Some much-needed love for the Horus Heresy Community in this week's pre-orders with some plastic and some Forge World resin love!
A joyous plastic release is the much-anticipated Legion Command Upgrade Set, which includes all new pieces to convert your Space Marine Command Squad. Interesting choice to have power swords/ Charnable Sabres instead of gladius', but the two banners and plumed helmets are pretty great, and the shields - so cool! There's also a new transfer sheet in here as well, with some new designs. Now if you would like to get yourself a Command Squad in one foul swoop, then you can also get the Legiones Astartes Command Squads - in both MkIII and MKVI flavours - which adds 5 models to the Legion Command Upgrade Set. Curious that this came before the expected re-release of the MKIV Space Marines, scaled-up to match their Brothers.
Now Horus Heresy loves a character, and this week we have four in resin on pre-order - the White Scar's Hibou Khan, Seeker of Atonement, Sons of Horus' ‘Little’ Horus Aximand, Captain of the 5th Company and Tybalt Marr, Captain of the 18th Company and former Iron Hand Shadrak Meduson, now Master of the Shattered Legions and owner of the most preppy haircut this side of Pluto!
Along with these releases are two re-released transfer sheets, Legiones Astartes Infantry Markings and Vehicle Markings Transfer Sheet - both vital to your Horus Heresy forces.
New kids on the block when it comes to Horus Heresy, but if you like your armies BIG and your troops tiny, then Legions Imperialis is for you! This week sees the pre-order of two Battle Groups, one for the Legiones Astartes and the other for the ​Solar Auxilia. These are joined by new Support Elements, the Legiones Astartes Predator Squadron and the Solar Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Squadron. If you've been holding off, now you can get an army in a box, so go forth and magnify!
The previous smaller-scale games Adpeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis now have their minis wrapped up into Legions Imperialis, with a whole lot of repacking going on. So what's on offer? Well you can take to the air with the Fire Raptor Squadron, Storm Eagle Squadron, Xiphon Interceptor Squadron, Avenger Strike Fighters or the Thunderbolt Fighter Squadron. Or you can pound the earth in mighty mechs with the Warmaster Iconoclast Heavy Battle Titan, the Cerastus Knights Acheron And Castigator, the Acastus Knights Porphyrion, Warhound Scout Titans With Turbo-Laser Destructors And Vulcan Mega-Bolters, Warhound Titans With Ursus Claws And Melta Lances or Dire Wolf Heavy Scout Titans. It's a great shame that GW didn't just add the new Ursus Claws And Melta Lances sprue to the existing Warhound Titan kit to create one all-encompassing kit - this would have been the perfect opportunity - but alas they again forget service as something they offer their customers. In fact just have a look at the price rise on all these repackaged kits and you will see we are much more loyal to GW than GW is loyal to us. Happily for many, there are also two terrain kits too, the Civitas Imperialis Spires and Civitas Imperialis - these kits always sell out very quickly! 
In books this week we have The Horus Heresy: Siege Of Terra Book 7: Echoes Of Eternity in paperback, and the next in the series of maps, this time it's the ​Sanctum Imperialis Palatine Map.

This may have been the week that broke us, to be very honest. It's a huge pre-order week for a brand new games system that's been hyped for lord-knows how long, wanted by the community for longer, and Games Workshop couldn't get their act together to ship it to the Australia and New Zealand warehouse. In 2023, that's so disappointing. Back in 1988, when I first entered the hobby-proper (having been buying minis since the early 80s), this could have been acceptable, but with air freight, this situation is embarrassing for the largest miniature gaming company in the world. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and this is from someone who isn't even interested in Legion Imperialis. So, what will be be able to order this weekend instead of the much-hyped new games system?​

Well, we get part of it - the new Legions Imperialis: Civitas Imperialis Administratum Sector giving you a variety of buildings for your battlefield. A fairly pricey set, but also necessary to play the game!
In Made to Order this week we have the Classic Deathleaper and the fan-fave, The Red Terror, who despite not being in the new Tyranid Codex, is a nice mini to have for the Tyranid fan.
It's coming up to Christmas, so it's stocking filler time - the Warhammer 40,000: Imperium Tin Tote, Warhammer 40,000 – Official 2024 Calendar, and Warhammer Boxed Christmas Cards (have a look at the price for a good laugh!) are all there for the Warhammer fan in your life.
In books this week we have the continuation of the current Warhammer 40K storyline with Dawn Of Fire: Sea Of Souls Book 7 (in Special Edition and paperback), Hammers Of Sigmar: First Forged in paperback and 
The Last Volari in paperback.

