#underworlds

[gaertan]

Jaws of itzl WIP

For something a bit different... started painting the Jaws of itzl warhammer underworlds squad! (from embergard). Still a lot of work left to do but they're starting to come together

[kgustin87]

Nothing spectacular, but it's still painted models. Working through the gray!

[fhtagn-and-tentacles]

PATHS OF PROPHECY

Art by Pedro Sena

[awarhammerguy]

A kitbash of some stormcast to large knights. I'm gonna use these as proxies to replace my steel heart's champions that I no longer have for Warhammer underworlds

[paintedmenagerie]

Skittershanks Clawpack

[paint-goblin-peter]

I started #GoblinWeek by under painting these #Looncourt guys from #Underworlds (there are seven models but eight goblins, the model closest to the camera is two Goblins climbing on top of each other to launch a squig)

[divineerdrick]

The Warhammer Preview Show: Warhammer Day 2024

I'm once again liveblogging my reaction to a Warhammer preview, and I couldn't be happier!

Why?

Because the Preview was live again!

If you've followed my Warhammer Liveblogs you know how much I hated that they moved to prerecorded live shows. And I wasn't the only one! But once again the studio has listened to the community and it looks like we've got live shows back.

This is one thing I will constantly press about Games Workshop. Being less than a billion-dollar global company, in a niche hobby, means they still have to respond to us. If we make our displeasure known for long enough, and it impacts their sales, they have to act. If even 1% of Warhammer fans don't buy the latest and greatest product that GW releases, it hurts.

It also helps that they're under UK corporate law instead of American corporate law.

And I have a feeling from some of the things I've seen on discount retailer sites, that certain big releases have been under-performing. So hopefully this is the first in some course corrections.

Give San Guard their wings back!

I'm still wondering about what's going on with how few releases have been announced for Christmas. They do seem to be pushing War of the Rohirrim more than I was expecting, so maybe they really are trying to just let releases breathe instead of smothering them. I'm wondering how Necromunda Secondus and Mechanicum performed given how they released along side Age of Sigmar 4.0.

Honestly I think that most Warhammer fans hold GW products as being the best in the market. When they start taking a downturn, we start asking why we're paying so much for them. I think GW really should go back to a slower release cadence of higher quality products. Releasing both of their major game systems back to back in essentially a beta state should not happen. There's no excuse for 10th Edition Eldar to release one summer only for 4.0 Nighthaunt to release the next. And the less said about 4.0's Regiment system the better.

All and all, I'm still really excited for this Preview. I'm not expecting too much right now, but I'm willing to be surprised. For now, just having a live Preview is enough.

Enough rambling! Onto the Preview!

Preshow

Our hosts today are veterans of the Preview shows, Alex and Nick. This was one of the first things that got me excited when I checked in on the stream after discovering WarCom was down. After some of their traditional introduction, including asking for location shout outs, Alex tells us what we've got in store. The reveals today are for Underworlds, AoS, 40K, Kill Team, and Legions. Legions in the past hasn't gotten a lot of love in these Preview shows, so I'm hoping for a little better presentation this time around.

But then Nick slyly cuts in that those are just what was announced, and we should keep our eyes pealed. I've heard some rumors already, but let's see what they actually tease for us.

Underworlds

We're starting with GW's original Skirmish game set in the Age of Sigmar. I'm still really hoping that Warcry gets some love again soon, but I'm betting Underworlds must be just slightly outperforming it.

Oh wow! So with the new edition of AoS out and the story advancing with the Vermindoom, the team has decided to release a new edition of Underworlds. And this edition looks like it will also start with a Stormcast verses Skaven box.

They're once again pushing that accessibility factor with this new edition. I will say this much, other than a few sticking points I have I don't really feel this push to accessibility has resulted in any "dumbing down" of these editions. Probably the worst offender was Kill Team 2nd, and they've undone some of that. Admittedly they pushed the worst part even more . . . Still I feel that 40K 10th and AoS 4.0 are still very tactically deep games. And that, at the end of the day, is what really matters.

