Games Workshop and Pixelhero Games have announced the production of Eisenhorn: Xenos, 3D action adventure game based on part 1 of the best-selling Eisenhorn Trilogy.

It looks to be a fairly faithful adaptation of the much-loved book and Pixelhero promises to faithfully recreate the full weight of the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. So expect it all to be a bit depressing.

Personally I can’t wait for this. I loved the Eisenhorn trilogy and will watch with keen interest as this project develops towards its eventual release next year.

To get all the skinny – such as it is head over to Pixelhero’s website.

A leaked shot of the front cover of the next White Dwarf reveals a Void Shield Generator.

Aside from being way cool this could mean more new shiny scenery kits…

No sooner is there a leaked cover of White Dwarf showing a Void Shield Generator and my idle speculation that more scenery could be on the way, than these photos have hit the interwebs revealing Quake Cannon craters – which look way cool – and a couple more snaps of the Void Shield Generator.

Whilst I’m excited about the Void Shield Generator, the crater pip it for me simple because they’ll look ace in amongst the dozen or so ruined building kits I already have and will help tell the story of the ruined city I’m playing my games over. You can expect reviews from us on these just as soon as we can get our hands on them.

This looks completely awesome. But still no Ultramarines. ARGH!

So, the new Helbrute kit is out and what a magnificent little menagerie of plastic it is!

First up the standard box art shots is very much what we’ve come to expect of Games Workshop boxes these days: a nicely painted model on the front (in the new Crimson Slaughter paint scheme, that Games Workshop are pushing like crazy for Chaos Space Marines at the moment, due to the rather tasty codex supplement that was also released, alongside the Helbrute kit) and pics of more assembly options and some paint scheme details on the back.

The kit itself is really rather nice. Bountiful weapons and other options fill the sprues and, as you’d expect from Games Workshop plastic kits, the level of detail is fantastic. Just check out the number of different head options on there!

I hadn’t had cause to assemble any of the more recent kits until the Helbrute came out and I was pleased to see that the ‘layering’ of detail that you get from a proper multi-part plastic kit comes through very well indeed.  After having seen the Imperial Knight kit up close and personal, and the level of detail it contained my expectations were high and the Helbrute kit does not disappoint. It certainly makes the Eldar Jetbike and Vyper kits that were the last Games Workshop plastics I’d put together to shame; they really do show their age when put up against something like the Helbrute. One example of the ‘layering’ I mentioned can be seen in the leg assembly, in the first picture you see the leg prior to one of its armour plates being affixed – you can see the muscle/sinew wrapped around the pistons and skeleton that form the Helbrute’s frame and the horn jutting out. Once the armour-plate is affixed you can see that Games Workshop prepared not just a missing chunk of armour for the horn to pierce through, but a proper hole and that even when the armour is in place that the muscular detailing is still visible behind it. 

This may present issues when considering at what point to carry out priming and painting – there’s a point at which sub-assembly painting becomes ‘component’ painting and even I am not quite that obsessive about covering every detail!

Maybe I’m just playing catch-up with recent Games Workshop plastics here, but the assembly itself is a breeze in comparison to some of the models. Pieces fit together in an almost ‘snap-fit’ fashion, joining surfaces are well delineated and it’s always obvious whether you’ve married up the right pieces or not. The slight drawback to this is that the level of pose-ability the model has takes a little bit of a hit, but Games Workshop make up for this by providing ‘high’ and ‘low’ arm positions for weapon options and, to be honest, the confidence boost that a less than expert modeller will get from the accuracy of part placement in a kit like this is worth that small drop in customisation. If I was to change the ‘default’ posing of this model I’d be whipping out the green stuff (not a euphemism, I promise) [I'd be worried if it was and tell you to go see a Doctor if its green - Ed.] and making the most of the bio-mechanical style the model has. I love the detail down the back of the model as well – the fact that the exo-spine that runs down its back is a separate piece gives the model real depth and gives the painter so many options for describing the relationship between the hard ceramite and metallic components and the flesh that has inhabited it and over-grown it through millennia in the warp wastes.

The kit definitely permits magnetisation of weapon options on both arms. You can build left or right arm power fist variants and the right arm ranged weapon attachment allows (with a little magnet activity) for easy to swap options. The left arm power scourge vs power fist would be trickier to achieve as a magnet swap, but a bit of persuasion should see it being possible. There are a tonne of weapon options available to the Helbrute owner: missile launcher, reaper autocannon, twin-linked lascannon, plasma cannon (nicely styled along the lines of other daemon-engines), multi-melta, and heavy bolter. The power fist arms (you can do left and/or right) can be kitted out with heavy flamer or twin-linked bolter and the left arm can have the power scourge. Finally, and as you can see on the sprue pictures above, there are 6 head options with three different ‘surrounds’. All in all no reason why you should have to play cookie-cutter Helbrutes in your army even if using similar weapon options.

If it’s not already clear, I really like this kit. I’ll certainly be adding at least one more, and when the data slate for Helbrutes comes out on the 22nd (if any of the rumours regarding the formations they give a Chaos Space Marine player are accurate) I may be adding in significantly more than that!

