Blogroll Added

Something I've been meaning to do for a while ... I added a list of wargaming blogs to the site template (if you're reading this on blogspot as opposed to RSS, scroll down, it's one of the menus on the right). There are more around, these are the ones I've found interesting, tend to follow and would recommend.

Minis News 26 Dec 05

First off, and quite astonishingly, my Hasslefree order arrived on 24 December, which means it was either posted before I ordered it, or about 4 seconds afterwards. As I remember I made the order around 8pm 22 December and paid on 23 December. I'm stunned.

I have a pile of stuff to review, and will hopefully start over the next few days. Included are the Confrontation Initiation Set, the Urban War Starter Set, some terrain stuff and some of the recently-purchased individual minis. I may also get round to some of the recent GW purchases as well.

Just doing news for now though:

Dark Age Announcements

Out of the blue, Dark Age announced three Warband boxed sets for Genesis - one each for the Bane, Coil and Strike factions. Each contains a unit leader and five troopers. The Bane and Coil warbands also include a special edition mini, "exclusive to these boxsets" (I'm kind of assuming this is one of your six models, difficult to tell). Available in the US from early January and priced at $26.99 each.

New Reaper Minis

New on the (recently revived) Reaper site (all models 28mm unless specified otherwise):

- Celebration Sophie (72mm sculpt by Bob Ridolfi, pictured)
- Kharg, Reven Sgt (by Ben Siens)
- Athak, Crimson Knight Sgt (by Adam Clarke and Kevin Williams, pictured) - don't like the model so much but love the shield ...
- Reptus Clutchlings (by Dennis Mize, no less ... pictured)
- Lupine Rager II (by Ben Siens)

 



Olley's Armies Combo Preview and Xmas Card

... is a mountain troll, out for some cross country skiiing. Available from Bob in the new year:



GW Preview - Eldar Rangers

From Warseer, apparently the new Eldar Rangers will be available around the time of the City of Death (CityFight follow-on) codex:

White Dwarf (UK) 313 Highlights

This goes on sale in GW, I suppose, tomorrow. I went in to one of their stores a few weeks ago on a Friday evening and stuff (Black Templars, I think) was being put on the shelves. "Ya can't buy any of this" snarled the customer-friendly assistant. "Oh".

Anyhow, independents get it on the last Friday of the month, these days, and for them there seem to be less active enforcement of the embargo. Issue 313 is up to the usual standard for this very professionally produced magazine, although the format has once again changed. Maybe there isn't a format, really, but it always looks as if there ought to be one, it's just different from issue to issue.

Anyhow, as to the contents:

New Releases

Being mainly dwarves:

- Dwarf Battalion, 28/12 £50
- Dwarf Army Book, 28/12 £12
- Dwarf Warriors, 7/1, £18
- Dwarf Runelord (2 versions), 14/1, £6
- Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon (oo-er missus), 21/1, £6
- Josef Bugman, 21/1, £6
- Dwarf Grudge Thrower, 7/1, £18
- Dwarf Master Engineer (4 varieties), 14/1, £5
- Direct Sales Only Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon (2 varieties), 21/1, £6
- Black Templars Chapter Upgrade (2 squad upgrade sprues and a vehicle upgrade sprue, useful if you bought the BT battalion box, which turns out to contain a vanilla, non-BT Rhino vehicle), 7/1, £15
- Limited Edition Castellan Draco, BT special character, 7/1, £6
- Battle for Macragge Hobby Set (original set, clippers, glue, sand, brushes, some paint), £50

Previews

The usual tour to show that everybody is up to something, at least:

- Tau Empire. One page including pictures of the Codex cover, Commander Shadowsun (with drones), plastic Stealthsuits, sniper drones and controller. "Stealth armour, Sky Ray and Piranha in plastic", effectively replacing Forge World resin counterparts (an interesting trend).
- LotR - "Fantastic News", repeatedly trumpeted elsewhere - you can now buy LotR components. I also read somewhere that you can also use LotR components and models in non-LotR tournament play, but I think this fact (if true) has yet to appear in any official announcement.
- Wood Elf Lord on Stag - very nice looking character model I hadn't seen elsewhere. The associated verbiage says that a second wave of Wood Elf models are in the pipeline.
- Warhammer Mark of Chaos computer game, small preview. Due for release in late 2006 so shouldn't worry us unduly at this point.
- ForgeWorld - Hellhound tank, seen previously here.
- Black Library - a new print and some camouflage pattern apparel
- Warhammer Historical - new release of Warhammer Ancient Battles
- Black Library novels - Dan Abnett's Horus Rising, previously mentioned here and on preview at amazon. By the way, I just checked on amazon and volume two of the multi-author trilogy, by Phil MacNeill, is also on preview.
- LotR - some pointers to online errata for the new LotR rulebook. They're here.

