Gaunt's Ghosts are an all time fan favourite, and in line with GW's recent update of some classics, this week we get the new plastic Gaunt's Ghosts miniatures, plus two very plush Sabbat World's Crusade source books, one in Nine Day Pack Limited Edition and the other in MRE Goodness Standard Edition, which is also pretty flash. these books are full of info on the campaign and forces involved. Be aware that the purple version is only available to order for two weeks. There's also a new prequel set as well in the form of The Vincula Insurgency: Ghost Dossier 1 which is not only Limited Edition, but full of cool extras beautifully presented. Surely this is one of the best limited editions GW has produced. If you're really into it, there's also the Ibram Gaunt Bookmark. Some minis that are in desperate need of an update are the old Cadian Guard, and although not a full update, this new heads and weapons sprue is very welcome, but only currently available with the new Cadian Shock Troops set. Maybe we'll get it separately later, but for now it's only in here plus a hefty price increase for the set (at least in Australia and NZ).
As we mentioned at the top of the show, the next line of McFarlane action figures is out, with the Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant, Blood Angels Hellblaster (also available in Artist's Proof) and Adepta Sororitas Order of Our Martyred Lady Battle Sister (also available in Artist's Proof) on their way.    
Nice little update to Blood Bowl this week with the delayed Lizardmen Double-sided Blood Bowl Pitch and Dugouts, Dice Set and Team Card Pack getting a release. Sort of expected more for Lizardmen dice, but there you go!
In books this week we have a hardback anthology of the Sabbat War, an Iron Snakes novel Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint in hardback, plus it's a White Dwarf week which includes a transfer sheet for White Dwarf's Space Marine Chapter, the Tome Keepers which is quite cool.
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We've also thrown a close up of the new Cadian Shock Troops upgrade sprue down the bottom here if you want to check it out.

It really hasn't been that long since we had the last Codex: Adepta Sororitas, but here we are with a new edition yet again. The Codex: Adepta Sororitas comes in both Super Nun Collector's Edition and Praise Be Standard Edition with more units and updated rules. The High Lord of Terra mentioned earlier is none other than Morvenn Vahl, Abbess Sanctorum of the Adepta Sororitas who comes resplendent in this new look for battle armour. Part dreadnought, part weapons platform, we should probably be thankful it doesn't have boob armour too. There are other new characters too, with two new support HQs, the Palatine and Sister Dogmata, plus the elite Paragon Warsuits who look better and better with each glance. There's a new infantry unit too, the Celestian Sacresants who are a really nice mix between 40K and Ao$, so we can imagine these will be very popular for conversion fodder into the future. I for one, not a fan of the Adepta Sororitas am sorely tempted by this kit. The new Codex is of course supplemented with the Datacards and Dice Set.
The game that keeps on giving - Necromunda - gets a new expansion next week with House of Faith, which sees the Cawdor gang take on the aspect of the Redemptionists, seen both in the original version of Necromunda and the original original Necromunda, Confrontation. The Cawdor Redemptionist miniatures are very close to the original drawings from Confrontation, but also taking on some of the elements of the newer Cawdor look. Again, we get a set of Cawdor Gang Tactics Cards and the House of Faith Dice Set.
In the Age of $igmar world, Warhammer Underworlds have released another band of cool minis, Elathain's Soulraid, built around the Idoneth Deepkin. The Deepkin are an amazing range, very Dark Eldar in many ways, and this set adds some cool minis to that line, especially if you want squad leaders, but the inclusion of the crab and the fish just seems weird. Fun, but weird.
Do you like Death Guard? Well you've had YEARS of good releases, but we get the Lord Felthius and the Tainted Cohort re-released this week. If that's your thing, go forth and enjoy!
In books we have Blackstone Fortress: Ascension in paperback and the supposedly dark comedy that is ​Brutal Kunnin based around those fun and hilarious Orks.

Overnight the new Age of $igmar set, Dominion was previewed - ushering in a "new era" with updated rules and background for all factions (in the 350 page book included in the set), plus a new expanded narrative campaign system and different ways to play. For most, Dominion will mostly be about the miniatures, which GW say we will be able to buy at a 'significant saving' from when they are released individually later on - no time frame announced on this though unfortunately.
So with miniatures in mind, lets take a look and then discuss... 

As is often the way, there was also a sneak peak of the new minis coming for this Dominion line, and they're all pretty impressive; the Knight-Judicator with Gryph-hounds is a new elite archer unit, and the Stormstrike Chariot drawn by Gryph-chargers is a really impressive light chariot with some new design features, including a very Classical Greece looking helmet on the archer.
The Beast-skewer Killbow is a heavy weapon for the Kruleboyz designed to take out line infantry and monsters - which the Kruleboyz also employ in the form of the ​Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth, a truly impressive model and probably one of the real standouts in this range.

