the more immediate threat of the flayer virus. In orbit, Blood Angels monitor events, and the stage is set for what’s to come. Joe Parrino has crafted a tremendous tale, and his evocation of Necron character and culture is not to be missed.

Shield of Baal: Devourer is also available as an eBook. For more information visit blacklibrary.com

While the Great Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the unmatched power of the Legiones Astartes, the many regiments of the Imperial Army played an invaluable part. Of these, the warriors of the Solar Auxilia were considered among the finest.

The Solar Auxilia are unusual within the ranks of the Imperial Army, for they do not hail from a particular world or culture, but are instead are recruited according to need, raised, trained and equipped to fight as frontline, void-faring warriors. As such their wargear is both uniform and exemplary, with void armour to protect from incoming fire and sophisticated weapons, such as the Kalibrax V-I pattern lasrifle. So armed, these human soldiers were able to assist in the conquest of the stars, fighting alongside the Legiones or acting as pathfinders.

Above, you can see a 20-man Solar Auxilia Lasrifle Section – complete with Sergeants (or Troop Masters), Vexilla Bearer and Vox Operator. The Solar Auxilia’s Dracosan Armoured Transport, above, can transport a whole 20-man Lasrifle Section.

The Shieldworlds of the Cryptus System stand on the brink of destruction, ravaged by a colossal assault from Hive Fleet Leviathan. Should the Shieldworlds fall then Baal itself is open to an unstoppable invasion – but the Blood Angels themselves stand ready to fight.

Concluding the epic campaign begun in Shield of Baal: Leviathan and continued in the Deathstorm boxed set, Shield of Baal: Exterminatus pulls out all the stops for a fittingly epic finale. Not only does Commander Dante himself mobilise the Blood Angels and the Flesh Tearers to blunt the Tyranid advance, help also arrives from an unexpected quarter. Beneath the dead sands of Perdita, an ancient power awakes… one that is not best pleased with what it sees.

Comprising two hardback books in a gorgeous slipcase, Shield of Baal: Exterminatus is bursting with thrilling stories and enough rules content to fell a Carnifex. The first book is 154 pages of epic narrative, featuring page after page of fantastic conflict; from Dante’s brutal planetfall on Asphodex to exactly what happens when a Hierophant bio-titan meets a C’tan, there’s a wealth of riveting battles to get lost in.

The Rules book details everything you need to play the events depicted in the first book, and contains the following:

– Eight missions that conclude the Shield of Baal campaign. (One of our favourites is Against the Hive Mind, in which Mephiston pitches himself against the psychic might of the Tyranids.)

– 18 datasheets detailing detachments and formations for the Cryptan Alliance, the forces led by Commander Dante.

– Relics and Warlord Traits for the Archangels (the Blood Angels 1st Company), the Flesh Tearers and the Necron Mephrit Dynasty.

There’s enough inspiration here to fuel your miniature painting and gaming for months to come. Sporting some of the Imperium’s mightiest heroes against one of its most terrible enemies, Shield of Baal: Exterminatus is a perfect encapsulation of the best of Warhammer 40,000. No fan of the grim darkness of the far future should miss it.

Shield of Baal: Exterminatus is also available to download as an iPad edition. Check it out at:
blacklibrary.com/games-workshop-digital-editions

Above, The covers of the two books in the set. The back covers also sport evocative quotes and monochrome artwork.

Above left, Gabriel Seth himself, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, descends to Lysios to aid the besieged survivors of the Adepta Sororitas in suitably bloodthirsty fashion…

Above right, …and this segment of the story is represented by the Breaching the Living Wall mission, in which the Flesh Tearers must rescue the Battle Sisters and their civilian charges by moving off the Tyranids’ table edge.

On the barren outskirts of an Imperial hive city, a Tyranid swarm thick with psyker beasts advances, intent of devastating the city beyond. Mephiston, Lord of Death, stands in their path, ready to match minds with the horrors of the Hive Mind. But who will win?

Inspired by this week’s release of Shield of Baal: Exterminatus, and the deluge of amazing new kits for the Blood Angels, we couldn’t resist taking to the battlefield to get in some Blood Angels versus Tyranids action. For our scenario, we decided to adapt one of the great narrative missions in Exterminatus – where Mephiston confronts the psychic abominations in the Tyranid army in a titanic clash of psychic mastery and might.

So for our game we would be using a Blood Angels army that included Mephiston and a Librarian, and we’d have plenty of psykers, such as Hive Tyrants, a Maleceptor and Neurothrope, in the Tyranid army too. The battle would be won by the side which earns the most Kill Points, with bonus points for toppling psykers like Mephiston, the Neurothrope and Swarmlord. The stage is set for a clash of minds on an epic scale!

