Well, Saturday was "Warhammer Day". There was a special commemorative miniature. There was a Big Preview Show online. So many people logged into the Warhammer Community Website that it crashed and was down for most of the day - leaving people wondering WTF was going on - hearing bits and pieces of information that was in the video, but unable to access the articles on the website that would provide further explanation...
I watched most of the video on twitch. I skipped a bunch of he stuff about 40K and the Horus Heresy and the new epic game... I was there for the Warhammer Underworlds reveal and the preview of the new Slaves to Darkness stuff... and other stuff...
The Miniature
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
Tzarketh, Bane of Law, Chaos Sorcerer Lord - Commemorative Series Miniature!
The special Commemorative Series Miniature for Warhammer Day this year was a Chaos Sorcerer Lord.... and... I have a Slaves to Darkness army!
Technically, I DO have a Chaos Sorcerer Lord miniature that I'm planning to use... but it's an old metal miniature, mounted on a horse-like-thing (Daemonic Steed?) and there isn't rules for those anymore (other than the one mounted on a Manticore!).
I want to use it because my plan was to have almost all of the army mounted - I thought I could use the old mounted model AS a regular Chaos Sorcerer Lord with a 5" move and no attacks from the mount - saying it's a decrepit old nag... but still faster than the Sorcerer herself, who has a mangled leg and can barely walk..
But I thought I should have an ACTUAL Chaos Sorcerer Lord model, just in case any opponent gets bent out of shape about me not using the proper model on the proper size of base - and thinks I'm trying to gain some advantage by doing so... (some people do get like that, because there ARE others that WOULD find a way to take advantage of a weird base size, and I try to respect that)... I'm not sure what advantage there'd be with it being on a different size of base...? But also people (including myself) are visually cued and if they're seeing something mounted - even though I would have made it clear at the beginning of the game that it COUNTS AS on foot and the mount is just for show and narrative fluff - could mistake it for something that goes faster and/or is more deadly than it is and make decisions based on that... anyway... that was... part of my reasoning... But maybe it was mostly just an EXCUSE to buy a not inexpensive fancy model for myself...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
The order had to be placed online and will show up at the local Warhammer Store in a few weeks...
Slaves to Darkness
This is not the order the preview went in... but following on from the Chaos Sorcerer Lord... There was a preview of some of the new stuff coming out for Slaves to Darkness for Age of Sigmar.
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
It was already revealed that the next Battletome to be released after the Skaven and Stormcast Eternals battletomes, would be Slaves to Darkness! I was pretty excited about this becauise, as I mentioned, i do HAVE a Slaves to Darkness army!
When the previous edition came out and I had started playing a little Path to Glory campaign with Finnegan, I got really excited about the idea of having a FEW smaller 500 point forces that could be used in an extended campaign. And I got the idea of a very mobile mounted force that consisted of Chaos Knights and Chaos Marauder Horse. So I bought a Chaos Lord on a Daemonic Steed and 10 Chaos Knights and (I think) 20(!) Marauder Horse and the aforementioned old mounted Chaos Sorcerer ... and then never painted ANY of them as interest had waned before I got to them...
Also Khagra's Ravagers came out around the same time... that probably got me inspired/interested as well...
Then, with the new edition I got excited, again, about getting some of these Slaves to Darkness figures painted and field and army of them! I realized, however, I'd need a Darkoath character to lead the Chaos Marauder Horse (now called Darkoath Fellriders) as neither the Chaos Sorcerer Lord nor the Chaos Lord can have Darkoath units in their Regiments!?
The recently released (like, earlier this year, before the new eidtion) Darkoath Army Box contained a Darkoath Chieftan on Warsteed.... and MORE Fellriders (but, like, the NEW ones!)...and other Darkoarth stuff... I thought I should pick up one of those before they disappeared (and I picked it up long enough after it's release that places were starting to sell the boxes at discounts... and the contents of the box were already a pretty good deal... so...) and then I had a BIGGER Slaves to Darkness army... of which little is assembled or painted...
I did also picked up, assembled, and painted Hargax's Pit Beasts... for... REASONS!?
As the initial Spearhead armies were made up of the Vanguard boxes from the previous edition... But then with the launch of the New Edition, the Stormcast and Skaven each got a second Spearhead army... I got to wondering if, with each new Battletome, we'd see a whole new Spearhead force for each faction... And I wondered futher if the new Slaves to Darkness might just be an all Darkoath option - and maybe hoped it might be the contents of the Darkoath Army Box I'd already bought!?