Other General Sections

A review of GamesDay 2005. Makes me wish I'd been there. Hang on, I was. Not much to report on this.

Konvershun Klinic - World Eaters Terminators

Warhammer FB Section

Oath and Honour - Dwarf Designers' Notes. Most of this is I think already known. From a format point of view I think most of the "pull quotes" in the article are direct renditions of Powerpoint slides being shown at GamesDay 2005. Longbeards can be made out of the basic Warrior set. Longbeards can be further upgraded from the same set to Longbeard Rangers. Quarrellers (Crossbowmen) and Thunderers can be made from the Thunderers set, so the two basic sets give you all the core choices for the army. There's a fairly complete overview, in pictures, of what is available on the sprues for these two sets.

Ancient Ancestors - Retrospective on Aly Morrison's various dwarf models over time.
Into the Valley- 3000 point Battle Report for Dwarfs vs Ogres. I won't tell you who wins or it will spoil the suspense.

By Axe and Gun - some 2000 point example dwarf army lists by Gav Thorpe. One of them is based on the army deal plus the battalion, so these days £175 buys you 2000 points (best case, since the battalion boxes are the best discount to get with GW bundles), if you were wondering.

Warhammer Chronicles - Tactics for 500 points games. Sample armies for Skaven, Tomb Kings, Orcs. Nice article by Jervis
Johnson

Bretonnia Land of Heroes - building a 500 point army from the Battalion boxed set. This re-uses material from the recent US articles. I haven't seen US-WD 312 (just out) so there may be more overlap. Anyhow, similar examples for Wood Elves and Orcs.

Painting Workshop - Metal Techniques. Good article, focuses very much on metallic paints though, in case you thought you might get some Rackham style goodness.

Warhammer 40k Section

Chapter Approved - Daemon Worlds. Rules and terrain building tips.

The Death of Golia VII - fiction

Rise to Glory - tracking a Black Templar through different career stages, along the lines set forth in the codex. Basically fluff, but a short scenario as well at the end.

Tactica: Black Templars - what it says on the tin. Various tips and tricks, plus a page for Orks, Chaos, Eldar and Tyranids on fighting BT.

Dragon Slayers - Overview of a nicely built studio Imperial Tank Company.

Castellan Draco - Rules for the special character

Lord of the Rings section

A Shadow in the East - more Easterling previews, of the book and of the models. These are very nice indeed (Perry, I think), and not particularly LotR centric.

Return to Dwarrowdelf - Additional rules for games set in Moria, plus some modelling tips (you'll need styrofoam and lots of it).

The Misty Mountains - part 2 of a set of campaign rules, again with scenarios. A pity I can't get worked up about the LotR stuff because the models and the support are both excellent.

Other Stuff

Most of the advance orders to be listed are LotR Easterlings. The Dwarf Bolt Thrower is on Advance Order 24/12 for 4/2 availability. Next month's issue leads with the Easterlings; the Warhammer coverage is mostly Dwarves (with some additional stuff on halflings); the 40k coverage includes articles on BT Marshals (presumably Helbrecht comes out around then), a creature creation/conversion article and tactica for necrons. In the introductory feature it also mentions there'll be the studio Mordheim campaign kicking off as well, I very much hope this is the case.

Minis News 23 Dec 05

And a merry Xmas to all. Probably the last one before the holidays. I have some various unopened boxes to review during the break, when I get the chance (or more likely, I opened them, shook my head sadly and closed them again). My main projects over the break are terrain-building, we'll see how far I get. To put my money where my mouth is, I ordered some stuff from Hasslefree, Freebooter and Copplestone, all of which I expect to arrive in the new year. I'd have ordered from Perry also if I could decide on the range. Of course, you can also get older Perry sculpts from Foundry, if you look outside their main GW employment.

I'd also add that the new UK WD arrived in some stores today (I'll read it later, haven't even taken it out of the bag at this point) and also the latest Harbinger fell through my letterbox this morning. So expect to see some stuff on those.

Anyhow ...

