Don’t miss the newest pics and latest previews for 40k Psychic Awakening releases including Captain Lazarus that were spotted at New Years Open Day 2020.
Warhammer Community previewed a ton of new Sisters of Battle, Tau Shadowsun, and more Beastgrave and Age of Sigmar for 2020!
2019 was an incredible year for Warhammer, with new games, new armies, and the first of the new plastic Sisters of Battle. Today, we’re at the New Year Open Day, getting a sneak peek at what’s coming in 2020 for the Mortal Realms and the grim darkness of the far future…
Lazarus & Psychic Awakening: Ritual of The Damned
Lazarus, the newly previewed named Primaris character is unique. While he’s a named character, this is the first time we’ve seen a unit with a unique name get different weapon options.
It looks like the earlier rumors were true! Lazarus us back, and he heralds new rules for not just the Dark Angels but also the Thousand Sons and Grey Knights as well!
At the head of the Dark Angels forces is Master Lazarus – former Sergeant, now Captain of the Dark Angels 5th Company! For those of you who remember The Wrath of Magnus, Lazarus was laid low by the fell sorcery of the XV Legion. Reborn as the first Primaris Space Marine of the Inner Circle, he’s back with a dark vengeance and an even deeper hatred for psykers.
At the head of the Dark Angels forces is Master Lazarus – former Sergeant, now Captain of the Dark Angels 5th Company! For those of you who remember The Wrath of Magnus, Lazarus was laid low by the fell sorcery of the XV Legion. Reborn as the first Primaris Space Marine of the Inner Circle, he’s back with a dark vengeance and an even deeper hatred for psykers.
Fighting alongside the Dark Angels are the Sons of Titan, whose prognosticators have foreseen the future evildoing on the twin homeworlds of the Thousand Sons. All of this will be covered in the next instalment of Psychic Awakening, which also contains rules for all three of these factions.
Are these the rules Grey Knights have been waiting for? From this preview, it looks like the Dark Angels will be getting the same treatment as the Blood Angels in Blood of Baal. GK players will be waiting with bated breath to see if their beloved chapter will gain some of the rules to at least put them on par with their fellow Astartes in the game.
For the Dark Angels, this book brings the Chapter into line with recent Space Marines updates, and also includes lots of juicy new rules content, especially for Deathwing and Ravenwing commanders.
The Grey Knights get plenty of new tricks too, including a particularly powerful new ability called Masters of the Warp, which rewards you for taking a dedicated army of Grey Knights, channelling a specific aspect of the warp to provide an army-wide bonus.
The Thousand Sons can now dedicate their Sorcerers to one of the nine Cults of the Legion – a callback to their arcane roots on fallen Prospero – providing them with a plethora of new tactical options.
Until now everything about this model was shrouded in mystery, pun intended. It’s not surprising to see GW release a Dark Angels Primaris character for this expansion. For each chapter that’s been updated, we’ve seen some kind of Primaris model hit. (Aside from the poor Black Templars in Faith & Fury).
LINK: Best Tabletop & Storage Tools
Primaris Captain Lazarus Coming With Wargear Options
Normally, named characters have set wargear. Gabriel Seth has Bloodreaver, Dante has the Axe Mortalis, Marneus Calgar has his fists, and Vulkan has his spear. All of the wargear on named characters is normally set in stone, so to speak. However, Lazarus looks to be the first Primaris named character with different weapon options.
While we first saw him carrying his helmet with a sword, you’ll also be able to put a helmet on him and have him toting a bolter and power fist instead.
What could make a Dark Angels Space Marine more mysterious (or durable) than giving them a face-hiding helmet? The Master Lazarus model has bare and helmeted head options for battlefield occasions.
This is something completely out of pattern for GW so this could be them “testing the water” on giving named characters different wargear. With that said, we may see an increase of named characters in the future have different weapons to be modeled within their kits!
Lazarus Reveals From New Years Open
Hobby heroes Fauxhammer and Garro were at the event and shared some great pictures of the models as well
First off here’s the sprue shots of the new Captain:
I think this is the first time they made a hand to hold a helmet and have options for accessories like wings for it as well. From this sprue pic, it’s had to tell if you can put the wings on the helm for the head or not, but I doubt that would stop some players from kitbashing this into a Primaris Azrael.
Another look at the options from the back of the box.
Plus here is the painted version that was on display over the weekend Looking good for a “traitor” eh?
With all of this on the table, which loadout do you like better on Lazarus? Would you like to see more Primaris named characters come to different Chapters?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter (with discount coupon codes) each morning as well!
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