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
No such luck on it just being the stuff I already had... but I was right about there being a new Spearhead army AND that the one for Slaves to Darkness might be a Darkoath army!
Obviously, since I don't have the models required for this I'm going to need to buy it... and have MOAR Darkoath Fellriders?!
Also...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
They also teased ANOTHER new Chaos Sorcerer Lord... which ALSO looks really cool...
Do I NEED ANOTHER Chaos Sorcerer Lord!?
No, probably not...
Am I going to GET another Chaos Sorcerer Lord, anyway!?
Ugggghhh... probably...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
The OTHER Miniature
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
Also, this weekend the new Free Miniature-of-the-Month was released - a CHAOS WARRIOR!!
I'd originally intended to ride out the the Warhammer Store on Saturday and pick this up and buy the Commemorative Miniature... but then I found out the store wouldn't be stocking it... and then got caught up in all the DRAMA online about the Warhammer Underworlds news... I didn't get out there until Sunday to pick one up...
But I did get one...
Luckily, they still had them!
I am totally going to paint this up in the same scheme as Khagra's Ravagers to add a fifth member to their team - in case I ever use them in Warcry... or some other skirmish or role-playing game!
Warhammer Underworlds
I have to admit, I was kind of DREADING this Warhammer Day Preview, knowing that they'd be previewing what was coming for Warhammer Underworlds...
I've played a LOT of Warhammer Underworlds this year. In the first half of the year, I played over SEVENTY games?! It was a whole thing!! But in the last three months, I've played FOUR. Interest has been waning. There are a number of reasons for this
My Brain.
The BIG AoS4 Distraction (not just for me, but for everyone I play Warhammer Underworlds with!).
Other Reasons...
Regardless of why, I'd been expecting - if GW continued to follow the patterns established over the last seven years - that there's be two more warbands and two more Rivals Decks for Wintermaw - which usually would have happened by now... and then a new Core Box for a new setting (which is usually in October, but sometimes later in November or December...). So I was genuinely worried there would be a BUNCH of new stuff coming out and I would have to make some HARD DECISIONS about whether this is actually a game I'm still playing and if it's worth continuing to buy the stuff. The last time I kind of stopped, I kept buying ALL THE STUFF (well, most of it) for almost an entire year, thinking "I'll get back into this... and I don't want to miss out while this is still available!?" and... I guess it DID work out, because I eventually DID get back to playing the game... but I'm not sure I want to DO that again...
If there were two more warbands and two decks for Wintermaw in October (~$170CAD) AND a new Core Box for the new setting in November ($125CAD) and then another independent warband and deck for the new setting in December ($85)... That's a lot to spend on a game I'm not really playing...
But that's not quite what they revealed...
This was the big one... and they lead Preview Show with it...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
The next Underworlds release is a COMPLETELY NEW EDITION!? "A complete redesign, from the bottom up", as they put it. There are enough similar elements that it is recognizably the same game....
So, not even bothering to finish off Wintermaw! (which, if the pattern of the last few years held, should have gotten two more warbands for that setting!)
As I mentioned the Warhammer Community website went down and people couldn't access the full article about the new edition and were making a LOT of assumptions about this coming new edition based on what little was said in the video (and past experience with GW and other games) and a LOT OF FEELINGS were expressed in a lot of places online...
The new edition does away with faction decks... and.. all the other previously released cards and decks. With the new core release, there will be four new themed decks to play with. They are generic decks that can be played with ANY warband. And that's IT!?
They've got a new format for Fighter cards which only had their basic stats on it expressed in a symbol and a number (so users of MOST languages will be able to use them). The only special rules a warband will have will come on a separate "warscroll".
It looks like all the cards no longer have art, just pictures of miniatures...
They've done away with the two-board format and now it's just one big double-sided board... (but it's pretty much the same size as putting two of the older boards together, long edge to long edge.
There were a LOT of salty, jaded opinions expressed in various online spaces - Reddit, Discord, Facebook - were where I followed a lot of the commentary. There was also a lot of confusion about what stays and what goes... it seemed a lot of people thought EVERYTHING was being "squatted"...
And, I get it. I understand why people were SO upset and making bold statements that they were DONE with Warhammer Underworlds or DONE with Games Workshop... a lot of people (myself included) invested a LOT of money and a LOT of time in painting and playing this game over the last seven years... and to be told Nope, you can't play with that anymore (at least in "Organized Play" - official leagues or tournaments or whatever!)
The preview video stated "Everything legal in organized play will be available on warhammer.com or at your local game store"... Which sounded a lot like, yeah, all that old stuff...? GONE! No longer playable..
