MiniBlogster

Minis News 6 Feb 06

2006-02-06T21:53:00.000+00:00

Right then, back to square one ... God this is annoying.

Copplestone Castings Evil Characters

New pack for Mark's 10mm Warmaster-alike range. £5.25 from the Copplestone site.

Games Workshop News

Based on the UK site ...

New sneak peeks:
- Erestor (LotR elf)
- Tau XV25 Stealthsuits
- Orcs & Goblins' Warhammer Giant

New advance orders:
- Dwarf Thorgrim Grudgebearer on Throne (18/3/06, pictured)
- Tallarn Officers (2 figures) (all 40k 11/3/06) ... these Tallarn figures are basically repackaged existing IG figures
- Tallarn Rough Riders (1 figure)
- Tallarn Desert Raiders (3 figures)
- Tallarn Assault Weapons (2 figures)
- Tau Empire Army Set (English)
- Tallarn Imperial Guard Squad (10 figures)
- LotR bitz now on pre-order

Additionally, previews from various game shows:

- Dwarf Beer Cart
- Forest Goblins from the forthcoming Orcs and Goblins refresh
Troll, ditto
Dwarf miners
- Vostroyan guard in City of Death terrain
- Basilica Administratum terrain
- Sanctum Imperialis terrain
- Manufactorum terrain
- New Biovore (me no like much)

New Privateer Previews

Various Hordes packs:

- Blighted Nyss Archers
- Wolves or Orobos
- Skorne Praetorians
- Trollkin Scattergunners (pictured - this is the only one I like)

And since I wrote this post the first time, Everblight Seraph.

Perry Previews

- For a forthcoming Waterloo 1815 line, French Infantry components
- ... and Nassau volunteer Jaegers

Eureka Indians

Powhatan Indians, from Eureka Miniatures. From the site:

Designed & sculpted by Alan Marsh
Figures in brackets denote the number of variants. Variants are supplied randomly.

100POW01 Powhatan Chief (1)
100POW02 Powhatan Shaman (1)
100POW03 Powhatan Warrior (8)

Very nice too.

TAG Turks

From TAG's Renaissance Turkish range, a group of officer figures. I won't include pictures since the site takes so long to load:

- Officer with Mace 1
- Officer with Mace 2
- Officer with Sword
- Kazan (group with cooking pot)

Ilyad Previews

Parsifal v3 and Brown Orc Champion. More pictures here (Parsifal has with and without helm options) and concept art here.

New Forge World Stuff

For February ... more Cadian stuff. Wish I could afford this (on the up side, I don't have to paint Cadians):

- Sabre Defence Platform (pictured)
- Cadian Vehicle Crew
- Searchlights

Gripping Beast Ancients

Spanish Command and Ligurians here (pictured), here, here and here.

Arghhh

2006-02-06T21:48:00.000+00:00

Having been away for a couple of weeks, I wrote up a decently long update tonight (honest!). However, as is becoming more and more frequent, blogger.com fell over in the middle of it, and lost the lot. Before you start mumbling "idiot!" I do run other blogs, notably at work, and do use a client - MarsEdit. I just hadn't got round to using it for this blog. By the way, there's a scheduled downtime for blogger.com later tonight.

Anyhow, this is exasperating. I'll try and write up a slightly shorter version of said update now. But I'm also investigating taking this blog off of blogger and putting it somewhere safer.

Ravage Magazine 33

2006-01-21T23:54:00.000+00:00

The latest copy of this French magazine arrived while I was away. Reading the tag line, "le Magazine des jeux de strategie fantastique", I'm reminded of a story my father in law told me about his being in a French restaurant and asking for instructions about how to eat snails. "Avec sentiment, m'sieur", responded the waiter, "avec sentiment!". In French, you have to read this stuff with feeling.

News

Most of this stuff we already know, although in some cases only from the last few days (Zut. Missed out on le scoop). So I'll stick to what I didn't know, in fragments:

- Rezolution Wave 6 - less models than preceding waves. Two new female Ronin minis, and a large Stomper Warbot.
- Wargods Wave 10 - will be Typhon (children of Set), same format as previous waves though (various sets and a limited edition special)
- Ilyad - coming after the greens we've seen, a Brown Orc Champion in February, and in March a new Commander Parsifal sculpt, a new Imperial Centurion, Vorag Barbarians with two handed weapons, Shaman and Killer (already seen) Barbarians. The howling crest barbarians we've already seen are meant to be the first tribe of three that they'll bring out, as well as various slaves. Also planned - Barbarian Minotaurs, more Brown Orcs and Grey Orc Lancers.
- GW - apparently the City of the Dead stuff will be accompanied by modular, hex-based, plastic terrain. Heroscape, anyone?

The rest

I need time to sit and read some of this in more detail. As you can see there's a lot to the magazine. It's great on a long plane ride - the text is very dense, and the page format is quite large. It helps to get a sense of how various games work, whether they're exciting or not. So forgive me if the following isn't particularly detailed, I've pretty much skim read it at this point.

- Privateer Press Hordes preview. Nothing new I think, though a) I'm not as familiar as I'd like to be with the Hordes stuff and b) I need to re-read in detail. IF you have a pressing question you think might be answered in this article, mail me or post a comment.
- GW Dwarfs preview
- Urban War - Junkers article. A couple of sample armies. These new Junkers legionnaires, in particular, have skinny legs. I'd say, by the way, that their models are some way behind their concept art, which is superb.
- Racer Knights of Falconus. Not interested.
- Mechwarrior, Age of Destruction. Ditto. I play heroclix and MK1 with the kids occasionally.
- Blood and Gold - Part 2 of an article about Warmachine mercenaries. Privateer in particular gets a lot of coverage in Ravage, partly because they have to have some way of getting their rules out in French. So a bunch of this is translation of rules and cards. In return, Ravage gets a great cover, which is basically Hordes artwork.
- Infinity - supplementary rules. Again a translation.
- GW Mercenaries in Warhammer. Nice article on background and collecting. And a complete list of where to find all the rules for each of the Dogs of War. Not so difficult is it, GW?
- Confrontation Army Lists, part 3 - Dwarfs of Mid-Nor and Tir Na Bor. For each army, a theme, a tactica and some painting tips.
- Rezolution Battle Report. APAC vs CSO. I know next to nothing about this game. I'm not so impressed with the minis.
- A Campaign for Freres d'Armes (which I think is Fenryll)
- Scenario for Chroniques de la Lune Noir (Ilyad)
- Brothers against Brothers - A scenario for Starship Troopers - basically bugs vs bugs. Looks like a gardening documentary.
- Painting Guide - sponsored by French retailer StarPlayer. This is part 1, preparation. Very nice article. Includes a piece on stripping metal models. An indication of why Rackham models don't have slots in the base, in the article they just clip the slots off.
- Painting Guide - a masterclass on painting the Fenryll limited edition serpent hunter, seen previously on this site. The paint job in question is fantastic. I note in his paint list he still has enough of the old GW Orc Flesh Wash left to use on this model.

After this, a collectors price guide for clix (hmm, Mage Knight one, don't give up the day job) and some articles on computer games.

And that's it.

White Dwarf (UK) 314 Highlights

2006-01-21T22:22:00.000+00:00

Just before Xmas I calculated that I was buying White Dwarf sufficiently regularly that I might as well subscribe. It being just before Xmas, and feeling (not unusually) generous to myself, I took out the offer of a years subscription combined with the Chapel of Sanctuary model, all of which kind of got discounted, but in the end I lost track of whether it was very much. The Chapel arrived earlier this week, it's a chunky resin pre-painted model, quite evocative, but with the Imperial aquila stencil painted on the chapel floor it's unlikely to pass muster in a 30 Years War recreation. Not disappointed though as despite the persistent voice at the back of my mind I'm at least a quarter convinced it was a free gift. Kind of.

The unlooked for advantage though, is you get the magazine a week early. Normally it goes on sale from our local independent on the last Friday of the month, and hits GW the day after that. Mine arrived yesterday, however.

So the only disappointment is a distinct loss of form. Partly this is because "what we are mainly trying to sell you this month" is Lord of the Rings, a game in which I'm not a stakeholder (though these new models are mighty tempting, I have to say); and partly because the magazine seems to be hurtling towards being far more of a catalogue than it's been in recent times. Accordingly, there's rather a lot of "why you should buy this package" and not a lot of "what to do after buying them", although admittedly this mainlines directly into the psyche of the average miniature buyer (me included).

OK, OK, you want to know what's in it.

New Releases

- LotR: A Shadow in the East. Rulebook, £8, released 11/2/06 (dates are European format. Can't please everyone)
- LotR: Easterlings, box of 20, £15, Perry Twins sculpts (8 bows, 8 swords, 4 spears), 11/2/06
- LotR: Easterling Kataphrakts, box of 5 mounted, Michael Perry, £20, 11/2/06
- LotR: Easterling Kataphrakts, blister of 1 mounted, Michael Perry, £5, 11/2/06
- LotR: Cirion and Madril (Gondorian heroes), blister of 2, Michael Perry, £10, 18/2/06
- LotR: Murin and Drar (Dwarvish heroes), blister of 2, Michael Perry, £10, 18/2/06
- LotR: Khamul the Easterling, blister of 2 (mounted and unmounted), Steve Saleh, £12, 11/2/06
- WFB: Dwarf Cannon, box of 1 cannon and 3 crew, Michael Footitt and Tim Adcock, £12, 28/1/06
- WFB: Dwarf Thunderers, box of 16, Colin Grayson and Aly Morrison, £18, 28/1/06
- WFB: Dwarf Bolt Thrower, box of 1 bolt thrower and 3 crewmen, Tim Adcock and Seb Perbert, £12, 4/2/06
- WFB: Dwarf Lord with Hammer and Shield, blister, Felix Paniagua, £6, 28/1/06
- WFB: Dwarf Slayers, blister of 3, Aly Morrison, £6, re-released (note) 28/1/06
- WFB: Dwarf Slayer Lord, blister, Aly Morrison, £6, re-released (note) 28/1/06
- WFB: Dwarf Slayer Command, blister of 2, Aly Morrison, £6, re-released (note) 28/1/06

Later, in the LotR section, some further releases are mentioned, due around the time of WD 315. Beyond those already on pre-order (see the previous article on this blog, there are):

- Dwarf Command, presumably 2 figs, £6
- Khandish Charioteer, metal boxed set, presumably also includes the chariot and something to pull it, £12
- Eorl the Young, Rohan warrior, mounted and unmounted, £12

News and Previews

- The Giant being previewed in various places will be designed to be set up in 4 variants - Orcs and Goblins; Ogre Slavegiant; Dogs of War; Chaos. Or mix and match. And since it can be taken as a Dogs of War you'll all need one.
- Preview of the Fall of Medusa V global campaign
- Warhammer Historicals - Vlad the Impaler. Very small picture and barely enough room for the title. Pity, as I'm quite interested.
- Sabertooth - some (again a bit small) previews of some forthcoming Warcry art.
- Black Library - two new pendants. Back to the golden age of the first 10 issues of White Dwarf when pendants and belt buckles must have made up more than 50% of the ads
- Forge World - Tyranid Trygon
- Price Changes - has its own department now, and may at some point be the 4th game in the magazine. Anyhow, 40k tanks go from £20 to £25; 40k APC sets go from £18 to £20; 40k bikes go from £5 to£6; and paint goes from £1.75 to £2. What?!! And on the same day I discover my local model train shop stocks Vallejo MC. Hmm.
- Mordheim - still exists. Yes really.
- BL publishing - previews Inheritance, Faith and Fire and the Art of Warhammer 40k. But not at any great length.