TASK FORCE: BAAL’S VENGEANCE

The Blood Angels army represents a three-part task force sent to guard the outskirts of embattled Phodia, unaware that the Tyranid horde has been sent specifically to eliminate their chief psykers. The first portion of the force, dubbed the Archangels, is a sturdy core of Terminators, led by Epistolary Martellos and riding in a Land Raider Crusader. These would take the fight to the Tyranid monsters, and use Martellos’s force weapon to smite any large bio-beasts. The main body, including Mephiston, are the Blooded, a thin line of red power armour intended to stave off the Tyranid hordes with steady bolter fire. If the Lord of Death can harness his full psychic potential, nothing in the Tyranid hordes will be able to stay his bloody hand.

The third contingent represents a strike team despatched to aid their battle brothers, with Gabriel Seth leading a cadre of fast-moving combat troops to the rescue of their brothers in arms.

THE ARCHANGELS
Epistolary Martellos - Librarian
Terminator Assault Squad Vasarus
Sternguard Veteran Squad Caemus
The Anvil of Baal - Land Raider Crusader

THE BLOODED
Mephiston, the Lord of Death
Brother Lamentarios - Sanguinary Priest
Tactical Squad Ludvaius
Tactical Squad Meteros
Tactical Squad Goriel
Devastator Squad Karos

STRIKE TEAM RED BLADE
Chapter Master Gabriel Seth
Assault Squad Orscari
Skoraen the Bloodied - Furioso Dreadnought
Razor’s Edge - Stormraven Gunship
The Damned of Lysios - Death Company squad
Incendia - Baal Predator

HIVE FLEET EUMENIDES

Hive Fleet Eumenides has been tasked by the Hive Mind with eliminating the Blood Angels’ mightiest psykers. None other than the Swarmlord – a psychic titan in its own right – leads the swarm, assisted by a vile Maleceptor and Tervigon. Further psychic warfare is provided by two Zoanthropes and a Neurothrope, the perfect assassination brood, ready to be spawned from a Tyrannocyte aimed behind enemy lines. A winged Hive Tyrant darkens the skies overhead to intercept enemy flyers.

The rest of the force is divided into discrete assault formations: Assault Spawn Alpha’s devourer-armed Carnifexes have been adapted to deal with both infantry and tanks alike, while Assault Spawn Beta’s carpet of Hormagaunts presages the thundering charge of a Haruspex. Finally, covering fire is provided by Hive Guard and an Exocrine; their deadly barrages will help the Swarmlord and his psychic cohorts eliminate the Warp-manipulating humans that are their key prey.

THE LEADER BEASTS
The Swarmlord - with Tyrant Guard
Soul Flayer and Brood Mother
Maleceptor and Tervigon

ASSAULT SPAWN ALPHA
Swift Murder - Hormagaunt brood
The Flesh Renders - Tyranid Warrior brood
The Devourer of Worlds - Haruspex

ASSAULT SPAWN BETA
The Right Hand - Tyranid Prime with Tyranid Warrior brood
Brotherhood of Obliteration - A trio of Carnifexes

ASSAULT SPAWN GAMMA
The Dread Shadow - Zoanthropes and Neurothrope in a Tyrannocyte
Sky Death - Hive Tyrant

THE GUN BEASTS
Bileblaster - Exocrine
The Impalers -Hive Guard Brood

THE SWARM COMETH…

From his vantage point high above the Blood Angels battle line, Devastator Sergeant Karos could see his battle brothers fanning out among the ruins of Old Phodia. The crumbling industrial complex, now mostly consumed by the cruel ash desert, was alive with red power armour, as the warriors of the 2nd Company and the legendary Archangels braced against the Tyranid swarms. Their orders before the battle had been terse and sure, relayed by the Lord of Death himself: expunge the xenos filth from the planet, but prioritise their leaders. The alien warp-creatures must die.

As the seething mass of green-and-bone aliens hove into view, the vox-net sprang into life with battle-cant. Across the Blood Angels line heavy bolters chattered into life as squad leaders called out targets. A steady stream of tracer fire whipped into the herd, killing a handful of Hormagaunts but pattering off the thicker hides of a pack of Carnifexes

“Show them how,” Karos murmured to his squad. Their reply was thunderous as twin plasma cannons and heavy bolters scythed into the target designated the Impalers, a brood of Hive Guard cradling massive organic cannons. Two were cut down in an instant by the heavy calibre shells and intense plasma blasts.

