We were talking about this the other day, but there's been this constant "where are the Sisters of Battle?/ We need Sisters of Battle in plastic" emanating from the Community for year - it's been a constant bugbear, seemingly. But come the week leading up to their long awaited release, the Community have gone very quiet.
Maybe it's the loud few all this time and not the majority who want them - are we actually excited?
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2019 sees the reemergence of the Sisters of Battle - the Adepta Sororitas, and instead of the amazing multi-part kits we have seen previewed, we get what is effectively a gift box, a one stop shop for all things Battle Nuns (such a better name, you have to admit!). The Sisters of Battle Army Set has 25 new plastic miniatures, the Adepta Sororitas Codex, the Adepta Sororitas Datacards, Miracle Dice (literally normal GW dice), a Transfer Sheet and the 40KCore Rules. This is effectively EVERYTHING you will need to field them and for that you do pay a price for this set! The multi=part minis look a lot more interesting, frankly, but this is a great start and might be an insight into more all-in-one boxes for armies including full Codex.
Psychic Awakening rumbles on, with the new chapter - Faith and Fury - out next week, This promises rules for the Chaos Legions, Chaplains, Techmarines, Librarians, Apothecaries etc etc. As usual there are two versions of the book, Kneel Before Zod Standard Edition and the Purge The Unclean Collectors Edition. Now of interest here is that the Collectors Edition, for the very first time that we know of, actually has bonus content for spending twice the price; an expanded background section which features brand-new narrative (so not copy and paste?) and three short stories based around Psychic Awakening. All in all it's only 18 extra pages, but really interesting and about time! Excitingly there is also a brand new Chaos Space Marines Sorcerer in plastic - and it's awesome. Single pose, with the option to include the magic on his hand or not. This seems like a must have for any Chaos army.
Some new releases for Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave with Rippa’s Snarlfangs available with the requisite Dice Pack and Premium Card Sleeves. The Champions of Dreadfane set also introduces Lady Harrow’s Mournflight and Ironsouls Condemnors to the game, if that is your want and desire. There are of course the Ironsoul's Condemnors Card Sleeves and Lady Harrow's Mournflight Card Sleeves. Now here's a release I just do not understand - the Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave Gift Pack is some cards and some cardboard. Go look at the price - go on... right! How??
There's two Start Collecting sets out too - Start Collecting! Vanguard Space Marines and Start Collecting! Chaos Space Marines. A lot of people have been waiting for the Chaos Space Marine one for the Obliterators especially. This does mean that the old one has now been deleted form the range, so if you want it, go get it now!
Now, book time - there's a fair bit actually including the Scalper's Product of the Month, the Horus Heresy Seige of Terra Limited Editions. We're up to Book 3: The First Wall which centres on Rogal Dorn and the robust defence of the walls of Terra. Also in pretty books, the Mark of Faith (Special Edition) is out next week as is the Mark of Faith hardcover. Also next week is the The Great Devourer: The Leviathan Omnibus centred on the Tyranids.
As a bonus, any Faith and Fury orders through the GW webstore get the Psychic Awakening: Faith & Fury Datasheet Cards.

It's not often we get a really good look at what makes the Necrons tick. To be fair the background and varied levels of sentience of the Necrons has changed quite a lot over the years since they were first introduced. It wasn't until Gathering Storm and the character of Lord Trazyn that we had a really well developed Necron of the modern era. Rather than being the two dimensional ominous robotic overlords, we now get ancient sentient beings whose spirit is now trapped in this metallic form, with all the emotions that would probably bring up of the millions of years you'd been dealing with it. Necron characters were now explorers, warlords, librarians, collectors - a much more varied pool to draw from - which makes the newer vision of the Necrons much more interesting and builds nicely into "Severed" by Nate Crowley.

"Severed" is part of the Novella Series 2 set and benefits from this newer archetype in the form of Nemesor Zahndrekh. Zahndrekh is a warlord with supreme tactical knowledge - a tactical knowledge teamed with a very eccentic personality which lives somewhere between now and his past victories. For the reader these past victors give a great insight into the Necrontyr, but for the other main character in the story, these victories are a form of torture. Have you ever had someone tell you the same story, maybe more than twice? Well imagine being the only other "living" being around that boring storyteller - enter Zahndrekh's long suffering Vargard, Obyron, his bodyguard and equally sentient offsider who has spent millions of years at the side of his very chatty and seemingly oblivious master.