Lord of the Rings

- Out of the East - Meant to be Designer's Notes, but it isn't. Mainly pictures (with prices against each one) with some very brief comments from Mat Ward, written up as news.
- Servants of Sauron - Various Easterling armies, one of 250 points and three of 500 points. With (natch) prices. You're going to be paying around £1 to £1.20 for every 10 points, basically.
- War in the East - Battle Report. Gondor (including Aragorn) versus Khamul (is it just me that thinks this is a hokey name) the Easterling. Regaular readers of White Dwarf, used to seeing "the army they now want you to buy" against "the army they previously wanted you to buy" will not need too much help to guess the winner. Apart from, the article doesn't make it particularly clear what the victory conditions were.
- Murin and Drar - painting guide.
- Easterling Castle - terrain. Not very good. The final product, with models, looks like a siege of a sewing machine. And I've noticed that suddenly WD articles in the main don't name their authors.
- Defenders of the Realm - collecting a Minas Tirith army. No prices. Kind of OK. I've noticed, increasingly, that the painting guides assume you can't particularly be bothered. The basic army is drybrushed, including the faces, boltgun metal on black. So you're going to have them looking like the army of the dead.

Mordheim

Start of a three part series. Mordheim (Witchhunters) and Necromunda (I'm a Cawdor man) are probably my favourite GW games. This article sets the scene for the campaign (which will then necessarily be squeezed into the next two issues). It's set in the "Death's Head District". A page of fluff (scene setting fiction), a page of background + house rules. The campaign calls for each warband to be randomly allocated a particular Priest of the death god, Morr, so two more pages of fluff covering the background of each of these characters, and a rules profile which effectively covers all of them. Then two more pages of the delighted WD staff introducing their warbands, and in each case 50% is more fictional intro. So the non-fluff bits are basically "I've always liked Dwarfs, and they're still one of the armies we'd like you to buy, so ..."

I'm semi-expecting a Tau warband to turn up as special guest stars next month.

Now, I do like WD, otherwise I wouldn't have subscribed ("free" terrain notwithstanding) but this is a self-indulgent waste of time and space. I want to read about the games and everyone's jockeying for a book deal.

Pah.

Warhammer

Being mostly Dwarves. Sorry, Dwarfs.

- Secrets of the Runes - Decent article by Gav Thorpe about rune magic in Dwarf armies. Some price-free example armies.
- Out of the Mouths of Thanes - three dwarf players (Paul Sawyer, Nick Kyme, Rik Turner) talk about how their armies are affected by the new rules. Brief but decent.
- Fire Power - making and painting dwarf cannon. Mainly pictures. Not bad. Author not listed, I'm guessing it's a US article
- Painting Workshop - Slayers. Per previous comments, the painting tips are no longer 'eavy metal impossible, the stuff looks more like made-in-Shangai clix stuff. Either they are suddenly feeling threatened by Rackham and feel that they can differentiate by being less threatening, or maybe these are going to be used as briefing notes when GW goes into the pre-painted plastics space. As they surely will.
- Unbreakable - tactica on dealing with unbreakable troop types (slayers, flagellants, etc)
- Warhammer Chronicles - revolt in the Moot, 2502. Haven't heard from halflings in WFB for quite a while, they probably said, so this is a chance to reintroduce them. Little sidebars on the halftank, the hot pot and lumpin croop's fighting cocks. Finishes with the admonition "ORDER YOUR DOGS OF WAR FROM GW DIRECT!" (their capitals and exclamation mark).

40k

- Marshals of the Black Templars - an opportunity to just go through the entire BT line again, mainly pictures, and then show some conversions with associated fluff. A bit too picture heavy (a common failing of the current incarnation of WD, part of the issue being that the pictures are mostly of the regular models and could be pretty much box art. And the number of painting, conversion and gaming articles are going down - it's mainly box art and "how much to expect to spend to get the army in the picture". Not including paint at £2 a pot).
- Creature Feature Revisited - the British show that conversions are best left to GW US. A sequel to an article in WD 292 where various conversions were dreamed up as potential alien creatures. They all look pretty weak to me, maybe with the exception of the Siltwalkers of Jalgrax V (unfortunately, this and the one that I'd place second, the Grox, don't come with any information about the actual conversion process involved). Then some missions for the creatures.
- Necron Tactica - given the lack of troop choices this takes two pages, containing only two paragraphs of core text.
- Tau Preview - just the models. You'll have seen them already if you've been tracking the GW sneak peeks
- Seeing the Light - showcase article for Victoria Lamb. Some nice conversions and ideas

Other stuff

- Convershun Klinic - Exalted Demon. Fraid I didn't like it very much.

... and then significantly increased coverage of stores and clubs, as well as a restatement of recent releases.

Advance Orders

The magazine runs ahead of the website:

Following will all go on the system on 28/1/06 released 11/3/06

- Tallarn Squad £20
- Tallarn Officers £6
- Tallarn Special Weapons £6
- Tallarn Troopers £6
- Tallarn Rough Riders £5

Following will all go on system 4/2/06, released 18/3/06

- Dwarf Lord with pistol and axe £6
- Dwarf Thorgrim Grudgebearer on Throne £20

Following will all go on system 11/2/06, released 25/3/06

- Eorl the Young, mounted and unmounted £12
- Khandish Charioteer (who has indeed a chariot, and two horses, and a big hat) £12
- Dwarf Command (LotR) £6

Next Month

The Tau ... Battle report will be the Dark Eldar versus the Tau. I don't hold out much hope for the Dark Eldar on that one.

Big crowd of Tau on the back page, fighting off a very small incursion of Black Templars. Has beens ...

Minis News 21 Jan 06

2006-01-21T17:29:00.000+00:00

I didn't go away, at least not completely. I've been in California, then New York. Back now, for a week at least.

Fair amount of stuff to catch up on. Starting with the various minis news since last time:

Black Hat Martian Cephalopod Preview

For their Martian Empires range. 240mm high, designed to fit on a 120mm square base, and due for release in February. "the Tripod will be joined by Cephalod Infantry, artillery and a handling machine in due course."

Infinity February Releases

- Ariadna: Uxia McNeill Boarding Shotgun, Special Ariadna Service.
- Yu Jing: Zhanshi Hacker
- Yu Jing: Invincible with Multi Rifle
- Yu Jing: Ninja with Combi Rifle, previously only in starter pack
- PanOceania: Knight Hospitaller (pictured)
- PanOceania: Fusilier Hacker (pictured)

And the first Haqqislam figures are expected in March. Here's a preview:

More Ilyad Greens

... from their barbarian range:

- Trencher (??)
- Killer (pictured)

... and from the Chronicles of the Black Moon range, Knight of Justice (also pictured)

New Rackham Models

... for French release in February:

- Sulphur Master (pictured)
- Sessair Centaurs
- Soïm
- Wind Warriors 2
- Behemoth Mountaineer
- And another Behemoth Mountaineer

Privateer Press Previews

More stuff for the very promising looking Hordes release in April ...

- Hoarluck Doomshaper
- Archdomina Makeda
- Prophet of Everblight
- Baldur the Stonecleaver

All except the last pictured below, in that order.

Freebooter Green

Available at the beginning of February for E11.50, 40mm high, Long John, PIR 004, a rather nice pirate figure.

GW news

I have the latest UK White Dwarf (314), I'll post a review tonight hopefully. In the interim, at sneak peeks:

- Tau Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship
- some uninspiring Giant Spiders

New on UK Advance Order:

- WHFB - Novel - Inheritance by Steven Savile
- 40k - Novel - Faith and Fire by James Swallow
- 40k - Graphic Novel - Imperial Gothic - collection of Dan Abnett's comics stuff
- LotR - Cirion and Madril, £10, blister of 2 figures
- LotR - Murin and Drar, £10, blister of 2 figures
- LotR - Khandish Horsemen, £20, box of 5 figures
- LotR - Khandish Horseman, £5, blister of 1 figure
- LotR - Khandish Warriors, £6, blister of 3 figures
- LotR - Khandish Chieftain, £10, blister of 2 figures (mounted, unmounted), pictured
- LotR - Khandish King in Chariot, £18, boxed set

and, as Tabletop Gaming News points out, the French site now has the Tau Army Deal on pre-order. Contents:

- 1 commander in exo Crisis armour
- 2 exo Crisis armour
- 3 exo Stealth armour
- 16 Kroot warriors
- 12 Fire Warriors
- Sniper Drone team
- 6 Vespids
- 1 Hammerhead
- 1 Limited Edition Ethereal with Shield Drone
- 8 Gun Drones

Hasslefree Previews

Some Kev Adams goblins, in his distinctive early Citadel style, a goblin archer (pictured) and a goblin with two-handed sword.

... and from the other Kev, an equally distinctive old and crusty barbarian. And also (phew) released this month, "Signee", as well as some the greens you'll have seen previously.

