Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Quarter final 3 and 4 Draw

"So there are already two Primarch's through to the semi finals. Who will join Magnus and Russ?"

"Well tonight we find out as the draw for the last two quarter finals is about to take place. Left in the pot we have Sanguinius, Mortarion, Alpharius/Omegon and Angron."

"So who will it be and who will be making the draw?"

"Well I can answer that for you, in fact here he is, it's DANTE!!!"

"And this could be some time. Come on grandad get that zimmer cracking!!"

3 hours later.....

"Finally he's reached the table. So who will it be? One old crooked claw reaches to the pot...."

1 hour later....

"And...yes he has the ball in his hand!  Its.....oh hang on he's getting his glasses on..."

Another hour.....

"SANGUINIUS!!!"

"But who will he face?"

2 hours later....

"ANGRON!!!!!"

"Wow what a match up this is going to be!! Beauty and the beast!!"

"This also means that the last quarter-final will be MORTARION v ALPHARIUS/OMEGON."

"So we start with Sanguinius v Angron. Get voting @4dadsapocalypse on Twitter to see who progresses to the semi finals."

Primarch Deathmatch Obituary - Vulkan

There we go folks, another fan favourite eats dirt. And let's not forget the undignified way the fight finished thanks to Russ' animalistic instincts.



Vulkan and his kin are known for their humanity and pursuance of war under a code of conduct not seen amongst the other legions to the same degree. Indeed, the Salamanders are differentiated by this by the time we reach the 40k era. In the 30k era he banned destroyers and the use of rad weapons cos he was such a nice guy, of course melting face with flames and plasma are totally reasonable so we can all like him for ditching the 'dirty' weapons!

Vulkan is also known as a master weapons smith and his early life on Nocturne sees him living as a blacksmith. Of course he isn't any old blacksmith and he shows this by swiping out a band of raiding Dark Eldar with nothing more than a couple of blacksmiths hammers-boom!

There is one really important thing about him though, he is a perpetual...can't be killed which is damn handy in a scrap! I won't spoil any of the interesting things that happen to him in the HH books, but suffice to say by the time he gets home he may have wished he could die!

The Salamanders are one of the loyalist dropssite massacre legions and don't make it off of Istvaan in great numbers. They can't be far off chapter size by the end of it and much of the Legion is cast off in disarray to begin its shadow war fight.



Vulcan in the game...is a beast
The army with him gets +1 leadership and adamantium will when he is present. He gets to re-roll It Will Not Die and failed Deny the Witch rolls. Armour is 2+|3++ and any flamer, melts or plasma is reduced to half strength when shooting him! His hammer is S10 AP1, concussive and armourbane and instant death but is NOT unwieldy - wow! He can sacrifice his attacks to place small blast S8 AP3 instead without scatter - ouch! His side arms are marine and terminator killers too and auto hit!!!

He has solid stat line to boot which must make him one of the best Primarchs in the game. In fact I need to go now and get my order in for Vulkan!

Fulgrim - An obituary

The story of Fulgrim in the Heresy series has been one of the most interesting for me. Reading about his pride, his fall, being trapped in a picture whilst a Daemon inhabited his body and killed his brother, before wresting control once more and embracing the darkness that the daemon had brought into his soul.

The discussions between Fulgrim and the daemon in Reflection Cracked are a stand out point, and who can forget the moment we look at the picture and realise that the eyes are moving, that it is Fulgrim trapped within its fabric? Creepy.



Then there's the scene where a group of Emperor's Children capture their Primarch, realising there is something wrong after observing him for weeks. Torturing him for days, only to realise that their father had already beaten his inner daemon (so to speak).

The moment the reptilian daemon Primarch throws the polished, fleshless head of one of his dead brothers to another of his brothers as a trophy. On the one hand we could see it as a trophy, a gift of fealty to the Warmaster. But maybe Horus saw it as a warning, even if it was an unintentional one: if one Primarch could die, so could another, so could they all, included one who believed he was first amongst them. We also see in that scene how Horus loathes Fulgrim for what he has become, not seeing the irony in the situation.

All stand out points in the story of a very interesting, narcissistic character. He's been written well.

But now Fulgrim is dead... or at least his mortal shell is. What he has become is something other, something more whilst at the same time something far less than he ever was as a Primarch: A Daemon.

Conrad Curze - an obituary

Konrad Curze, The Night Haunter, The Last Judge, The King of Terror....

The first is a name he tried to forget, the others are names he used to instil fear. But when you read the fiction, his brother Primarchs only ever called him by his original name, and he despised them for that. This is a being that hated himself for what he had become and was cursed with the power of precognition. He knew what fate had in store for him, or at least one version of it, and became a living self-fulfilling prophecy. He tried to forget his birth name, because that was the last thread of humanity and he wanted to shed it like he shed the skin from his victims. He felt wronged by fate and wanted to inflict the pain of that injury on every living thing in existence.

