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New Character for Warhammer 40K – Be’lakor: The Dark Master

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Be'lakor the Dark Master

December is upon us and Christmas fast approaching. As expected, Games Workshop (Black Library, to be exact) has renewed their Advent Calendar, offering a new digital goody ever day. Unlike last year’s Black Library short stories, this year’s Advent Calendar launched with a beast: Be’lakor – The Dark Master and believed to be the first mortal to become a Daemon Prince.

For £4.99 (iPad) or £4.49 (ebook, for both game systems), players of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K can now pick up one nasty Daemon Prince special characters in the game!

#1 – Be’lakor the Dark Master

Description
Belakor is rumoured to have been the first mortal to become a Daemon Prince, in a time when each of the four Chaos Gods thought they could combine their power into a single champion. Among the oldest servants of the Dark Gods, Be’lakor is full of secrets and lies, as evil and dangerous a foe to have ever stepped forth from the realm of Chaos.

This Digital Collection combines the Be’lakor Battlescroll and Be’lakor Dataslate, detailing his extensive history in both the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes. Also included in these two articles you will find the rules for fielding the Daemon Prince Be’lakor, either on the blood-soaked battlefields of the Warhammer world or in the war-torn galaxy of the 41st Millennium.

Be’lakor is available for the iPad or as an ebook from Black Library.

#2 – Warhammer 40K Micro-Transactions?

Games Workshop (Black Library) bringing back rules for a cool classic miniature is not a bad thing. And the rules, from what I read (online.. don’t have the download) are rather good.

In essence, Be’lakor is a beefed up Daemon Prince with a better Leadership, a 4++ save, Eternal Warrior, Shrouded and other useful add-ons. Most of all, he is a high-level Psyker who knows all Powers from the Telepathy Discipline.

If you are among the people who dislike rolling for Powers, hoping you get … say … Invisibility, Be’lakor has you covered. Also, he has a nice evil sword.

Anyhow, is it “worth it” to by 5 quid to have Be’lakor join your Chaos army and guarantee you an invisible Fateweaver, or whatever?

And, more broadly speaking, is Games Workshop really doing  just a Christmas promotion, or have they been looking into online games, the new X-Box and similar things and how micro-transactions have gradually (and grudgingly) become accepted as “the future of gaming”?

#3 – Thoughts?

It’ll be interesting to see where Black Library goes with this. I would certainly love to see old and lost characters brought back to live.

On the other hand, some twenty-odd new characters for the game, spread over a bunch of digital downloads (for 5 quid each, adding up to £100+ to get them all) may splinter the game even further, beyond the current demands of (a) super-fast codex releases, (b) supplements, (c) increasingly “standard” Forge World.

So… what do you think?

Is Be’lakor a good idea? Or not so much?

Do you want Black Library to use this “Dataslate”-format to bring back more material for the game of 40K?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Z.

Image: Be’lakor by Games Workshop
Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
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  • Hive Senteniel

    I like these “Dataslates” They’re a great way to add new rules for older models cough RED TERROR cough.

  • Chaoslord

    I love Belakor in 40k, I can just imagine him making other Daemons, Chaos Marines, and Princes just submit to his dark will. Would the Daemon Primarchs would be a match for Belakor ?

  • Douglas Nicol

    cough Cypher cough Deathwatch kill team cough

    • belverker

      rumors are cypher is the christmas day release, hopefully rules for both csm and dark angels

      • Hive Senteniel

        There’s even a glimpse of Cypher and the phrase “A warrior will return from the shadows” in the trailer. No idea if he’ll be for both dex’s though.

  • Sagjer Whelan

    The only thing I utterly dislike about digital releases is that they have no physical counterparts. It’s a shame, truth be told. :

    • D. B.

      Maybe if we whine enough, GW will do a “Dataslate Archive” as a hardback. Totally serious here. So far, I have bought all the Codex supplements available in physical form, and I will continue doing so. I, for one, believe that this is a business model worth supporting.

      There actually is a not-so-small chance GW might bring us a phsyical edition. The “Chapter Approved” books sold rather well back then, so there is no reason to assume that GW might not do the same for this.

  • KJensen

    I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with this type of content. Dataslates are a nice tool for making new additions to the game without the need for rulebooks, but on the other hand I also think that the rules for the models should be included in the box, rather than be digital/book content only.

    Generally GW’s business model seems silly to me, considering they are a “model company first” – quite frankly I think the rules for all their units should be included in the box, with the armybooks/codecii being collections of rules for the models for people who like to have them all in one place.

    I mean, how cool is the X-wing business model compared to GW’s? You get all you need in the box without having to fork out additional money to use your model.

  • Cameron Thirteenthirtyseven

    its a good idea, but i feel you’re right that their execution will splinter the game. It would be easier to pull off if the cost was less (i’d buy that for a dollar) but at this cost its kinda silly and just going to bring back the old FAQ shenanigans where people where working off different understandings of the rules, with no easy way to solve the issue but to spend more to keep up

  • SRSFACE

    They’re stupid to go this route. All they are doing is just promoting piracy of their own products, and they are too stupid to realize it. People are not going to fork over the cost of a hamburger, drink and fries for rules for A SINGLE model. Especially if it’s digital only. I refuse to get an iAnything device because Apple is a crooked company enslaving chinese workers, and their ebook versions of the other products, that I’ve read through, are clunky.