Undaunted the Tyranids came on in a rush, bulkier creatures lumbering in the wake of the Hormagaunts who acted as a living screen. From the ruins of a massive Administratum complex a gigantic horror emerged, a Tervigon in the grotesque throes of birthing a brood of lesser creatures. A dozen new Tyranid creatures scuttled from the creature’s abdomen, glistening with the sticky filth of their alien nativity. As they advanced, a trio of Carnifexes, dubbed the Brotherhood of Obliteration, levelled their guns on Sergeant Goriel’s combat squad, unleashing a salvo of living ammunition that cut down four of their number.

Above - It was always Mephiston’s intention to launch a counter-attack against the Tyranids, and once the main advance of Eumenides came into range he leapt out of the crumbling ruins to confront them, alone.

Drawing hungrily on the roiling power of the warp he managed to manifest three psychic powers in quick succession: the Quickening, making him faster and giving him more Attacks, the Sanguine Sword which turned his force sword into a lethal killing machine, and Force, which meant any blow he landed would cause Instant Death. Manifesting all these powers meant winning an intense psychic duel against the Hive Mind, but the result was devastating, as Mephiston slammed into the Carnifex with the force of a meteorite and cut it in two with a single blow! Worse still for the Tyranids, all of Mephiston’s powers remained in play throughout the Tyranid turn, too.

Spurred into motion by the losses, the Blood Angels surged forwards, the Anvil of Baal disgorging Squad Vasarus, the Assault Terminators, into the midst of the Tyranid throng. Among the Terminators stood Epistolary Martellos, who attempted to draw on the power of the Warp to imbue his weapon with psychic power, but the creatures of the Hive Mind easily blunted his efforts. Mephiston, however, would not be denied. Crackling with power as he strode forth from cover to confront the Tyranids’ main thrust, Mephiston’s sword burst into crimson flames and his movements became faster than the eye could follow as he ran forwards. To his warpcraft, the Tyranids had no answer.

With a shout the Blood Angels poured fire into the Tyranid throng, gunning down the last of the Hive Guard and trying desperately to cut a path through the Hormagaunts for the Terminators to charge the heart of the alien swarm. All eyes, however, were on the Lord of Death as he ran at the nearest Carnifex. Oblivious to the wounds its devourers opened up on his body, he leapt forwards to kill it in a single stroke. A roar went up among the Blood Angels line – who could stand against such a hero?

Although their alien intelligence could not see Mephiston for what he was, the Tyranids reacted quickly, the Tyranid Warriors known as the Right Hand closing in on the Lord of Death, even as a Tyrannocyte descended from the heavens, casting an ominous shadow upon Squad Karos and the Tactical Marines standing firm in the ruins. From within its flaccid folds emerged a trio of psyker beasts, their brain-nodes glowing with warp energy.

Across the Tyranid line psykers drew on the dreadful power of the Hive Mind, but the Blood Angels held firm, the psychic hoods of Mephiston and Martellos warding off the worst of their wrath. The same could not be said for the power armour of the battle brothers of Squad Ludvaius who fell to the firepower of the Exocrine that loosed torrents of plasma fire into their midst, or the Terminators who found themselves assailed by two raging Carnifexes, a Haruspex and some freshly birthed Termagants, first losing one of their number to a volley from the Tyranids’ accursed devourers, and a second as the monstrous charge hit home and the crushing claws of the Haruspex took their toll. Although Lamentarios ensured many wounds were not fatal, the Terminators were in dire trouble.

Above - At the start of the Tyranid’s second turn the Tyrannocyte entered the fray by Deep Strike, appearing in the midst of the Blood Angels army where the five deathspitters could wreak havoc on the nearby Space Marines and, more importantly, the Zoanthropes and Neurothrope could unleash their own brand of psychic death on the Sons of Baal.

In the Psychic phase, they unleashed Spirit Leech on the closest squad of Blood Angels. For each casualty Spirit Leech causes, the Neurothrope is able to harvest souls and use them to fuel a second psychic attack in the form of Warp Blast. Unfortunately for the Tyranids, despite their spectacular arrival, the Blood Angels held firm as the alien horrors clawed at their minds, faith in the Emperor and Sanguinius denying the Neurothrope the spirit essence it so greedily craved.

Above - With the battle in full swing reinforcements arrive for the beleaguered Blood Angels in the form of Gabriel Seth and his Flesh Tearers. While Razor’s Edge peels away to engage Sky Death (A), Seth leads his Assault squad in a desperate effort to rescue the stricken Mephiston (B).

In the centre of the field, Terminator squad Vasarus and Librarian Martellos desperately hold out against the Tyranid monsters (C), bolstered by the healing prowess of Sanguinary Priest Lamentarios. To either side of the deadly struggle more Blood Angels and Tyranids prepare to leap into the fray.

