Over the past year or so, there has been a lot of attention paid to the Eldar - new minis for the Harlequins, the introduction of the Ynnari, a brilliant Codex for the Craftworlds and a power boost to the maligned Drukhari. 
Well as we get to the tail end of the 8th Edition Codex releases, it's the Harlequins turn to get a brand new (but smaller than a standard Codex at only 80 pages) Harlequins Codex which comes in both Custard Pie Collectors Edition and Packed Into a Mini Car Standard Edition (left) plus of course the obligatory Data Cards. As well as the Harlequins release, we also get a miniature for all Aeldari factions - the Webway Gate, which looking at the sprues does not have modelling options for Drukhari icons, so really it's not for everyone, is it?
In paperback book releases, The War of Vengeance is a new omnibus with three stories from the Old World; The Great Betrayal by Nick Kyme, Master of Dragons by Chris Wraight, and The Curse of the Phoenix Crown by C L Werner. The two others we spoke about earlier on their hardback release - the Inquisitor novel Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne and White Scars in The Last Hunt.

Forge World are at it again, this time deleting more from their Horus Heresy range - including the almost the entire MKII Space Marine range and many weapons sets, mainly the older Legion range. Some of the weapon sets make sense, as they now appear in the plastic boxed sets for Horus Heresy - the Tigrus and Phobos Pattern Bolters and Flamers for example - but if you want to build a  Heavy Flamer or Missile Launcher-armed Heavy Support Unit, you are going to need to buy a fair few boxes to get enough to arm one squad. Also disappearing are the older pattern Volkite Culverin, and Legion Pattern Rotor Cannons, Las Cannon, Mutli-Meltas and Plasma Cannon sets. Sadly the Cataphractii and Tartaros Terminator sets are also getting the chop, as are the Umbra, Seeker and Ferrox Pattern Bolters. Also of note are the Bolt Pistol sets which also add much needed kit around the waist of your forces.
Now, as we said earlier this week, this is an odd move considering how MKII is currently prominent in the marketing for the New Horus Heresy book, Malevolence.
Everyone on the net seems to be an expert on this, and frankly their voice is often wrong and unhelpful.
-
So lets delve a little deeper:
Are Forge World just deleting old stock that doesn't sell? Maybe!
Are Forge World deleting stock that is being impacted by recasters? Potentially - that's smart if you want to weed out people who are using recast stuff, but now you have opened a legitimate market for recasters!
In terms of business, this is crazy! We have already seen hardened anti-recast bloggers state that this leaves them only one option - and that is to buy product not manufactured by Forge World. The Community itself is now in opposition to the manufacturer which creates a lack of trust and stability AND loyalty.
-
The other two options these armchair blogging experts aren't even considering ...
1) Could Forge World be changing the resin used in their weapon sets? There is better resin for smaller items and maybe this is where they will start. Neo-Resin is one such material.
​2) Could Forge World be moving towards clam-packed plastic weapons sets? Let's hope so!
These would be easier, cheaper to mass produce, all on one sprue like the old days AND they could be carried in store by Games Workshop. We have already seen the very successful move to use these EXACT weapons in plastic Horus Heresy sets from Games Workshop as we said above. This latest cull sees SOME duplication deleted between the GW and the Forge World range, so bringing out dedicated heavy weapons sets for Games Workshop to sell in store makes sense - doesn't mean it'll happen, but it just makes sense. 
-
​Let us know what you think. Let's open up a dialogue and be constructive.

With Forge World deleting all of the MKII Space Marine upgrade kits from their site, it is not without some irony that their next Horus Heresy book - Malevolence - that was previewed at Warhammer Fest this weekend, featured a number of images not only showing the now out-of-favour MKII armour prominently, but also showing the now-deleted upgrade sets.
Case in point, by the time this book is released, the White Scars Upgarde Set will be impossible to buy! It does seem however that the MKII helmets and MKIII shoulder pads will stay in stock - but for how long?
The deletion of these upgrade sets continues to cause outrage in the Horus Heresy Community and still no official word from Forge World or Games Workshop about why or if there is a guarantee of future supply.

