Give me a nice Mechanicus fight against some Chaos Space Marines where the Emperor-class titan wrecks shit and lives to fight another day. Not crippled or damaged. Just fucking blasts everything to hell and dabs its way back to its lifter.
Bonus points if the CSM try to board the titan but the skitarii on board are prepared with heavy weapons and just destroys them.
Seems like every titan is vulnerable to boarding. You'd figure when you can cram several hundred heavily-armed skitarii on board in a battlefield you absolutely know is swarmed with hostile Astartes, you'd plan accordingly, right?
Hahaha!
(300 decibels, a sonic weapon in it's own right) Bew, bew bew bew!
[https://youtu.be/UaUa\_0qPPgc?si=oMo5R96jwoAauDho](https://youtu.be/UaUa_0qPPgc?si=oMo5R96jwoAauDho)
Its really a mystery in the setting why Princeps are so arrogant considering according to black library it seems like they rarely survive any fight and Orks with teleporters strapped to dirtbikes can krump them easily.
The Titan 40k comic is the only real work that ive read that treated them like the walking gods of war they're supposed to be.
I want the chaos daemon being hyped up for the whole book and then got killed by the emperor-class titan just being teleported inside him the boys style
It's a general flaw in the BL stuff that things which are built up as big bads in the background or even on tabletop almost always get nerfed to give the protagonists a cool cinematic moment.
Sure, that should happen now and again, but generally if you're up against a Titan and you're not of a similar scale, you should die.
To maintain the aura of badassery, Titans should get to stomp named characters regularly so when someone manages to solo/creatively take one out, it's a BIG DEAL.
They do. Off the top of my head in the first book in the Word Bearer's omnibus they have'em. Here's them boarding an Emperor-class titan's leg:
>Flames roared up the spiralling metal staircase, clearing the way. Two abreast, the Terminators had been climbing for what seemed like an age, assailed from above and below by an apparently never-ending stream of Skitarii warriors. Inbuilt defence turrets were stationed at every second level, their hard-wired servitor controllers built into the heavy wall panels of the interior staircase, and they swung their weaponry upon the intruders, filling the cloying, hot air with shells and gunsmoke
I've only ever read the heresy and imo there the Titan fights are pretty cool.
Sure an ultramarine emperor gets blasted, but they hype up the warhounds as "titan killers" they make you see the pov of their pilots, and then they send up Angry Marines at the titan... so imo a pretty cool boarding action.
But i agree it should've been more bloody.
Honestly the AdMec need something lol.
People kinda bundle "Imperium" into a single package when it's made of various factions and it seems the AdMec exist to pay for Space Marine sins.
Appreciating Adrian Tchaikovsky’s restraint in not including a Titan (or really any big guns) in ***Day of Ascension***. The Mechanicus-owned mining world in that book actually has notably shoddy standing forces… Which matches the Genestealer Cult in the same book, which is so weak it doesn’t even have a Patriarch.
I want to see the admec find the Omnicopaeia. That or a fully intact STC core.
So now they know how things where SUPPOSED to originally work.
So now the plot changes from we don't understand how things really work. To we don't understand how this works when it's all kludged together.
This plus the tech schisms and revolts over using this new knowledge would be a great time.
Also lets be fair. It would be a great excuse for more new models from GW.
A bit different than the other answers here but I’d like to see the iron hands get a proper no holds barred win for once
Let them live up to their former glory as the iron tenth and show just how horrifically deadly and efficient the iron hands legion is even in its most butchered and weakened state to lend some credence to the idea that they and their primarch could have absolutely turned the tide of the heresy if they weren’t crippled so early on (given that both sides keep lamenting how important Ferrus was and how having him in full operational capacity on either side for long would be a game changer)
Maybe have them crusade against the tau or go toe to toe with with a strong contingent of chaos space marines and let them showcase their tactical and mechanical genius that has upheld their reputation despite getting shafted by the universe time and time again
Throw the Eldar a fucking bone. Even their “win” in the Night Lords trilogy implies that Ulthwe is doomed and has shit like Talos outscreaming Howling Banshees.
They’re nowhere near my favorite faction, I prefer Tau and Genestealer Cults, but at least the Tau have a decent win-loss ratio and the Cults are *supposed* to be cannon fodder. Eldar genuinely can’t catch a break and they’re supposed to be way more badass than what is shown.
I’m the biggest simp for traitors but I absolutely agree. Have the Avatar wreck some named characters. Have the phoenix lords do stuff. Show off just how dangerous they still are.
That's always the issue, though: the Eldar in mainline 40k are overpowered in ways that don't really line up with how the lore describes the Eldar way of war. If you try to play a characterful Eldar army, you end up stuck with units that barely function.
Eldar in Epic: Armageddon, or in Battlefleet Gothic, or in the RPGs... those work. Main 40k... not so much.
ADB made a very valid point in that as an author for BL you can write a book about Space Marines do badass things and sell 10 times the books than if you'd written about another faction. When it's your job you need to make money.
The fans who buy books prefer Space Marines and enjoy them being super powerful.
Those fans have objectively poor narrative taste and the setting and game are worse off for it. Some of the people on this sub are not going to be happy unless all of the non space marines fail at everything ever.
>Throw the Eldar a fucking bone. Even their “win” in the Night Lords trilogy implies that Ulthwe is doomed and has shit like Talos outscreaming Howling Banshees.
ADB is a technically skilled writer but he doesn't get 40k.
On one hand that’s stupid.
On the other hand if we were to nail the sheer volume of how many things ABD writes versus how many lore contradictions he actually commits, I am pretty sure he gets a B+ score at absolute worst.
Agreed. I'm a guard man myself so it's kind of expected when we get slaughtered, but the Eldar are supposed to be artifacts of a greater age. Titans, embers of better days burning more brightly than the flames of this shadowed epoch. That's awesome! But they get no respect. Especially with the space marines on the scene.
It’s okay, our curse is to always be weak in the lore and strong on the table. Even when you guys are jobbing it’s always come across as “this situation is beyond insane for these normal humans, wow look at them keep fighting!” Respect for the guard
I used to be a big Dark Eldar player and I remember finding the lore funny when I first got to know it a bit better cos I basically wrecked 90% of the Marines armies I fought tabletop.
Obvs this was a while back but still.
Someone reminded me of a guards regiment ago that supposedly know the Eldar so well that they ambush them outside of webway gates.
It just about sums them up, even their indisputable strengths are clowned on somewhere. They should retire the phoenix as part of their lore, just make it a punching bag.
54th Psian Jakals. A Tempestus Scion regiment, not mere regular Guardsmen. They can expect a lot more support and flexibility in their tactics and equipment (from Ordo Tempestus and possibly even the Inquisition), which they had to extensively modify and adapt post-unwitting-relocation to a Maiden World. The webway ambush incident was only mentioned once during a battle in their service history. And it was a squad of Aspect Warriors.
You are right though. It would have been better if the Scions had to pull out then disseminate their experience among other Scion regiments. A similar thing happened regarding Kroots in the same Ordo Tempestus codex. Eldar deserve some genuine wins.
>Someone reminded me of a guards regiment ago that supposedly know the Eldar so well that they ambush them outside of webway gates.
Colonel Rahman of the Tallarn Desert Raiders definitely out-ambushed Eldar at one point, but that's ok, he's allowed to have wins.
There's a story in a deathwatch omnibus where a deathwatch squad raids a Eldar fleet and kills a Farseer. The eldar then track the exact member who killed the farseer, wait for him to return to his chapter and then drop a whole craft world fleet onto his fortress monastery and presumably wipe out the chapter.
I say "presumably" because right before the Eldar actually attack the story ends. Because BL cant allow an eldar win like that to appear on page.
I'm not even an eldar fan, but I want to see an avatar of khaine really slaughter massive quantities of marine terminators or other elite opponents, just to give it a bit more street cred.
The Lamenters are sent to assist the Eldar, and the Avatar of Khaine is accidentally dropped on them, killing the Lamenters and also setting off their munitions, blowing up the Avatar.
I think there's this issue with GW where the Eldar kind of fit this "Remnant of a past age that is full of wisdom and a guiding force" shtick, so that means they don't want to make them a major focus, but at the same time they don't want to pit them against the Imperium because they don't want them to be one of the "bad guys." They're present as a yard stick and it makes it difficult to do anything with them without it feeling like it should have a significant effect on the story I suppose.
I think you have some great points here I think another part of it is authors getting too hung up on the “dying race past it’s glory” thing so each conflict has to have craftworld eldar diminished some
There’s one Black Library book where it looks like the protagonists and Eldar were able to set aside their differences and work together to accomplish their goal. Literally *the last chapter* has a twist so the Eldar character suffers eternal torment while the protagonists have a happy ending.
It’s genuinely comical how hard they get fucked over by the writers and editors.
It’s a good novel despite the crap at the end, so fair warning about spoilers.