When Warhammer Community was back online it became clear that they WOULD be making available new fighter cards and warscrolls for EVERY warband ever released as PDF downloads on their Website at launch... and sixteen of those warbands would be re-released (presumably with printed cards...?) with the launch of the new edition, and there will be the two new warbands in the Core Box and two other NEW Warbands. So... twenty warbands in total that should be available in stores.
It may be that, despite releasing Fighter Cards and Warscrolls for ALL THE WARBANDS, these twenty warbands might be the only ones allowable for "Organized Play" (like, official tournaments and stuff...) - because they HAD said "Everything legal for organized play will be available..." So the other FORTY warbands are just allowed for "playing for funsies" with the new rules...?
These are all my faction decks and rivals decks that were currently playable, as of Wintermaw... Now, totally useless in the new edition.
Now, to be clear, there is NOTHING stopping me (or ANYONE ELSE, for that matter!?) from just CONTINUING TO PLAY WITH WHAT WE HAVE!!! No one's going to stop us. The GW Police are not going to show up at our door and take away our birthdays along with all of our old metal miniatures!
I mean, there are people that still play Warhammer Fantasy Battles Third Edition!? I CAN be done!!
And in some places, I imagine (and indeed HOPE!) that within groups that have only ever played amongst friends, that DO NOT CARE about "Organized Play", they WILL continue to just play with what they have and not worry at all about the new edition.
To be honest, my own INITIAL reaction to the Preview was "Whew! I don't have to buy ANY MORE Warhammer Underworlds stuff!!" There will be nothing new for the edition I have stuff for, so I can just keep playing with what I have (when I get around to playing again) and not have to worry about BUYING EVERYTHING or missing out on it entirely!
Of course... this has happened before!?
These are my three binders, each full of HUNDREDS of Generic Universal cards for Warhammer Underworlds that haven't been looked at for nearly three years since the released of Gnarlwood and the new Rivals/Nemesis formats of play... But I still have them. They COULD still be played with...
There was NOTHING stopping me then (or now!) from continuing to play with THESE - they even have a name for a format that allowed the use of these - Relic (or Championship, for the first year, or so, of the new systems).
But I haven't looked at them for over a year.
What did stop me from using them? New players. I introduced my friend Orion to the game at little less than a year ago.. and met then some others that were new to the game... and as they didn't have access to all these old cards to play in Relic format, we've only played Rivals or Nemsis format this past year.
So, in many areas I imagine the new edition will be adopted by newer players... and then anyone else that wants to continue playing in leagues or tournaments or game nights... will simply have to follow suite and play the new edition.
I have to admit, I'm kind of coming around to trying out the new edition... To be honest, I find the deck-building, especially over the last year with the Nemesis format, a little OVERWHELMING. I have troubles with Executive Functioning to begin with (due to some neurodevelopmental issues...). Strangely, when I was just building decks for me and Amanda to play for funsies, it was fine - even though there were hundreds more cards to choose from when building a deck! I could take my time building them. We'd play with them for a few months, i might tweak them a bit... There were far fewer warbands (and warband faction decks) to start with... I would start with an "audit" of the faction deck - rating cards by how many things have to be happening for the card to be played. if it were more than two, it was just not even considered to keep in the deck. And then with whatever I had left, I'd go through the hundreds of generic universal cards and find ones that worked with what I had and were (almost) ALWAYS PLAYABLE - it meant I had a LOT of go-to cards... and a LOT MORE cards that I had in those binders that I just never even considered...
But FML... the new players I play with... a lot of them have a really solid background in Magic: The Gathering AND have been playing 40K competitively for years... and they just GET these games on a level that I never will... Every time I turn around they've got a new combo of Warband and Nemsis deck!?
They said in the preview that they've redesigned the game so you don't get "bricked" hands of cards that you can't use. This HAS been a big problem - especially in the last year of playing. There are a LOT of cards that CAN be pretty fun or powerful.. but they are SO situationally dependant... and if that particular situation just doesn't come up... it sits in your hand being unuseable!? So, I'm kind of wondering if they've redesigned all (or MOST!?) of the cards to just be playable always - +1 dice to any player attacking, +1 Defence to any fighter being attacked sort of thing, etc.
I also wonder how much deckbuilding we will be allowed in the new edition? Will it be use whatever you want from all of the theme decks... or will it be take TWO decks of your choice and just use any cards from the two of them...?
