Kill Team

The Warhammer Summer Preview

Games Workshop held their big Summer Preview event last night, which as suspected by pretty much everyone, saw the return of the Chaos Dwarves to the lineup.

I’m not the biggest fan of these guys, I think because I find their look, which seems to be heavily influenced by cultures from the Fertile Crescent, a bit too boxy. It’s like they’ve tried too hard to keep the aesthetic of 20+ year old models, rather than update them in any way.

These guys apparently worship the god Hashut, not sure if that’s meant to be a Chaos god or not. But they’re a dark mirror to the usual dwarven engineers we see, creating abominable machines infused with daemons, or something like that.

It could just be the paint job, but some of these things look more like 90s computer graphics.

I know plenty of people seem to like the idea of these guys, though how many of them will actually pick up the army…

They do look like fun models though, no getting away from that. And I do like the overall idea of them as having these huge infernal machines in the lineup.

I suppose I’m just not really looking into getting any more AoS armies right now, as I’m not really intending to play the game. At least, I don’t think so. There’s probably more to say on that at some point, of course!

The Helsmiths have also made it into Warhammer Underworlds, with a warband coming out at some point as well. I have no idea where that game is up to right now, but they do still make some very nice models for it!

Kill Team is also still going, with a Deathwatch vs Necrons expansion coming that includes ‘tomb world terrain’!! Never thought I’d see the day.

I can’t really tell, but it looks like the actual teams in this box are pretty low-effort expansions on existing units? I mean, these marines look like standard fare to me? And the Necrons team:

My first thought was of a re-hashed Psychomancer, with some weird little friends, but honestly, I’m not a fan. There does appear to be a scarab base involved though, but it just looks too weird. To me, Necrons are the Immortals and Lychguard, not these spindly paperclip-style things.

In 40k, Leagues of Votann are getting their codex with the long-awaited second wave of model releases. Back when they first came out, I was tentatively into them, as I love the aesthetic and thought a lot about getting a few kits. I think I even started to plan a 10th edition army of them, but stopped short of actually buying anything.

But now, I’m feeling that temptation once again! Okay, so the guy with the Tyranid carapace on his back isn’t doing it for me…

This guy looks fun though!

And the big robots do, as well!

GW are increasingly doing these kinds of diorama models, siege engines and the like being great ways to create a sense of life among the collection. I could be wrong, but I think it was the Mortek Crawler, the big catapult for the Ossiarch Bonereapers, that started this trend. But I love it.

I also love the vehicles of the Votann. This thing reminds me a bit of the Goliath Truck for the Genestealer Cults, but obviously with the hover tech of the Leagues.

Let’s face it, I’m probably not going to be buying any Squats, as I’m trying to clear out my 40k collection, not add to it! But I do like these new additions to the lineup. Looks like some really interesting options could be coming in the future there, at any rate!!

For me, these were the big takeaways. Old World is getting some new Tomb Kings, which is vaguely exciting, though the Cathay stuff is what has struck me the most as being exciting for that game. Horus Heresy is getting a new edition, as far as I can tell, but I’m not really into all that stuff.

Black Library has obviously finished the whole Heresy storyline now, after about a century of storytelling and about as many novels, so they’re moving into the Scouring, as I had suspected a long time ago. Another multi-novel series, basically telling the story of how the Loyalist marines chased the Traitors into the Eye of Terror, or something? Not sure how that could be sustained over about 56,782 books, but I’m sure if anyone can do it, Black Library will 😃

Joking aside, Chris Wraight is one of the more unsung heroes writing for BL, I do enjoy his books so this might actually be a good series to explore. I kinda wish I knew what the plan is in terms of length, because 54 novels was way too many for the Heresy, and I feel like a Scouring series could be even more rambling because it doesn’t really have a set end-point. Well, maybe The Beast Arises…

We’ll see…

Kill Team: Hivestorm

I’ve not really given the new edition of Kill Team a proper look, despite religiously following the releases for the first year. The debacle with the Gallowdark ‘season’, where we had no boxes available to buy anywhere, turned me off almost entirely, and I’ve not really paid attention to ‘season three’, which seemed to launch on the oil rig. With the announcement of ‘season four’, or whatever this Hivestorm is, I should probably look back over that last bunch of releases, and see if there’s anything I’ve missed…

The terrain looks very interesting, and I particularly like the gubbins, including those telescoping ladders. The buildings are rather good too, though the amount of terrain I actually have – predominantly unpainted – gives me pause.