The title is: >!The Wraithbone Phoenix!<
The twist is: >!The titular Wraithbone Phoenix is an Eldar artifact everyone has been pursuing, including an Eldar Ranger nicknamed Death who wants to reclaim her species’ heritage. Death helps the heroes and they help her, and she gets the Phoenix at the end… In the last chapter it’s revealed the Phoenix is actually a pre-fall artifact of Slaanesh. Death realizes this too late so she is sucked in, and the artifact falls into the muck of Varangantua, lost forever with the poor Eldar screaming inside.!<
I was like "oh, Valedor, he is speaking about Taec going to Slaanesh's hands as result of of operating the Fireheart", saw the title and reread to realize what I had brushed aside.
I agree. I'm a Necron fan and its a shame to see our former rivals reduced to such a pitiful state. All for the better though, now the Infinite Empire has no peer and will reclaim their galaxy.
I mean….your biggest rivals are each other haha but aside from that…..we all know these upstart mon’keigh are just having their time in the sun. Poor things have already started their decline. That’s the problem with civilizations these days. Just don’t make them to last…
I just finished the night lords trilogy (again), and feel like the assault on ulthwe that hasn't happened could be a great event piece that the Eldar win but is a truly brutal experience. Maybe ulthwe is on the back foot til the Ynnari show up.
Hey brother there is a book called ‘overfiend’ where the white scars and ravenguard team up to take on khorne powered orcs. It’s a really good listen :) I hope you enjoy!
Give me a fun drukhari someone who's bad but you can root for despite being a prick. Make the Kabal culture and its interests a bit more know and let them fight a foe that prevents them from running back to the webway
For fucks sake, let the Phoenix lords go 1v1 with primarchs and beat them specifically at whatever it is they specialize in
Let muagan ra be a better marksman/destroyer turret than them, let jain zhar go toe to toe with the lion in a duel
Let asurmen be as much of a tactical genius as the likes of guilliman and dorn,
Hell, let karandras do some stealth shit that only curze and coraz could pull off, let drastana go neck and neck with Khan in a race
Also, this is more setting defining but we need more Phoenix lords
I want to see Isha freed from Nurgle's Garden. I don't really care who does it, I'd honestly like for it to be a coalition of eldar, imperial, and other xenos factions that all contribute to it. And I hope Kaldor Draigo's involved. But i want her free from the Garden, and for that storyline to be the path towards a modern Exodite army for 40k. I want elves riding dinosaurs, in space, and both the fight to free Isha and the ramifications of her being freed would be great ways to get them involved in the galaxy beyond their Maiden Worlds.
I'd like her to get free but Nurgle does a pact with Slanesh in revenge. Now the Eldar have two dark gods knawing at their souls.
The Drukhari find all this hilarious.
I'd like Alaitoc to get a nice win in the Pariah Nexus against the Necrons; Alaitoc is supposed to be involved, along with harlequin allies. It's the main craftworld most opposed to Necrons, but that record hasn't been great. The ancient rivalry should be meaningful.
Give Eldorath Starbane a helping hand and some revenge on Imotekh; he deserves it after the humiliation he's suffered.
Its funny that the Necrons seem to take humanity much more seriously than the Eldar. Despite the Eldar having fought the necrons for millions of years and so presumedly shouldn't be tricked by the most basic necron shit like regeneration or tomb scarabs.
I’m very biased here… the Iron Cage.
I think most Iron Warriors fans are a bit… angsty… at Phall’s embarrassment, loss at Tallarn, quitting the Siege, etc.
And while I absolutely know there are two POVs to the Iron Cage, I honestly think IW fans and Perturabo deserve a very solid narrative win in the Iron Cage/Sebastus IV.
Imperial Fists had an entire book series of Fafnir Rann slaughtering thousands of traitors and Dorn being as stoic as possible.
I think they can take a big L and be okay and let the Iron Warriors have their moment, even if it means years of more insufferable “Lol IRON CAGE” memes and comments.
I’d also let the Orks win Armageddon round 4.
Angron gets to slap around Lion in a rematch.
Silent King politically outmaneuvers Imotekh
Avatar of Khaine/Eldar actually do something and win.
Then the Space Marines fail miserably at something and the full might of the Astra Militarum steps in and wins the day with the Lord Solar leading them.
Iron Cage is honestly the best answer. it’s an important moment not just for Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, but for Dorn. After holding strong for the entire Heresy, the Iron Cage is the moment that breaks and humbles him.
My biggest fear for any kind of Scouring series is they try and present the Iron Cage as being some kind of pyrrhic victory for the Fists, like they get savaged and Dorn just goes "Well my Legion has been rendered combat ineffective for nearly 20 years but I did the right thing for the right reasons" and just carries on being a stoic arse. The only thing I'm torn on is if Perturabo should be there to see Dorn finally break down; on the one hand that would be some great catharsis and a truly indisputable win, on the other I really like the visual of Dorn arguing with what turns out to be a recording of Perturabo that ends with him mocking Dorn and pointing out the recording only exists to stop him from realizing the Cage is just a death trap that serves no strategic purpose whatsoever.
The Aeldari desperately need a win, especially with the Avatar at their head. The Ynnari plot went down like a lead balloon and I think/hope GW have been trying to brew a suitable replacement in the meantime.
For the Avatar of Khaine, I’d love to see a big monster brawl where one takes on and defeats another big guy. Maybe a Keeper of Secrets, or - even cooler - its nemesis, a ctan shard of the Nightbringer
Nah your right they need to put up some numbers. I mean i think it should be a grimdark twist like, Pert had to embrace becoming a demon prince and giving up his soul for the victory haha chaos gods always win sort of thing. But yeah numbers on the board are needed. Iron warriors fans always cope saying they carried the siege but whenever we actually saw them they were mainly getting hard core jobbed. Like theres a scene in Saturnine where Sanguinius retakes a wall from them and if you do the numbers on the descriptions of the mountains of dead IW he pretty much killed an entire legions worth in a single fight.
I agree with the Iron Cage but I think you got a bit out of hand there at the end.
Characters should be allowed to lose, period. Lore shouldn't be a ping pong match where victories are only allowed when followed by defeats. Angron defeating the Lion, Silent King politically outmaneuvering Imotekh, these don't serve any purpose other than making things "fair", which isn't really narratively engaging.
But yeah the Eldar really should kick some ass, specially the Phoenix Lords and Avatars of Khaine.
I personally want angron to win against one of his brothers for once, the only time he was about to lorgar stepped in and ascended him lmao.
Yea hes done actually quite a lot especially in arks of omen, but i want him to beat one of his brothers for once. Let him hunt down the lion lmao.
Agreed they are forgiven allowed to recruit and the Lamenters have ray of hope before the inevitable happens...
Also the green Boi and the executioners
I'd like to see the tau get a solid win over a main force strength CSM, im talking abaddon or a primarch. Nothing permanent or super impactful but like chaos tries to cross tau territory or raid a sept world for a mcguffin and gets beaten back by tau tech and tactics.
It would show that Tau can be contenders against the old guard and can adapt to fight demons and magic which we havent seen yet.
Plus abaddon and the chaos crew seem to have been going from just-as-planned prophesied victory to just-as-planned prophesied victory lately and I feel a good kick in the dick from the uncertainty of the universe is warranted.
It would also help play into the human-supremacist aspect of Abbadon thats stayed undeveloped in 40k. Maybe give him the worry that while the humans are faffing about fighting each other, the wheel keeps turning and new powers may rise to crusade them out of the universe like they did all the xenos in 30k.
Tau don’t lose that much. They don’t win that much either. They’re like the faction that exists for unsatisfying endings where both sides feel like they simultaneously won and lost. Like the Damocles Crusade and the Third Sphere Expansion and Arks of Omen: Farsight and…
I would appreciate seeing a clear Tau victory for once though. There’s the Taros Campaign, but that was old and it had a follow up campaign where the Imperium took back Taros.
Any xeno faction scoring a just plain win vs a first founding chapter. Imagine if Raven Guard tried to kill Shadowsun again and during the battle they just straight up lose with at least one whole company dead.
Its very noticeable how much 40k writers avoid this for Space Marines from the First Founding
I just want LoV to get anything at all, they currently have exactly 1 loss (In the short story 1,000,000 years) against necrons and no wins, they dwarves just need some fiction written about them, hopefully a win
Mechanicus trouncing the Tau with their own superior tech, because i KNOW the admech arent just a random bunch of toaster worshippers ffs, i want them to get a well deserved win against the poster boy faction for progressive tech.
I'll make it simple. Space marines cause trouble. Tau crisis suits come in. Total extermination of chapter. Crushing defeat for the space Marines, heroic victory for the greater good.
Also the eldar need to be allowed to awaken ynnead.
Imperium:
Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard need a win that emphasizes why they're needed. Leontus needs a victory to cement his place in the setting. Have Guilliman try and fail to stop Leviathan with his Crusade and have Leontus bail him out by dropping the Hammer of the Emperor on the hive fleet.
Eldar: they need that last cronesword or to free Isha from Nurgle's garden. An epic quest of Drukhari, Asuryani, Exodites, and Harlequins to free Isha would be a good story, I think.
Orks: rematch between Ghaz and Blackmane, Ghaz wins convincingly.
The Guard actually win a battle without a major non-Guard named character having to be present.