If you're a Necron fan, this will fill in some gaps for you - the relationship of dynastic heads with each other, the relationship between a Stormlord and their vassals, the levels of sentience in the ranks of the Necrons and the feelings of Necrons about each other - such as the complicated view of Destroyers. We also see the Necrons at war, the power of the Nemesors (as not only characters but also as warriors) and how much politics goes on between the master and servant, but also volatile with the dynastic heads vying for power and the favour of the Stormlord. 

The story itself is has a really great for the first half with lots of background and pieces of information for the Necron fan, while the second half then gets down into the minutia of war, with lines of supply and tactics taking centrefield. 

"Severed" is a thoroughly worthy read with great characters and a look into a xenos race that often gets stereotyped as Terminator 2 rip-offs, when they are obviously so much more. Here's hoping this is the start of more adventures with these characters, because their development in "Severed" deserves so much more. Nate Crowley does an amazing job balancing humour, action and a courtly intrigue - so much so that this is a great place to start developing the Necrons further, especially Zahndrekh, who is not only hilarious but shows us a side to the Necrontyr we don't see often.

If not for some pacing issues towards the end it would have been full marks - so four Necrons out of 5

Why is here a heap of plastic sprues to the left? Well it's not any heap of plastic - it's the birth of Zone Mortalis in plastic. If you've every played Horus Heresy, then you will know the importance of the Zone Mortalis missions, which have previously have needed the cumbersome Forge World tiles. Well with those being discontinued earlier this year, Games Workshop has remade them, in plastic and much more modular for their new Necromunda expansion, Dark Uprising! The Dark Uprising set is huge, with a new gang, new Enforcers, new plastic buildings and scenery. It's not cheap but probably well worth the value. The set comes with a cardboard mat, but if you prefer a plastic one, then there is the Zone Mortalis Floor Tile Set - 4 x 12" flat plastic tiles in the exact style of the Forge World ones. This is a huge advance - the Forge World ones were full of resin bubbles and often sunken in the middle. This is brilliant and sure to sell out. There's also a Zone Mortalis Bases Set, which looks suspiciously like the bass from the Necromunda game, which is a real shame because bases to match the new tiles would have been brilliant! There's also Necromunda Dice and the new Necomunda Book of Ruin expansion and the Underhive Graffiti Transfer Sheet. Now if you're a very good ganger and order the Dark Uprising set from the GW webstore, you will also get the Necromunda: Dark Uprising Keyring.
The Red Gobbo is up for pre-order on the GW site this morning, but interestingly a number of independent retailers had it up last week, so not sure what that's about. It's supposed to be available in store today...
There's more Middle-Earth this week with the new Evil Profile Card Pack, Good Profile Card Pack and Dwarves Profile Card Pack for The Hobbit as well as some Made To Order minis including Mirkwood Elf Captains, Young Thorin, Balin and Dwalin, Thranduil, King of Mirkwood (in all his guises), Legolas Greenleaf and Tauriel, Mirkwood Hunters and Narzug and Fimbul, Hunter Orc Captains.
An interesting one which seems oddly out of place this week, the Warcry Starter Collection has popped up.
In books we have some omnibus' - Myths & Revenants in paperback, the Warhammer Chronicles Thanquol and Boneripper in paperback, and the Blackstone Fortress anthology Vaults of Obsidian in hardback.
It's also time for White Dwarf November 2019. which includes a gallery of kitbashed Inquisitors and their retinues which could interest INQ28 and Blanchitsu hobbyists.  