At the far side of the battlefield, the Dread Shadow arrived in prime firing position behind the Anvil of Baal (D), however their initial attack against the Land Raider failed to find a purchase. The only question was whether they could survive for long enough to get a second chance.

Above - The heroic arrival of the Flesh Tearers caused tremors along the Blood Angels’ flank as the Stormraven roared overhead and Gabriel Seth and his Assault Marines risked life and limb to leap out and block the Swarmlord from hunting down and killing the sorely wounded Mephiston. It was an incredibly heroic act, but one that was to haunt the Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, as the Swarmlord and its retinue of clawed Hive Guard charged into the would-be saviours.

It was a duel that could only end one way, as Seth matched his deadly Blood Reaver against the four boneswords of the Swarmlord. Amazingly, as Assault Marines fell in their bloody droves to the Hive Guard, Seth actually survived the opening attacks from the Swarmlord and landed a telling blow of his own. His luck did not last past the second round of combat…

Mephiston, alone and unsupported, now faced a new foe as the Right Hand attacked: a Tyranid Prime and three warriors, lash whips and boneswords ready, stalked towards him. Mephiston was ready, however. His force sword still blazing with the power of the Sanguine Sword and his movements still spurred on by the Quickening, he hacked off the head of the brood leader with a stroke before bludgeoning the remainder to death with brutal double-handed blows. Ahead, the Swarmlord loomed ominously.

The howling of ramjets heralded the arrival of reinforcements for the Blood Angels, a Stormraven Gunship racing in to support the beleaguered Mephiston. From within leapt the carmine figures of Gabriel Seth and his Assault Marines, and the brutal silhouette of the Furioso Dreadnought, Skoraen. While the Death Company rushed to attack in the centre of the Tyranid lines, the Flesh Tearers Chapter Master, honouring the wounded Chief Librarian of his father Chapter, had his men form a protective cordon around Mephiston. With his gigantic chainsword, Blood Reaver, revving, Seth dared the towering Swarmlord to attack. Sizing the human up with its inscrutable alien intellect, the Swarmlord obliged, drawing on the power of the Hive Mind as it did so. As the alien leader beast led its Hive Guard towards the Flesh Tearers, the second Hive Tyrant, swooping low with unfurled wings, raked the Stormraven with its diamond-hard claws as it passed and fired its devourers at the canopy, badly damaging the gunship.

In the centre of the field, the battle between the Tyranid monsters and the Terminators ground on, the veteran Blood Angels refusing to give ground to the towering bio-beasts, just as the incredible physiology of the aliens withstood each blow they could land. While the two remaining Carnifexes were at last sundered by the Terminators and a gallant charge from Sergeant Meteros, still the Haruspex held firm. Even when a lightning claw or chainsword did make its mark, the insane biology of the creature meant that it quickly healed the wound.

Above - For most of the battle, Assault Squad Vasarus and Epistolary Martellos had held their own against the worst that the Hive Mind could send against them, fending off Carnifexes, Termagants and Hormagaunts. In spite of such heroics, however, they just could not defeat the Devourer, the Haruspex that had charged them in Turn 2. As the game came to a close, the stalemate was broken in a most entertaining way as Martellos, desperate to save his comrades, drew upon the Warp to imbue his force axe with energy. A tiny misstep resulted in invoking the Perils of the Warp – which killed him outright.

From then, the fall of the Archangels came quickly and not even the heroic charge of the Death Company could reverse their fate. The Haruspex was joined by the raging Maleceptor and together they slaughtered the remaining Terminators and Sanguinary Priest.

In the fight between the Flesh Tearers’ Chapter Master and the Swarmlord, there could only be one winner, and though the Guardian of the Rage managed to hack deep into the creature’s alien flesh, in the end he was grievously overmatched. With almost contemptuous ease the Swarmlord slashed him with its boneswords and trampled the Space Marine underfoot. The Assault Marines, similarly mauled by the Hive Guard, turned and fled, eager to regroup while fearless brother Skoraen stood firm, planting his feet either side of his fallen Chapter Master.

Spurred into the fight, Mephiston tried to rejoin the fray, drawing on the power of the Warp once again – but this time the Swarmlord was ready for his efforts and denied his manifestations one after another. Undaunted, Mephiston charged in to avenge his would-be rescuer and fight alongside the Dreadnought, Skoraen.

Even as the slaughter unfolded beneath them, the Devastators of Squad Karos continued to fire, pouring shots into the Tyrannocyte and Zoanthropes with every opportunity. As others followed their lead, and the blazing roar of bolters and plasma cannons reached its crescendo, the Neurothrope was destroyed and the Brood Mother birthed its last as the veterans of Sternguard Squad Caemus riddled it with hellfire rounds and the Anvil of Baal laced its chitinous frame with a torrent of assault cannon and bolter fire.

