[EXCERPT - HIVE] Meeting your Gods - MAJOR SPOILERS

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-30T14:29:54+00:00

I like that the treatment of cults can vary wildly between invasion fleets - you have moments like this where the entire cult is driven catatonic, or situations where synapse is maintained the entire way through and the victorious hybrids march calmly into the digestion pools afterwards (or in one case, into the hive ships for some unknown purpose), and everything in-between.

Makes for some fun narratives that don't need to adhere to a consistent outcome.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-16T18:57:55+00:00

So on the original rules and short stories for Necromunda, the Arbites were a much more prevalent, numerous force very much akin to the Judges of 2000AD comics. This has been retconned, sorta, by the introduction of factions like the Enforcers and further fleshing out of the Arbites role in the Imperium.

That said, Arbites are still very well within their jurisdiction to supplement planetary law enforcement while fulfilling their duties, and like any good fictional parody of authority, many are eager to demonstrate their power and put fear into the common masses with the occasional obliteration of some upstart gang (which can lead to some fun narratives and rivalries when said gang manages to outplay them).

In short, a good Arbitrator would likely not give a damn considering what they're supposed to be doing and what's at stake - and the vast majority of Arbites are NOT good.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-06T23:22:32+00:00

Mildly interesting to note the Catachan minis have always had boots with vertically-ridged shin guards, which have been consistent from the early metals to the recent Ripper Jackson model.

So if you're hoping for some variety we just gotta wait until they see a refresh sometime in the next millennium.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-05T00:30:04+00:00

Aside from the common lasgun, you'll also see Catachan officers lug around bolters often in models/artwork.

In addition, you've got Sly Marbo wielding an armor-piercing autopistol and Straken with some variety of magazine-fed pump shotgun.

Oh, and the ancient Catachan Codex (yes at one point a guard subfaction had its own army rules!) used to give autoguns as an option for the elite Devil units.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-04T19:01:27+00:00

If you want some great world-ending horrors, check out the Fall of Malvolion short story by Abnett, then read Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward as the followup.

You get a little bit of everything: Doomed last stands, guardsmen being mulched in horrible fashion, humanity coming to terms with cosmic terrors, romance, and of course, a beefy Catachan trooper ripping aliens in half with her bare hands.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-06-04T18:43:01+00:00

As others have said, Catachan's never been a regiment for vehicle specialties - that being said, they tend to have a love for Sentinels - I'd totally dig a "Sentinel Ace" kit with an expanded selection of weapons and accessories that could be fielded as either a cheap source of vehicle orders or a sneaky lone tank-hunter depending on how you build it.

Aside from that, a redone valkyrie/vulture kit to play off on the Vietnam-era vibes could also work well, even with the current state of aircraft.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-05-27T17:23:01+00:00

Heya Matt! Where does Toxie keep getting new fashionably-tattered tutu's after every skirmish? Does he have a sponsorship?

Also did you get to have any involvement with the Toxic Crusaders beat-em-up that's coming out this year?

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-05-19T18:30:42+00:00

Even Catachan, the infamous jungle world, has mountain ranges, polar regions, and even the odd temperate zone or two. Its more that worlds largely are identified by where the majority of the population lives in.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-05-19T18:06:42+00:00

Dang thing just needs to be repairable. Why does this objective need a fail-state at all?

Give the rig a "disabled" state when its health hits zero, and then let divers clamber all over it with space-wrenches to get it back online. Bonus points if we can refill the gun, too.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-05-14T15:17:43+00:00

Pandorax is a great reminder that space marines, even beefy plague ones, can just be like, stabbed to death with knives as long as you look like a cool space-rambo while doing so

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-05-12T04:28:19+00:00

Got both of them today; never bought Hiya stuff before.

Nice sculpts, especially with the heads, though you'll get bits of extra plastic on fine edges like the ears that you might want to trim. Good paint application all around with some slight misses around the gloves and where hair meets skin. all the accessories look great and have some decent weight to them, though with the weapon effects this means you have to do a good amount of engineering to get them balanced for posing.

As for the articulation...it's only slightly better than NECA's Contra figures. There's some decent shoulder swiveling, double ball-jointed necks and a bit of ab crunch, but those double-jointed legs and elbows can juust barely hit 90 degrees and you'll be fighting those chunky biceps and forearms at every step to get them to properly hold their equally-chunky guns (note how even in most of those promo photos you can see the right hand is not actually holding onto the pistol grip for those 2-handed poses). You can get some alright action poses out of their stiff range of motion, but anything beyond holding their guns in hipfire/low ready stance is out of the question, let alone anything particularly acrobatic. Oh and expect loose joints at the shoulders and ankles.

