Once they were the Empire, then they were part of the Free Peoples, and now they are back, this time in the new Battletome, Cities of Sigmar. It's really cool to see these guys back, especially to see the amazing Freeguild General on Griffon model back in the spotlight! The Battletome itself comes in the Blinding Heraldry Limited Edition and of course Muddy Patchwork Standard Edition. There are also two new Start Collecting! sets - Greywater Fastness (bog-standrad Dwarves with some characters. Probably a very good force starter set) and Anvilgard (all the Dark Elves no one buys) . Now the Empire might be cool, but the Orc are forever, and they also get new rules with Battletome: Orruk Warclans. This also comes in two editions, Grunts & Armour Limited Edition and When Did You Last Bathe Standard Edition. Both of these releases come with Warscroll Cards - one for Orruks and one for Cities of Sigmar. 
It's actually quite the Age of $igmar weekend, with the "new" Warhammer Age of Sigmar Gaming Book, which includes the A0$ Core Rules, selected content from the General’s Handbook 2019, the Malign Sorcery content and more. No more lugging books about - it's all here. One day GW will enter the 21st Century and just put it in a bloody app!
Now for the Warhammer 40,000 players, this week also sees the new Warhammer 40,000: The Rules book released which covers the core rules plus a tonne of stuff from the current supplements. 
It seems a whole lot of the 28mm range is getting love this weekend with a lovely set of new miniatures for Middle-Earth - King of the Dead & Heralds. How it's $70 AUD for 3 plastic miniatures, we're not sure, but there you go! There's also some themed Army of the Dead Dice which peer at you from across the room glowing in the dark as you try to sleep to remind you that you spent $70 on three plastic miniatures.
There's more Middle-Earth, with the metal Cirion and Beregond, Citadel Guard, and Lords of the Fiefdoms getting a re-release. There's also a whole series of profile cards for your forces too, Magical Powers Card Pack, Fallen Realms Profile Card Pack, Mordor Profile Card Pack, and the Defenders of Pelennor Profile Card Pack all on pre-order.
In books this week, we've got the paperback of Scourge of Fate, which is set around Archaon's Varanguard.

As Games Workshop move more towards quick competitive skirmish games (Apocalypse lasted about one week didn't it?), the Warhammer Underworlds series expands, with the latest installment, Beastgrave, on pre-order this weekend. The boxed game comes with some amazing looking additions to any Beastmen army and some rather odd looking Elves which sort of hark back to the old Wood Elves (with added 2019 hooves) but also channel the Daughters of Khaine, but in green! There's also a very looking terrain set, Beastgrave – Primal Lair, which would have some interesting texture challenges for hobbyists - from smoke to slime to crystals and bone. Now this is a a tokens and cards game, so there's a Beastgrave Deck Box for transporting your cards, the Beastgrave Counter Set to continue your adventure, a Skaeth's Wild Hunt Dice Pack or Grashrak's Despoilers Dice Pack (pick your poison) ,  a Beastgrave Playmat to keep things all in order and of course the all-important Card Sleeves which come in Skaeth's Wild Hunt or Grashrak's Despoilers variety. So many extra things to make your game prettier! Transporting your troops around seems a bit of a thing these days, so there's the Beastgrave Carry Case. We've seen these dropped and not entirely sure these are much good in reality. If you haven't had your fill already today, well you can get even more Beastgrave with the Beastgrave novel, which also include three alternative-art cards to use in the Beastgrave game.
In other book news, the big 40K novel at the moment is Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, which promises the next chapter in the current 40K story arc. Not sure if this works into Psychic Awakening, but great to see the Emperor's Scythes in action too!
We also have an audio drama, with The Beast Inside, which places Ambull vs Rogue Trader!

Man these Thallax are a pain in the butt to make!! If they weren't so damn fiddly, we'd definitely have more. The latest addition is the quasi-leader so I decided to go with a more human pose. These are entirely sentient machines after all - robots with thinking, feeling human brains - who will kill you!

Aren't all the best Space Marines black?
Exhibit A - Dark Angels. 'nuff said!
This week yet another Chapter falls to the Primaris scourge, in fact two - the venerable Iron Hands and the way-too-emo Raven Guard - with not only a Codex supplement for each, but also new plastic goodness!
Iron Hands were always a First Founding Chapter, all the way back in 1st Edition Rogue Trader and now you can field them in the new edition of 40K with either the Cold Dead Hands Collectors Edition or the Chrome and Cogs Standard Edition. Both supplements are 64 pages, so not huge, BUT they do have the rules in it for this guy - Iron Father Feirros - a mighty Techmarine with a tonne of gear strapped to his back. Amazing looking mini, probably a must-buy just for the bitz. The Iron Hands also get a new Primaris-flavoured Iron Hands Upgrade Sprue which includes decals and some Iron Hands Data Cards. No dice though, oddly!
In other noir-related news, those newly-named First Founding Raven Guard also have a new supplement. It comes in Daddy Doesn't Love Me Collectors Edition and But I Want To! Standard Edition. Raven Guard Chapter Master Kayvaan Shrike has also gone all Primaris-flavoured with his new mini, which come without alternative weapons  or an alternative beaky helmet head - which seems a real shame. Feel like you need feathers on your army? Well let me introduce you to the Raven Guard Upgrade Sprue - everything has feathers, and if you like emo, well the heads come in My Chemical Romance flavour! In reality, if you've read the Horus Heresy books you know the Primarchs all had massive Daddy issues, so the Raven Guard are the perfect Space Marines. Oh and The Raven Guard don't get dice either, but they do get Data Cards.
In other Primaris news, the Eliminators can now be bought separately in what looks like a really nice kit with a nice selection of extra bitz. Not sure why they are drying their washing on their armour, but they are and by far the most dynamic Primaris so far, the Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour is also out next week (again single pose and no alternative weapons or head). 
In books we've got the Brunner the Bounty Hunter Omnibus, set in the Warhammer Old World and next week is White Dwarf, so if you live in Australia and get it via mail order, you'll have that in mid-October.

In the old world there was a hero, small of stature but giant of valour and victories - he was Gotrek Gurnisson... and he's back with an absolutely cracking plastic model! Thankfully not too expensive (comparatively) this will be gracing many people's armies that's for sure. 
Warcry continues to evolve, with it's first expansion Monsters & Mercenaries out next week. Add the Untamed Beasts and Iron Golem warbands as well as the Chaotic Beasts from the original Warcry boxed set as well as a repacked Chimera (a sadly oft-forgotten kit) and you've got more options for those wanting to play! There's also a nice scenery set, the Defiled Ruins, adding some Age of $igmar to the Chaos realms.
Books this week is all about Gotrek - some solo Gotrek action in Ghoulslayer, or if you like him in a buddy-cop mode then Gotrek & Felix: The Fourth Omnibus may float your boat. In audio dramas, there's Realmslayer: Blood of the Old World and a nice addition, you can also get the  Realmslayer: A Gotrek Gurnisson Series – The Complete Script in book form.

Who doesn't love Thallax? Apart from the poor sods you have to build these incredibly fiddly bloody models of course. The Thallax look amazing - the super soldiers of the Mechanicus, these are how the Space Marines would have been in they were human-augmented robots and not robot-augmented humans. During the Great Crusade and through the Horus Heresy, the Mechanicum would task out these powerful sentient robots to the Adeptus Astartes Legions, so surely the XIIth Legion War Hounds would have had some, right? They certainly used Praevians, and Praevians need robots!