Right, so what can we glean from this new preview? Well if we take this week's pre-orders, then look at the recent Behemoth release plus Bel'akor, plus this preview's Annihilators, the multiple Gryph-hounds, the Beast-skewer Killbow and Breaka-boss on Mirebrute Troggoth, it's pretty obvious we are going to have a new meta of "bigger is better" with giants and beasties of all descriptions coming out of the woodwork. In fact maybe that's what the little cute insectoid is on the new Warsong Revenant - it's the Sylvaneth's new beastie still to be released.
As for the box, it's pretty cool. For us the Orcs don't really work as any kind of real selling point - the look is a bit too different, but also seems cobbled together from LoTR. The old shield is cool though! The Stormcast are again a further evolution which improve the look of these pretty bland miniatures greatly. Both heroes in the sets are interesting, and the comparison between Yndrsata and Sanguinus from WH30K is pretty fun. It should be pointed out the number of female models in the Stormcast range. This is huge and a great addition for inclusion for all hobbyists in the game. It will be interesting to see if this carries across to any Empire faction infantry forces that may come along in the future. Shieldmaidens in Vikings have opened up the idea in many people's minds of how women in ancient times did fight and die in battle, and this happened across multiple civilisations across the world at various points.
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So, is this box on the shopping list? We'll probably give it a miss, unless some splits turn up on FB.
Let us know what you think.

Kragnos, like the recent big bois before him, is back to bring destruction and wrath to all before him, and in Broken Realms: Kragnos you'll find out exactly how and why! The tome is available in Four Hooves of Fury Limited Edition and My What Big Horns You Have Standard Edition. Kragnos himself is here too, in a massive new miniature. There's a reason they call him "The End of Empires". He's hardly the only power character though, with the most ancient of all Slaan, Lord Kroak getting an amazing updated miniature with an updated looking Skink next to him. One can only hope this ushers in a new era of Seraphon models. Speaking of power, Slaanesh is rumbling in the depths and ushering their return are the twins Dexcessa, the Talon of Slaanesh and Synessa, the Voice of Slaanesh in a combi-kit that adds arms and wings to the pantheon of looks for She Who Thirsts. These are both amazing looking miniatures and temptation is running rampant over here... Now if you don't like beasties, then these two will be more your cup of tea - Galen and Doralia ven Denst, the father and daughter team of kick-arsery, who not only give a new look somewhat in line with the Cursed City motif, but also come with some alternative bits to make them even cooler. It should be stated here that all of these large kits come with alternative pieces to customise, which is a nice return to form for GW. In the uber-cool department is the Warsong Revenant, not only a nice update to the armour style of the Sylvaneth, but the little hatching bug on the top of the mini also hints to possible insectoid allies for them in the future. It's a rerelease, but Melusai Ironscale also pops up this week - a really nice mini packed with character which would fit in with many different armies across all the universes.
With Broken Realms here, there are some new boxed sets, all of which it has to be said are great;  Ghorraghan Khai – The Butcher-herd, Luxion and Vresca – The Exquisite Pursuit, Rattachak's Doom-coven and Drycha Hamadreth - Drycha's Spitegrove are all nice army boosters.
In the world of Warhammer 40k, sneaking in this week is the Chapter Approved: Grand Tournament 2021 Mission Pack and Munitorum Field Manual 2021 MkII set adding more to the most recent edition of 40K.
In books the beautiful Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! Limited Edition is on the way, as is the paperback version of Realm-lords, the paperback version of Gotrek & Felix: The Sixth Omnibus and issue 5 of Marvel: Warhammer 40,000 Marneus Calgar.
An expensive week for some it looks like...

The toaster-worshipping scions of the Omnissiah are back with the brand new Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus, available in both Beep-Boop Collector's Edition and USB Hub Standard Edition, the Adeptus Mechanicus also get a new mini - the Skitarii Marshal, which initially looks underwhelming, but on closer inspection is quite cool. With zero modelling options on the sprue, it's what you see is what you get for this guy. There's also a new Combat Patrol, bringing not only the Dunecrawler back into a set, but also the Kataphrons for some added hitting power. There are of course the usual Datacards and a rather spiffy, if plain, Dice Set.
Cursed City characters are now available separately, at a premium price, so we have Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos, the very spooky Lady Annika, The Thirsting Blade, Kritza, The Rat Prince and the various forms of Radukar; the Beast
and the Wolf plus his posse Radukar's Court. Honestly, the price on the Court is ridiculous... there's also those fluffy love bunnies, the Dire Wolves - which would be so much cooler if not rotting. There's extra troops too, with the older Undead models being repackaged into the Start Collecting! Soulblight Gravelords, but with the amazing new Deathrattle Skeletons models, I'm not sure why you would want these old ones apart from the exclusive Wight King on Skeletal Steed model. In related Undead news, Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm have an awesome new set, Kainan's Reapers, adding some very dynamic poses to that line.
Now here's a thing, the new Combat Patrol: Space Marines is on pre-order, and unlike the Start Collecting Space Marines, this is all Primaris, potentially ushering in the death knell for the older Alpha-style Space Marines of old. Be interesting to see what the community think of this... There's also the chunkatron Captain with Master-crafted Heavy Bolt Rifle and the Heavy Intercessors (the way Primaris should have always been). Meanwhile the Big Bad in this current edition of 40K have some releases too - Combat Patrol: Necrons is an unusual set, but has some great models in it, the excellent Chronomancer mini is also back and the grizzly Flayed Ones take to the field too. If you prefer skin and spikes, then the Drukhari Lelith Hesperax (bit lackluster compared to the rest of the range) is also available separately. 
In books we have Godblight (in whizz-bang Special Edition) and normal hardback, plus the first two in this series Dark Imperium in hardback and Plague War also in hardback.