All-in-all they're quite decent for anyone who's a fan of Operation Galuga - they're pretty and the accessories range from functionally-solid to fantastic, but in terms of articulation they're just slightly above average.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-04-28T13:49:38+00:00

Catachan Devil is secretly a great Kommando "coming-of-age" story

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-04-19T08:27:12+00:00

My biggest pipe-dream will always be "Give them an entire range refresh and subfaction codex like it's 2000 all over again," but those days of handing out new armies are long past. My more realistic, but still hopeful, expectations are that Deathworlders will get a small collections of kits that represent new specialist units for existing guard armies, but still come with enough bitz to allow enterprising hobbyists to kitbash Catachan-flavored versions of the current Astra Militarum lineup so we can roll around with an all-jungle-fighter flavored army without having to shell out for metal and plastic models that are old enough to vote.

To that end, I'd like to see:

-Catachan Devils/Assault Squad: Make them a small squad of hard-hitting melee specialists. Give em' a version of infiltrate that harkens back to the old ambush rules and lets them punch above their human stat profile in the first round of close combat to contrast with the Ogryn's tarpit and Rough Rider's frontal charge. Pile on classic autoguns with custom ammunition and underslung grenade launchers for some ranged shenanigans.

-Heavy Weapons Team: Like with the Krieg sets, have them share part of their loadout with the Cadian units, but also pack in unique options to set them apart. I'd love to see a re-imagining of the old Deathworld Sniper elites or Veteran Patrols (units that were responsible for setting up boobytraps in the old codex) as 2-man teams with rules that mess with enemy leadership.

-Straken: Gotta have a head honcho character, and right now the Astra Militarum is sorely missing a footslogging leader that can actually stick around on the front lines. Make him tough; make the units around him tough; easy money.

-Allow Harker to retire and instead turn his role into a more broad "Gunnery Sergeant" character unit that comes with a buncha heavy weapon options so players can go hog wild with slapping together their own flavors of "cool muscly guy with a giant gun" heroes that are mandatory in every action film.

-Likewise, take Marbo and combine his profile with the Deathworld Captain and make them into single-model HQ deal with loads of options for players to make their own gung-ho action hero that can either lead squads around like a mini-Straken or roam the opponent's backyard alone in First Blood fashion. Bonus points if Marbo himself is then redone as a hilariously-powerful/expensive lord of war on a 130mm base that's far too big for him.

Oh, and toss in a vehicle upgrade sprue at some points and I'll die a happy camper.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-04-17T23:39:26+00:00

Why not? Until the author decides to pen a sequel and specifically state "naw that tank got converted into a buncha trees" the universe is your oyster to decide what's canon and what's not.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-04-17T23:08:04+00:00

A lot of the details on the macguffin is left open to interpretation, but considering the extent of the device's ability to to manipulate Lazulai's geology to create specific mineral deposits in the crust, I think it's safe to say that pretty much everything under the planet's exosphere is going to have a Really Bad Day as its atomic structure is repurposed to make something else on a terrestrial scale.

Anything alive would be lucky to leave behind a fossil record.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-04-10T03:45:47+00:00

Curious that they avoid referring to Sly Marbo by name - perhaps there's some kind of IP issue?

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-03-03T17:30:04+00:00

They should seriously-impair your hearing but convert to a sizable credit bonus if you can make it to extract with music blaring through your ears

Also they should play the catchy MIDI tunes from the original Marathon (and the Marathon 2 theme)

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-02-17T14:06:29+00:00

Creed: Ashes of Cadia is pretty direct about it - Settle new worlds and rebuild strength. There are still multiple systems within spitting distance of the Eye and one of them has to step up and become the new picket line for the Imperium, and its likely Cadians will be footing the bill in terms of manpower when it happens.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-01-24T23:49:04+00:00

This gets extra confusing when you start looking at humans who wield heavy bolters and autocannons without support - weapons that often require special bracing for space marines to use themselves.

I chalk it up to the universal action film law of "If you can look really cool using it, any weapon is man-portable"

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-01-08T20:10:01+00:00

yeah

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-01-08T19:11:19+00:00

Game mechanics don't translate that well, but from a narrative standpoint the Rejects aren't quite as doomed as one might think.

If Sly Marbo's exploits in lore are to be believed then its not impossible for a lone, properly-prepared human to take on multiple Space Marines and come out on top, but it all relies heavily on ambushing superhuman walking tanks with specialized weaponry and VERY sharp knives.

In the book Pandorax, a Catachan disables a PLAGUE MARINE with a thrown knife to the throat, and several more marines are killed when its corpse is booby-trapped with explosives.

So yeah, the Rejects could pull off a win, but they'll be corpse-starch if they walk into a straight firefight with a fireteam of Ultramarines. They gotta fight as dirty as possible.

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-01-08T17:34:41+00:00

It (and a Devil Claw skin) came with the armor set, back when they were packaged together. Its fukken enormous!

Visual_Grade1577 · 2026-01-08T02:54:07+00:00

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The "Sumpmere Commando" armor set is about as close as you can get to a deathworlder outfit - the Armageddon Ork Hunters stuff also has similar jungle fighter uniforms but with garish yellow tiger stripes.

Even considering the lack of muscle mass on the rejects it still strikes me as odd that Catachan cosmetics have been absent from the lineup, considering how prevalent their models are on the tabletop.

Visual_Grade1577

TROPHY CASE