And unfortunately we're probably never going to see this push to expand the audience through accessibility ever go away. Businesses in the current corporate world live and die through growth. There's only so much money GW can wring out of their current audience. There has to come a point where GW expands their audience, or investors will leave and the company will decline.

Unfortunately that's tricky to do when you also keep raising the prices of starter products.

But Underworlds has always been relatively inexpensive compared to GW's other products. It's a perfect example of creating a stepping stone into the larger hobby. Buying a board game style starter box with only a few push-fit miniatures to assemble and paint is much easier than buying and painting something like Skaventide. And GW looks to be leaning into that.

They're really throwing a lot of long looks into the miniatures and the board. Still, no matter how much time they spend here this is never as good as the bright, close-in pictures WarCom usually has later. One advantage of the Live previews is we often get to see some of those ahead of time. Hopefully Nick and Alex will focus in on some like they used to.

Here's our box reveal.

And you're making me nervous Nick. This is very similar to a lot of those prerecorded shows. Now that the reveal trailer is done I don't want to be here having someone presenting a prerecorded message on why I should want to pick this up. I want to be back in the studio, with chat, getting live impressions and active responses to questions and feedback from you and Alex. You got me excited for a live show, Nick. Don't turn this around on me.

Uh oh! It's a reset! Normally, this would have me excited. But there are two things that make me nervous here.

The first is that this game incorporates cards and deck building. If they're completely updating the rules, does that mean previous cards won't work anymore? Will we have to get new decks for any warbands we play?

The second is Kill Team. In case you didn't know, Kill Team just introduced a Standard style rotation that means that eventually your Kill Teams won't be legal in competitive play. Many classic Kill Teams already don't have rules in the new edition. Now many of those Kill Teams are still perfectly fine for casual games . . . for as long as GW writes compatible rules for them. But eventually you won't be able to play a given Kill Team without going back to a prior edition of a game. That's fine for collectors who have lots of friends going back to previous editions. But for most LGS communities, that creates a problem.

I'm guessing Underworlds will work in a similar way. I don't know if any previous Warbands will get retired, but they'll probably introduce a cut off point and then rotate out older Warbands eventually. You'll probably have to go buy a new deck for any of the older Warbands to use them in the new rules. This is all just speculation, but it's speculation based off how GW has been running their other games.

This may be a small point to some, but it's a legitimate up-sell to me. GW has gotten considerably better at creating and designing rule books. They've gotten much easier to read in recent editions of their games and much easier to use at the table. I'm hoping they continue to refine them. Also their apps have gotten better too for looking up the latest version of any given rule.

We're also going to single boards, war scrolls, and they're defining Warbands with stat systems to help you understand their play style. One thing I'm not sure of is the replacement of card art with miniature photos. I kind of liked the way the cards added some of that great GW art into the game. I'm not sure how well the various cards will depict the action if it's just still photos.

All and all the new edition looks good, but I've got questions that are going to need answered.

Back in the studio we've got some great shots of the miniatures - not sure I'm liking the sculpt around the eyes for this one - but we're not getting any community interaction yet. There's no point in these being live shows if we don't have any response to the community feedback and questions!

Hm . . . We've got them just talking over these repeating slideshows. I'd honestly prefer to just seem them sitting their and talking to each other to gauge their live reactions. And while I'll admit that this is a new edition, and there's a lot to talk about, they're kinda just going over what the presentation showed. Yes! I'm going to harp on this! I want community interaction, dammit!

Okay, here's one point answered. The starter set is going to come with four decks in it, one based on each of the now named play-styles, Strike, Take and Hold, Flex, and Mastery. These decks will be playable with any Warband. So any of the old Warbands that receives rule updates can use these decks to start with.

It looks like with other recent new editions, we'll get our first chance to see this played at a GW event. In this case it's the Tampa Open, which is next weekend! So we'll probably learn a lot about the game in the coming days.

. . .

And now we're moving into the next part of the show. No questions taken, no feedback, not even a glance at chat. I'm not happy.

Age of Sigmar

And it's just the Warhammer Day miniature. We've already seen this. It's a pretty cool looking miniature to be sure, but why are we covering it here?

My hype is draining away.