In the centre, desperate to defeat the Haruspex, Epistolary Martellos tried to channel a portion of the Warp into his force axe – a deadly mistake. The power of the Empyrean flooded his mind, and his already wounded body was torn apart by the psychic backlash. His death crushed the resolve of Sergeant Vasarus and Brother Lamentarios, whose defences crumbled. Even as the surviving brothers of the Death Company, fresh from a bloody melee against the Flesh Renders, tried to tip the balance in their favour, they were both cut down. The Damned of Lysios also finally earned a reprieve from the curse on their souls as the Maleceptor, appearing to their delirious minds as a huge creature of Chaos, trampled them to death.

Mephiston was among the last of the Blood Angels to fall, fighting side by side with Skoraen and the remnants of Squad Orscari, who returned to the fight with chainswords whirring, and Squad Goriel, who rushed to aid the Chief Librarian. Even against such numbers, however, the Swarmlord was unmoved. Incapable of fear, and certain of victory, it fought on. With the power of the Warp drained from Mephiston’s mighty frame, the Swarmlord batted the Librarian aside and plunged a bonesword through the Lord of Death’s chest. Their leaders fallen, the Blood Angels and Flesh Tearers unleashed their wrath on the towering Tyranid leader, but still it stood defiant, hacking down Flesh Tearers and Blood Angels alike with equally contemptuous ease. Finally, only Skoraen remained, and though the Dreadnought wrought terrible wounds upon the towering Swarmlord, it was not enough. The battle was done, and all that remained was to count the cost.

The Blood Angels had wreaked havoc on the Tyranid army, slaughtering their smaller creatures and many of the psyker beasts – but the price had been high. The survivors fell back, having recovered the grievously wounded Mephiston and Gabriel Seth, to count the cost of their encounter.

And so ends our Battle Report – a pyrrhic victory for the Blood Angels and a great game for all involved. If you want to learn more about how we adapted our scenario from Shield of Baal: Exterminatus

Above - When Razor’s Edge flew onto the battlefield the first thing it did after disgorging its crew of Flesh Tearers was open fire on Sky Death, the flying Hive Tyrant, with every gun at its disposal, ripping chunks out of the Tyranid monster’s hide with assault cannon rounds and stormstrike missiles. What followed was an aerial game of cat and mouse as the Space Marine flyer and the winged Tyranid sought to evade each other, all the while trading volleys of fire.

For its part, Sky Death laced the Stormraven with so many brainleech worms that the cockpit must have been splattered with gory remains, but, in spite of the volume of fire, Razor’s Edge fought on, trailing plumes of smoke as it hammered the Hive Tyrant with its assault cannons.

At the battle’s end, Sky Death had a single Wound remaining, and Razor’s Edge was down to a lone Hull Point – a poignant example of how closely fought and exciting their aerial duel had been.

Paint Splatter provides handy tips and stage-by-stage painting guides for the week’s key releases. With Shield of Baal: Exterminatus out this week, we decided to take a look at two of the armies presented in it: the Necrons of the Mephrit Dynasty and the Flesh Tearers.

THE MEPHRIT DYNASTY

The Mephrit Dynasty first appeared as an example colour scheme for a Necron Warrior on page 68 of Codex: Necrons. It was from this single model that a whole dynasty was founded, the colour scheme adapted by the clever chaps in the studio army painting team.

The colour scheme was picked for its unusual weapon colour, the gauss energy in the Necron’s gun a neon orange rather than the traditional green. As a result, all the energy weapons in the Mephrit Dynasty army – from gauss flayers to warscythes – are bright orange, a colour that’s counterbalanced by the dynasty’s drab green livery.

The whole army was painted in a very pragmatic (and therefore fittingly Necron) way. As the predominant colour on all the Necrons in this collection, the living metal areas were painted first, followed by the dynasty colours and finally the weapons and energy effects.

Some Necrons in the army (like the Immortal below) bear white markings. This is the dynasty’s hierarchical colour and the more white a model has on it, the more important it is. Warriors have no white on them, while some characters have whole sections of their bodies painted white.

THEY’RE NOT ALL SILVER

While silver is the traditional colour for Necrons, there’s nothing to say you can’t paint them differently – with red lacquered armour, perhaps, or ceramic bone. You’ve only got 160 colours to choose from…

WEAPON UPGRADES

Having picked orange as the energy colour of the Mephrit Dynasty, the army painters thought that with a bit of extra effort they could apply this colour to the energy rods in the gauss flayers of the Necron Warriors, too. For this, they used the gauss blaster barrels they had spare after building some of the Immortals with tesla cannons. A couple of simple cuts freed the barrels from the gauss blasters, one of which provided the energy rod for each gauss flayer. Some careful gluing and the Warriors were ready. For more on these simple conversions, see page 31.

