New Space Marine sprues sighted

Anything but Ones has posted some new pictures taken from White Dwarf of new Space Marine sprues

Now it appears from these images that there will be at least 3 chapters getting upgrade sprues to supposedly modify a core plastic kit to represent loyalist chapters, as the above Ultramarines, Imperial Fists, and Dark Angels elude to.

Question remains, how will they be packaged? It will be interesting to see if they make kits that include the new frames or package them separate. One could speculate that this has been a reaction to chapterhouse legal stuff.

The Calm before the Storm?

Much is being lamented over Warhammer these past few months.
We have not had a single release since the End of Times: Archaon was well received. It concluded the saga of the Warhammer world that we all have grown to know and love, ended. But is it permanent?

Many times have Games Workshop run campaigns but never before have they been supported in such a manner. Multiple model releases, without question some of the best models for WHFB they have ever created, and 5 volumes in the end of everything that once was... That's a big investment to kill off a system.

Now if you where to believe the internet, its all over. Fantasy is dead. But is it really? I'm personally 2 weeks out from heading to a sold out 90 person tournament in Melbourne, Australia. You know, the place that has the most expensive GW products in the world. The world over tournaments are still filling up, and no doubt many epic battles are still being fought in garages across the globe. But I digress. 

There have been many rumours about the future of Warhammer.  We have had many hints such as the former CEO stating that WHFB is not where he wants it to be (sales wise) yet these systems tend to wax and wane. There was even talk from some more reputable rumour mongers that shelving the whole lot was discussed. This all sounds very plausible, as any company worth its salt will look at all options, however unpalatable to them.


One just has to look at the economics of it all. Its a well established fact that it cost a fair sum of money to create a mould for cast plastic models. Any manufacturer will need to recoup the cost in design, tooling, materials, marketing, logistics etc etc. However we have seen GW investing heavily in a whole range of models that are not only exclusive to WHFB (as opposed to cross over into other systems like Daemons), but also rather exclusive to a new faction of limited release army. So are they really limited release?

The evidence so far really paints a different picture. 
We see large monetary investment in the system. This in itself tells us that WHFB is not going anywhere. GW is at the end of the day a profit driven company, responsible to (and only to) its share holders to generate a return on investment. There is no obligation from them to do what a vocal minority want, nor is there any such thing as a social contract. This is business, not lala land. 

We also see a massive advancement in the story. This is uncharted territory from GW. Never before have the so radically "advanced" the story. This in itself signals a move to redevelop the brand "WHFB". And more recently, we have seen a move to round bases confirmed, although we can only guess as to the extent of the change. In the wider market place, none of this unusual. Companies redevelop their range of products all the time. Interestingly we also see GW re-branding, or reinvesting in its image. Let us not forget that WHFB circa 95, 05, and now 15 are all very different beasts.

So what to expect? Its very difficult to say. But know this, every single major system over-hall for both WHFB and 40k has been preceded by an (approximately) up to 3 month period of nothing. We have entered into the calm before the storm. All edition changes have traditionally had this period where no new releases or information is coming from that what we love and loath. In addition for the past 10 years new editions are launched in the region of June/July (5th, 6th & 7th edition 40k, 6th, 7th & 8th edition WHFB).

So what do I think the future will hold?

• An updated rule set that will incorporate the option to play smaller and larger scale battles. Smaller may be a skirmish/warband based game with simplified rules.
• The introduction of round bases will quickly see the tournament scene adopting them as the standard.
• New faction and/or allies matrix to introduce more flexibility in how you choose your army.
• An evolved rule set based on 8th WHFB/7th 40k. It will be slightly simpler and a little bit tighter, but not much.
• No army will be squated, per say.

Crystal ball gazing and all...

Should we be worried...?

One of the displays at the Warhammer World opening event was this little diorama from the End of Times. 

I find it interesting, if not somewhat worrying that the models are all in a loose skirmish formations. Although the diorama makes for good dramatic/narrative effect, lets hope that it is not a sign of things to come for 9th...

Round bases on big models I can live with I think

Warlord Titan revealed at WHW opening

Its HUGE!

Armour 15 30 HP... and 2,750 points. 3K tourneys anyone?

Long rumoured Chaos Knights. Looks like no plastic kits for 40k lol

Adeptus Mechanicus siege weapons based on the classic epic models. Nice

Some smurfs

Mars Pattern Warlord Titan released

There are some new models from Forgeworld to be released at the Warhammer World official opening

It has arrived. Another beautiful model to add to my collection of unpainted titans

And the long awaited book 5...

And in other news, papa smurf gets a model. WTF where is Rogal Dorn!!!!!

Guess its time to re-morgage the house

Adeptus Mechanicus: Cult Mechanicus cover revealed

The Martians have landed

Next weeks WD cover

Some close ups of the next release after the Knights this week. Pre-orders will go up on the 9th of may for the first wave.

I believe these are the new electro priests

Im sorry but I think these look ridiculous. They just dont fit in with the aesthetic of the rest of the range. They are far to bulky/clunky. They would have looked so much better if the torso was mounted on some spider legged body like the onager. The upper body looks great!

New priest model. Nailed it.

WTF? how can they get something so wrong. Its almost like its a (origional) clown face Nagash story. Management chose the goofy head again. This looks like some 90's action figure. I will be sticking to the much much much nicer Castelex model from Forgeworld. In fact I think FW will find a massive boost in sales as 99% of customers will be buying their sculpt over this ridiculous piece of crap...

Although in saying that, a head conversion would make things work with this model. I'm going to regret saying this but it could do with a skull face...