The dreaded words have been spoken; "These products have all been delayed for a short time in Australia and New Zealand" - and the door slams shut on enjoying the new games system with the rest of the world.
So what's out for everyone else?
The big set, the ​Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis, giving you both Astartes and Solar Auxilia, the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Rulebook and the two Legiones Astartes and Solar Auxilia Army Cards sets.
In minis there's the Legiones Astartes Infantry, Kratos Heavy Tank Squadron and a Rhino box to move your troops around in. The Thunderhawk Gunship makes a reappearance from the Aeornautica Imperialis game too.
The Solar Auxilia have their Infantry set, and a box of Baneblades for support, but no transports yet.
We also see the return of the Aeronautica Imperialis minis, the Lightning Fighter, Marauder Bomber, Marauder Destroyer, plus some Forge World resin minis, the Marauder Colossus and Marauder Pathfinder, plus the Arvus Lighters.
Reboxed and rebased, the Questoris Knights, Cerastus Knight Lancers, Reaver Titans, and Warlord Titans return, plus Forge World's Warglaives and Helverins, Knights Styrix, Moriax, Magaera, Atrapos, Asterius and the Warlord-Sinister Psi Titan return.
Terrain isn't forgotten with the Civitas Imperialis City Road Tiles and Civitas Imperialis Ruins sets, plus the Administratum Sector which collects some of the Adeptus Titanicus terrain kits.
There's also the new new Carta Galactica Map showing the Imperium's domains at the time of the Heresy.

​A mighty box steps forth this week, pitting the magic of the Lumineth Realmlords against the sorcery of Tzeentch in Arcane Cataclysm.  This new Tzeentch character is awesome, and being a recent convert to the Lumineth, this box is a great get! 
Also on Age of $igmar we have reinforcements for Chaos, with the new Chaos Legionnaires
(who are a bit hit and miss TBH) and the awesome Centaurion Marshal, who is a really striking model, but lacks weapon or head options. Guess we have to wait for the hinted Centaurs coming in the new Beastmen range. While we're with beasts, the Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur, Realmscape: Megadroth Remains, and the beautiful Realmscape: Cleansing Aqualith
are now available separately, certainly a great time to add that to your Lumineth forces from Arcane Cataclysm. The Skaven are a favourite, and the Deathmaster model is so thematic an full of character. It would be amazing to see an update for this horde army one day. From the great to the just-plain-weird, the Sylvaneth Lady of Vines... I mean, what the actual??
Now if you love yourself some Warcry, but White Dwarf is a total waste of time and trees, then the Warcry: Compendium brings you recent White Dwarf articles all together in one nice book. 
Two new minis on the scene this week are Drekki Flynt, and the awesomely moody Cado Ezechiar - The Hollow King... which may or may not be making his way to our hobby area!
Now, there's been a lot of Horus Heresy lately, and this week we take a bit of a turn towards the rumours that Heresy may be linking Adeptus Titanicus up with Aeronautica Imperialis to relaunch the Epic scale range. SO today we see Warhammer: The Horus Heresy - Aeronautica Imperialis Rulebook, Aeronautica Imperialis: Vanaheim Area of Engagement, the Aeronautica Imperialis: Legiones Astartes Aircraft Cards, and the Aeronautica Imperialis: Divisio Aeronautica Aircraft Cards appear and we think "hmmmmm". Epic is one of the best supported games in the 3D printed world, with some absolutely incredible miniatures that FAR outstrip the Games Workshop version of years past. In a way it would be cool to see Epic back, but it would equally just be nice for GW to release a ruleset update, some vehicles and maybe some Primarchs and just let the fan community keep producing the amazing products they do. 
Books!! Well if Dorn is your man, then you had better start pressing F5 on the webstore because Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader (Limited Edition) is on it's way. Earlier this episode we introduced you to Drekki Flynt and Cado Ezechiar - well praise be you can both hobby and read with the Drekki Flynt Book and Miniature Collection and the Cado Ezechiar Book and Miniature Collection. You can of course just get the The Arkanaut's Oath and the The Hollow King in hardback without the mini... but why?

This week also sees the deletion of some venerable, long serving heroes of the Aledari, with some of the oldest models still in the range going the way of the dodo - Phoenix Lord Fuegan, Phoenix Lord Karandras and Phoenix Lord Baharroth having been released during the first wave of the Jes Goodwin Eldar releases. A little younger is a personal favourite, Phoenix Lord Asurmen, plus three in the newer look for Eldar, Illic Nightspear, Prince Yriel and the ​Autarch Skyrunner. The older minis in this collection are white metal and with the others in the GW resin.

