Sentinels of Terra supplement

[Liliedhe]

Sentinels of Terra, the new supplement.

[Fenris]

So it's out already?

Spoiler: And who is the new one? Please say Lys.

The ebook/ipad has been since midnight today

and....

Spoiler: ...In a surprise move...

Spoiler: ....Lysander turns down the election as chapter master for the greater good of the chapter,and the GM is the captain of the 5th company

not the same guy that showed up in Sons of Dorn btw

SoT being?

That

[Liliedhe]

Spoiler: D'awwwwww poor Lys. *hug*

Thank you Ben Counter for ruining the only awesome Fist.

/of 4chan rant mode

[Fenris]

but...But...I like Counter-made Lysander

[Xisor]

Oh, I see. *Checks wallet. Reads supplement spoilers anyway.*

Spoiler: Well, Pugh was damn fine in "Phalanx" so that's grand...

----

"Tell me, captain. Is it wrong that I have dreamed of a day like this?" Vladimir drew the Fangs of Dorn from the scabbards on either side of his waist - twin power swords, their blades broad for stabbing, their hilts semicircles of glinting black stone. "That I have knelt at the altars of Dorn and prayed that one day I would face the enemy like this, in a battle that will decide whether my Chapter lives in glory or is banished to a penitents' crusade in disgrace? I have begged the Emperor to give me such a battle, toe to toe, no retreat, everything at stake. Is it wrong that I feel some joy in me that it is here?"

"We all see something else in battle," replied Lysander. "Perhaps it is a mirror in which we see a reflection of ourselves. I see a grim task to be completed, something ugly and crude, but an evil necessary for the survival of our species. You see something different."

"Most Imperial Fists would simply have said 'No', captain."

"Well, that's why you made me a captain."

It's a damn shame though. I'm not at all sure how I actually feel about it. The inviolability of characters always rather bothered me, but on the otherhand... to edge in to GRRM territory, 40k's very strongly preposterous in many respects. I suppose the question then is: how is it done? The act itself, and even the fictional facts established are broadly irrelevant. Tone, narrative beats, symbolism, delicacy... all that I can cope with much more cheerily.

[Liliedhe]

Alright.

@Fenris: I'm not saying Counter's Lysander is bad. It's just that he rewrote him to be so ... issue ridden that he would decline this honour.

The IF never had many Codex characters, I think they only had Lys. Even Pugh was only a novel character (or did he have stats beyond generic?). And Lys was awesome. Compared to the likes of Dante or Calgar, the Fists had a nobody for a chapter master. Lys would have evened these odds. Now, they have an even worse nobody, because he is not only a new chapter master, but also an entirely new character who never showed up before.

How can that balance with the likes of Calgar?

[Fenris]

Since we are in the spoiler zone,no more tags

It's a damn shame though. I'm not at all sure how I actually feel about it. The inviolability of characters always rather bothered me, but on the otherhand... to edge in to GRRM territory, 40k's very strongly preposterous in many respects. I suppose the question then is: how is it done? The act itself, and even the fictional facts established are broadly irrelevant. Tone, narrative beats, symbolism, delicacy... all that I can cope with much more cheerily.

He died in the bowels of a Tyranid infested Space Hulk

Crash landed into a planet with so much force that it ripped a hole in the "random named" planet crust

Ripped to shred by a swarm of genestealers

After having punched out the life from a Hive tyrant and the head off a carnifex


Trying to reach the norn queen hidden in the hulk and trying to avoid the birth of a new tyr swarm 100 light years only away from Terra.


Add to that the little fact that the whole thing was actually planned by the iron warriors.


A good death i'd say,if you let the bolded part set the tone for it.

How can that balance with the likes of Calgar?

Well,the fact that he's flawed makes him a better character than all the smurf marty stu even if he's not the chapter master,we have that at least

[Liliedhe]

How can that balance with the likes of Calgar?

Well,the fact that he's flawed makes him a better character than all the smurf marty stu even if he's not the chapter master,we have that at least

Pardon if I wasn't sufficiently clear. I tried to say that Lysander is the only IF character on par with Calgar and a newly invented Chapter Master will not be.

[Fenris]

How can that balance with the likes of Calgar?

Well,the fact that he's flawed makes him a better character than all the smurf marty stu even if he's not the chapter master,we have that at least

Pardon if I wasn't sufficiently clear. I tried to say that Lysander is the only IF character on par with Calgar and a newly invented Chapter Master will not be.

There is hope that a new character might get involved in the fluff a bit more from now on

We all know it WONT happen unless the new character is a smurf (Sicarius *coff* ) or a BA/DA/SW but it MIGHT happen

[Liliedhe]

Does the new Chapter Master have a name, too?

[Fenris]

Does the new Chapter Master have a name, too?