Perry News

You know the drill. Fantastic miniatures (possibly the best historicals on the market), slightly obscure era. These from the Sudan: a British Stretcher party and a Mahdist Command group. From the Miniatures Page: "The next release will be ready for the end of this month, which will include Highlanders and British cavalry for the Sudan, the first seven packs of Napoleonic Nassau and four packs of AO's, a Melee pack, two foot comand packs, and a Men-at-Arms pack."

Olley's Armies Dwarf World

Bob Olley posted news of the availability of the first castings from his Dwarf World dwarven villagers series, previously seen here as greens. £9.99 a box, with a resin base coming from Simon Harris (also seen at Hasslefree and Forge World). I like the first set (pictured), less so the second.

Forge World Releases

Mostly new Tyranids ...

- Tyranid Malanthrope (pictured - impressive but I have a lot of smaller ones to paint).
- Tyranid Ripper Swarms
- Tyranid Rippers
- Tyranid Brood Nest
- Black Templar Brass Etch

Mongoose B5 miniatures

I've studiously avoided knocking B5 and concentrated on dismissing SST. However Mongoose are going into the B5 infantry market with a group of Minbari, who look more like they're staging a demonstration:

Minis News 11 Jan 06

2006-01-12T00:19:00.000+00:00

Ilyad pics

All earlier seen as greens - the orky thing looks a little less questionable when painted up though:

Hasslefree Second Birthday Limited Edition

The montage picture's a bit too large to put here, but I strongly recommend you take a look at it. A limited edition version of their Mjolnir model with a choice of heads, available from Hasslefree right now. Just bought mine.

New Reaper Greens

At (unsurprisingly) Reaper's greens page. All a bit ho-hum, I'm afraid:

- Dust Devil by Jason Wiebe, pictured
- Half Dragon Warrior, Jason Wiebe
- Lamia, Ben Siens
- Archmage, Julie Guthrie
- Giant Ape Lord, Jason Wiebe
- Orc Shaman, Jason Wiebe

Black Scorpion works in progress

Visible at their workbench page:

- marine command (Iraq line, pictured)
- marines checkpoint (Iraq line)
- musketeer dog (umm?)

Olley's Greens

Some Goblin Riders added at the Olley's Armies workbench page

Games Workshop Profit Warning

2006-01-07T11:16:00.000+00:00

Yesterday GW issued a profit warning to the London stock market. This is basically saying, we told you what we expected to make (because as a publicly traded company they publish such things), you bought our stock on that basis and we just realised we're not going to hit our targets. The stock proceeded to drop 15% and some analysts (effectively stock pickers who publish high priced newsletters) downgraded their advice on the stock from "hold" to "sell" which will probably have longer term impact on the GW share price (the analysts, by the way, are likely experts on retailing rather than games, games isn't big enough to be a category).

Ultimately, the management at GW answer to their shareholders, and they're going to have to come up with a plan to fix things or else the shareholders (typically dominated by "institutional" investors like pension funds and banks, rather than being a large mob of people with pitchforks and one share each) will want new management. As a public company they're measured on profit, so the answers are to sell more stuff (assuming it's profitable) or to cut costs. GW's "plan" (I put this in inverted commas since I'm sure there's more to it), in their statement, is to open more retail outlets and introduce more people to their games.

The blame, by the way, has been placed squarely on the Lord of the Rings, and a fall-off in interest in the associated games. This doesn't mean the LotR games are a disaster, just that they're not making as much money as they used to make (these crises and judgements are based on the likelihood of whether the company can continue to grow and justify a premium on its price, not whether it's likely to lose money and go bust). Unfortunately for GW, this provides a great angle for journalists and as an example the Independent business pages have a great picture of a Mumak and some infantry miniatures.

In fact, GW is still making a profit, albeit barely - £119,000 for the first half of 2005 (their profits for 2004 were £7.7m). Sales for the second 6 months of 2005 up to November, were £57.1m, down 20% . Unfortunately, those shifts are big enough to attract news.

I guess a bunch of people will see this as a well-deserved poke in the eye for the "evil empire". Personally I like to see GW, given their sponsorship of some great models and some great games, do well and I hope they can turn it round without damaging "the hobby" through mass cost-cutting and more price rises. The stuff about more retail outlets makes me think they're still more obsessed with price protection than with selling more stuff, though.

By the way, the Reuters article linked at the top of this post lists GW's portfolio (in addition to LotR) as "the classic Warhammer, the simply-titled Epic and other games including Battlefleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, Inquisitor, Necromunda and Warmaster". Given that the journalist is also probably a retail expert rather than a games enthusiast, he probably got this from a publicity pack somewhere. The mention of the "specialist/fanatic" games may just reflect their files being out of date, or maybe someone in GW marketing realises their game portfolio is really a bit too small for a company their size? If the analyst community realised that they actually depend on 3 games, 2 of which are called Warhammer, then they might realise that a significant shift in one of them (by all accounts the most successful) is going to seriously destabilise the business.

Minis News 6 Jan 06

2006-01-06T21:51:00.000+00:00

OK. Sorry about the long layoff. First a catch up on the news (and suddenly there seems to be a lot of it):

New Freebooter Model Available

We saw the green just before Xmas, now the actual model is available from the Freebooter store. DUN 006 Ath´Celah, Darkelf Priestess - 6 parts, total height 49mm. Price from Freebooter is E11.50.

Games Workshop News

New sneak peeks at the GW UK site:

- Glorfindel, Lord of the West (LotR)
- Tau Ethereals

New advance orders:

- Empire Greatswords - I assume this is a repackaging (of 10 for £20) rather than a new set of models. These are great models but I'm guessing you can do better on eBay.
- LotR A Shadow in the East
- LotR Easterlings - 20, presumably plastic
- LotR Easterling Kataphrakts (pictured) - 5, presumably metal
- LotR Kamul, the Easterling, a Ringwraith.

Reaper 1000th Mini

Congratulations to Reaper on reaching their 1000th miniature release, #03000, Kyra and Lavarath. Kyra, the rider is sculpted by the always reliable Werner Klocke, of Freebooter fame, and the dragon is by the equally reliable Sandra Garrity. You can substitute the wings from Ebonwrath (note the wings are also separately orderable) if you want them fully extended.

Copplestone January Offer

... is the rather attractive Gobi Expedition for £38 - some gun-toting archeologists and their Chinese escorts, a great pulp starter army. Recommended.

Starship Troopers Light Infantry and Bugs, other Mongoose stuff

At last some nice (very nice) miniatures in this line, and nicely priced too. The metal light infantry promised by Mongoose when the plastics failed to meet expectation. Out in January.

Also (and I like none of these, but bear in mind I don't like the concept)

- control bugs, due in February
- spider bugs, due March
- cliff mites, due April

And, on a thread at the Frothers Fora, Mongoose confirmed they have a license for the great classic RPG, Runequest, complete with minis:

"And yes, we have the RuneQuest licence, coming out this Summer. It is mainly the RPG, but we have a line of miniatures following it. We already have masters of Broo, Ducks and Trolls/Trollkin. . ."

Also, Conan stuff will likely happen in conjunction with the next film.

Ilyad Work in Progress

A "sylvan enchantress" and a slightly off the wall "berserker grey orc".

-

Heresy Greens

Several works in progress from Heresy, over the Xmas break. Firstly a couple of halflings, Norko the Magnificent and, umm, Ghonad the Barbarian.

Also, a new sci-fi captain (this is kind of like starship troopers - I absolutely loved Serenity and Firefly but I'm not that interested in exploring the backstory in miniatures) and, while we're pushing back the envelope on intellectual property rights, a "dwarf dark lord" called Va'Durr. Both pictured below. And in addition, an armoured blood(like) bowl player and a dungeon bug-thing he calls a waspquito.

Darksword Update

More top of the price range releases from Darksword, both dragons - the first one (pictured) is based on art by Jeff Easley, sculpt by Dave Summers (who seems to have gone some way to sorting out the dragon's dodgy arms). The second is based on Keith Parkinson's classic Northwatch Dragon painting, sculpt again by Dave Summers. I don't think the sculpt quite catches the original, but I'm not sure why.

Deep in Madness Zombies

French mini manufacturer Deep in Madness have released new zombie minis to complement their, erm, afro funk gangstas. General slightly cartoony feel to all their miniatures makes them somewhat sui generis. Warning ... background music (da fonk, presumably) on website, don't open it in the office.

Infinity Releases

For January, from the (godawful) Corvus Belli site. Most of them have been previewed already at the (overdesigned) Infinity game site (not sure how this relationship is meant to work either). Lovely minis though.

PanOceania:

Akali Sikh Commandos (2 miniatures in blister) - pictured
Dronbots (2 miniatures in box)
Orc Troop with Multi Rifle (1 miniature in blister, same as the Starter Pack)

Yu Ying:

Tiger Soldiers (2 miniatures in blister)
Guijia (TAG in box)

Ariadna:

Line Kazak with Missile Launcher (1 miniature in blister)
45th Highlander Rifles (2 miniatures in blister) - pictured

Conquest Greens

More accomplished models of American Indians - Tecumseh, the Prophet and Simon Kenton (the first and last are pictured below):

New Gamezone Releases

More spectacular models from the Spanish "GW alternative" manufacturer. In this case for the pictures and given the generally rubbish images on the gamezone (and affiliate) sites I've done something slightly different to my normal practice, which is to link directly to the original manufacturer photos. A (link to a) zip file of some Spanish forum images was posted to the frothers forum, and I've uploaded that in turn to a Flickr account. The links below are the ones at the retailer Battlefield Berlin (as posted on the frothers thread):

- Chaos Chariot (pictured)
- High Elf Chariot
- Dark Elf Chariot (also pictured)
- Important Harpie
- Harpies 1
- Harpies 2

Perry Miniatures Previews

Most of the stuff here seems to be fantasy, so a sideline to mention some of the forthcoming Perry stuff, more detail posted at the Miniatures Page.

New highlanders, Black Watch and hussars for Sudan; new Agincourt to Orleans models (pictured) and new Napoleonic Nassau troops. As usual an excellent standard.

Rackham release schedule for first half 2006

As posted to the Rackham forums - the following's a straight cut and paste.