Fortunately, though, I have no interest in the two forces inside the box, having sold off my Scions, and am now planning to sell off the Tau as well. They look great, don’t get me wrong, and I particularly like seeing the Vespid finally having a glow-up! They were one of my top five models in need of a refresh, so it’s good to see the way the studio have redesigned them.

The current rumours also have Swooping Hawks coming as part of this season, which is very exciting, anyway!

Warhammer Day thoughts

Hey everybody,
I may be taking an inadvertent break from Warhammer at the minute, but I still watched the live stream at the weekend where the folks at GW were showing off the new plastic for the next few weeks of releases. There were some fairly interesting things coming out, which seemed to chime in with a lot of the rumours that have been circulating for a while now. To start with, the next codexes are going to be Adeptus Mechanicus, followed by Necrons. Both of these books will have models released alongside – a very bizarre sniper for the AdMech, and an updated Imotekh the Stormlord for the Necrons. I didn’t catch the very beginning, so missed the AdMech bit, but Imotekh isn’t going to be the only new model for the Necrons, apparently, so that’s very interesting. Especially seeing as the number of datasheets in the book is apparently going to be less than they have in the index currently. I’ve seen some speculation about possibly rolling the Crypteks into a single unit, but I don’t know if they’d do that necessarily – there is something of a precedent from 5th edition, when the datasheet was a single entry that you paid points to upgrade, but given the “simplified, not simple” mantra for 10th edition, I don’t know if having a single sheet with so many different moving parts on it would really count?

I’m not a huge fan of the new Imotekh, he seems a bit bland compared with the old finecast one. I have him still in the box up in the attic, of course, and maybe one day I will actually get round to building and painting him. He’s definitely in the same category as Lelith Hesperax for me, updated but too bland as a result.

I think the most exciting thing that we’ve seen from the reveals is the new Kill Team. Season Three will kick off with Salvation, which is Striking Scorpions vs Space Marines Scouts, as the rumours had been telling us for about six months now! What I was very pleasantly surprised by, however, was the new terrain – the futuristic oil rig, as they described it on stream. It’s like nothing I had been expecting – I think we’d all agreed it would be some kind of jungle terrain whenever I’ve talked with people around here. Like a sci-fi version of the Warcry stuff, you know? I’m sorely tempted to get this stuff, because it could look amazing nestled in with the more regular Sector Mechanicus stuff, although taken for its own thing, it’s still really nice!

They’re going to be selling the teams separate from the terrain this time around, though, ostensibly because people who have been following Kill Team since the start will already have a lot of terrain to make their tables. I do wonder at this, because you can be sure the price of the teams and the terrain will far outweigh the price of the old two-teams-and-terrain boxes! Maybe they are doing it so that people who just want the teams can get them, though the fact they’re packaging them with some terrain doodads does make me wonder – like, they are meant to go together, but anyway!

Space Marines Scouts obviously have needed a new kit since time immemorial, so it’s nice to have them, as well.

What else?

Age of Sigmar has got the next round of End Times models, including a Lord-Relictor on drake that is meant to be the Lord-Relictor that came in the very first Age of Sigmar launch box, I believe? Also there’s a guy on a beetle for Sylvaneth, which is just joyful. I’m intrigued by this whole Dawnbringers thing, because it is clearly building up towards AoS 4th edition next year, but if this stuff is book three, then maybe the new edition isn’t that far off? Interesting. Apparently the Old World stuff is also going to launch next year, and I know the rumourmill was wondering why GW would want to split their fanbase between Old World and AoS, if both could be expected to launch, but it seems possible that the Old World stuff might be spring, rather than summer?

I’m really not that interested in the Old World, if truth be told, although they have shown off some very nice models for Bretonnia this time around. I think the announcement that some old metal models from Fantasy will also be available when it launches really amuses me, as if they have realised the error of just pulling the rug on Fantasy and are now trying to capitalise on it once more, without explicitly saying “it was a mistake”. But who am I to say all this, right?!

So there we have it!

There were no new reveals for Necromunda, unless you count the terrain box being a separate release for Kill Team making it prime for multi-level combat in the Underhive. However, we’ve had so many new kits shown off recently, including the new psyker, and Van Saar vehicles that are all coming alongside book three of the Aranthian Succession at the weekend. Today, they have also shown off more stuff for the Ironhead Squats, including their vehicle, so it’s a very expensive time to be a Necromunda fan, I think! I’ve been on-and-off reading the lore from these books, and it is wonderful, so I think I might try to do some sort of post on all of that soon.