Well not literally of course - technically skeletons live forever - BUT the point is, these new Chaos Warriors have us so exited and they really only seems to register a blip on the Community radar.
Apart from the same upside down shields the Mortek Guard have, these miniatures are such a generational leap beyond the now-iconic Chaos Warriors that have stalked the battlefields for decades now. Even if they are mono-pose, the dynamic nature of the poses really sets them into the area that the art for these miniatures has existed in for a long long time. 
A close look will actually show you a melding of the current Chaos Warriors and the ones that came before it - who frankly look pretty squat and sad these days but were once amazing!! The Chaos Knights are a huge improvement to the current range, who do have amazing horses, but the riders aren't that great.
One of the big winners here is the leader of this foul band of brigands who has obviously been pose a a dark reflection of the Astreia Solbright or Vandus Hammerhand or a Lord-Aquilor.
All of it is just clever stuff and although releases come and go, this one is really one to look forward to!

As we mentioned last week, the Ossiarch Bonereapers have really inspired a lot of chat in the Community. Maybe it's hangover from the eternal love for the old Tomb Kings, maybe it's the flush a new army - whatever it is, there is a definite groundswell of excitement out there, and having seen the prices of some of these products this morning, we may be able to avoid the Age of $igmar pricing on at least some of them.
Nothing says 'in charge' like a giant with a spear, and Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis is just that. This epic centrepiece general and retinue is very impressive (apart from the weird arms on the bannerman). The pseudo-samurai look is writ-large here, and it will be really interesting to see what people do with this... apart from make it about the Necrons. He's not the only guy in charge, we also have two mounted generals, Liege-Kavalos and Arch-Kavalos Zandtos - both skeletal mirrors of some of the Stormcast mounted heroes in dynamic poses. As beings of magic, the Bonereapers have some powerful wizards including the Mortisan Soulreaper and the Mortisan Boneshaper. Not into wizards, but we might NEED these. Everything was food, everything was fine, and then we get the Mortisan Soulmason, a weird mounted wizard that just doesn't seem to fit anything... There's some heavy hitters in the army too, with the Gothizzar Harvester which has optional parts for different roles. This didn't click for me until the new pics today and it's pretty huge for the price with a tonne of detail.  So lets talk infantry because who doesn't love a foot-slogger? The Bonereapers have some really nice infantry too with the Mortek Guard, who are super cool, but are up there in terms of product cost unfortunately, which is a shame because you're going to need a fair few of them! There's the Kavalos Deathriders too (on some of the worst skeletal horses we've seen for years!) and some brutes in the form of the Immortis Guard/Necropolis Stalkers combi-kit. Just not sure about these. I'm sure the Community can fix them! Interestingly there is also an amazing war machine for the Bonereapers too - the Mortek Crawler, a huge catapult on legs. With the encroachment of the Bonereapers into the Mortal Realms and beyond there are two new scenery sets for Age of $igmar too - Penumbral Stormvault and Hallowed Stormthrone. Both very cool!
So if that hasn't exhausted you already, there are also some hobby accessories on the way too with the Citadel Colour Paint Pot Holder (who hasn't lost half a pot of Nuln Oil when it spills?), a new Red Painting Handle, a boxed set of five Citadel Colour Painting Handles (in case you hadn't worked out you could take the miniature off), and something truly stupid - the Citadel Colour Spray Stick. When a piece of wood and blue-tac won't do, make something out of plastic that will obviously not work!
It must be close to Christmas because we've got stocking-stuffers galore - the Dark Millennium Playing Cards by John Blanche get another run, there's a Black Library Advent Calendar 2019 full of A3 prints of stylised Black Library book covers, there's a Horus Heresy Reusable Coffee Cup and the next Apocrypha is also coming with White Dwarf: Apocrypha which seems to have loosely tied together content from White Dwarf issues. The other Apocrypha were great, but not sure about this one...
We also have books with two Warhammer Horror; Castle of Blood and the The Watcher in the Rain audio drama. There's also series 2 of the novellas - Code of the Skies, Isha's Lament, Lords of the Storm, Thieves' Paradise, The Measure of Iron, Iron Resolve, Wreck and Ruin, Low Lives, The Colonel's Monograph (by Dan Abnett), and Severed (which actually sounds like a really interesting look into the Necrons).
*For some odd reason two of the links above would not stick - sorry*
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So it's a pretty big week. Go forth and bring forward the army of the dead!