JANUARY 2006

BLISTERS :
Jadharis clones. Blister of 3 miniatures
Air Elemental. Blister of 1 miniature
Warriors of the Wind. Blister of 2 miniatures
Tumahk, The Voice of the wind. Blister of 1 miniature

BOXES:
Templar war-staff. Box of 5 Miniatures
Cynwall war-staff. Box of 6 Miniatures

FEBRUARY 2006

BLISTERS :
Valkyries of Alahan 2. Blister of 3 miniatures
Valkyries of Alahan 3. Blister of 3 miniatures
Sons of Ogmios 1. Blister of 1 miniature
Sons of Ogmios 2. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACK:
The revelations of the Beast. 16 cards.
The Goblin Clans. 16 cards.

BOXES:
The Horned Raiders. Box of 3 Miniatures
The Warriors of Stone. Box of 3 Miniatures

MARCH 2006
Cry Havoc, issue # 7, new format, new price
Catalog supplement 2006. 80-page book

BLISTERS:
Selsÿm kestrels. Blister of 3 miniatures
Ninja goblins 1. Blister of 2 miniatures
Ninja goblins 2. Blister of 2 miniatures
Ophidian archer. Blister of 1 miniature

BOXES:
Grakkha, Kamahru's Champion Box of 2 miniatures
Nefarius clone 1000th Rackham miniature! Box of 1 miniature

APRIL 2006

Dog's of War rulebook.
Serum. (the novel, including Limited Miniature of Serum)

BLISTERS:
Mercenary Ogre (Cadwallon Limited Edition). Blister of 1 miniature
Warriors of the wind. Blister of 2 miniatures
Mountaineer of the Behemoth. Blister of 1 miniature
Mountaineer of the Behemoth. Blister of 1 miniature
Ophidian warrior. Blister of 1 miniature
Soïm. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACKS: Dogs of War pack. 16 cards

BOXES:
Sessairs centaurs. Box of 3 miniatures
Master Sulfur and Red Troll. Box of 2 miniatures

MAY 2006

CRY HAVOC 08. New format (80 pages)

BLISTERS:
Paladin of Alahan 2 . Blister of 3 miniatures
Paladin of Alahan 3 . Blister of 3 miniatures
Chthonian of the Abyss 1. Blister of 1 miniature
Chthonian of the Abyss 2. Blister of 1 miniature
Chthonian of the Abyss 3. Blister of 1 miniature
Mercenary officer. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACK:
Army pack: The Orcish Tribes. 16 cards

BOXES:
Dragon of Lanever. Box of 1 miniature (a special Titan version will come in August )

GEN CON 2006. Kelt mercenary Shaman. Blister of 1 miniature.

Bolt Action Miniatures Italian Paras

Bolt Action is a World War II miniature specialist, producing 28mm figures. Newly announced - a range of Italian paratroopers (that's what I call a specialist). Pictured - the command group:

Minis News 26 Dec 05

2005-12-27T00:13:00.000+00:00

First off, and quite astonishingly, my Hasslefree order arrived on 24 December, which means it was either posted before I ordered it, or about 4 seconds afterwards. As I remember I made the order around 8pm 22 December and paid on 23 December. I'm stunned.

I have a pile of stuff to review, and will hopefully start over the next few days. Included are the Confrontation Initiation Set, the Urban War Starter Set, some terrain stuff and some of the recently-purchased individual minis. I may also get round to some of the recent GW purchases as well.

Just doing news for now though:

Dark Age Announcements

Out of the blue, Dark Age announced three Warband boxed sets for Genesis - one each for the Bane, Coil and Strike factions. Each contains a unit leader and five troopers. The Bane and Coil warbands also include a special edition mini, "exclusive to these boxsets" (I'm kind of assuming this is one of your six models, difficult to tell). Available in the US from early January and priced at $26.99 each.

New Reaper Minis

New on the (recently revived) Reaper site (all models 28mm unless specified otherwise):

- Celebration Sophie (72mm sculpt by Bob Ridolfi, pictured)
- Kharg, Reven Sgt (by Ben Siens)
- Athak, Crimson Knight Sgt (by Adam Clarke and Kevin Williams, pictured) - don't like the model so much but love the shield ...
- Reptus Clutchlings (by Dennis Mize, no less ... pictured)
- Lupine Rager II (by Ben Siens)

Olley's Armies Combo Preview and Xmas Card

... is a mountain troll, out for some cross country skiiing. Available from Bob in the new year:

GW Preview - Eldar Rangers

From Warseer, apparently the new Eldar Rangers will be available around the time of the City of Death (CityFight follow-on) codex:

White Dwarf (UK) 313 Highlights

2005-12-23T21:08:00.000+00:00

This goes on sale in GW, I suppose, tomorrow. I went in to one of their stores a few weeks ago on a Friday evening and stuff (Black Templars, I think) was being put on the shelves. "Ya can't buy any of this" snarled the customer-friendly assistant. "Oh".

Anyhow, independents get it on the last Friday of the month, these days, and for them there seem to be less active enforcement of the embargo. Issue 313 is up to the usual standard for this very professionally produced magazine, although the format has once again changed. Maybe there isn't a format, really, but it always looks as if there ought to be one, it's just different from issue to issue.

Anyhow, as to the contents:

New Releases

Being mainly dwarves:

- Dwarf Battalion, 28/12 £50
- Dwarf Army Book, 28/12 £12
- Dwarf Warriors, 7/1, £18
- Dwarf Runelord (2 versions), 14/1, £6
- Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon (oo-er missus), 21/1, £6
- Josef Bugman, 21/1, £6
- Dwarf Grudge Thrower, 7/1, £18
- Dwarf Master Engineer (4 varieties), 14/1, £5
- Direct Sales Only Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon (2 varieties), 21/1, £6
- Black Templars Chapter Upgrade (2 squad upgrade sprues and a vehicle upgrade sprue, useful if you bought the BT battalion box, which turns out to contain a vanilla, non-BT Rhino vehicle), 7/1, £15
- Limited Edition Castellan Draco, BT special character, 7/1, £6
- Battle for Macragge Hobby Set (original set, clippers, glue, sand, brushes, some paint), £50

Previews

The usual tour to show that everybody is up to something, at least:

- Tau Empire. One page including pictures of the Codex cover, Commander Shadowsun (with drones), plastic Stealthsuits, sniper drones and controller. "Stealth armour, Sky Ray and Piranha in plastic", effectively replacing Forge World resin counterparts (an interesting trend).
- LotR - "Fantastic News", repeatedly trumpeted elsewhere - you can now buy LotR components. I also read somewhere that you can also use LotR components and models in non-LotR tournament play, but I think this fact (if true) has yet to appear in any official announcement.
- Wood Elf Lord on Stag - very nice looking character model I hadn't seen elsewhere. The associated verbiage says that a second wave of Wood Elf models are in the pipeline.
- Warhammer Mark of Chaos computer game, small preview. Due for release in late 2006 so shouldn't worry us unduly at this point.
- ForgeWorld - Hellhound tank, seen previously here.
- Black Library - a new print and some camouflage pattern apparel
- Warhammer Historical - new release of Warhammer Ancient Battles
- Black Library novels - Dan Abnett's Horus Rising, previously mentioned here and on preview at amazon. By the way, I just checked on amazon and volume two of the multi-author trilogy, by Phil MacNeill, is also on preview.
- LotR - some pointers to online errata for the new LotR rulebook. They're here.

Other General Sections

A review of GamesDay 2005. Makes me wish I'd been there. Hang on, I was. Not much to report on this.

Konvershun Klinic - World Eaters Terminators

Warhammer FB Section

Oath and Honour - Dwarf Designers' Notes. Most of this is I think already known. From a format point of view I think most of the "pull quotes" in the article are direct renditions of Powerpoint slides being shown at GamesDay 2005. Longbeards can be made out of the basic Warrior set. Longbeards can be further upgraded from the same set to Longbeard Rangers. Quarrellers (Crossbowmen) and Thunderers can be made from the Thunderers set, so the two basic sets give you all the core choices for the army. There's a fairly complete overview, in pictures, of what is available on the sprues for these two sets.

Ancient Ancestors - Retrospective on Aly Morrison's various dwarf models over time.
Into the Valley- 3000 point Battle Report for Dwarfs vs Ogres. I won't tell you who wins or it will spoil the suspense.

By Axe and Gun - some 2000 point example dwarf army lists by Gav Thorpe. One of them is based on the army deal plus the battalion, so these days £175 buys you 2000 points (best case, since the battalion boxes are the best discount to get with GW bundles), if you were wondering.

Warhammer Chronicles - Tactics for 500 points games. Sample armies for Skaven, Tomb Kings, Orcs. Nice article by Jervis
Johnson

Bretonnia Land of Heroes - building a 500 point army from the Battalion boxed set. This re-uses material from the recent US articles. I haven't seen US-WD 312 (just out) so there may be more overlap. Anyhow, similar examples for Wood Elves and Orcs.

Painting Workshop - Metal Techniques. Good article, focuses very much on metallic paints though, in case you thought you might get some Rackham style goodness.

Warhammer 40k Section

Chapter Approved - Daemon Worlds. Rules and terrain building tips.

The Death of Golia VII - fiction

Rise to Glory - tracking a Black Templar through different career stages, along the lines set forth in the codex. Basically fluff, but a short scenario as well at the end.

Tactica: Black Templars - what it says on the tin. Various tips and tricks, plus a page for Orks, Chaos, Eldar and Tyranids on fighting BT.

Dragon Slayers - Overview of a nicely built studio Imperial Tank Company.

Castellan Draco - Rules for the special character

Lord of the Rings section

A Shadow in the East - more Easterling previews, of the book and of the models. These are very nice indeed (Perry, I think), and not particularly LotR centric.

Return to Dwarrowdelf - Additional rules for games set in Moria, plus some modelling tips (you'll need styrofoam and lots of it).

The Misty Mountains - part 2 of a set of campaign rules, again with scenarios. A pity I can't get worked up about the LotR stuff because the models and the support are both excellent.

Other Stuff

Most of the advance orders to be listed are LotR Easterlings. The Dwarf Bolt Thrower is on Advance Order 24/12 for 4/2 availability. Next month's issue leads with the Easterlings; the Warhammer coverage is mostly Dwarves (with some additional stuff on halflings); the 40k coverage includes articles on BT Marshals (presumably Helbrecht comes out around then), a creature creation/conversion article and tactica for necrons. In the introductory feature it also mentions there'll be the studio Mordheim campaign kicking off as well, I very much hope this is the case.