Vorn Hagan

There is a little bit of backstory about him too (not much but,sadly,already quite similar to the amount Pugh had )

[Liliedhe]

Yeah, Pugh was quite a non-character for a Chapter Master of a First Founding Chapter. Now I'm so curious about this backstory...^^

[Xisor]

Hmm, intriguing. A bit convoluted, and difficult for the 'legend's truth to be known', but on the otherhand not in principle a bad thing.

I'd agree with Lil's apprehension though. Whilst there's opportunity, it remains to be seen whether it's squandered or not.

Personally, it'd be nice to see a low-key IF set of stories set around this. A political thing within the chapter, with a backdrop of escalating calamities. I'd heard Seventh Retribution wasn't tremendous (but then off the back of the enjoyable entry in Architect of Fate, The Seventh Sun and the wonderful Van Horstmann, I suppose we were due a dud; Counter's notorious variability was sure to strike?), but I nevertheless am still a bit keen to investigate it in light of all this.

---

Pugh was much more of an enigma. Almost like Czevak in many regards. Frequently mentioned, sometimes making cameos here and there, but largely never actually a character in and of himself.

(And yet, I still adore him above Calgar. Calgar, the most dull character to be seen time and again in McNeill's Ultras?)

[Fenris]

Stern,resolute,implacable in battle (i wonder why even write it,we are talking about Fists,that comes with the yellow)

Commanded half of the chapter companies,ended on the 5th after things got moved around to make room for Lysander

Notorious for being precise in words and actions,great strategist and a disciplinarian.he sees war as an art and the only time he loses his composture is when faced by reckless actions by allies

As a scout he discovered recordings of Lysander deeds and grew drawing inspiration from them,and while rising the ranks he saw himself as following his footsteps.

But in the end,the example the ideal-Lysander he had created was impossible for the real one to match

He's one of the captains that goes against the first captain after he manages to almost wipe out the third because of pride (starting all the supplement story)











Oh,and talking about Pugh...

....he turned down a seat in the High lords.

Think about it for a second.I guess that's kind of a huge sendoff gift to give him from the writer

Like if in-universe he was a bit more than the nobody the fluff made him

[Liliedhe]

I have to say all of this makes me hopeful.

Unfortunately I can't buy the supplement yet.

[Bellarius]

Going from what i've read thus far this is a repeat of the Black Legion supplement - relatively decent to great fluff, even the major change of

Spoiler: Pugh's death

was well handled, but the rules are certainly lacking in areas.

That said, the event which got half of 5th killed could have been better handled. The idea was good but the execution felt somewhat lacking in how Lysander's pride did get the better of him.

May I ask what people think of some of the new rules though? Especially the new wargear. Can you see all of them becoming genuinely useful?

EDIT: Actually there is one problem, Pugh's death does cause huge canon contradictions with any books that do mention him as being alive at that time. These can be passed off as communication or knowledge errors, but Phalanx featured him alive about 20 years after his death now.

EDIT 02: Actually ignore what I said, that was when I was skimming through the book and reading events quickly. It has more than a few problems when gone through in detail.

[schaferwhat‽]

Remember when Lysander was a scout sergeant.

One of the best.

I miss those days.

There is a bit of a stick with the need to be "contemporary" with 40k which is a bit odd. I am all fine for having characters who died hundreds of years before the other was born, and if it bothers you that they may fight together or against each other, there is always the time travel aspect of the warp.

I haven't read enough to judge the happenings here but all Fists have that urge to be punished aspect to them. Considering they're all perverts like that Lysander turning down a promotion for something isn't that out of character talking in broad yellow strokes.

[Fenris]

Another interesting thing is Shon'tu

He's been morphed even more in a new Honsou,only for the IF and Lysander

Now,he's the leader of the rebels of Haddrake Thor (so,the guy that has the first company teleport into solid rock)

He's also the leader of Malodrax (but that was already stated on the 6th edition codex)

So,in a way he "created" Lysander as his nemesis (same way batman creates his enemies )

Also,a single line makes him the single most succesfull chaos space marine of the Long War.

He manages to warp-rift into the Phalanx
(seriosly,at this point it looks more and more like a wandering eye of terror,with everyone opening portals to it)
While it's orbiting a planet on no consequence...Terra...

He made it a bit farter than Abaddon

Remember when Lysander was a scout sergeant.

One of the best.

I miss those days.

Well,Garadon has taken the mantle of"horribad rules" from the original Lysander,so

May I ask what people think of some of the new rules though? Especially the new wargear. Can you see all of them becoming genuinely useful?

Relics are kinda meh (one of 5 is really good,1 is decent,2 are meh and one is meh but at least it's almost free),standard C:SM ones really outclass them
Chapter & warlord traits are sidegrades/maybe a little upgrade to the marine ones (depending on how you see them)
The extra centurion rule is interesting

[revelation]

Sentinels of Terra, the new supplement.

Are you interested in this for the fluff only or do you play 40k tabletop as well?

[Liliedhe]

I dont play. I just want to read the fluff. And I like IF a lot. The poor things.