#underworlds

[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

[gaertan]

Impressionist Stormcast eternal

Trying out something cursed city -esque! ,or just impressionist overall! Makes these stormcast eternals pretty fun to paint actually 

[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/ )

[paintedmenagerie]

Skabbik's Plaguepack

[paint-goblin-peter]

Tiny mastiff/dalmatian.

Bull mastiff+bulldog shape with dalmatian coloration. Bull-dalmation!

I didn't expect to finish him in one day but here we are ready to go with the other five models in the unit ...

[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 :)

[kgustin87]

Painted the Skinnerkin

[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.

[carlageddon]

How many attacks do Attack Dice do?

I'm not sure who to ask on this... (Hell, I'm not sure anyone reads this?) but there's a simple question that we always seem to argue about no matter who I play Warhammer Underworlds with and everyone has one of two opinions.

How many attacks do the attack dice do?

You would think it's a simple question.

Drakan Celestus attacks with 2 dice.

He needs a WARHAMMER symbol for a success.

Here's the question that no one can agree on.

If you get 2 WARHAMMERS, is it classed as two attacks, (for a total of two lots of 2), so 4 damage.

Meaning if Sire Haqfel rolls one defense dice and gets the required Avoid then it only 'counters' one out of the two attacks, and the other attack still goes through, and he would take 2 damage?

or

Regardless of rolling 2 successes, it only treats this as 1 'actual' Success....

Meaning if Sire Haqfel rolls one defensive dice and gets the required AVOID then it cancels out the attack?

Similar question would apply to rolling a CRITICAL and a WARHAMMER.

...again, is the CRITICAL and WARHAMMER classed as two separate attacks of 2+2=4? So the AVOID would counter the WARHAMMER leaving the CRITICAL to go through...

or

Do we ignore the WARHAMMER and only focus on the CRITICAL (Sire Haqfel has to role a CRITICAL defense dice or take 2 damage).

Would the same question then not apply if Sire Haqfel rolls a CRITICAL defense dice against a CRITICAL and WARHAMMER would this allow the WARHAMMER go through or does the CRITICAL counter the CRITICAL and no damage is taken.

[vitolioce]

The Gnarlspirit Pack Warband is finally complete! Thanks to @ajb_minis for the inspiration! (and to my son Nicolino for helping me paint Gorl 😍) @warhammerofficial #paintingwarhammer #warhammer #warhammerofficial #warhammercommunity #wh40k #paintingwarhammer40k #ageofsigmar #aos #gnarlspiritpack #gnarlwood #nightvault #beastgrave #direchasm #harrowdeep #nethermaze #italia #warhammerunderworlds #underworlds #whu #warhammerpainting #paintingart #art #tabletopterrain #battle #hobby (presso Ravenna, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnecuj2MQ0B/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[segersgia]

Warhammer 2022 - My favourite miniatures from this year.

Warhammer Community is once again asking us our favourite miniatures of the year. And while I’ve made my vote, I thought it would be nice to post my favourite 10 releases of this year. And unlike the voting list that Games Workshop has given us, I’m also going to include releases from Forge World.

10. - Brôkhyr Thunderkyn:

The Leagues of Votann have been the most exciting revelation that Games Workshop has brought back from the dead. An abhuman society that retains some of the knowledge lost during the Dark Age of Technology, and living proof that humanity can survive without the Imperium.

Thunderkyn are those particular Votann engineers who head off into battle, armoured in repurposed void-rigs and carrying a variety of heavy weaponry; from heavy bolters to high-grade energy beams. The Imperium would definitely sacrifice a dozen worlds just to gain access to their gear.

While I really liked some of the Votann releases, and some others kind of missed the mark, the Brôkhyr are how I want to see the Leagues move forward; Cool advanced gear mixed with a heavy-industrial aesthetic. The goggles really make them so much cooler.

9. - Aeldari Rangers:

2022 finally saw the Eldar gain a heap of renewed kits, and almost all of them were a great update to... Truly ... ANCIENT... kits. While the new Guardians were very nice, the Rangers are one of my favourite units in the lore.

Eldar Snipers who live solitary lives away from their Craftworld. Rangers follow the Path of the Outcast, choosing a life of excitement and adventure. A dangerous life that can result in their worst nightmare; falling into the clutches of She Who Thirsts. Rangers are expert survivalists and amazing Marksmen.

