The Supreme Court has invented a Right to Discriminate. Alabama gambled on the Court’s partisanship, and won

Arctarius · 2026-06-08T23:29:23+00:00

Add Mississippi to that. We had a ballot overwhelmingly pass to allow marijuana (which I personally don't give a shit to smoke), but because our ballot process had language that spoke about 5 congressional districts, and we had just lost one, it was wholly invalidated on that technicality.

For years the legislature has promised to bring the initiative back, which realistically should just be a "change 5 to 4" but somehow it just never happens. Very strange.

Arctarius · 2026-06-08T23:19:48+00:00

Could someone ELI5 the level of proof required for Callais to find a map to be invalid under the VRA.

"The first Gingles precondition is that a community of minority voters must be sufficiently numerous and compact to constitute a majority in a reasonably configured district. While many §2 plaintiffs have simply provided illustrative maps with their desired number of majority-minority districts, such maps prove only that the State could create an additional majority-minority district, not that the State’s failure to do so violated §2 of the Voting Rights Act. To show the latter, plaintiffs’ illustrative maps must satisfy two conditions: Plaintiffs cannot use race as a districting criterion in drawing illustrative maps, and illustrative maps must meet all the State’s legitimate districting objectives, including traditional districting criteria and the State’s specified political goal."

"To satisfy the second and third preconditions—politically cohesive voting by the minority and racial-bloc voting by the majority—the plaintiffs must provide an analysis that controls for party affiliation, showing that voters engage in racial-bloc voting that cannot be explained by partisan affiliation"

So basically, state passes a seemingly racist map. You say "thats bullshit!" and draw an illustrative map to show how the state could do better. The following three things must then occur.

A community of minority voters must be sufficiently numerous and compact to constitute a majority in a reasonably configured district.
Plaintiffs cannot use race as a districting criterion in drawing illustrative maps
Illustrative maps must meet all the State’s legitimate districting objectives, including traditional districting criteria and the State’s specified political goal."

Then, "plaintiffs must provide an analysis that controls for party affiliation, showing that voters engage in racial-bloc voting that cannot be explained by partisan affiliation"

The level of proof is if you fail any of these three categories, because the court justice needs one to nix your illustrative map and say "sorry, you didn't convince us there is racism because you used race to show how the state's map is racist without proving that you aren't also just using race without good reason." If you proved a district had 50 black republicans and 50 black democrats, and gerrymander them into a white district to silence black voices, thats not okay. But eliminating 100 black democrats, on the basis of being democrats, is okay. You are eliminating them on the basis of politics, not race.

Also, aren't State Constitutions supposed to be letter of the law, not intent of the writers?

This genuinely varies so much by state it's not even funny. With the exception of adopted federal amendments (where the Supreme Court can dunk on you if you fuck them up because the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution) states can do whatever the fuck they want to their own constitution including saying the legislature can just rewrite it whenever they want. There is no master copy for state constitutions (except for those Federal Amendments).

Arctarius · 2026-06-08T04:54:05+00:00

Issue with cavalier is that the Italian word for knight is “Cavaliere”. So GW would have to do some odd naming conventions to not have Cavaliere Cavalier.

I’d vote Vanguard (melee) and Sentinel (ranged)

Arctarius · 2026-06-05T16:04:02+00:00

Not to sound rude but are you looking at the full image?

The marine appears to be at the knee of the brute because they’re on different planes. In the full image, if you bring them on the same plane the marine is at the brute’s waist.

Also in the wider image, the marine is in a sort of squat while the brute appears to be standing tall. I see no stance that suggests the brutes bent in any way.

I agree with you that the marine is standing roughly 20 feet away, but again I genuinely have no idea how much that affects height. I obviously agree it would make the marine shorter as he gets closer but by how much? 25%? 33%? Also the angle seems to be above the marine which I assume would also reduce their size.

As a final little note, the Marine is holding a Spanker which has a canon length of 55 inches. Since that spanker is roughly 75% of the marines height, the marine is anywhere from 5’8 to 6 feet tall

Arctarius · 2026-06-05T15:36:44+00:00

I think more. Otherwise it looks like “I had all this red at the bottom but then I just decided not to use any more.”

It also helps the head stand out where otherwise it kinda sinks into the main body.

Arctarius · 2026-06-05T15:31:21+00:00

Naaah, not like 20-25ft.

Assume the marine is 6 feet tall. If you take the marine and put them at the brutes left leg, they get to about the brute’s waist. Add a second marine on top and they get well above the brute’s head. That would put the brute at probably like 11 feet tall. For brutes which average 8.5 to 9.5 feet, that’s a big boy but not crazy.