Curze joined Horus for two reasons: because he could now unleash his wickedness without recompense and because he hated the ideals held by the Imperium. He knew that some of his brother's loathed him, but what he didn't realise was that it wasn't just the regal Dorn, noble Guilliman or honourable Russ. Horus, Mortarian and Perturabo hated him just as much.  Or maybe he just hated himself so much he no longer cared...





The Forge World miniature is exquisite. It's definitely one of my favourites. It really shows off his brooding nature. This is clearly a troubled man. A man who thinks he can't escape his fate so has instead embraced it and then taken it to the next level.




At 435pts he clocks in at a similar points value to his brothers, and his weapons load out looks pretty cool too.

He's classed as Jump Infantry, has a pair of lightening claws and his special rule The King of Terrors causes a -3 leadership modifier, meaning he can swoop in to combat, kill the majority o the squad and cause the rest to flee before performing a sweeping advance and cutting them down behind as they run. Not unlike the Night Lords in the fluff.

All in all, he's an interesting character. I don't think this one was ever 'Loyal', he just 'was'. He realised he was a born killer, engineered for war, and that he was eventually going to die, so he embraced death, intent on taking as many souls with him when he went...

Primarch Deathmatch - Obituary - Lorgar Aurelian

Well fight fans that was a fairly one-sided match and proof, if it was ever needed, that when two Primarch's team up, they can take down one of their brothers without too much trouble.

Lorgar and the Heresy Era

This Primarch woke up as a babe on Colchis, a planet of fervent religion and this clearly shaped his outlook on life. Interestingly, he is one of the few (only?) Primarch's to retain his childhood-world step-father in the form of Kor Pheron who is partially elevated to the status of Astartes but for whom not all of the physical gains would work. Maybe this was the start of his Daddy issues.

I think one of the reasons this guy didn't get too many votes is because he started the damn heresy (although shouldn't we therefore love him?)! Lorgar was the first of the Primarchs to be swayed by the ruinous powers and he aligned himself and the Word Bearers to chaos undivided. His conversion included a conversation with Fateweaver whose heads, although I am not sure it should be believed, were apparently both speaking the truth when they told him that he could either a) take down Roboute Guilliman or b) make sure the heresy went off according to plan. I am guessing he didn't chose too well there.

Of course his loathing for the boys in blue dated back to Guilliman's sanctioning of the Word Bearers at the word of the Big E. Both of whom turned up and humiliated Lorgar by making his entire Legion bow down before Roboute and the Big E as the Ultramarines destroyed a planet of religion that Lorgar was building. Roboute was apparently against this but the Big E wasn't about to take parenting advice from anyone!

Lorgar planned the beginning of the Heresy and set up all the major events through one other hated heresy character - Erebus. And between the two they all but corrupted Horus themselves.

He is one of those Primarchs that escaped the Heresy intact, fleeing to the Eye Of Terror after the siege of Terra (try saying that 10 times fast!) where he ascended to Daemonhood and apparently left a note out side his door saying he was going to meditate for a while - no one has heard from him since.

There is


just one sweet irony to enjoy in Lorgar - I think he may have written the Lectito Divinatus. Yes, one of the bad guys wrote the book that kinda saved mankind through faith...its a crazy world the Grim Dark future!

Lorgar in the game

Its 375	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Lorgar Aurelian:	6	6	6	6	5	6	4	10	2+

So what is great about this guy is that if you take him in his 'ascendant' form he gains Mastery Level 3 and can of course select the powers he wishes to chose from Divination and Telekenis. There are loads of great combos to play with this.

He gets a S6 AP2 power maul in close combat and once per game can force his opponent to re-roll all 5s and 6s to hit and to wound. Not bad eh? He's got decent armour save at 2+, slight let down by a 4+ invul though.

The verdict:
I expect that he's kinda disliked on account of his sneaky turning of Horus and the fact he is not quite as killy as his brothers although he has plenty to recommend him to traitors and loyalists alike so I am not sure why he has done so badly. I mean this guy invented the Imperial Faith and started the Heresy!

Happy hobbying...

Ferrus Manus - an obituary

So, Ferrus lost his head under pressure, or maybe it was just that his head was so big with over-confidence, presenting an easy target?

Forge World's description of the man him self:
"The Primarch of the Iron Hands Legion was a figure of legend amongst the peoples of his home world of Medusa, named by them ‘the Gorgon’ after the most ancient of mythic creatures. Ferrus was amongst the strongest of the Primarchs, reflected in this giant figure, dwarfing many of his brother Primarchs.
Ferrus Manus was blessed of a physiology remarkable even amongst the Primarchs. His arms were sheathed in liquid metal, the result, so the legends of Medusa claim, of a battle fought against the mightiest of beasts before he was re-united with the Emperor. His armour is as heavy and impenetrable as that of a super-heavy tank, yet he keeps both arms uncovered so that he might bring their full might to bear".