Deckbuilding is one of the things people LOVE about this game and there is some concern that there won't be enough of it to hold their interest. With the newer Nemesis format, you only got to choose cards from two decks (the Faction deck and one of the generic Rivals decks). I guess there were a lot more decks to choose from.. 56 different faction decks (if you could find them!) and a dozen, or so, of the Rivals decks.
I imagine they will continue to make core boxes every six months - with four new decks in each, and continue to produce a two more decks at some point in between... and after a year or two will rotate out older decks, but eventually there will be a few dozen decks worth of cards to choose from?!
The CrAzY thing is... they also announced it's this New Edition is what will be used for the World Championships... which is less than two months away!? (I can't seem to find the actual date, but I feel like it was end of November?!) It will be at least FOUR weeks before we see this game on the shelves (as it wasn't announced in this weeks pre-orders for next Saturday - which are two weeks before they're released!) So that's going to be a VERY short time for anyone going to the World Championships to figure out the new rules and how to play them!? A true test of game-playing champions!? who can learn the new rules and figure out the best combination of Faction abilities and decks within a few short weeks!?
Special SEASONAL Commemorative Series Miniature
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
Dammit... There is a special place in my heart for halflings... My favourite D&D character of all time was a halfling. I love the "ratlings" in the 40K setting. They only show up as specialist sniper units attached to Imperial Guard outfits... but there's lots of fun fluff/lore about them being sticky fingered thieves of the worst sort - always managing to conjure up the very best of foodstuffs available on any given planet!
The Special Seasonal Commemorative Series Miniature this year is this characterful pair of halflings/Ratlings trying to enjoy some (likely ill-begotten) savoury snacks, while also trying to maintain the security of their hide.
I'm obviously going to have to pick this up...
Kill Team!?
Now, I've been TRYING REALLY HARD to stay focused on ONE THING (or at least ONE SETTING!) this year: Age of Sigmar... and that's meant, for the most part, Warhammer Underworlds, Warhammer Quest, and Age of Sigmar... and I've been doing pretty good... there's a new edition of Kill Team that was released just this weekend and... I don't even care... Not even going to look at it... I have SO MUCH STUFF for the previous edition that I haven't gotten to painting, let alone playing with...
And then they announced the new box set, and it includes...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
Emperor preserve me... MORE Ratlings!!?
This is only HALF of the Kill Team: Brutal and Cunning box... the other half is ANOTHER Ork kill team which I just DO NOT need... I STILL haven't painted the Ork Commandoes from the initial release box for the PREVIOUS edition...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
But the Ratling Scout/Sniper Kill Team... I... I'm just going to have to get... even if I NEVER play this new edition of Kill Team... for one of my Guard armies!?
So, if the box is released in January, the separate Kill Team would be released in April... so not something to worry about any time soon...
(But then my brain goes, WAIT... but there's a book with their rules...and cards... and tokens... and how much is all THAT going to cost SEPARATELY!? Ususally about the same as buying the bloody BOX SET?! Ah, well... like I said, won't have to worry about THAT until the new year...)
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
I mean look at this dog they got!? How could I NOT!?!
Emperor's Children Teaser
When I noticed the Warhammer Community webside finally WAS back online, later in the evening, and was able to read the articles.... at the very end of the main preview article, I spotted this...
(the above picture is ©2024 Games Workshop and i have used it here entirely without their consent for the purpose of review or commentary)
By the Six Sultry Seductions of Slaanesh!!! It looks like we are FINALLY going to see an Empreor's Children codex for Warhammer 40000!!
I thought for sure it was going to be last edition... but here it finally is... well.. sometime... next year. All the other Chaos Gods have had a Chaos Space Marine chapter with it's own Codex and own dedicated miniatures... Nurgle has Deathguard with Plague Marines, and Myphitic Blight-Haulers, and Plagueburst Crawlers, and Foetid Bloat-Drones, and just SO MANY characters and other special miniatures... Tzeentch has the Thousand sons with their Rubric Marines and Space-Tzaangors, and Scarab Occult Terminators, and Ahriman... I think it was 9th edition we finally saw Khorne get the World Eaters Codex with their Khorne Berzerkers, and Eightbound, and Jakhals, and Angron, Daemon Primarch of Khorne!?!
The Chaos Space Marines I have are devotees of Slaanesh and an offshoot of The Emperor's Children! Sure... the Chaos Space Marine codex has Noise Marines... buuuut... to play them you had to buy a box of Chaos Space Marines (now $80CAD for a box of 10) and then spend $22CAD for enough Sonic Weapons to upgrave FIVE of them!? It'll be super nice to a new dedicated plastic kit of Noise Marines and hopefully some fun new stuff!
