Warzone Octarius has come to give us new rules for Orks and Tyranids as well as for using Rogue Traders and even Kill Teams.
Warhammer 40k is constantly evolving and over this year 9th edition is no different. The Warzone supplements expand on rules for existing factions and share the story of a particular warzone. The second round of this is Warzone Octarius with books 1and 2. The previous books were based on Charadon but I suspect Octarius was chosen due to the recent release of Kill Team: Octarius which featured exclusive models and terrain.
Book 1 brings us rules Cadia, Tyranids and the Armies of Renown: Kill Team. Now with the branding of Kill Team I originally assumed this would be the squads from Kill Team: Octarius but instead these Kill Teams are part of the Deathwatch and are comprised of Space Marines. Book 2 however brings the Kill Team flavor with rules for the Blood Axes, the Ork team from the Octarius box, along with Rogue Traders (Astra Cartographica) and the Speed Freeks Speed Mob as this book’s Army of Renown.
These books are less for casual or competitive players but more for those that like to follow an official campaign. Charadon did not see a Kill Team release but with Octarius receiving it’s own warzone books so soon after it’s Kill Team release I am fully expecting that the next warzone will be centered around Chalnath.
The Genestealer Cults are facing off against the Adeptus Custodes on Terra in Shadow throne from Games Workshop for Warhammer 40,000.
About once, sometimes twice a year, Games Workshop releases a new starter, typically surrounding a specific theme. To end 2021 they brought us Shadow Throne and it is centered around the Genestealer Cults infiltrating Terra. These days it seems like there is some form of Genestealer Cult activity on nearly every planet so it was only a matter of time before some reached Terra. You would think that there would be ways of preventing this in a place where the Emperor of Mankind himself resides.
Originally this release was meant to coincide with the release of codices for both the Genestealer Cults and the Adeptus Custodes but due to delays with production they have been delayed until January of next year. Currently the Shadow throne boxset is on preorder and will be released this Saturday. Games Workshop also promises that any preorders made beyond their initial run will be done as part of a second production run! The majority of this box has been released previously but that doesn’t make it any less worth picking up. For the GSC the Genestealer Patriarch is by far one of the greatest sculpts released thus far for the army and is joined by an exclusive Reductus Saboteur. The GSC though are not the only ones to get a new model- enter the Blade Champion for the Custodes! This is possibly the MOST dynamic model we have seen in quite some time for them and the pose reminds me of the Black Templar’s new champion.
What I am most looking forward to with this release though is the fact that I get to revisit one of my favorite armies from 40k- Tyranids, if only slightly with a single model. Additionally though both factions come with nearly enough to be full kill team patrols for the aptly named Kill Team.
With the recent release of Dominion and the more recent release of Battletomes for Stormcast Eternals and Kruelboyz Games Workshop is releasing the next tome and this is for the Maggotkin of Nurgle!
At the time of writing/publishing the new Battletome for the Maggotkin of Nurgle is officially available for preorder and the official release date is December 18th, just in time for my birthday! Games Workshop was kind enough to share the tome and even a few models with us to prepare you with the pending release!
To start with we will be focusing on the Battletome itself. The cover art is amazing and only Games Workshop can take a truly revolting army as the Maggotkin, really anything that is Nurgle based, and do it so beautifully! I mean look at that ugly Rotbringer on the there, he not only looks fantastic but there is even a matching model available for preorder as well! There are already more exclamation points in this article than most I write, that should tell you something about this release. I have always been a fan of Grandfather Nurgle and that hasn’t changed but I’ve been focusing my Chaos forces to be more Undivided because of the amazing Warcry warbands but nothing makes disgusting fun like a Nurgle based army.
The tome has many new rules as well as others that have been tweaked. My favorite of these new rules is Diseased. Basically for each diseased model near an enemy you add one disease point (up to seven) and at the start of the Battleshock Phase you roll a dice for each point and on each 4+ the enemy receives one mortal wound. Just walking around the stench and viral output of the Maggotkin is so high that you can kill your enemies by just being close to them. If only we could do this with a horde style list.
Rotbringer Sorcerer
I don’t recall the last time, in Age of Sigmar, we saw new releases for the forces under Nurgle, with the exception of the Great Unclean One and a few other daemons which also worked for 40k. This is the first Rotbringer of any sort I have seen since returning to the hobby about five years ago and the sculpt is fantastic. Not only that but it comes with two alternative heads, one is a fly head. I understand why flies are so prevalent in the Nurgle forces but I have never been a fan of the fly heads themselves, they always looked a little goofy to me BUT this one is by far one of the best I’ve seen so far. Of course if you were to also purchase the next item we will discuss you will have many other heads to choose from.