    I hope to hope to hope that GW sees the success of Warmachine and realizes the rules should be free for all armies, and printed online, for free, so they can also be updated whenever the need arises to rebalance the game and actually make it fun for everyone rather than just the guys running Tau/Eldar cheese lists.

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      Well, Games Workshop offers their digital products for non-Apple products too.

      Don’t read that as a counter to the rest of your argument, but the myth that GW digital products are Apple-only appears to be strangely persistent.

      • SRSFACE

        You ever tried using one of those ebook versions? They are awful. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to shell out the money to get a worthwhile e-reader app, but all the free ones I’ve used have horribly clunky interfaces. They might as well only be selling the apple versions of them, as at least the usability of the interactive features is nice.

        Plus, having to store rules on my phone does not appeal to me. I’d simple prefer a hard copy and I know I’m not alone in that.

        • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

          Well, I suppose Apple for all their child-enslaving ways simple make it easy to create good-looking, easy to use products. There’s a reason Apple has some 80% of the (tablet, not phone) market, and it ain’t GWs fault.

          And while I prefer physical copies too, I remember very well that less than a year ago, everyone was complaining that GW wasn’t doing anything digital and effectively still living in the early 90s. Now they test digital offers, and it’s wrong again unless they make sure they print and ship every last little digital test-balloon they launch.

          It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of situation.

          • SRSFACE

            Can’t argue with that. I will still say, though, the issue isn’t the “not doing something” digital thing so much as it is making digital things not usable with a laptop/desktop. I know that smart phones and even tablets to a lesser degree are fairly ubiquitous nowadays but they are cost prohibitive to simply get one for the sake of having one, especially if it’s also just to utilize as a digital device just for wargaming.

            Still, I would just like to say my original argument, the main thing I wanted people to take from it is GW *has* to give somewhere. They ARE dying and I think it’s for two reasons. Their models are no longer competitively priced for people who simply do modeling as a hobby, so it’s only appealing to fans of the universe/game. There’s a lot of us that are that, true, but there are still even more people who like to paint and model miniatures for the sake of the hobby. Now that the majority of their purchases are just in it for the game, their outmoded model for pushing gameplay and rules out the door doesn’t hold water in today’s era of PC and digital gaming, where it’s possible to tweak and balance a game on a daily basis.

          • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

            In parts. I think Games Workshops miniatures ARE competitively priced for the big things like the Wraithknight or Riptide. Those are a lot cheaper and come with a lot more options than, say, Dreamforge Leviathans or PP Colossals.

            There’s no money in “basic infantry”. Newer companies like Mantic Games, for example, don’t even bother to make miniatures for their basic human factions in Kings of War. There’s no point. GW, so far, is dragging the legacy of unprofitable things like the Warhammer Empire or Bretonnian Army around with them, and need to balance it all the more aggressively with top-sellers like the Riptide.

            I think this *GW has to give* may (should? must?) happen at some point. But, ideally, it’ll come from two ends. Culling the dead weight armies from their line (probably half of the Fantasy armies and 2 or 3 non-Space Marine armies from 40K) to, hopefully, be a bit less “Riptides-in-your-face” with the leaner, more profitable lines that are left.

            And for painters, a lot of miniature painters (non-gamers) are happy to buy a Riptide or Wraithknight to show off. Or a nice 20 quid plastic HQ sprue. No “painter-only” buys 40 Empire State Troops to show off his skills. Those are the “game only” miniatures.

            I think the painters, if anything, they amplify the problem.

          • narceron

            Totally agree, not a GW fanboy, but I find it hilarious that GW is accused to living in the 90s, but in fact, it may be their detractors who are in fact living in the past. Print is quickly dying, guys, we adapt or we go extinct.

    • belverker

      Quick question mate, where are war machines rules for armies provided free online? you get some with war room when you buy it but you still need to purchase the rest.
      And while most will probably pirate these there will be enough that buy them to make them worthwhile to GW, while you say it is for just 1 character/special rules for a formation, there is also some fluff as well as new artwork.
      Also their ebook products are no worse than any other ebook that I have read on my phone, so not sure whether you just aren’t used to the poor formatting of ebooks.
      But I do agree I would love a hard copy of some of these digital only releases, but I am just glad they are finally doing this content again

  • Robert

    I bought CSM codex $50US, now they have another CSM codex called Black Legion $50US but if I want this special character that will cost more. They should have just built the Chaos Codex right the 1st time and if they wanted this special character put him in the WD. Bad enough that none of my old armies are usable anymore and that I have to bring a bucket with $1000US full of Spawns and Deamon Princes, just in case all my champions transform. Really sad that Chaos is now more bland than loyalist marines, cannot even field legions of one mark. As long as I’m on a roll, thanks GW for not running Ard Boyz and taking down Rogue Trader information. Also FYI, if bitz orders are too much work for too little profit why not allow your dealers to offer bitz? Really starting to look at Warpath and not just for great models at half the price but free rules and no restrictions on their dealers.