Anyway, while it hasn’t quite been enough to pull me out of my Warhammer slump, there are nevertheless some very exciting things coming out in the next few weeks! In the meantime, I’m going to attempt to track down more Legend of the Five Rings card packs!

Boarding Actions

Hey everybody,
After resisting this for a couple of months, I’ve finally begun to look into the new way to play games of 40k as laid out in the Arks of Omen: Abaddon book – Boarding Actions. This is a bit of a hybrid between Kill Team and regular 40k, as we have small teams (up to 500 points) going up against one another on the sprawling space hulks, fighting room-to-room to achieve their objectives. Whereas the Psychic Awakening event that brought 8th edition to a close was a pretty comprehensive overhaul of all the armies in the game, Arks of Omen isn’t intended to add to the rules bloat but rather seems to be going the opposite way of paring back the rules, providing a new way of playing games that makes use of the Kill Team scenery from the current cycle of boxes, which started with Into the Dark.

Boarding Actions require a bigger board, so you need two sets of this terrain to fill out a game board. It’s actually the news of this coming last autumn that prompted me to pick up Into the Dark, as I thought I would get it and one other box, then I’d have enough terrain to see me through. However, both of the subsequent boxes have proven to be extremely popular and have sold out before I could pick either up. As such, I was a bit dejected about the whole thing until I started to put the terrain together last week, and found myself enjoying the configurations I was making at random.

So you need two sets of terrain – just the walls with the columns and hatchways, none of the extra gribblies. GW have rather helpfully put out a box of this, which will set you back £130 to pick up. Next, you need the rules, which are in Arks of Omen: Abaddon. If you can find it, that’ll set you back £35 – it’s currently out of stock everywhere I look, however. It’s worth remembering that this is an adaptation of 40k, and not its own game like Kill Team, so you’ll also need your army, codex and the 40k rulebook. All of this is to say that for a small-scale skirmish game, Boarding Actions is actually extremely expensive to get into, unless you’re already into both 40k and Kill Team.

Once you’re in, you get 500 points to build a list from the fairly restrictive FOC of 0-1 HQ, 0-3 Troops, and 0-3 Elites. No Monsters, no Vehicles, not Jump, Cavalry or Biker units, and nothing that can fly. You can also only take one Character. I love this idea, because it is pretty much based on how I view a lot of my army builds: troops, their leader, and maybe one fancy group. GW have released a free pdf that runs through how each army can tweak these rules, for example Tau can take a unit of Pathfinders even though they’re Fast Attack, and can take drones even though they can Fly. It’s a great way to bring balance to the game at a small scale, while also allowing for some very narrative-focused squads.

Interestingly, there are no stratagems. Well, there are the core three (command re-roll, etc), but that’s it. There are no warlord traits or relics, instead we get Boarding Enhancements for a warlord. There is a part of me that wonders whether this might be testing the waters a little for the anticipated 10th edition, although I don’t suppose the timing is right, given that this was probably in development for some time. Even so, it’s interesting to see how they have changed the game up to make quite a thematic experience for the cramped confines of a space hulk or orbital station.

Everything that I’ve read about Boarding Actions has been pretty positive so far, which is quite nice to see in this day and age! The one negative is, of course, the investment. For a 40k player, you need to stump up £165 for the terrain and book; for someone looking to get into the hobby, they’ll also need models and codex, so it isn’t a cheap way to play the game. I’d principally bought the Kill Team box for this, as I said, but have swung back to thinking of it as a Necromunda thing instead (not playing Kill Team), but now that I’ve read up a bit more, and having built up the stuff, I think I would like to try to realise my goals of getting the second set of terrain to try out some of these missions. Future Arks of Omen books look like they’re going to provide Boarding Actions-specific stuff so that the game mode is somewhat supported, although it will be interesting to see how it translates with 10th edition on the way. I highly suspect that this will be forgotten about in the wake of the new edition, but I do hope I’m wrong on that.

The fact that the rulebook for this is out of stock does bother me, though. With the Kill Team boxes being snapped up so damn quickly, I was initially miffed but it seemed that the second box was at least being bought up by people for the Kasrkin team, and very little thought was being given to the rest of it. The Arbites are also a great looking team, and I think people have potentially done the same with that. However, there are also the persistent and loud rumours that these boxes are not being made in any great quantities, which is very strange. I get that content we’re seeing released now was in development during the pandemic, and so there might be issues as a result of that, but it seems that there are supply chain problems and warehousing issues that mean we’ve got these ridiculously small releases. How true any of this is, I don’t know, but at least my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief while these things aren’t available to buy!!