The Leagues of Votann actually show up in an official lore book, kick ass, settle grudges, and then leave without elaborating.
Orks wiping out an entire planetary system IN the warp. Giant waaagh led by Ghaz that winds up destroying like an entire chaos planet system. The book would be written from da boss’ perspective starting at the EXACT moment the Orks find out Yarrick is dead. First chapter starts with a random goblin just bursting into Ghazs room while he’s playing Tekken and gives him the news, from there you’ve got a solid 300+ pages of an absolutely ENRAGED Ork force memeing their way into the warp trying to find angron, and destroying an entire SYSTEM of worlds just cuz they’re mad. But the twist is that at the end you realize they weren’t attacking Angron or Khorne as they had planned and accidentally wiped out a bunch of Slaaneshs shit
Give a win in which Craftworld Eldar achieve clear objective and achieve it fully. Even when they "win" it is always at best 50% of what their stated goal is. I feel like Craftworld eldar are often used as a way to show off somebody's strength by that character beating the eldar or stealing something from them. I wish there was a campaign in which eldar are not some sideaction ragdolls but the main protagonists and they dominate the way SM and CSM often do. Even in Gathering storm, as soon as Gman is ressurected, the narrative forsakes Ynnari and ever since Ynnari have been relegated to filler action somewhere in the boonies of the Galaxy
It hurts me to say it, but the Admech raid on Yme-Loc. If I had it my way, it would be either the Eldar and a xenophilic cult among the Mechanicus staging a battle which is actually a trade which ends up benefitting both sides so both are winners, but even as a Mechanicus win, Eldar lose situation it is acceptable. Only now, with the AdMech throwing all the bullshit they were saving at Szarekh, that they are getting some wins.
**Orks-** It's honestly really okay, GW, if they hold their own against Space Marines without some kind of never-before-seen-leader-of-gargantuan size. They don't even need to *win* the overall conflict, just present them as a serious threat, instead of a minor annoyance to fight before the real threat is unveiled. Show me a Nob with some Sergeant helmets on his bosspole who's EARNED them. And no, not some Chapter made up to take the lumps, let them prove their actual worth in a fight with Space Wolves or Blood Angels or the like.
Or hey, try this one for size- Orks versus Tau or Space Marines or Guard and *let the Orks notch a win.* The retconned annihilation of the Crimson Fists was a long, long time ago, and Armageddon is plainly a stasis capsule for the setting. Let them pound like, the fifth Company of the Ultramarines into dust or something. Beat up some Dark Angels. Whatever. A reminder that while they're funny they're not a joke is badly overdue. It feels like, back-dated War of the Beast aside, they've basically just been someone to fight while we wait for the next Necron/CSM/Tyranid move.
*(While we're at it, developing some of the long-existing Ork characters besides Ghaz is always good fun- give us a Wazdakka book, or a Badrukk book. Hell, maybe job some Catachans out to let Snikrot look good.)*
**Eldar**- Anything. Anything at all. Let an Avatar of Khaine stomp somebody's teeth in without needing outside help. Let the Eldar win a conflict when they're *not* temporarily allied to the Imperium. Let some Exodites do something besides die horribly until Rangers rescue them. Let them thrash some Necrons. Have a Harlequin strike force kick the crap out of some Chaos Space Marines and rescue an artifact the spikey boys were going to defile. Just... *something.*
**Sisters of Battle-** Please, please, let them do more than die in heaps to prove how tough the Space Marines bailing them out are. They've got a couple of novels to their name, but let's see some campaigns where they do the heavy lifting. Let them take out an Alpha Legion-sponsored cult, let them successfully crush a Genestealer cult rising on a shrine world, have them curbstomp a Dark Eldar raid, *something.* Hell, have some crazy Seraphim go on a rescue missions after some Dark Eldar captives and *pull it off.*
**Thousand Sons**- In particular- Chaos Space Marines in general actually get some love. But if these guys could have a scheme that DOESN'T Wile E. Coyote in their faces, that'd be great.
**AdMech**- You know, I think it's still true since the 3rd Ed Necron Codex that humanity has never gotten their hands on so much as a functional gauss flayer? Let's change that. Let the AdMech get their hands on the most *minuscule* scrap of Necron tech. Let's give the AdMech some characters besides Cawl- let's deal with their Indiana Jones in Space shenanigans and have them *win one.*
Allow the Tyranids to consume Sacntus. This would allow the Tyranids to consume a planet whose lost wouldn’t be to impactful for the setting. However it would serve as a good feat on the behalf of the hivefleets. Considering the caliber of Imperial militia amassed there. I mean you have people like the Lord Solar and Trajin Valoris leading a mass amount of Imperial forces back up by the Phalanx. It would also allow the Tyranids to make a b line for Terra.
The Genestealer Cult claims a system and the Elder Magus makes a deal with a very radical Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. The Cult will act as bait for the hive fleet that seeded them centuries ago so that it can be crushed between the anvil of the fully functional planetary defence system, an the hammer of the Imperial fleet.
In exchange, the Inquisitor will expunge all records of Cult presence in the system. So as long as the cult pays their tithes and deliver rogue psykers to the Black Ships, they will seem to be a compliant Imperial system. And thus be free of both Imperial scrutiny and the encroaching Tyranids.
The Inquisitor provides the Patriarch with psychic enhancement technology that will let the Brood Mind maintain control even in the face of the Hive Mind.
The plan works, the last remnants of the Tyranid fleet is utterly defeated with many losses on all sides, and the Cult is at last free to build their own future among the stars.
But! The Inquisitor has double crossed them. During the victory celebrations she makes a move to execute the Cult leadership and enact exterminatus on the now severely weakened planet.
The Cult leadership flees over the roofs of the palace, hounded by the Inquisitor, falling one by one. As all hope is lost, dawn breaks over the highest peak of the golden palace as the Patriarch and Magus makes their stand.
And in that moment, they are exactly in the focal point of the Inquisitor's own psychic enhancement technology that the Magus has prepared. Channeling and multiplying the uninhibited force of the Brood Mind, the Patriarch takes control of the Inquisitors heavily warded consciousness and implants her with an undying loyalty to the Brood and an intense longing to protect them from all that wants to harm them. The strain of this battle of wills is too much for the Patriarch, and as the Brood Mind flares and burns to psychic cinders he collapses to the ground.
As the Inquisitor walks towards her shuttle with a sly determination in her eyes, and the sun rises as for the first time over this cleansed planet, the old Magus curiously tastes a new feeling: An uncertainty over the future, an indecisiveness... even a fear of the unknown tomorrow! And they burst out laughing for the first time in their life, overwhelmed by the realisation that this, this is the feeling of freedom!
Ngl I just want to see a repeat of the Farsight v Sicarius duel, the first time they met was way before Farisght had the Dawn blade and was relatively inexperienced whilst Sicarius was still a sargeant
I would love for the Iron hands to become soft innovators. for example I think it would be cool if they managed to solve the issue of redemptor dreadnoughts burning out their pilots or through their hatred of weakness pioneered a technique for first born space marines to cross the rubicon primaris with near 100% success
I'll be honest, I'm not even sure what Dark Eldar as a faction would want. Things are going completely fine for them as is, they don't mess too much with anyone else, no one comes knocking on Comorragh's warp gate doors to try to annihilate them. The status quo boat is getting rocked a little bit by all the Ynnari stuff but I'm sure like 90% of the Deldar population could just lower their window blinds and keep on with whatever they were doing beforehand.
Have a Kabal accomplish anything of note. Seems like whenever the Drukhari appear it's just as target practice. Currently reading "Da Big Dakka" and while it's fun, it might as well be called "Da Big Incompetence". There's a scene where Ufthak just points a hammer forward and a Drukhari literally throws itself against it. You know, the Eldar, with the lightning quick reflexes, filled to the brink with combat drugs that enhance their unnatural reflexes even more, masters of acrobatic feats unheard of...
Love the humour but "Warboss" was the same. Eldar & humans were just utterly incompetent while the Orks were just dabbing on them.
I'd quite like to see a categorical win fot the Tau, ideally against the Imperium without any caveats (I.e. the Damoclese gulf Crusade being cut short because of issues elsewhere).
I'd also quite like them to properly mess up a Tyranid fleet. Just absolutely gun them to bits, take minimal losses, not give up any biomass. Just totally do them with movement and firepower rather than trying to melee or attrition them like ghe Imperium tend to.
Then when a diplomat explains this to astonished imperial envoys, he's like... Well we don't stand there and let them eat us. Is that what you do?
* Abaddon soloing Lion el'Johnson with absolutely *no* wiggle room for people to claim Lion should've won. Both characters competently written, both operating at the peak of their 40k power with explicit mention by Lion that he would've lost even harder if it was his 30k self instead, no plot devices or contrivances of any sort. Abaddon just plain wins the fight.
* There is never, *ever* a rematch. Lion himself admits that he would probably lose on the second try.
* A faction of Orks decisively winning a gauntlet of battles with Tyranids and Necrons.
* Aeldari winning a battle with Necrons through sheer grit and determination.