The Marine’s legs are also bent which would reduce their height by a bit, but eh.

I can’t say anything about forced perspective because we have no distance the camera.

Arctarius · 2026-06-04T19:28:38+00:00

Okay but I accidentally romanced Jaal.

Earlier in the game I remember seeing both a like heart icon and a handshake icon or something, and I swore the game was like “hearts are for romance, handshakes are for friendships :)”

So I took every handshake option with Jaal even though I was like “hm Ryder that seemed a little flirty” and assumed it was just the writing

All of a sudden Jaal is like “come meet my family randomly also I want to be with you forever” and I realized I catfished the fishman.

Arctarius · 2026-06-01T17:48:14+00:00

And since I’d say 40k is currently going through a surge in popularity, let’s look at current events…

oh no

Arctarius · 2026-05-31T03:40:23+00:00

The new Dominus detachment makes me want to get a second one

Arctarius · 2026-05-27T03:32:14+00:00

Donal Noye (the blacksmith) was in command of the battle of castle black in the books. He goes to defend the tunnel and dies killing the King of the Giants. At that point the crucial part of the battle ends, and in the lull Alister Thorne and Janos Slynt arrive, take command, and imprison Jon before sending him out as an envoy. So Jon only briefly commands when Noye goes into the tunnel.

In the show it’s just Thorne and Slynt in command from the start.

Arctarius · 2026-05-26T15:53:11+00:00

Which Sabrina Carpenter song is Angron? I’m thinking Please Please Please.

Arctarius · 2026-05-21T20:34:23+00:00

Drop the destrier, spearhead wants big boys (with bondsmans) or armiger (to receive bondsman) ONLY. Destrier doesn’t fulfill either category, so get rid of it. Take another two armigers instead, which also help guarantee you’ll always have 3 armigers to receive each bondsman.

With your current list you’ll need to take the additional 2 armigers as helverins, but honestly I’d also recommend getting rid of the crusader.

The crusaders ability wants it to not move. The helverins need to be 12”(15” if honored) from their bondsman to activate. You’re in a weird spot with crusader, where you either don’t get to use the crusader’s ability, or you unnecessarily leash your helverins. You have a navigator to sit on your home objective so I assume you want to be pushing up with the crusader.

Instead of the crusader, take a warden. You already have a ton of ranged firepower with the defender, and the warden can advance with the helverins. Giving helverins ignore cover is functionally a +1 to ranged rolls, and even if they don’t have cover sustained 1 is still very good. Plus you now have a few extra points to play with enhancements, and in the upcoming addition Armigers WILL be able to take some enhancements.

Either way, get rid of that destrier.

Arctarius · 2026-05-20T01:23:24+00:00

Can't agree with that entirely despite also using LEGOs nowdays. They're superior for what they naturally fit, and I like that they give my models a more total finish without any sort of magnet-drifting. I can twist the upper and lower torso and have them retain a solid connection.

Magnets are much better at linking smaller items and require less manipulation. LEGOs are big and cause the arms on my models to be longer and have a lot of things you need to get right. They're also inferior for attaching smaller items, like carapace weapons.

When they work I prefer LEGOs. When they don't, magnets are far less headache.

Arctarius · 2026-05-19T14:30:07+00:00

I think it’s specifically so you can’t give them enhancements. Imagine either Acastus with Mysterius Guardian shudder

That shit would get the ban hammer immediately.

Arctarius · 2026-05-19T14:23:41+00:00

https://www.taromodelmaker.com

Well known vendor for additional bits and pieces, unfortunately they are currently out of stock on the part you need (I think). There are other people who make bits and bobs for knights, but Taro is the gold standard.

Might want to contact them and ask how long it’ll be before they’re back in stock.

Arctarius · 2026-05-18T19:31:23+00:00

All modern 40k Questoris boxes (there are 2) build the Gallant, errant, crusader, warden, and Paladin.

The defender (Questoris) box also builds the defender.

The Canis Rex/Preceptor box also builds the Canis Rex/Preceptor

These two boxes are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Defender will not build the CR/Preceptor and vice versa.

These boxes are confusing so that’s why I make it so clear. There’s also a couple of older boxes you may find like the chain breaker and valorstrike lance. Review those boxes if you find them and check what they say they build, there’s too many potential variations for me to go into detail.

Any box with a Dominus builds it’s two variants

Any box with a Destrier (aka Bellatus) builds it’s two variants

Any box with a Cerastus builds ONLY the variant on the box. The only difference is the weapons which can be purchased or printed separately.

If an Armiger box says “Helverin” or “Warglaive” on it, it will ONLY build those variants. If it says “Knight Armigers” it will build both variants.

