Oh noes...

The Game?

The End.

I'm guessing (hoping) if each unit comes with rules they will include a whole bunch of special rules which will make the game more interesting.

The few people that play Kings of War have just received a more complex rules set in second edition. Even those simple rules where longer than 4 pages...

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

End of Times formations!

WOW! 2+ save infantry and shooting cannons twice! Double steam gun templates and Magic in a Dwarf army. This would almost make me want to brush off the old stunties and make some people cry.

Its almost as if GW had a 2400 point competitive tournament in mind!

Then there's the Elves. Themey (is that a word), however not filthy. No magic makes the Elven host cry...

Archaon, Endtimes, Wrathmongers and Skullreapers, all in one week!

This weeks White Dwarf

New Wrathmongers

and new Skullreapers. Such amazing naming convention...

The final installment of the End of Times!

Also on limited edition

Skullreaper rules

Wrathmonger rules

A quick glance at the rules and it seams that Skullreapers would be the better build. Same stats as the Wrathmongers, but 10 points cheaper once equipped with ensorcelled weapons. Wrathmongers have the better first round on combat with strength 6, but both are equal there after. 

Bloodthirster on this weeks White Dwarf cover

Pictures of the next White Dwarf have finally landed. The Bloodthirster makes itself known finally and it looks to be a towering kit. It looks huge in comparrison to the Bloodletters which are decent sized models to begin with.

It will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Creature Caster kickstarter one (if/when it finally gets released...)

If they are of similar size they will look great on the tabletop together

WHFB Allies have arrived...

We all knew it was coming (unless you have been living under a rock that is), but this seems to be the first piece of concrete evidence indicating it as reality. Allies are here.

Now to be fair, WHFB 8th edition has always had the allowance to field allied contingents, however they have always been regarded as one of those 'back of the book' options that nobody chose to play. But with the advent of battlescrolls, itself a large shift in the structure of WHFB, it is spelt out.

Could this be the end of the percentage based army selection? Will 9th usher in a new area structured closer to 40k. It is not hard to jump to conclusions based on the above limited information, but indeed Battlescrolls and battlesheets draw a lot of similarities to primary and secondary/allied detachments. Specific battlescrolls easily representing the equivalent of a special formation in 40k.

At first glance, I can see a lot of advantages to this format, indeed putting further restrictions on overpowered units and even balancing them out by the requirement to field certain inefficient choices to take a formation. but then again, no doubt GW would throw in the 'unbound' battlescroll, or take whatever you like, ok I guess for friendly games (bring all your models!).

Only Tzeentch knows, the next 6 months will be a rough ride for some...

WHFB coming to an End!

Weee I can make a shock jock headline too...

But in all seriousness. Darnok, via his network of rumour informing "birdy's" has made a rather brash thread over at Warseer about the impending doom of Warhammer Fantasy as we know it. And its all the rage to talk about it atm.

All I can say is about time, and don't you dear touch my game!

You can have a read of the impeding doom to our game here

The End of times has been lauded as a much needed refresher to what some have said is a stagnant system. My thoughts are somewhat different, feeling that 8th edition is one of the best renditions of WHFB that has been released to date. I am not alone here.

I for one am not drinking the cool aid. Well, lets be honest, I have sipped it a little.

For the last few editions of Warhammer, the usual suspects have called a complete destruction of the game and refresh. From complete new rules sets to scraping of army books and a combined bestiary, its all been floated. Whether it was wish listing or trolling only they will know, but this time there appears to be some truth to the hype.

Over the past few months GW has released the End of Times series on the unsuspecting masses, and it has been well received to say the least. In a large shift from historical release cycles, Warhammer has entered into an all encompassing timeline shift injecting a lot of refreshing advances to the scope of the game. A Game of Thrones style axe has been taken to the character setting and a slew of new ones introduced, and a large investment has been made in expanding the model range...

So it dosn't make sense where Darnok's birdys talk of a huge model consolidation? Or does it...

As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Just as 6 months ago talk was of all army books being made invalid, and 4 or 5 combined beastary books being made. Reality, EoT campaign set introducing new ways of running combined armies and nothing being invalidated. GW is a business, and business does not throw out everything to start again when it has millions invested in the current system.

...

Predictions:

9th edition is coming. With 9th edition there will be changes. As far as the rules set goes, there will be nothing drastic. It will be a revised 8th edition rule set, with some new things introduced and tightened up, just like 40k 7th edition was to 6th. That formula has been proven to work, and GW are not going to throw the book out with that.

As far as the armies go, there will be change, but nothing so jaw dropping drastic as to alienate the fanbase, well not entirely. We will see a consolidation of books, just like has been eluded to with end of times. This however, will not be to reduce the scope and scale of the game like some "trolls" have been calling, but more a way to increase and add variation to the stage. Introducing: Warhammer allies. Combined books (such as "Undead" and "Elves) will allow players to field either pure armies or allied forces. That has been obvious for a while (40k ally matrix would not entirely work in WHFB).

The timeline will be advanced, as a way to introduce new units, scenarios, characters and expand the range. Games Workshop is a business and they want to sell models. The caviet is, if your favorite unit is not in plastic, its either getting updated or its gone. This has been true for years now (think the great metal exodus, or failcastgate).

...

I for one am looking forward to 9th. The introduction of an allied matrix to allow me to field a greater variety of models will be welcomed by me. New models, new rules, new characters, new stories/fluff...

My only wish is that the new ruleset will be very tight and balanced... now that is just wishlisting...