The Ranger design is one of my favourite, with only the Shadow Spectres and Warp Spiders surpassing it. I love their cameleoline cloaks, especially when it covers their helmets. They encompass some of my favourite aspects of Elven aesthetics; mysterious, ethereal, and somewhat spooky. The “Aspect-Totem” to Kurnous is a detail that I’m glad they’re continuing from previous units.

8. - Boa Kon’ssstriktr:

This is something unheard of... a Snakeman from Lustria. Boa learned his skills from watching matches from high up in trees and eventually decided to participate himself. He is a very conniving player that also has a very special ability; he can hypnotise his adversaries.

Boa’s origins is an enigma, for Snakemen were something only heard of in the chaos-infested jungles of Khuresh. So might this be a Lizardman blessed by the Serpent-god Sotek, or perhaps a rare case of a non-chaos corrupted Naga?

The most interesting design for Blood Bowl this year. Fans have been speculating about Khuresh for decades now, and this little nod to the Naga from the earliest editions of Warhammer Fantasy is a welcome sight. Boa’s design offers so much. Not only is it a wonderful Star Player for Lizardmen and Amazons, it is also going to be a great conversion for almost every setting.

7. - Legion MKVI Tactical Squad:

No Warhammer list would be complete without the Space Marines making an appearance. The new Horus Heresy Plastic kit was probably the most anticipated release this year.

The Mark 6 “Corvus” pattern power armour is the iconic design from the early days of Rogue Trader, and during the Siege of Terra, it was the most used pattern by both loyalist and traitor forces. It is the lightest pattern of power armour to date, and favoured by the legions and chapters that preferred covert and stealth warfare.

I wasn’t expecting myself to like this unit. My favourite pattern of Power armour is Mark 5; Heresy Armour. It has the most “grim-looking” helmet design of all the patterns, while also looking haggard and worn out. I prefer my space marines grimy and battle-scarred. This unit however keeps some of my favourite design cues. I love the metal bonding studs on the Shoulder pads, and the new scaling of the miniatures is way better compared to their squatter predecessors. I hope Games Workshop re-releases the other patterns with the new proportions.

6. - Vartijan Exo-Driller:

What do you mean, Space Dwarves get two aesthetics? The Squats of Necromunda are little different compared to their core-ward kin. Instead of void suits and grav-trikes, the Necromundan Squats battle with mining gear and twin-linked weapons.

The Vartijan Exo-Driller is a piece of heavy gear utilized by the Squats to protect themselves from hazardous environments while mining. Of course, a massive suit that makes you the same height as an Ogryn, is also a perfect battle-mech to fight rival gangs.

While the Prospector gang is a great kit in and of itself, the Exo-driller was what everyone wanted. It keeps the egg-ish shape of the original Squat Exo-armour, and turns it into a beast of a mech. This is probably the model that will people go spend money on Forge World Minis. 

5. - The Avatar of Khaine:

The most deserving of winning the Best Miniature of the Year is most definitely this monster of a sculpt.

When the God Khaine was shattered in a thousand pieces, his essence was scattered to the hearts within many of the Craftworlds across the galaxy. A Wraith Artefact was formed wherever these shards landed. When the Craftworlds go to battle, one Exarch is chosen to sacrifice themselves to awaken this Artefact and make Khaine walk reality again; to destroy the enemies of the Aeldari.

Another wonderful glow-up for the Aeldari; What can I say? It is an absolutely stunning miniature and actually made me start looking more into Eldar lore. What I like the most about this miniature is the options the kit has. Three choices of heads, including a bare headed option with luscious hair, and three choices of forms for his weapon; the Wailing Doom. My favourite form is the axe; a weapon more Eldar should carry.

4. - Cadian Shock Troopers:

Another one I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did. Cadians have returned to the field and look better than ever.

The Cadian Shock Troopers are considered the best of the best. Trained from childhood to battle the enemies of the Imperium and hold the line. Even after the destruction of their home, their resolve remains unfaltering, and their Mantra “Cadia Stands!” is still proudly confessed by their ranks. With no planet to recruit from, Cadians now allow recruits from other worlds, as long as they endure their harsh training regiments. Still, with every campaign and every battle, the people of Cadia are slowly going extinct, but as long as a single member of them stands to fight, their culture and their world will survive.