Minis News 23 Dec 05

2005-12-23T20:48:00.000+00:00

And a merry Xmas to all. Probably the last one before the holidays. I have some various unopened boxes to review during the break, when I get the chance (or more likely, I opened them, shook my head sadly and closed them again). My main projects over the break are terrain-building, we'll see how far I get. To put my money where my mouth is, I ordered some stuff from Hasslefree, Freebooter and Copplestone, all of which I expect to arrive in the new year. I'd have ordered from Perry also if I could decide on the range. Of course, you can also get older Perry sculpts from Foundry, if you look outside their main GW employment.

I'd also add that the new UK WD arrived in some stores today (I'll read it later, haven't even taken it out of the bag at this point) and also the latest Harbinger fell through my letterbox this morning. So expect to see some stuff on those.

Anyhow ...

New Ilyad greens

More Howling Crest big barbarians ("Vorag Barbarians") with mohicans sculpts, 2 models (3 views of each at the link):

Magnificent Egos

... have a new webstore (the Frothers fora rightly commented it isn't very good) and some new greens:

- Baldorf (pictured)
- an impressive mounted blackguard
- second wave of Iron Heroes line (one model pictured - there are 3 in all)
- Nazchryst, Planar Warrior

'

Games Workshop News

3 new sneak peeks at their UK website:

- Orcs and Goblins giant (another variant on the sprue, presumably though a lead in to some Orcs and Goblins previews)
- Sauron, the Necromancer
- A heavily (but not particularly helpfully) photoshopped Tau Piranha

No new advance order items by the look of things.

Warmachine Previews

From the Privateer website:

- Cygnar Hammersmith warjack
- Khador Spriggan warjack

There's also (this is late, I wasn't going to play it, but while we're on the subject) a preview of No Quarter 4.

'

Wargames Journal

A downloadable PDF magazine, very nice and nicely done. I won't summarise what's in it, since it is free to download (be warned, if you don't have broadband - 10MB plus). Two issues:

the December issue and a taster issue, made available previously.

Hasslefree Greens

Some excellent new stuff from Hasslefree, keeping up a consistently high standard.

- Viktor (the latest Kev Adams goblin, a better picture than previously)
- Libby, a kind of female fantasy football space marine (I think)
- Suzi, machine-gun armed Japanese schoolgirl
- Dionne, a catsuit wearing werewolf hunter

'
'

Starship Troopers Burrower Bug

What it says on the tin. Still don't like the line, really, so I'm not the best person to ask.

Pulp Heroes

Some new Pulp Heroes greens (just a sample below) ... Very nice too. My Copplestone purchases were in this genre so this may well be a good match.

Forge World New Stuff

Fair amount of new stuff from the premier GW spin-off.

- Cadian Infantry Squad with Respirators Upgrade Pack (pictured)
- Cadian Infantry Squad Upgrade Pack (pictured)
- Cadian Hardened Veterans Upgrade Pack (pictured again)
- Imperial Navy Arvus Lighter
- Tyranid Aerial Spore Mines
- Tallarn Sentinel

Collectors Guides and the GW website

2005-12-19T23:58:00.000+00:00

A while ago I bought and read the Tyranids Collectors guide, and mentioned it was next to impossible to buy the collectors/classic items in the guide (which is meant to be a catalogue for such items) from the GW website. Tonight, ordering some of the direct sales only items, I had another go. And then out of interest I tried the non-UK sites.

Three experiments as search terms:
- "patriarch" - you should get, according to the collectors guide, two genestealer models, the enthroned patriarch (99110106053) and the classic genestealer patriarch (99060106054)
- "hybrid" - you should get 2 models, hybrid 1 (994701060512) and hybrid 2 (9947010604511) (sad to say, there were originally 14 of these, at least).
- "magus" - 2 models, the advisor (9947010604507) - which is also part of the enthroned patriarch set - and the magus with staff (9947010604513)

The advisor, the enthroned patriarch, the classic patriarch and the magus with staff (as "magus with staff 2") are all visible here, as well as the magus with laspistol who will shortly be making a guest appearance. By the way, Familiar 1, from that page, is also still available according to the collectors' guide.

You'll get some other models as well (e.g. Balthasar Gelt, although even this is country dependent), but narrowing down the search is problematic as you seem to have to type in straight SQL. Also, if a search returns no results, it tells you it returned one result (the null result). All models should also be accessible from the tyranids collectors page, I would think, but that is obviously hoping for two much - by and large none of these models are available from those pages.

Anyhow, les resultats:

- GW USA - both hybrid models. Magus with staff but no advisor. A magus with laspistol also turns up (72557-7). No enthroned patriarch but the classic patriarch (under the code 72596-7) with associated arms as separate bits.
- GW UK - No hybrids. Arms but no body for classic patriarch. No enthroned patriarch. Magus with laspistol only. This is the market for which the collectors guide should be valid.
- GW Canada - No hybrids (Inquistor conversion parts only), no patriarch, no magus. Images on any search are broken (whoever wrote it mixed up the item addresses and the image addresses)
- GW France: 2 hybrids (type in "hybride"). No patriarch. Only one of the genestealer magi (type in "magos") - the staff. Tyranid homepage in store gets mangled in Safari.
- GW Australia - none of the models. I get the impression that Australia gets a subset - there are no classic/collectors pages. Same broken search issue as Canada.
- GW Italy - both magi and both hybrids. No patriarch. I notice the site is selling the English edition of the Tyranid collectors guide.
- GW Spain - Both hybrids. Both magi, plus the one with the laspistol, but the advisor is sold under the name of 'patriarca'. No patriarch.

And there you have it. Two conclusions:
- The collectors guide series either reflects a state that is going to come to pass in the future (or which existed at some point in the near past, but this guide has only been out a few weeks), or is just plain untrue
- GW seem to have multiple web storefronts, none of which work, sometimes to a frankly embarassing extent. And the UK is one of the worst.

[ update ... I was just about to put the collectors' guide back on the shelf, when I noticed a picture of one of the hybrids (note - the hybrids) on the inside front cover. Next to it, it says "Collectors' Models (like the Genestealer Advisor, pictured right) ..." Maybe the reason that they can't get the right items on the web store is that they don't actually recognise them. ]

GW Release Schedule for First Half 06

2005-12-19T22:16:00.000+00:00

Taken from dakkadakka forum. Judging by the White Dwarf numbers these must be the US release dates:

12/19/05
*WHITE DWARF 312
*DWARF BATTALION

01/02/06
*DWARF ARMY BOOK

01/09/06
*DWARF RUNELORD
*DWARF WARRIORS

01/16/06
*DWARF MASTER ENGINEER
*DWARF LORD WITH GREAT WEAPON

01/23/06
*DWARF JOSEPH BUGMAN
*DWARF GRUDGE THROWER

01/30/06
*DWARF LORD WITH HAMMER AND SHIELD
*WHITE DWARF 313
*DWARF CANNON
*DWARF THUNDERERS
*BLACK TEMPLARS CHAPTER UPGRADE

02/06/06
*DWARF SLAYER LORD
*DWARF SLAYER COMMAND
*DWARF SLAYERS Blister
*DWARF SLAYERS Box

02/13/06
*DWARF BOLT THROWER
*WOOD GROVE PACK

02/27/06
*DWARF LORD WITH PISTOL AND AXE
*DWARF THORGRIM GRUDGEBEARER ON THRONE
*WHITE DWARF 314

03/13/06
*TAU ETHEREAL CASTE
*CODEX TAU EMPIRE

03/20/06
*TAU CRISIS BATTLESUIT COMMANDER

03/27/06
*TAU PATHFINDERS WITH RAIL RIFLES
*WHITE DWARF 315
*TAU SNIPER DRONE TEAM
*FALLEN GIANT TEMPLATE (TENTATIVE)
*TAU PIRANHA

04/10/06
*GIANT

04/17/06
*TYRANID LICTOR - DEATH LEAPER
*VOSTROYAN PLATOON
*TYRANID BIOVORE

04/24/06
*TAU VESPID STINGWINGS
*TAU VESPID STINGWINGS
*TAU AUN VA , MASTER OF THE UNDYING SPIRIT
*WHITE DWARF 316

05/01/06
*FALL OF MEDUSA FIVE
*TAU SKY RAY
*IMPERIAL GUARD VOSTROYAN FIRSTBORN
*TAU COMMANDER SHADOWSUN

05/08/06
*VOSTROYAN LASCANNON TEAM
*IMPERIAL GUARD VOSTROYAN COMMAND SQUAD

05/15/06
*VOSTROYAN MORTAR TEAM
*VOSTROYAN OFFICERS

05/22/06
*VOSTROYAN ASSAULT WEAPONS

05/29/06
*ORK KOMMANDO WITH BURNER
*RAZOR WIRE
*CITIES OF DEATH BATTLEMAT
*40K BUILDINGS: IMPERIAL CITY
*40K EXPANSION: CITIES OF DEATH
*WHITE DWARF 317
*URBAN BASING KIT

Minis News 19 Dec 05

2005-12-19T21:11:00.000+00:00

Rackham links

Links to images of some of the Rackham new figures from yesterday:

- Selsym Sparrowhawk
- Goblin Ninja 1
- Goblin Ninja 2
- Ophidian Archer
- Grakha, Champion of Kamharu (pictured, the elemental is in the same pack)
- Clone Nefarius

Rezolution Wave 5 Previews

Better than previous:

- Dravani Bagger Leader Pack
- The Cardinal & Sister Carmine (pictured)
- Dravani Baggers
- Dravani Volkoda

Crunch-Waffle Greens

I kind of ignored the announcement of this new company, and I'm still not keen on the stuff (which is somewhat off the beaten path, but anyhow the website is as good as or better than many larger companies can boast, and they now have some new greens to look at. Have a look and make up your own mind.

New Crusader Stuff

And after the fantasy and WWII stuff, some other historicals, links are to pictures where available.

