Category Archives: Articles

Warhammer Fest 2016 Display Boards with Video

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There were more display boards at this year’s Fest of Warhammer. Forge Wolrd only brought one of their’s along, but GW bought quite a few. GW also brought their  planning books for the making the large boards at Warhammer World unfortunately I didn’t get photos of those.

Forge World – Iron Hands vs World Eaters


Click the picture above to see the video

Citidel Warhammer 40k – Imperial City Board


Blood Bowl Pitch from Speciast Games


Lord of the Rings River Town


Lord of the Rings – Necromancer Citidel


I have lots more pictures but very limited internet for the next few day. Posting will be intermittent. Subscribe on this site follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook to get notifications when I do.

The next post will be the golden demon winners I managed to photo.

The Wolf Time

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The new Space Wolves release has certainly raised a few eyebrows, to say the least. 

There are only 3 completely new sets in this release.

  • Ulrik the Slayer
  • Iron Priest
  • Space Wolves Wulfen

In addition to the new models is the Curse of the Wulfen book.

There has also been a lot of sets re-boxed and as CEO Kevin Rowntree had indicated a new lower price point for Space Wolves with the introduction of the Wolf Guard set at 65% of the price of a Space Wolf Pack for half the amount of models.
There is also a new Start collecting Space wolf set which is the same price as other new start collecting sets. The set contains a Wolf Pack a Thunder Wolf Cavely along with a Space Marine Commander. This set is priced lower than the cost of a pack and cavaly, making it a very cost effective way to start or expand a Space Wolves army. The remaining commander can easerly be used as a wolf guard with the spare components from the wolf pack set.

 While 13th Company space Wolves are not new to the 40k Universe. The 13th company had a metal set released in the days of 40k 3rd edition and a plastic hybrid Chaos Soace Wolf set during 4th and 5th. 

  
It’s the conflict between the Space Wolves and other Space Marine Chapters that make this releaese  very interesting. Games Workshop have previously refused to advance to 40k time line, so alienating the Space Wolves chapter in this way is not only a big change to the 40k status quo, it’s also the beginjng of the end of the 40k universes. This has lead a numbe of doom seerers predicting this is End Times for 40k….

I’m not so sure this is the end though. The grim dark future has always been a universe on the edge of collapse. If anything this just expanded the possibilities in that players can play pre and post 13th Company return time periods. Which is surly a good thing?

  
 

The Beginning and End of Warhammer and 40k

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So Warhammer is dead! For years trolls have predicted it’s doom. I guess it’s no surprise to anyone. The product that was once Games Workshops flag ship has been outsold by 40k constantly for many years. The rocketing price of white metal in 2010 meant games workshop had to move their production to plastic, which requires higher sales volumes to reach profit point. Warhammer hasn’t been selling enough of the new lines to justify their production. Hence 40k players not knowing what had hit them, with an eye watering release rate of 40k books and models this year. Warhammer player have looked on in wonder, and horror I should think. There have been nine 40k codexs so far in 2015. Compared with 3 in 2011. Where as there have been 2 Warhammer books compared to 3 in 2011.

40K Codex releases in 2015

Codex ISBN Release Date
Dark Angels ISBN TBA June 2015
Space Marines ISBN 978-1782537472 June 2015
Cult Mechanicus ISBN 978-1782537427 May 2015
Imperial Knights ISBN 978-1782537342 May 2015
Craftworlds ISBN 978-1782537304 April 2015
Skitarii ISBN 978-1782537380 April 2015
Khorne Daemonkin ISBN 978-1782537267 March 2015
Harlequins ISBN 978-1782536833 February 2015
Necrons ISBN 978-1782536079 January 2015

40K Codex releases in 2011

Codex ISBN Release Date Superseded by
Necrons ISBN 978-1907964183 November 2011 7th Edition Codex: Necrons
Sisters of Battle N/A – White Dwarf August/September 2011 6th Edition iBook Codex: Adepta Sororitas
Grey Knights ISBN 978-1841549910 April 2011 7th Edition Codex: Grey Knights