Mind you, considering the unit sizes are currently 5-10 and in 10th Edition you can only ever have a MAXIMUM of three of any particular unit type... I'm kind of already maxed out on Noise Marines?!
I guess I could retire the five that I made with third party parts...
Looks like I'm going to be buying some new 40K stuff next year...
So... The PLANS...
How does this change my PLANS for the fall... either then overall GAME PLAN 2024 - Q4 or my plans for PATHS TO GLORY armies...?!
Not a lot... I don't think...?
For the Path to Glory campaign I think I'm still going to start with the Hedonites of Slaanesh. I do HAVE a lot of Slaves to Darkness and I'm REALLY EXCITED about it right now... but I just don't want to have to rush to paint a BUNCH of it in the next two weeks or so before the campaign begins.
I will probably try to stick to the plan of finishing up the few units for Sylvaneth and Nighthaunts, just to have them done and a unit of Blood Warriors, just so I have a 1000-point force of those to play with! But after THAT is when things might switch up... I might just go all in on trying to get as much Slaves to Darkness stuff done - to get a Spearhead force ready - and in hopes that we do another Path to Glory campaign in the new year...? OR I might work on the Soulblight Gravelords - Their Spearhead army and stuff for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City... OR, if Amanda showed any interest in playing and wanted some Daughters of Khaine, I might push to get a Spearhead forces done for them...and then build it up to 1000 points for Paths to Glory...
I do know I'll probably pick up the Slaves to Darkness battletome when it's released, probably in Novemeber. I'll probably pick up that Darkoath Spearhead force as well... I like the idea of having a Slaves to Darkness Spearhead army, and I just don't care for the current one - with Chaos Warriors on foot and a goofy-looking chariot...
I probably WILL buy the new Warhammer Underworlds. Just to see. Maybe it will get people playing games again. Maybe it will be a dud and just kill interest in the game locally and I'll just go back to occasionally playing with the old stuff with Amanda...
If it DOES get people playing again, I'll probably try to start working some more Warhammer Underworlds warbands back into the mix! With the promise of EVERYTHING LEGAL TO PLAY WITH IN ORGANIZE PLAY WILL BE AVAILABLE... I'm NOT going to worry, AT ALL, about picking up any of the new warbands or decks for the time being, so I can focus on getting stuff done for the other projects.
I'll probably pick up that Special Seasonal Commemorative Series Ratling Sniper Team Miniature... just.. because...
Not necesarily BECAUSE of the preview... One change to the plan might be getting some different stuff ready for the Hedonites of Slaanesh! After deciding to play the Hedonites in the upcoming Path to Glory campaign, I actually started reading the rules for how they work in the new edition, as I hadn't really considered that in my decision making process!? It was all based on what I had, what was DONE, what (of the things I and were done) couldbe easily arranged into a 1000-point force, and, impost importantly, what seemed fun to play!! I also started re-reading some of the fluff and was reminded what I'd been PLANNING on doing in the previous edition... but never got to...
There are three main subfactions within the Hedonites of Slaanesh; Invaders, Pretenders, and God-Seekers. The one I was (and AM) most interested in are the God-Seekers - those that rampage around the Mortal Realms looking for clues as to where their god has been imprisoned in hopes of freeing it!
In the fluff, the God-Seekers are generally highly mobile forces with a LOT of mounted units!
I do have a lot of mounted units... and they look pretty bad ass... especially when using the Seeker Calvacade battle formation (which, in previous editions, was generally what the God-Seekers used)... they're just not painted...
So I might try to slip ten Seekers of Slaanesh and ten Hellstriders into the painting queue. The Seekers are assembled and primed. The Hellstriders (above) are still on the sprue... If I could get them done BEFORE the campaign begins, that would be cool - but would require some re-org of my forces... OR I can have them ready as new recruits when the force expands...?
Of course with all this plotting and planning and reading and renewed interest in things... the other solo games I'd been so stoked about, momentarily, over the last few weeks, seem like a chore to have to play when I just want to paint mounted chaos daemons and mortals...
Maybe it will still happen...
This is the PROBLEM with solo games... they are SO EASY to blow off if interests shift even slightly... if SOMEONE ELSE had been involved and expecting to play a game, it'd probably have stuck to it and made it happen! (This is why I had TRIED to recruit Amanda to try out Devilry Afoot... but she's been very busy and non-commital... and, indeed, most of last week and all of this week is away - she was in New York for a bit of a vacation last week before heading to a training thing this week in Massachusetts!).