The Chaos Space Marine Helbrute is available from Firestorm Games priced £29.70.

Jumping into the Horus Heresy can be pretty daunting. It is, after all, a galactic civil war that makes the one in Star Wars look like school yard fisticuffs, and Black Library don’t always make it easy on us. Between the books not always following on from one another – and even when they do they’re usually at a different place and time – and the sheer volume of general release titles coupled with the explosion of short stories, audio dramas, event exclusives or limited editions, its all a bit tricky to figure out what’s essential to read and what’s not. That’s before you even try to navigate the Black Library site, the organization of which would make the labyrinthine Imperial Administratum proud.

John French’s short audio finds Warmaster Horus in a reflective mood as he muses on the state of the rebellion against the Emperor that is raging in his name, and his fortunes thus far. It’s a thoughtful piece, Horus is well aware of just how flawed the legions on his side are and what a volatile mix that is, yet has no choice but to rely on his brothers and their wayward legions to get the work done. Each has their own agenda, their own vendettas, and mutual mistrust and loathing. Horus thoughts also, inevitably, turn to the conclusion of the war.

As he reviews the many theatres of war across the galaxy, he wonders why the Emperor created him and teases us with the notion that perhaps he was designed specifically to be the ruination of empires – to tear down all his father’s work, to start anew just as he’d done countless times before. The unasked question being was his father just another despot to be overthrown all along, just not yet?

It’s a good short if somewhat incidental. It’s a character piece that gives Horus a momentary return to the complex character we were introduced to in the early novels all those years ago. As the Heresy saga wears on Horus becomes increasingly vague, one minute a feckless killer, the next a cackling schemer content for his generals to fight amongst themselves as if the enemy. Neither portray much dimension as Horus is no longer meant to be relatable as a character. He’s too far gone. Essentially, at this point in the tale he’s as much an ideal as the Emperor is, albeit a dark reflection.

Warmaster gives us some of Horus’ (for want of a better turn) humanity back. It’s a brief lifting of the veil to get the merest glimpse of the great man that once unified the galaxy. Not to mention the crucial insight into Horus’ strategy which could challenge the myth surrounding the attack on the Emperor’s palace.

At £2.50 it’s not brilliant value. Not when you consider you can get a full audio drama, over an hour long, for £10. That’s not to say it’s not worth the money. If you’re a die hard Horus Heresy fan or just want to understand the arch heretic that little better then you may as well – it’s hardly big money. Fans of a  more nuanced 40k (or is that 30k) universe won’t be disappointed.

You can buy the audioshort from The Black Library priced £2.50.

Hot off the presses and hot on heels of the new Helbrute kit we have the Helbrute Dataslate.

Being a long-term Chaos Space Marine player, with a penchant for the slightly crazed, and considering that the Helbrute kit is really rather good (see my previous review for more on that front), I am pleased to report that the dataslate adds another, rather funky, aspect to including these lumbering, homicidal, dameon engines in a Chaos Space Marine army.

First up, the dataslate reiterates and expands the background surrounding the Helbrute. The additional fluff builds upon the elements of the character of the Helbrute that I like the most. Just as the unpredictability in their rules demonstrates, the various denizen commanders of the traitor legions struggle, as much as they revel, in the tactical complexities inherent in deploying Helbrutes as part of a fighting force. Reading the descriptive text and accompanying prose really gives you a sense of how the presence of one or more Helbrutes in an army generates a tension within your forces. Some legions might venerate and worship the incarnate abominations crashing across the battlefield, others might treat them as purely expendable and use their abhorrent appearance to force their enemies to focus all fire to bring them down, before they can rampage through their battlelines. Games Workshop have followed on their recent theme of generating rules to support the narrative in the fluff for in-game use and provided three different formations that nicely encapsulate the bizarre character of the Helbrute and the role it can play in destroying your opponent’s forces.

There are three flavours to the formations offered by the dataslate:

Mayhem Pack

What’s better than one Helbrute rampaging from your back lines across the wastes of war? Why three of course! And why not deep strike them in to maximise their threat? The Mayhem Pack allows you to take a formation of three Helbrutes and deep strike them onto the battlefield from reserve. There’s no additional cost for fielding this formation, but all Helbrutes that are fielded as part of a Mayhem Pack have to make a crazed roll (one roll affecting all pack members) at the beginning of each movement phase. It would appear that being held back from battle for ‘tactical’ reasons is not something that sits well with a psychotic, daemonic engine of destruction. Who knew?

Helcult

What would you think, y’know budding cultist that you are, if the entombed remains of a deranged god-warrior now bound inside a monstrosity of metal and madness appeared next to you on the battlefield.? Well, apparently you’d want to stick to it like PVC to a Daemonette’s ass, and rush headlong into battle alongside it. The Helcult formation lets you field a Helbrute with 2 units of cultists and gives both the Helbrute and the cultists some suitable “let’s get crazy” advantages, including a 3+ cover save for the Helbrute (for the willing sacrifice of a cultist). The main drawback is that when in melee, the Helbrute’s rolls of 1 to hit means he’s mashed up a cultist instead, but if you lose the Helbrute, the cultists get kind of ticked off…

Helfist Murderpack

I bet when you woke up this morning your first thought was “I seriously need to field 5 Helbrutes in a unit. But only if one of them is a super nut-job that all the other Helbrutes in the unit look up to like some kind of Alphabrute of murderocity!” It’s a word. Well, you’re in luck.