The release of new vampires is really exciting. An iconic fantasy horror character, the vampire adds some old school cool to the world of Age of $igmar. All the new fluff and rules are of course in the Soulblight Gravelords Battletome, which comes in Let Me Suck Your Blood Limited Edition or Gothic Horror Standard Edition. The Soulblight Gravelords have a particular look of taking that traditional vampire look and adding a monstrous element to it - nothing typifies that more than the Vengorian Lord/ Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares combi-kit. An amazing looking kit, even though it's a little hard to work out the actual size. There's also the deceptively simple Vampire Lord who will be a kitbasher's wet dream for everything from Imperial Inquisitors, Dark Elf to Drukhari armies. A must-have! Needing a definite update were the venerable Blood Knights, and though the red palette is questionable, these are faithful updates to a classic kit. The Soulblight Gravelords also sees two more much needed updates - a new multi-part multi-pose skeleton kit, the Deathrattle Skeletons and FINALLY a new zombie kit - the Deadwalker Zombies. If you like flappy-flappy vampires, then the Fell Bats are right up your alley! Of course there's the Soulblight Gravelords Warscroll Cards and a Soulblight Gravelords Dice Set, which frankly could have been a little more orifginal than black. What about clear red? That would have been cool...
Games Workshop have also done a large update to their brush range. In the past they have gone with a combination of some acrylic and some animal fur. Now if you don't support the fur industry (where the GW and other manufacturer brushes come from) then that's an ethical conundrum. But now GW have brought out a line of acrylic brushes, which then bring those hobbyists back into the fold. The range is quite wide; Layer Brushes in STC S and STC M, Shade Brushes in STC M and STC L, Base Brushes in STC S, STC M, STC L and STC XL, Dry Brushes in STC S, STC M and STC L and a Glaze Brush.
There's also some books coming - A Dynasty of Monsters in Hardback, the Undeath Ascendant: A Vampire Counts Omnibus with 3 novellas and 3 short stories in it, the Hardback of Gitslayer and White Dwarf 464.

Necromunda has been a big success for Games Workshop, and even if people aren't playing the game (when was the last time you saw a Necromunda table as a GW store?) the individual elements - the miniatures and the scenery have been very popular across many of their games properties.
The new boxed game for Necromunda is Hive War, which brings together two of the existing gangs, plus some of the existing terrain for players to get a good start on how it works. This week also sees the launch of the first of the Necromunda Weapons & Upgrades sprues, one for Escher and one for Goliath. These are based on some of the existing parts with a few news ones thrown in for good measure. There's also a very cool new transfer sheet - Necromunda Underhive Propaganda, which has posters and signage to help spruce up your terrain. These seem very cool and would work across 40K and Horus Heresy as well. 
Meanwhile, over in Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm, we have the new Orc warband, Hedkrakka's Madmob and a new Universal Deck, Silent Menace adding more cards to the various factions.
Bit of an odd one, out of the blue the Blood Bowl Chaos Chosen team get their Dice Set and their Double-sided Pitch and Dugouts Set. With no other Blood Bowl products this week, it's just popped up from the ether possibly to get lost on Blood Bowl players not paying attention!
In books we have the Limited Edition Sisters of Battle Collection, the new The Book of Martyrs in hardback, a Necromunda book Fire Made Flesh that seems set around the Redemptionists (still awaiting models), 
a mighty tome of Blood Angels stories in the form of the Sons of Sanguinius in paperback and another anthology - Warriors and Warlords also in paperback. The next issue of Marvel: Warhammer 40,000 Marneus Calgar is out next week too, with the GW-exclusive cover only available in their stores.

The Blood Bowl minis have some pretty great sculpts - just look at the hands! - and if you look closely some of them hark back to older sculpts from the dim distant past. One of these is the The Naggaroth Nightmares - Dark Elf Blood Bowl Team ​(who for some reason appear in pre-orders this week). They're probably the hardest to convert away from Blood Bowl to Age of $igmar, but well worth a try.
The other releases this week are the Print On Demand Horus Heresy novels from Black Library - the Legacies of Betrayal (Hardback) Horus Heresy Anthology, Deathfire (Hardback), War Without End (Hardback), and Pharos (Hardback), Eye of Terra (Hardback). If you're super keen, then you can get the whole The Horus Heresy Print on Demand Collection 7.