THE FLESH TEARERS

The Flesh Tearers are one of the Blood Angels’ successor Chapters. They have a violent and bloody reputation, their Chapter symbol a circular saw blade with a blood drop in the centre.

Like their parent chapter, the armour of a Flesh Tearers Space Marine is predominantly red, albeit a much darker shade. Their shoulder pads, helmet, weapons and backpack are black. To make painting this colour scheme easier, the helmets, bolters, backpacks and shoulder pads were undercoated separately from the main body. The red armour was then painted to completion before all the other pieces were stuck on with Super Glue: Thick (remember, Plastic Glue won’t stick painted plastic together).

Once the glue was dry, all the black areas were then highlighted as normal. It may seem like a lot of work painting a model this way, but you won’t have to tidy up the black armour after painting the red areas – you just highlight it straight over the Chaos Black undercoat.

A really important factor in this colour scheme is the Nuln Oil wash on the red armour. While it’s easy to slap on a heavy wash of Nuln Oil, it could end up pooling in the recesses of the model, which you’ll then have to tidy up – a painstaking process. Instead, mix the Nuln Oil with Lahmian Medium (around 1:3 should be ideal) and apply that to the armour. The Lahmian Medium will help it darken all the armour, not just the recesses, and give a more even effect. If you want the armour a little darker, simply apply a second coat once the first one’s dry.

MAKE PAINTING EASY

The Flesh Tearers’ Chapter symbol is a vicious toothed saw that could prove difficult to paint. Fortunately you don’t have to – you can order packs of sculpted ones from the Games Workshop webstore.

This week Shield of Baal brings a slew of new rules and formations for the Blood Angels and their successors, the Flesh Tearers. Here we examine how you can field a Flesh Tearers Strike Force detachment, and examine the Vanguard Strike Force formation.

FORCES OF THE FLESH TEARERS

The Flesh Tearers are, without a doubt, the most famous of the Blood Angels successor Chapters, bloody-handed warriors with a grim reputation earned in the crucible of battle. Although they are scions of Sanguinius, there are a great many differences from their parent Chapter in the ways that they fight, and in the armies they use. To represent this in your games, Shield of Baal: Exterminatus contains rules for a dedicated Flesh Tearers Strike Force Detachment, along with rules for the Relics of Cretacia and even Flesh Tearers warlord Traits.

This means that your Flesh Tearers play on the tabletop just like they appear in the stories. For instance, the Explosion of Bloodlust special rule given to every unit in the detachment means there is a chance your squads will charge in with such unbridled fury that they will gain the Rage special rule. This can turn an already deadly assault by a unit of Flesh Tearers Tactical or Assault Marines into a blood-soaked frenzy as they slam into the foe.

The new Flesh Tearers Strike Force Detachment is also unusual in that it enables you to take up to six Fast Attack units instead of the usual three. This means you can include plenty of Assault Marines and Vanguard Veterans, ensuring there are lots of frothing killers with revving chainswords ready for action. One thing is for certain, a Flesh Tearers army isn’t going to stand back and wait. It’s going to bring the fight to you.

THE VANGUARD

The formation on the right represents a very specific type of Flesh Tearers force, led by none other than Chapter Master Gabriel Seth. As such, it dispenses with certain Detachment rules and instead reflects Seth’s efforts to embrace the Red Thirst and channel it as a power to destroy the enemy, rather than bottle it up or deny it. When unleashed, a Flesh Tearers Vanguard Strike Force has spectacular effects on the battlefield. Think of it as a buzzsaw hurled into the ranks of the foe. With several units of expert close combat troops (Vanguard Veterans, an Assault Squad and a Furioso Dreadnought not least among them), you can rely on this formation to smash into the foe with a bone-shattering impact, one that could be hard to recover from.

The keys to this formation are the Leading by Example and The Red Thirst special rules. The first enables a compact force to sweep in against multiple targets without any of the disadvantages. Normally you would never dare to charge multiple units, because it robs your men of their impetus. Leading by Example means, as long as your Vanguard Veterans are alive, each of your units can charge two or more enemies without penalty. Imagine a Flesh Tearers Tactical Squad crashing into two or three Astra Militarum or Tau Fire Warrior squads!

The Red Thirst can be the difference against other powerful units. When your Flesh Tearers charge, they will usually strike first, letting them kill the foe before they ever get a chance to strike back.