Vanguard: Maggotkin of Nurgle
The Vanguard box is the Age of Sigmar third edition version of the Start Collecting Box. Both featured the two Pusgoyle Blightlords and the five Putrid Blightkings. The difference between the two is the Start Collecting Box, while still available, comes with these and the Lord of Blights but this Vanguard box includes ten Plaguebearers of Nurgle and Spoilpox Scrivener. Literally every item in this box was something I wanted to get my hands on to build and paint as is but with all the customization options I think two boxes will be necessary.
Perhaps this is also the perfect time for me to get myself that Feculent Gnarlmaw I’ve been trying to justify picking up?
The Outcasts Gang joins the denizens of the Underhive with their own house book and a new terrain feature!
There are displaced residents all throughout the Underhive of Necromunda and now gangs of these Outcasts have started banding together, even worse they are taking their fighting to some of the Underhive Markets! These gangs are comprised of either those removed from the traditional gang houses or those that are less desirable. Many of these dregs of society are looking for a way of living outside the social hierarchy of the planet and doing so will usually leave them with shorter lifespans, but so does simply living on Necromunda. Check out our thoughts on the latest releases:
Underhive Outcasts Gang
What makes this team stand out is the randomness of their uniforms and that there is no unifying theme. Weapons, armor and clothes have SOME similarities but are more of a hodgepodge of all things that are found in the Underhive. I love how the heads have a lot of unique properties compared to the other gangs that look so similar to each other. One guy even has a faux-hawk!
The Book of the Outcast
This book contains the rules needed to run the new Outcasts Gang along with all their support options, weapons and gear available and even the hired guns they can, well hire. Everything you need to take them on to the table is contained here. All that’s left is finding an opponent and a table.
Zone Mortalis Underhive Market
Speaking of finding a table, the Underhive Market is here to help with that. Necromunda, when at it’s best, gives players a many tiered table to play against each other on. The more levels, passages, buildings, archeotech or just plain rubble on your table then the more on brand your game will be. This set changes that way of thinking, forcing players to have fights that are mostly in the open and for added personality you could add Sloppers to try and sell food to the gangs while they fight among the stalls. There will still be plenty of cover but no where near enough for most players. Combining all of the different Zone Mortalis, or at least the ones that are available, should make for quite the interesting board and this addition adds some very different flavor to the table.
The Market is by far the item that has me most excited, and leaves me hopeful we will see some vastly different terrain options in the future. Same goes for the gang itself, perhaps this is the precursor to us getting a Scavvies, Ratskin or Wastelands themed gang in the future.
Over the last two months Black Templars have released not only their codex but also a huge selection of models to compliment it!
Since Gen Con this year Games Workshop have been ramping up their releases for the Black Templars, starting with a collector’s edition Army Box. This Army Box even featured a special edition of the codex with art by John Blanche. Even better is this is the same art that was featured on the Third edition starter of Warhammer 40k! For me that made this box even more special because that was the first starter I ever played of the game so this box was a must have for me (see the featured image). The Templars have always been the only “good” Space Marine faction I’ve ever been interested and it’s not just because of all the black armor (I use a lot of black in my painting for uniforms). It’s all about that classic Templar knight aesthetic. I’ve always been fascinated by the Templar knights from the Crusades in history and their iconography. The fact that you get all the black armor AND the iconography on these soldiers is a win.
Black Templar Start Collecting box
Features 16 units and a Primaris Impulsor! This box is the first time I will have ever built an Impulsor and I can’t wait to do so. The Impulsor is the only model that was NOT a new release that came in this box. This includes the Crusader Squad which is available by itself as well- see below.
Crusader Squad
Sword Bretheren
This is by far one of the most intimidating Space Marine squads (that fight for the Emperor anyway) and I kind of want to paint the one like Wolverine- you know the one I mean.
High Marshal Helbrecht
This is a massive improvement of the original sculpt and is an amazing model on it’s own. I have seen some recent conversions using this that made for a fantastic Stormcast Eternal- I’m leaning towards doing the same with mine.
Chaplain Grimaldus & Retinue
Grimaldus doesn’t seem to have that standard Skull helmet that we usually see on Chaplains but his retinue are what REALLY make him stand out. I love the fact that the standard itself already has those details on the model and it is not done freehand, it gives me hope that I will do this model some justice when I paint it.