It's always cool to see how Games Workshop update their characters, and the update to Be'lakor, the Dark Master is pretty bloody amazing - though painting those wings may be mind-numbing... The return of Be'lakor to the main stable of "villains" is told in Broken Realms: Be'lakor - available in both Flappy Flappy Limited Edition and My, What A Big Sword You Have Standard Edition - as he vies to be top Chaos dog! But he has some company - the Stormcast Gardus Steel Soul (who has obviously dropped something) and the Nighthaunt Krulghast Cruciator (who has something caught on the back of his robes).As forces gather for war, so do the army sets - Tzeentch's Atra’zan’s Blazing Cavalcade, Nighthaunt's Sorrowmourn Choir, Seraphon's The Celestial Stampede (obvious winner in terms of cool factor) and Karadron's Drongon’s Aether-runners.
In books, there's Inferno! Volume 6, Issue 3 of Marvel's Warhammer 40,000 Marneus Calgar, and the Titan porn of Mortis - The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra Book 5 in hardcover.

While Age of $igmar toddles along being a bit hit and miss, Warhammer Underworlds (in it's current Direchasm mode) continues to kick goals – this time with The Crimson Court - four vampires, who frankly rock! Kindly, there's the new Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm – Grand Alliance Death Dice Pack, plus we also get (yet again) another Warhammer Underworlds Starter Set this week. The more we get, the smaller they become, plus some Warhammer Underworlds Cards to extend the selection from the new Starter Set.
For the fans of the Big Robots game, Adeptus Titanicus, you've got a good week coming, with the new updated Adeptus Titanicus Rulebook, and the biggest boy of biggest boy, the Warmaster Titan with Plasma Destructors. If you're playing catch up, then there's also the Adeptus Titanicus: Loyalist Legios book profiling the main forces already released. This also brings the possibility of a Traitor one too, PLUS the consistent rumour that this will be the format of the books coming out of Forge World for the 28mm Horus Heresy game too. Need more big robots in your army, well here's everything so far (minus the Knights) in the Precept Maniple Battleforce - almost the same price as the new Warmaster! Now to help yourself stay vageuly sane trying to paint these little big robots, try these long-out-of-production transfer sheets for Legio Ignatum, Legio Metalica, Legio Solaria & Legio Astorum. They're small but packed with goodness. 
As mentioned above, the Blood Bowl boxed set has finally been split up - rejoice, fellow converters - and here's all the goodness...  there's the Imperial Nobility Blood Bowl Team: The Bögenhafen Barons, their leader Griff Oberwald, a Team Dice Set and a Team Card Pack. Their adversary, Black Orc Blood Bowl Team: The Thunder Valley Greenskins and their leader Varag Ghoul-Chewer also get a Team Dice Set and Team Card Pack. Thankfully the Elf and Dwarf Biased Referees are also available separately, as is the Blood Bowl: Death Zone Rulebook and the Sevens Pitch: Double-sided Pitch and Dugouts for Blood Bowl Sevens. As with most Blood Bowl releases there's also a Blood Bowl Spike! Journal, this time it's Issue 12.
Back in stock is the Siege of Terra: The Lost and the Damned Map (which we hear very mixed reports about the quality of), plus in books we have the normal hardback of Alpharius: Head of the Hydra, the Lost and the Damned Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra Book 2 in paperback. They really are very slow with the Siege of Terra paperbacks! Plus it's a White Dwarf week with Issue 463.

The resurrections of the interest in Mordheim and what came to be known as Blanchitsu after Games Workshop wanted to appropriate the #INQ28 hashtag, has almost singlehandedly powered the interest in fantasy in the fan community since the instigation of Age of $igmar. The Old World may be dead, but the community still keeps it alive. Well this weekend we see the pre-orders go up for the first real foray buy GW into that world with Warhammer Quest: Cursed City, the new boxed game which boasts a tonne of minis, plus main characters straight out of the Mordheim playbook. Interestingly there's no plastic scenery this time, so it will be of interest if GW go down that path, considering the amount of terrain-builder Kickstarters there have been in the last 18 months. The release also sees the novel, Cursed City, which comes in Special Edition and Hardback also released. If you pre-order you'll also be in the running for the free Key to Ulfenkarn collectable. You'd want to be fast though as this box is likely to sell out on the day of release. Though some of the minis appeal to us here at Beardy Hammer HQ, the overall set doesn't entice, so we'll wait for the minis to come out separately. The new skeletons are especially interesting...
​In books this week, we have the sweeping romantic epic telling the story of a woman in love with the man of her dreams living a life shared together in their quiet secluded house where they raise animals and care for sick birds* - Lady of Sorrows in it's Paperback form, out next week!