- ANR010 Unarmoured Roman Cavalry (pack of 3)
- ANR011 Unarmoured Roman Cavalry command (3) (pictured)
- ANR012 Republican Roman Cavalry in Chain (3)
- ANR013 Republican Roman Cavalry in Chain Command (3)
- SYP002 Prussian Musketeers Lapels & Prussian Cuffs Command , Seven Years War (4)
- SYP011 Prussian Grenadiers Lapels & Prussian Cuffs Command (4)
- SYP022 Prussian Fusiliers Lapels & Swedish Cuffs Command (4)

More Fenryll

Firstly an alternative paint job for yesterday's Club Fenryll snake hunter.

And, some more new minis:

- a 120mm giantess (yech)
- dwarves of the north here, here and here (first two pictured).
- various animals

Minis News 18 Dec 05 - part two

2005-12-18T21:41:00.000+00:00

Infinity releases

This is from the Frothers fora and also at Creafigs, trying to gauge announcements for the Infinity game is a question apparently of looking at the images at the Infinity website and mentally differencing them from previous versions. The Corvus Belli site New Releases page now contains Infinity material but presumably has only stuff on general release.

Anyhow, here are the clues:

- Ariadne - highlander and line kazaks
- Yu Jing - tiger soldiers and guijia
- PanOceania - sikh commando

Below, a picture of the green for the sikh commando:

Shadowforge works in progress

Take a look a the workshop page of the Australian company. A limited edition Xmas special and some female BloodBowl-alike Orcs. Not keen on any of it, quite frankly.

New Urban War minis

Released in January, for VASA: power suit and (2) suppressors, all pictured.

Fantization 2006 Special Mini

Per the title, Fantization's a 32mm elf sculpted by the ur-sculptor Tom Meier. Choice of 2 heads and various weapons means, apparently, up to 18 possible versions:

Starship Troopers large bug

I've said before I'm not keen on this line, and though this model is very similar, at least, to the ones seen in the movie, I don't like it either. I think it comes down to whether you think the backstory is interesting on some of these games (Babylon 5, equally, leaves me cold, so Mongoose aren't on a good run from my point of view). There's an interesting discussion of the model's background by the sculptor, Steve Saunders about it in a thread on the frothers fora.

Crusader Miniatures new models

Some new sculpts from Crusader ...

- German riflemen in sidecaps
- German Assault Engineers
- Urko - Half Ogre (pictured)
- McCoy - Gnome Fighter

Some disparaging remarks on the Frothers' fora but I kind of like the half-ogre, at least (and I can take or leave the WWII stuff - don't like the gnome much though).

New Perry Dutch/Belgian Napoleonics

Cavalry casualties and cavalry command, both pictured. Fantastic, although I'm not sure how many dioramas are being made from the range (since I personally don't use casualty figures in wargames).

New Greens at Conquest

Some excellent greens of Native American armies which kind of makes me have a yen to get some skirmish warbands for the French and Indian war (but who would I play?). Anyhow, just a couple of pictures - far more on the site. The new ones are the Sauk and Fox Pack B (at the top).

Conquest are also running a Christmas sale (visible on their homepage) so you can (and I may if I don't stop myself) buy rules and models cheap.

Club Fenryll mini

A new mini for Fenryll's collectors club (which gets you a quarterly special edition mini, a catalog and some other stuff) - Nahiri the Serpent Hunter (for fourth quarter 2005). You can also see the green for the mini (or pair of minis, in fact) for first quarter 2006.

Dwarf Wars War Mammoth

What it says on the tin, a War Mammoth for Dwarf Wars from West Wind, just in time for the GW Dwarf releases. Resin model priced at £45.

Rackham January Releases

Bloody Rackham. Website doesn't work on Safari. January releases announced in the form of a poster.

Anyhow:

- Dogs of War (Confrontation expansion)
- Ophidian Archer
- Goblin Ninjas (2 sets, each blisters of 2 models)
- Clone Nefarius (special edition 1000th Rackham figurine)
- Grakha, Champion of Kamharu
- Selsym Sparrowhawks (I have that right? Need to check the catalog ... anyhow blister of 3 models)
- Cry Havoc (next issue is 7? Goes to bimonthly, price drops to E9.90)

Also, their exclusive model for the next Rackham open:

Minis News 18 Dec 05 - part one

2005-12-18T21:06:00.000+00:00

Hmm. I've given up trying to make excuses, but I am still here, at least:

Copplestone Castings News

Return of the K18 Polar Encampment accessories pack for the pulp line, previously withdrawn due to moulding problems. Find it on this page.

2 new 10mm packs in Copplestone's Warmaster-alike line, to be found here:

TM5 Half-Orcs with Swords - 1 x command strip plus 5 x Half-Orc Sword strips. 11mm tall. Strips supplied as random variants.
TM6 Orc-Wolf-Riders - 12 x Wolf-Riders. Strips supplied as random variants.

Freebooter new model

DUN006, Darkelf Priestess Ath´Celah, will be available in January, and can be pre-ordered now from the Freebooter site at a price of E11,50.

Games Workshop News

Some new advance orders on the site, not previewed in the recent white dwarf 312:

- WFB Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon
- WFB Dwarf Thunderers
- WFB Dwarf Cannon
- WFB Dwarf Slayer Command
- WFB Dwarf Slayers
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Winged Helm (Direct Sales only) - pictured
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Horned Helm (Direct Sales only) - pictured
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Hammer and Shield
- Fell Cargo - new WFB novel by Dan Abnett
- Vermintide - WFB novel, Bruno Lee
- Dark Adeptus - 40k novel, Ben Counter
- Death or Glory - 40k/Ciaphas Cain novel, Sandy Mitchell
- Xenology - 40k background book
- Fleshworks - Necromunda Book, Lucien Soulban (yeah right)

They also "discovered" some unsold Dwarf army deal boxes.

New sneak peeks on the site:

- chaos giant (looks fantastic)
- commander shadowsun (ditto)

Reaper New Additions

New miniatures, and a lot of new paints. Just the minis listed here:

03004: Dorva, Female Dark Elf
03005: Cavern Dragon
03007: Egyptian Cat Statue
03008: Egyptian Jackal Statue
03010: Silas, Male Cleric (pictured)
03014: Nightstalker Assassin
14230: Sir Daman, Mounted Sergeant
14226: Sir Danel, Mounted Hero
14231: Crusader Heavy Cavalry, Adept
14236: Neb'nesew Ne'pet, Nefsokar Warlord (pictured)
14237: Senet Net'merew, Nefsokar Mounted Warlord

Minis News 10 Dec 05

2005-12-10T15:17:00.000+00:00

Back from my travels, catching up again.

Ilyad green

Another strong model from Ilyad, following on from the previous Howling Crest (Crete Hurlante) virago - a Howling Crest Champion, modelled by Jacques-Alexandre Gillois.

Fantasy Warriors re-releases for December

Merliton continue to roll out their recasts of the old, classic Grenadier models. New for December:

- Dwarf with spear command group (pictured)
- Dwarves with axes on bears
- Dwarves with spears on bears
- Dwarf bear-rider drummer
- Dwarf bear-rider hero
- Dwarves on giant bats
- Jumak the Destroyer (orc)
- Brenn IV, Dwarf King and Army Command Group
- Dwarves with axe on bears Command Group

ebob Mongol Cavalry

Some beautiful 28mm mongol cavalrymen from ebob, based on his equally excellent horses. In the time between the announcement coming out and me making this post, the first castings have sold out, but more are promised.

Carolingians and Late War Germans from Artizan Designs

Carolingian period infantry (pictured) and cavalry (the latter using ebob's horses, and late period WWII Germans in winter gear.

Eastern Front Studios greens

Despite the name, these are fantasy models. The images are really too big (even for me) to include in here, you can get to them via this link. Eastern Front Studios are here.

Another Hasslefree Orc Preview

Yet another, and keeping up the high standard.

Spyglass

Sadly, Spyglass say they're going to be winding down in terms of the models they release, with the possible exception of the specialist zO line. Disappointing, and illustrative of the good reasons for supporting independent/smaller manufacturers.

Darkson Designs new models

Some new/upcoming releases for Darkson Designs' alternative WWII universe, greatcoated germans and American NCO (again the images are too big to include here).

GW news

Games Workshop UK now have the promised Dwarf characters on advance order, up to Josef Bugman (pictured below). I acquired the Dwarf army deal, and so have the new Army Book (or had it waiting for me on my return, I haven't actually read it yet). They also have a Tau ethereal on their sneak peeks section. Also pictured below, the 2006 limited edition games day mini, now being advertised on the GW-US sites.

Mail order company Alliance Games by the way has the following advance orders, for further clues on the Tau and other releases (hmm, a new biovore):

GAW 47-34 Warhammer 40K: Imperial Guard Vostroyan Platoon $90.00
GAW 51-13 Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Lictor Death Leaper $25.00
GAW 51-14 Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Biovore $20.00
GAW 56-15 Warhammer 40K: Tau Sniper Drone Team $25.00
GAW 56-18 Warhammer 40K: Tau Aun Va Master of the Undying Spider $30.00
GAW 56-19 Warhammer 40K: Tau Piranha $25.00
GAW 56-20 Warhammer 40K: Tau Vespid Stingwings Command $30.00
GAW 56-47 Warhammer 40K: Tau Vespid Stingwings

New Mongoose B5 game?

From DakkaDakka - Mongoose to release a Babylon 5 ground combat game, "War without End", 15mm format, due April. Yech.

Minis News 4 Dec 05 - Part Two

2005-12-06T04:19:00.000+00:00

New Hasslefree Models Available

As previously mentioned, but with some new pictures of the castings. Seen here, Zombie Ray and one of the new Kev Adams multi-part metal Orcs, in the old Citadel style.

New Models from MSB Toys

Some spectacular sculpts, both new models and greens, for their Monkey King range. Shown here, crazy Frog Guard and Warrior Fish.

TAG Renaissance Range greens

From a post to the Frothers' Fora, Ottoman command for TAG's forthcoming Renaissance range. More pictures if you follow that link.

Minis News 4 Dec 05 - Part One

2005-12-05T15:21:00.000+00:00

Travelling again ... I'm going to use some downtime to try and catch up. There's a fair amount to catch up on so this is going to take a few sessions:

Black Scorpion New Releases

Black Scorpion, despite starting as a 28mm specialist, seems to be going down the path of being an Andrea style large model for display cases vendor. After being quiet for a while, three new items for December: an impressive 54mm (60mm to top of head) Achilles, a less impressive 54mm female model called "Ramona" and a 40mm Bob Dylan model (a useful folk singing squat for my Inquisitor warband).