Thanquol and Boneripper pictures leaking

Looks to be Thanquol/Boneripper and the next EoT book this weekend...

Nagash/Glotkin Softbacks available tomorrow

After receiving greater demand than expected, Games Workshop has rushed he first two volumes of the End of Times to market worldwide. They become available in Australasia tomorrow for $146NZD for Nagash and $105NZD for Glotkin

having a quick browse around I see Mighty Ape is selling them for $124.99 & $89.99 respectively. I'm sure the internet savy could source them overseas for cheaper again (no tax on books sold in the UK).

This is a first for GW, as I cannot remember the last time they made a second print run to fulfil demand such as this. I am just happy I managed to get a hardback copy of all so far.

For those astute readers, you will note that these are printed in the UK as opposed to the hardcovers being printed in China. I can only surmise that they under anticipated the demand of this expansion and had to rush to a local printer to produce more copies to meet said demand. It is an unusual move as the recent trend from the past two years is to exclusively produce hardcovers. Its not easy to produce a run of hardcovers on short notice and I imagine GW have their contacted printer tied up with future releases to make any slots available.

At the aforementioned prices they do come in a bit steep for my tastes, considering the hardcovers where only a few dollars more, however I can understand the price point as it not only lies in between the hardcovers and iPad version, it would not be cheap to do a decent print run on short notice such as this.

With availability of softcovers first in the UK a week and a half ago, then the states last week, we are the last to put our hands on copies of the softback. Always a downside to living at the bottom of the world.

I hear that Khaine softbacks are just around the corner, as is the next installment focusing on the Lizardmen and Skaven. I only wish they would reprint the magic cards

No more Tomb Kings books

So it appears the English edition of Tomb Kings is selling out. It is listed on all the UK and Europe sites as Sold Out/No longer available (although the other languages are still available). The English version of the book appears to still be available in North America and Australasia.

As the Tomb Kings army book was never ported to digital that's it for this edition.

This potentially indicates several scenarios surrounding my favorite WHFB army.

• Sales of the Tomb Kings book have been that sluggish of late its not worth a re-print
• New book will be available soon
• 9th edition rule set will be out soon
• 9th edition will see a move to combined army books (undead)
• End of Times mergers will become permanent

Not all are likely, however I think a few are more than just wish listing now.

Warning: everything past this point is crystal ball gazing...

IMO I think the last three have some body to them. 9th edition will arrive in June/July. Before we reach that point we will see at least three more end of times books, Skaven/Lizardmen, Dwarves/Orcs and Goblins/Ogres, and then finally Archaon. 

These last three books, along with the three proceeding them, will change the landscape forever. Once 9th edition is launched we will get a set of books that combine multiple armies into factions. They could be similar to as follows

• Forces of Men/Dwarfs
• Forces of Chaos
• Forces of Elves
• Forces of Destruction
• Forces of the Undead

These books will allow you to take the traditional forces, such as High Elves or Empire, but in addition, they will allow you to take alliances of factions like in the End of Times. This will follow on from the big shake up and will allow GW to consolidate their range, and will be the WHFB version of the allies matrix in 40k. Expect to see anything not plastic phased out.

This is indeed the end of times...

Malekith: The one and true ruler of all Elves! plus Warhammer Khaine leaks

Yup, thats right. Malekith da man (or, err, the Elf...)

Not only does Malekith become the new Phoenix king after being denied his rightful throne 6000 years ago, he ups the anti and becomes the shadow element as well.

This truely is the End of Times. Brolocks, Sisters, Wild Riders and 8 repeater bolt throwers in the same army...

Confirmation Nagash & Glotkin get Softback release

Picture says it all...

Interesting it did not appear in the Australasian order sheet this week.

Elf Apocalypse: Khaine has arrived

This coming weeks White Dwarf reveals Khaine: End of Times...

What is disappointing is seeing the old Malekith model on the front cover. If ever there was an opportunity to do a dual kit Malekith and Imirik this was it. And the rumours ares thick that there will be no new models with this release. 

With all the leaks coming about it seems as if the current story theories are correct. Malekith and Teclis are plotting together to ensure Chaos does not end the world, thanks to the sacrifice of Tyrions daughter with the Everqueen, the impure blood caused Nagash to be reborn not at full strength, thus ensuring he did not march straight to his doom at the hands of the Chaos gods.

Is Malekith the true puppet master of the end of times? Nagash just a pawn in his larger game? How long will Malekith take to break the newly forge alliance o the Elf Apocalypse?

The one good thing that marches out with this release is all the cries of anguish from the sudo Elven players who somehow think that the High Elves are a force of pure good. Never has this been true of the self centered self serving fairies. The "prophecy" of all the Elven races joining forces to stop a great evil from destroying the world has been intertwined in the WHFB lore for at least a decade now. For some however, this is indeed the end of times.

Long shall Nagash's reign be. 

Will someone think of the forest goblins!

Games Workshop finally learns to make a good promo video

The end times are indeed upon us. In a master stroke, GW hires someone with enough talent to make a good promo-teaser video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfmAysyadhA

The Elven Apocalypse has arrived...

Putrid Blightking rules/pictures leaked - updated

Papa Nurgle has arrived!

So it appears they are a new WoC entry, and are Infantry on a 40mm base?

Actual pictures to come soon I hope... Pre release this Saturday

edit. pictures are floating about now as below...

Rather uninspiring IMO... there no Morghasts or Nagash...

Ouch. look at em prices!