I have to say, I am seriously tempted by this option. I mean just the idea of having 5 of these things as a rampaging mobile moshpit of death, smashing its way across the battlefield is enough to make me go out and buy three more kits. And I’m guessing that Games Workshop are hoping many people feel the same way. To be honest the rules aren’t that stellar. They count as a vehicle squadron, which is never a good thing and the alpha-brute/champion itself is a character who has to participate in challenges. The champion does gets an invulnerable save and means you can pick the crazed result for the whole pack. As with the Helcult, the rest of the Helbrutes get pretty aggro if you beat up their bossman, but really you aren’t going to find anyone complaining that the game is suddenly broken because of this (or any of the other) formations. It will just look frickin cool!

Fluffy awesomeness

This isn’t a dataslate containing formations that suddenly make Chaos Space Marines the new meta or the centre of the next round of net lists, not even close. Although I do think that the Mayhem Pack has some serious potential and in the right situation the Helcult could be very handy. If, however, you’re interested in adding a chunk of Helbrute goodness with more than an average dollop of fluffy goodness to your list, then this dataslate might be right up your alley. It’ll certainly make a change from the usual multiples of Heldrakes.

Right then… Imperial Knight converted to Helbrute champion anyone? Or was that just me?

A twisted alternative to the Path of The Eldar series, Path of the Renegade provides enough insight into Dark Eldar society to avoid it being left in it’s cousin’s shadow. I love Gav Thorpe’s ‘Path‘ series and not just because he’s a fellow writer on the site, focusing on the Craftworld Eldar, it provided the closest view of how they thought and functioned – albeit tough going at times.

Path of the Renegade, in contrast, is a far more accessible and entertaining (if shallower) blast through the home of the Dark Eldar. Still, it manages to provide enough thoughts and insights into the Dark Kin to make it more than fast food in book form. The book stars a number of characters* all of whom are cruel, selfish, manipulative and vain – which makes them perfect for a book set in Commorragh! The main plot of the book takes it’s starting point from the Codex, namely to become ruler of Commorragh, Aserbul Vect had to topple a lot of Noble Eldar families, many of which still remain plotting their revenge. The head of one such noble family and orchestrator of one such scheme is Yllithian, who has survived as long as he has by scrupulously hunting down and killing any relative that may potentially be a threat to his position. Path of the Renegade follows his perspective for most of the book, as he manipulates, bullies and coerces others into helping him with his plan, to unite the houses of old under the leadership of a legendary leader. The only challenge is avoiding Vect becoming suspicious…

Andy Chambers weaves the multiple narratives and perspectives together well throughout the book, each chapter building the tension slowly. Parts of the book seem to be constructed to bring to mind the Italian Canto, which is perfect considering POTR’s melodrama and range of characters who act out the extreme ends of the emotional spectrum. You can certainly see he had a lot of fun writing such characters, whose actions are so despicable but over the top it becomes rather funny. Yet Chambers’ pulls off a delicate balancing act, weaving titbits of Dark Eldar life and society into the proceedings, which help explain just how a society of sociopaths functions so efficiently without consuming itself within a matter of decades. It’s touches like this which raise the standard of the book and banish the old internet meme of the Dark Eldar being ‘Hell Raiser knockoffs’. I have heard that the book is the first of a planned trilogy like its Eldar Path cousin and there was clearly some thought put into this, with events being set up that won’t pay off until at least the next installment, including a cliffhanger so good I screamed out loud in frustration, so annoyed I was at where Chambers had left the plot. That the book affected me that much though shows how, despite initial impressions, Chambers’ own Path series has sunk its claws into . Just as well the next book is written, or I may have started petitioning Black Library to hurry up and launch it!

What this means is; the book comes highly recommended from me. If you’re a fan of the Eldar at all, upgrade that to ‘buy it now’.

Path of the Renegade is available from the Black Library in e-book and physical formats.

*I hesitate to call the characters of the book protagonists, because that would imply they have redeeming qualities.

Flesh Hounds offer a Khorne player many things. Speed, power, resilience (and used to have hair Fabio would be proud of). But most importantly- a Turn 2 assault anywhere on the board. In this lies the units power.

Seriously, check out those luscious locks. 

There’s something you’ll notice upon looking at the stats of Flesh Hounds- these guys are pretty brutal. Strength 6 and a decent number of Attacks gives you the ability to hurt almost everything in the game. An uncharacteristic Weapon Skill 5 (these are Beasts after all) means you will be able to deliver on that threat in combat and being Beasts means you can get there in time, before the unit gets worn down by these newfangled “ranged weapon” things I hear all the kids in the 40k universe are playing with these days.

Lord of Khorne’s armies Fabio spits on you and you cowardly ways sir!