Same thing with the Darkoath. Though this looks like it might be a box set, and that means it might have some new miniatures.

Oh! While they didn't show it, this is the announcement for the Slaves to Darkness Battletome. I did miss that this box set is the Darkoath Spearhead. So this will be our first big release for AoS 4.0 following Skaventide.

We're getting a new release for a Sorcerer Lord outside of the Warhammer Day model. This one sounds like it will have a few options for it. Hopefully we'll see these on WarCom.

And here's our Battletome reveal! It sounds like they're doubling down on how little changed between the Skaven Index and Battletomes. This is potentially bad as some of the AoS armies need some real changes.

We are getting a new Army of Renown, Be'lakor's Legion of the First Prince. So hopefully that will bring something interesting for AoS players to experiment with. It's my understanding though that Regiments of Renown aren't seeing much play right now. But we can wait and see.

Speaking of! We've got a nice rules preview here of a new Regiment of Renown that can be included in any most of the god-aligned Chaos factions. The Daemon Prince gets to keep it's Gift of Chaos that it would have claimed in an S2D army and gets the relevant faction Keyword too. However, I can't imagine spending a drop on this the way AoS 4 currently plays, unless they change how drops work in the next rules update.

Battleforces

They didn't mention any universe transition, just that big boxes are on the way soon. My guess is this is our first look at the holiday boxes, which will probably included both 40K and AoS, maybe Old World if we're lucky.

These are all themed after detachments. The Tau box is obscured, but we saw it earlier in the preview, and is the Retaliation Cadre. This means that this is probably a sneaky reveal of one of the new Imperial Knight Detachments, the Valourstrike Lance. Though that sounds suspiciously like it might be a rename for the Noble Lance.

I'll note that none of these battleforces are Chaos themed. We've got three Imperial battleforces and two Xenos. But there looks like there's a lot of value in these kits. That Tau box has a Riptide in it, the Knights have a Paladin and four Armigers, the Sisters comes with two vehicles and a pair of Penitent Engines, the Necrons get the Void Dragon, and the Dark Angels get The Lion. I'm not gonna add everything up here, since I can't see exactly what everything is, but that's over $300 worth of Knights.

And just as I suspected, we immediately go into AoS boxes.

We're only getting four here, Maggotkin, Cities, Iron Jaws, and Flesh-Eaters. One for each Grand Alliance. These don't appear to be based on any Regiments or Armies. And I'm not seeing anything popping out at me for high value items.

These are indeed our holiday boxes. As with recent years, these are designed to go along with the intro boxes. So if you get a Combat Patrol or Spearhead alongside one of these, you'll have a pretty decent collection. Whether they match well with previous Battleforce launch boxes, I'd have to check. But at the very least, I know the Dark Angels one didn't have The Lion in it.

They're saying they're supposed to match Regiments in AoS. I only checked Iron Jaws, but looking through the others they also don't match any current Regiments. So these might be renames or new Regiments coming in the Battletomes.

Hah! They even just mentioned that the Cities of Sigmar force can represent different Regiments! So maybe there wasn't any actual consideration made there at all.

They also just brought up that there's duplication with the Morbheg Knights. So not so good there for the AoS portions either.

Warhammer Armoury

They tease that no one knows about this reveal yet. But it's an Officially Licensed product, so outside of games I'm not sure how much interest there will be.

Warhammer Armory! Okay, you have my attention.

Also, gee! I wonder what's about to be revealed?

There it is! Ghal Maraz! (Subject to GW's approval.)

i haven't gotten my hands on any of these, but I really want to see if I can. I just love stuff like this. If my father's business could get them to sell, we would in a heart beat.

I still have my Slayer of Kings. It's sitting right next to me. I'd honestly love to collect more stuff like this.

Legions

So we've already had Mechanicum for Legions revealed, so they're starting off by going into the lore. I guess that's one way to try to pay more respect to the specialist game. Still I'm hoping for more news for Legions.

"Now you're probably sat at home, thinking, "Games Workshop we've already seen these." It had crossed my mind, yes.

Dark Mechanicum! While they haven't shown any traitor specific models yet, the new rules will allow you to field these models in both Loyalist and Traitor forces.