As much as I’d like an Arbites kill team, I think I’m just going to have to wait for now, until everything settles down. I might pick up the box of extra terrain bits though, as that looks really nice. And it should still go in with my current batch of terrain!

Warhammer 40k is 35!

Well, well, well… we’ve had another preview day for Warhammer 40k, as the game turns 35 soon, and it was actually pretty exciting, I have to say! A lot of the time, I’ve found these sorts of previews to be more miss than hit, but today was really very interesting, indeed!

Warhammer 40k new Astra Militarum models

I missed the start of the event, unfortunately, so didn’t get to hear all about the new Imperial Guard stuff until about ten minutes into the presentation. But I have to say, these new models are really very nice! It seems that the Guard are getting a range refresh, with possibly all of the old kits being re-done. To launch this, we’re getting an army box as GW like to make big boxes of plastic, it seems, with a command squad, a sentinel, two squads and two ‘field ordinance batteries’, which are a bit like upgraded heavy weapons teams.

This stuff is just beautiful, and the field ordinance batteries in particular have really captured my attention. It reminds me of the Wyvern model, which had a couple of guys out the back in almost a mini diorama. I do love this stuff, and it has pretty much tipped me over the edge into wanting a Guard army now!!

They said in the preview that this is about half of the new stuff coming for the army, and they wouldn’t show the cover of the codex because it would give yet more away. So all of that is quite interesting, I feel! Something I do like the idea of is being able to mix regiments within an army now, so the fact I have those Krieg lads from the Kill Team box, as well as a bunch of Tempestus Scions waiting in the wings, might not be a bad thing after all!!

Arks of Omen is the next narrative expansion for 40k, and sees the action move to ships and space hulks, so brings a new way to play rather than just adding more rules on top of rules to contend with. Of course, this requires more terrain, so…

The box features the equivalent of two of the Kill Team boxes, apparently! I have to say, this sounds really cool, and I love the idea of being able to almost play Space Hulk but in regular 40k, but I honestly don’t think I have room in my life for this. I’ve spoken before about how 40k almost demands to be a way of life for you, and I think I’m set back a bit from that nowadays. If it was the only game I played, then sure, but things are just moving too fast for me to keep up, I barely get to play regular 40k let alone all this additional stuff they’ve been pumping out!

I’ve still not properly played the new Kill Team, and here we are, now on the sixth big box, and the second box of space hulk themed games. It’s Necrons vs Kasrkin, too, which is actually making me wonder if I should be looking to pick this one up!

The Necrons are very weird in this one, and it seems like we may actually be getting a brand new group of models, even if those Deathmarks look very familiar. It’s a Cryptek and his merry band, and I am very interested, so let’s ponder this one some more.

New model for the World Eaters codex coming out whenever. Looks lovely, I think they said it’s an updated sculpt of a very old model, too? Interesting, although I am not going to be getting these guys, that’s a promise!!

The whole presentation ended with this little tease. Arks of Omen seemed to be suggesting that Abaddon has made a pact with a daemon of some kind, and it is being suggested that this daemon will be coming out in model form – delightful, I’m sure you agree! However, there’s talk of daemon + metal, which is making the internet lose its collective mind because Dark Mechanicum has been a very real hope since Blackstone Fortress gave us those crazy cultist guys.

Could it be? I mean, it would be incredible, for sure!

Between this, the kill team stuff, and the fact I think I’m starting a Guard army now, I’m going to be very poor for the rest of my days, I think…

Could be time to get the Scions back out!!

Rumours and Reveals

Well then! We had a fairly exciting set of reveals from Games Workshop at the weekend, though as seems to be the standard for them these days, it ended with more teases…

To start with, we’ve now seen the new Warcry box in its full glory, and my goodness it looks good. It’s very different from what we’ve had up to now, which has been very firmly set in civilisation (albeit a ruined one, for the most part). We’re heading into the swamp, and they have really managed to get the kind of jungle theme of rope bridges and bamboo platforms down well. There are also weird statues, which I like, but it could probably do with more levels to it – it feels very much like the recent Ash Wastes box for Necromunda, actually, with a lot of platforms connecting to two treehouses.