It's been a while since GW released a boxed set and the same day it sold out - I guess the Adeptus Titanicus Grand Master Edition was probably the last - but the new Feast of Bones sold out on the first day. Was it the new Ossiarch Bonereapers or was it the new Orge character (who looks amazing!!)? Suffice to say it is gone, but there's more Ossiarch Bonereapers action to sink your teeth into, so sit back and check this out...
The Ossiarch Bonereapers model range actually hits next week, but this week we get to learn all about them with two versions of the Battletome - the Rattle and Bones Limited Edition and Jack Skellington Standard Edition. There's also the new scenery peice, the rather sizable Bone-tithe Nexus and a set of 
Endless Spells. As per most large releases, there's the Ossiarch Bonereapers Warscroll Cards and a Dice Set. The adversaries in this box are the Ogor Mawtribe, which nicely allows two new versions of their Battletome - the In My Gut Limited Edition and the Fe-fi-fo-fum Standard Edition. We also get a pretty cool scenery piece with the Great Mawpot, the Warscroll Cards and Dice Set. Pity we don't get an upgrade to the existing Ogor line infantry kit... 
In much smaller (in scale) news, Aeronautica Imperialis gets some new planes in the form of the Ork Air Waaagh! Eavy Bommers and Adeptus Titanicus re-releases the Questoris Knights box, this time with added Thunderstrike Gauntlets and Rocket Pods. The same Questoris Knights Upgrade set is also available separately but is sold out! In other Adeptus Titanicus news, there are two new decal sheets - one for Legio Tempestus and one for Legio Atarus. 
Middle-earth also has some new products this week with the ​Profile Card Packs for Isengard and Moria, the ​Free Peoples and Elves and Dwarves (currently sold out). There is also Middle-earth Card Sleeves too. For fans of the game there are some Made to Order sets that might make you drool - Haldir & Celeborn, Lurtz and Uglûk, Glorfindel and Erestor, Mauhúr and Vraskû, Lords of the Dúnedain, Elladan & Elrohir, Elrond (great likeness too) and Lindir, Lords of Rivendell, Ringwraiths of the Fallen Realms (awesome looking set), Ringwraiths of Angmar, and Ringwraiths of the Lost Kingdoms. Hadn't seen these Ringwraiths sets before, but they're very cool.
In books, one of the most important books to the 40K universe is on pre-order Valdor: Birth of the Imperium (Limited Edition) tells the story of the man who was with the Emperor from the Unification Wars all through the Horus Heresy. What did happen to the Thunder Warriors? I think we're about to find out!
There's also the ​​Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus Collection and the new ​First and Only: 20th Anniversary Edition (Hardback) which is rather pretty!!

The Astartes, part human, part bio-engineered killing machine - never has there been a less likely poster-child for the "good guys". But that's because they're not really the good guys, now are they?
This week we get yet more Primaris Space Marines in the form of the Infiltrators/ Incursors combi-kit - fast moving scouts who... look these have to be the ugliest Primaris yet. Not sure what's happening at GW with the whole design team, but Incursors especially are just awful, lack character and do not fit into the universe. The new Primaris Impulsor transport however, is awesome!! Super pricey, but very cool and rather tempting with it's open back.
It's not just generic Space Marines this week, it's also a good week for Imperial Fists and Salamander players as they both get new Codex supplements.
The Imperial Fists get two versions, the Build It Hard Collectors Edition and Why Is Yellow So Hard To Paint Standard Edition. There's also a character in the form of Tor Garadon (static pose and no alternate parts) and an Imperial Fists Primaris Upgrades and Transfers set. The Salamanders get a similar treatment with to version of the Codex, the Purge with Fire Collect0rs Edition and Scale Cloaks Are SO Now Standard Edition. There's also probably the best Primaris character released so far in the form of Adrax Agatone (static pose and no alternate parts) and a Salamanders Primaris Upgrades and Transfers set. There's also Data Cards for the Imperial Fists and Salamanders, but no dice - which is interesting as the Salamanders ones have leaked on the internet, so they should be coming. 
Now if you're a very good customer and order over $223 worth of products through the webstore, you will get - for free - the Combat Doctrine Cards.