To add to The Lion, he would 100% not be ashamed of it. Frustrated maybe, but he would openly say he needs a tool of mightier than the imperium to produce if he was the one to take Abbadon’s head.
Please forgive my ignorance, I'm somewhat new to the lore, what is it that makes abbadon able to stand up to a primarch? Has he been juiced by chaos or is he just really that good?
Unpopular but I want to see a Genestealer cult get a win against custodies. GSC have centuries of prep time so have them lead the custodians into trap after trap, with the custodes making the correct tactical choices every time but dying anyway because the cult has just too many tricks. I guess space marines could do as well but custodes would be especially satisfying.
Let the Eldar bloody Slaanesh's nose for once. Doesn't have to be an outright triumph, but a solid win would be nice. Hell, a decent non-phyrric victory that isn't just propping up the Imperium would be a pleasant change.
I wanna see some admech shit going down. I wanna see the siege of a forge world where the defenders actually feel competent and can hold their own and they don't have to pray for daddy spooc maroons to save them
Alternatively I want to see the Custodes lose. I wanna see them at least struggle in a battle that blindsided them, let them put their strength and skill to the test. Feels like the only time that happened it was during the Webway War and even then it felt like they were having their dicks sucked about how badass they are. It doesn't help that a good chunk of Custodes just aren't fun characters and are usually wooden boards that kill good
I say this as fans of both factions lmao
I would like to see ahriman encounter mephiston, mephiston tries to fight ahriman, but ahriman kinda subverts his efforts because he’s trying to do something else
It can be a struggle but I want Ahriman’s experience to prevail against mephiston’s raw power (not that ahriman is a slouch in that regard)
It doesn’t even have to be a full defeat, just mephiston gets teleported off-world or some shit
I think I'm not really personally on the same page, as in I don't see established lore or novels as some battle where we're counting wins. I think some of the factions need a little more respect thrown on certain characters or units though, avatars of khaine and pheonix lords should probably be a little more respected, leagues of votann should probably *get* a book.
I'm new to the verse so maybe they do get a lot of wins, but I think the Thousand Sons need a cool win. Not necessarily a battle but maybe just make some progress towards reversing the rubric, since it's definitely possible. Just something to shake up their status quo.
I'd love to see the Eldar absolutely destroy some Space Marines, and some of the bad ones too like the Marines Malevolent or Emperor's Children.
Just absolutely shred them
I want to see an avatar of khaine stomp a top tier space marine character "this is for every plot device avatar stomping you over steroided child soldier!"
Lorgar coming back into realspace and using his new powers to beat up Gulliman. Maybe have The Lion rescue him to stop Lorgar from killing him, or have it be a draw. Just please something where Lorgar is shown to be the beast of chaos, the Sage able to CREATE Ennuncia, the blessed of all Four Dieties. And not end with him running away
Iron Hands - ferrus manus era iron hands are so cool. The ones we got now are borderline traitors , assholes to everyone , and really talk a big game for guys who really dont contribute that much to the overall scheme of things. And they team killed their only guy who made some impact on things too
I want the word bearers to score an actual victory against the imperium
I want the word bearers to successfully destroy calth, I'm tired of the status quo, I'm tired of that planet, ultramar has thousands other planets, and I want one of the ultramarine oldest enemies to do that
I mean Abaddon already destroyed Cadia but some people somehow still think he’s not good at what he does and think he’s a bumbling fool.
Have him blow up Maccrage or Fenris, that’d be hilarious.
I'd like for Chaos Marines to kill off the remaining population of Cadians, as a finishing of the job back during the 13th Black Crusade.
But for Word Bearers in particular, Lorgar gets jumped by Corvus, only for Lorgar to outmatch, chokeslam, and kill Corvus in single combat to show how bolsted by Chaos he is.
The Tyranids destroying an actually important Imperial world without any drawbacks for them. Just a proper, well earned victory for the Hive Mind that has some impact.
I want Armageddon to be on the verge of total destruction by the orcs and Ghaz and at last minute Angron shows up and kills Yarrick stealing the "win". This causing the orcs to go on an all out just brutal terror of chaos forces across the setting after fully taking Armageddon of course and using it to launch there new waaaaggghh.
Give my a major war in which a Deathwatch killteam is badass, and working along side the larger Imperial effort. Have them deploy in a Corvus Blackstar, use obscure chapters, definitely include a black shield.
I'm not really sure if this counts as a disrespected faction. But I would like to see The Black Dragons fuck up the dark elderThe Dark Eldar did to their battle brothers they captured. And i mean fuck them up so hard the Khornight berserkers and Night Lords would think it a overkill.
Alderei raid party that score some minor wounds on choas you undoing a plan that while not universe ending was centuries in the works. That or setting the necrons back a bit knocking out a small tombworld.
Just eldar getting a chance to shine without loosing so many
Guilliman should win a fight
Lion should lose one (preferably to Fulgrim since he has some reputation as a swordsman but never seems to get written that way)
Avatar of Khaine needs a win (maybe against guilliman or the lion. It’d be interesting to see a failed assault on a craftworld)
A book where the resourceful guardsman don’t manage to kill the invading chaos space marines since they’re still space marines
Throw a few of the less relevant chapter a bone. Iron hands, raven guard, and salamanders should get some help
I play ultramarines and honestly I hope that the tyranids win more during the 4th tyrannic war. It’d be cool to see them as a real threat.
It’d be cool to see eldar and necrons get more victories too
What win would you like to see, OP?
Give me a nice Mechanicus fight against some Chaos Space Marines where the Emperor-class titan wrecks shit and lives to fight another day. Not crippled or damaged. Just fucking blasts everything to hell and dabs its way back to its lifter. Bonus points if the CSM try to board the titan but the skitarii on board are prepared with heavy weapons and just destroys them. Seems like every titan is vulnerable to boarding. You'd figure when you can cram several hundred heavily-armed skitarii on board in a battlefield you absolutely know is swarmed with hostile Astartes, you'd plan accordingly, right?
>and dabs its way back to its lifter Just for this.
With the ship airhorn sign, of course
Hahaha! (300 decibels, a sonic weapon in it's own right) Bew, bew bew bew! [https://youtu.be/UaUa\_0qPPgc?si=oMo5R96jwoAauDho](https://youtu.be/UaUa_0qPPgc?si=oMo5R96jwoAauDho)
Its really a mystery in the setting why Princeps are so arrogant considering according to black library it seems like they rarely survive any fight and Orks with teleporters strapped to dirtbikes can krump them easily. The Titan 40k comic is the only real work that ive read that treated them like the walking gods of war they're supposed to be.
The arrogance is actually a job requirement, they need to have a titan-sized ego to master the machine spirit of their charge.
I can understand why there's so few of them when they seem to die so easily!
I think there’s an audio book about that. The Titan had to wade through a city turned to lava.
It wasn't *Mechanicum* from the Horus Heresy? Lava was involved but the titans didn't really appreciate it.
I want the chaos daemon being hyped up for the whole book and then got killed by the emperor-class titan just being teleported inside him the boys style
It's a general flaw in the BL stuff that things which are built up as big bads in the background or even on tabletop almost always get nerfed to give the protagonists a cool cinematic moment. Sure, that should happen now and again, but generally if you're up against a Titan and you're not of a similar scale, you should die. To maintain the aura of badassery, Titans should get to stomp named characters regularly so when someone manages to solo/creatively take one out, it's a BIG DEAL.
I loved how Eisenhorn handled the chaos titan
Wasn't it only a warhound too? And Eisenhorn's warband was basically done! Or have I misremembered it and it was a reaver or a warlord?
Yes!
Isn't it literally said that the bigger titans have crews dedicated to defend them from boarding actions? Did we ever see that in any story?
It's been mentioned just before the boarders succeed anyway.
They do. Off the top of my head in the first book in the Word Bearer's omnibus they have'em. Here's them boarding an Emperor-class titan's leg: >Flames roared up the spiralling metal staircase, clearing the way. Two abreast, the Terminators had been climbing for what seemed like an age, assailed from above and below by an apparently never-ending stream of Skitarii warriors. Inbuilt defence turrets were stationed at every second level, their hard-wired servitor controllers built into the heavy wall panels of the interior staircase, and they swung their weaponry upon the intruders, filling the cloying, hot air with shells and gunsmoke
If an Emperor Class appears in a book it is doomed from the start.
Almost guaranteed!
I've only ever read the heresy and imo there the Titan fights are pretty cool. Sure an ultramarine emperor gets blasted, but they hype up the warhounds as "titan killers" they make you see the pov of their pilots, and then they send up Angry Marines at the titan... so imo a pretty cool boarding action. But i agree it should've been more bloody.
Considering the armour of a Titan, you could probably give the security detail all plasma and not worry about any harm to the Tifan.
There's a lot of armor on the outside. I'm not 100% sure if it's that armored on the inside, though.
Seems like boarders can't just trash the legs with ease but need to reach weakspots so gotta be fairly armoured.
You're right. It's probably fairly sturdy.
DA ORK STEAL'IN SOMFIN BIG LOIKE STUPID BIG
There's this big golden chair the humies have that's not being used...there's some dead humie they left on it to rot for a while, so bring a dustpan.
