The Emperor's Golden Boys, the Adeptus Custodes, are back this week with two combi-kits; the Custodian Wardens/ Custodian Wardens Shield-Captain/ Custodian Wardens Vexilus Praetor and the much anticipated Vertus Praetors/ Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike. This new way of listing their combi-kits is pretty odd, especially when really it's only either a standard bearer or officer that's the difference - a head swap or weapon swap - something that's pretty standard in GW kits for decades now. Away from the shiny dudes, the Thousand Sons - one of the last Codex to be released before the big change to 8th Edition - have got their new rules set with a new Codex in Wizz-Bang Witchy-Poo version or standard Totally Wizard version. It's weird seeing these as Pre-orders so soon after they were released, and maybe that'[s why GW put them on the same week as the tail end of the Custodes release window. If you want to have a look inside, Warhammer Community have done an overview. There are of course Thousand Sons Data Cards and a Thousand Sons Paint Set. Now interestingly there's also the Tzaangor Upgrade Sprue out too. This is weird because if you buy the 40K Tzaangors, you get the full Age of $igmar Tzaangors set PLUS the upgrade sprue for only a few dollars more. Why you would want to buy this upgrade sprue for four times the price difference between those two sets we don't know! Just buy the 40K set and get both!
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In books, there's one new one, an omnibus and a softcover. The new book is Knightsblade, the continuation of Andy Clark's series The omnibus is Gaunt's Ghosts Saints that collects Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver and Sabbat Martyr into the one volume. These omnibus are great value - for around $30 you get a great collection of themed stories all together. Great for a collector on a subject. Luciius: The Faultless Blade is the new novel this week. It tells the story of a man just trying to get a good shave after years using budget razors. True pathos!
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White Dwarf is also out next week with a whole lot of stuff, including a painting guide on the Orlocks for Necromunda, so they must be out very very soon! They're great looking miniatures and will be walking off the shelves. Have a look at their weapons...Warhammer Community did a bit of a write up on the next White Dwarf already if you want to check that out. The magazine also comes with some freebies...

The Las Vegas Open is on and Games Workshop dropped a few rather awesome previews...

First up is the Armiger Warglaive. These guys are what a War Hound Titan is to a Reaver Titan, smaller and faster than the Imperial Knights, they hunt and fight at the flanks..

With news that the Necrons, Tau and Dark Eldar are next to get Codex (after a very vocal campaign on the Games Workshop Community FB) it looks like the Necrons will be getting a new character, and he's a really dynamic miniature! This Cryptek mini is the first ever to be cast in plastic and features some new wargear. Necrons are my shadow army. Just love them, so this is exciting@

New Fyreslayers for Age of $igmar and Shadespire - this time Fyreslayers. Their minis are already pretty dynamic, but these make a very very nice addition to the range.

This one we reported one earlier today, but Daughters of Khaine DID get the flying infantry we predicted, and they're even better than we thought! Check out this range, which looks to be two combi-kits, a character and then a sneak peak of the Queen herself right at the end!

How awesome to see some new minis... and not a Space Marine in sight! JOY!!

It's certainly no secret that the Shadow Queen is on her way back, and the latest video released this morning had very few real clues, except what she looks like and this tantalizing little image - have a look in the top right hand corner - that looks like a winged creature of some description! Not really a Witch Elf due to the tail, but certainly something that looks cool and much needed, especially if the Daughters of Khaine are going to be a force of their own. So far their forces are limited, minus the allies from the Order Faction. Serpent tails aren't a new thing for the Daughters of Khaine - there's a stunning mini that comes with the Bloodwrack Shrine so it certainly fits the theme! 

OH.
My.
God!
Have to admit though - all I'm thinking about is adding those serpent warriors to my Dark Eldar!

It's been a bit of a busy hobby time of late with projects and ideas floating in and out of our heads, so we thought it was about time to share them.

As you may know, we're Beastmen fans here, and the Tzeentch Beastmen, the Tzaangor, have been a bit of a challenge getting the look and feel right. Then the other day I hit on the thought of putting wings on these birdy-Beastmen, and by the Gods it worked! Although the colour combination may be a little off, pretty happy with the look of the Blood Angels wings - they're not too big and seem to suit the angular nature of the head and weapons. Bit of Green Stuff and the wings and you're set!!

The ongoing War Hounds Legion project, although at times sometimes on the back burner, never stops - this time with quite a bit of progress on the once-fledgling Breachers unit. With the help of some Forge World Death Guard torsos and Mechanicum heads, we were finally able to get the look we'd been after; heavy infantry! For more pictures and information on the changes to the markings and direction of the Breachers, head over to the War Hounds Project Blog. 

In the vain hope that Games Workshop may actually give us some new Seraphon./ Lizardmen troops, we decided to try a test scheme on this  ​Saurus Eternity Warden because frankly he's the best looking of their current models - even if he is Finecast.. The figure itself is a pain the arse to make; the moulding is all over the place, there's a lot of trimming and the pieces really don't fit that well together. Apart from all that, the paint job was a bit of an experiment with the scales having quite a bit of attention and going for a white body with tiny black tattoos, feet and face. Not entirely sure this is a strong scheme , but it's a start! The other colour is a jade green which was a contract to the orange of the scales.

