Games Workshop seem intent on making urban warfare the way of the 40K future - from City Fight to the new Urban Conquest, there have been supplements, White Dwarf articles, and now entire boxed games making sure you are smack bang in a city when it's time to rumble! I'm sure the explosion of terrain recently (only a good thing, frankly) means GW see this as a very marketable prospect, this week's new Sector Imperialis Manufactorum is another great entry into the recent terrain releases - so is urban warfare the way to go from now on? No more Cold War style open fields for hoards of tanks, artillery and aircraft, not to mention titans and walkers? Skirmish is the future, long live the skirmish!
The Gloomspite Gitz continue their sizeable release window with a number of interesting releases - the Loonboss (who has a separate head under the helmet for some reason) gives you a second leader option from last week plus there's also the insane Loonboss on Mangler Squigs/ Mangler Squigs combi-kit which gives you a third leader option! Leaders need advisors/ minions/ yes-men and the Gobbapalooza set gives you multiple weirdos. Did someone just liberally hand out magic mushrooms at GW HQ and everyone got to design something weird? In the big-boy category the Rockgut Troggoths are a very customisable unit in a tonne of pieces. It's curious to see GW go towards so many Easy Fit sets and then this one is so many pieces - not complaining, just curious. The winner of the Most Needing To Go To The Dentist Award is the Dankhold Troggoth/ Dankhold Troggboss combi-kit - both unattractive but incredible detailed and theme-y models. The Sneaky Snufflers is a cute little set - but check out the price... this is for one sprue!!
Another 40K product this week is a Death Guard Paint Set with three minis - not bad value if you want some full sized paints and to test some schemes.
Fair few books for your shelves next week - the next Gaunt's Ghosts, Book 15 Anarch is here, as is the new Blood Angels: The Complete Rafen Omnibus featuring all of James Swallow's Blood Angel novels. The Warhammer Chronicles continue, this time with classic stories, Wulfrik, Blood for the Blood God, and Palace of the Plague Lord all bundled up in Warriors of the Chaos Wastes. And finally the next Horus Heresy audio drama, Nightfane​ continues the story of Ultramarine Aenoid Thiel and his Red Marked.

We first caught sight of the Gloomspite Gitz from the Warhammer Underworlds set Zarbag’s Gitz. They were cute and a bit weird and similar in theme to the Malign Portents Champion Fungoid Cave-Shaman Snazzgar Stinkmullett. Each of the other champions has a force (except for the Darkoath Warqueen Marakarr Blood-sky) so I guess it was going to happen eventually! That leads us to today when we get a fairly wide ranging release of course headed up by Battletome: Gloomspite Gitz - which comes in both Opioid Fungus Limited Edition and Portobello Standard Edition. This rag-tag army is lead by Overlord Skragrott the Loonking who is an amazing miniature - lots and lots of character - but he is over $50 for a single sprue! Luckily for us there are also a bevy of new miniatures including the Squig Hoppers who can also be made to represent Boingrot Bounderz who very much wear the Labyrinth/ Brian Froud influence on their sleeve. Froud's influence on this range has been downplayed a bit, but it's definitely there! As with a lot of the Gloomspite Gitz range, there are Squigs, so this Squig Herd set would likely be the backbone of any of your forces. Sporting the more traditional GW look of the long hoods, the Fanatics are a very dynamic kit which can either be made up as Loonsmasha Fanatics or Sporesplatta Fanatics - but like the overlord, be aware of the price point. It's only 5 minis after all! Like the Beasts of Chaos release, there is a shrine, this one the Bad Moon Loonshrine  which is packed with detail and also a new entrant into the physical magic items, the Endless Spells: Gloomspite Gitz. Being re-released are the old Grots set, the Stabbas/Shootas combi kit, but it's a pity GW didn't give us a helmet upgrade sprue in here to bring them in line with the newer minis. Themed dice are the way to go for the past year or so, but these Squig Dice are awful! There are of course Warscroll Cards: Gloomspite Gitz and if you order the Battletome online then you get a set of Gloomspite Gitz Art Cards.
This is an interesting release - really moving the old Grots out of the Ork realm and giving them their own flavour, but is this something the community have been after? We will see, but with Seraphon desperately needing an update it's curious this is here now. We're sure there's method to the madness because it's been a hot bone of contention around the place....