Warhammer Amry books 2014 and 2011

Army ISBN Release Date
Wood Elves ISBN 978-1782532873 May 2014
Dwarfs ISBN 978-1-78253-239-2 February 2014
Army ISBN Release Date
Ogre Kingdoms ISBN 978-1-907964-11-4 September 2011
Tomb Kings ISBN 978-1841549965 May 2011
Orcs & Goblins ISBN 978-1841549866 March 2011

There have been zero Warhammer army books in 2015. The closest thing we have is the End time books

Supplement Notes ISBN Release Date
The End Times: Archaon Volume 5 of the End Times Expansion, contains the grand legion of the everchosen list TBA March 2015
The End Times: Thanquol Volume 4 of the End Times Expansion TBA January 2015

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/

 

So given Warhmmer is not hitting the volumes required to keep the shareholder happy. I don’t blame GW one bit for starting again. Sometimes when you have a car that doesn’t work you should get a new one.

http://andyflavoured.co.uk/blogs-2/archive/blogs-2012-07-09/transport-2-the-cars-that-ate-britain/rusty-old-car/

 

But sometimes you should ask why it doesn’t work and try to fix it first. If it’s because you are putting the wrong gas in the tank you will have the same problem with the new car. You’ll have spent a lot of money and still be stuck.

http://cool-pin.com/post/old-car-wallpaper/

 

The gas in this example is the business equivalent to marketing and the mechanic is the business equivalent to market research. I’m not saying ending WFB was the wrong call. I just can’t see how a new name and a new set of rules will make any difference. I don’t think the names, rules, games sizes or races where the problem with Warhmmer. I hope I’m wrong as this could be 40k in 10 years time.

The reason I say this, is that 40k and Warhammer really owe their success to MB games. The release of Space Crusade and Heroquest took the Games Workshop hobby out of dark… streets across a busy road from a shopping mail, into the main stream. That legacy is still having a impact now. Many Wahammer and 40k players owned or had a friend that owned one of those games. It’s not hard to see why, for many of the kids that bought these board games they were a new idea , playing a game with space men. They were also packed with value, 20 space marines, 15 green skins 8 tyranids, 2 Necrons and a Dreadgnought all for the same price as a normal Board game. In business terms this is known as a market penetration strategy. It’s how to achieve growth in a competitive and emerging markets.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/448098/my-new-space-crusade-set-just-arrived

 

Anyone who watches the apprentice knows Lord Sugar says cheap volume goods create profit. Space Crusade cost the same amount of money as Monopoly, it was not 3 times the price, which is where GW currently price their board games. GW current pricing strategy is called market creaming. I don’t think a market creaming strategy is wrong for some of their models, the imperial knight being one example. It costs a crazy amount of money and has no more plastic than a land raider, but the value it taken to be almost £100 because it’s a monster of a model and good in the game. However pricing rank and file models above deluxe monopoly is another risk which GW have continued to take. Although this is not good for generating good will, I don’t really see this as the reason their sales have been constantly falling for years.

Games Workshops moved their stores away from the beaten track some time ago. If GW do want to appeal to a new Market with a replacement system, they need to find some way to let people who don’t already play their games know about it, for example advertise it on the TV like MB did with Space Crusade. If they follow their existing marketing strategy, i.e. White Dwarf publications, Games Workshop stores, website and the GW You Tube channel how will they reach anyone new? They might get a few 40k and Lord of the Rings players to cross over but that will be it. I believe their is a new generation of gamers out their and Games Workshop could make a fortune if they actually did some market research, created an affordable product …. and told people about it!