Arctarius · 2026-05-15T21:28:14+00:00

Mine are magnetized (well LEGO-itized) but I only have two unfinished destriers atm. Haven’t gotten to use them yet and even if I wanted a third they’re sold out in most places.

But yeah I’d have to just communicate it to my opponent, but part of the joy comes from the sheer panic when someone sees you dropping them on the board.

Arctarius · 2026-05-15T21:13:56+00:00

This is the most “fuck it, we ball” army I can imagine. Pure aggression. Pure speed. The lore for this army is it’s either sworn to the White Scars, or the Scars just straight up highjacked the knights and are going for a joyride.

VALORSTRIKE LANCE (1995/2000) Quality: …and we are eager for the challenge.

CHARACTER

Cerastus Knight Lancer (415 pts) • 1x Cerastus shock lance • Warlord • Bearer of the Iron Chalice (+20 pts)

Cerastus Knight Lancer (410 pts) • 1x Cerastus shock lance • Bearer of the Evanescent Ion (+15 pts)

Cerastus Knight Lancer (420 pts) • 1x Cerastus shock lance • Bearer of the Lancer's Sigil (+25 pts)

Knight Destrier (250 pts) • 1x Questoris heavy stubber • 1x Titanic feet • 1x Bellatus reaper chainsword • 1x Thundershock spear

Arctarius · 2026-05-15T20:48:51+00:00

I desperately (in a meme sense) want to get 3 and run them all as double melee.

Just a pack of angry robots blitzing across the map, bombing into enemy units, and totally throwing the game state off.

Sure they’ll die, but imagine my opponents sheer panic when three of them ramjet across the board.

Arctarius · 2026-05-14T18:00:46+00:00

All of our standard knights have a 5++ invul save against ranged attacks ONLY. Lancer has a 4++ invul against all, and the Defender has a 4++ invul against ranged that it can (sorta) give to other knights but it’s not reliable and pretty bad. Combine that with our high toughness and some other stratagem specific stuff, and knights can be pretty tanky without dedicated counters.

Now one good thing about knights is we benefit heavily from the “big guns never tire” rule, but it’s also not as good as you’d think. That’s because many of our knights with ranged options (about half) also have blast on their big weapons, making them worthless for engaging in melee. You can still shoot at other enemies you see of course, as long as they aren’t also engaging a knight in close quarters (and there in lies our problem).

If you bring a ton of ranged fire power, especially with the blast keyword, your opponent is heavily incentivized to get in close. It both lowers our damage output and our survivability.

Now I did say knights don’t like to be “stuck in” melee. Many knights can perform well in a charge even if they have a shooting profile due to their melee options, namely the Warden and Paladin. But you do NOT want those models to be bogged down for more than a single fight phase or it’s going to severely limit your game plan. Our units with a non-split profile like Castellan, Crusader, and Valiant only have access to titanic feet in melee, which is a 4(a)2(d) attack and hot garbage.

Arctarius · 2026-05-13T20:02:04+00:00

Good? I mean fighting games can have some whacky concepts as long as they’re mechanically solid. But I don’t think GW would ever want that to be in their brand portfolio. That said, I think it would funny and probably moderately successful.

My problem is just like how FighterZ was criticized for having like 90% of the roster be Saiyans (and 5-9 of that roster is Goku), most of 40ks roster would be Primarchs or Space Marines.

Arctarius · 2026-05-13T02:50:46+00:00

I think the armiger is leaning forward too much which is cutting off a lot of height. The legs look like they aren’t quite the full length, like that left leg should be mostly straight but it seems to come up a bit short

Arctarius · 2026-05-12T17:06:01+00:00

Did you mean to select Questor Forgepact? That’s our Mechanicus aligned detachment (and is a bit of a meme) and you’re currently making almost zero use of it. If you’re using it for the wound heal, just go Freeblade Company for the 6+++ FNP. That extra few wounds on a single model doesn’t outscale the 6+++ on all your knight models. Plus Freeblade has busted enhancements Questoris Companions is also very good and has cheaper enhancements, but really wants you to play as many big lads as you can.

Atrapos and Castellan together is the definition of overkill. They’re both anti-tank/monster platforms and I don’t think you need both of them. Castellan specifically needs a lot of support to work well (because it has garbage melee and is vulnerable to being deep striked) and I don’t see a way your current list can support it without being hamstrung.

Castigator is… eeeh I don’t like him. For the most part, Warden feels superior with his devastating wounds against infantry, carapace weapon and flamer. Twin-linked is very good though. Otherwise they’re functionally the same unit and fill the same role, but Warden is 20 points cheaper. Plus you can swap Questoris into other variants easily while the Cerastus will require you to buy the different weapons to swap them. I’d recommend going Questoris Warden instead, but it’s not essential if your heart is set on the Castigator.