The warbands do look good, even if the online community seems to be less than enthusiastic. However, I feel a bit sad to be saying it, but I think I’m going to pass on this box, as I have done on the Necromunda box. I have far more Warcry stuff than I have time to play it, so as the game moves forwards into the realm of beasts, I think I’m going to stick behind at the Eightpoints. Though I’m thinking I’ll pick up some Horns of Hashut when they release separately…

Speaking of Necromunda, the other houses will be getting their vehicles it seems, starting with the Goliath. They look suitably over the top with roid rage, so that makes perfect sense! I wonder what Delaque will have…

The next warband for Underworlds has been revealed as a Witch Hunter and his crew, and Blood Bowl are getting an Amazons team. The preview ended with this, however:

The Space Hulk preview from the other day has been shown as a bit of a red herring – we’re getting close-confines games, of course, but it’s Kroot vs Imperial Navy, of all things!! I’m really quite excited for this one, as I feel the Navy guys will be similar to the Elucidian Starstriders from the last Kill Team close quarters box, and show us another side of the Imperium that we rarely otherwise see. I’m glad it’s not Space Hulk with Primaris marines, because like many people, Space Hulk means something very specific and very precise to me.

However…

The last week or so has seen the beginnings of what I suppose is much more serious speculation about 10th Edition 40k, rather than idiots like me jokingly talking about it in terms of “aren’t we due a new edition soon?” and so on. If these rumours are to be believed, then the new edition is coming out next summer, and will be launched with a Tyranids vs Space Marines box, with the bugs getting a range refresh much like the Necrons had for 9th. There are all manner of rumours about plastic Dante and Primaris Furioso Dreadnought, as the poster boys will be the Blood Angels this time around.

Tyranids will get new Genestealer sculpts, and a bunch of other bugs, with what I guess will be a Silent King equivalent.

Now, the rumours have already proven to be false, because they were prefaced with the news of a new Kill Team box set on a space hulk featuring the new Kasrkin models vs new-sculpt Genestealers. Which obviously isn’t happening. In the past, though, rumour mongers have claimed to be talking from pictures rather than text, and the Navy sculpts do bear a similarity to the Guard models, so maybe the spiky crests of the Kroot were mistaken for scything talons? Who knows.

Personally, I hope we can get some more mileage out of 9th edition before they go shifting things around again. There’s no real need to do this, as we lost certainly one full year to the pandemic, so I would imagine that very few people were actually able to play this game for its entirety. I’ve spent quite a bit of money on this edition, codexes and the like, but it’s continually baffling to me when GW had been releasing actual gaming supplements when the majority of the world couldn’t get together to use them, and then promptly outdated them with yet more supplements. 9th edition has been such a weird time, hasn’t it?

However, the fact remains that 9th Edition is two years old this month, and recent editions of 40k have only lasted three years, so it’s possible…

Primaris terminators and Primaris devastators? Primaris Death Company? Primaris Dante? Who knows… but it’s going to be an interesting time seeing if there is any substance to these rumours…

Giving Kill Team a go

It’s long overdue, I think you’ll all agree! The new edition of Kill Team has almost been out for a year at this point, and I’m only now getting around to trying it out. Now, I should say, I was playing against myself with this game, as I wanted to see how it all works in practice before trying to convince some people to try it with me.

I have to say, first impressions are pretty favourable!

Now, it is very dense to try to crack on a first play. There is a lot of back-and-forth in the rule book, and I wouldn’t say the rules are as transparent as, say, Warcry. In the game I played, I went in without really doing my research, so perhaps inevitably I was a bit lost for a while.

One of the big questions we ask when we sit down to a game like this is, what can I do? Now, it’s not always clear (to my mind) what operatives can do on the turn. One of my biggest bugbears with the rules is how badly laid out things are – so the book tells me to give each operative either an Engage or a Conceal order, but it doesn’t tell me what that means until about a dozen pages later. It’s like you need to have read the whole book and understood it before you play.

There is definitely a tactical depth required from the game, which really precludes you from just throwing some miniatures on the table and hoping for the best. There are twelve different types of Veteran Guardsmen, and there are eleven types of Corsair Voidscarred, and they all have some fairly distinct roles to play. Not having a game plan was quite startlingly obvious as soon as things got underway, if I’m honest, and I actually think that it hampered my enjoyment of the game. I mean, there are a lot of tricks that you can do with a lot of these guys, but I didn’t know half the stuff that was on offer to me (that question again), and as a result I knew I was missing out. At least I know what the problem is, so can address it for next time.

I was using the Veteran Guardsmen, because they’re wonderful models, but I wanted to use the Corsairs as I had a good idea for a colour scheme that I want to try out soon. They are also beautiful models, of course, but I think that both teams have suffered from the way that I’ve built them. I had said last year that I’ll definitely be getting a second box of Guard, but I also think I need to get more Corsairs. Not only had I brought the wrong mix, but they were positioned badly as well – it’s all coming back to the planning, isn’t it?