Black Templars Castellan
Out of all of the new sculpts this was probably the one I was most excited to receive (Games Workshop provided each of the items listed on this page for our review) because it is based on the artwork by John Blanche and is the FIRST time this model has been officially created. The porportions are more along the lines of the classic chunky Space Marines and I don’t even care. Between the massive axe and the skull-engraved shoulder pad, this is one bad ass model.
In summary I am ACTUALLY looking forward to building and painting my first ever Space Marine army and can’t wait to see what else they might come out with for the Black Templars!
Dungeon Bowl is back but is it as good as expected and what impact does it hold for Blood Bowl going forward?
What do you get when you cross a scavenger hunt in a dungeon and American Football? You get Dungeon Bowl from Games Workshop. Dungeon Bowl is a lesser known version of Blood Bowl, similar to how Kill Team is a branch of Warhammer 40K. It’s the same world but entirely different mechanics, rules and points. Play styles that work well in Blood Bowl may not work as well in the Dungeon.
At $160 this boxset comes with everything needed for a match but also give options to expand. Teams are divided into Colleges and it comes with teams for the Colleges of Fire and Shadow. Map tiles allow you an almost endless number of customizations so that you never have to play the same map twice. Two teams enter the particular Dungeon and in search of the game ball and if found must survive to score a touchdown. One touchdown is all that is needed to win but just finding it and delivering the ball is enough. Players must survive traps and other players who will stop at nothing to prevent them from scoring.
Regular Blood Bowl players will have options to further customize their teams using their players and creatures to fill out the roster for their chosen College. The models look fantastic and the map tiles can be used in other games like Cursed City to keep those maps fresh as well. Without purchasing other Blood Bowl teams however will mean your kit-bashing options will be quite limited as you only have a couple models for each faction as part of the game. As a stand-alone game though I don’t see this title as a replacement for Blood Bowl, merely as a new way to play. This game is chaotic, fast paced and immensely enjoyable.
Two Draconith boxes are coming for the Stormcast Eternals and the models are awesome!
Spawning from Dracothion, the great dragon of legend, is the first of the six- Krondys. At $150 Krondys offers two named Draconith, himself and Karazai, the Scarred. That’s right! Two dragons to choose from in this single kit, however of the Games Workshop site each is listed as it’s own build but contain the sprues to build the dragon of your choice. Hopefully in the coming years we will see Dracothion himself.
Krondys
Karazai
The first two dragons of the six have been identified so now we will look at the last four. All of which are the Stormdrake Guard but there are two build options for each dragon and come two to a box. Here you can choose between the Stormdrake Guard and the Knight-Draconis. The primary difference between these two loadouts comes down to personal preference- would you like your riders to use swords or lances? Visually I prefer the look of a flaming sword but the range of a lance is also preferable.
Knight-Draconis
Stormdrake Guard
Dragon models are what first grabbed my interest in the Warhammer Fantasy games in the late 90s and these new models put those all to shame. The modelers at Games Workshop have produced some of the best looking dragon models and the fact that each box gives you multiple load outs means you can have multiples of these models and have each appear unique. I’m already planning a 3000 point army that is nearly all dragons but might have to reevaluate the points with the recent changes to the Stormdrakes. Either way I can’t wait to see what other dragon goodies are released for this game because if these sculpts are anything to judge by they will be amazing.
Which of these Draconith models are you most interested in?
Games Workshop has released a new version of Kill Team with Chalnath and they sent us a copy for the purpose of reviewing it.
Kill Team is essentially the skirmish version of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. Players take small squads of fighters, or even a smaller and more elite force and battle for objectives or simply to eliminate the other team (this is my preferred way to play any tabletop game). Officially this is the fourth edition of the Kill Team game type but the third as a standalone title. The points systems are vastly different than your standard game of 40k but very similar in nature to that of Warcry in relation to Age of Sigmar. Now the first three editions also differed in points values when compared but Chalnath is the second installment of this edition and is much more in line with Warcry.
Teams are comprised of roughly 1000 points and depending on the faction will determine how many models you will be using, for example, Adaptus Mechanicus will typically have more troops on the map than Astartes. Another big difference between this version and previous iterations is that the list building is much more limited this time around. For Kill Team I suspect this is to better control balancing for the game, possibly to minimize some of the min/maxing that some players do to give their play style an advantage. With the new limitations on list building I think this is a huge improvement because I like having a variety on the field of battle and like to fight a variety.