I must admit that when Ferrus Manus came along, I was blown away by the level of detail. This is definitely one of my favourite Primarch miniatures. And whoever did the paint job has done so to a fantastic level. That blending of the metal arms is some serious stuff. I spent quite a while staring at this one last time I was in the Warhammer World exhibition, trying to figure out how they did it.





My second admission is that I don't really like Ferrus. He comes across as arrogant towards everyone; legions, Primarchs and humankind as a whole. Maybe Slaneesh targeted the wrong brother when they went after Fulgrim? This arrogance has left a 10,000 year legacy on the Iron Hands legion, one that has left them believing not only that he flesh is weak but that humanity is weak, that the Emperor's legionaires are not adequate.. seriously, these guys are no different than the Emperor's Children in trying to improve what the Big E created.

In game terms he is a beast, with wargear to match his fluff. Of course, my favourite piece is Forgebreaker, but it definitely looks better in Perturabo's hands in my opinion.

Nope, 99% of the time I'm a loyalist but I'm glad this guy is out of the picture. An early exit, just like on Istvaan...

 

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 4 Result - Magnus v Ferrus Manus

Commentary excerpt from Deathmatch week 4:

"The two warriors enter the Deathmatch arena, their hulking presence silences the baying crowd. The gigantic form of the mighty Ferrus Manus casts a hulking shadow as the floodlights beam down and we are ready for an almighty smackdown in the arena tonight."

"Ferrus is first to move as his mighty Iron hands hoist Forgebreaker high over his head......Wait! its all over! This is incredible! Magnus moved out of the shadows and......opened his cycloptic eye! That was it, quick as a flash and Ferrus' head just popped clean off!"

" Magnus is quietly walking back into the shadows here in the arena as the boo's ring around at arenaside. Once again Ferrus has buckled under the pressure and lost his head in the big fight. What a let down......."

So that's it, a very one sided contest leaves Magnus strolling into the quarters. Just who will be joining him in week 5? Check back later when the draw is made.

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 4 - Magnus v Ferrus Manus

I'm not sure we can top the drama of week 3 but this match will certainly give it a go!

Here to draw our next 2 contestants in the Deathmatch studio's is the one, the only, Old Zogwart!

The weirdest of the weirdboyz himself stands before me in the studio now bathed in his luminescent green glow and interesting aroma.

He approaches the drawing bowl now ready to draw the first Primarch and.... Bang, Flash..... it turns into a squig!! Has anyone got another set of balls and bowl to draw them from please?! And somebody shoot that Squig!!

Right now that everything has calmed down a bit here, Mr Zogwart please put down the staff and pick a ball out of the bowl....

And who do we have? Its Magnus the Red! Old Cyclops himself makes an appearance ready to fight and hoping to win to make a political victory speech at the finish about how he was right and everyone should have listened to him!

So who will face Magnus? Could it be the Wolf or is it too early for that matchup just yet? Those orky fingers are dipping into the bowl again.....its......Ferrus Manus! The Primarch who famously loses his head under pressure.

 

So Deathmatch fans we have The Crimson King representing the Thousand Sons v The Gorgon Representing the Iron Hands. Who will win? Only you can decide so get on Twitter and vote now!

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch - Week 3 result - Mortarion v Guilliman

What an epic battle it has been this week! If you have been following on twitter (@4dadsapocalypse) then you will know that after 7 days of slugging it out Mortarion and Roboute Guilliman finished dead level in the Twitter vote.

Both Primarchs were sunk on their knees in the deathmatch arena surrounded by blood and other unspeakable fluids that had worked their way out of Mortarions ruined armour. Blades were bent and scythes were misshapen but both Primarch's were still alive.

Out of nowhere our special guest Sgt Oan Mkoll appeared and announced an unprecedented extra hour of battle for the arena. The fans went nuts and watched the onslaught.

Finally after innumerable blessings from the gods, Mortarion's Feel No Pain was too much for the mighty Roman Guilliman and the boy in blue sagged to the floor waiting for the final reaping delivered by Mortarion's mighty Scythe.

Mortarion and his Death Guard go off for a well earned rest before his next fight in the quarter finals while we get to stay on and find out who is up next.

Stay tuned fight fans for our next deathmatch is just around the corner....

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 2 Result - Corax v Lion

The Lion triumphs and brushes his long golden mane back away from his face with a blood stained gauntlet.

Our qualifying round guest the Fateweaver watches on with a knowing smile before clucking off into the ether knowing that he/she is the top bird in the universe.

So the Lion representing the 1st Legion is past the qualifying round and into the first round proper.
Who will he face? Only time (or the Eldar) will tell but as for Corax you will just have to read his obituary on the blog in the next few days....