There is a whole host of additional rules that I was studiously ignoring for the battle, because I didn’t want to over-complicate things. All the Tac-Ops, Strategic Ploys and so on just felt like it would be a step too far, really! But the narrative depth that these things give is really quite astonishing, and I love the fact that we have this kind of game, even if it is quite the beast!!

I think it’s surprised me, just how tactical this game is. Rule of cool doesn’t apply – this isn’t a casual game. You need to have a very specific game plan in mind, and you need to exercise that plan as far as possible.

None of this is to say that Kill Team is a bad game. I think it’s just a definite level up for me in terms of how I usually like to enjoy my games!! I’m definitely going to give it another try, of course, but I’m going to make sure that I’ve done my homework first!!

May Plans

Somehow, I’m on quite the blog-writing streak here at the minute, I think this is day 16 now, which is quite exciting! Amid all of the rambles, though, I feel like I need to get a bit more focused. I’m very much in a Star Wars mood at the moment, and combined with a return to board gaming, I seem to be moving away from what has been my main hobby for the last eight years now, miniature war games. I did touch on this on Friday, but I think I need to try to strike more of a balance, and see if I can keep up the games while also enjoying a bit more of the plastic hobby. I have the coming week off work (which is just as well, really, because I’m in the middle of some pretty intense training at the moment!) so thought it would perhaps be a good time to recalibrate, and whatnot.

So, to start with, I want to try to press on with the Black Legion bits that I’m in the middle of painting. I may have said this before, but I find it difficult to come back to projects when they’re halfway finished, so I do need to keep on with these guys before it’s another couple of years before they’re fully painted. I’m not going to go any further than this for the time being: I wouldn’t say that I’m in a hobby slump per se, but I’m definitely in that realm of feeling a bit overwhelmed with just how much I’ve got going on, so don’t want to plan ahead beyond the one immediate project for now!!

It’s no secret that I have a lot of armies on my plate, but in the last week I’ve started to take some action here, and have listed my Blood Angels on eBay to try and trim down. As it stands, I’m hoping to get around £100 for the lot, which would be nice, and traditionally I would almost immediately plough that back into Games Workshop’s coffers, but I’m hoping that I can be more circumspect this time around, and resist the allure of new shiny stuff. I still want to off-load more models, including my Nighthaunt, so hopefully I’ll be feeling a bit better about the hobby and stuff once I’ve cleared away some of the chaff. It’s amazing how much noise is in my head from the variety of projects that I have at the moment.

I’m very keen to give the new Kill Team a try – well, especially seeing as how it isn’t really “new” any more. This would kinda play into the Black Legion that I’ve been painting up as well, as I could start painting those models that were built up from the Nachmund set, though at this point I have quite a few sets of miniatures from which to draw – including AdMech and Genestealer Cults from the White Dwarf rules.

Unfortunately, nobody around here appears to be that into Kill Team right now, I think in part as a result of a general downer on 9th Edition 40k that seems to be led by the main group from my local GW. So it may be a bit of an uphill struggle on that one!

I do need to finish building the terrain from Nachmund though, at which point I may just try it out with me taking on both sides, just to see how the ruleset works. I may have a better chance of convincing people if I’ve got a better grasp of the rules!

So far, then, I don’t think my plans for the month are particularly onerous! Finish painting five/six models, build up some terrain, and maybe read over some campaign books!

Of course, I’m still really keen to play lots of other games that I own, and have been enjoying quite a variety of them in recent weeks. I’m still trying to convince Jemma that the Star Wars LCG is worth playing, and I’m still in the middle of the jungle in the Forgotten Age campaign, but I’ve recently also been thinking a lot about Lord of the Rings LCG. It’s widely been referred to on my blog here as my favourite game, and I think that holds true for the first couple of cycles of the game. But somewhere around the Voice of Isengard, I just lost interest due to the game becoming so incredibly difficult to play solo.

There are about six full cycles that I have not yet played, and last year I made an effort to change that, playing my way through The Lost Realm before once again getting distracted. Now, I have a vague memory of playing through the first three scenarios in the Angmar Awakened cycle as well, and even mentioned it here on the blog, but I didn’t record it on my BGG stats, and I don’t actually remember the scenarios themselves, either, so in confusion I’ve somewhat given up for the time being.

