By far the best faction in Warhammer 40,000, the Tau Empire, have their new Codex on pre-order this week. It comes in two flavours - For The Weak We Defend Thee Collectors' Edition and the Liberation For All Standard Edition. Who knows how much of this book is just copy paste from the last one, thus the reluctance to buy! There are also T'au Empire Dice Set (in white and red, for some unknown reason, considering the Kill Team dice have black and orange. All they had to do was make the red orange and the two sets would have been awesome together! Urgh) and of course the Datacards. As mentioned above, we do have a new Combat Patrol for the Tau Empire which adds stealth rather than the power of the Battlesuits. The Start Collecting was an excellent set, for different reasons, but on the battlefield this set will pay dividends. There is also the ​Ethereal, now available separately at a ridiculous price. This is an ordinary mini, and honestly, as above, is very overpriced.
In other 40K news, the conflict in Nachmund has kicked off with the new ​War Zone Nachmund: Vigilus Alone supplement - both Collectors' Edition and standard edition on pre-order, as is the new Crusade Mission Pack: Wars of Faith. Taking to the field in this mighty conflict that no one seems to be following, is the new Captain in Gravis Armour (shownhere in his alternate pose with no helmet and a two handed chainsword) and the Primaris Ancient (which has a two-handed banner holding option). Now the Sisters of the Adepta Sororitas are also on Nachmund, so they get dice for the Order of The Bloody Rose. 
Now here's a question - with Kill Team: Nachmund being previewed at LVO, will this be the first thing we see out of the recent (boring) Warhammer Reveal? Bring on the Eldar Pirates!!!
Everyone's favourite sport/ deathmatch, Blood Bowl, has the 2021 Almanac on pre-order this week. The breakdown isn't that exciting, as it really only covers Spike! Journal issues 11 through 13.
Alrighty, well here we are at the big non-game related product of the week and it's the very cool JOYTOY Vanguard Space Marines Ultramarines Invictor Tactical Warsuit. Yes it's awesome, comes with a dude, but have a look at that price! All I can say is look at other retailers as the price differs massively.

Also on pre-order this week but not appearing for Australia and New Zealand is the new Darkstrider miniature, which is a vast improvement on the original. Unfortunately  can't see if there's any options for this mini as yet. There's also the paperback release of Gitslayer, and the ​Warhammer Horror novel, Gothgul Hollow, which could be quite interesting actually!

Maybe some of the best Ork and Imperial models were released last year, and all in the one box - Kill Team Octarius (now discontinued)- but rejoice fellow hobbyist, these are now available separately away from that large boxed set, or if you like both there is also an option. 
Originally released as the Death Guard of Krieg, these have been reboxed as Kill Team: Veteran Guardsmen. Multi-part and multi-pose, these minis are full of flavour and look amazing with some head swaps, even with normal Cadians. Interesting thing to note, the term "Imperial Guard" has returned in place of "Astra Militarum". The other great set are the Kill Team: Kommandos, a set of dynamic and fun elite Orks with at least one obviously styled on WWII Commonwealth commandos. Now if you like both, save yourself some money and go buy the new Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Starter Set, which includes some stuff you may never use, but you save a heap on the miniatures. Also available separately next week is the Kill Team: Octarius book that includes the rules for these two forces plus nine Kill Team missions. SO it's time to paint these lovely Veteran Guardsmen - well luckily there's two colour ranges just for you - the Krieg 19th Siege Regiment Parade Ready Paint Bundle and the Krieg 143rd Siege Regiment Parade Ready Paint Bundle.
Now it was previewed as a big week for Necromunda today, but in the pre-orders we only have one product, the Necromunda Underdog Card Pack, which goes with the Underdogs set... but more on that later.   
Now, books! We have a few on pre-order this week - Krieg in hardcover, the beautiful The Triumph of Saint Katherine Limited Edition (these really do keep getting better and better), Genestealer Cult-focused Day of Ascension in hardcover and the White Scars omnibus Masters of the Hunt.

As we said above, we have missing items from the pre-orders this week, which sadly dull the impact of what could have been quite a big weekend.
To go with the Underdogs Cards, there is the Hive Scum set of minis. This was originally released back in November 2021 as the Necromunda Outcasts Hive gang, sold out straight away and is no longer available. Either way, this set was three times the size and I'm pretty sure not three times the price. Pays to get in early! Necromunda also had the Delaque Weapons and Upgrades set this week. These sets are pretty cool, and although Delaque is okay, a Palantine Enforcers set would be AMAZING!! 
If you're following Warhammer 40k then the loss of the Chapter Approved: War Zone Nachmund Grand Tournament Pack and Munitorum Field Manual 2022 this week is probably a bit of a bummer!
 Maybe it'll turn up in store next week, but it's not looking good for online ordering right now.
Ork and Kill Team fans will be a bit disappointed as ​Kill Team: Kill Zone Octarius, the Ork-themed terrain from the game, is missing so far this week.
And finally, in books there's The Book of Martyrs, a collection of Sisters of Battle stories - including one with Tau which could be very interesting...

Forge World this week has a cool set of minis to go with their recently released Zone Mortalis Underhive Market, Slopper and Scabber. Both obviously upstanding citizens of the community...
And finally, everyone's favourite ratty friends Blood Bowl team get some hitting power with the new Rat Ogre. He seems like a charming lad! Probably a popular conversion piece for Dark Eldar players too!