But they're not keeping us waiting for long! This is the Serperos Heavy Stalker. Looks like it's a near Titanic scale model for the Dark Mechanicum. Like most of the new Mechanicum stuff, I'm totally here for this.

I'm also still hoping to see some even larger creations hitting Titanicus and Legions. Say a certain class of Titan that hasn't had an official model for a while . . .

And book reveal! This book will apparently have the rule for playing both factions. So hopefully we'll see more force specific miniatures in the future.

A Special Surprise

Something a bit more lighthearted. A feast in the field, huh? Blood Bowl? Don't they already have halflings?

40K! I know what this is! Apparently Death Korp isn't all the Guard is getting!

"Make a pie crust from compressed cardboard and fill it with a tin of Munitorum issued nutrient paste." Yummy.

I'm so here for this!

These ratlings look fantastic and have so much life and character to them! This is a fantastic addition to the Guard range!

Oh! It's a commemorative model! Boo! I want this to be a part of the main range!

Oh well. Looks like I'm picking up at least one thing for myself this year.

Kill Team

They teased more ratlings, but look at these Boyz! More proper Orky miniatures! Yes!

And there's our new ratlings! Look at the bulldog!

So I guess the next Kill Team box is Orks verse Ratlings. So much for the idea that the next team would be Storm Boyz. Specifically this is Ratling Snipers verses Tankbustas.

All of these miniatures look pretty bespoke. The ratling kit is definitely new, but that doesn't look like an upgrade sprue on the Orks either. I'm wondering if all the Kill Teams will be new kits from now on?

This Kill Team set will include a bunker terrain piece and missions for trying to defend the bunker or storm it. Sounds like a fun time.

The holiday miniature will also have a mission for trying to steal the food for their provisions. So there's another fun detail.

Hmm. New animation or game?

Bandai Namco? Guessing game.

Oh! I was wrong! It's an animated short! Looks like a free one too!

Our next preview will apparently be in November, for the Championships and Grand Narrative Campaign. I'm hoping they do a better job there.

But as the sign off, they hit us with one more teaser.

Final Thoughts

I've apparently hit my image limit, so I'm not gonna go into more details on the miniatures. But on the whole they were fantastic. Not the biggest fan of the Stormcast models for Underworlds but the Skaven models were cool. All the other new models, especially our new Kill Team set and commemorative mini look fantastic! While this Preview was light on new models, what was shown was great!

And that's all the good I have to say.

So this did definitely need to be a Preview because they were revealing the new Underworlds. But honestly, they could have made the whole show about that and I think it would have been better. The Kill Team reveals were good, but the rest was stuff that would normally just be a WarCom article. So they may as well have just dedicated it all to an Underworlds deep dive and left the Kill Team stuff for later.

And while I think this was better than the prerecorded stuff we got before, this might as well have been prerecorded. In fact I'm sure there are gonna be people who accuse this stream of being prerecorded. There was zero interaction with chat. Yeah, they asked chat to call out where they were from like they used to, but then didn't acknowledge any responses. Chat might as well have not been there, and that means this might as well not be live.

This isn't okay! And while I appreciate the nod to the old format, this was honestly something where I wanted to see designers talking about what they were doing. I don't want to hear Nick and Alex talking about the new mechanics and design ideas of Underworlds, I want to here it from the people who made the game! While I didn't like the mock interviews, there's no reason not to have the designers on there talking about what they're excited about.

Between lack of meaningful reveals and the misuse of the live format, this is still a fail. If the last review was a student handing in a print-off from Wikipedia with his name on it, this one was two guys who threw together their paper at the last minute. This will probably be my last liveblog for these. I'm certainly not gonna do another one until I see meaningful changes in the format.

[guerrilla-operator]

Mammoth Grinder // Cogs In The Machine

Suffering Out in the streets Pushed with their backs to the wall Safe inside Glued to a screen Always believe what the headlines read They're born to be cogs in the machine

[thewenglishwarlock]

Finished two members of a little skaven friend group

[zedecksiew]

SILVER’S CHILDREN SEARCH FOR THEIR MOTHER

At her funeral Silver’s children did not cry. Their grief was dry as pyre kindling. They said:

“We will sail east past the border. We will search for our mother in the shoals of the dead. We will bring her home to the warmth of the sun. We will see her smile again.”