The Lumineth Realm-lords kind of appeared out of the blue, bringing their cow iconography with them, back in 2020, and now we have the rest of the releases - making up what has become a very large model range. Interestingly the release is on the back of the second installment of the current Broken Realms story arc in Age of $igmar,  kicking off with the Broken Realms: Teclis book which comes in Shiny Shiny Limited Edition and Almost As Shiny Standard Edition with the Lumineth up against the armies of Death. This updates your forces with the new releases plus the fluff to back up the narrative of the campaign. If you're new to Lumineth or just want a new book, then the Battletome: Lumineth Realm-lords which again comes in Blinding Glory Limited Edition and How Do They Keep Their Robes So Clean Standard Edition. To back up the new words, we have a veritable bevvy of miniatures - bloody spectacular ones at that...
starting with the combi-kit of Hurakan Spirit of the Wind/ Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind, an awesome tabletop piece that frankly I'd be scared to paint. The dynamic duo of Ellania and Ellathor, Eclipsian Warsages and Monkey Magic-vibes of the Hurakan Windmage are equally impressive, in fact the Windmage is really quite amazing. - a total departure from anything GW has done before. There's the mounted hero combi-kit of Lyrior Uthralle, Warden of Ymetrica/ Vanari Lord Regent and the evocative Scinari Calligrave - also so bloody tempting. In an exciting development, the return of the bannerman is here with the Vanari Bannerblade and more buffs to your army with the Scinari Loreseeker.
++ It should be said at this point that if you read the GW site, you'll get an idea how this army plays - it seems each hero gives specific units buffs, so this could be quite a powerful character driven army ++
In terms of troops we have the Vanari Bladelords, the mega-flauna kangaroo-riders, the Hurakan Windchargers and a shout out to the other Elves ranges with the obligatory Vanari Starshard Ballista. The Lumineth also get a terrain piece, again a game changer (and wouldn't some of the other ranges love a hovering terrain piece) the Shrine Luminor.
We've already seen Lumineth dice, so none of those today, but we do get the Lumineth Warscroll Cards.
Allies and foes abound with four new boxed sets - the Gortle Pulpskull – Invidian Plaguehost (Nurgle), the Arcobalde Lazerne – Xintil War-Magi (lets say 'Empire' for old times sake), the Horrek Venzai – Horrek's Dreadlance (Ossiarch Bonereapers - a range that's gone nowhere, sadly) and the Gorstane Mortevell – Mortevell's Helcourt (Flesheater Courts). Quite the week, and be interesting to see what hobbyists do with the Lumineth. It's not really until they get out into the community that we often see the best way to do these models - a real tribute to platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Away from Age of $igmar, how much would you pay for a Space Marine? Well BANDAI have a really lovely one and it's quite a bit... BUT the White Scars Primaris Intercessor Action Figure has got to be the best looking one so far!
Now, for books we of course have a Lumineth Realm-lords novel, The End of Enlightenment in hardback, the hardback (non-Limited Edition version) of Luther: First of the Fallen, and a new Warhammer Horror, The Vampire Genevieve in paperback. There's also the Marvel: Warhammer 40,000 Marneus Calgar – Issue 2 which GW shops have an exclusive cover for if that tickles your Smurfy bits.
In other releases, the folks at Forgeworld have finally released the new Word Bearers Legion Praetor
and Word Bearers Legion Terminator Praetor - both amazing Horus Heresy-themed models.

After some very slow weeks, Games Workshop is back with some big releases this week which cover some of the range usually untouched.
First off we get the new boxed set of Piety and Pain, which pits the Drukhari (Dark Eldar) against the Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle). Great starter set for both armies, but do check the pricing, because despite the Drukhari being some of the cheapest 40K armies to buy, the Adepta Sororitas are some of the most expensive.
Speaking of Drukhari, they finally get their new Codex this week, which comes in Terror From Above Collector's Edition and Spikey Stabby-Stab Standard Edition. There are of course Drukhari Datacards and a Dice Set (notice new packaging), plus an excellent new Drukhari Combat Patrol - possibly the best Combat Patrol released yet! If you like the look of this release then you can get them all in one order with the Lords of Commorragh Collection, but you don't save any money despite getting a signed print with this set.
Warhammer 40K moves into a new warzone with Charadon – Act I: The Book of Rust which comes in Collector's Edition or Standard Edition, plus there's the Crusade Mission Pack: Plague Purge adding 24 brand new missions for Crusade campaign games.
Warhammer Underworlds continues to impress with a new set of minis, this time the Seraphon have the The Starblood Stalkers, which interestingly centre around Skinks and not Saurons, which is a bit of a shame, but a neat set none the less.
Middle-Earth get some love this week with an amazing new Treebeard, Mighty Ent model. Beautifully sculpted, this is an amazing, but pricey, addition to any Middle-Earth army. There's also a nice new Fangorn Dice Set out too...
Blood Bowl is back, this time with a Halfling Pitch, Halflings Team Card Pack and some very out-there Halfling Team Dice Set.
In books this week we have ​Silent Hunters in hardback, a new Horus Heresy anthology Blood of the Emperor in hardback, the Fabius Bile novel Manflayer in paperback and a Limited Edition version of Ravenor Returned which is pretty nice!