Then there’s the wonderful Scout rule the unit has. Sure, you can’t get a first Turn charge like you could in the days of old, but a free 12″ redeployment before the game starts isn’t too shabby. What’s more, as it’s a redeployment instead of a move, you can start in difficult terrain for the cover saves, confident it won’t be too much of a hindrance.

I would use Flesh Hounds as as smallish units of interceptors, picking off Heavy Weapon toting squads that can cause major pain to the rest of your army. They can mix it up with most units but assault specialists are probably beyond their capabilities most of the time.

Now available with fins!

Which brings us to the units only possible ‘upgrade’, in the form of Karanak, who can be purchased as a HQ choice and added to the unit. Though by ‘upgrade’ I mean ‘He costs HOW MUCH?!’

Coming in at just over the cost of 7 regular Flesh Hounds, he’s a little too pricey for me, even if by adding him in gives the unit Rage, re-rolls for himself against one enemy unit and his extra resistance to psychic powers.

Looking at the stats yourself, you may feel the model is worth those points, in which case bulk up the unit size wise and just make the most of it. Including Karanak changes the units focus to more of a character hunter, so use them as such, lest you miss out on the investment you made in getting him. It will turn the unit into a prime target though, which I’m not sure they will be well disposed to cope with – hence the need to increase the unit size.

All in all, Flesh Hounds offer a Khorne Daemon army flexibility and disruption abilities, getting up close and personal and locking down those which may hurt your army most.

Whilst they got unfairly overlooked in the past, now that Blood Crushers are no longer an auto include in every Daemon army you should try them out. Khorne is the god of all types of war after all.

Next Daemon Tactica, its Blood Crusher time.

Flesh Hounds of Khorne are available from Games Workshop, priced £30.

Forgive me, gentle reader, should my fingers stumble in the scribing of this missive, because I’m knackered right?

A 5am 6am start (stupid daylight savings time!) saw me heading off to Nottingham to Warhammer World and the Forge World Open Day!

I arrived and was greeted by a huge queue which, once I defeated, lead to yet another queue. Yay! This time however it was the queue to buy ALL OF THE THINGS! I saved that for later and dove straight into the design studio, with the aim of tweeting the hell out of anything new and shiny I might find. And there was some great stuff on show.

Probably the most talked about new model on the day was the Cerastus Knight Lancer:

They also had some rather nice heraldry shields on display:

The new knight model is easily two inches taller than a standard knight and built to stride rapidly across the battlefield. I think we should expect its slightly bulkier brother to make an appearance in the not too distant future as well. The model is a plethora of pose-able pieces, and apparently any purchaser can look forward to positioning each piston individually. It’s definitely more flexible in its assembly than the plastic kit given that the three I saw on the day all looked very different (as you can see from the unpainted vs. painted shots above). There have been some rules doing the rounds now as well given that the third Horus Heresy book was available on the day, which also contains a lovely Mechanicum army list (more on them later).

Speaking of Horus…

There were several painted examples of him on the day, this was my personal favourite. He was on sale as well, would’ve been extremely rude to turn him down, so I didn’t – here’s a little ‘unboxed’ shot. I’ll be doing a more detailed kit review once I start work on painting him up.

There was plenty of evidence of the new Salamanders content and a strong sense running around the design hall that the next primarch release would be at the Horus Heresy weekender in May, and that it would be none other than Monsieur He’stan himself! They did have a work in progress sculpt (looked pretty finished to me!) of the new Fire Drake terminators:

There is some beautiful detail on that shield.

The other main work in progress things that caught my eye were the new Gorgon Terminators, which are very definitely ‘in progress’ given their general lack of all of their necessary appendages:

And last but not least the new Mechanicum models. Man I’ve developed a serious model-crush on these guys. Picked up a bunch of stuff on the day (would’ve been more but the Krios tank had sold out by the time I got to the front of the sales queue), but the general style of these guys really appeals to me. The kind of “Weird War I/II” with a smattering of Victoriana/steam punk is right up my street. The Krios weaponry options have been added to as well, with the Venator sporting an Ordnance 4 (eek!) bombard gun of doom (that is its technical name) and the Lightning Cannon, whilst only having a Strength 7 AP4 main stat-line, also having just about every special rule in the entire world (Shred, Rending, Instant Death, 3″ blast…)

The Mechanicum also receive my (soon to be coveted by absolutely no-one) “most awesome model of the day” award for the rather tasty Thanatar Class Siege Automata:

It’s big. It’s bad-ass. It’s got a cannon on its shoulder that will blow the head off the most well-set pair of shoulders. I want so many of these it hurts (my bank balance, presumably). Here he is with a bunch of his new friends, the combi-weapon toting Thallax and Castellax

Finally (and I can only apologise for the pics of this, the lighting was terrible in this cabinet), the Tyranid hive mind can look forward to something called the “Dimacheron” appearing at some point in the future, looks like it will be almost biotitan sized (those legs are big!) and undoubtedly scary, it has lots of talons, and a sort of Mawloc style head.

There was a smattering of Warhammer Forge stuff there as well, but not much in the way of brand spanking new content, though the Dread Saurian looks very nice in real life!