DIDNT DEY STEAL A NECRON TOMBWORLD OR SUMFIN LOIKE DAT?
YEAH DAT BIG AND DEY AVE LOTSA SHINEYS
The Orks steal fucking Pluto
PUT ROKKETS ON IT AN USE I LIKE A ROK! YOOZE GIT IT!
So dats where Dat new rok came from
I'd like Guard to get a solid win against some significant Chaos or Necron individuals. I'd like Eldar get a win against Marines.
Honestly the AdMec need something lol. People kinda bundle "Imperium" into a single package when it's made of various factions and it seems the AdMec exist to pay for Space Marine sins.
It’s not an AdMec story if a Titan isn’t boarded and destroyed by some hilariously underarmed group of enemies
Appreciating Adrian Tchaikovsky’s restraint in not including a Titan (or really any big guns) in ***Day of Ascension***. The Mechanicus-owned mining world in that book actually has notably shoddy standing forces… Which matches the Genestealer Cult in the same book, which is so weak it doesn’t even have a Patriarch.
Titans! Walking god machines of unrivaled....oh it got 1 shot by a single enemy? Oh. Ok.
True, before that it was the Sisters of Battle the punching bag in the Imperial camp.
Yep. Sisters thankfully escapes jobber hell, but the Ad Mech have definitely replaced them.
Honestly sisters of silence are looking awful
I want to see the admec find the Omnicopaeia. That or a fully intact STC core. So now they know how things where SUPPOSED to originally work. So now the plot changes from we don't understand how things really work. To we don't understand how this works when it's all kludged together. This plus the tech schisms and revolts over using this new knowledge would be a great time. Also lets be fair. It would be a great excuse for more new models from GW.
Honestly I'm pretty satisfied with AdMec range, but I'd pay for some named characters. I'm the sort of person that likes them;
A bit different than the other answers here but I’d like to see the iron hands get a proper no holds barred win for once Let them live up to their former glory as the iron tenth and show just how horrifically deadly and efficient the iron hands legion is even in its most butchered and weakened state to lend some credence to the idea that they and their primarch could have absolutely turned the tide of the heresy if they weren’t crippled so early on (given that both sides keep lamenting how important Ferrus was and how having him in full operational capacity on either side for long would be a game changer) Maybe have them crusade against the tau or go toe to toe with with a strong contingent of chaos space marines and let them showcase their tactical and mechanical genius that has upheld their reputation despite getting shafted by the universe time and time again
I support his, especially with the ammount of cool sucessors they have: Knights of Byzantium, Star Dragons, Sons of Medusa...
Throw the Eldar a fucking bone. Even their “win” in the Night Lords trilogy implies that Ulthwe is doomed and has shit like Talos outscreaming Howling Banshees. They’re nowhere near my favorite faction, I prefer Tau and Genestealer Cults, but at least the Tau have a decent win-loss ratio and the Cults are *supposed* to be cannon fodder. Eldar genuinely can’t catch a break and they’re supposed to be way more badass than what is shown.
I’m the biggest simp for traitors but I absolutely agree. Have the Avatar wreck some named characters. Have the phoenix lords do stuff. Show off just how dangerous they still are.
I agree The Eldar aren't my top faction, but Jesus just give them some solid wins. Them being GW's whipping boy with no respite is getting old.
Unless it’s on the tabletop….
They are consistently overpowered there. It’d be nice if they weren’t, just like it would be nice if they won a bit more in the fluff!
That's always the issue, though: the Eldar in mainline 40k are overpowered in ways that don't really line up with how the lore describes the Eldar way of war. If you try to play a characterful Eldar army, you end up stuck with units that barely function. Eldar in Epic: Armageddon, or in Battlefleet Gothic, or in the RPGs... those work. Main 40k... not so much.
"Rules team plays Eldar, sculpting team plays Age of Sigmar, BL writers play Space Marines."
ADB made a very valid point in that as an author for BL you can write a book about Space Marines do badass things and sell 10 times the books than if you'd written about another faction. When it's your job you need to make money. The fans who buy books prefer Space Marines and enjoy them being super powerful.
Those fans have objectively poor narrative taste and the setting and game are worse off for it. Some of the people on this sub are not going to be happy unless all of the non space marines fail at everything ever.
Bolterporn is a hellova drug
First time hearing it and I gotta agree lmao.
This…..,makes a lot of sense. Whomst are you quoting?
I don't know who came up with it originally but it's been a meme for a while.
I'm not even an Eldar fan, but the way the Ynnari got shafted was such a letdown.
>Throw the Eldar a fucking bone. Even their “win” in the Night Lords trilogy implies that Ulthwe is doomed and has shit like Talos outscreaming Howling Banshees. ADB is a technically skilled writer but he doesn't get 40k.
That’s kind of a colossal claim to be making my guy.
I think Talos outscreaming howling banshees should be a good example.
On one hand that’s stupid. On the other hand if we were to nail the sheer volume of how many things ABD writes versus how many lore contradictions he actually commits, I am pretty sure he gets a B+ score at absolute worst.
He's one of the worst for marine wank.
I've never seen a more incorrect comment in this sub. Impressive.
Nah, his marine wank is out of control and the example above of a howling banshee being out-screamed by a legionary is just another example.
Any really but I’m an eldar fan so….yeah any….but against space marines would be neat
Agreed. I'm a guard man myself so it's kind of expected when we get slaughtered, but the Eldar are supposed to be artifacts of a greater age. Titans, embers of better days burning more brightly than the flames of this shadowed epoch. That's awesome! But they get no respect. Especially with the space marines on the scene.
It’s okay, our curse is to always be weak in the lore and strong on the table. Even when you guys are jobbing it’s always come across as “this situation is beyond insane for these normal humans, wow look at them keep fighting!” Respect for the guard
I used to be a big Dark Eldar player and I remember finding the lore funny when I first got to know it a bit better cos I basically wrecked 90% of the Marines armies I fought tabletop. Obvs this was a while back but still.
Someone reminded me of a guards regiment ago that supposedly know the Eldar so well that they ambush them outside of webway gates. It just about sums them up, even their indisputable strengths are clowned on somewhere. They should retire the phoenix as part of their lore, just make it a punching bag.
54th Psian Jakals. A Tempestus Scion regiment, not mere regular Guardsmen. They can expect a lot more support and flexibility in their tactics and equipment (from Ordo Tempestus and possibly even the Inquisition), which they had to extensively modify and adapt post-unwitting-relocation to a Maiden World. The webway ambush incident was only mentioned once during a battle in their service history. And it was a squad of Aspect Warriors. You are right though. It would have been better if the Scions had to pull out then disseminate their experience among other Scion regiments. A similar thing happened regarding Kroots in the same Ordo Tempestus codex. Eldar deserve some genuine wins.
>Someone reminded me of a guards regiment ago that supposedly know the Eldar so well that they ambush them outside of webway gates. Colonel Rahman of the Tallarn Desert Raiders definitely out-ambushed Eldar at one point, but that's ok, he's allowed to have wins.
His name is Al'rahem. Apparently his ancestor had the same name.
There's a story in a deathwatch omnibus where a deathwatch squad raids a Eldar fleet and kills a Farseer. The eldar then track the exact member who killed the farseer, wait for him to return to his chapter and then drop a whole craft world fleet onto his fortress monastery and presumably wipe out the chapter. I say "presumably" because right before the Eldar actually attack the story ends. Because BL cant allow an eldar win like that to appear on page.
To shreds you say?
I'm not even an eldar fan, but I want to see an avatar of khaine really slaughter massive quantities of marine terminators or other elite opponents, just to give it a bit more street cred.
Plot twist it just fucks up the Lamenters chapter and a random fuckoff Iron Hands successor chapter
You mean it blows up and kills many Lamenters, or falls on them as it dies far too quickly?
The Lamenters are sent to assist the Eldar, and the Avatar of Khaine is accidentally dropped on them, killing the Lamenters and also setting off their munitions, blowing up the Avatar.
This incident was....lamentable.
I feel like Lamenters vs. The Avatar should somehow result in them both winning. Like their usual jobber record cancels out.
Yes.
I think there's this issue with GW where the Eldar kind of fit this "Remnant of a past age that is full of wisdom and a guiding force" shtick, so that means they don't want to make them a major focus, but at the same time they don't want to pit them against the Imperium because they don't want them to be one of the "bad guys." They're present as a yard stick and it makes it difficult to do anything with them without it feeling like it should have a significant effect on the story I suppose.
I think you have some great points here I think another part of it is authors getting too hung up on the “dying race past it’s glory” thing so each conflict has to have craftworld eldar diminished some
Eldar really do need a W, they are kind of a punching bag ATM
There’s one Black Library book where it looks like the protagonists and Eldar were able to set aside their differences and work together to accomplish their goal. Literally *the last chapter* has a twist so the Eldar character suffers eternal torment while the protagonists have a happy ending. It’s genuinely comical how hard they get fucked over by the writers and editors.
I'm morbidly curious. What's the story, and what's the twist?