I still want to play this game, though, so I’m thinking that I’m going to go straight in for the final cycle of the game, the Vengeance of Mordor! This should be interesting, as from what I remember of it from promotional stuff at the time, we get to explore some fairly interesting aspects of Middle Earth, and we get something of a unique look at the world. So that’s pretty exciting! Although I may not be saying that when I’ve been beaten into submission by the scenario!

I’m hoping to get started with it while I’m off, anyway, so stay tuned for more updates there!!

Warhammer Fest 2022

Oh man, this was an exciting one! Four days of previews that are really pretty great, for so many in the hobby. Let’s try to break down some of the new stuff and see what’s coming our way in the next few months!

To start with, Chaos is back on the menu! We’re getting a lot of new Cultist varieties, including a ten-man squad, a sort of command squad, and mutant cultists of various stripes. Delightful! There’s also going to be new Possessed, which will presumably be accompanied by the Chosen and the Warpsmith when the big release comes.

Oh yeah, and there’s also gonna be a new Daemon Prince!

Points values will be made available for free, but the upcoming Chapter Approved will be tinkering with the rules, specifically around command points, and giving everyone new secondary objectives. There has been some outcry about why CA is coming out when armies like the Guard still don’t have their Codex, which I think is pretty valid, but 9th edition has been so strange to me, I suppose I’m not really surprised.

World Eaters will be getting a Codex, too, but it’s too soon to show off any new models. And the new Squats are getting a trike, which people seem to be excited for. I’m still underwhelmed with the Squat news – I’m happy for those players who have wanted this to happen, of course! I’m just happy, also, that I don’t feel the need to get any!

Next up, we have Age of Sigmar! Leaks from the Slaves to Darkness book have been on Facebook for about a week already, but it’s great to see these big lads in high definition glory! There’s a new Skaven model coming out, and Sylvaneth are getting a lot more new models!

This has been quite a surprise, to me. Seems like each iteration of the game grows this army, and they’re getting further away from their Wood Elf origins. It’s great to see, and I think I’ll need to exercise some restraint because Sylvaneth are an army that I really would love to try out. I mean, the Treelord mini is one of my absolute favourite sculpts of all time!

Big news from AoS is that Cities of Sigmar will be getting what I suppose we’re now calling “the Battle Sisters treatment”, and there will be updates for the redesign online. Could be interesting…

Big news in Specialist Games comes once more from the Squats, as we’ll be getting them in a new gang of Ironhead Squat Prospectors. Interesting, seems like 2022 is going to be the year of the space dwarf.

The next Kill Team box has been announced, Moroch, and will be Phobos Marines vs Traitor Guard, with the new Sector Frontieris terrain! I’m unsure about this one, as I don’t want the Marines, and I already have the ogryn and commissar models from their release in Blackstone Fortress, so I’m thinking that I might sit this one out. That terrain is, of course, wonderful, but given that they split these boxes up eventually anyway, I think I might just wait.

It does look tempting, though!

New logo and new location for Warcry, as we head into a cursed jungle for what many seem to think will be a soft version two. I’m not sure about the jungle, because I personally love the aesthetic of fighting in these abandoned cities (or mines!) and can’t really see that translating well. I’m prepared to be wrong, of course!

We also have a new warband preview – the Horns of Hashut – which is odd because it feels like they’re half of the suspected new box… We also have the centaur dude who looks pretty great – I hope this is going to mean we get more unique crazy sculpts for these sort of mercenary allies as time goes on!

I have to say, though, I’m disappointed to hear that the new setting is going to bring with it more AoS races “to the fore”. I don’t think Warcry is good when we have just any old fantasy race; I much prefer it as a Chaos vs Chaos game. Don’t get me wrong, I know why they’re doing it, and adding in the whole AoS catalogue has probably kept interest in the game to the point where we’ve been able to have so much amazing content for it. But I really preferred it when we were seeing bespoke, weird Chaos warbands unique for this game…

The final day, yesterday, brought the big news about Horus Heresy 2.0 that has been teased and spoiled and goodness knows what for a long while now. We’re getting a new box set, which is huge, and new MkVI marines. New plastic tanks, and a slew of plastic weapons upgrades to try to muscle in on people who have been 3D printing their own. It’s an interesting move, and I wonder if they’ll start to do these kinds of weapons packs for other armies, giving Kabalite Warriors a second blaster, etc? It’ll be interesting to see whether these Necromunda-style upgrades have any traction into 40k, anyway. Without being a Heresy aficionado, however, the final day was otherwise a bit of a whimper, to me.