Finally then, the event-only models, a Minatours heavy bolter and a rather nice Chaos Dwarf Daemonsmith. I didn’t grab either of these myself, though I do now have a nice bright red horus mug to drink my tea out of.

So, despite a hideously early start and some lengthy queues it was a great day. I gorged myself on lots of stunning Forge World models (and stuffed myself on nachos in Bugman’s as well) and would definitely go back again next year. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with a few #warmongers and talk state of the game and Games Workshop. Everyone I spoke to was certainly looking forward to the re-development of Warhammer World and, as would be expected at a GW event, positive about everything the day had to offer.

I’m now even more disappointed I won’t be at the Horus Heresy weekender. I suspect that will be rather special indeed.

And no, I didn’t win the Reaver Titan in the raffle. I am outraged.

As the new Codex rumbles towards release as unstoppable as the Leman Russ battle tank it’ll no doubt over power, here’s the inevitable last-minute leaked images from the upcoming White Dwarf of the new shit for the freshly renamed Astra Militarum including the Wyvern. The badass twin brother of the equally badass Hydra. I make no bones: I want an army just for this kit. And the Valkyries.

1. I will be partly attending this year to perform my duties as an ambassador for The Shell Case and chatting with some awesome peeps, who do know I’m coming. As well as taking photos for The Shell Case. MAT BUY TOYS! Ahem. Sorry.
2. I will definitely be heading over to see Andy from Heresy Miniatures we’ve been getting a bit of a Necromunda itch here, and he does some brilliant miniatures for a Delaque gang. MAT BUY TOYS! I’m so sorry, I don’t know why that keeps happening.
3. After reading Ashley’s article about Saga I’m thinking of checking that out, along with Maulifaux which I have developed a warm squishy place for. And Godslayer. And Dreadball. Honestly my list is endless. I don’t know if I’ll part with my cash on these… Yeah, whatever.
4. I do have a few other bits on my list that I definitely want to purchase…MAT BU- Sorry! Sorry! X-Wing toys for my growing Imperial fleet are a must. Some bits for my Tau force providing I can find a bargain, and I’ll be hitting up Forge World for a tasty Battlesuit. I also want to find some models for my Beastmen Mordheim Warband. I don’t want to have to use the standard models.
5. #warmongers meet is going to be pretty cool and I’m looking forward to putting some faces to names.
6. I’m just really looking forward to hanging out with The Shell Case crew and spending a day looking at all the shiny. MAT BUY TOYS! ARRRGH!

[The Shell Case would like to apologise for Mat. Really we would. His mother also got in touch and extends her sincerest apologies also.]

Bloodcrushers of Khorne are pretty deadly, even though they have been somewhat downgraded since last edition, and are still a prime assault unit of any Daemon force.  There are even a few ways to overcome the units’ new problem with 2+ armour saves. Plus, it also gives me an excuse to break out a  MegaDeth song.

Ok, lets start from the beginning, because it colours a lot of people’s perceptions about the usability of Bloodcrushers. It will also explain why, depending on where you play, Daemon players are likely to throttle you if you try to bring up the unit in a conversation.

A typical reaction to “I still think Bloodcrushers are useful”

Now, last edition the unit were god level good. They had a one point higher toughness, a 3+ save and power weapons still ignored all saves completely instead of just being AP3 Hellblades like they are now – so naturally every Daemon force had a unit or two.  But instead of screaming ‘Worst.Unit. Ever!’ like some parts of the internet, I’ll be explaining how to use them best, despite their diminished status. Call it an act of spite for having to wade through a year of forum after forum saying Phil Kelly is the worst human alive [I thought it was The Cruddace? - Ed]

For a start, Bloodcrushers are now Cavalry, making them able to cross the board by Turn 2 instead of being late game challengers as they were in the past. This increased speed somewhat makes up for a diminished survivability and means that the unit is now able to do flanking attacks or surprise a unit or two (not to mention they can pick and choose their targets more readily to avoid those pesky 2+ saves). Combine this with the ability to strip a unit of cover from the Bloodcannon and they can still kick a lot of arse.

Bloodcrusher model by Games Workshop

Now, whilst their use is mostly limited to killing 3+ save units (of which there are many), the addition of a unit champion or Heralds gives you access to AP2 weaponry. The Axe of Khorne is one of the few god specific weapons I would consider trading the humble Etherblade for, as it has the same stats and swaps Master-Crafted for Instant Death on a 6 to
wound. What your play style is will determine which upgrade you choose I think.

One big change to Bloodcrushers is that I would now consider Deep Striking them, or at the very least hugging cover. That increased vulnerability, paired with their reputation from the last codex, means they will attract a lot of firepower – especially in Space Marine or Necron armies where AP3 close combat weapons are a scary prospect.

All in all, Bloodcrushers aren’t the strongest of units you can have in a mono Khorne force. But use them well as they will still eat a few units before their demise and draw a lot of firepower. For that, and the awesome models, they are worth trying.

So what are you waiting for? Its time to crush ‘em!

Bloodcrushers are available from Firestorm Games, priced £30.15.