Warhammer Day brings us some great releases this year, with something for almost everyone! The exclusive miniatures this year are the Primaris Lieutenant with Storm Shield and Vampire Lord Anasta Malkorion. Both lovely models, with the vamp coming with an alternate arm and the Primaris coming with a helmeted head option. He would make an amazing standard bearer let me add!
The main release this week, however, is the next installment of Kill Team - Kill Team: Chalnath, bringing fledgling Adepta Sororitas up against advanced scouts of the Tau Empire. Seeing Tau getting love so early was initially very exciting, but on closer inspection it's really just an extra sprue added to the existing Tau Pathfinders kits (see below). One would assume that will make it's way into the set at some point anyway. Chalnath also includes some older scenery that was discontinued, so grab it while you can! Of course this release also sees two dice sets, one for the Tau Empire and one for the Adepta Sororitas.   
Also getting some love this week is Adeptus Titanicus in the form of the Adeptus Titanicus: Traitor Legios book and the massive Warmaster Iconoclast Heavy Battle Titan. This is a great kit to build and paint. I thoroughly enjoyed making mine and it looks amazing alongside the rest of the models. As Titan Legions go, the Traitors have some of the most complicated heraldry, so thankfully there's some decal sheets coming out too - one each for Legio Fureans, Legio Krytos, and Legio Tempestus.
I you enjoy this scale, then Aeronautica Imperialis could be for you with the very first appearance of a plastic Thunderhawk Gunship and their smaller cousins the Fire Raptors. Have a feeling a lot of these will end up as scenery in Titanicus games... 
We all love hobby supplies - and we have some this week that will surprise. First up is the Citadel Painting Handle XL, very handy for the large models which are a pain to try to hold and not break while painting. There's also the Citadel Colour Assembly Stand (which is just weird), the Citadel Colour Spray Stick and a brand new one, the Citadel Colour Sub-assembly Holder allowing you to glue small bits to and then paint. A few people have said this just replicates using old sprue, but we'd be keen to try this. 
In books we have Inferno! Presents: The Inquisition and the paperback of Stormvault.
Horus Heresy is getting some love lately from Forge World after a storm of criticism from the Community. This week it's the Trump-faced Remus Ventanus. This is a striking miniature, and if you use the helmeted option a pretty perfect miniature!

Did someone say "Middle Earth"? No?? Well you're getting some anyway with the rerelease of some of the early Lord of the Rings minis. Lórien Elf Commanders, Galadhrim Elf Commanders, Castellans of Dol Guldur, Spiders of Middle-earth, Ringwraiths of Angmar, Thráin the Broken and Gandalf the Grey, Wood Elf Sentinels, Vanquishers of the Necromancer, The Spider Queen of Mirkwood all make a reappearance!

Alrighty - well here we are with the Tau Pathfinders from Kill Team: Chalnath. This was an exciting glimpse of something new for Tau players, but on closer inspection, this is really housed all on one sprue. So the question is, will it be packaged in with the existing Tau Pathfinders kit from 2017 at some pint - like the upgrade sprue for the Imperial Guard - or will it only live in this box - and are you willing to take the risk? The other thing about this set is that it effectively makes the rules for Tau in the Kill Team Compendium null and void (wasn't that a good purchase? NO!!) with this sprue and the rules giving you the same classes that the Orks and Krieg dudes have in the recent Kill Team release. Seeing this coming, our Tau Kill Team already had planned for the classes to be brought across to all factions, so a lot of kitbashing has made this sprue not really worth the money, despite the cool bits...

The Black Templars have been a favourite of many for a long time. The black-clad, robe-wearing exemplars of justice and piety striding forth to serve the Emperor's justice. Really they're the Space Marine version of the Sisters of Battle - looking forward to getting flamed for that! Well the launch box for the Black Templars in this version of Warhammer 40K is here with the Black Templars Army Set sporting 12 new models, all Primaris-ed up, including some Scouts/ Initiates. The set also comes with the cards, a Codex and more. Similar pricing to the Sisters of Battle box, these minis and are also multi-pose which is awesome! 
Away from 40K, there's two legacy Blood Bowl releases - the Amazon Team and the Tomb Kings Team, both of which deserve an update in the current game. It's really odd that GW haven't done more with Amazons, especially considering her popularity of Escher in Necromunda. 
Next week is also a White Dwarf week, so if need to fill your recycling bin, here's an opportunity! 

With a slow week in the world of Games Workshop, Forge World have brought out two new sets for Aeronautica Imperialis - the Adeptus Astartes Ground Assets and the Aeldari Ground Assets.