They were Samry the brother, older and bolder; and Sellie his sister, smaller and smarter. They spoke such words, such oaths against nature. Their kinfolk shushed them quick.

“Fool children! Do not blaspheme,” their kinfolk said. “To find your passage through the sea of souls, you must blind yourself to all things living. Who between you will give up sight?”

They heard their kinfolk’s scolding as instructions to follow. Their grief was like a roaring fire. Samry was bold; he said: “My sister Sellie, you are the better sailor. We need your eyes for the voyage ahead.”

Samry put his eyes out with netting needles. And Sellie sailed their boat behind the sun.

Together they entered a nighttime world. It was a place that knew neither moon nor day. Here no compass told the truth; stars blinked in fake constellations. Here waves appeared as hands—clawing, dragging their prow astray.

Without eyes Samry was blind to misdirection. Wherever he pointed Sellie steered. She sailed their boat to a candlelit island. There dwelled men with tigers’ faces.

“Big brother, little sister! We have your mother, Silver,” the tigermen said. “She is our treasure. Giving her up will make us poor. We will trade her only for a prize of equal measure!”

They thought the tigermen’s deal a bargain. Their grief guided them like a steady flame. Samry was bold; he said: “My sister Sellie, I do not fear such men. I will remain. Take care of our mother, see her smile again.”

Samry pierced his chest with a fishing spear. And Sellie shed a tear for her brother.

Their mother’s soul was already aboard, seated at the bow. Wherever she pointed Sellie steered. Now the stars hid; Sellie’s compass stuck. Now the waves appeared as arms—heaving, pushing their boat home.

Sellie felt uneasy. Her mother would not speak. She heard birds calling instead. A cormorant with a gibbon’s face alighted on the rudder; it fixed her with a laughing smile.

“Young missy! You have been deceived,” the cormorant said. “You cannot save your mother! Her flesh went up in a funeral pyre. Her naked soul will burn in the sun.”

She took the cormorant’s words as a challenge. Her grief was bitter as white ashes. Sellie was smart; she said: “My mother Silver, I was born of your blood. I give you my body. Wear it as your own, and return to the living world.”

Sellie drowned herself in her mother’s breast. And Silver wept with her daughter’s voice.

A single woman sailed their boat back west. She slipped into warm daylight. She wrote her name as Silver, though she wore Sellie’s face. Her kinfolk treated her careful, asking many questions. She answered:

“Two children went east past the border. They searched for their mother in the sea of souls. But the son was lost, and the daughter too, and their mother did not return.”

The woman spoke such words, such riddles—and little else. Her grief was empty as an urn.

+++

( Image sources: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-funeral-pyre-7865 https://www.lensculture.com/articles/francesco-cilli-the-night-without-moon https://www.audubongalleries.com/pages/books/7629/john-james-audubon/florida-cormorant-from-the-birds-of-america-amsterdam-edition https://artreview.com/customised-postures-decolonising-gestures-gajah-gallery-singapore-review/ )

[loreseekergaia]

Warhammer 2024 - My list of favourites this year

My yearly tradition of favourite minis is once again back, and this time, I decided to post it on my lore-based side blog. Fits better to archive.

10. - Knights of The Realm on Foot

We started out this year with the return of the Old World, together with the first minis released for Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings.

Bretonnia is a nation of nobles and champions, and their armies consist of mighty regiments of mounted knights charging into battle. Starting out as young Knights Errant, when they eventually prove their worth in combat, they become Knights of the Realm. These Noblemen and women form the bulk of a Bretonnian army.

Foot Knights are those knights who fight unmounted (duh...), and most nobles kind of dislike being relegated to infantry duty. However, Foot Knights are some of the strongest infantry Bretonnia can muster, and in some situations necessary to field. The Dukedom of Montfort for example lies within the Grey Mountains, and its steep terrain heavily limits the use of mounted warriors.