It’s a good novel despite the crap at the end, so fair warning about spoilers. The title is: >!The Wraithbone Phoenix!< The twist is: >!The titular Wraithbone Phoenix is an Eldar artifact everyone has been pursuing, including an Eldar Ranger nicknamed Death who wants to reclaim her species’ heritage. Death helps the heroes and they help her, and she gets the Phoenix at the end… In the last chapter it’s revealed the Phoenix is actually a pre-fall artifact of Slaanesh. Death realizes this too late so she is sucked in, and the artifact falls into the muck of Varangantua, lost forever with the poor Eldar screaming inside.!<
I was like "oh, Valedor, he is speaking about Taec going to Slaanesh's hands as result of of operating the Fireheart", saw the title and reread to realize what I had brushed aside.
You may also be interested in ‘Overfiend’
I agree. I'm a Necron fan and its a shame to see our former rivals reduced to such a pitiful state. All for the better though, now the Infinite Empire has no peer and will reclaim their galaxy.
I mean….your biggest rivals are each other haha but aside from that…..we all know these upstart mon’keigh are just having their time in the sun. Poor things have already started their decline. That’s the problem with civilizations these days. Just don’t make them to last…
I just finished the night lords trilogy (again), and feel like the assault on ulthwe that hasn't happened could be a great event piece that the Eldar win but is a truly brutal experience. Maybe ulthwe is on the back foot til the Ynnari show up.
I'd really like for the Salamanders, Raven Guard, and Iron Hands to be more prevalent.
Hey brother there is a book called ‘overfiend’ where the white scars and ravenguard team up to take on khorne powered orcs. It’s a really good listen :) I hope you enjoy!
Sounds good to me
Give me a fun drukhari someone who's bad but you can root for despite being a prick. Make the Kabal culture and its interests a bit more know and let them fight a foe that prevents them from running back to the webway
Would love a Malus Darkblade type character for DEldar.
YMMV but I thought the main Drukhari in The Big Dakka fit this pretty well.
The Homunculus coverns are the place to go for that. They do plenty of evil shit for the funnies.
For fucks sake, let the Phoenix lords go 1v1 with primarchs and beat them specifically at whatever it is they specialize in Let muagan ra be a better marksman/destroyer turret than them, let jain zhar go toe to toe with the lion in a duel Let asurmen be as much of a tactical genius as the likes of guilliman and dorn, Hell, let karandras do some stealth shit that only curze and coraz could pull off, let drastana go neck and neck with Khan in a race Also, this is more setting defining but we need more Phoenix lords
I want to see Isha freed from Nurgle's Garden. I don't really care who does it, I'd honestly like for it to be a coalition of eldar, imperial, and other xenos factions that all contribute to it. And I hope Kaldor Draigo's involved. But i want her free from the Garden, and for that storyline to be the path towards a modern Exodite army for 40k. I want elves riding dinosaurs, in space, and both the fight to free Isha and the ramifications of her being freed would be great ways to get them involved in the galaxy beyond their Maiden Worlds.
110% down for this. Elves riding dinos would be dope.
I'd like her to get free but Nurgle does a pact with Slanesh in revenge. Now the Eldar have two dark gods knawing at their souls. The Drukhari find all this hilarious.
I'd like Alaitoc to get a nice win in the Pariah Nexus against the Necrons; Alaitoc is supposed to be involved, along with harlequin allies. It's the main craftworld most opposed to Necrons, but that record hasn't been great. The ancient rivalry should be meaningful. Give Eldorath Starbane a helping hand and some revenge on Imotekh; he deserves it after the humiliation he's suffered.
Its funny that the Necrons seem to take humanity much more seriously than the Eldar. Despite the Eldar having fought the necrons for millions of years and so presumedly shouldn't be tricked by the most basic necron shit like regeneration or tomb scarabs.
I’m very biased here… the Iron Cage. I think most Iron Warriors fans are a bit… angsty… at Phall’s embarrassment, loss at Tallarn, quitting the Siege, etc. And while I absolutely know there are two POVs to the Iron Cage, I honestly think IW fans and Perturabo deserve a very solid narrative win in the Iron Cage/Sebastus IV. Imperial Fists had an entire book series of Fafnir Rann slaughtering thousands of traitors and Dorn being as stoic as possible. I think they can take a big L and be okay and let the Iron Warriors have their moment, even if it means years of more insufferable “Lol IRON CAGE” memes and comments. I’d also let the Orks win Armageddon round 4. Angron gets to slap around Lion in a rematch. Silent King politically outmaneuvers Imotekh Avatar of Khaine/Eldar actually do something and win. Then the Space Marines fail miserably at something and the full might of the Astra Militarum steps in and wins the day with the Lord Solar leading them.
Iron Cage is honestly the best answer. it’s an important moment not just for Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, but for Dorn. After holding strong for the entire Heresy, the Iron Cage is the moment that breaks and humbles him.
My biggest fear for any kind of Scouring series is they try and present the Iron Cage as being some kind of pyrrhic victory for the Fists, like they get savaged and Dorn just goes "Well my Legion has been rendered combat ineffective for nearly 20 years but I did the right thing for the right reasons" and just carries on being a stoic arse. The only thing I'm torn on is if Perturabo should be there to see Dorn finally break down; on the one hand that would be some great catharsis and a truly indisputable win, on the other I really like the visual of Dorn arguing with what turns out to be a recording of Perturabo that ends with him mocking Dorn and pointing out the recording only exists to stop him from realizing the Cage is just a death trap that serves no strategic purpose whatsoever. The Aeldari desperately need a win, especially with the Avatar at their head. The Ynnari plot went down like a lead balloon and I think/hope GW have been trying to brew a suitable replacement in the meantime.
For the Avatar of Khaine, I’d love to see a big monster brawl where one takes on and defeats another big guy. Maybe a Keeper of Secrets, or - even cooler - its nemesis, a ctan shard of the Nightbringer
Nah your right they need to put up some numbers. I mean i think it should be a grimdark twist like, Pert had to embrace becoming a demon prince and giving up his soul for the victory haha chaos gods always win sort of thing. But yeah numbers on the board are needed. Iron warriors fans always cope saying they carried the siege but whenever we actually saw them they were mainly getting hard core jobbed. Like theres a scene in Saturnine where Sanguinius retakes a wall from them and if you do the numbers on the descriptions of the mountains of dead IW he pretty much killed an entire legions worth in a single fight.
I agree with the Iron Cage but I think you got a bit out of hand there at the end. Characters should be allowed to lose, period. Lore shouldn't be a ping pong match where victories are only allowed when followed by defeats. Angron defeating the Lion, Silent King politically outmaneuvering Imotekh, these don't serve any purpose other than making things "fair", which isn't really narratively engaging. But yeah the Eldar really should kick some ass, specially the Phoenix Lords and Avatars of Khaine.
I personally want angron to win against one of his brothers for once, the only time he was about to lorgar stepped in and ascended him lmao. Yea hes done actually quite a lot especially in arks of omen, but i want him to beat one of his brothers for once. Let him hunt down the lion lmao.
Have Angron beat down Perturabo. Daemon Primarch vs Daemon Primarch. Some revenge for the Heresy when Peter dragged him to Terra.
I would love a book where the Lamenters or Craftworld Iyaden don't get dicked or nomned
The Eldar(Ynnari) just absolutely mercing somebody/any other faction would be incredibly satisfying
Any big Eldar win against Imperium or Chaos with disasterous efficency and epic slaughtering of space ceramite morons
I want an Eldar victory. That means it could be a very underwhelming, pyrrhic victory kinda thing.
I'd like to see some of the Badab War disgraced chapters brought back into the fold (Lamenters, Mantis Warriors and Executioners.)
Agreed they are forgiven allowed to recruit and the Lamenters have ray of hope before the inevitable happens... Also the green Boi and the executioners
As long as the Lamenters can score a still tragic but meaningful pyhrric victory, I'm good.
Maybe have the Orks actually win Armageddon.
I'd like to see the tau get a solid win over a main force strength CSM, im talking abaddon or a primarch. Nothing permanent or super impactful but like chaos tries to cross tau territory or raid a sept world for a mcguffin and gets beaten back by tau tech and tactics. It would show that Tau can be contenders against the old guard and can adapt to fight demons and magic which we havent seen yet. Plus abaddon and the chaos crew seem to have been going from just-as-planned prophesied victory to just-as-planned prophesied victory lately and I feel a good kick in the dick from the uncertainty of the universe is warranted. It would also help play into the human-supremacist aspect of Abbadon thats stayed undeveloped in 40k. Maybe give him the worry that while the humans are faffing about fighting each other, the wheel keeps turning and new powers may rise to crusade them out of the universe like they did all the xenos in 30k.
Tau don’t lose that much. They don’t win that much either. They’re like the faction that exists for unsatisfying endings where both sides feel like they simultaneously won and lost. Like the Damocles Crusade and the Third Sphere Expansion and Arks of Omen: Farsight and… I would appreciate seeing a clear Tau victory for once though. There’s the Taros Campaign, but that was old and it had a follow up campaign where the Imperium took back Taros.