If you've every listened to the Eye of Horus Podcast, you will have heard them mention NPCs for games. Well this guy is my Non Playable Character. He seems to be a scribe or maybe a guy stealing secret documents. Not entirely sold on the robe, so may work on that. He's a combination of Battle Wizard, and Mechanicum parts which work in surprisingly well... with the help of a hobby knife!

Finally, the weeks before Malign Portents were around the Undead. Having been a huge fan of skeletons in Ray Harryhausen movies, it seemed time - and the new Citadel Skulls made fixing the awful GW ones the old skeletons a breeze. Just a bit of a nip and tuck and they fit right on PERFECTLY! Really happy with these and their layered rather than drybrushed finish. The layering was a bit of a pain, but the result is so much better. Speaking of pain - the Mortarch kit is so so painful! STRUGGLING!

We're not going to harp on about it - but for the Xenos players out there, this Adeptus Custodes release​ must be a real slap in the face as they await their Codex so they can just play the game on an even playing field to others. That being said, Adeptus Custodes have been a big hit for Games Workshop and Forge World, so this makes sense for them.
The release window (2-3 weeks) has all the elements an then some; there's the Codex itself, which is only 80 pages for the price of a normal Codex. It comes in the very cool Super Deluxe Gold Rod Edition, Deluxe Gold Rod Edition and the standard C3POs Buff Uncle Edition. Then there's the minis - now this at first looks like a lot, but it's actually two combi-kits and one Commander. The Commander is the imposing Captain-General Trajann Valoris - two sprues with no head or weapon options. The first of the combi-kits is the Custodes Terminators, the Allarus Custodians/ Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator Armour/ Vexilus Praetor in Allarus Terminator Armour set. The second is actually one we saw in the Talons of the Emperor and Burning of Prospero sets, the Custodian Squad/ Vexilus Praetor/ Shield-Captain combi-kit. If you want more than one squad of these, it's actually more economical to pick up one of those sets mentioned earlier. There are of course the Custodes Dice (in naff packaging and missing the Imperial Gothic numbering mind you) and Custodes Data Cards, plus a Custodes Paint Set.
Now away from the Custodes but no less Imperial, the Triumvirate of the Primarch set has been broken up (still cheaper to buy in the set actually, so if you like the three, then buy that!) so you can get Roboute Girly-man and Cypher seperately and two of the parts of the Triumvirate of the Imperium Celestine the Living Saint and Inquisitor Greyfax separately.
So that's minis done and dusted, it's onto the books and audio drama for this week which is the really cool sounding Alpha Legion book Sons of the Hydra and another Rogue Trader-themed release (this time an audio-drama) with Corsair: Face of the Void. Very interesting seeing all these Rogue Traders appear after so many decades of being sidelined by Space Marines...!
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Now you may notice a little interloper on the first image here - and that's the Lego Astronaut! Why? Well I mean who knew, in centuries to come that the Lego Space Corp would become the Adeptus Custodes. Check out the image on his chest and the one on the front of the book! PROOF!! Worlds collide!
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What kid who read the comics, watched the TV show or played with the toys didn't want grow up and join the ranks of the greatest terrorist fighters of the 1980s? Yes, that's right - now you too can build your own army to join the glorious ranks of Cobra Command and save the world from the Imperialist expansionist politics of the insidious terrorist organisation known as G.I. Joe!
The clever people over at Reptilian Overlords have created some Enemy Trooper Heads loosely based on the very original Cobra Command look from the early 1980s - the scraf around the face, the long swept back helmet and of course Old Snake himself in the reflective-fronted helmet!
This is genius, so we've ordered some and hopefully this set will be with us soon so we can show it off.
Reptilian Overlords are also working on an Oktober Guard-style set too which look amazing!

There seems to be pretty universal happiness form the Community around the Nurgle releases for Age of $igmar (which also can be used in Warhammer 40K) so this week we get a few more..​
The Beast of Nurgle has a few different looks (left) all of them, pretty goofy. As with the Pox Walker, Aly Morrison has decided that weird tentacles out of the head say Nurgle. Can't say we agree. Meanwhile, in the rather cool category is the Pusgoyle Blightlord/ Lord of Afflictions combi-kit - some great looking flyers that would make Nurgle stand out on the battlefield!
Partner to the Herald of Nurgle from last week, the Sloppity Bilepiper is a very detailed model continuing the current sense of humour in GW's approach to Nurgle. Back to reality for a minute and the Lord of Blights carries the formerly austere and dominating look of the older Nurgle Champions of Chaos. Meanwhile, in books, the new Rogue Trader Omnibus is out following the adventures of Rogue trader Lucian Gerrit as he makes contact with the then-newly emerging T'au Empire! This collects Andy Hoare's Rogue Star, Star of Damocles, Savage Scars and other two short stories for the first time in one edition. The paperback version of Dark Imperium is also out and so is Warden of the Blade in paperback - Book 1 of the Castellan Crowe series.