As the 12th April comes ever closer and the prospect of another day filled with nothing but the sights, sounds and smells of the UK’s best all-round gaming show (and with the recent trend with Games Day, arguably just the outright best) fills our every waking thought (especially Mat’s – it’s his first time and he’s really quite excited), the members of The Shell Case team attending Salute this year (sorry Ashley, next time maybe?) have taken time to reflect on their hopes and expectations for Salute 2014.

Here’s Lee’s thoughts:

Lee

This year’s Salute is going to be a little different for me.  With my new role as Deputy Editor and increased responsibilities within The Shell Case, this time round will be significantly more business focused than previously.  Whereas last year I visited each stand and cooed approvingly at their products whilst Phil chatted to his contacts (or attempted to make new ones), this time I must attempt to join in the conversations – whilst cooing approvingly at their products. Hopefully I can pick up a few things and acquaint myself with those who support us. We also have some new companies we are interested in working with, and Salute brings many exciting possibilities.

The most important stop I must make on the day is…the Forgeworld stand (I’m only human, and a wargamer).  I should be taking delivery of a Sicaran Battle Tank and a set of Phoenix Guard Terminators – so I’m very excited (and maybe even a Mannan’s Blades bundle depending on how the day, and the wallet goes). I have a Helblaster shaped hole to fill in my Empire army (Phil will be pleased) and I’m also going to be keeping an eye out for some good quality modelling hardware – a Paint Station, some Micro Magnets and the like.  Aside from that, I’ll just see where my wandering takes me.

I’m also looking forward to meeting up with my fellow writers at The Shell Case (those that can make it) now being more familiar with their work – along with anyone else that wants to say hi.  In all honesty, the 12th can’t come soon enough.

So, not long after the launch of the new Warhammer World website, the main GW site is currently down for maintenance as the covers are being removed on the brand new site! See that bit on the right? That’s a sprue, which seems to be an awesome looking model available to anyone ordering over a certain amount once the new site is up and running:   And the offer itself with a pic of the finished model (which looks rather tasty I have to say): Look to the skies!

After the mysterious activities on the Games Workshop website yesterday, presumably just to build tension (given that these days there is no technical reason to take a site offline for a whole day to launch a web site!) it’s back, it’s new and, er, well is same but different.

It’s still just Games Workshop

No clever attempt at an integration of the Forge World and Black Library sites (as expected really, given that at no point yesterday did these sites disappear), it’s just the Games Workshop website, with some differences (see below). This is a good thing in my view, Forge World and Black Library have great individual identities and if they had been subsumed into a new ‘pure eCommerce’ site like this one then the community would have lost a significant amount of the flavour that they bring to our hobby.

The new design

Isn’t a million miles away from the old one. It’s still image-driven but now it’s even clearer that this is a retail store. Pretty much all of the ‘hobby’ content, bar the “What’s new” and “White Dwarf” sections, has gone and the menu layout and options are definitely geared towards purchasing, with options to select by price range and force organisation/ army composition rather than just driving you through the standard ‘army’ channels.

There are some good tweaks here, specifically to make the site more generally accessible across more devices, and as a result the hover menus have died a necessary death. It’s slightly annoying that you have to click on check boxes, not words as that gives you a smaller target area to aim at (especially on a mobile device), but I definitely prefer it over the last front end, much cleaner and easier to read and the new ‘list’ of products view is nicer.

One potentially useful new feature is the ability to select multiple categories at once from the side bar, very much a standard eCommerce feature but I’m not sure how necessary it is for this site. Unless of course you really need to look at Beastmen and Dwarves in one product list…

Mobile/ tablet friendly

Probably the biggest change folks are talking about (on Twitter, where Games Workshop notably still are not) is the introduction of a ‘proper’ mobile site. My feeling on this is, yup it’s nice, but really if there had been a site relaunch without some response design to accommodate mobile users then that would have been a serious negative point against it. It’s good to have, but should be auto-include for a retail web site these days.

FAQ off!

This is probably the ‘biggy’ in this revamp, Games Workshop have completely stripped out the FAQs section.

This isn’t totally unforeseen, after all the FAQs haven’t been updated in a long while, and Games Workshop’s general shift towards digital content might suggest that they’ll simply shift them into automatic codex/army/rule book updates plus possibly a return to the old days of ‘official’ update books? I think that latter option is unlikely, Games Workshop have put considerable effort into their digital offerings of late and I suspect they want us all to just buy iPads and receive over the air updates so that we’re all using the version of rules they consider to be ‘the right ones’. Not that that’s much help if you don’t have a fruit-based tablet, of course…

We will have to wait and see what impact this has on the tournament and general hobby scene. After all if Games Workshop have taken them down, does this mean they won’t allow them at Warhammer World events? Most tournaments, I suspect, will still count them as valid (after all, they’re still an official Games Workshop offering), but how will new players get hold of them if not from the Games Workshop web site?

Your account is dead, long live your (new) account!

Part of the revamp involved a new platform and I guess rather than attempt (and therefore pay for) a migration of existing accounts, Games Workshop have scrapped all existing accounts and wish/gift lists. Not a massive issue really and certainly not worth holding up a new site for, but something to be aware of nonetheless!