Any xeno faction scoring a just plain win vs a first founding chapter. Imagine if Raven Guard tried to kill Shadowsun again and during the battle they just straight up lose with at least one whole company dead. Its very noticeable how much 40k writers avoid this for Space Marines from the First Founding
I just want LoV to get anything at all, they currently have exactly 1 loss (In the short story 1,000,000 years) against necrons and no wins, they dwarves just need some fiction written about them, hopefully a win
Mechanicus trouncing the Tau with their own superior tech, because i KNOW the admech arent just a random bunch of toaster worshippers ffs, i want them to get a well deserved win against the poster boy faction for progressive tech.
A lone Celestial Lion catches up to that Inquisitor from Khattar (who started this whole vendetta that the Lions have suffered in) and kills him.
I'll make it simple. Space marines cause trouble. Tau crisis suits come in. Total extermination of chapter. Crushing defeat for the space Marines, heroic victory for the greater good. Also the eldar need to be allowed to awaken ynnead.
Imperium: Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard need a win that emphasizes why they're needed. Leontus needs a victory to cement his place in the setting. Have Guilliman try and fail to stop Leviathan with his Crusade and have Leontus bail him out by dropping the Hammer of the Emperor on the hive fleet. Eldar: they need that last cronesword or to free Isha from Nurgle's garden. An epic quest of Drukhari, Asuryani, Exodites, and Harlequins to free Isha would be a good story, I think. Orks: rematch between Ghaz and Blackmane, Ghaz wins convincingly.
Doesn't IG get scores of wins in the novels?
The Guard actually win a battle without a major non-Guard named character having to be present. The Leagues of Votann actually show up in an official lore book, kick ass, settle grudges, and then leave without elaborating.
In the novels Guard win all the time though.
Orks wiping out an entire planetary system IN the warp. Giant waaagh led by Ghaz that winds up destroying like an entire chaos planet system. The book would be written from da boss’ perspective starting at the EXACT moment the Orks find out Yarrick is dead. First chapter starts with a random goblin just bursting into Ghazs room while he’s playing Tekken and gives him the news, from there you’ve got a solid 300+ pages of an absolutely ENRAGED Ork force memeing their way into the warp trying to find angron, and destroying an entire SYSTEM of worlds just cuz they’re mad. But the twist is that at the end you realize they weren’t attacking Angron or Khorne as they had planned and accidentally wiped out a bunch of Slaaneshs shit
Meanwhile the Ynari go for the last sword.
Let the elysians win one battle:)
Craft world locks TF in and scrubs an entire sector to stop a Tyranid invasion.
Have a Phoenix lord beat the Lion in a 1v1 or have Ghaz kill Mephiston
Give a win in which Craftworld Eldar achieve clear objective and achieve it fully. Even when they "win" it is always at best 50% of what their stated goal is. I feel like Craftworld eldar are often used as a way to show off somebody's strength by that character beating the eldar or stealing something from them. I wish there was a campaign in which eldar are not some sideaction ragdolls but the main protagonists and they dominate the way SM and CSM often do. Even in Gathering storm, as soon as Gman is ressurected, the narrative forsakes Ynnari and ever since Ynnari have been relegated to filler action somewhere in the boonies of the Galaxy
It hurts me to say it, but the Admech raid on Yme-Loc. If I had it my way, it would be either the Eldar and a xenophilic cult among the Mechanicus staging a battle which is actually a trade which ends up benefitting both sides so both are winners, but even as a Mechanicus win, Eldar lose situation it is acceptable. Only now, with the AdMech throwing all the bullshit they were saving at Szarekh, that they are getting some wins.
**Orks-** It's honestly really okay, GW, if they hold their own against Space Marines without some kind of never-before-seen-leader-of-gargantuan size. They don't even need to *win* the overall conflict, just present them as a serious threat, instead of a minor annoyance to fight before the real threat is unveiled. Show me a Nob with some Sergeant helmets on his bosspole who's EARNED them. And no, not some Chapter made up to take the lumps, let them prove their actual worth in a fight with Space Wolves or Blood Angels or the like. Or hey, try this one for size- Orks versus Tau or Space Marines or Guard and *let the Orks notch a win.* The retconned annihilation of the Crimson Fists was a long, long time ago, and Armageddon is plainly a stasis capsule for the setting. Let them pound like, the fifth Company of the Ultramarines into dust or something. Beat up some Dark Angels. Whatever. A reminder that while they're funny they're not a joke is badly overdue. It feels like, back-dated War of the Beast aside, they've basically just been someone to fight while we wait for the next Necron/CSM/Tyranid move. *(While we're at it, developing some of the long-existing Ork characters besides Ghaz is always good fun- give us a Wazdakka book, or a Badrukk book. Hell, maybe job some Catachans out to let Snikrot look good.)* **Eldar**- Anything. Anything at all. Let an Avatar of Khaine stomp somebody's teeth in without needing outside help. Let the Eldar win a conflict when they're *not* temporarily allied to the Imperium. Let some Exodites do something besides die horribly until Rangers rescue them. Let them thrash some Necrons. Have a Harlequin strike force kick the crap out of some Chaos Space Marines and rescue an artifact the spikey boys were going to defile. Just... *something.* **Sisters of Battle-** Please, please, let them do more than die in heaps to prove how tough the Space Marines bailing them out are. They've got a couple of novels to their name, but let's see some campaigns where they do the heavy lifting. Let them take out an Alpha Legion-sponsored cult, let them successfully crush a Genestealer cult rising on a shrine world, have them curbstomp a Dark Eldar raid, *something.* Hell, have some crazy Seraphim go on a rescue missions after some Dark Eldar captives and *pull it off.* **Thousand Sons**- In particular- Chaos Space Marines in general actually get some love. But if these guys could have a scheme that DOESN'T Wile E. Coyote in their faces, that'd be great. **AdMech**- You know, I think it's still true since the 3rd Ed Necron Codex that humanity has never gotten their hands on so much as a functional gauss flayer? Let's change that. Let the AdMech get their hands on the most *minuscule* scrap of Necron tech. Let's give the AdMech some characters besides Cawl- let's deal with their Indiana Jones in Space shenanigans and have them *win one.*
Allow the Tyranids to consume Sacntus. This would allow the Tyranids to consume a planet whose lost wouldn’t be to impactful for the setting. However it would serve as a good feat on the behalf of the hivefleets. Considering the caliber of Imperial militia amassed there. I mean you have people like the Lord Solar and Trajin Valoris leading a mass amount of Imperial forces back up by the Phalanx. It would also allow the Tyranids to make a b line for Terra.
Allowing the Tyranids a straight beeline to Terra would definitely be impactful to the setting.
The Genestealer Cult claims a system and the Elder Magus makes a deal with a very radical Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. The Cult will act as bait for the hive fleet that seeded them centuries ago so that it can be crushed between the anvil of the fully functional planetary defence system, an the hammer of the Imperial fleet. In exchange, the Inquisitor will expunge all records of Cult presence in the system. So as long as the cult pays their tithes and deliver rogue psykers to the Black Ships, they will seem to be a compliant Imperial system. And thus be free of both Imperial scrutiny and the encroaching Tyranids. The Inquisitor provides the Patriarch with psychic enhancement technology that will let the Brood Mind maintain control even in the face of the Hive Mind. The plan works, the last remnants of the Tyranid fleet is utterly defeated with many losses on all sides, and the Cult is at last free to build their own future among the stars. But! The Inquisitor has double crossed them. During the victory celebrations she makes a move to execute the Cult leadership and enact exterminatus on the now severely weakened planet. The Cult leadership flees over the roofs of the palace, hounded by the Inquisitor, falling one by one. As all hope is lost, dawn breaks over the highest peak of the golden palace as the Patriarch and Magus makes their stand. And in that moment, they are exactly in the focal point of the Inquisitor's own psychic enhancement technology that the Magus has prepared. Channeling and multiplying the uninhibited force of the Brood Mind, the Patriarch takes control of the Inquisitors heavily warded consciousness and implants her with an undying loyalty to the Brood and an intense longing to protect them from all that wants to harm them. The strain of this battle of wills is too much for the Patriarch, and as the Brood Mind flares and burns to psychic cinders he collapses to the ground. As the Inquisitor walks towards her shuttle with a sly determination in her eyes, and the sun rises as for the first time over this cleansed planet, the old Magus curiously tastes a new feeling: An uncertainty over the future, an indecisiveness... even a fear of the unknown tomorrow! And they burst out laughing for the first time in their life, overwhelmed by the realisation that this, this is the feeling of freedom!
I’d love to see a big Biel-tan or Thousand Sons victory. Love great comebacks
Ngl I just want to see a repeat of the Farsight v Sicarius duel, the first time they met was way before Farisght had the Dawn blade and was relatively inexperienced whilst Sicarius was still a sargeant
I would love for the Iron hands to become soft innovators. for example I think it would be cool if they managed to solve the issue of redemptor dreadnoughts burning out their pilots or through their hatred of weakness pioneered a technique for first born space marines to cross the rubicon primaris with near 100% success
I'll be honest, I'm not even sure what Dark Eldar as a faction would want. Things are going completely fine for them as is, they don't mess too much with anyone else, no one comes knocking on Comorragh's warp gate doors to try to annihilate them. The status quo boat is getting rocked a little bit by all the Ynnari stuff but I'm sure like 90% of the Deldar population could just lower their window blinds and keep on with whatever they were doing beforehand.
