u/Standard_Giraffe_120

Ok so I saw the film today and it was probably the best film I've seen all year. The cinematography was absolutely impeccable (in my opinion) for so many reasons, here's a few of them:

- The 4:3 aspect ratio created a really claustrophobic atmosphere in all the scenes, it really made parts of the film so much more scary

- The very limited use of panning sideways was very very interesting, I only counted one or maybe two sideways pans in the film. I think it really helped to add to the atmosphere of the film in a way I can't quite put my finger on yet!

- I loved how even when they were using a low f stop in some scenes you could still make out things in the background (Being able to tell Nikki was staring at Bear in the music shop while he was talking to Ian even though she was blurry was so much more unsettling than if she'd been in focus)

- There was a mirror shot in the shop when Bear buys the second one wish willow where I couldn't work out how they did it which I found very impressive (this one could be me being stupid though)

- Also all the framing was on point, every frame felt like a still photograph if that makes sense

I could go on! There's so much to appreciate just in the cinematography of the film let alone the rest of it, which was also great.

For a while I've been trying to think of a way to have a chapter comprised of grey shields who didn't necessarily get returned to a chapter and somewhat retained their greyshieldness, but I couldn't think of a good way to do it until today!

The Marines Cognate are a chapter that originated when a battle barge containing grey shields from each of the 9 loyalist legions geneseed was lost in the warp. The barge was thought to be lost until it emerged from the eye of terror and was subsequently intercepted by the White Consuls.

The White Consuls noted that despite the marines on the barge originating from different geneseed they had organised themselves into a cohesive chapter. Due to their creation being driven by the marines themselves, cut off from the rest of the imperium with no knowledge of the codex astartes they are not codex compliant. Instead the chapter consists of 11 companies, one veteran company, one scout company and then 9 regular battle companies, one for each founding legion of the space marines.

The Marines Cognate are deceptively experienced from their time in the warp. It is thought that the marines organised themselves into a rough chapter whilst in the warp to better protect the battle barge and its inhabitants

Companies are split based on the geneseed of a battle brother, with each company playing to the strengths of their genefathers. Unlike other chapters the Marines Cognate almost exclusively fight in "battle groups" comprised of battle brothers from each company, drawing on the different strengths of each of the loyalist founding chapters.

The colour scheme is something I'm unsure about but I was thinking grey armour with a gold aquila and company colours on the shoulder pad trim and left knee pad. Company colours would correspond to each of the first foudning chapters (ie. the company that orginates from blood angels geneseed would have the company colour of red)

Any criticism or suggestions very welcome as this is definitely not yet a fully fleshed out idea!

Their vision was flooded with artificial light as they woke. Lifting themself out of the cold, uncomfortable bed they walked to the small basin in the corner of the room. Metal walls pressed in from every side as they brushed their teeth. They stood there, toothbrush in mouth, staring into the polished metal mirror. A weary face stared back. They shook, a feeble attempt at waking themself, before shoving a dry piece of already cold toast into their mouth. Pulling the arm of a work suit over their shoulder, toast still between their teeth, they stepped out into the corridor.

They walked along the narrow passageway towards the first task of the day. A dull metallic sound rang out through the corridor as their feet hit the floor to the familiar rhythm of thrumming engines. Lost in thought, they headed towards the botany lab. They began to make a list of everything to be done today: check if the rice has germinated, measure the phytoplankton’s oxygen output, test the fire resistance of a new tree species they’d been working on. This last thought seemed innocent at first, then a wave of memory washed over them. They remembered the trees aflame, falling like matchsticks weakened by fire. They remembered the people fleeing. They did not want to remember, so they forced their mind back to the menial tasks waiting for them in the lab.

They had managed to claw their mind back away from the memories, the monotonous work of the botany lab distracting their mind. It was a few hours later now as they sat, hunched over a bowl, with people milling around them in the crowded cafeteria. They shovelled food from the bowl to their mouth, trying not to think too hard. Bowl, mouth, bowl, mouth. They could feel their mind begin to wander. It began to run from them. They were not in control. Clenching their hands into tight fists, they tried to fight the memories back. But still they remembered. They did not want to remember. The wave of memories washed back over them with greater force than before. Images of pleading hands, begging mouths, streaming eyes, burning flesh. Their mind had gone too far. They snapped back to reality and found themself lying on the sticky cafeteria floor. They didn’t recall how they’d got there. A hand reached out to them.