The update that the Guard deserved, and I was really impressed with just how lovely they look. Better proportions, new gear and an updated look. Their design looks way more like “Normandy Landing American Soldiers, than their previous iteration did, and it really works wonderfully.

The only thing unaccounted for is gear that currently is lacking in the available kit. We’ve seen images, so they might be available in a Kill Team Box, or are just lacking to save on space in the Starter box. 

3. - Ash Waste Nomads War Party:

I have been waiting for these to return since Necromunda got released and I actually have a kit of them.

The Nomads of Necromunda’s Ash Waste are a mysterious people that have existed on the planet since the vile Imperium claimed it as their own. Conducting lightning raids on trespassing gangs and convoys, they are one of the most dangerous thing to encounter in the toxic wastes of Necromunda.

Ash Waste Nomads are the closest you can get to a playable “good” rebel faction, outside of the Ogryn gangs. They are outlaws to the Imperium, and only have hate and malice to give to the Imperial House. This gang is a look at what non-chaos resistance forces can look like.

Such a cool concept that I hope is going to be expanded upon. The Nomads are awesome. It emphasizes everything I love in character design; long coats, gas masks, hoods, and a rugged appearance. I also believe this kit would work wonderfully as awesome conversions. I can already imagine conversions for a variety of guard regiments, including Death Korps and Tallarn Desert Raiders.

2. - Imperial Navy Breacher Squad:

Kill Team really kept on giving this year, from the Eldar Corsairs and Traitor Guard, to the Kroot and Kasrkin. However, my favourite Kill Team this year is the Imperial Navy.

The Imperial Navy employs a dedicated force of armed infantry to act as security personnel and defend their vessels from enemy boarders; The Voidsmen-at-Arms. Breacher Squads however, take the fight to the enemy. They are the elite branch of the Voidsmen and are deployed in boarding actions against enemy vessels. This also includes Space Hulks, and the Breachers are often the first soldiers to explore the outskirts of these massive shipwrecks.

These are my Space Marines. It is another look into a part of the lore that Kill Team has allowed for us to dive a little bit deeper in. Once again, this kit, like the other Kill Teams, has so much character to it, from the Armsman with a Breaching shield, to the one wearing a bombing vest. I do have some gripes though, mainly that the Axe-wielder carries an axe instead of the weird looking Pole-arm/ Boarding-hook that a lot of their artwork includes. I also wished that the helmets were a little bit more varied, instead of the plethora of bare heads this kit has (which is very weird for a unit that mostly deals with space-combat).

1. - Grinkrak’s Looncourt:

Of course my top-pick this year was something related to the Greenskins.

Grinkrak is a Loonboss that has gaslighted the rabble of Grots he has rule over, into thinking that they are a powerful group of noble knights instead of the ragtag team of cowardly Gobbos. Of course, a steady dose of fungal tinctures has helped him maintain that illusion. They live in the Gnarlwood, at the grand fungal monument known as the Great Stinkhorn. So far, the noble quests they have undertaken have been surprisingly successful, even though the Gnarlwood literally eats bigger opponents than them for breakfast.

The Gloomspite Gits are some of the most fun armies that Games Workshop has made. Even though this is the second Gloomspite warband for Warhammer: Underworlds, they are still such a creative bunch of fun characters. While I’ve noticed the two small Squigs are basically rescaled models from the Squig Herd set, everything else is just great.

I realised that the Gloomspite were given design notes that the Black Orcs originally had in Warhammer Fantasy; Fully armoured Orcs and Goblins with leering faces and the cool looking Iron Jaw. The New AoS Orruks lack this, which I find sad. I love Orcs in Fantasy, but Grots in AoS are way more superior to their Orruk kin.

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Yeah... a lot of love was given this year to a bunch of different things and I must say that I really liked the releases this year. The Votann were exciting, Necromunda brought us to the Wastes and the Aeldari finally were given the attention they deserved. I’m also glad that we still have so much in store next year, especially for the smaller gaming systems like Warcry and Kill Team.

Enjoy your holidays, peoples!!!