While probably not the most interesting release out of the new Old World minis, I still like these a lot. They show such overt detail and personality, and you can see the love put into their sculpts.

The Old World released with quite a light amount of new kits, which was quite disappointing for me. However, I do believe that the foot knights are a glimpse of things to come. That they are a peek at a future that includes updated kits for all of the Old World factions.

9. - The Zharr Nagrund Ziggurats

After more than a decade, we finally see the return of the Chaos Dwarfs in Warhammer. And what a lovely return to form it is.

Within the setting of Blood Bowl, the Chaos Dwarfs were originally forbidden by the NAF to partake in the official tournaments. Instead, the the Chaos Dwarfs played Blood Bowl within their infernal homeland; The Darklands. Eventually though, the NAF collapsed and the many teams of the Dawi Zharr quickly wrestled their way into the leagues and Blood Bowl seasons.

Chaos Dwarfs themselves care more for the martial aspect of the game than the actual sport itself, but this is balanced by the inclusion of Hobgoblin Lineman. While the Hobgoblins carry around the ball, the Chaos Dwarfs do all the tackling.

Blood Bowl saw the inclusion of the Gnome Team and the Chaos Dwarfs this year, and while the Gnomes are probably the better sculpts out of the two, I have been waiting for this team since the release of the new Blood Bowl edition. Even so, they still deliverd with the new team. Both the Chaos Dwarf and Hobgoblins were given a splendid new design, that updates their retro aesthetics, while keeping it distinct and true to the classic look. I do hope that this is a sneak peek at what is to come for the followers of Hashut in the future.

8. - Astorath the Grim

My pick for Space Marine of the year goes to a Blood Angel this team; Astorath the Grim

Astorath is the headsman of the Blood Angels chapter. Known as the Redeemer of the Lost; he is tasked with the discovery and eventual execution of those affliced by the Black Rage. This psychic condition turns a Blood Angel Space Marine into a traumatized raging monster, who loses their grasp on reality and is cursed to see their Primarchs final moments through a first-person lense.

Astorath has a keen sense on spotting the Black Rage and oftentimes is the first to arrive before the affliction is even visible on a marine. He is eventually the one who will give these Astartes their final rights before executing them out of mercy. Not only does he perform this duty within the Blood Angels Chapter, but any Succession Chapter that bears their lineage.

While the new Blood Angels revamp came with a lot of stinkers, I must say that a few did gain a favourable upgrade. Astorath came out way better than expected. His pose is way more dynamic and his armour is lovingly designed. I especially like what seems to be a personal white death-mask he wears. He truly looks like a Blood Angels worst nightmare come to life.

7. - Adsecularis Tech Thralls

The Horus Heresy also had a strong year, with the revamped release of the Mechanicum. This includes a revamped sculpt of the Tech-thralls.

When a citizen of a Mechanicum Forge World is accused of criminal activity or sub-standard work, one potential punishment they get is to be forcefully turned into a "Tech-Thrall" or Adsecularis. These cyborg slaves have lost any form of free-will and have been relegated to a position with less rights than a servitor.

Tech-thralls keep their consciousness and memories, yet are under the complete control of a tech-priest’s or Magos’ will. When the need arises for a cheap labour force or a meat shield to protect, they are press ganged into service, and their actions controlled through a cranial implant. They are the most expendable troops that a Mechanicum force can send, and those killed are repurposed for spare parts.

The Adsecularis are a fun depiction of the utter horror that is the Imperium, and I'm glad that they return in plastic as a proper kit. The design of this new iteration is overall great; making them look like shambling undead. I do regret that the kit only seemingly comes with las-locks, and that it is missing the other options that they originally got. I see great conversion potential with them, and I would instantly paint them First-Edition bronze if I got my hands on them.

6. - Ungrim Ironfist

Dwarfs surprisingly were given a few new sculpts this year as they gained some stellar new Dwarf Lord miniatures. One of which was the Slayer King himself.

Ungrim Ironfist is the Slayer King of Karak Kadrin. As the name would hint, he is a slayer; someone bound in oath to seek death in combat to attone for their own misdeeds or shortcomings. Ungrim has inherited his Oath as a slayer from his ancestors, and has to balance his duties as a king together with his oath to die in battle. A difficult task.