‘Are you ok down there Ari?’, the voice, which they identified as belonging to a biochemist named Chris, said. ‘I’m fine, just slipped a little,’ Ari replied as they took Chris’ hand, hauled themself up off the floor and dusted the unidentifiable detritus from their grey work suit. Ari gave Chris a quick nod of thanks and hurried out of the cafeteria on their way to the next task.

The next task of the day was at the immunology lab, running PCR tests on a new strain of flu that had become prevalent amongst the crew. People needed to follow basic hygiene protocols, Ari thought, as they mentally scolded an imagined crew member who’d neglected to wipe down a theoretical surface. It took another couple of minutes to reach the lab, during which, their mind was happily occupied by an imaginary argument over proper disease prevention techniques with a member of the management team.

They’d been running the PCR tests for a few hours now. The job was simple and repetitive. Ari liked it. Their mind was focused on carefully moving the various liquids between different tubes with a micropipette. Any hint of their previous memories slithered back into the dark corners of their mind as they worked. A few hours after beginning their work a noise rang out from the corridor outside the lab. As Ari looked over, the micropipette scraped across their hand. A long shallow wound had opened on their palm. Blood began appearing along the length of the cut like miniature crimson pearls. Ari glanced down at the blood, pooling slightly in the wound. Their mind slipped away. They saw crowds clamouring around the bus, viscera clinging to clothes, individuals pressed into the sides of the bus, pleading for safety. Ari could see their faces, contorted into unnatural shapes by fear and suffering. Ari hadn’t realised they’d opened their mouth to scream. Old horrors hit them with the force of a tsunami. The fires. The blood. The lies. The deceit. They saw the faces of all their loved ones, left behind to die on an angry, decaying planet. All this and for what? Ari had no answer, they sank to the floor, struck down by their own mind. They curled up on the floor, weeping for the dead.

There was no one else in the lab with them, so Ari lay there on the cold floor lost in their memories of their life back on earth. They could remember learning, building a vast knowledge, attempting to change the world. Now they knew how naive they had been. About an hour later, they had gathered the will to haul themself off the ground. Ari was determined these episodes wouldn’t stop them from carrying out their vital work. They made a mental note to visit the psychoanalysis team before heading to their quarters after the shift. The ping of the timetable sounded. It pointed Ari towards the neurobiology lab, way out of their specialty, they thought, but maybe management thought differently. They made another mental note, this time to tell management that they had no idea what they were doing; Ari decided it maybe wasn’t too wise to act on this one.

The neurobiology lab was far from the other labs - all the way over by cold storage at the front of the ship, away from the engines. It took Ari just under an hour to reach the lab, although the interior of the ship was identical throughout, this part felt somehow unfamiliar. The gentle thrum of engines that permeated through the rear of the ship was almost completely absent, creating an eerie sense of total silence. Ari swiped their ID card and the door to the lab slid open. A blast of cold air hit them, then a memory. The image of a hall of tubes, each one with a single person in it, frozen in place like they were taking part in a children’s game, flashed before their mind. Ari remembered the intensity of the cold which bit at them as they climbed into their own frozen cell. That must’ve been years ago now. They moved into the room. Only a few people were in the lab, completely engrossed in their work. One made a curt gesture towards a spotless white box set on a sterile counter-top a metre or so away from where they were standing. Ari made their way over to the box and read the label stuck precisely to its lid, “To be taken to Anatomy, Module 3”, it read. Ari picked up the box and left the cold lab, giving a small nod to the few people working there.

Ari hurried through the corridors towards anatomy. This was their last job of the day and they wanted it done quickly. They sped around corners and half-ran along corridors. They’d nearly reached anatomy. Ari hurried down a corridor lined with huge, dark, windows. Not the way they would’ve chosen, but the quickest way. Ari went to glance at their watch determined to finish early. As they did, their foot hit a small container which seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Ari was sent to their knees, the box flying out of their hands. It spilled a wrinkled pinkish-grey mass of fragile flesh across the floor - a brain that could no longer remember. Ari could remember. Their gaze lifted towards a window, staring out into a yawning black abyss pockmarked with tiny white spots. They remembered the seas boiling, the world aflame, bodies piled high, flesh burning, screaming, pain, grief.