Happy New Year! 2019 is upon us and inspired by Femnist 40K's list and Warhammer TV's video, we thought we'd take a wander through the releases of 2018. As you know, we all have plenty to say each week about what's been released so lets take a journey through the 2018 archives and see if any of that stacked up in the log run
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January 2018 started off with Malign Portents - the big splash for Age of $igmar which brought some great models, a massive expansion to the Stormcast and Death and of course the start of the new influx of Nurgle - because if a month goes by without something Nurgle being released, the world may fall apart! Thousand Sons got their Codex in January and the Custodes really hit their strides with multiple multi-part kits coming out. Both Thousand Sons and Custodes led to many changes in the gaming meta and are both armies that Power Gamers love. By the end of 2018 though, considerable changes in competitive play had meant that the Custodes armies were on the decline. January also saw the Daughters of Khaine and the Armiger Warglaives teased.
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February saw Malign Portents kind of fizz out - we got four new characters, and soon we would get a lot more forces to accompany these heroes, but in February it looked a tad sad. Necromunda had the Orlocks​ released, a great kit that seems to have disappeared like all Necromunda kits. Shadespire really kicked on with the Spiteclaw’s Swarm and the The Chosen Axes being released. Shadespire gave us some really nice characterful models for all factions of Age of $igmar throughout the year. February also saw the Daughters of Khaine swoop in and more Elves - this time the Idoneth Deepkin were teased and boy ere they about to cause a stir.
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March 2018 was Elves month - with the Melusai Blood Sisters/ Melusai Blood Stalkers combi kit and the Khinerai Lifetakers/ ​Khinerai Heartrenders combi kit hitting the shelves. Both lovely kits, they soon disappeared under the weight of other things in 2018 which is a bit of a shame. GW also didn't seem to be that involved in keeping the evolving story going... The much-maligned Tau got their Codex finally, Kill Team and the Van Saars were teased and the boxed game  Forgebane was released. Forge World also released the first of the upgrade sets for Necromunda- this time for  Escher. Adepticon brought us so many teasers it hurt, the Necrons were reforged with an excellent Codex but no new minis. This was a very popular release and did very well, even if the Start Collecting set wasn't as good. Speaking of which, the Dark Elder/ Drukhari got their Codex and their Start Collecting was probably worse...
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April 2018 saw new Shadespire, The Farstriders and Magore’s Fiends - more great minis in dynamic poses but the really big thing for April was the Idoneth Deepkin - what Drukhari are to the Aeldari in 40K, the Deepkin are to the High Elves in Age of $igmar. Even their units are very similar and they were an amazing breathe of fresh air into a universe that had been OBSESSED with Stormcast for months! Disappointingly lacking in poseability, the Deepkin are none the less very dynamic and detailed-strewn miniatures. Among week after week of spectacular Idoneth Deepkin releases, the House Van Saar and some Forge World characters appeared for Necromunda and The Doom Lords Chaos Chosen team for Blood Bowl. April 2018 saw Games Workshop barely set a foot wrong - the Deepkin release was perfect!
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May 2018 saw more Deepkin incluyding the spectacular  Akhelian Leviadon,the Akhelian Allopex and Akhelian Ishlaen Guard / Akhelian Morrsarr Guard . This rounded off the Deepkin and further cemented their Drukhari influences. May saw the first big deletion of Horus Heresy upgrade kits from Forge World. This was just the beginning of worse. The Deathwatch and Harlequins got their Codex in May.
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June 2018 was Knights - big Knights - with the Knight Castellan and Knight Valiant coming out and the 
Arm​iger Halverins also making their appearance to go with their Codex. A new version of Renegade joined us and the cavalcade of terrain was upon us with the Sacristan Forgeshrine turning up. June also saw Age of $igmar V2.0 rock up in the guise of the  Soul Wars boxed set with a whole new slant on the Stormcast and a huge new Death army - the Nighthaunt. The Deepkin miniatures were amazing, and the Nighthaunt miniatures may have even eclipsed those.
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July 2018 was where we started to see more Blood Bowl - which this year so far only had one team and seemed to be languishing, but the Naggaroth Nightmares helped bring some light (or dark) to the equation.  Spike! the Blood Bowl magazine was still dribbling out, but in reality it's not hitting where it should, which is a shame. The Nighthaunt had some spectacular figures including ​Dreadblade Harrows and Reikenor the Grimhailer but also saw GW head towards Easy To Build minis - which seems like a dumbing down of the hobby and not at even a huge discounted price. The Stormcast also got some amazing models, with the breathtaking Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon/ Aventis Firestrike: Magister of Hammerhal. Interestingly, despite being amazing, these models came and went and I have not seen them in any store or on any gaming table since- they were very expensive though! Kill Team launched with a large set and a big increase to the Sector Imperialis series of terrain.