Well, to be frank it's a pretty uninteresting week...
We have the new boxed game, Fury of the Deep, which is pretty good value if you like both armies, plus it comes with two new leader models.  
While we're on the nautical theme, the new Warhammer Underworlds Harrowdeep crew is here - Blackpowder's Buccaneers - which includes a monkey and a parrot. This set goes down as the 'groan release' in the last Warhammer reveal thing they do. It's just stupid. But if you are into Warhammer Underworlds the Illusory Might Universal Deck is coming next week so that will add to your arsenal.
The "We're Not Trying Award" goes to the new Aeronautica Imperialis – Companion, which is actually a handy expansion with the White Dwarf rules for Necrons, Asuryani, Adeptus Astartes, Imperial Navy, T'au Air Caste (and human auxiliaries) and Orks. But have a look at that cover - yawn!! With rumours that one of the Specialist Games is being axed this year, maybe it's going to be this one.
What have Nurgle Blood Bowl players been playing with all this time if it's taken this long to get their Team Card Pack to them? Well it's coming next week, as is the Blood Bowl Nurgle Team Dice and the Nurgle Pitch – Double-sided Pitch and Dugouts Set.
In books there's the Harrowdeep novel in hardback that includes three novellas, and the End of Enlightenment in paperback for the Lumineth fans.

So here we are, with the first two Codex for 2022 - and two fan favourites, the Adeptus Custodes and Genestealer Cults.
Lets' start with the Golden Boys who for a while dominated the gaming tables, so this release will be keenly awaited by Custodes fans. The ​Codex come in two flavours; the Shiny Shiny Love Children Collectors' Edition (which for the price should really have gold coloured page edges) and of course the At The Emperor's Pleasure Standard Edition. There are of course the Adeptus Custodes Datacards and Dice as well. Not sure how to paint red and gold? Well GW make it so much easier with this exciting Adeptus Custodes Parade Ready Paint Bundle.
With the current 40K storyline seeing the Genestealer Cult infestation of Terra, who else pops up this week but those sneaky sneaky Genestealer Cults. These guys also get their Codex which comes in More Arms = More Hugs Limited Edition and Purple Forever Standard Edition. Again, why the Limited Edition doesn't have purple edged pages, we do not know, but it would be a very cool feature. Never one to be left behind, the Genestealer Cults also get Datacards and some very attractive dice. With a more nuanced look than their Imperial adversary, the Genestealer Cults Parade Ready Paint Bundle may actually be more handy to have. In fact swapping out the purples you could use this as a good basis for Necromunda civilians too.
Meanwhile, humanity in the Mortal Realms is also in danger with the release of Bawla and Burk, Boss Rat-Killas. Sadly this is the first new Skaven model we've seen for a while, and it's just his head. To be fair though, this is a lovely model that's full of character.
In books this week we have the next in the Twice-dead King series, with Reign on pre-order - coming in both Special Edition and Hardback. The Necrons are truly fascinating and the characters they have invented to head up these armies are great. If you haven't read any Necrons stuff, do! You will get thoroughly sucked into their courtly disputes and interesting backstories. I must admit I didn't pick up the first one because it had a lot to do with Flayed-Ones and I hate those guys, but now I wish I'd grabbe3d the earlier one to go with this one... Hopefully they will release a nice Special Edition Omnibus. The next Warhammer Crime novel is also on the way, with yet another excellent cover, this time it's The Bookkeeper's Skull in Hardback.
Next week also sees the fourth issue of Marvel: Warhammer 40,000 Sisters of Battle comic. 
Now, one of the very big releases this week - but it's pretty niche - is the final Primarch in Forge World's series to depict the 18 leaders of the Legions during the Horus Heresy. This time it is the mighty and somewhat mysterious Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of The White Scars Legion. By Games Workshop's own admission, both the Primarch and the Legion have not been that well explored. There have been a few books (Scars is a notable example) that give us some idea, but the Primarch himself is somewhat of a mystery. Even the Horus Heresy black book that talks about them shows them as a bit of a confusing enigma, bringing in very different looking and sounding Chapters into the one Legion. Now the model itself is sort of interesting. There has been a lot of talk about how he's not on a bike, or doesn't come with bike legs as an option. To us that's the least confusing part; if you compare him to the rest of his Legion he actually doesn't match. They have a very Japanese/ Korean look to them, while he looks more Mongolian. The cultural influences for the White Scars have been long up for debate - it's obviously northern Asian, but where. In reality it probably doesn't matter, but it dopes help when trying to find a visual reference when trying to paint them. Anyway, suffice to say we're not huge fans of this one - despite his importance - in fact his base may be the most interesting bit.

Well Happy New Year. Here we are in 2022 with hopes for a much better year than 2021, and not just with hobby!
2022 starts off with Games Workshop splitting the Combat Patrol: Orks, and charging more for the content - maybe not the best move by them - but still it allows us to get some of the contents if you don't want them all. 
First off is the Warboss in Mega Armour, a fantastic push-fit zero-option model. He's big, he's mean and he'd look great peeling Primaris open with his big axe. GW have been doing a great job with Ork sculpts in 2021, and the new Boyz are just one example. Unfortunately these are also push fit, almost zero-option minis, but as a bonus do come with an amazing Boss Nob model. Also from the Combat Patrol are the Deffkoptas, giving the Orks some swift aerial punching power. Also listed this week is the Ork Warboss with Attack Squig. Unfortunately this link is producing a Generic Error, so not sure if the URL is faulty or the mini is actually not available this weekend, suffice to say it's a very nice model nd ideally they'll get their act together soon to have it on offer. 
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So before we leave you, lets have a look at the value of this week's offerings (in NZ dollars):
If you bought the minis individually (Warboss in Mega Armour, Boyz and Deffkoptas) = $279 NZD
If you bought the Combat Patrol: Orks (Warboss in Mega Armour, 2 units of Boyz, Deffkoptas and a Deff Dread)  = $280 NZD
So our advice; if you're hovering over buying this week's releases (minus the Boss with the Squig) buy the Combat Patrol: Orks and save $188 NZD!