Brigade Aeronef Releases

Brigade announced some new models for its Space 1889-style ship to ship game, Aeronef. Specifically, a Turkish fleet (Turkey for Xmas, geddit?). The new items can be found here. Look for:

VAN-2001 - Turkish Dig Battleship (pictured)
VAN-2002 - Turkish Battlecruiser
VAN-2003 - Turkish Dig Cruiser
VAN-2004 - Turkish Dig Destroyer
VAN-2005 - Turkish Fast Torpedo Dig
VAN-2006 - Turkish Patrol Dig

Also new for Aeronef is VAN-007 - Austro-Italian starter pack. And take a look at some of the nice Brigade Xmas offers available.

Copplestone New Stuff

This entry a somewhat liberal rephrasing of the regular update Mark sends out:

Firstly, this month's special offer is on a Lost World theme inspired by the upcoming King Kong movie - a mix of 1920s characters (pulled from the Back of Beyond and High Adventure ranges) and dangerous creatures.

Secondly a new pack, FW44 Band on the Run (pictured), a re-working of a pack Mark originally made for Grenadier way back. Next pack - Bodyguards in Bikinis.

Thirdly, some new 10mm fantasy - TM7 Orc Archers and TM8 Giant Wolves. Orc Wolfriders and Half-Orcs with Swords out next week.

Corvus Belli website changes

A note to say that Corvus Belli's website now includes the Infinity new releases. Given that news isn't properly dated at the site it's still difficult to tell when new stuff is coming out, but it's a little easier than at the Infinity site.

Dark Sword new releases

Dark Sword have 8 new Visions in Fantasy available on the website.

DSM7101 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Fighter with Sword and Shield - $5.99
DSM7102 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Wizard with Staff - $5.99 (pictured)
DSM7103 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Cleric with Mace - $5.99 (pictured)
DSM7104 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Rogue with Sword and Dagger - $5.99
DSM7105 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Elf Ranger with Bow - $5.99
DSM7106 - Visions in Fantasy - Male Beastmaster with Sword -$5.99
DSM7107 - Visions in Fantasy - Female Mage - $5.99
DSM7108 - Visions in Fantasy - Female Warrior with Sword - $5.99

They also have some new greens at their sneak peeks section, for Elmore set 8, sculpted by Dennis Mize. Dark Sword's sculptors are very skilful but I'm not keen on either the original art from which the sculpts are derived, or the paint jobs their studio painters have done, so not for me, I'm afraid.

Freebooter Xmas Miniature

Freebooter have their Xmas miniature for 2005 available at the store, WEI 006 Christmas Miniature 2005. A limited cast of 1000, this figure is one of three Xmas-themed queens, with plans to release one more at each of the next couple of Christmas holidays. Another nice sculpt from Freebooter, and a lovely paint job.

Games Workshop sneak peeks

Three new sneak peeks at the UK site:

- Dwarf Quarrellers for WFB
- Madril, Captain of Ithilien for LotR
- Tau Sniper Drones for 40k

GW's online store also has an advance order posted for a limited edition Black Templar, somewhat unexpected (picture below). Also note that the Dwarf Army deal has sold out.

Rackham December Releases

DRCR02 - Drune Minotaur (x1 fig) - $19.99
GBCH07 - Ozhon - 2nd Incarnation Box Set (x2 figs) - $32.99 USD
GBFI02 - Hoosu Uzo - Goblin Zealot (x1 fig) - $12.99 USD
OPCH02 - Ayane - Opidien Female Champion (x1 fig) - $11.99 USD
OREM01 - Orc War-Staff Box Set (x6 figs) - $29.99 USD
SCTR02 - Dirz Crossbowmen II (x3 figs) - $11.99 USD
RKHSET01 - Confrontation Starter Kit #1: Wolfen vs. Scorpions Box Set - $29.99 USD

Minis News 29 Nov 05

2005-11-29T20:13:00.000+00:00

More Hasslefree Greens

Here's a niche market. World War I hobbits. Appealing to alternative ratling market (although, having thought about it, anyone who read the book Tolkien and the Great War might see some irony in the choice:

Also December releases, including some of the previously seen greens/WIPs:

- HFA012 Amoy, young zombie hunter with skateboard and katana
- HFA013 Mad-dog, ill-prepared zombie hunter
- HFL006 Sci-fi human & halfling guns
- HFO003 Borak, Orc Champion with axe & shield, by Kev Adams
- HFO004 Mikal, goblin with scimitar and shield, also by Kev Adams
- HFZ210 Zombie Ray
- Xmas 2005 Figures - SW2005 & SL2005. Sally & Sarah

Celtos "sampler" pack

Tis the season of starter packs. Here's a Celtos one from Brigade. 9 elves, 9 gaels, a rulebook and some dice. £20. Sigh, and today I shelled out for the Confrontation Initiation set; I'm a sucker for these bargain packs. And this does look like a bargain - 18 excellent metal sculpts PLUS a rulebook ... for £20? Sign me up.

MSB Toys withdraws franchise from Apocalypse

French manufacturer MSB toys, has, according to a post on the Frothers forum, taken over/back exclusive distribution of its miniatures, previously held by Apocalypse miniatures.

Splintered Light Miniatures

A new company, Splintered Light, is supplying a range of 15mm fantasy miniatures - 6 races - Leonines (a race of felines), Hyenamen, Halfling Ranger types, Badgermen, Bearmen, and Wolfhounds.

Magnificent Egos Greens

New metals and painted models can be seen at the Magnificent Egos homepage. Trying to work out which mini is which is next to impossible on that page. As far as I can make out there are some new paints for Monte Cook's Iron Heroes and some new metals, danged if I know what the metals are meant to be. The web store is however, down for maintenance right now, so enlightenment may not be so far away. Don't take this as a warning against their models, which are generally of a high standard.

New Olley Scrunts

Ever wonder what happened to Squats? Look at Bob Olley's Scrunt models. 5 new models on the site, I think this makes 17 available in all.

Rebel Minis new models

From Rebel Minis World War 2 fantasy range (another niche market) - fantasy allied elf and fantasy allied dwarf by well known sculptor Bobby Jackson:

Eureka napoleonics

Australian manufacturer Eureka announced a new range of post-1812 18mm napoleonics.

18mm POST 1812 NAPOLEONIC FRENCH INFANTRY - NEW RELEASE
Designed & sculpted by Alan Marsh
Figures in brackets denote the number of variants. Variants are supplied randomly.

300NFR01 Fusilier, marching, campaign dress (6)
300NFR02 Fusilier, marching, in knee gaiters (3)
300NFR03 Grenadier, marching, campaign dress (4)
300NFR04 Voltigeur, marching, campaign dress (4)
300NFR05 Grenadier, firing and loading, campaign dress (4)
300NFR06 Voltigeur, firing and loading, campaign dress (4)
300NFR07 Mounted Officer (1)
300NFR08 Dismounted Officer (2)
300NFR09 Drummer (2)
300NFR10 Eagle Bearer (1)
300NFR11 Deuxieme Portaigles, in helmet (1)
300NFR12 Deuxieme Portaigles, in bearskin (1)

Perry's Update

More Perry stuff, from the Miniatures Page (go there for the full story):

Alan writes:

"I've been beavering away at the 1815 Dutch/Belgians to rap them up. Next, there'll be cavalry casualties and cavalry high command, followed by a limber and maybe one or two other things. Then onto the Nassau Contingent (about 14-15 packs), which shouldn't take too long. Early next year, I'll be embarking on the French for 1815. Don't worry - I'll be dipping into my other ranges whilst working on these.

Michael's working on more British in Indian service dress, as well as the first of the Highlanders (which will be ready next month)."

AO 19 Pavesiers standing £6 GBP (these seen previously)
AO 20 Pavesiers advancing £6 GBP (ditto)

Napoleonic/Dutch Belgians 1815:

DB 38 Dutch 4th Light Dragoon command £7.50 GBP
DB 39 Dutch 4th Light Dragoons galloping, swords drawn £7.50 GBP
DB 40 Dutch Volunteer Light Dragoon command £7.50 GBP
DB 41 Dutch Volunteer Light Dragoons galloping, swords shouldered £7.50 GBP

British Sudanese:

SB 19 Gatling gun and Naval Brigade crew (gun + 4 crew) £8 GBP
SB 20 British dead and wounded (Infantry and Naval Brigade) £6 GBP
SB 21 Foot command in Indian service dress advancing £6 GBP
SB22 Infantry standing firing, Indian service dress £6 GBP
SB23 Infantry at the ready, Indian service dress £6 GBP

Really an excuse to show more Perry pictures:

Copplestone Xmas Model

Forgot to show this - Santa and assistant, £4.

GW Rumour update

2005-11-29T19:30:00.000+00:00

I just posted this to the Frothers forum (hence the similarities) and I'll cut and paste here:

From DakkaDakka forum and Bolter and Chainsword, based on people speaking with Games Workshop at a recent event (Sabbat Crusade Weekend) at Warhammer World:

40k

Next few codices after Tau:
- Eldar
- Cityfight replacement (City of Death)
- Dark Angels (2007)

Eldar:
- Autarch
- plastic Wraithlord and War walker kits
- new Dark Reaper exarch

Cityfight
- new IG regiment "Volostian guard" - cossacks in space - these are the "greatcoated" space marines previously mentioned, and they seem to be metals

Also on my previous post - the plastic catachan battleforce is no longer on the GW UK website but it is still in the printed 2006 catalogues.

Also
- Lucius the Eternal
- Daemon Prince of Nurgle
- Plastic scouts with sniper rifles

There's also some mention of Orks - since we don't expect a codex these might be to go with City of Death also.

Warhammer Fantasy

"The set contains Dwarf hand gunners, dwarf warriors, dwarf miners, a dwarf cart, dwarf hero, goblin spearmen, goblin spider riders, troll, some more goblin stuff (which I can't recall). I also heard that plastic slayer/s would be in the box although this sounds outrageous!"

- Orcs and Goblins around Autumn/Xmas
- New plastic goblin spider rider miniatures
- New plastic stone trolls
- new Azhag (with Wyvern)
- new Skarsnik and Gobbler

So Dwarfs, not Empire.