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August 2018 gave us a glimpse at something we had been promised since April 2017 - Adeptus Titanicus!! GW made a huge tactical error here making this an Online Exclusive only, with store managers crying out for copies as people came into stores to learn more. I have a theory that we will see these in stores in 2019. Necromunda received another gang - this time Cawdor, plus Forge World gave us the new Orlock Weapon Sets. Nighthaunt and Stormcast sets continued to drop in both multi-part and Easy to Build forms, but taking the piss not even slightly were the Easy to Build: Chainrasp Hordes which were being sold for the same price as multi-part kits. That's just not cool GW, and people wonder why we call it Age of $igmar! The boxed game Tooth and Claw introduced the Space Wolves Upgrade Sprue for Primaris, new minis for the Genestealer Cults and coincided with the Space Wolves Codex. August also saw the release of the new boxed game Battle of Pelennor Fields relaunched the Middle-Earth range for Games Workshop. 
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​September 2018 got very busy with the release of the Reaver Battle Titan for Adeptus Titanicus, the Nurgle's Rotters team for Blood Bowl, and sadly one of the most derided games for some time, Kill Team: Rogue Trader. Thankfully the concept was revisited later this year, but the set was full of confusing miniatures, some wildly out of scale with one another and really no further support than throwing it out there. Age of $igmar finally decided to give some love to the Beastmen with a great Start Collecting Beasts of Chaos set and lush Battletome. Although there was really only a few new miniatures in the form of the new Herdstone and Endless Spells: Beasts of Chaos this was a really nice, single week release. The Battletome is also very good, weaving together past iterations of the Beastmen into one narrative. Lost in this month was the Knight Preceptor Canis Rex Imperial Knight set. Bet you'd forgotten it even existed. Shadespire took a new direction in August with Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault. Cleverly GW also released the Thorns of the Briar Queen and Stormsire's Cursebreakers separately from the game in the same week. Yet another boxed game in September, Wake The Dead set in the still-unfolding War Zone Vigilus. Kill Team continued with the coolest kill team name so far - Advance Team Starpulse for the Tau.
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October 2018 added to Adeptus Titanicus with the totally awesome Warhound Titan. Warhammer Underworlds also gave us a glimpse of things to come with Zarbag’s Gitz - a precursor (though more influenced by Brian Froud's armoured Goblins)  to the community-puzzling Gloomspite Gitz. Kill Team continued with the Commanders Expansion Boxed Set and a tonne of repackaged characters. Again, there doesn't seem to be many games of Kill Team in stores, so not sure how this is going for GW. There was more green--goodness with Speed Freeks being released to satiate your love of Mad Max and Orks all in one game.  The last of the Xenos Codex also got released which was for the Orks, who also got a tonne of new and old pre-orders... and then summarily disappeared!
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November 2018 started off with a tonne of scenery sets and yet more paint sets... it was looking dire, until  Blackstone Fortress kicked in the door. There was also more Adpetus Titanicus with the Cerastus Knights, a mighty new version of the Warlord Titan, this one with Plasma Annihilator and Power Claw. Not to be forgotten Armies of The Hobbit was released which saw a huge week or so of Middle Earth pre-orders. The GW Vigilus Open Day surprised many with news of new minis for the Vigilus campaign, cavalry units for the Genestealer Cults, more details on Wrath and Rapture and a look at the massive Forge World Warbringer Nemesis Titan.
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December 2018 saw Necromunda reveal their final current gang with Delaque gang and a finalised Necromunda Rulebook. There were also a number of cool Battle Boxes for Xmas, and the Vigilus Campaign kicked off with some great minis including the Marneus Calgar, Ultramarines Chapter Master. Despite some cool demons, Wrath and Rapture kind of hit with a whimper but the re-imagined Noise Marine based on Jes Goodwin's design made some very cool wave. Maybe sound waves?? And finally for 2018, White Dwarf is getting a 2019 facelift. It hasn't been a popular decision, but we won't be joining in.
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Clearly Games Workshop had some amazing victories this year, with the Nighthaunt, Blood Bowl teams and Idoneth Deepkin, amongst others, some delayed victories with Adpetus Titanicus and the Necromunda gangs who really needed to be brought out sooner, but finally hit their strides and some mixed things like the pricing which seemed inconsistent at times and then exciting releases like the Daughters of Khaine and Orks coming and going so quickly.
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So from all of us here, to you - have a very happy and healthy 2019 - here's hoping we are served well by the hobby and we in turn serve the community well.