Warhammer Kill Team was the skirmish game released about a year before 9th edition and is really only famous for having super cool names for the teams they released - like the Tau team called Advance Team Starpulse, an obvious riff on the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Secret Combat Team Go-Rangers from Japanese pop culture. Well Kill Team is back, and not just in White Dwarf articles, we have a new expansion with Pariah Nexus, a self-contained starter set with Space Marines (inc. the much-anticipated Captain with master-crafted heavy bolt rifle and five Heavy Intercessors) vs the Necrons (with the equally-anticipated Chronomancer and Flayed Ones). You also get a double-sided game board, Necron-themed terrain, and the softback book, containing extensive background etc etc.
Kill Team also gets a new book, Killzones, filled with rules for fighting in different environments over 24 missions. Now to represent these environments, GW have very kindly released three new Environment Expansions; Sector Fronteris, Sector Munitorum and Sector Mechanicus, all with a double-sided gaming board. Also next week we see the Indomitus boxed set start to be split into smaller sets with the very pricey Space Marines: Honoured of the Chapter and Necrons Royal Court sets. These aren't multi-pose kits, so not sure why they are top-dollar.
No new books this week, but the Black Library Celebration stuff from last week is mostly still around...

It's Black Library 2021 week and there's a few interesting offerings, including a rather odd miniature... (left).
The miniature is Captain Uriel Ventris, a legendary Ultramarines hero - and that's not so odd - but the look is. This is Uriel Ventris as a Primaris Marine, but have a look at the armour - definitely not Mk X plate, and then there's the head, which Games Workshop changed from the initial preview which appears on the box art, to this one we see on the left. Who knows what you're going to get!  
As befits a Black Library Celebration, the miniature is here to accompany the book, The Swords of Calth which comes in Special Edition or normal Hardback, which tells the story of Uriel Ventris ascension to the ranks of the Primaris Space Marines. Love Uriel Ventris, then pick up this $30 Bookmark. In further Black Library Celebration we get the 20th Anniversary Edition of Hammers of Ulric in hardback, the new Liber Xenologis sourcebook in hardback and three of the best covers we have ever seen on some Black Library books; Pariah Bequin, Book 1, Penitent Bequin Book 2 Special Edition (which includes the 'Lepidopterophobia - Medea Unbound' short story) and the normal Penitent Bequin, Book 2 in hardback. These are beautiful, especially that Penitent Special Edition. There's also an Imperial Guard novel, Dead Men Walking in paperback and the Black Library Reader's Choice 2021 Winner The Daemon's Curse (Paperback) Malus Darkblade, Book 1.
For trinket collectors there's also the Liber Xenologis Pin Badge Set: Janus Draik Collection. Plus order anything from the webstore this weekend and you get the free ​Black Library Celebration 2021 anthology.

