Table Ready: Cypher – Lord of the Fallen

[This post was originally posted to Otherverse Games & Hobbies as part of a series called Plastic to Painted, or P2P. You may see logos or references to this site and series]

A mysterious and elusive figure in black armor

The mysterious being known only as Cypher, to the 41st millennium has been, for ten-thousand years, the number one target of the Dark Angels chapter and all the other Unforgiven that share their geneseed. Robert and I thought it would be mildly entertaining to put forth both of our Cypher models concurrently for all to see the difference.

Since the mid 90s I have been playing Dark Angels Space Marines in Warhammer 40000, and for nearly as long I wanted to have Cypher and an army of Fallen Angels to fight against. It seemed only right that I should own a force of my primary antagonist in the setting and also the Dark Angel’s biggest secret.

It was bad enough that Horus laid siege to Terra and the Imperial Palace. It was beyond terrible that Horus was slain but not before mortally wounding the Emperor. And it was devastating to morale that the Dark Angels didn’t make it to Terra to join in the fight, but nothing could be as bad as limping back home in shame to find your fleet under fire from very planet that should be celebrating your return. After devastating the defenses of his own homeworld, the Lion teleported down to the surface and did battle with Luther. Luther lost yet the chaos powers would not be denied their fun. The Dark Angels that had sided with Luther were flung into the warp and deposited back into reality across all of time and space as the planet was ripped apart. 

Cypher was the title given to the officer of the Inner Circle that was in charge of holding onto the lore of the chapter from the ages before, keeping the rituals and ceremonies alive for future generations. It is unknown how or when the Lord Cypher escaped Caliban before the planet was sundered by the attack by the Dark Angels, but he has eluded capture by the Deathwing and Ravenwing elements of the Unforgiven armies ever since.

I was never attached to the old pewter model in any meaningful way, even going so far as the order his backpack with the skeleton strapped across it and using that on my custom captain way back in the day (way way back, when you could phone order single metal bits, yeah, I am that old). I do appreciate the new model, which came within the Triumvirate of the Primarch set accompanying the Roboute Guilliman model during the Gathering of the Storm campaign that ended 7th edition and ushered in a changing galaxy for 8th edition to start in. I like the dynamism and mystery built into the figure, with the concealing robes flowing around him as he reaches for his second sidearm, likely to end the life of a loyal Dark Angel. The Lion sword upon his back is wonderfully detailed and lives up to the old-school art showing bothe the angelic wing and the skulls representing death, truly exemplifying what it means to be a Space Marine.

Most recently in the lore Cypher aided Roboute Guilliman on his quest to get from Macragge to the the Imperial Palace to communicate with his father/creator. It’s tough to tell which side Cypher is on but one this is clear: he carries with him the Lion Sword. What will happen if the Lion awakes from his slumber? I guess we will have to wait and see…

I love this images of Cypher – Copyright Games Workshop


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Tyson

Obsessive and neurotic collector of little plastic men, novels about the same little plastic men and paints to make the little plastic men pretty. Married to Kera, who puts up with him and pretends that she doesn’t hear him speaking to the little plastic men in between making pew pew noises in the hobby room. Requires adult supervision. A menace to himself but rarely to others. More beard than man

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