Another small pre-order week as we head into the New Year, plus yet another relaunch of the magazine that just doesn't seem to be hitting the mark!
White Dwarf is getting yet another relaunch - it's really only cosmetic though as what they're really doing is just breaking it up into sections for each universe - like the GW webstore. If you look over the content, White Dwarf Jan 2019 is basically exactly the same with GW are even teasing the return of Index Astartes - which they also did earlier this year and it never ended up happening. Subscribers, however, will actually be getting something, and that's an exclusive cover with unobscured art (right). This is cool - finally something for the subscriber - but Beardy Hammer, after many decades of getting White Dwarf and adding reviews to this site, will not be going along for the ride. The White Dwarf subscription over the past few years has been an absolute disaster - issues would sometimes be weeks late, inquiries to GW Mail Order in Australia were responded to rudely with no apology or even a time frame when issues might arrive, then when the subscription was running out there was no notice given so we could resubscribe. An inquiry about this to GW Mail Order was also ignored, then a second inquiry was responded to officiously with no dialogue entered into about notifying subscribers when it was ending. Frankly Customer Service in Australia is a joke, but sales of White Dwarf on the shelf are also falling, with local GWs only getting a few issues in each month. Will this soft relaunch do anything to improve what is arguably the seminal miniatures publication out there? With bad service to customers and many broken promises (Titanicus being a year later for example) and recent mistakes in listed pricing you'd wonder if they even care!
Apart from White Dwarf, there are two other pre-orders - the Made To Order Vostroyan range and Inferno Book 2. Not a huge start to the year, especially with the lacklustre response from the Community surrounding the Gloomspite Gitz. Just redo the Seraphon and keep everyone happy, GW!