th a flurry of fast attack, the Idoneth Deepkin wave comes to an end. If we follow the usual pattern for Games Workshop, they will never be heard of again, but hopefully these amazingly detailed models will occasionally pop up in a White Dwarf now and then.
For now lets take a look at the Akhelian Allopex which comes with alternate heads for the shark and alternate weapons for the driver. Again some throwbacks to the Dark Eldar in it's function but they're not cheap per model, so here's hoping you don't need tonnes of them. The other fast attack is the dynamic Akhelian Ishlaen Guard / Akhelian Morrsarr Guard combi-kit. Again not a cheap kit, but unlike many of the Deepkin kits you will get some spare parts for your bitz box. Of course we also get the last of the art cards for anyone ordering online, with Art Card 5 - Akhelian Leviadon on offer.
The Hobbit gets two news kits that can really only be described as cannon fodder for Orcs - the non-canon Hobbit Shirrifs and Farmer Maggot & Hounds who at least did appear in the book.
Speaking of books, The Horus Heresy: Wolfsbane tells the story of the Emperor's two wolves - Horus and Russ going toe to toe... or paw to paw. Salamanders: The Omnibus is a great value tome that includes the novels Salamander, Firedrake and Nocturne plus some additional short stories.
In audio books, the next Blackshields release is on it's way with The Red Fief continuing the story told in The False War which was basically a long argument amongst the Blackshields and got pretty old pretty fast! Hopefully this one is more entertaining.

With Solo: A Star Wars Story only a week or so away, I was having a look at the costumes for the upcoming film and spotted a new favourite - the Mud Trooper! Stupid name, but the costume harks back to some past costumes and it got a few of us thinking...

​We know that Han Solo joins the Empire, so are we seeing the first shots of an Imperial Army trooper? 
The Imperial Navy have troops - we see them on the Death Star dressed in black (below) - so are the Mud Troopers in fact what the Imperial Army looked like before the widespread introduction of Stormtroopers?

Further to that, are the Mimban Stormtroopers (above right) the first incarnation of Stormtroopers that took to the field for the Empire? You may notice that their helmets are slightly different to regular Stormtroopers, with extra armour on the forehead similar to the extra armour we saw on the Tank Trooper in Rogue One.
Rogue One takes place at least a decade after Solo, so evolution of the armour would make sense, as would the phasing out of specialist Stormtrooper roles as the Empire amalgamates into a more harmonious military machine.
The big question we take out of this is does General Veers wear an Imperial Army uniform when he takes to ground combat AND is there any link to Dengar the bounty hunter's costume (below left)? \
Dengar does have an important difference, he wears the leg and lower arm armour of a Stromtrooper, but his breastplate is certainly very similar to the Mudtrooper or even the Snow Trooper (below right).

Whatever the actual story is, the way the costume designers have carried the lineage of uniforms through the Empire has been amazing, and to having fans speculating just shows what an amazing living universe Star Wars is!

As the Deepkin releases almost draw to a close, we finally get to see their "tank" - the Akhelian Leviadon, a large turtle with a Dark Eldar Ravager on it's back! And at twice the price of a Ravager, there goes the conversion idea of mixing those parts! This week sees the second last of the free Deepkin art cards when you order online, this week the Akhelian Allopex, which oddly isn't on pre-order until next week!
Next week also sees the introduction of the Primaris Marines into the hallowed halls of the Deathwatch with a new Codex, in both Rampaging Xenocide Collectors Edition and Paint It Black standard edition. There are of course the requisite Datacards, plus three miniature releases - the Deathwatch Primaris Intercessors, the Deathwatch Primaris Apothecary which all include the new Primaris-scaled Deathatch Upgrade Sprue and the non-Primaris Watch Captain Artemis.  
Warhammer Legends starts next week too, with not only a bevy of classic metal and resin Warhammer miniatures, but also the rules to field them in the new Warhammer Community Legends portal. These minis will only be available for a week, so if you want them - go in! There's the old Dogs of War set Mengil's Manflayers, the resin Morathi, the Hag Sorceress of Ghrond with her cranky horse, Dark Elf Dreadlord on Cold One and Dark Elf Sorceress on Cold One as well as the metal Lokhir Fellheart, Krakenlord of Karond Kar, Dreadlord with Great Weapon and the Dreadlord. it shoul dbe said that some of these had been available recently on the webstore, but have now had a price bump as they are in Made To Order! The Mehgil's Manflayers are exciting to see and at a decent priced too - especially if, as we hope, other Dogs of War units will also get re-released at this price point!
Something else of note - notice how they use the term "Dark Elves" not the newer term "Dark Aelves"!
Also next week is the The Doom Lords Paint Bundle for the minis that are actually released today... odd!
No books this week, but if you didn't see this on our Facebook, then Forge World are cutting almost their entire line of Space Marine Upgrade sets! Who knows what is going on there - hopefully plastics! This is Forge World's bread and butter, so it's an interesting move by them.

