We’re in the final stretch for the first two Combat Patrols, with this issue and the next having the final unit from the two Leviathan Combat Patrols: the second 10-bug brick of Termagants and their Ripper Swarm. As if to make up for the repeated half-unit of models in this issue though, we get some of the best lore sections of 40K magazine so far.
As always, thank you to Hachette for the opportunity to review these models, magazines, and materials!
Narrative Materials
Issue #17 has a bumper crop of wonderful narrative articles. The first is “Life in the Imperium”. Since this is a Hachette article on the 40K Imperium, we get a wonderful bottom-line-up-front summary: “Life in the Imperium is a miserable ordeal. From the lowest dregs worked to death in backbreaking labour to nobles and lords caught in endless intrigues, none can escape the Imperium’s cruelty”. This is accompanied by artwork of Imperium citizens performing backbreaking labour. The article’s description of “life” in the Imperium is enthusiastically critical, and ends the initial summary with “This suits the Imperium well; such creatures make for fine warriors, and, as the dead pile up, more warriors are always needed.” The article even points out that having the warp open or a Tyranid Hive Fleet tendril show up “provides no respite” for Imperial citizens, because then they have the duty to rebuild their former lives.
The sweetness and light continues with the next article, “Death in the Imperium”. This article details the Imperium’s residual human resources policies: “When a subject of the Imperium dies, their remains are put to use”, with the bones being useful for inspirational holy relics and the meat being recycled and processed into corpse starch. After going into what the AdMech does to people who are dying, the article ends on the happy note “Often, the highest-ranking individuals (in the Imperium) resemble the servitors that follow them more than any conventional Humans.”
The next article is a brief discussion of the First Founding Space Marine Chapters, with a quick blurb as to what they do: Dark Angels have Terminators, White Scars have bikes, Space Wolves do herohammer, and so forth. It’s a pretty simple article comparatively, and one that I feel we have seen before. Nevertheless, it’s a good article to offer guidance as to which Space Marine chapter to paint and play. If only this subscription wasn’t geared (both in terms of paints offered, Marine Combat Patrol selection, and various name generators) towards doing Ultramarines.
The second-to-last article is on Hive Fleet adaptations, ostensibly to demonstrate how each Hive Fleet differs in terms of bio-adaptations. The article translates Tyranid bio-adaptations to “here are each of the Hive Fleet’s personalities”, and shows artwork of Hive Tyrants for five different Hive Fleets. Six Hive Fleets are discussed, but the artwork for Hive Fleet Hydra was left out and given Hive Fleet Behemoth’s Hive Tyrant instead.
The last article of this issue is a short story called “Tools of War”, and neatly summarizes the lore articles into a short story. A Lasgun factory worker is pretty convinced he has it good: he’s not a Servitor, and he gets an extra half-hour in the morning in which to pray. He draws inspiration from the “Good Workers” hanging in the vaulted rafters (their skulls specifically), such as a worker who “worked the dreaded Quadruple Shift” and an Overseer who “led his entire crew in blessed labour even as the Manufactorum was aflame”. He’s not thrilled that his usual worktime viewing of the exploits of the Space Marines is being replaced by constant broadcasts from the Priests about how the planet is not being invaded.
Then a Tyranid drops in. He tries to punch it, but that just makes the Tyranid mad. He grabs the Lasgun he has just finished, and goes to find a power pack to charge it. He runs into a Space Marine who takes the Lasgun, throws it at a Synapse creature, and kills it. He then asks the worker to get him more weapons.
Hobby Materials
This issue has two of the three Termagant Sprues, but no bases. This is an identical set of sprues to the sprues from Issues 7 and 8, so everything I said in those issues applies to this issue and the next issue. From tabletop view these guys look fine, painting these guys feels weird because there are out-of-sight undercuts to accommodate the push-fit slots. I think it’s good that Hachette split up the two sets of Termagants, because painting 20 of these guys all at once would be a slog. Regardless, the models are still relatively solid and quick to paint up with a good contrast scheme. That said, I am now intimately familiar as to why Hive Fleet Leviathan became the poster boy fleet over Hive Fleet Behemoth for the Tyranids.
Gaming Materials
This issue introduces Command Points and Stratagems. The issue has some cut-out CP tokens, and offers the first stratagem: the Command Re-Roll. I am going to assume that if you’re a regular reader of Goonhammer, you know what a CP reroll is.
The gaming Scenario is called “Bring it Down”, and it pits the entire Space Marine Combat Patrol against the Tyranid Combat Patrol (minus the new Termagants from this issue and next; and their Ripper Swarms). This scenario begins with the Psychophage and Terminator Librarian in the center of the Board locked in combat, while otherwise the armies deploy Hammer-and-Anvil style with 3 inch deployment zones. The Tyranids have first turn, while the Primary Objectives are Hold One, Hold Two, and Hold More. Each side has access to the CP reroll.
Final Verdict
I love this issue. While a picture is worth a thousand words, the lore articles in this issue manage to use words to evoke John Blanche art and the sheer hopelessness and evil of the Imperium. The short story, while not exactly subtle, is a wonderful bit of self-contained narrative evocative of the setting and offering more than a bit of hobby inspiration. Especially if you play Necromunda. I wonder how my fellow Kevins would tackle the Good Workers for use in a playable Necromunda factory board, for instance.
Until next time, Combat Patrolers!
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