Next Few Codices for 40k/GW Rumour Round Up

2005-11-27T20:18:00.000+00:00

Someone wrote to me and asked, what are the next few codices for 40k and WFB?

The rumour going around the various fora is that the following are due for release next year, for 40k:

- Tau (obviously)
- Cityfight follow-on (City of the Dead)
- Eldar
- Dark Angels codex

Assume a quarterly roll out. DakkaDakka reports the Tau codex itself will be out March 1, so maybe those earlier reports of February model releases are correct. I'm guessing a new plastic Imperial Guard set, per previous rumours, around the Cityfight follow on. My bet's on Steel Legion, since they can then introduce and sell a bunch of tanks also, but we'll see. Notably, they've retained Steel Legion and Valhallans in metal, plus the black library stuff (Schaeffer/Gaunt/Tanith) but killed Death Korps, Mordians and Praetorians, and given Tallarns to Forge World. I also note the Catachan battleforce isn't on the online store any more, and the codex is a free downloadable (not a good sign, Rambo fans).

There are also longstanding rumours of an Eldar/Dark Eldar/Harlequin consolidation in a single codex.

What needs refreshing? Right now, for 40k, the only "race" without a plastic battleforce box is the Inquisition (Daemonhunters/Witchhunters - notably merged into a single category in both the US and UK catalogues). There were longstanding promises of a third Ordo book, for the Ordo Xenos (Alienhunters), but that seems to be deferred, long-term. For WFB, GW did take advantage of Lustria to consolidate some of the lines with plastic battalion boxes without a codex, per se, but I can't see them doing that in this case.

The Dark Eldar models, if you take a look round, are the ones probably in most need of a refresh, but I'm still not sure we'll see the comprehensive Eldar codex given the logistics involved (2 new battleforces, 1 army deal, various additional squad boxes and a new Harlequins line?), certainly if GW are still bringing out new LotR lines, as seems to be the plan. The Necron could certainly do with a couple of new units, to my mind. But ... the apparent reason behind the Tau next has more to do with the popularity of the Tau line than a requirement for more Tau.

On the WFB side, the general consensus seems to be Orcs and Goblins, after the Dwarfs. After that, it's still unclear. In this case, those races without their own battalion box include:

- beasts of chaos
- hordes of chaos
- dark elves
- dogs of war (unlikely, as a premium line)
- dwarfs (on its way, already on advance order)
- vampire counts

There's also chaos dwarfs, still to come (apparently the chaos dwarfs in the Storm of Chaos hellcannon set were there as a kind of placeholder, to tell us they hadn't gone the way of squats), but equally rumoured to be a long way off. And there's a new release of WFB due in the early Summer, which if it goes the 40k/Macragge route would be Empire vs Orcs and Goblins, so probably look for an Empire refresh around then also. So my betting is O&G followed by Empire, followed by, umm, some form of chaos undivided refresh. I also think if GW thought they could get away, production/logistics wise, with 5 new armies next year, they'd do it.

Anyhow - mostly conjecture at this point, or repackaged conjecture from the various forums.

Minis News 28 Nov 05 - Part deux

2005-11-27T17:07:00.000+00:00

Whoops, a couple of things I missed earlier:

New Reaper Minis

They can be found as the featured items at the Reaper store.

02998: Dorian Starbrow, Elven Hero (pictured)
02999: Sister Kendra, Cleric (also pictured)
03001: Phoenix
03002: Gar Ironhorn, Dwarf Warrior
14224: Lady Jehanne, Mounted Crusader Warlord
14228: Isarah, Mounted Priestess,
14229: Hospitaliers (3)
14232: Templar Justicars (3)
14233: Ivy Crown Light Lancer
14234: Guardian Beast
14235: Nai-Khanon, Reptus Champion
75067: Talisman of Scrying Life Counter

Urban War November Releases

Now on the Urban Mammoth site. Most have already been previewed here.

- 23905-Urban War Issue 4 £6.00 €9.00
- 13601-Convict Auxilia (4 different designs) £8.00 €12.00
- 13602-Convict Legionaries (4 different designs) £8.00 €12.00
- 13603-Legionary Decurion £3.00 €4.50
- 13604-Legionary Sandrunner, Lance attention £8.00 €12.00
- 13605-Legionary Sandrunner, Lance poised £8.00 €12.00
- 13606-Praetorian with combat blade £3.00 €4.50
- 13607-Lictor £3.00 €4.50 (pictured)
- 13608-Exosuit with Cestus & Chaingun £6.00 €9.00
- 13609-Legionary Heavy Chain Gun Team £6.00 €9.00

Terrain - Windows from Freebooter

These are new, according to the Miniatures Page. Bullseye windows, nicely detailed, for your building projects.

White Dwarf (UK) 312 Highlights

2005-11-27T15:39:00.000+00:00

This came out Saturday (actually if you go to an independent you can generally find it on the Friday).

New Releases

As previously mentioned on the website advance order list, and no surprises:

- LotR Balrog with whip
- 40k Space marine scout squad
- 40k BT Marshal Helbrecht
- 40k BT Grimaldus and retinue
- 40k Terminator Chaplain
- 40k BT Rhino
- 40k BT Sword Brethren Squad
- Dwarfs army deal (the standard bearer is indeed a LE)
- Water effects (there's an article on this in the hobby supplies section at the end - apparently it's water rather than resin based)

Previews

- Vespid plus concept art - still can't work out whether I like these. The concept art "amateur comix" feel doesn't come over in the models, mainly the head area lacks character and the legs should be more bug like. This may be the colour schemes in the paint jobs we're seeing, but surely they saw the concept art as well?
- N-Gage Glory in Death game preview. Not much about it, which is a good job as I'm not interested (there was a stand devoted to it at UK Games Day, wasn't interested then either).
- WHFRP "Paths of Nuln" scenario (Feb 06) and "Knights of the Grail" Brettonian sourcebook (Spring 06)
- Macragge repackaging
- Forgeworld - Warhammer Giant (this is different, I think, to the one being previewed on the main site, which is slightly annoying for FW - 210mm high resin model), etched brass imperial eagle sets (they had these at GD)
- "Vlad the Impaler" historicals sourcebook slips to Spring 2006
- Books - Fell Cargo (novel, WFB, Dan Abnett, Feb 06), Alien Autopsy (background book), the Art of Warhammer 40k
- Sabertooth - "War of Attrition", new base set for WarCry CCG

Articles

Righteous Victories - Black Templar conversion article, building your own Black Templar crusade. Notably first in the list is a crusade against the Tau (expect the Tau to take stage front between now and their army release). Nice article with 6 different examples and associated background fluff. The nicest (in my opinion) is Mark Bedford's set of terminators, using Cadian/Catachan heads and using storm shields made from Forge World Rhino doors. Easier for Mark Bedford to do as a Forge World employee of course. But it highlights the fact that the shields on the new assault terminator set are too puny for the models.

Black Steel - building the land raider crusader, using the BT upgrade sprue. I have one of these; I don't like building or painting vehicles and I'm not really looking forward to it. Alternate paint schemes for the other "Codex" (in the sense of having one, as opposed to in the sense of orthodoxy - UM, BA, DA, SW) chapters are provided.

Accept any Challenge - Matt Hutson's BT collection. He's painted his latest ones with white "cross of malta" motifs on the fronts of their helmets, and the scouts get black warpaint in a similar pattern on their faces. Don't like it personally - it means less facial detail on the scouts (and the scout heads are, for GW, weakly detailed anyhow) and as a result they all look like eagle-eye action man.

Armageddon - background article with scenarios for 40k Armageddon

Target Acquired - modelling BT mission objectives. Taken from the US WD 310 ...

Index Astartes - Space Marine Scouts background article

Search and Destroy - Scouts modelling and painting article. Examples for Ultramarines, Blood Ravens, Iron Knights, Dark Angels, Black Templars (Matt Hutson's army again) and Space Wolves. The Space Wolves ones look pretty nice (possibly because Simon Grant uses the Space Wolves heads rather than the supplied Scouts ones. Hmm.

Behind Enemy Lines - tactica, but also a cry for help along the lines of "buy lots of scouts please". Four example army lists emphasising their use. The pictures, by the way, have them facing off against Tau.

Tournament Play - set of articles about GW Grand Tournaments

Grudge Bearers - WFB Dwarfs preview

Shrine of the Sorceress - WFB battle report. High elves versus Dark elves. I'm not sure I can remember the last time either of these appeared in a battle report. Also Jervis Johnson runs the dark elf side, so it really is a blast from the past. It also has the distinction of being about the worst board I've seen in one of these articles for a while. Having said which, we've been through a phase where the battle reports have been, for various reasons (mainly mucking about with the format), not particularly compelling, and this one is a little more back to the gold standard.

Conversun Klinic - written by the staff of WD US (just to bear out my theories) - Undead Wood Elves. The first of the two (spirit hosts - basically you can see the clothes but not the elves) are pretty good.

The Shape of Things to Come - LotR concept art and model previews for the "Shadow in the East" set and another one beyond that called "Fall of the Necromancer".

Victory for the Free Peoples - Campaign report for the War of the Ring. There's a clue as to the result in the title.

Misty Mountains - LotR multi-part campaign, part one.

Battle Companies Redux, part 2 - updated campaign rules for LotR Battle Companies.

Treacherous Terrain - the LotR Ruins of Middle Earth terrain pack. And a scenario - Valley of Shadows, to encourage you to buy it.

Descending into Darkness - collecting and modelling Moria Goblins. Painting articles for the goblins themselves and for the Cave Troll.

Painting Legolas - see the title. I think this is meant to be a speed painting article, since Adi Wood is a decent enough painter but the results here don't look too enticing.

Modelling Showcase - highlights of GD Baltimore and LA - first time I think I've seen the international GDs highlighted in the UK magazine, albeit the entire article is only one page.

Advance Orders Coming Up

All except the Bugman model are previewed in the Dwarfs article.

From 26/11:

- Dwarf Warriors
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs
- Dwarf Battalion
- Dwarf Grudge Thrower

From 3/12

- Dwarf Master Engineer
- Dwarf Runelord

From 21/1

- Dwarf Lord with Pistol and Axe
- Dwarf Josef Bugman