Games Workshop revealed this morning that there would be a new addition to the Warhammer Community site, Warhammer Legends. This will apparently provide a portal to house rules for narrative and open play games so that classic minis from the so-called Old World an be fielded again. Not only will the rules live here, but we'll get a chance to buy them through the standard week-long Made to Order offers. One of the first sets to be offered up, along with some other Dark Elf minis, are the old Dogs of War/ Regiments of Renown Mengil Manhide’s Manflayers.
Dogs of War, or Regiments of Renown depending on when you first saw these, were a way to add Mercenary forces to your army. They were generally unaligned but brought units from right across the Warhammer world including Dwarf pirates, Lizardmen Skinks on Cold Ones and a plethora of human units from  kingdoms we hadn't heard of. These units could either be built into a large force, or just take a contingent to add to your force. At the time they were pretty expensive, so Gods know how much they will be today, but there were some amazing miniatures in the sets, including a lot done by Alan Perry of the Perry Brothers, who of course now run probably the best historical miniatures company around.
Could the re-release of the Mengil Manhide’s Manflayers be the opportunity to also release more of the Dogs of War/ Regiments of Renown sets? Have a look at some of the cool  Perry Brothers units below - 
Braganza's Besiegers, Pizzaro's Lost Legion, Voland's Venators plus Dave Andrews' and Norman Swales' infamous Birdmen of Catrazza . These would be amazing to see again and even cooler to have in your force, even open the door to GW introducing rules for Mercenary units again. Here's hoping!

Not content to tempt us with just one set of releases, Games Workshop have thrown this week into wallet-ravaging chaos with a selection of things that pretty much everyone will want... NEED!
"Need" is a tad dramatic, but the the big boss and the line infantry now released for Idoneth Deepkin, it's time for some specialists!  The Isharann Soulrender (The Drukhari Incubi stand-in from Hell),  Isharann Soulscryers (Dark Elf magic user stand in) and the awesome Isharann Tidecaster (check out that Chinese influenced armour!) are all mono-pose single sprue models with unfortunately no weapons or head options, but none the less dynamically posed and intricately sculpted. This week also sees the third in the free Deepkin art card (left) if you order any of this week's products on line.
The next gang in the Necromunda universe are also here with the techno warriors of House Van Saar. There's a few interesting points about this kit - first the amount of extra options is great, with double the amount of heads and two dedicated weapons options for each model, the inclusion of the 'clear' shield and an interesting way to do the bodies (see our sprue breakdown below). At $15 AUD cheaper than the Namarti, this certainly seems to be a fairer price point for effectively only multi-part not multi-pose minis. There are of course the Dice to go along with it and the Van Saars Gang Cards. The release of the Van Saars coincides with the release of Gang War 3, with additional scenarios, a Trading Post and new rules and units including the Luther Pattern Excavation Automata and ‘Kratos’’ H-Grade Servitor Ogryn. You can now also buy the Blank Fighter Cards previously available in the Necromunda boxed game to make your own customised gangs/ units. 
Blood Bowl also gets some treat next week, with The Doom Lords Chaos Chosen team - and boy are they hot! Okay, they're not as dynamic as some of the other teams, but they are solid and stoic with some brooding that David Boreanaz would be jealous of! With some nice Beastmen minis included, this may need to find it's way to Beardy Hammer HQ! There are of course the requisite Chaos Dice and Chaos Team Card Pack too. In fact there are some other Blood Bowl products next week, the Blood Bowl Star Players Card Pack, Skaven Player Cards and Blood Bowl Underworld Denizens Dice plus a set of Chaos Renegade Dice. In other Blood Bowl news, Spike! is getting it's White Dwarf article turned into an actual magazine with star player profiles, tips and tricks and a look at the Doom Lords background. At only 36 pages, this is more a comic book, so be aware of the $20 AUD price tag.
Speaking of White Dwarf, it will be hitting the shelves next Friday with Deepkin Designer Notes, two Battle Reports and... well not a lot else by the sound of it!
In books, The Voice of Mars (HC) is a follow up to 'The Eye of Medusa' which chronicles the tales of corruption leaching into the Iron Hands Chapter - it also has a pretty rad cover!
.... BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE ...