Ari remembered leaving. They saw those left behind. They stared out into the inky blackness in the window, millions of miles from here was their home: burning, choked, dead. Murdered by the very people who had depended upon it for life. Abandoned.

Their vision was flooded with artificial light as they woke. Lifting themself out of the cold, uncomfortable bed they walked to the small basin in the corner of the room. Metal walls pressed in from every side as they brushed their teeth. They stood there, toothbrush in mouth, staring into the polished metal mirror. A weary face stared back. They shook, a feeble attempt at waking themself, before shoving a dry piece of already cold toast into their mouth. Pulling the arm of a work suit over their shoulder, toast still between their teeth, they stepped out into the corridor.

They walked along the narrow passageway towards the first task of the day. A dull metallic sound rang out through the corridor as their feet hit the floor to the familiar rhythm of thrumming engines. Lost in thought, they headed towards the botany lab. They began to make a list of everything to be done today: check if the rice has germinated, measure the phytoplankton’s oxygen output, test the fire resistance of a new tree species they’d been working on. This last thought seemed innocent at first, then a wave of memory washed over them. They remembered the trees aflame, falling like matchsticks weakened by fire. They remembered the people fleeing. They did not want to remember, so they forced their mind back to the menial tasks waiting for them in the lab.

They had managed to claw their mind back away from the memories, the monotonous work of the botany lab distracting their mind. It was a few hours later now as they sat, hunched over a bowl, with people milling around them in the crowded cafeteria. They shovelled food from the bowl to their mouth, trying not to think too hard. Bowl, mouth, bowl, mouth. They could feel their mind begin to wander. It began to run from them. They were not in control. Clenching their hands into tight fists, they tried to fight the memories back. But still they remembered. They did not want to remember. The wave of memories washed back over them with greater force than before. Images of pleading hands, begging mouths, streaming eyes, burning flesh. Their mind had gone too far. They snapped back to reality and found themself lying on the sticky cafeteria floor. They didn’t recall how they’d got there. A hand reached out to them.

‘Are you ok down there Ari?’, the voice, which they identified as belonging to a biochemist named Chris, said. ‘I’m fine, just slipped a little,’ Ari replied as they took Chris’ hand, hauled themself up off the floor and dusted the unidentifiable detritus from their grey work suit. Ari gave Chris a quick nod of thanks and hurried out of the cafeteria on their way to the next task.

The next task of the day was at the immunology lab, running PCR tests on a new strain of flu that had become prevalent amongst the crew. People needed to follow basic hygiene protocols, Ari thought, as they mentally scolded an imagined crew member who’d neglected to wipe down a theoretical surface. It took another couple of minutes to reach the lab, during which, their mind was happily occupied by an imaginary argument over proper disease prevention techniques with a member of the management team.

They’d been running the PCR tests for a few hours now. The job was simple and repetitive. Ari liked it. Their mind was focused on carefully moving the various liquids between different tubes with a micropipette. Any hint of their previous memories slithered back into the dark corners of their mind as they worked. A few hours after beginning their work a noise rang out from the corridor outside the lab. As Ari looked over, the micropipette scraped across their hand. A long shallow wound had opened on their palm. Blood began appearing along the length of the cut like miniature crimson pearls. Ari glanced down at the blood, pooling slightly in the wound. Their mind slipped away. They saw crowds clamouring around the bus, viscera clinging to clothes, individuals pressed into the sides of the bus, pleading for safety. Ari could see their faces, contorted into unnatural shapes by fear and suffering. Ari hadn’t realised they’d opened their mouth to scream. Old horrors hit them with the force of a tsunami. The fires. The blood. The lies. The deceit. They saw the faces of all their loved ones, left behind to die on an angry, decaying planet. All this and for what? Ari had no answer, they sank to the floor, struck down by their own mind. They curled up on the floor, weeping for the dead.

There was no one else in the lab with them, so Ari lay there on the cold floor lost in their memories of their life back on earth. They could remember learning, building a vast knowledge, attempting to change the world. Now they knew how naive they had been. About an hour later, they had gathered the will to haul themself off the ground. Ari was determined these episodes wouldn’t stop them from carrying out their vital work. They made a mental note to visit the psychoanalysis team before heading to their quarters after the shift. The ping of the timetable sounded. It pointed Ari towards the neurobiology lab, way out of their specialty, they thought, but maybe management thought differently. They made another mental note, this time to tell management that they had no idea what they were doing; Ari decided it maybe wasn’t too wise to act on this one.