New Ilyad greens

More Howling Crest big barbarians ("Vorag Barbarians") with mohicans sculpts, 2 models (3 views of each at the link):



Magnificent Egos

... have a new webstore (the Frothers fora rightly commented it isn't very good) and some new greens:

- Baldorf (pictured)
- an impressive mounted blackguard
- second wave of Iron Heroes line (one model pictured - there are 3 in all)
- Nazchryst, Planar Warrior

'

Games Workshop News

3 new sneak peeks at their UK website:

- Orcs and Goblins giant (another variant on the sprue, presumably though a lead in to some Orcs and Goblins previews)
- Sauron, the Necromancer
- A heavily (but not particularly helpfully) photoshopped Tau Piranha

No new advance order items by the look of things.

Warmachine Previews

From the Privateer website:

- Cygnar Hammersmith warjack
- Khador Spriggan warjack

There's also (this is late, I wasn't going to play it, but while we're on the subject) a preview of No Quarter 4.

'

Wargames Journal

A downloadable PDF magazine, very nice and nicely done. I won't summarise what's in it, since it is free to download (be warned, if you don't have broadband - 10MB plus). Two issues:

the December issue and a taster issue, made available previously.

Hasslefree Greens

Some excellent new stuff from Hasslefree, keeping up a consistently high standard.

- Viktor (the latest Kev Adams goblin, a better picture than previously)
- Libby, a kind of female fantasy football space marine (I think)
- Suzi, machine-gun armed Japanese schoolgirl
- Dionne, a catsuit wearing werewolf hunter

'
'

Starship Troopers Burrower Bug

What it says on the tin. Still don't like the line, really, so I'm not the best person to ask.



Pulp Heroes

Some new Pulp Heroes greens (just a sample below) ... Very nice too. My Copplestone purchases were in this genre so this may well be a good match.



Forge World New Stuff

Fair amount of new stuff from the premier GW spin-off.

- Cadian Infantry Squad with Respirators Upgrade Pack (pictured)
- Cadian Infantry Squad Upgrade Pack (pictured)
- Cadian Hardened Veterans Upgrade Pack (pictured again)
- Imperial Navy Arvus Lighter
- Tyranid Aerial Spore Mines
- Tallarn Sentinel

 

Collectors Guides and the GW website

A while ago I bought and read the Tyranids Collectors guide, and mentioned it was next to impossible to buy the collectors/classic items in the guide (which is meant to be a catalogue for such items) from the GW website. Tonight, ordering some of the direct sales only items, I had another go. And then out of interest I tried the non-UK sites.

Three experiments as search terms:
- "patriarch" - you should get, according to the collectors guide, two genestealer models, the enthroned patriarch (99110106053) and the classic genestealer patriarch (99060106054)
- "hybrid" - you should get 2 models, hybrid 1 (994701060512) and hybrid 2 (9947010604511) (sad to say, there were originally 14 of these, at least).
- "magus" - 2 models, the advisor (9947010604507) - which is also part of the enthroned patriarch set - and the magus with staff (9947010604513)

The advisor, the enthroned patriarch, the classic patriarch and the magus with staff (as "magus with staff 2") are all visible here, as well as the magus with laspistol who will shortly be making a guest appearance. By the way, Familiar 1, from that page, is also still available according to the collectors' guide.

You'll get some other models as well (e.g. Balthasar Gelt, although even this is country dependent), but narrowing down the search is problematic as you seem to have to type in straight SQL. Also, if a search returns no results, it tells you it returned one result (the null result). All models should also be accessible from the tyranids collectors page, I would think, but that is obviously hoping for two much - by and large none of these models are available from those pages.

Anyhow, les resultats:

- GW USA - both hybrid models. Magus with staff but no advisor. A magus with laspistol also turns up (72557-7). No enthroned patriarch but the classic patriarch (under the code 72596-7) with associated arms as separate bits.
- GW UK - No hybrids. Arms but no body for classic patriarch. No enthroned patriarch. Magus with laspistol only. This is the market for which the collectors guide should be valid.
- GW Canada - No hybrids (Inquistor conversion parts only), no patriarch, no magus. Images on any search are broken (whoever wrote it mixed up the item addresses and the image addresses)
- GW France: 2 hybrids (type in "hybride"). No patriarch. Only one of the genestealer magi (type in "magos") - the staff. Tyranid homepage in store gets mangled in Safari.
- GW Australia - none of the models. I get the impression that Australia gets a subset - there are no classic/collectors pages. Same broken search issue as Canada.
- GW Italy - both magi and both hybrids. No patriarch. I notice the site is selling the English edition of the Tyranid collectors guide.
- GW Spain - Both hybrids. Both magi, plus the one with the laspistol, but the advisor is sold under the name of 'patriarca'. No patriarch.