Ungrim would eventually fulfill both of his oaths during the End Times. After his defeat during the final siege of Karak Kadrin, he became an incarnate of the Magical Wind of Fire. He would come to the aid of Averheim, the last standing city of the Empire, and perish in fiery glory as a last ditch effort to prevent it from falling.

What makes this miniature stand out to me as opposed to the new Dwarf Lord is the design philosophy behind it. it showcases that the developers and artists really want to differentiate the minis of the Old World from their Fantasy Battle counterpart. This is a young King Ungrim, not his older self 200 years later. I hope this will be a trend to continue in the Old World. I would love to see fan favourites return to the setting in their younger form (if alive at that point).

5. - Skaven Stormvermin

2024 saw the dawn of a new edition for AoS. One that sounded its crescendo with the Vermindoom. The Stormvermin were my favourites to descend from Blight City this year.

Lent as mercenary troops by the Clans Verminus, Stormvermin form the elite soldiers of a Skaven warhost. From the moment of their birth, these Skaven are marked as vicious and cruel warriors; usually having killed their brethren in their childhood dens as whelps.

Stormvermin actually pose a significant threat to a combatant. They are bigger and stronger than the average Clanrat, and clad in thick spikey armour that covers them head to toe. They are often deployed as garrison forces or as bodyguards to high ranking Skaven, which includes the magical Grey Seers.

While I miss the Sword & Shield option on this unit, the overall redesign of the Stormvermin has been my favourite in this edition. They indeed look way more threatening and beefier than their older counterparts. The Skaven update included some major overhauls in quality and awesome new kits. The sheer attention to detail on the Clanrats alone is testament to that. The Stormvermin however take the cake for me this year.

4. - Ork Wrecka Crew

The Orks coming in clutch at the end of the year, and boy howdy is it a good kit.

A wrecka Crew is a mishmash of two different types of Ork Mobs; Tankbustaz and Breaka Boyz. Both of these mobs share a certain niche within Ork kultur, namely that of a "Tank Hunter". Usually, these two groups butt heads against each other, as they see each other as rivals. However, a good Boss can refrain them from slitting each other’s throats; redirecting their wanton destruction towards enemy fortifications and armoured vehicles.

Tankbustaz are Orks who love the thrill of hunting armoured vehicles and other warmachines, and are equipped with higly volatile rocket launchers to do so. Breaka Boyz are the close-combat-focused side of the "Tank Hunter coin". These Orks wield crude smash hammers or explosive tank hammers to break through opponents' armour.

I originally wasn't really impressed by the Wrecka Crew. I liked the idea of an updated Tankbusta kit, but this unit lost some of the charm that kit had. This kit feel too “naked”.

However, now being able to look at the full ki and sprue made me fall in love with them again. The Wrecka Crew comes with a great deal of costumization options, similar to the kommando Kill Team. The Tankbustaz look cool and would probably proxy well as Burna Boyz, but the Breaka Boyz have some fun options that basically allow them to be a light-armoured version of a Meganob. I'm glad to be wrong about a redesign this time, especially after some of the duds we saw coming from GW this year.

3. - Hermiatus, the Second Son

This year, the Genestealer Cults finally gained some love within the game of Necromunda as they arose from Hive Secundus in the form of the Malstrain.

Hermiatus was a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus who wanted to find a cure for the Genestealer infection. To do this, he experimented on a Genestealer Patriarch, and after trying to connect his mind with the creatures brain, he got possessed and released the genestealer infection on the planet of Necromunda.

The model we see here is not Hermiatus himself. The Magos eventually fled Necromunda and was hunted down by a Space Marine strike team (which you can play in the old Space Crusade board game). This is the Hermaphage Magos, a genetic copy of Hermiatus created by the Genestealer Patriarch so that it can continue the Magos' Work.

I believe this might be the best Tech Priest that the design team has ever made, and it looks utterly creepy and demented. It once again showcases that Necromunda has some of the best ideas that the setting has to offer.

