Source
r/Warhammer30k•
AlliedMasterComp

Where did the Dominus class knights go in 2.0?

Discussion

Opened the new mechanicum army book, went to the questoris section, flipped through all the datasheets, and noticed the Castellan and Valiant were missing. Check all the page numbers in the section to make sure im not just missing one...nope. Ok, says I, maybe they're mechanicus only knights now like the moriax. Flip through all the other datasheets in the book...not there. Look at the table of contents, not there. Find a pdf copy online and word search for both of them...not there.

Makes literally no gameplay, fluff, or business sense to not include them.

Posted Sep 13, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

414
AsteroidSparkSolar Auxilia•

They never made a fluff explanation for why Dominus knights were in Heresy, or in 40k at all, they just popped up when GW wanted to sell bigger knight kits. There seems to be some confusion even within GW itself about what 40k units should be in Heresy since things like the Macharius tanks (named after a guy from M41) and the Hammerfall bunker (a Primaris unit) both got rules while things like cyclone missile launchers on Contemptors and Indomitus terminators didn't.

5
CRAZYDUCK456•

Wait the hammerfall got rules in 2.0 HH? What the fuck?

4
AsteroidSparkSolar Auxilia•

Yeah the legacies rules are weird.

1
AlliedMasterCompOP•

They never made a fluff explanation for why Dominus knights were in Heresy, or in 40k at all, they just popped up when GW wanted to sell bigger knight kits.

Beyond the fact that literally model in this universe being made up and shoved in the story with...less than stellar finesse...at some point or another, the castellan had a model in the second edition of Space Marine and was debuted in WD181 back in 1994.

They were added to HH 1.0 during the long gap between Book 7 and 8 with a PDF, a few months after their previously non-existent kits were released with the Imperial Knights 8ed Codex.

The kit is plastic, is regular stock in their physical stores already, stocked in their warehouses (unlike most of their FW kits), and likely see better returns on the IMP Imperial knight kits than they do say, a knight Acastus, which is cast on demand, and does have a datasheet in the book.

3
Infamous_Plate1698•

They're not in it. Maybe in a later pdf.

4
FogwashTheFirst•

The entire questoris section feels kinda rushed TBH. As well as the missing Dominus classes, I don't understand why Moirax's were restricted to being Mechanium only, and the 2 Armiger per Big Knight seems pretty arbitrary, especially when things like the Wrath of the Ancients and Armored Company RoW exist.

3
AlliedMasterCompOP•

The entire ruleset feels rushed.

I won't even get into my issues with the way the corebook is laid out, other than to say whoever thought nesting universal special rules was an appropriate way write rules going into a physical book needs to be fired.

  • the way the consularis section is written (instead of, you know just giving them datasheets)

  • the wargear section dictating what the various armor types do but still providing like 5 different datasheets for a "praetor in X armor" instead merging the otherwise identical terminator praetor datasheets into 1 and make it a wargear option.

  • The fact that the first 140 pages of two massive army books are identical.

3
Cult-Promethean•

Moirax's fluff wise are battle automata shoved into armigers, they're super rare even amongst the mechanicum and are only deployed to guard high importance items such as ordinatus

2
genteel_wherewithal•

It’s weird alright. Feels like there’s always been a bit of… ‘disdain’ is probably reading too much into it but ‘desire to keep big 40k stuff at arms length’ in FW. Like how the 40k GW flyers don’t appear in Aeronautica and barely featured in the IA books. The Dominus might be falling victim to that sentiment, like how it doesn’t appear in Adeptus Titanicus either.

That said, armigers appeared in the same PDF, got dedicated FW variants, appeared in Adeptus Titanicus and even received a 30k-specific repackage so who knows. We could say it’s something to do with tracking heresy-specific sales but that doesn’t explain everything.

2
AlliedMasterCompOP•

The Dominus might be falling victim to that sentiment, like how it doesn’t appear in Adeptus Titanicus either.

The new version of Titanicus came out ~a month after the Dominus kits were released. Boxed game and 40K game studios are siloed, it was never going to come out with it at release, and the Titanicus armigers were announced less than a year ago, and like most titanicus FW announcements, I doubt they were even available for sale until 3-6 months later. Lastly, titanicus is a dead game and GW treats it as such. I should know, I'm one of the only idiots left that still plays it on occasion.

And IIRC, FW hasn't had a design team since 2017-18, they got pulled into boxed games.

Armigers...even received a 30k-specific repackage

What? I don't believe you, that's so stupid why would they do that, all the HH boxes are web order only...Oh no

2
genteel_wherewithal•

Eh, pretend I said ‘FW office culture’ or something, or even Tony Cottrell or Andy Hoare’, it’s a loose trend at best and doesn’t apply in all cases.

The main thing though is that yeah, it’s odd how since the 1.0 pdf the Dominus has been ignored while the armigers appear to have been embraced on multiple fronts for 30k. RE: the repackage, the questoris got the same, which only highlights the Dominus getting special treatment... by not featuring.

I don’t know that you’re going to get a clear answer but feels like it’s of a piece with stuff like the skitarii being ignored, with the money consequently being left on the table. Some ill-conceived and inconsistent attempt to keep the settings distinct maybe.

2
LordHoughtenWeenIron Warriors•

Weirdly enough the Skitarii have only been half ignored in 2.0. The Secutarii Axiarch is a dead ringer for the Skitarii Marshal (control rod counts as corposant stave is a no-brainer) and Secutarii Peltasts have two new weapon options - radium carbines and arc rifles.

Not that I really want to buy ten boxes of Skitarii to get enough arc rifles to outfit a unit.

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genteel_wherewithal•

I’d missed that entirely but nice, that’s a bit better. Still unfortunately hindered by the limitations on the secutarii though.

1
LordHoughtenWeenIron Warriors•

The Armiger repackage comes with a 30k-specific transfer sheet with less ornate House insignia than on the 40k one.

1