New Space Marine Devastators

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Unlike the Assault Squad kit the Devastators were not really in drastic need of an update. The last set was only 8 years old, by GW plastic life spans that’s practically new. None the less GW have found a way to justify the update. This new set provides an additional 4 heavy weapons as well as more weapon options for the sergeant. The other big change made to freshen up the kit is inclusion of external suppressors on the legs. The devastator legs armour has been depicted in many iconic bits of artwork. They were introduced on the late Rogue Trader Long Fang, pictured below, and subsequent metal Space Marine Devastator kits.

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GW didn’t appear to be able to make these in plastic up until now. GW’s move to using 2 parts for each set of legs has opened up many possibilities, including the other old sets of power armour. It just goes to show GW does listen.

In all this kit provides six sets of legs just like the product it replaces, however their are now 2 Multi Melta, 2 Missile Lunchers and 2 Grav Cannons with Grav amps . The new sergeant options include Lightning Claw, combi bolter with the option of grav, flamer, melta or plasma and a Thunder Hammer along with a over 10 heads to pick from, including 2 mk6 patten, for the womble lover. So what has been lost. I don’t think anything but Grenades and hip mounted bolt pistols had gone.

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So is there really any significant draw back to this new kit. The price has gone from £20.50 to £28. That’s almost a 37% increase and feels like 50% Is it justified? Of course that’s a matter of opinion. At £28 I can’t see people going mad on this one. I also don’t think there is any need to buy more than one box, unless you want a squad of 4 Grav cannon toting Devastators. Most of the other heavy weapon builds can be done for less money using Forge World sets. Which is the only real alternative to this new citadel kit.

I do intend to get one of these new kits for myself. I’ll spread the new legs across two Devastator Squads and build some Grav/Melta and Plasma/Bolter reserve Squads for my Ultramarines.

I actually don’t think GW have overpriced this set, if anything I could have seen it going for £30. There is as much plastic in the set as a tactical squad and each sprue is unique. If it had been £22.50 I probably would have already ordered one just so I could have a play with it. I’d also be thinking about getting a 2nd set so I could have the new legs on a lot more of my heavy weapon marines. As it stands, it will sit on the wish list and it will probably stay there for a while.

So over all, it’s a good product, it’s got a reason for existing, it offers something new and some old and it’s price isn’t ludicrous like some of GW’s other products.

8.5/10 it better than converting your own.

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Space Marine Assault Squad and Chapter Upgrade Kits

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I think it’s fair to say most Space Marine collectors have been excited by this week’s releases. They mark a couple of important changes for Games Workshop. Before looking at the changes let’s look at the new kits.

Assault Squad

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The old Assault Squad kit was showing it’s age when the last Devastator set was released in 2007. The legs on the old kit where very poor sculpts compared to GW modern Space Marines. This new set appears to really up the standard of GW’s Space Marine kits. It uses 2 parts for each set of legs. This results in far more detail on each leg. The other new components are vey similar to the Tactical Squad. However there appears to be far more options for each Space Marine. The new options include Grav Pistol, Lightning Claw, Double Handed Chain Sword and Thunder Hammer along with a great deal more heads to pick from. This set also includes some rubble to help mount the Assault Marines on their 32mm bases. So what has been lost. The old pointed finger power fist is gone. I don’t think that is a great lost. Also the option to make your Assault Marines left handed, again not a great loss. So it there really any significant draw back to this new kit. Well a the price of a Ten Man Assault Squad has gone from £41 to £50. That’s almost a 20% increase. Do the extra options in this kit justify the increase? Well that is for you to decide. At this new price I won’t be rushing out to replace the 20 models in my plastic Battle Company, nor will I be building an Assault Company using this new kit.
Is there any alternative to this kit. Well only one that will save money. Is saving up all your mk5 and perhaps mk6 tactical and Devistator torsos and buying jump packs at £5 a pop direct from GW. That way you can still make an 10 man Assault Squad for £36. The other alternatives that spring to my mind, although not cheaper, is the Vanguard Veteran set. You might want to swap some of the heads for less ornate versions from the Tactical set. Perhaps if you have older Vanguard Veterans you might want to swap the jump packs around as well.