Warhammer 40K is a funny beast - sometimes they have an event which is legitimately a big deal that changes the path of the universe and we get all excited, and other times it's a big event and seems to fizzle out! With the first part of the Psychic Awakening on pre-order this weekend, it will be interesting to see which one this event will be.
Psychic Awakening starts off with a hefty bang in the form of the Blood of the Phoenix boxed set. Hefty in price, hefty in content, this is a really lovely set of miniatures - with the new multi-part multi-pose Howling Banshees and Incubi, plus the new Jain Zar and Drazhar in plastic plus more, this is an Eldar player's wet dream. Interesting this set comes with a Campaign Book and not Phoenix Rising, but it's a great set! Speaking of Psychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising - there's two versions - the Slinky Armoured Assassin Collector's Edition and the Close Quarters Death Machine Standard Edition. Now, if you're a good nubile nymph and you order through the webstore, you will get the Psychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising Datacards  for Jain Zar and Drazhar. 
It must be the end of the year because Games Workshop are offering calendars for 2020 - we have the Warhammer Age of Sigmar 2020 Calendar, the Horus Heresy 2020 Calendar and the Warhammer 40,000 2020 Calendar all festooned with Black Library art. Speaking of Black Library there are a few offerings from them this week - The Horusian Wars: Divination, a collection of short stories set in the Horusian Wars and Inferno Volume 4. Now if you're an Inferno fan, there are a selection of reprints of old Inferno magazines - you can get the Classic Inferno! Print on Demand Collection or you can get issues # 16 to #25 individually. Next week is also White Dwarf October 2019 with a feature on the Slaanesh miniatures released some months ago. It does seem that White Dwarf is WAAAAY behind the times in terms of rules content that is often not timely or relevant anymore. A bit like the whole White Dwarf these days!

One of the really big surprises to come out of any GW event this year has been the new Space Marine 'action figure' from Bandai. At 8 inches high (thank you Games Workshop for pandering to the one market that uses the Imperial system) this is pretty impressive - but as anyone who has ever made a Bandai kit knows buy looking at it, this is really just a Gundam kit in blue injection-moulded plastic. We have many many feelings about this at Beardy Hammer HQ, but this may not be the venue for it, so when the NZ price was revealed to be $248, those feelings came charging forth. Our feeling - this will be a model kit by December or early next year, so bide your time.
In other releases we have the new warband for Beastgrave –the Grymwatch in nice dynamic poses. There's also themed dice and card sleeves for them too.
Blood Bowl - that seemingly forgotten game - has a new team this week with the Gwaka'moli Crater Gators Lizardmen. Probably less bestial and more Skink-based than people had hoped, these guys are sill pretty cool. There is also a custom Lizardmen Pitch for them to play on, Lizardmen themed dice and a Lizardmen Team Card Pack, as well as the next issue of Spike! Journal centred around them AND, if Made To Order is your thing - then the Blood Bowl Kroxigor returns! Two other interesting Blood Bowl products for next week - the new Head Coach's Rules & Accessories Pack which includes a condensed A5 rules, gaming aids, rosters for every team, and Star Player rules, plus we finally get the Team Card Pack for the Goblins!
Blackstone Fortress has brought us some really great miniatures, and we can now get two of these forces form the most recent incarnation separately, with the awesome Cultists of the Abyss (great price too) and the larger Servants of the Abyss sets on their way. This is all to coincide with the new expert-level Abominable Intellect card pack being released.
In books next week we have a tonne - Siege of Terra Book 2 The Lost and the Damned in hardback, Deathwatch Book 1 Deathwatch and Deathwatch Book 2 Shadowbreaker (interesting timing on this - sort of out of the blue unless this ties into Psychic Awakening), the Requiem Infernal paperback, the new Lords and Tyrants omnibus of 16 short 40K stories, and a book with probably the most gorgeous cover for some time - Neferata: The Dominion of Bones.
We mentioned Requiem Infernal earlier, well right now the Games Workshop Webstore is cleaning out their old collection of Sisters of Battle - all the metals have to go! The plastic ones must be next week or the week after. The holy grail is with us, so if that's your thing, get on board!
The other cool things are two Forge World Dark Angels - the Dark Angels Legion Praetor (with alternate head and shield can be swapped out for a Bolter) and the ominous (and a tad static) Dark Angels Legion Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought.

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.