Ok I've recovered about enough to have a go of at least writing up the more vivid points. I'll go through my little notes tomorrow to revisit anything I miss out.
Firstly though, it was a nightmare being in the design room (or the cafeteria as it is on regular days) air con is non existent, there's one window and to top it off it was about 30 degrees outside so made for a gruelling day. I lost count of the times I had to go outside after talking with people whether that was with the team or with friends.
Right to business.
Space Wolves/Inferno. They're satisfied with the majority of the play testing, there's a couple of tweaks in terms of points here and there but the overall feel of all the factions included is where they want it to be. The timeline that was hinted at was they're looking to wrap up the writing and artwork in the next couple of months. The biggest factor in a delay will be getting sufficient stock ready because they're more than aware of the hype and demand already around. As far as the time it's taking to get it ready, they know people are pissed off with the delay, and they fully understand why, but when all is said and done, from a business point of view, to push it through and do it quicker needed more resources than they could throw at it and that would have basically halted everything else. Inferno is going to sell incredibly well but for every person out there who loves the wolves/TS there's 2 who don't give a :cuss so it's economics at the end of the day. I didn't push too far but the vibe I got was they're fed up of the constant complaining they get hit with. It's a lose lose situation. They could have rushed a crappy book out and no models and got hammered or done a proper release and got hammered. There was one fairly animated guy there who made the point that it would have been better to do a Retribution style release for them - that was promptly answered back with "yeah but then there'd be moaning at waiting another 28-28 months for the actual book" Also be warned it's unlikely Bjorn will be given rules - when the book is set he's a nobody, it's only towards the end of the HH that he really rises in prominence.
Russ is fully completed. So are his wolves although they're going to be sold separately - there was too much concern with the price point otherwise, but they'll be there for people who want them. Sam has begun work on Magnus, more the posing right now but had a good chat about his vision for him: he's going to be head and shoulders tall than Angron's model to represent how big he is, and he's undecided on what to do with the eye, whether to have an empty socket/patch/scar or go full cyclops mode. He's also absolutely dying to do Sanguinius, as in literally aching to get on with him. The way he talked about posing and dynamism of the model, especially how the wings could be done shows how badly he is to do him. He also said he's going to call dibs on the Emperor when the time comes too.
Long talk with Darren Parrwood about the "mega knight" and they won't go any bigger - if they did they'd be looking a price point of a Titan and they'd prefer to look at making alterations to that. They're going to see about the Mechanicum variant and weapon options but nothing further. It's going to form the lynchpin of a knight list in that it can stand back and shoot whilst faster moving units can belt it around the board. Sounds very interesting
Blake spoke about designing the Mastadon and why it took so long to get right - they might make turret variants but if they're going to make something of a similar size again it'll be a scratch project,
Iron Tyrants are still floating around - they'll be an actual kit seeing as every Legion is getting at least one. The Fulmentarus however are likely to be an upgrade kit with the cyclones and reapers. Someone asked about Ventanus - it's a case of if someone has the time he might get done but right now there is no time and there's other Legions who are much further up the pecking order, As for Dorn/Alpharius, they might go back to Sam, it'll depend how long it takes him to do Magnus and what Vol VIII will comprise - he could jump on Sanguinius/Lion/Khan if it's their time.
Spent a fair bit of time with Rob Macfarlane talking about upgrades - both kits and weapons etc. Eventually every single unique weapon option will be covered so the DA blades/plasmas etc will get sorted out, the Space Wolves/Thousand Sons will have one on Inferno release or shortly afterwards. And it's not restricted to unique weapons it'll be applied to styles too like the Alpha Legion and Emperor's Children and likely Blood Angels/White Scars - Legions that have or will have a distinctive aesthetic. All the terminator upgrades will be covered for Cataphractii and Tartaros too to cover the issues with converting the arms. Consuls will get done at some point - it's mostly driven by what people are requesting - for the past 6 months everyone has asked about a Moritat so that's what's been done. A Primus Medicae is getting done in Terminator Armour and possibly PA too and a Vigilator is slated. As for the others it depends on various bits and pieces. For example Siege Breakers are pretty easy to convert whereas it's a big problem doing Librarians because technically they were banned after Nikea so the Legions still using them are more likely traitors and that will affect the detail they can include. It's on the table though.
Now for Big News #1 (well rumour so make of it what you will) There could potentially be a new box set this year: when talking about the consuls and if they did a Calth sequel would it make sense to follow the same approach and include a consul in plastic there wasn't an outright denial and when I asked what he thought could make it up he replied "Mk III, Tartatros Terms" without so much as missing a beat. It's thin on the ground but it's significantly more promising than "nah we won't bother"
Also speaking of Calth, they're down to the last couple of hundred from the last print run so if you want it grab it very soon.
Rachel provided probably the highlight of the day when going through her art portfolio trying to work out what famous people they're based on - when someone mentioned that Sam based Gulliman on The Rock she looked up and blurted "like he is" spent ages laughing at that. She was working on a SW piece who I called straight away as Jason Isaacs but she wasn't really convinced. Got her to sign my Dynat print though so that was cool.
And finally to Imperator Bligh - the man I saw first but the man with the biggest bits and pieces.
Points readjustment - the biggest driver for the changes was the fact that LA:CAL was done for 5th and it's now into 7th Ed. So everything has been retuned with that foremost in mind. Things that weren't touched by the Cerberus or Destroyers weren't ignored through them being as intended - more it was a case of there hadn't been as much feedback regarding them and also they just didn't have the time to do a thorough retune when other things needed it more urgently. The 3 that garnered the most feedback were (unsurprisingly) Dread pods, Typhons, Spartans. It's very much the changes to vehicles in 7th that overtuned their ability - tanks being harder to kill etc. The points now reflect what they provide and in the case of the dread pod you're not supposed to be paying for the 3HPs of shelter - it's about precision striking a dread. For Legion specific units that have been "overtaken" by some like Veterans and Seekers, they're going to be redone on the next pass, whether that takes the form of an FAQ hasn't been decided but they'll get some love.
Space Wolves. The emphasis for them in Inferno has been to move as far away from 40k wolves as possible. It's not that the wolfy mcwolf vibe is overkill but the Vlka Fenryka are significantly closer to the original VI Legion and the evolution hasn't gone completely full tilt as it were. The savagery is almost a front that's put on both by Russ and his warriors. They're trying to convey that without falling into stereotypes that would undermine the aesthetics. He added that Russ is "a very, very complex character"
And Big News 2# for all fans of the I Legion. The DA campaign will not be Thramas. There is absolutely nothing written about their activity in the BL series as yet however it's "unbelievably important in the context of the Heresy" As for the DA themselves, whether it's in the first book or one that features them afterwards, all 6 wings of the Hexagramaton will have rules and options of being fielded - Alan wrote the original concept that Gav used in Angels of Caliban and he wants to highlight just how different they are from the Legions who came after. That's likely to include the full scope of their forbidden arsenal and separate rules for fielding the original Terrans who formed the Legion before it was actually a Legion. So variant Glaives and anti grav land raiders are very much on the cards. One of the things they'll try and show with the Lion too is that although he's incredibly noble, that nobility is only the barest glossing over who he really is which is the animal from wild Caliban.
