The launch of Leagues of Votann has been a rocky one, from a luke-warm reveal to a Codex in a premium deluxe set that was obviously not finalised properly. It's a shame, because this is actually a big deal - a new faction (well sort of)  in the 40K universe does not happen that often! So having the entire range all dumped in one weekend does seem like a knee-jerk reaction to just get it all out there, and the question remains, was a full errata done on the original Codex before gamers go and buy this new one, AND if they do, will there be a tonne of revisions later? It would be disappointing to see the Votann as the first faction to get a Codex in the upcoming 10th Edition if the Community just forked out on this at the tail of 9th Edition.
Speaking of the League of Votann Codex, here it is - of course available in the Hiding in Plain Sight Collectors' Edition or the Long Lost Cousins Standard Edition. Having the whole range appear at  once means a bevvy of new miniatures, so lets dive in with the dynamic Ûthar the Destined/ Kâhl combi-kit. This is a lovely miniature, in fact all versions and packs so much of what the new Leagues of Votann are about all in one mini. This is a must have, and yes, we're a bit obsessed with that power fist! As far as Elites go, the Votann have some good options with the Einhyr Champion and Einhyr Hearthguard bringing heavy armour and melee power, and the Cthonian Beserks doing their best to be the 40K version of Fireslayers, plus the heavy ranged power of the Brôkhyr Thunderkyn who are packing power suits the Imperial Guard would be jealous of! There's also some characters, with Grimnyr, which is again a really beautiful thematic model showing the more "magical" side of the Votann, and Brôkhyr Iron-master with his mini Kastelan Robots.
Need some fast attack? well bring on the Hernkyn Pioneers who have hoverbikes that are very similar to ones that appear in the original Rogue Trader rulebook. Potentially great conversion fodder for Space Marine Scout Squads... The Votann of course need their grunts, and the Hearthkyn Warriors fit that bill nicely. With a variety of weapon and accessory options, they stand out from much of the range in having flexibility for hobbyists. A look at the sprues for the rest of the range shows that the Votann are spread across less sprues and more inline with the new mono-pose aesthetic that Games Workshop seem to be moving towards, sadly. Happily, the Votann do have what looks like a truly great Combat Patrol, which has a strong presence from the range, giving gamers and hobbyists alike a great entry into the faction. There are also two vehicles, the Sagitaur and the beefy Hekaton Land Fortress. Seeing these and the units, it will be interesting to see how they play. Their formations could be compared to Marines in some ways, as are their two vehicles. And as we speak about tabletop, there's also the Votann Datacards and ​Leagues of Votann Dice Set, in lovely transparent orange! Now if all of this floats your boat and you want to go all-in, then the Leagues of Votann Pre-order Collection is for you. Get absolutely all of it in one big hit!
Away from 40K, fans of the Horus Heresy will be pleased to see a second version of the Predator, this time the Deimos Pattern Predator Support Tank with different weapon options. Not sure if this will be amalgamated into one kit at some point, but for now, this is Predator #2!
In books this week, there is the Eisenhorn: The Omnibus in paperback and the paperback version of ​The Successors: A Space Marine Anthology.

The Leagues of Votann saw the return of the much-loved "Squats" to the Warhammer 40,000 universe - and as a far-flung human species out in the great dark of space, did they ally themselves with Xenos powers to survive? Certainly their technology has thrived, showing the lineage from humanity's past but upgraded and advanced from those thousands of years of isolation. However, when looking at the iconography associated with the various League of Votann alliances, there's some very conspicuous symbolism that looks eerily similar.
Knowing that Jes Goodwin puts a lot of thought and work into symbolism, his work with the Eldar and Adeptus Mechanicus are two prime examples, it would seem unusual to have symbols that seem so familiar in the universe mean absolutely nothing, or point us in a direction as a portent of the past and the future.