Final thoughts

So all-in-all not a bad revamp, but clearly another step towards Games Workshop’s online presence being about two things, retail sales and retail sales. Oh wait, that’s the same thing twice. I do think they’re trying, with the White Dwarf revamp, the weekly release schedule and the hiving off of all social content to the stores to explicitly split off our relationship with Games Workshop HQ as a retail body from our relationship to the stores, hence retaining the store Facebook pages. It’s an interesting move on their part and I guess time will tell how successful a strategy it is, but with their one-man store policy and a clear desire to drive footfall back into stores as hobby centres you can see a picture developing where we go back to the days of our primary relationship to the Games Workshop part of the hobby being bricks and mortar centric. At least I suspect that’s what Games Workshop are trying to achieve.

I’m back from my adventure to Adepticon, and I brought home lots of goodies! One of my favorite pieces came from Forge World, the fearsome Calas Typhon [So much want - Ed]. I’ve unboxed him so you can get a decent look at him.

I haven’t been too keen on a few of the Horus Heresy character models that Forge World has released, but Calas really strikes me. He may move to the top of my painting queue. He’ll certainly be assembled this weekend.

Also in that queue are several other Horus Heresy characters including Angron, Fulgrim, and Abaddon and Loken. I eventually plan to have the whole set of HH characters, which is getting harder to do as they release them at a faster pace. Originally, I had just planned on getting the Primarchs, but the other characters have been such interesting models that I decided to go for them all.

My wallet weeps.

I hope you enjoyed getting to see Calas Typhon!

One of the immediate hot topics of conversation (OK hobby rage) after the launch of the new Games Workshop web site was the notable absence of the FaQs section. Any attempt to access them via saved links was met with a pretty clear message:

Well it would appear that all is not lost. People are reporting receiving a common response to their enquiries to Games Workshop customer services about the missing FaQs which looks like this:

Thanks for the email regarding the FAQs on the new website.

Currently the FaQ’s are not available on the website, as the design team are taking this opportunity to fully update all the FAQ and Errata articles. This is only temporary and these FAQ’s will be made available again in the very near future. 

So, really it’s a case of “good news everyone!” as it would appear that not only are the FaQs not dead, they aren’t even just sleeping, they are getting a full refresh! Hopefully that’ll see some of the more glaring issues with some of the newer codices and army books dealt with (Lizardmen, I’m looking at you with your skink characters on terradons not being able to join units) and a nice fresh set of random rules (undead crumbling randomness, you know what you did) for us all to pore over.

It’s been a little while since I’ve reviewed anything for the Grim Dark Future of the 41st Millennium so this article is a bit of a treat as I’m taking a look at the awe-inspiring Imperial Knight kit. I’ve always felt very fortunate to do what I do but some days I really have to pinch myself…

For those that either (A) aren’t old enough or (B) haven’t been in the hobby long enough, Imperial Knights made their debut in Epic, the 5mm game of awesomeness that has sadly fallen by the wayside along with all the other specialist games. The Knights filled an ill-fitting hole in the military offering of the Imperium being neither a Titan, nor a platoon of armour. Instead they were a kind of sucky middle ground that were often used as a distraction for the Mega Gargants that were also included in the Titan Legions boxset. The Knight Paladins looked a little something like this…

Now they look like this…

I mean look at it! It’s massive. Whilst I lament the demise of Epic Armageddon as much as any gamer as seasoned as I, or as someone who appreciates an amazing rule set, I have to full conceded that the 40k scale Knight is amazing. I wasn’t sold on the idea originally, although I totally called it when rumour of an Imperial large kit was in the offing all those months ago. I thought it was going to be a glorified Dreadknight. Nothing to really write home about. I rarely enjoy being wrong but on this occasion I briefly considered getting t-shirts made.

It looks gorgeous. Now there’s been some nonsense floating around about how GW ripped off the Cygnar warjack design to which I have this to say: the Knight model was there first. Whilst a dramatic evolution from the old models shown above, the hallmarks are all there. Plus it’s just superior in just about every way possible to a warjack model (no disrespect to Privateer). That’s not me Warmachine bashing. It’s better than most models I can think of beyond boutique resin models that occupy a league of their own.

Absolutely everything about the kit screams careful consideration. Not just how the model goes together, which is very clever and in some aspects resembles more an Airfix kit than toy soldiers, but the look and simple posability. Granted it loses something by the legs not being even slightly posable. This does mean that short of attacking your £80 kit with a saw your Knight is going to look largely like any other. However, the way arms and head all go together means that you can still tell a story or strike a roguish pose. And that’s pretty important.

The other significant detail is how very un-40k it is. Now bear with me on this. The Knights are an STC from the first expansion of man. They are older than just about any other fighting machine, suit or armour or weapon in the Imperium. Some have been painstakingly maintained over 15,000 years and so the design aesthetic and the technology level is different. Not vastly but enough that it’s noticeable. Enough that you look at the Knight and can see it’s an entirely more elegant construct than a Warlord Titan or even a Warhound.