Only one pre-order this week, and it's not even a pre-order - it's in the shops now!!! That's right, the reimagining (well actually it's pretty much a straight copy) of Jes Goodwin's 1991 Noise Marine is here.

The model itself is very cool, especially if you like a bit of retro stuff.
The proportions are half way between a Primaris and a normal Marine, so it would fit into the current direction of the minis quite well. Be really interesting to see the conversions that will come out of this mini, as the pose is open to some fun for sure!

I you're a fan of the more European style of colours that GW are really only just starting to do, then look no further than the excellent Vallejo paint range. They have a tone of them in all kinds of colours, consistencies and themes. Previously, however, Vallejo only had the bottles and the airbrush style... well now spray can users delight because Vallejo have just announced their range will be expanding to include spray cans. The spray range will include 3 Basic colors, 19 Fantasy shades, 5 WWII AFV and 4 WWII Infantry colors. Smartly, they ave also included 2 different nozzles; Skinny Cap especially for fine lines and small details, and Pocket Cap for covering larger surfaces.
But it's not just colour... it's also varnishes with - Gloss, Matt and Satin cans also in the range. Finally we can get a good Matt. By the Gods Old and New... I think there's some dust in my eye! his is especially good news for military hobbyists as their military range is very good.

Realm of Chaos, the seminal books from 1988 that brought the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universes together in a shared demon pantheon and that brand is now back with (what one can think is the first in a series) Wrath and Rapture, a boxed set bringing the forces of Khorne and Slaanesh into conflict. Including some new miniatures, and admittedly some pretty old tired ones, this set sees a new version of Karanak, the Hound of Khorne (right), new plastic Flesh Hounds, the new Infernal Enrapturess and the new Fiends of Slaanesh... plus the tired old minis! The set also comes with two different rules sets - one for 40K and one for Age of $igmar. Interestingly no themed dice this week or a novel tie-in so it seems like this set was really just thrown out there, and if this is the extent of the love Slaanesh fans are going to get from GW, then people will not be happy, especially after the amount all the other Gods have received over the last few years. Want to add to this force? Well mortgage the cat and we have the Realm of Chaos: Wrath, Rapture, Decay and Change Collection which includes Wrath and Rapture plus the Star Collecting Nurgle and a Start Collecting Tzeentch sets.
Graham McNeil's The Crimson King is also out in paperback next week, so there's some extra witchy-poo action for you, this time in the Horus Heresy universe.

The Resin Overlords at Forge World have two new Adeptus Titanicus releases - the Civitas District War Zone Alpha and the Civitas District War Zone Beta. Seems like a lot of money for something you could build at home, but there is a lot of detail to enjoy.

Imperium Nihilus is here with the first part, Vigilus Defiant delivering a sizeable 200 page campaign book - coming in both Collector's Edition and standard versions. This campaign promises much in terms of the forces involved and hints of key players turning up - heralded by none other than the new Primaris-enabled Marneus Calgar, Ultramarines Chapter Master with his bodyguard and Haarken Worldclaimer, Herald of the Apocalypse - supposedly promising the return of the Warmaster himself... but which one? Both miniatures come with a helmeted and bare head, but offer not much poseability. The long-awaited Chapter Approved 2018 is also out next week with the Warlord Edition coming with extra bits like a roster pad, datacards and Stratagem cards for the Sisters of Battle plus a sheet of tokens. There is also a Standard Edition too which still includes the Beta rules for the Sisters of Battle, so keep your hat on. Question is, will anyone actually field them? In terms of other minis next week, the old plastic and resin Ultramarines Honour Guard are back in the spotlight, possibly looking a little short next to the new Primaris. The Necron Cryptek is now available separately too - a very dynamic model for the Necrons and adds punch to that immortal force. There's another carry case heading our way - the Warhammer 40,000 Carry Case will happily hold your Space Marines and what ever other troops you need to transport. The protection provided from this case does look minimal, so be aware!
As the Horus Heresy draws to a close the books will be themed around the crusade to Terra and the eventual siege, thus Guy Haley's book Titandeath. This is sure be a hit with the Adeptus Titanicus crowd. The new Audio Drama Hubris of Monarchia is out too - full of Ultramarines goodness. 
We don't usually do much on Forge World because a) their new pricing structure is a crime, b) their products are lacklustre, c) their service is pretty poor - but beside all that they have some interesting models coming out this week: Blood Bowl Orc Team Booster, the beautifully rendered Denethor and Irolas from Middle-Earth and two new weapons sets for Cawdor. In a way it's a bit of a pity they chose to mix the look of Cawdor with the old Ratskins gang as this cobbled together look doesn't entirely match their old look and makes them seem like hobos with guns!
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VIGILUS - THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
As you would see from the top picture, there is a very cool pin you get for free when you order Vigilus Defiant from the webstore - great idea and it's a really nice design too! But how about, instead of a pin, you got a small sheet of decals? Like the ones that came in the Spear of the Emperor Deluxe novel set. This means that hobbyists can play the game, then add these campaign badges to their best force from the campaign or even theme an army around this part of history! If you had ten for the shin armour, four for the shoulder, maybe some tiny ones for banners, shields or Power Fists and a larger one for a vehicle. That's it. That would all fit on one of the normal sized decal sheets - even an Adeptus Titanicus sized sheet. As a hobbyist I would be more tempted to buy the book, even if that pin is very nice! Just a thought GW!