Twitter Primarch Death Match Week 3 - 1st Round, 1st Match - Mortarion v Roboute Guilliman

Its time for the 1st Deathmatch of the first round draw and we have another special guest to do the honours - it's Chief Scout Sergeant Oan Mkoll....

Well he was here....I saw him a moment ago....I think.....hang on there's a bolt shell in my hand.....there's a name on it....it says Mortarian!

Are you here Oan? Hang on who left that other bolt shell on the table?....wait there's another name on it......it says......Roboute Guilliman!

So thank you Oan Mkoll! I think. Anyway we have a fantastic matchup awaiting us on Twitter - the lord of death and decay, the nigh unkillable, the slightly smelly Mortarion versus the stauchest of Imperials, the law maker, the man with the biggest, straightest rod right up his.........it's Roboute Guilliman!!!

Who will win and go through to the Quarter Finals? Only Twitter can decide so get voting @4dadsapocolypse

Primarch Death Match: Perturabo

Well, one week gone and we're one Primarch down... and what a Primarch he is!

Perturabo is a tank. In the literature, in the Forge World miniature and on the battlefield, once the Perturabo-tank starts rolling, nothing is gonna stop him.

Where to start? I'll start with Angel Exterminatus. A few months back us Dads were having a chat about something or other and I think I said something along the lines of "I don't have any feelings either way towards Perturabo, I don't even know what he did during the Heresy." Dad Steve said I should re-read Angel Exterminatus. I did and all I can say is that Perturabo is probably my second favourite Primarch now. I even have a small squad of Iron Warriors ready to join my Space Wolves.

Perturabo came across as a noble warrior, like most of his brothers, who decided he didn't like any form of tyranny, including that of his genetic Father. So when Horus declared his independence, the Iron Warriors took their chance. Perturabo's only error was siding with Horus. He would have been better off plotting his own destiny, instead he traded one perceived tyrant for another.

Angel Exterminatus relays the moment Fulgrim reveals his ultimate betrayal and Petturabo realises he has cast in his lot with a carnival of freaks. But also realises he has no choice but to continue down that path, he's already damned himself and his legion as traitors. All he can do now is hope to reap bloody revenge on Fulgrim and help Horus achieve the end he desires.

The reason Perturabo appeals to me is the crux of this truly tragic story: he wants mankind to be free of all tyranny. He's not a traitor and he's not loyal. He didn't fall that day his legion turned their guns on their brothers, that only came much later after Fulgrim's almost-assassination filled his heart with rage and hate, allowing Chaos to wheedle its way in and turn this once proud warrior's heart black and rotten.



The miniature which Forge World have produced has absolutely blown me away and I will certainly paint this guy at some point in the next 12 months. The only reason I have held off is that I want Russ to be my first Primarch, having been a Space Wolves player all my gaming life. I could certainly imagine Russ and Perturabo having a respect for each other, so have no issues with having them both in my army.

The miniature, in my opinion, is the only Primarch miniature to date that I haven't been a bit disappointed with, it completely epitomises the character it is trying to portray. But maybe that's because I had very few preconceptions. I knew little of what this guy looked like before the HH series took off other than the images in Collected Visions of Heresy, and that wasn't many.

No, Forge World have done a great job on this one in my book. He looks like a bad ass mother hunker wading through the wreckage of his enemies. He looks unstoppable. He looks pissed off that once again he has been left to do the dirty work whilst his brothers claim the glory. If he had a tattoo, I imagine it'd be two words: "F*ck it".



What about in-game then? I've obviously not used him in battle myself, but having faced other Primarchs, I can only imagine that he justifies his 455pt. It's a big chunk of your army points, but with 6 wounds, It Will Not Die and The Logos, there's a good chance you won't loose him during the course of 6 rounds. And with a Precision Bombardment, wrist cannon and Forgebreakerm he's gonna be the anvil AND the hammer to shatter the other army.

What is The Logos? you ask. All I can say is that Perturabo was the equal of Ferrus Manus when it came to tinkering with his wargear. this guy was an artisan to equal any of his brothers. The Logos is described as a custom suit of terminator armour allowing the Lord of the Iron Warriors to be cybernetically linked to ever facet of the forces under his command, ensuring every element worked in concert to defeat the foe.

In game terms it provides a 2+ armour, 3+ invulnerable save, AP2 close combat attacks and Deep Strike.

And man, lets not forget, this guy has a Shadowsord as his personal transport, The Tormentor But lets be honest, nothing smaller would suffice... a tank for a tank.

Overall, I'm sorry that pussy Dorn won this round. A warrior as solid and robust as Perturabo really shouldn't have been eliminated before the game truly starts, but then I imagine he never really wanted to be part of it. He never craved the power or glory like his brothers, he just wanted to free mankind from the shackles of others and then be left to his own devices. It's probably best he's out of it...

Dave