It’s all beautiful curving armour plates and simple (but not crude) manufacture for longevity. And the detail is just the best. Everything about the model is stunning. The face plates, the weaponry, even the handles and grip rails that are totally unnecessary but fit right in. My own two – no really – gripes are the battle cannon is a bit bland. I suspect it was designed to look like a lance and it just looks like a slim-line acme cannon. I don’t hate, but I don’t love it and helped me make the decision to build my Knight as an Errant. The other is that some parts of the build are a bit fussy which could be helped if the instructions didn’t suck out loud. The visuals are poor and the close-ups are blurry versions of the main images and so are pointless.

However, it isn’t the most complicated kit in the world so with a bit of careful thought and trying pieces before gluing them you should be fine. One would hope. With careful gluing you can keep quite a lot of movement in the arms just to make things more fun and with some very careful cuts and the strategic placing of magnets you can quite possibly build it to switch out the weapons.

On the board it’s a beast. Weighing in between 370 & 375 points depending on your weapon of choice, it’s a toughie with armour 13 at the front and 12 at the sides and rear with 3 hull points on top. And if that weren’t enough the Ion Shield affords it an invulnerable save. Throw in some handy special rules and some horrendous weaponry and you’ve got yourself a party.

The weaponry is equally tasty. As I mentioned, the options are either a two shot battle cannon – which is nothing to be sniffed at, or a turbo charged melta weapon with more strength and a large blast. Both have merits and your regular opponents will most likely dictate your choice. I opted for the latter mainly from a design point of view, but as I have plenty of opponents with vehicles or multiple wounds, splatting them with a melta gun of doom followed by the fooking great chainsword of destruction is too good an opportunity to pass up. And speaking of the FGCOD, it’s just madness. It has strength D so will pretty much auto annihilate anything it touches. The interesting scrap would be a Knight verses a Warhound. The Knight weighs in a significantly fewer points and would have to endure the torrent of  Vulcan Mega Bolter shots but providing it got into base to base with the Titan I can see the Knight chopping its leg off and then beating the Titan to death with it.

Failing that, take two.

The Imperial Knight is a superb model. It’s not cheap and it’s not the easiest model to build but I can think of at least 5 kits from Forge World that fall into the same category and they’d cost you more. And this you’ll actually use. It’s an indulgence. A gift to you from you. And it’s absolutely bad ass on the board. Not indestructible by any means and it’s the proverbial bullet magnet but it’ll look ace whilst it gets shot to shit. It’s a triumph for Games Workshop and I don’t say that often. Is it worth the money? Honestly? Yes. I’d happily buy another. And another.

The Imperial Knight is available from Firestorm Games priced £76.50.

Salute, salute, salute salute salute. (sung to the tune of Black Adder) I’m sure no one minded me singing Rob’s Salute theme tune on the way home one little bit. In fact it probably made the trip back from London go even quicker [Especially as it took four hours thanks to Mat's atrocious SatNav - Ed.]. So I am sorry to say that it is over for another year and with 365(ish) days to go until the next Salute, I am going to have to go back to buying models in shops or online like the rest of the world. Oh the horror! The whole event was great and there was some awesome stuff to see: so much variety (which is a great sign for the hobby in general), so many great people to meet and I know even though I spent the whole day trying to see everything I probably only got to see half of what Salute had to offer.

The day went pretty much to plan, with no help from Forge World. They had everything a Warhammer 40k player could want…as long as you wanted something from the Horus Heresy. However as an Ork player I was disappointed to find out that they had brought none of their awesome Ork range so I had to order the heavy weapons I needed for my Battle wagon conversion. I hope they turn up soon. Needless to say I have learnt my lesson and next year I will be ordering in advance, still at least I didn’t have to pay the postage and packaging.

But then I wondered over to the Mantic stand…Not only did I got a great look at their Battlezones range (watch this space), but I also got some really exciting information about Dreadball Xtreme and Deadzone and how new rules will work and I am now more excited about both games than ever. I’ll be covering that in more detail soon. Then I bought a lot of stuff for Dreadball including the new supplement Azure Forest. Review to follow. [Damn Neil, you're gonna be busy. -Ed.] We’ve also made it on to Mantic’s reviewer list so we should be able to cover their products much more thoroughly in the future.

I also confirmed that I have definitely fallen in love with Malifaux and saw some amazing figures from Twisted, Black Scorpion, Taban and Mierce miniatures. I checked out some of the great scenery from Amera Plastic Mouldings, where I picked up a great amphitheatre piece and still regret not picking up another Dreadball Stadium, especially as by the end of the show they had them for £25! I was also really interested by a range I had not come across before – Z Clipz by Studio Miniatures.

So onto the spoils, and like I said I did buy a lot of Dreadball. I picked up booster squads for both my human and robot teams, as well as two hard-hitting MVPs Buzzcut and DRB7 Firewall and the Azure Forest supplement. Away from Dreadball I got some red dice (because red ones roll higher – it’s science), and a the aforementioned Ork Big Zzappa.

It wasn’t the biggest haul I know but it was what I wanted and regrettably all I had time to get the rest of my day was meeting some of the #warmongers at the meet up, watching the mild-mannered Mat turn into a model buying machine and the rest of the day was business, meeting some great companies and talking about their new projects and The Shell Case. It should make for some great articles over the next few months.