Overall I found this to be a great introduction game to the world of Warhammer 40k and in the smaller scale makes trying new armies much easier and way cheaper. The new models for both Tau and Adepta Sororitas are some of my favorite for both factions. Kill Team: Chalnath features new Tau Pathfinders and Adepta Sororitas models along with some familiar looking terrain and is setting the precedent that every three months or so we will see a new Kill Team release, each centered around a different kill zone. Additionally both releases of this edition have also had exclusive models and the first absolutely had exclusive terrain options. This time I have yet to find confirmation about the exclusivity on the terrain but it looks quite similar to some we’ve seen previously. I can’t wait to see what other exclusive models and terrain will be coming with each new kill zone! This is a fantastic starting point for anyone looking for a new army or to add to an existing army.
Warcry has returned with Red Harvest with two new Chaos warbands- Darkoath Savagers and The Tarantulos Brood!
In the first official release for Warcry in 2021 Games Workshop brings us Red Harvest, however this is not the only taste of Warcry this year. In at least a couple issues of White Dwarf we have received some cards of newer teams ready to play, for example check out issue 467 which included rules and printable cards for the new troops from the Dominion starter. This is the third starter box that has been released for Warcry and is also part of the same edition. The only difference in these rulebooks is that with each starter the rulebooks have been updated with most recent changes from the FAQs/Erratas. Of course the only real exception there is that there are new abilities for the two new warbands.
As with both the original Warcry and Catacombs, Red Harvest features two new warbands that follow the gods of Chaos. The first are the Darkoath Savagers. The look like a cross between the Spire Tyrants and the classic Chaos Marauders. The second is entirely unique and they are the Tarantulos Brood. Their goal is to mutate themselves into arachnid hybrids, their limbs and eyes matching the number of realms and points on the symbol of Chaos.
Now what Warcry starter box would be complete without some new terrain? This box features some of the most awesome sets released yet. These pieces are centered around abandoned mines that once used to pull Varanite from the ground and alone make me want to get a second box just to get even more creative with the mine cart tracks and the sluices.
Overall I think this box has significant value, great looking models and terrain, all the tokens and cards needed to play and it remains one of the best games I’ve ever played.
First announced at Gen Con but now the Khorne Skull-tribe Slaughterers have arrived for Blood bowl!
Blood Bowl remains the only sports game of any type I have ever been interested in and the only tabletop sports game I have played. For a game with blood in the name though there is just not enough representation for Khorne, the blood god. Apparently Games Workshop agreed because not only did they release the Skull-tribe Slaughterers, they also sent us a review set to try on the pitch! The very first team I played with the original edition of the game was the original metal team for Chaos and I had painted them to be followers of Khorne. Sadly they did not survive my move to Arizona in ’98. Games Workshop already released two other Chaos themed teams but this is the first that is Khorne specific. Of course my memory of the original game is quite limited and there may have been a Khorne team there and I’ve forgotten but none that my Google skills have found. reference
What makes this team stand out, other than playing dirty, is the fact that they play to win. Not in a sense of achieving victory but because the better they rank then the better foes the fight. Those better foes mean a more glorious kill in the name of their god Khorne.
Here’s how to boost your team using Games Workshop:
This pitch seems to have disappeared from the store itself but I suspect it will return. It is also a must for any Khorne player. This is aesthetics only, no benefit in the game comes from home turf other than a morale boost for the player. Who wouldn’t want to see their opponent squirm looking at this board?
These cards are not entirely essential but to streamline the game the sure as hell are, plus the dirty play cards aren’t found anywhere else I’ve noticed.
Themed dice are always a win in my book but if you’re on a budget they are not necessary. Rumors are that they roll better though…
This was the first issue I’ve ever looked at of Spike and I was amazed at how awesome this is. If you are playing with a team that does not come from a core box then you need this supplement for both the rules and details about the characters. It even has a sample roster for newer players!
How to boost your team with the help of Forge World:
Check out the Bloodspawn- what Khornite coach would not want this monster of a star player. The sculpt alone is intimidating.
For coaches looking for a more unique team can order the Team Booster as well. No special stats, just unique models.
Enter Scyla Anfingrimm, another Bloodspawn but one of the most dynamic and amazing Blood Bowl models I have ever seen. I mean look at that Wood Elf player he’s smashing!
Lastly we have Max Spleenripper. If his name didn’t tell you everything you needed to know then the model itself will. I have never seen a Blood Bowl player with a chainsword, let alone anyone in the Warhammer Fantasy or Age of Sigmar realms.
With the exception of the Forge World items we were able to receive a review copy of this team and out of the three teams we currently have these are by far our favorite.