2. - Grand Justice Gormayne

I swear; if the Flesh Eater Courts had come out in december last year, I would've instantly put this man on the list.

Gormayne is the highest form of authority that the Flesh Eater Courts have within their "judicial" system. Answering only to Ushoran himself, he is the one that judges those who transgress the laws of New Summercourt in the Realm of Ghyran.

Unlike the rest of the Flesh Eater Courts, Gormayne can break from the delusion that plagues his people, and this of course has caused him great distress and anxiety. He tries to hide this from the other Abhorrents, but Ushoran secretly is aware of his predicament, and has taken an interest into its potential implications.

The Flesh Eater Courts released right at the start of 2024, and while there were so many good new models released (including Ushoran), this one was the one that caught my eye. Gormayne is in my opinion one of the best representations of the entire faction. The intestines on his head being tangled up into a judge's wig is pure brilliance. It is such a simple idea, but it works so well.

1. - Zikkit's Tunnelpack

Warhammer Underworlds saw the reveal of a new edition. Four Warbands that each proved that the smaller games of the setting gain much more creative love than the mainline game. Zikkit and his pack stood out to me and I consider them the best miniature kit of this year.

Zikkit Rockgnaw and his underlings are one of a myriad Skaven groups trying to take control over the vast Realmstone deposits of the city of Embergard. He however realised something sly; if he can collapse the mines while his rivals are scuttling for Realmstone, he could come out on top and get away with the spoils.

The Tunnelpack is a varied group of Skaven from the Clans Skryre. Zikkit is a Warlock Engineer; a technomancer who mixes arcane sorceries with warp-fueled science. He is accompanied by his right-hand-man and potential rival Rittak, who goes into battle inside of his self-crafted "Kill-Wheel". Two other Skaven make up this Tunnelpack. Krittatok has strong senses that help him find Realmstone much more easily. Finally, Nitch is a timid creature, yet enthousiastic when it comes to explosives, which he lovingly straps to his "Blast-Vermin" companions.

I love the aesthetic of the Warlock Engineers and the gas-masked globadiers. It is such an awesome design and one that differentiates the Skaven from the other armies so well. I hope that we might get a generic infantry unit from the Clans Skryre, with nothing but gun-toting gas-masked Skaven running like maniacs.

______

I must say, while it was a strong year for Games Workshop, it also felt quite light in releases opposed to previous. It might just be that 40k had a slow release schedule, while I also believe that the light releases for the Old World might have given that impression.

Still, a lot of stuff for Necromunda and AoS made this year great for those games, and we still have a lot to go next year; Eldar, Krieg, and Goblins are getting some much deserved love. And more interestingly than that, I'm hearing from the grapevine that we might see more for Corsairs and maybe even Eldar Exodites.

So let's toast to next year and remember to stay kind to eachother within the hobby and to keep each other safe and content while we overthink miniatures and cool lore.

Happy Holidays everyone!

[gaertan]

I may not do anything festive today, but, at least I finished painting the jaws of itzl Gotta get some proper pictures at some point 

[kgustin87]

Painted the Skinnerkin

[thecrowinggriffon]

And so that’s what I started these Druchii-Drow. Told myself to start with Morgwaeth's blade-coven from Warhammer Underworld’s. To expand as a Warcy and/or Mordheim band. And  perhaps later a complete dark elf or daughters of khaine army. We’ll see :)

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

4.75 stars

This book felt like an action movie, in the best way possible. I loved the complexity of the characters, the way their motivations clashed, the magic system, the relationships (both romantic and platonic), the moral grey-need hybrids add, the foreshadowing where I saw the twist coming and then was completely fooled by the red herring. I have so many unanswered questions, too- I NEED to see more with Yiran and the kings. That cliffhanger was insane- honestly, my rating may change once the second book is out depending on how these storylines continue. Also, the writing style just draws you in so easily, it’s a hard book to put down. While there were times where tension was relieved, there wasn’t a boring moment and there were no characters that I thought should’ve been cut. This was such an engaging, fun read and I really love this universe.

Tl;dr: Would recommend to those who love action-packed books, works involving an underworld, revenge stories, magic systems involving souls, and fantasy stories full of adventure.