If you saw our full reveal and review of White Dwarf for January 2018, you would have seen us make mention of the Death Faction splash page. This splash page, as you know, is supposed to show us the full Death Faction for the upcoming Malign Portents "event" and beyond - though they did say that there would be new Death Faction minis on the way. So what's missing and what could be on the way?
Having a look across this shot, most everything seems to be there, but there are some noticeable absences:
The Mortarch kits are not there, even though Arkhan the Black is available in the Start Collecting Skeleton Horde. You could get all three though in the rather pricey Fate of Shyish bundle.
​Apart from the Terrorgheist kit (which also contains Zombie Dragon and Abhorrant Ghoul King on Terrorgheist kit) and Corpse Cart all of the Webstore Exclusive are not in this list.
The Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade and Skeleton Warriors (5 models) are also missing - but one of the kits that surprises us and could be a hint of what's to come are the Zombies. This is a very old kit, not in keeping with any of the current kits in the Warhammer line.
​With Games Workshop hinting at some new Death kits, it seems like maybe we'll see some zombies, maybe in the style of the Poxwalkers but hopefully more poseable. 

You may have seen Chapter Master Valrak's videos where he narrates his news and info over the top of footage from Battlefleet Gothic and other Games Workshop games - well, he's been to the Games Workshop Open Day and got a tonne of information and some great footage all about the new Adeptus Custodes range from Games Workshop. Nice to see some Custodes who aren't gold - just wish I'd got to paint my guys white before GW as it's been an idea in my mind for a while, dammit! Oh well - super cool! 
The video is well worth a look - check it out below.

Nurgle is back - this time for Age of $igmar/ Malign Portents! Well that's what they're saying, but in reality the "[INSERT NAME HERE] can be added to both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar armies." is on every release, so this is an old school Realm of Chaos release across both systems.
​The big news is the Great Unclean One/ Rotigus combo kit. As we saw in our White Dwarf Review, there are multiple options for the Great Unclean One model with arm, head and gut options. The Heralds of Nurgle are back with Spoilpox Scrivener and the very cool Poxbringer - personally we think a week of Heralds for all the Chaos Powers would have been cool, two for each like the old days! We know there's one more to come, so expect more Nurgle releases next week. Mr Blightwar himself, Horticulous Slimux, is now available outside that set too (at a super-high price) plus Nurgle get some scenery with the 6-part kit Feculent Gnarlmaw. The Maggotkin of Nurgle Battletome will give you all the fluff and rules you need to field these urky dudes, plus there's the Warcroll Cards. In arguably bigger news, the Codex for Chaos Daemons in Warhammer 40K is also being released. This comes in Super Summoner edition and the normal standard Witchy-Poo edition, plus there are the Chaos Daemon Data Cards!
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In a way this release is an odd one. Frankly tacking these Nurgle release onto the back of the large 40K release window would have been better - considering you can use these models in both systems. Keep the vibe going and all! Then you could have released the Chaos Daemons Codex with Heralds for the four Chaos Powers on a different week. A new Codex with new models to keep that moving along nicely too. It seems like the 40K Codex is being overshadowed when there has been a big build up to it's release both in the Community at large and on the GW site. Oh well....

So Malign Portents, the new global campaign has been launched, and despite a website, tester videos and extra stuff, it's not super clear exactly what is going on in terms of story - but this is what we do know.
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This is a global campaign affecting all Alliances in the Age of $igmar.
As we reported yesterday, Games Workshop themselves recommend new players of Warhammer Age of $igmar head to the Malign Portents website as their new home for Warhammer in the fantasy realm. 
The first part of this campaign will be for you to buy a Starter Set in store and build it to start your forces. 
It seems that Nagash King of the Undead, is waiting for his time to strike and now may be it, as omens of doom sweep the land.
There will be a Malign Portents book (left) with fluff & rules released soon.
A second launch date has been revealed - 17.02.2018 - to keep our eyes on for more information! Nagash is the figurehead of this...
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Now although info is a little scant right now, this Behind The Scenes video (below) will help... sort of!

Well ho ho ho! Merry Christmas and welcome to 2018, but it's not Father Christmas paying a visit from Games Workshop - it's the Urfather; the Plague Lord, the Plague God, the Lord of Decay, Grandfather Nurgle!, bringing joyous pestilence to the Age of $igmar universe with some new characters and.... Gods save us - some rather nice minis! I KNOW... bloody Nurgle has even impressed the old Beardy behind the keyboard... sigh!
Look, you may have heard our whinging for some time that Nurgle gets way too much love (as did Khorne) and Slaanesh gets zero, but its true - from Skaven, to Death Guard, Blight Kings to the never ending 40K releases, Nurgle has had a fair run of it over the past two years. Yes, Tzeentch and Khorne also got some love - Tzeentch with some amazing releases and Khorne with some pretty poor ones - but what about Slaanesh?
Anyway, suffice to say that we have a look inside month's special Nurgle Edition of White Dwarf below! But before we do - have you seen the first episode of Malign Portents?