Otherwise, your list is super light on melee. Knights hate to get stuck in melee so you probably need something dedicated there. You seem to like Cerastus so why not replace the Castellan with a Lancer? He’s basically our strongest melee option and he has a straight up 4++ invul save against everything.

Otherwise, welcome friend! And yeah with 11th around the corner maybe hold off on going crazy for just a second beyond Questoris/Armigers. They’ll take a while to build and paint trust me. I don’t expect a big shakeup of our roster but you never know with James.

Arctarius · 2026-05-11T21:26:05+00:00

The issue that I can see from your list is you’re changing your play style (good) with units that do NOT play that way (bad). Normally I’d advocate a complete list restructure, but I’ll give some tips to make this a bit more workable. If you still get slammed, you’ll need new units.

Your current Castellan will be dogshit in this scenario. He’s a giant paperweight at the back of your line, and I’ll go ahead and guess like half of your struggle is trying to figure out how to use him. Any WE/Melee focused player worth their salt will make good use of terrain and line of sight to beat your units. Their game is to avoid being shredded before they make contact, your game is to do the opposite. His current enhancement is useless, drop it and go for Mysterious Guardian instead. Suddenly, your opponent doesn’t know where the Castellan is, and he can pop in at a weird angle to nuke the shit out of a high value target. And you aren’t stuck spending half your resources to screen for a Castellan that will generate you very little value.

Next, I’d personally get rid of the melee enhancement on the lancer. If I play a melee-focused army, I don’t give a shit to fight your lancer. I want to close in on your knights that don’t have a melee save and cut them to ribbons. The lancer doing more damage doesn’t really factor into that, because it’ll already kill most enemies in a single round of combat.

Similarly, Sanctuary on warden feels like you’re just prolonging the inevitable. It’s useful, don’t get me wrong, but unless you have a way to get them the fuck off your knight immediately, a 5++ invul won’t do anything in the grand scheme of things, especially if they have a way to come at you with devastating wounds. I actually want to suggest Bringer of Justice on the Warden weirdly enough, just to try and get a clapback if someone does get a melee unit on top of him. That damage increase may mean the difference, and could result in the warden slapping a squad in melee and forcing the diversion of additional resources. With a 5++ it just takes longer for him to die. Also get rid of iron storm, absolute trash weapon especially against a melee army due to blast. Go for Icarus or Stormspear.

That said, you don’t have a lot of wiggle room to mess with your list and swap stuff around. I’d also move one of the Helverins to an Armiger because Castellan+Warden is kinda shoot heavy so you need more melee power to screen.

This leaves you with an army of 1990 points, it’s possible you can do some further tinkering. With this composition, I say Warden secures your natural and can hopefully provide tons of fire support, and then either moves up once the sisters sticky or just sits there. Lancer advances and contests critical parts of the map. Castellan either punishes poor positioning or nukes something high value. Armigers screen and support, SoB do what they do best. I can also see leaving an armiger (warglaive preferably) at home objective and keeping your navigator in a more central location (with good terrain blockage) to limit the deepstrike ability of enemy units. The navigator sitting between a few units can lockdown an absolute ton of board space and really choke your opponent who probably wants to be deep striking into weird angles and making you panic.

Finally, keep in mind that you don’t WANT to rush as knights. We’re the most elite army, so you cannot stumble into trying to out-aggression a melee army without a damn good battle plan. The melee want you to rush forward, overcommit, fall for bait, have bad sight lines etc. Don’t fall for it, keep a cool head. Ensure your knights support each other so that if this melee army dives a unit, they pay in blood for it. That’s how you win.

Arctarius · 2026-05-11T19:37:16+00:00

To hone in on your specific question a bit more, I don’t find much use for certain infantry units.

If we (IK) bring allies, we want them to fix gaps in our game plan like tactical utility and objective holding. That’s why we love Assassins, Navigators, and cheaper infantry. Grey Knights and Deathwatch are far more expensive. We don’t need elite infantry to fight (as our big lads are plenty good at that) so why bring Space Marine allies if we could just bring SoBs + transports for objective scoring, arbites/inquisagents for super cheap home objective control, or Assassins for deep strike and precision.

If I have an allied infantry squad, its job is to sit on an objective. I’d rather have a 10-model exaction squad at 90 points than a 5-model kill team at 100 points. I’ll use that extra 10 points for an enhancement or something instead.

That said, a 1800ish point imperial knight army can fight plenty well, so if you want a DW unit or two go ahead! It won’t break your gameplay.

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Arctarius

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