It's not often we lead with a book - but exciting news is that Visions of Heresy is back, revised and updated! Hopefully this retains the old pictures as well as new, but we checked the page count and it is more, so here's hoping!
Necromunda gets a pretty big boost with not only the excellent Delaque gang who are sure to be a hit in the post-Blanchitsu world, but also the new Necromunda Rulebook which compiles the old Necromunda Rulebook, rules content from Necromunda supplements so far and the latest FAQs and Errata. There's also Necromunda Gangs of The Underhive which is the rules and options for all the gangs, bounty hunters and more. Now if you like the sound of that, then you can get both in a Slipcase Edition. Of course the Delaque release also has the Delaque Gang Dice Set and the Delaque Gang Cards.
Blood Bowl is also getting a bump this week with a great looking Champions of Death team, themed dice and of course Shambling Undead Cards Pack. There's also two new playing fields - Blood on the Snow Pitch and Undead Pitch & Dugouts. The Blood Bowl magazine Spike #4 is out as is the Spike! Almanac 2018 which compiles the first 3 issues plus the FAQ rules... bit odd this isn't the four issues for the year! Good old GW.
Now - Battle Boxes - the Christmas tradition for all good boys and girls! This year we get a pretty good cross section - Space Marine Primaris Interdiction Force, Imperial Fists Supremacy Force (with the brand new Imperial Fists Primaris Upgrade Sprue), Idoneth Deepkin Deepsurge Raiding Party, Daughters of Khaine Devoted of Morathi, Death Guard Infection Cluster,  Adeptus Mechanicus Fist of the Omnissiah (this is a really solid core set!), Seraphon Starclaw Strikehost (which is interestingly close to a force described in the Honest Wargamer as being a very competitive list to field), Necrons Dominion Spearhead, Slaves to Darkness Godsworn Warband and the Craftworlds Asuryani Bladehost (another solid choice).
After the last few weeks of Middle-Earth action, there's one more - Thorin Oakenshield & Company.
In books, there's a new omnibus out - Knights of the Empire telling tales of the Old World Knights.
White Dwarf December 2018 is also on pre-order next week, but since the subscription service in Australia doesn't seem to work, we won't be partaking of that.
Now to go mortgage the house to get all this stuff!

As you may know, we tend to take a pretty cynical view of the more recent additions to the Games Workshop universe, but this weekend they held their Vigilus Open Day in the UK and no only did they preview a bunch of new minis - but they frankly they knocked this out of the park!
The first sign this was going to be a good day was this guy (right) the classic Noise Marine based on Jes Goodwin's original sculpt - and it's bloody amazing!
GW have of course hammed it up with a video (below) but have a look at the details on this guy - that mane of hair, the classic animal prints and platform boots. This is a triumph and we need multiples of them!
It wasn't all about this guy though - there's a tonne of good stuff to check out...

The Vigilus Campaign, currently making it's way through the 40K Universe is about to add some more heroes - this time we have Magneus Calgar in Primaris armour and a new Black Legion character -  Haarken Worldclaimer, a perfect accompanying leader for the current Raptors! There is also a new campaign book, which seems to have a lot of Primaris Chapters (including the Sons of the Phoenix and more) plus the Dark Angels and their Successors. I still think this will bring Abaddon and potentially a Primarch back, but the internet is full of rumours, so our two sense worth isn't really needed!

Genestealer Cults has been a massive hit, and now not only have they introduced a throwback mini of the Cult Leader looking over a battle plan, but also light vehicles. If this doesn't somehow also give Imperial Guard more light vehicles to fill the old Rough Rider slot, then that would be a massive shame.

Forge World also previewed their massive new Warbringer Nemesis Titan which is basicaly a walking artillery piece with a crew on the upper deck. This is truly a beast and a huge undertaking for anyone wanting to take on this project! Curious this wasn't released in Adeptus Titanicus scale first to see what the mood for it would be like. It does make us wonder how close we are to the Imperator Titan at this rate!

It's not all 40K - Age of $igmar also got a look in with their latest demon vs demon boxed set that pits Slaanesh and Khorne against one another. We've already seen some of the new minis, but this final reveal showed us Karanak and a harp-playing Slaaneshi. More details to come for sure!