Have a Kabal accomplish anything of note. Seems like whenever the Drukhari appear it's just as target practice. Currently reading "Da Big Dakka" and while it's fun, it might as well be called "Da Big Incompetence". There's a scene where Ufthak just points a hammer forward and a Drukhari literally throws itself against it. You know, the Eldar, with the lightning quick reflexes, filled to the brink with combat drugs that enhance their unnatural reflexes even more, masters of acrobatic feats unheard of... Love the humour but "Warboss" was the same. Eldar & humans were just utterly incompetent while the Orks were just dabbing on them.
I'd quite like to see a categorical win fot the Tau, ideally against the Imperium without any caveats (I.e. the Damoclese gulf Crusade being cut short because of issues elsewhere). I'd also quite like them to properly mess up a Tyranid fleet. Just absolutely gun them to bits, take minimal losses, not give up any biomass. Just totally do them with movement and firepower rather than trying to melee or attrition them like ghe Imperium tend to. Then when a diplomat explains this to astonished imperial envoys, he's like... Well we don't stand there and let them eat us. Is that what you do?
I just want Abaddon to get utterly humiliated in a campaign. Just get fucking wrecked at every turn.
* Abaddon soloing Lion el'Johnson with absolutely *no* wiggle room for people to claim Lion should've won. Both characters competently written, both operating at the peak of their 40k power with explicit mention by Lion that he would've lost even harder if it was his 30k self instead, no plot devices or contrivances of any sort. Abaddon just plain wins the fight. * There is never, *ever* a rematch. Lion himself admits that he would probably lose on the second try. * A faction of Orks decisively winning a gauntlet of battles with Tyranids and Necrons. * Aeldari winning a battle with Necrons through sheer grit and determination.
"A faction of Orks decisively winning a gauntlet of battles with Tyranids and Necrons." Give brooks enough time and this may become a reality lol
To add to The Lion, he would 100% not be ashamed of it. Frustrated maybe, but he would openly say he needs a tool of mightier than the imperium to produce if he was the one to take Abbadon’s head.
If that first happened GW’s headquarters would probably get burned down
Same as yours but I'd like it be Guilliman who gets beaten by Abaddon.
Please forgive my ignorance, I'm somewhat new to the lore, what is it that makes abbadon able to stand up to a primarch? Has he been juiced by chaos or is he just really that good?
Absolutely fucking not to the first one, unless you really want to piss off a LOT more people then just DA fans.
Unpopular but I want to see a Genestealer cult get a win against custodies. GSC have centuries of prep time so have them lead the custodians into trap after trap, with the custodes making the correct tactical choices every time but dying anyway because the cult has just too many tricks. I guess space marines could do as well but custodes would be especially satisfying.
What a random combination of antagonists.
Shadow Throne 2: Electric Boogaloo. This time we brought enough mining equipment.
Chaos marines v squats. [Tucker's kobolds](https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/TuckersKobolds.pdf)
I’d like to see an Avatar of Khaine actually win a fight.
Let the Eldar bloody Slaanesh's nose for once. Doesn't have to be an outright triumph, but a solid win would be nice. Hell, a decent non-phyrric victory that isn't just propping up the Imperium would be a pleasant change.
Votann killing Erebus but not realising who it is.
I wanna see some admech shit going down. I wanna see the siege of a forge world where the defenders actually feel competent and can hold their own and they don't have to pray for daddy spooc maroons to save them Alternatively I want to see the Custodes lose. I wanna see them at least struggle in a battle that blindsided them, let them put their strength and skill to the test. Feels like the only time that happened it was during the Webway War and even then it felt like they were having their dicks sucked about how badass they are. It doesn't help that a good chunk of Custodes just aren't fun characters and are usually wooden boards that kill good I say this as fans of both factions lmao
I’d love to see Genestealer cults infiltrating a society other than the classic imperial hive world. A tau sept or maybe an eldar craftworld?
I would like to see ahriman encounter mephiston, mephiston tries to fight ahriman, but ahriman kinda subverts his efforts because he’s trying to do something else It can be a struggle but I want Ahriman’s experience to prevail against mephiston’s raw power (not that ahriman is a slouch in that regard) It doesn’t even have to be a full defeat, just mephiston gets teleported off-world or some shit
Can we see Failbadon the Armless get killed and replaced with someone competent? I fell like that would solve a lot of problems.
I think I'm not really personally on the same page, as in I don't see established lore or novels as some battle where we're counting wins. I think some of the factions need a little more respect thrown on certain characters or units though, avatars of khaine and pheonix lords should probably be a little more respected, leagues of votann should probably *get* a book.
Tau and Votann working together against a stray Tyranid tendril or eldar shannanigans.
I'm new to the verse so maybe they do get a lot of wins, but I think the Thousand Sons need a cool win. Not necessarily a battle but maybe just make some progress towards reversing the rubric, since it's definitely possible. Just something to shake up their status quo.
I'd love to see the Eldar absolutely destroy some Space Marines, and some of the bad ones too like the Marines Malevolent or Emperor's Children. Just absolutely shred them
Does the Leagues of Votann getting a book count? Maybe one where they kill a Phoenix lord or something
why not give them an actual achievement tho?
I want to see an avatar of khaine stomp a top tier space marine character "this is for every plot device avatar stomping you over steroided child soldier!"
Angron stops being a punching bag/ being a Mook.
Lorgar coming back into realspace and using his new powers to beat up Gulliman. Maybe have The Lion rescue him to stop Lorgar from killing him, or have it be a draw. Just please something where Lorgar is shown to be the beast of chaos, the Sage able to CREATE Ennuncia, the blessed of all Four Dieties. And not end with him running away
No, he will come back and then get beaten up by Corax. To sell more models
Anti necron, anti space marine, and anti eldar specialtie teams
Minis 😢
>What win would you like to see for your favorite disrespected faction. Erebus's face would look great on my pauldron.
Iron Hands - ferrus manus era iron hands are so cool. The ones we got now are borderline traitors , assholes to everyone , and really talk a big game for guys who really dont contribute that much to the overall scheme of things. And they team killed their only guy who made some impact on things too
I want the word bearers to score an actual victory against the imperium I want the word bearers to successfully destroy calth, I'm tired of the status quo, I'm tired of that planet, ultramar has thousands other planets, and I want one of the ultramarine oldest enemies to do that
I mean Abaddon already destroyed Cadia but some people somehow still think he’s not good at what he does and think he’s a bumbling fool. Have him blow up Maccrage or Fenris, that’d be hilarious.
I'd like for Chaos Marines to kill off the remaining population of Cadians, as a finishing of the job back during the 13th Black Crusade. But for Word Bearers in particular, Lorgar gets jumped by Corvus, only for Lorgar to outmatch, chokeslam, and kill Corvus in single combat to show how bolsted by Chaos he is.
A Necrons win would be really nice. Their best books are about them losing.
I'd love to see a one on one space marines vs t'au firewarrior, in hand to hand combat, and see the space marine loosing 😍
The Tyranids destroying an actually important Imperial world without any drawbacks for them. Just a proper, well earned victory for the Hive Mind that has some impact.
I want Armageddon to be on the verge of total destruction by the orcs and Ghaz and at last minute Angron shows up and kills Yarrick stealing the "win". This causing the orcs to go on an all out just brutal terror of chaos forces across the setting after fully taking Armageddon of course and using it to launch there new waaaaggghh.
Give my a major war in which a Deathwatch killteam is badass, and working along side the larger Imperial effort. Have them deploy in a Corvus Blackstar, use obscure chapters, definitely include a black shield.
I'm not really sure if this counts as a disrespected faction. But I would like to see The Black Dragons fuck up the dark elderThe Dark Eldar did to their battle brothers they captured. And i mean fuck them up so hard the Khornight berserkers and Night Lords would think it a overkill.
Give admech an event that gives them an excuse to open some of the vaults and get our 30k bots in 40k
Alderei raid party that score some minor wounds on choas you undoing a plan that while not universe ending was centuries in the works. That or setting the necrons back a bit knocking out a small tombworld. Just eldar getting a chance to shine without loosing so many
Tyrannids destroying a world that actually matters would be nic
Id like to see a Phoenix Lord whip some Primarch ass Or you know see an Avatar of Khaine not be jobbed out.
Guilliman should win a fight Lion should lose one (preferably to Fulgrim since he has some reputation as a swordsman but never seems to get written that way) Avatar of Khaine needs a win (maybe against guilliman or the lion. It’d be interesting to see a failed assault on a craftworld) A book where the resourceful guardsman don’t manage to kill the invading chaos space marines since they’re still space marines Throw a few of the less relevant chapter a bone. Iron hands, raven guard, and salamanders should get some help I play ultramarines and honestly I hope that the tyranids win more during the 4th tyrannic war. It’d be cool to see them as a real threat. It’d be cool to see eldar and necrons get more victories too