FLESH TEARERS VANGUARD STRIKE FORCE

Decimated by centuries of war and madness, the Flesh Tearers Chapter has been reduced to less than half of its former strength. With so few battle-brothers at his command, Gabriel Seth has been forced to restructure the Chapter as best he can so that they can maintain their military commitments throughout the Imperium. With all of his companies under-strength, and few Captains to command them, Seth has divided his 1st Company veterans to bolster each company’s fighting strength. These veterans form a solid core of leadership around which the diminished companies can be forged into more effective fighting formations. The Flesh Tearers call these new mixed demi-companies Vanguard Strike Forces, and in scores of war zones they have replaced the standard Codex organisation.

FORMATION:

3 Tactical Squads

1 Assault Squad

1 Vanguard Veteran Squad

1 Furioso Dreadnought

RESTRICTIONS:

None.

SPECIAL RULES:

Leading by Example: Whilst this Formation’s Vanguard Veteran squad is alive and on the battlefield, all units in this Formation ignore the penalties for disordered charges (including the penalty described in The Red Thirst, below) and have the Stubborn special rule.

The Red Thirst: In a turn in which a model from this Formation charges into combat, the model adds 1 to its Initiative characteristic until the end of the Assault phase. A model that has made a disordered charge that turn receives no benefit from the The Red Thirst.

Join us for a round-up of the week as we share comment, opinion and trivia on all the latest releases, plus other fun tidbits that have cropped up in the White Dwarf bunker this week. And now: Exterminatus, telescopes and uncontrollable bone-growth.

SHIELD OF BAAL ISN’T JUST FOR CHRISTMAS, YOU KNOW

And so Shield of Baal reaches its explosive climax this week, with Exterminatus showing things going out with a bang (the clue’s in the title, really). And what a wealth of material it provides: new rules, new missions and a cracking story.

But it’s the campaign aspect of the series that has really gripped us here, and if you haven’t yet considered the joys of campaign gaming, Shield of Baal is the perfect place to start. The 17 missions it provides (six in Leviathan, three in Deathstorm and eight in Exterminatus) are thrilling representations of the main battles in the story, and simply playing them through with the forces involved makes for an epic series of games. Playing the campaign can be no more complicated than that, with the victor the player who has won in the most missions. Here at White Dwarf, we’ve enjoyed keeping track of how many Victory Points have been racked by each player over the course of the 17 missions – and of course, you don’t have to limit your campaign to two players. With the Flesh Tearers and Necron Mephrit Dynasty involved alongside the Blood Angels and Tyranids, a whole gaming group can get involved. Why not get stuck in and let us know how your own Shield of Baal campaign progresses?

MODEL CAMPAIGNING

Hand in hand with the sheer gaming joy of getting stuck in to a campaign such as Shield of Baal is the wealth of modelling and painting opportunities it affords.

The campaign – like the Sanctus Reach series before it – uses specific forces and simply painting those up in the approved fashion is a worthwhile endeavour in itself. But personalising your heroes and troops as they progress through the game (applying kill markings to tanks and weapons, for instance) not only individualises your collection, it means they all carry around their own war stories.

It also offers the fantastic chance and perfect excuse (as if you need one!) to paint up swathes of legendary heroes, villains and monsters – Shield of Baal alone sees Commander Dante, Mephiston, Gabriel Seth and Anrakyr the Traveller converge in desperate war.

And you should also feel free to take Sanctus Reach and Shield of Baal and add your own touches – we’ve done so with our Battle Report in this very issue, for instance (see opposite). Knock yourself out!

So taken has the White Dwarf team been with the Shield of Baal campaign, that it informed our Blood Angels Battle Report in this issue. In fact, we took one of the campaign missions from Shield of Baal: Exterminatus and tweaked it slightly to work better with our own collections of Citadel miniatures.

The Against the Hive Mind mission pits Mephiston’s psychic might against the monstrous will of the Hive Mind as the Blood Angels and Hive Fleet Leviathan fight for control of Asphodex. To better reflect the fact that this particular battlefield is as much a psychic as a physical theatre of war, extra Victory Points can be garnered by the Blood Angels for killing Maleceptors and Neurothropes, while the Tyranids can claim extra victories for slaughtering Librarians and, of course, Mephiston himself. We thought this gave an excellent hook for our Battle Report, although we didn’t quite have enough Maleceptors and Neurothropes painted, so we tweaked objectives thusly: any psyker awarded two Victory Points, while Mephiston awarded three. We also wanted the Tyranids to be led by a hero as legendary as Mephiston, who was entirely capable of matching psychic skill with him – it had to be the Swarmlord! And it seemed only fair he awarded three victory points too.