The neurobiology lab was far from the other labs - all the way over by cold storage at the front of the ship, away from the engines. It took Ari just under an hour to reach the lab, although the interior of the ship was identical throughout, this part felt somehow unfamiliar. The gentle thrum of engines that permeated through the rear of the ship was almost completely absent, creating an eerie sense of total silence. Ari swiped their ID card and the door to the lab slid open. A blast of cold air hit them, then a memory. The image of a hall of tubes, each one with a single person in it, frozen in place like they were taking part in a children’s game, flashed before their mind. Ari remembered the intensity of the cold which bit at them as they climbed into their own frozen cell. That must’ve been years ago now. They moved into the room. Only a few people were in the lab, completely engrossed in their work. One made a curt gesture towards a spotless white box set on a sterile counter-top a metre or so away from where they were standing. Ari made their way over to the box and read the label stuck precisely to its lid, “To be taken to Anatomy, Module 3”, it read. Ari picked up the box and left the cold lab, giving a small nod to the few people working there.

Ari hurried through the corridors towards anatomy. This was their last job of the day and they wanted it done quickly. They sped around corners and half-ran along corridors. They’d nearly reached anatomy. Ari hurried down a corridor lined with huge, dark, windows. Not the way they would’ve chosen, but the quickest way. Ari went to glance at their watch determined to finish early. As they did, their foot hit a small container which seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Ari was sent to their knees, the box flying out of their hands. It spilled a wrinkled pinkish-grey mass of fragile flesh across the floor - a brain that could no longer remember. Ari could remember. Their gaze lifted towards a window, staring out into a yawning black abyss pockmarked with tiny white spots. They remembered the seas boiling, the world aflame, bodies piled high, flesh burning, screaming, pain, grief.

Ari remembered leaving. They saw those left behind. They stared out into the inky blackness in the window, millions of miles from here was their home: burning, choked, dead. Murdered by the very people who had depended upon it for life. Abandoned.

Hi! Me and a friend have been getting back into Warhammer and are thinking about attending a tournament near us in July. At the moment I don't know much about competitive 40k but have played a decent amount of casual games with friends.

I made this 2000 point blood angels list to build for the event. Its a very simple game plan. The gladiator stays back and deals with any big tanky threats, with my two squads of assault intercessors moving up the board to lock up enemy units in combat and take objectives. My intercessors with jump packs would be more mobile, backing up my non-jump pack squads when needed and trying to get into the enemy's backline. I'd set up the death company and sanguinary guard with astorath and dante to respond to the enemy, possibly try take a home objective and attack the backline. The infiltrators would hold my home objective and the scouts would be used to do actions. Finally the brutalis dreadnaught would be there to try lock up tanks and other big targets in close combat.

Any advice on the list or on attending a competitive event for the first time would be greatly appreciated! Apologies if I've formatted this wrong or anything, I don't usually post stuff to reddit.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+ FACTION KEYWORD: Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels

+ DETACHMENT: Liberator Assault Group (The Red Thirst)

+ TOTAL ARMY POINTS: 2000pts

+ WARLORD: Commander Dante

+ ENHANCEMENT: Rage-Fuelled Warrior (Blood Angels Captain)

& Gift of Foresight (Sanguinary Priest)

+ NUMBER OF UNITS: 17

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ancient (50 pts)

Astorath (85 pts)

Blood Angels Captain (115 pts)

Commander Dante (120 pts)

Sanguinary Priest (90 pts)

10x Assault Intercessor Squad (150 pts)

10x Assault Intercessor Squad (150 pts)

5x Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 pts)

5x Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (90 pts)

5x Death Company Marines with Jump Packs (120 pts)

5x Death Company Marines with Jump Packs (120 pts)

Brutalis Dreadnought (160 pts)

Gladiator Lancer (160 pts)

5x Infiltrator Squad (100 pts)

6x Sanguinary Guard (260 pts)

5x Scout Squad (70 pts)

5x Scout Squad (70 pts)