Aeronautica Imperialis has been a fun little distraction for hobbyists, and with talk that both Adeptus Titanicus and this little game of little planes may be wrapping up in 2022, the release of the new expansion, Wrath of Angels has come as a rather nice event. Sporting Space Marine and Aeldari/ Asuryani planes, this is sure to be popular, especially with the level of lovely detail.
Also available separately from the set are the planes themselves, with the Asuryani Nightwing Squadron (which sports optional variable wing positions) and the Asuryani Phoenix Bomber Squadron really standing out in terms of detail and aesthetic. Of course they also get the Aircraft and Aces – Asuryani Cards and a wraithbone-inspired Asuryani Dice Set. Everyone's favourite xenophobic armoured thugs also get a go with the Adeptus Astartes Xiphon Interceptor Squadron and Storm Eagle Squadron out too, supported by the Adeptus Astartes Cards and Dice Set. There's also the Outer Reaches Area of Engagement Board to use your existing aircraft on, and the older Imperial Navy & Ork Air Waaagh! Ground Assets have been rereleased after a bit of a hiatus.
It was only a few weeks ago that we have the Orlock Weapons Upgrades for Necromunda, well this well we have Van Saar Weapons & Upgrades. Not as big a fan of these, but I'm sure they will have their fans.
After seeing the JOYTOY action figures last week, the crappy McFarlane Toys action figures are looking pretty naff (don't say we didn't tell you), but this week we get the Adepta Sororitas The Order of the Bloody Rose Battle Sister, Necrons Flayed One, and Necrons Flayed One Artists' Proof Action Figures. 
Books books, many books with the very nicely presented new The Twice-dead King: Ruin in green-bound pages Special Edition or the standard Hardback. There's also the ​Silent Hunters in Paperback and some Hardback Horus Heresy books; The Path of Heaven, The Silent War, Angels of Caliban, Praetorian of Dorn and Corax. 
Merchandising - what a blast, and now we move into the realm of plushies... Do you like Nurgle? DO you want to hug Nurgle? Well you can enjoy this little cutie, the KOYO Warhammer 40,000 Nurgling Plush.
With the UK opening up after COVID, tickets are back for Warhammer World, so you can get the Warhammer World Exhibition Dioramas Book Bundle or just go for one of the different tickets available. Fun and games for the whole family!

It's quite a diverse week for pre-orders, and for a change, let's start with The Hobbit because they have a great new miniature in the form of Éomer, Marshal of the Riddermark. Not only does he come mounted and dismounted, but also comes with weapon options and four head options, meaning you can use him as other characters or even a great source of bitz for other minis. The Eomer release is backed by yet more Profile Cards with the Hobbit – Good Profile Card Pack, the Hobbit – Dwarves Profile Card Pack and the Hobbit - Evil Profile Card Pack giving you stats for your forces. There's also a cool book, the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game: Best of White Dwarf Magazine which would be great for those who don't get the magazine, but would like some new content.
As you know, the Middle-earth miniatures are slightly smaller scale to the normal GW miniature, but if you want really small you have to go to Aeronautica, and this week we get some new planes - the venerable Imperial Navy Avenger Strike Fighters to give yet more firepower to the Imperium. 
A surprise release for Necromunda when first previewed, we finally get our hands on the Ogryn Gang, adding considerable brute force to the Necromunda game. Mostly lacking serious firepower, they make up for it in melee usage. Interestingly the release is the larger Slave Ogryn Gang set, and also the smaller 'Jotunn' H-Grade Industrial Servitor Ogryns. It's better value for money to get the larger set, as you basically get two for free. These will be kitbashed to Hell and back for every Imperial Guard force considering the current Ogryn models for the Imperial Guard are so poor. It's not just the big boys who get to play in Necromunda, it's also the deadly ladies as well, with Escher getting reinforcements via the Death-maidens and Wyld Runners which introduces some beastly companions and some great poses for the Escher gang. Both of these releases get cards with the Slave Ogryn Gang Tactics Cards and Escher Gang Tactics Cards out, plus there's the new Open Hive War Card Pack and Zone Mortalis Gang Tactics Cards. These releases are all off the back of the new Necromunda expansion, House of Blades which gives much more detail on the Escher gang and new units and rules. The book gets a House of Blades Dice and there's a House of Chains Dice too. 
If you're more of a sporting hobbyist, then maybe Blood Bowl gets your heart pounding. Something that's unlikely to meet with too much excitement is the new team though, the Crud Creek Nosepickers. Mainly there for entertainment value, there's also the Blood Bowl Snotling Team Dice, Blood Bowl Double-sided Snotling Pitch and Dugout and Spike! Journal Issue 10 which gives rules and tactics for the Snotlings in the game.
Books this week include the new Warhammer Crime anthology No Good Men, the paperback version of Farsight: Empire of Lies for some Tau goodness, the Warhammer Age of Sigmar anthology Oaths and Conquests and the paperback version of Watchers of the Throne: The Regent's Shadow.

Well well well, this is cool. I'm not sure any of use expected Tau as the next Xenos faction in Aeronautica Imperialis, but it's a great surprise. Eldar maybe, but now joining the very cool Ork planes, we have some Tau goodness... Greater Goodness indeed. Really nice to see they went with the larger Forge World planes and not the Razorshark/Sunshark from the GW line of Tau ships. Anyone else tempted?