As you’ll have seen, what unfolded was an epic battle full of fantastic events – a great example of using the marvellous material provided by a resource such as Shield of Baal, and massaging it to fit your own armies. Rest assured, we’ll be playing through the other missions too…

THE MOTHER NODE

One requirement of Against the Hive Mind is that the Tyranid player uses a Neural Node formation, as found in Shield of Baal: Leviathan. This requires three broods of Zoanthropes and a Maleceptor, a truly horrific expression of the Tyranids’ psychic might. Of course, if you don’t yet have the required models painted up, don’t let that stop you playing the mission; we didn’t. But since playing our Battle Report we’ve been sufficiently inspired to get the correct models painted and play it again; the White Dwarf hobby room thusly resounds to the sound of furious modelling and painting!

This Ultramarines Predator is part of Antonio Cumba’s collection. An avid hobbyist with a penchant for the loyal sons of Roboute Guilliman, Antonio has added subtle weathering around the tracks and armour plates, and used Forge World decals for extra detail. The results, we are sure you’ll agree, are excellent.

If you’ve painted a miniature that you think is worthy of a place in White Dwarf then why not send a picture to:

team@whitedwarf.co.uk

If it’s something we can use, we’ll be sure to get in touch.

Only the Dark Eldar could come up with a weapon as revolting as the ossefactor, which is essentially a medical instrument turned to war. The Wracks and Haemonculi use the ossefactor to manipulate bone for their clients, so it stands to reason that such a device could easily be pressed into military service. One blast from the weapon sees the victim undergo uncontrollable bone growth, their skeleton suddenly sprouting spurs and spears that slay them instantly – and may even impale their brothers-in-arms.

Our favourite touch about this gun, though? The fact that the Wrack needs an extra little arm to operate it. Somebody give him a hand. (Sacked! – Ed.)

Notes from the worlds of Warhammer. This week: a series of uneasy alliances.

IMRIK AND DARKBLADE

When Malus Darkblade led the Dark Elf attack on Eagle Gate, the defenders held firm and resolute, in spite of the terrible casualties they took and Darkblade’s daemonic possession. What finally turned the tide was both one of the gravest betrayals in Elven history and also the start of a tenuous alliance as the Dragon Princes of Caledor, led by Prince Imrik, joined the fray. Alongside the Elves of Naggaroth…

NECROPOLIS

When Ferrozoica attacked Vervunhive, the Tanith 1st were among the Imperial Guard regiments deployed to the battlefront. The fighting was intense, a sprawling urban war costing hundreds of thousands of lives and requiring the best of the Astra Militarum to achieve victory. The mutually antagonistic relationship between two of the Imperial regiments, the Tanith ‘Ghosts’ and the Royal Volpone ‘Blue Bloods’, risked coming to a head as the battle reached its peak, but a joint raid between Commissar-Colonel Gaunt and Major Gilbear turned tragedy to victory as the forces of Heritor Asphodel were defeated.

THE AURIC BASTION

For the Imperial soldiers fighting Archaon’s hordes at the Auric Bastion, the arrival of Vlad von Carstein and his Undead hordes was deeply unsettling. Rather than siding with the Chaos Warriors battering their way through the breech, the Undead joined the fight on the side of the Empire. By far the most shocking aspect of this alliance was when Vlad and the Empire hero, Valten, fought side by side against a Greater Daemon of Nurgle.

Constant Bit of the Week runner-up and long-time White Dwarf favourite, the green plastic rods found in the Necron Warriors boxed set are, like the clear plastic canopies in most flyer kits, a work of genius. But there’s more than one way to supercharge your millions-of-years-old beam weapons ready to reduce all matter to its constituent atoms and, as you’ll have seen from Paint Splatter on page 23, there’s also more than one way of representing this on your miniatures.

These simple gauss flayer conversions are made using the gauss blasters left over when you arm your Necron Immortals with tesla cannons. Cut the barrels from the gauss blasters (1) and make two small cuts to separate the barrels (2). You’ll need to trim off the blade slung underneath. Finally, slot these barrels into the gauss flayers where the green rod would go (3). The spar running along the top will also give your flayers a slightly different look.

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The organisms of the Splinter Fleet codenamed Calth Strain Epsilon are thought to hail from the same Tyranid lineage as the surviving Tyranid organisms drawn to Old One Eye after the Carnifex’s escape from the ice of Calth, decades after the apparent defeat of their parent Hive Fleet. The continued viability of this strain so long after the destruction of Behemoth, and in such apparent isolation from any larger group of Tyranid organisms, is a source of great concern for the Magos Biologis, fuelling fears that, although the great beast has yet to be seen amongst them, Old One Eye himself might yet survive. Calth Strain Epsilon has lately appeared in significant numbers around Kavardia, repeatedly clashing with the Space Wolves in a worrying sign they may have quite a taste for the Canis Helix.

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