The time has finally come where, like Tzeentch and Khorne before them, Slaanesh has finally received their human acolytes - or "Hedonites" as they are called. It's been a long time coming, and has been greeted with mixed reviews, which we will get into later... It's quite a big release with what looks like the entire range being released in one hit, unlike the other Chaos Gods. 
We start the release wave with the new Battletome - Hedonites of Slaanesh which comes in Whips and Chains Limited Edition and Hello Sailor Standard Edition. Leading the glorious shiny sexy charge is Sigvald, Prince of Slaanesh who seems to be less beautiful and more horse-faced. It's not a good head! The large HQ unit is Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony which is a very detailed model and like the other newer HQ units, not very flexible in modelling options. Slaanesh also gets a battle wizard, the Shardspeaker of Slaanesh and a bully-boy who is one of the only models to keep any of the old BDSM look, the Lord of Pain. There's also some troop options with the dynamically posed Blissbarb Archers. There's also some big boys and girls with the Myrmidesh Painbringers/ Symbaresh Twinsouls combi-kit. Finally we also get the Slaaneshi Beastmen with the Slaangor Fiendbloods which is really cool to see. There's a new generation of Seekers too with the Slickblade Seekers/ Blissbarb Seekers combi-kit. There's also Warscroll Cards and thankfully a Hedonites of Slaanesh Dice Set which  are very nice!
The Daughters of Khaine also get an update, interesting being aligned in the universe with Slaanesh. It comes in Slippery Scales Limited Edition and Tear Your Heart Out Standard Edition. There's also an Endless Spells set (very red) and a Daughters of Khaine Dice Set (equally red).
In books this week we have the hardback of Stormvault, two new books in the younger readers range of books, Plague of the Nurglings and Fortress of Ghosts, another Warhammer Horror anthology, The Harrowed Paths, with 6 short stories and a novella including one by Graham McNeill, and ​White Dwarf 461.
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So as you may know, we have been calling for human acolytes of Slaanesh since the Tzeentch release. They seemed pretty close then, but as Games Workshop don't really know what to do with the inherent sexuality of the old Slaanesh look, it took them a while. The look they have settled with though seems to be a little problematic - it's a sort of Persian-fusion, which makes sense when you read about the cruelty of those ancient rulers - but what we have is almost a stereotype of flowing robes and scarves, a VERY far cry from the leather, tight PVC and chains of the older lore. In fact only the Slaangor seem to have any callback to that older look and feel. There are interesting parallels in the look between these Hedonites and the  Cypher Lords from Warcry, which makes sense, but again taken to an extreme. We're not really into the outrage culture thing, but this could blow up in GW's face, when really there was existing lore that adult gamers can understand and isn't offensive. The new look itself doesn't work for us when a few head swaps on Idoneth Deepkin will give you something better, so speaking of that, lets look at the minis.  
The inability of GW to work out how to represent excess is typified in the HQ unit, Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony. He is the gross excess of Slaanesh, not the strong female warriors or tempting demonettes, or even the slaves in chains - they picked a unit that is, yes, excess, but also not something we see typically represented in the older ore of Slaanesh. In fact this is closer to the Glotkin from Nurgle and probably better suited to that range. As a centerpiece for Slaanesh, his doesn't work for us, in fact a Cauldron of Blood would be a better basis for an HQ unit - again showing how the Daughters of Khaine stole Slaanesh's thunder! The Blissbarb Archers are probably the high point in terms of dynamic modelling, and in fact very much similar in pose and sprue breakdown to the Namarti Reavers, which is interesting as these have been the base for kitbashed Slaaneshi troops for a few years now. These models are beautiful, and the influence of movies like Conan is written all over this range. The miniatures that really just don't seem to fit for us are the Myrmidesh Painbringers/ Symbaresh Twinsouls - are they meant to be the Slaaneshi Chaos Warriors? The poses are static and thick, not lithe and tempting, in fact they are ugly. There's also so little skin and lack any real  BDSM elements like the leather or spikes - there's some, but really not much to tie them back to the Demonettes of Slaanesh or the rest of the range. They just seem like outliers without even a callback to the Lord of Pain, who ideally should share elements with them. In fact the Lord of Pain is a welcome part of this release, as is the Shardspeaker of Slaanesh who owes a lot of it's look again, to Conan, but has some real character to it. It's so great to see the Slaangor Fiendbloods who look exactly like the old ones, so a great callback to that old lore. It's curious as these are counted as elites in the Hedonites range and you only get three in the box - which is a far cry from the Tzeentch Tzaangor where you got a tonne of minis, extra heads and weapons. Bit of a shame, because fielding a large unit of these would be great fun.
Finally the Slickblade Seekers/ Blissbarb Seekers are again very similar in breakdown and look to the Idoneth Deepkin, which is not a bad thing and a definite improvement on the old ones, though the old armour was very cool!
Look overall this release seems out of place with the way we've seen Slaanesh. We've had some minis, like Syll'Esske: The Vengeful Allegiance which fits somewhat into this range, but again this is a far cry from probably what people thought or wanted. I don't know how this will go as it lacks so much of the old spirit and doesn't have enough of the heavy spikey presence Chaos followers want.
Be keen on your thoughts too, so let us know!

Everyone's favourite moody gothic knights, the Dark Angels, are back with new rules for Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition. They all come neatly packed into a Codex Supplement, which you can either get in The Bells, The Bells Collector's Edition or By My Blade Standard Edition. Big question is, after years of the same lore in the Dark Angel Codex (literally copy-paste), will we get anything new? There are of course new Datacards, but sadly no themed dice! No new minis for the Dark Angels either, but there is their Combat Patrol if you'd like a nice boxed set.
You could of course use some of the new generic Primaris Space Marine sets released next week to add to your army, and with the very cool Bladeguard Veterans and heavy-as-frakk Primaris Eradicators, they would be a great addition. Mind you, both of these sets are priced at $30 per model! The Primaris also get what has to be the nicest addition to their armoury so far next week with the Storm Speeder Hailstrike/ Thunderstrike/ Hammerstrike combi-kit, which thankfully breaks the current Primaris rule of 'how boring can this vehicle look?' before it is released! There's also a new set based around the Primaris Ancient - a much wanted mini - Heroes of the Chapter. Don't leave the Necrons out though, they get their own digital wizard in the form of the Psychomancer. The Mechanicus would kill for that floating skull!
In the world of Warhammer Underworlds the Direchasm: Khagra's Ravagers set adds some Chaos Warriors to the game. They're all very characterful and a great addition to any Chaos warband.
In books next week we have Book 2 of the Dawn of Fire series, The Gate of Bones, which comes in Limited Edition of thankfully paperback. There's also a new Warhammer Horror novel, The Deacon of Wounds in hardback and the paperback of ​Saturnine - The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra Book 4.

