Welcome back, Combat Patrolers! Last time, we looked at one of the best values from the magazine so far: Issue #31 and the Dark Apostle. This time we have a paint issue, which means we are going to want to rely on the contents of the magazine to make up for the value vis a vis the retail costs of the paints. As always, thank you to Goonhammer and Hachette for the opportunity to review this magazine and materials as we jump in.

Narrative Materials

We are introduced to the Post-Heresy world of the Heretic Astartes, with a discussion of the Long War. "Over many thousands of years, the galaxy has felt the malice of the Chaos Space Marines!" The article explains that the Eye of Terror is an area of space where the warp overlaps with the material universe, and so everything is all confused. While ten thousand years have passed for the Imperium, the flow of time within the Eye of Terror is at best a helpful suggestion and accordingly only a few days or years have passed for the Chaos Space Marines. So they are still angry, bitter, and seeking to make the galaxy burn. We get a small timeline of "Vengeance Writ Large", discussing various battles fought by the Traitor Marines. We have the exploits of Perturabo, the Night Lords, World Eaters, the First War for Armageddon, and the aftermath of the Thirteenth Black Crusade. We get a showcase of various Chaos Space Marines minis versus Primaris Space Marines minis.

Word Bearers Lord, Sorcerer and Master of Executions. Credit: Jeff Scarisbrick.

We have a listing of some of the various Traitor Legions: the Alpha Legion, Word Bearers, Night Lords, and Iron Warriors. The Alpha Warriors are sneaky, the Word Bearers are religious fanatics, the Iron Warriors are grumpy, and the Night Lords are piratical raiders.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Then we have Part of 8 of Bonds of Honour, and return to Silver Templars' Sergeant Askarton and looking for his Bolt Rifle. Previously, they had boarded a scavenger ship and killed everyone on board when they spotted an Aeldari ship. The Aeldari corsairs board, and the Space Marines immediately fight them. The narrator warns as to how dangerous boarding actions are, then how the Silver Templars had the advantage in the fight. The Silver Templars had previously examined the ship and knew the layout and the Aeldari did not. The Space Marines got to their gunship, and blew up both the Aeldari Corsair and the scavenger vessel. Then the Silver Templars noticed that the Aeldari fleet was fighting a Chaos Space Marine fleet.

Hobby Materials

This issue comes with two paints: Orruk Flesh, which is a desaturated Orky green, and Reikland Fleshshade, a reddish-orange wash. The issue's painting guide does not actually have any use for Orruk Flesh for any of the previously released models. However, the issue instructs the liberal use of Reikland Fleshshade: for the golds, the yellow bits (the hoses on the Librarian's armor, the Tyranid eyes), and the Caucasian flesh of the Space Marines.

Credit: Contemptor Kevin Stillman

I love Reikland Fleshshade. I don't use it on my golds, for the most part (I like Druchii Violet because it adds more contrast), but it's helpful on all shades of flesh to add in a ruddy warmth. It is also helpful for recess shading yellows while keeping the vibrancy of the yellow. When I need to use Reikland Fleshshade, it does the task I need it to do quite well.

While the paint guide currently does not have any recommendations on using Orruk Flesh, I decided to try it out on the Dark Disciples, because they're schmucks. Over a grisaille, Orruk Flesh has good but not total coverage. The Screamer Pink I used for the Brazier carrier felt like it covered more. For grisaille painting though, the translucent nature of the Orruk Flesh helped the underlying volume pattern show through. I then washed both with Agrax Earthshade, since my Chaos Space Marines do not believe in laundry day.

Credit: Contemptor Kevin Stillman

We still don't have any idea what color GW wants us to paint the fires of the burning book. I went with an ethereal green, but the Word Bearers traditionally use actual fire for their books so I suppose we will see in a future issue.

Gaming Materials

There are two parts to this issue's gaming materials: a reprint of the Core Rulebook's Shooting Phase rules, and the Aeldari Combat Patrol faction ability. Because this is the original Aeldari Combat Patrol, they get the original Strands of Fate rule. This means Aeldari player rolls 12 d6 at the start of the battle, and keeps them as the Fate Dice unless they want to reroll 11 of them. The Aeldari player can substitute one of their fate dice for all sorts of other rolls. When originally debuted with the full Aeldari Index at the start of 10th Edition, this was horribly broken. Luckily the only way the Aeldari can get additional Fate Dice in Combat Patrol is if the Guardian Defenders control an objective at the end of the Command Phase.

Credit: Liz Weir

It is still a ridiculously powerful ability.

The Final Verdict

This issue is more of a mixed bag than the previous issue. Instead of being an awesome deal for a cool model with a dedicated paint guide, history generator, and play scenario, we get a couple of fun paints and a mess of Chaos Space Marine lore. I'm not sure why the issue provided us with Orruk Flesh at this point in the subscription instead of a different color (Naggaroth Night, for example). While the narrative materials did not have the panache of Hachette's editorializing, they were still solid and informative. This is a good utility issue, and worth including in the collection.

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Tags: Review | warhammer 40000 | combat patrol | Contemptor Kevin | Hachette