So that's our theory. Will it see conflict with the Imperium? Will we see Votann troops amongst Tau Fire Warriors or guarding Necron throne worlds while they slumber.
​The Warhammer 40K universe is massive, and potentially up to you - but not all things are as they seem and these potential touch points for drama could be great triggers for campaigns!
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Thanks for reading - and let us know what you think of this idea. 
Not saying it is the intention of the designers at Games Workshop, but it does seem awfully coincidental to have this iconography echo so visibly with these other factions.

Adventure is afoot, and into the Gnarlwood we go with lit torch and keen blade to... to... well to quest! The latest in the never-ending Warhammer Underworlds expansion, Gnarlwood is upon us with two amazing looking warbands - the Darkoath Gnarlspirit Pack warband and the undead Sons of Velmorn warband. These are all amazing minis (especially the Shaman) and will be popular with hobbyists and gamers alike. With this release we also get the Warhammer Underworlds: Gnarlwood Card Sleeves to keep your cards safe and minty. But they're not the only adversaries, Skittershank’s Clawpack and the Shadeborn have entered the Gnarlwood as the Rivals of Nethermaze.
Now if warbands are your thing, then it's the week for you. Unencumbered by those pesky cards and the like, you can now get Khagra's Ravagers, The Crimson Court, Kainan's Reapers, The Starblood Stalkers, Elathain's Soulraid, and Hedkrakka's Madmob as purely mini releases. Very tempting, and keep in mind that this is generally the final incarnation before they are deleted from the range.
In books this week, we have the Dark Imperium Collection Special Edition, which is a bit plain really, the new Grombrindal: Chronicles of the Wanderer in Hardback with a very cool cover, and a new Alpha Legion novel for those cunning skulking so-and-so's, Renegades: Harrowmaster in Hardback. 

Kill Team is at it again, resurrecting a fan-favourite and bringing them to fight games of skirmish. Kill Team: Shadowvaults brings back the elite Imperial Guard, the Kasrkin (or as I always called them, Karsickens), with brand new sculpts giving you not only line infantry, but also the Specialists needed for Kill Team. Disappointingly, their adversary the Necrons only get an upgrade sprue (see below) to some existing minis which seems like a real missed opportunity to see some really niche minis for Kill Team. The launch of Kill Team: Shadowvaults next week also sees the release of Kill Team dice for both the Kasrkin and the Necrons, plus the Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Playing Cards that provide cards for combat in a Space Hulk.
Fan of combat on a smaller but grander scale? Well the brand new Matched Play Guide is out for Adeptus Titanicus, which continues to be very hot property for Games Workshop, both with competitive gamers and hobbyists who really want to get deeply into fluff.
It's been a while since GW updated their range of hobby tools, and it looks like they've gone back to making things weird... have a look at the new Citadel Tools: Knife - that does not look comfortable. On the flip side though, the more traditional Super Fine Detail Cutters and what looks like quite an innovative Drill with a little turntable on the top to rest in the palm of your hand - could be worth a try! Meanwhile the tool that does the things a knife does, except cut, the Mouldline Remover gets a more ergonomic handle.
It's been at least a week since we had a dump of old Lord of the Rings models, so here we go... Boromir on horsey-neigh-neigh, Elendil & Isildur (Rings of Power tie-in anyone?) and the Blackroot Vale Commanders. Also this week we have some of what we believe are the best LoTR models released, the thematic Haradrim King, an all-time favourite the Mahûd King (two amazing models), the Mahûd Warrior Warband and the Mahúd Raiders.
Books, there are many this week, including the beautifully presented War of the Fang Special Edition, Kasrkin in hardback, a really interesting sounding one - Void King in hardback, Warhammer Horror's Briardark in paperback and The Twice-dead King: Reign in paperback.
Oh, and it's a White Dwarf week...