With new pre-orders limited to very fortnight, this week we get some classic Lord of the Rings/ Middle-earth minis. It's interesting to look back at these and see how far the sculpting has come (with the help of computers you'd think) to make the likenesses so much more like the actors.
If you're a fan, this Made To Order collection is available for a limited time and includes Arwen and Frodo (Mounted), Mounted Witch-king (Black Rider), Frodo & Sam in Orc Armour (with my absolute favourite LOTR mini - left), Elladan and Elrohir Unarmoured (kudos to the painter here who did them in the colours attributed to the Elves in the novels), Múrin & Drár, Galadriel - Protectoress of Lothlórien, ​Círdan, Cave Troll with Chain & Spear, Cave Troll with Chain & Hammer, Mordor Orc Captains and Ambush at Amon Hen. If you like them all, and it's probably one of the best all around collections they have put out at once, then you can get the, all in the Middle-earth Made to Order Collection.
White Dwarf 460 is coming with new rules for the Emperor’s Spears written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

Welcome to the first real pre-order week of 2021, and we are blessed with the most favoured of Games Workshop Gods, Nurgle, who gets a tonne of new rules and some new minis for 9th Edition.
As always with a new rule set we get the Codex, which comes in Spume Riddled Collector's Edition and Pustulant Boils Standard Edition, plus there's a set of Death Guard Datacards to help you wreak havoc. There's some new minis too, with the Lord of Virulence and his chonky plague spewer, the Nurgle-themed terrain set the Miasmic Malignifier and three character models in the form of the Chosen of Mortarion. The last limited Edition Nurgle minis sat in Last Chance To Buy for months, so lets see how these go. It is interesting to note the use of colour on these minis. Nurgle always had a very restricted palette with washed out colours, but these are becoming quite garish! There is also a new Combat Patrol: Death Guard box which gives you a good force to start with, plus there's a re-boxed Poxwalkers set, which when you think about how many you need probably should be a box of 20 for that price. 
​The Middle-Earth range also gets a bump with some old faves back, including the Dead Marsh Spectres (that Elf mini is one of my all time favourites), the Barrow-wights (who bear a striking resemblance to the new Blood Bowl character Gretchen Wächter), the Black Riders, Haldir, Marchwarden of Lothlórien, the Gildor Inglorion & Glorfindel set and the Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee & Gollum set.
In books, we get the next in the Limited Edition Horus Heresy Siege of Terra books, Mortis (you snooze you lose with these), the much-anticipated Alpharius: Head of the Hydra Limited Edition which should answer a whole lot of questions about this mysterious Primarch, and the hardback version of the The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra Novella Fury of Magnus.
Speaking of Horus Heresy, these the latest in Night Lords minis with the Contekar Terminator Elite (including that very sexy Volkite) and for Necromunda, the Escher Phyrr Cats.
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Games Workshop have announced that pre-orders will now be fortnightly, so we'll probably dial back these updates to coincide, or maybe expand to see if there's other interesting things round. We started doing these updates so there was a living history of pre-orders for people to look back on, a bit like we did for the White Dwarf when that was weekly. 

Back in 2017 - aaaaah, simpler times - I set about doing an Enforcer gang for the then-brand new incarnation of Necromunda. At the time there were no minis or rules for Enforcers, so I made them up!
Combining Imperial Guard and Genestealer Cult parts, they came up pretty well and suited how I saw a unit of private security forces tasked to the Merchant Guild, outside the formal law and order structure. 
Since then Games Workshop has been fleshed out the Merchant Guild and the Enforcers, but still this little unit of hardened private security operators are one of the favourite things I've painted.
When the new 'Jotunn' H-Grade Industrial Servitor Ogryns for Necromunda came out I saw the perfect opportunity to make a hulking brute to escort the Merchant Guild Emissary I'd made. With a tonne of both Green and Brown Stuff moulded to look like a larger version of the Imperial Guard armour I'd used on the Enforcers, he was set to go. I could have added more weapons, but unsure of the game loadout I settled on a fluffy power maul which seemed suited to smashing his way through almost anything.

When it came to painting the Brute. he sticks very closely to the Enforcers, but adds the bling to parts of his uniform that a bodyguard of such a rich Guild would have. I was concerned about the gold with the orange, being to warm tones, but the cold steel between seems to work. The cool greys and white also break it up a bit. The paint job isn't perfect, and I do wish I was an amazing painter, but he stands out on the field and overall I'm really happy with him. Orange is a bit of a pain to keep clean while painting, so I recommend a surgical glove to keep your hand oils from making the orange too dirty or dulling down the overall finish.

It's not until you put this guy next to the other minis you see how huge he actually is! He does look like he would take good care of his emissary though, and the Merchant Guild Enforcers would surely be happy to have their back.
Overall not the best shots - I'll work out this LED photobox thingy one day - but you get the idea. He looks much better in real life and away from the harsh lights and tight closeups!