And there you have it. Two conclusions:
- The collectors guide series either reflects a state that is going to come to pass in the future (or which existed at some point in the near past, but this guide has only been out a few weeks), or is just plain untrue
- GW seem to have multiple web storefronts, none of which work, sometimes to a frankly embarassing extent. And the UK is one of the worst.

[ update ... I was just about to put the collectors' guide back on the shelf, when I noticed a picture of one of the hybrids (note - the hybrids) on the inside front cover. Next to it, it says "Collectors' Models (like the Genestealer Advisor, pictured right) ..." Maybe the reason that they can't get the right items on the web store is that they don't actually recognise them. ]

GW Release Schedule for First Half 06

Taken from dakkadakka forum. Judging by the White Dwarf numbers these must be the US release dates:

12/19/05
*WHITE DWARF 312
*DWARF BATTALION

01/02/06
*DWARF ARMY BOOK

01/09/06
*DWARF RUNELORD
*DWARF WARRIORS

01/16/06
*DWARF MASTER ENGINEER
*DWARF LORD WITH GREAT WEAPON

01/23/06
*DWARF JOSEPH BUGMAN
*DWARF GRUDGE THROWER

01/30/06
*DWARF LORD WITH HAMMER AND SHIELD
*WHITE DWARF 313
*DWARF CANNON
*DWARF THUNDERERS
*BLACK TEMPLARS CHAPTER UPGRADE

02/06/06
*DWARF SLAYER LORD
*DWARF SLAYER COMMAND
*DWARF SLAYERS Blister
*DWARF SLAYERS Box

02/13/06
*DWARF BOLT THROWER
*WOOD GROVE PACK

02/27/06
*DWARF LORD WITH PISTOL AND AXE
*DWARF THORGRIM GRUDGEBEARER ON THRONE
*WHITE DWARF 314

03/13/06
*TAU ETHEREAL CASTE
*CODEX TAU EMPIRE

03/20/06
*TAU CRISIS BATTLESUIT COMMANDER

03/27/06
*TAU PATHFINDERS WITH RAIL RIFLES
*WHITE DWARF 315
*TAU SNIPER DRONE TEAM
*FALLEN GIANT TEMPLATE (TENTATIVE)
*TAU PIRANHA

04/10/06
*GIANT

04/17/06
*TYRANID LICTOR - DEATH LEAPER
*VOSTROYAN PLATOON
*TYRANID BIOVORE

04/24/06
*TAU VESPID STINGWINGS
*TAU VESPID STINGWINGS
*TAU AUN VA , MASTER OF THE UNDYING SPIRIT
*WHITE DWARF 316

05/01/06
*FALL OF MEDUSA FIVE
*TAU SKY RAY
*IMPERIAL GUARD VOSTROYAN FIRSTBORN
*TAU COMMANDER SHADOWSUN

05/08/06
*VOSTROYAN LASCANNON TEAM
*IMPERIAL GUARD VOSTROYAN COMMAND SQUAD

05/15/06
*VOSTROYAN MORTAR TEAM
*VOSTROYAN OFFICERS

05/22/06
*VOSTROYAN ASSAULT WEAPONS

05/29/06
*ORK KOMMANDO WITH BURNER
*RAZOR WIRE
*CITIES OF DEATH BATTLEMAT
*40K BUILDINGS: IMPERIAL CITY
*40K EXPANSION: CITIES OF DEATH
*WHITE DWARF 317
*URBAN BASING KIT

Minis News 19 Dec 05

Rackham links

Links to images of some of the Rackham new figures from yesterday:

- Selsym Sparrowhawk
- Goblin Ninja 1
- Goblin Ninja 2
- Ophidian Archer
- Grakha, Champion of Kamharu (pictured, the elemental is in the same pack)
- Clone Nefarius



Rezolution Wave 5 Previews

Better than previous:

- Dravani Bagger Leader Pack
- The Cardinal & Sister Carmine (pictured)
- Dravani Baggers
- Dravani Volkoda



Crunch-Waffle Greens

I kind of ignored the announcement of this new company, and I'm still not keen on the stuff (which is somewhat off the beaten path, but anyhow the website is as good as or better than many larger companies can boast, and they now have some new greens to look at. Have a look and make up your own mind.

