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BATTLE REPORT·WHITE DWARF 490

First Contact

July 2023·pp. 70–87

THE SHORT VERSION

Tom Horth’s Ultramarines and Emily Ridding’s Hive Fleet Leviathan play the new edition for the first time with Robin Cruddace and Duncan Waugh coaching their decisions. Using the launch set forces, they contest moving Servo-skull objectives while comparing Tactical and Fixed secondaries, attached Leaders, doctrines, Synapse and reactive stratagems. The Tyranids advance rapidly, but Terminators and surviving Infernus Marines turn the central fight and push the objectives towards the swarm’s lines.

Tom’s army passes the crucial Shadow in the Warp tests and builds a commanding score, even as a Tyranid Prime hunts his exposed characters and the monsters endure. Emily switches to an Orbital Strike Coordinates gambit and rolls a spectacular natural twelve, salvaging a dramatic late reward without overturning the Ultramarines victory. The debrief discusses accessible datasheets, fewer stratagems, stronger armour and memorable unit performances.

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CommunityWD 490 · pp. 4–7

Contact

Readers share therapeutic painting, custom Imperial forces and enthusiasm for several generations of Warhammer games. Ian Balzer links Space Wolves and his Sisterhood of the Wolf through their colours; Fiona Gosschalk’s rainbow Skink Oracle combines bright blends, non-metallic gold and tiny galactic patterns. The replies explain a pale Death Guard recipe and briefly place the major alien species in the era of the Horus Heresy.

Warhammer 40,000Age of SigmarDeath Guard10 paint colours
July 2023Read summary
PaintingWD 490 · p. 4

Painting Question: The Pallid Hand

Tom Moore’s Death Guard armour starts from white and gains a warm aged finish through Skeleton Horde, Ushabti Bone and pale drybrushed and edge highlights. The answer distinguishes this newer recommendation from Tom’s earlier Seraphim Sepia shading. Brown recess stains, sponge-stippled grime and selective blood finish the worn appearance without hiding the light armour.

Warhammer 40,000Death Guard8 paint colours
July 2023Read summary
LoreWD 490 · p. 7

Ask Grombrindal: Xenos During the Horus Heresy

A reader asks what alien civilisations were doing while the Imperium fought itself. The answer briefly distinguishes the recovering Aeldari, sleeping Necrons, primitive T’au, distant Tyranids and the Kin’s involvement on both sides. Orks remained an active military threat despite their defeat at Ullanor, giving the civil war a wider galactic context.

Warhammer 40,000The Horus HeresyAeldari
July 2023Read summary