It's not just Games Workshop who are bringing you new Necromunda toys - Forge World have also joined the party with Slate Merdena & Macula, Belladonna the Bounty Hunter (a mini based on some old school artwork),  Grendl Grendlsen the Squat Bounty Hunter and Eyros Slagmyst the Bounty Hunter (who could be painted up to be a pretty cool Tau infiltrator in the Underhive).

The House Van Saars gang are an interesting evolution in Games Workshop design - it's not revolutionary, but worth a look at for sure.
The first thing about the House Van Saars kit is the inclusion of the Hrystrar pattern energy shield - the first non-canopy/ flight stand clear piece included in a GW kit. We don't see it on the sprue breakdown today, but it will be interesting to see how it comes in the kit.
Secondly is the body construction on the minis themselves. Traditionally we either see the torso, lowerbody/ legs and arms separate or the torso and legs together with pseudo-modular arms. Here we see something else - we see the torso and groin as one piece, with the legs separate, though obviously intended for certain bodies. It will be interesting to see how transferable these legs are to other bodies. The front of the torso also seems to be separate - not sure if this is for an opportunity to have variety to the look.
Like Age of $igmar, there are two dedicated weapons options for each model, though they are almost all ranged options, not a mixed mellee or ranged option like Ao$ kits generally do. In terms of options, this kit comes with 20 heads - giving you a helmet or please-don't-shoot-me-in-the-head option for each mini.
Finally, the price point - at $70 AUD this is $15 AUD less than the new Namarti Thralls who have less posing
options, and less customization options like extra heads and pouches. This price brings them inline with the rest of the Necromunda range, so that's logical, but it does once again go to prove that the "Age of $igmar" tag we use is well deserved!

Week 2 of the Idoneth Deepkin Fun Train brings us two nice sets from opposite ends of the Deepkin family.
On the one hand we have the Volturnos, High King of the Deep/ Akhelian King combi-kit. This is a mounted character model with multiple weapons options and flexibility of parts to create your own character. Being mounted, it is also a bit of a centrepiece. At $70 AUD for a mounted character with modular options, this seems like pretty good value - and that Volturnos head.... AWESOME SAUCE!
On the other hand we have the Namarti Reavers, line infantry models with two weapon options - bow or bow and melee combination. Like the Namarti Thralls, these are basically multi-part but mono-pose with no head options AND like the Thralls they are at a multi-pose price. Now we coped some flak last week - do not misunderstand - these are great minis, but Games Workshop have a multi-pose price tag on them. The Namarti should be similar to the Dark Elves because that's what you get, not the flexibility of the Space Marine kits. 
Away from the pricing, they are lovely models, and if you use the double weapon loadout you will have some rare bare hands left over to add to your bitz box! Also, if you order either (or both) of these kits online you will get this weeks' free Deepkin Art Card - From the Seas They Come (right).
In other releases, the Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah hardback is out with a great cover showing Chaos Marines attacking Skitarii guarding a Titan - could you ask for more?
-
Now interestingly, have a look at the sprues for the Volturnos, High King of the Deep/ Akhelian King combi-kit - they're small! Instead of going for the big sheet, Games Workshop have broken them down to possibly half the size. The miniature itself comes in a standard sized box, but could GW be going towards smaller boxes to fit more on the shelves? If the boxes were smaller but thicker then, so stacking the sprues, then more stock could fit on those shelves! It'd be smart...

Well this seems like a very strange coincidence - just days after the Regimental Standard announced that the lasgun very similar to the ones used by the Elysian Drop Troops (and manufactured by House Van Saar) is being withdrawn from active service, Forge World has added the entire range of Elysians to the Last Chance To Buy section of their website.
The announcement in Regimental Standard that the Nihilis Pattern Lasgun is being withdrawn from service is a sneak peak at the next gang in Necromunda, House Van Saar, and how they arm elements of the Imperial Guard - BUT it does seem interesting that we see the Imperial Guard unit with this weapon now being discontinued.
It's not the only thing being discontinued, with two Ryza and one Krieg Leman Russ variant also being discontinued. Curiously Forge World have shown other products being discontinued (below).
The Leman Russ could be explained in the rumoured new Leman Russ plastic boxed set coming soon, but the Elysians could just be shuffling off this mortal coil, which is a shame for a unit that is unique in looks and role - harking back to the days of jump pack assault units for Imperial Guard.
Other items turning up in Last Chance To Buy include the Elysian Venator and some Solar Auxilia items. ​