But it was definitely an exciting few days, and here’s hoping that I am the lucky one to win everything they’ve previewed here!! 🤣

Kill Team: Nachmund

Following the opening of the Great Rift, when the galaxy was split in two, passage across the massive Warp Storm was only possible in a handful of routes. The most stable of these was named the Nachmund Gauntlet, and saw much fighting during the Indomitus Crusade, as the Imperium fought to control the area and ensure communications remained open with the Imperium Nihilus on the other side. The fighting centred on the hive world of Vigilus, but was by no means confined there.

Kill Team Nachmund is the third box in the new edition of the skirmish game, and features Heretic Astartes going up against Aeldari Corsairs. Of the three boxes released so far, it has been the most exciting for me, as I have wanted everything within, not just a small fraction of the models. We get the beautiful new Corsair models, which skirt the lines between Craftworld and Dark Kin, coming with design elements from both but uniting into their own distinct range. I was very excited to learn that they could be used by Drukhari as well, although slightly less excited when I found out their rules were only in the Aeldari Codex. I know I have said previously that I like how the game is its own thing, I still like to multi-purpose some things!

The Heretic Astartes are the somewhat-new 10-man legionary kit, with an upgrade sprue that comes in a similar vein to the Tau Pathfinders that we had in the Chalnath box. Who knows whether we’ll get all of these options available when the CSM Codex hits, as we did for the Pathfinders – I mean, one of the upgrades is to make a regular legionary a psyker… Again, though, it’ll be nice to have a unit that is just for Kill Team, but with this box I do now have 30 marines for my Black Legion (more on this later).

The terrain is all Sector Mechanicus stuff, and I have read that the cost of this alone is equivalent to the box. So I am pleased to have that level of value here. More Sector Mechanicus stuff is always welcome, even if I have decided to just build it as the manual wants me to. Even so, I like it, and between 40k and Necromunda already, I’ll have definite uses for it all!

I’ve built the Corsairs very much with this game in mind. In 40k, they fulfil either troops or elites – with the former, you can’t mix rifles and pistols, whereas the latter has a greater flexibility. However, the 40k rules seem to want you to build all of the specialists available to the squad, but I have only gone for a couple, instead choosing to have more bodies rather than a particularly elite squad. For the Heretics, I think I might go for some of the fancy options too, but I haven’t entirely decided what I want to do with them, so have only built the sorcerer so far.

I mentioned before having 30 marines for my Black Legion, but I still haven’t really got that project moving, and have been considering a refresh – maybe going for a completely different Legion colour scheme. I have only painted the Master of Possession for the army, after all. But as it stands, I think that particular project might be a long way off, so I’m not giving it a great deal of thought for the time being.

Kill Team seems to be firmly in the release model of big boxes, which was exciting at first, but as time has gone on I’m already a bit wary of this release pattern. In a comparatively short space of time, we’ve had Kill Team Chalnath, Warcry Red Harvest, and Kill Team Nachmund, with Necromunda Ash Wastes seemingly closer than anybody had perhaps realised. It is a lot to take on, when these boxes are around the £115 mark, and I really don’t think it’s sustainable for me to keep buying them. I did think this after the Octarius box, but then I got really swept up by the Sisters Novitiates, and having more Sector Imperialis terrain. This box, as I’ve said, was full of stuff that I really love, so it was pretty easy to throw my money at it.

I’m hoping that I can actually resist the next box, and perhaps only pick up those elements that really interest me when they’re released further down the line. I do wonder what else they could do for the game, of course – whether we start to see a shift away from big boxes and instead just teams with upgrade sprues, when they run out of “new” stuff they can do. Maybe we’ll get the Elucidian Starstriders vs Gellerpox Infected box re-branded? They don’t have a lot of terrain sets that can be used in these boxes, either – so I am very intrigued as to where they could take this product line in the longer term. I think GW have been successful so far in getting a lot of interest and excitement around these releases with producing the new teams, but I can’t help but think that Kill Team is in a very weird place as regards how it is being released. I mean, we have the Compendium, but it seems the more exciting teams are those with the full rules from these boxes and the White Dwarf articles – and there aren’t all that many of them! There haven’t been “full” rules for Space Marines, Eldar, Necrons etc so far, which just seems a bit weird…

At any rate, Nachmund has been a great box to get my hands on, and I’m going to enjoy getting it all painted up and maybe even convincing some folks to play it with me! As for what the future holds, I think it’s going to be a very interesting time…

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