I do intend to pick one of these new sets up, and if the other tens of thousands of  Space Marines collectors do the same, I’m sure the new CEO won’t be too worried. I personally think if this set had been priced at £22.50 I would have already ordered one and would be thinking about a second.

Overall 8/10 great but not great value.

Ultramarine Upgrades

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It’s almost unbelievable that GW have never done an upgrade set for their most popular chapter. This kit which is replaes the Finecast, formally metal Ultramarine Shoulder Pads, looks fantastic. I have the miss pleasure of owning one of the old should pad sets. The shoulder pads where tiny compared to the modem plastic shoulder pads, which forced you to buy a set of the equally poor shoulder pads with squad markings. The symbols where also poor and difficult to paint well. So you ended up spending £10 and getting smaller space marines! This new kit is long over due and most welcome. The fact it comes with other components it fantastic. The one downside of the kit is that some of the shoulder pads are a bit too ornate for a Tactical Squads. Forcing you to buy 2 kits if you want to kit out a full squad. I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing though. The extra components in this set are going to come in very handy. As well as Ultrafiltration of Captains and Sargent models. Combined with Mk4 or Mk6 legs they will serve as excellent plastic honour guard. Finally providing a way to add more Honour Guard without buying a £50 set for the sake of 3 models. I just hope the rumoured removal of honour guard form the new codex turns out to be the lump of stinking scat it sounds like. On price I would say this set makes huge sense. Could it be better? Well yes I think another 5 or 10 shoulder pads, a proper ultramarine honour guard helmet and a coupe more standard Ultramarine helmets with a £10-15 price tag would have been better. Once you have a few of these kits buying more is going to feel like a bit of a waste of all the other components you have to throw in the bits box.

Overall 10/10 and long overdue

Space Wolves Upgrades

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Next is the elephant in the room. What we have here is a drastic downsize of the previous upgrade sprue for Space Wolves. Gone it the still much needed Melta Gun, never mind a Flamer for you Grey Hunters. Gone are the torsos and host of wolf pelts and knives. The total bit count is down by over 50%. 

  
The old Space Wolves Upgrade Kit

 
New Space Wolves upgrad kit (image from Dakka Dakka )

In place of all these goodies there are the Ragnar Shoulder pads. Again the new shoulder pads are a big improvement. Although once you have a couple of these sets the appeal of addition sets is reduced, unlike the old kit. It’s a real shame GW didn’t make a set of 20 shoulder pads and separate upgrade frame. However Space Wolf players already have so many options from other kits. This frame is really just about the shoulder pads. I feel this perhaps wasn’t the best time for GW to put out this kit, but I’m sure there are plenty of collectors who will snap up a few anyway. Price wise I think it’s very reasonable for GW, but not as good value as the Ultramarine set.

Overall 7/10 Good, but not a great replacement.

Blood Angel Upgrades

  

This kit has a better bit count than the Space Wolves set. But just like Space Wolves kit it wasn’t desperately needed. There is plenty of other similar parts in other Blood Angel sets. If anything it’s adding less value than the Space Wolf set as there are already a lot of Blood Angel icon shoulder pads in the other Blood Angel set, unlike Ragnar’s Great Company. This set has very few bits that are really “new”. We have to assume this has just been released to go with the other new Space Marine kits.

Overall 8/10 great, but too close to other kits.

Dark Angel Upgrade Kit

  
This kit is as much of a down size as the Space Wolves kit. The shoulder pads are needed, the other bits are great and I’m looking forward to seeing every other Dark Angel Sergeant sporting a feather head piece. But other armies needed one of these set far more.

Overall 8/10 Good, but not a great replacement.

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I think this looks to be a very exciting Space Marine release. This change in direction for Games Workshop, from just rehashing old kits is both refreshing and welcome, but replacing more extensive kits with smaller ones is not. I just hope some of the other chapters, Chaos Marines included, get the same amount of attention in the future. If GW want to sell more armies they need to support them.