Warhammer Day 2022 is here and so far this year it's all 40K, with the Bayard's Revenge mini-diorama up for order this week. It's the 35th Anniversary of Warhammer 40K, so that makes sense, but it's interesting the mini isn't a generic Space Marine and instead a Black Templar... one wonders why.
Speaking of 40K, this week sees the launch of the new Horus Heresy/ 40K Land Raider Proteus, which throws back to the original Warhammer 40K V1 (Rogue Trader) in design. It's a great looking vehicle and can be built with either an assault ramp or the traditional old school dozer blade in Explorator configuration. 
Some "big" (pun intended) releases for Warhammer Age of $igmar this week, with the Sons of Behemat launching their new Battletome - which comes in Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum Limited Edition or Toe Jam Standard Edition. Launching with the Battletome is the huge new King Brodd kit, which not only sees the Sons of Behemat King take to the field, but it's a combi-kit, so you can also choose to make the Beast-smasher Mega-Gargant, Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant, Warstomper Mega-Gargant or Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant from the same box. It's not cheap though, but would all those spare bitz be worth it? The original Mancrusher Gargant is also back, and there's a pretty good deal on the Mancrusher Mob which sees you getting one-ish free if you buy three. Sons of Behemat also get a themed Dice Set.
On the totally other side of the coin, the Battletome for the Lumineth Realm-lords is also on pre-order. These are really beautiful miniatures - trust me, I have been bitten by the bug recently and delved into this force. The Battletome comes in Bling-Bling Limited Edition or Pointy Battleline Standard Edition. There's also a  new Vanguard box for the Lumineth Realm-lords which gives you all you will need for one form of combat, it's only missing the cavalry for the other form. Of course there's also Warscroll Cards and the Lumineth Realm-lords-themed Dice Set.
In books this week, it's more Black Templar goodness with Helbrecht: Knight of The Throne in Hardback.
As with last week, there's some stocking-stuffers for Xmas with the adult sized Roy Lowe: Warhammer 40,000 – Red Imperial Aquila Socks and Blue Imperial Aquila Socks. 

If you can believe it or not, it's been 3 months since the release of the second edition of Warcry, and finally the Warcry: Core Book is available separately outside the Heart of Ghur boxed set. Go forth and adjust your points costs!
An old fan favourite in Blood Bowl are the Amazons, and this week you can pre-order the new Blood Bowl Team, the Kara Temple Harpies. There's also Amazon Team Dice, an Amazon Team Card Pack, and the Amazon Pitch – Double-sided Pitch and Dugouts Set. Spike! Journal Issue 15 is also out this week so you can get all the background and rules on how they play. Hopefully we'll see these Amazon minis in the wider world of Warhammer, maybe as part of the Seraphon refresh expected soon...
Warhammer 4ok hobbyists rejoice, the reboxed Space Marine Heroes are here with the Blood Angels Collection One on their way. Interesting choice to go with Blood Angels since these heads don't really look that angelic or even vampiric for the Successors...
Away from minis (booooo), Starforged have a few stocking stuffers for Xmas with a number of keychains which come in Master-crafted Bolt Rifle, Astra Militarum Lasgun, Chaos Chainaxe, and Ork Choppa - the latter two will be prefect lint collectors in your pockets too! Starforge also have some cool Purity Seal Pin Badges to add to your display cabinet - they come in Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Ultramarines. Interesting there's no Imperial Fists, and we can think of a certain someone who'd be happy for a Black Templars one... 
More stocking stuffer, this time with the Roy Lowe: Warhammer 40,000 – Red Gobbo Socks. We're not sure who Roy Lowe is, but having socks in size 4-6 does relegate this to a kid's item.
Well known pop culture producers Merchoid have some cool Warhammer 40,000 Bauble Tree Decorations, which come in Red Squig (probably the best one), Red Gobbo, and I Ate Too Much Xmas Dinner Ultramarine. There's more, with the Warhammer 40,000 Official 2023 Calendar.
Few books this week with ​Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader in hardback, a reprinting of Cursed City in Paperback, and a new omnibus, Empire at War in paperback which could be very cool indeed!
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Horus Heresy time with some upgrades from Forge World this week - the almost universally hated Space Wolves MKVI Heads, Space Wolves MKVI Shoulder Pads, the new World Eaters MKVI Heads and their World Eaters MKVI Shoulder Pads. It's such a shame we don't get the globe in the teeth anymore, that was cool.