New Crusader Stuff

And after the fantasy and WWII stuff, some other historicals, links are to pictures where available.

- ANR010 Unarmoured Roman Cavalry (pack of 3)
- ANR011 Unarmoured Roman Cavalry command (3) (pictured)
- ANR012 Republican Roman Cavalry in Chain (3)
- ANR013 Republican Roman Cavalry in Chain Command (3)
- SYP002 Prussian Musketeers Lapels & Prussian Cuffs Command , Seven Years War (4)
- SYP011 Prussian Grenadiers Lapels & Prussian Cuffs Command (4)
- SYP022 Prussian Fusiliers Lapels & Swedish Cuffs Command (4)



More Fenryll

Firstly an alternative paint job for yesterday's Club Fenryll snake hunter.

And, some more new minis:

- a 120mm giantess (yech)
- dwarves of the north here, here and here (first two pictured).
- various animals

 

Minis News 18 Dec 05 - part two

Infinity releases

This is from the Frothers fora and also at Creafigs, trying to gauge announcements for the Infinity game is a question apparently of looking at the images at the Infinity website and mentally differencing them from previous versions. The Corvus Belli site New Releases page now contains Infinity material but presumably has only stuff on general release.

Anyhow, here are the clues:

- Ariadne - highlander and line kazaks
- Yu Jing - tiger soldiers and guijia
- PanOceania - sikh commando

Below, a picture of the green for the sikh commando:

 

Shadowforge works in progress

Take a look a the workshop page of the Australian company. A limited edition Xmas special and some female BloodBowl-alike Orcs. Not keen on any of it, quite frankly.

New Urban War minis

Released in January, for VASA: power suit and (2) suppressors, all pictured.



 

Fantization 2006 Special Mini

Per the title, Fantization's a 32mm elf sculpted by the ur-sculptor Tom Meier. Choice of 2 heads and various weapons means, apparently, up to 18 possible versions:



Starship Troopers large bug

I've said before I'm not keen on this line, and though this model is very similar, at least, to the ones seen in the movie, I don't like it either. I think it comes down to whether you think the backstory is interesting on some of these games (Babylon 5, equally, leaves me cold, so Mongoose aren't on a good run from my point of view). There's an interesting discussion of the model's background by the sculptor, Steve Saunders about it in a thread on the frothers fora.



Crusader Miniatures new models

Some new sculpts from Crusader ...

- German riflemen in sidecaps
- German Assault Engineers
- Urko - Half Ogre (pictured)
- McCoy - Gnome Fighter

Some disparaging remarks on the Frothers' fora but I kind of like the half-ogre, at least (and I can take or leave the WWII stuff - don't like the gnome much though).



New Perry Dutch/Belgian Napoleonics

Cavalry casualties and cavalry command, both pictured. Fantastic, although I'm not sure how many dioramas are being made from the range (since I personally don't use casualty figures in wargames).





New Greens at Conquest

Some excellent greens of Native American armies which kind of makes me have a yen to get some skirmish warbands for the French and Indian war (but who would I play?). Anyhow, just a couple of pictures - far more on the site. The new ones are the Sauk and Fox Pack B (at the top).

 

Conquest are also running a Christmas sale (visible on their homepage) so you can (and I may if I don't stop myself) buy rules and models cheap.

Club Fenryll mini

A new mini for Fenryll's collectors club (which gets you a quarterly special edition mini, a catalog and some other stuff) - Nahiri the Serpent Hunter (for fourth quarter 2005). You can also see the green for the mini (or pair of minis, in fact) for first quarter 2006.



Dwarf Wars War Mammoth

What it says on the tin, a War Mammoth for Dwarf Wars from West Wind, just in time for the GW Dwarf releases. Resin model priced at £45.



Rackham January Releases

Bloody Rackham. Website doesn't work on Safari. January releases announced in the form of a poster.

Anyhow:

- Dogs of War (Confrontation expansion)
- Ophidian Archer
- Goblin Ninjas (2 sets, each blisters of 2 models)
- Clone Nefarius (special edition 1000th Rackham figurine)
- Grakha, Champion of Kamharu
- Selsym Sparrowhawks (I have that right? Need to check the catalog ... anyhow blister of 3 models)
- Cry Havoc (next issue is 7? Goes to bimonthly, price drops to E9.90)

Also, their exclusive model for the next Rackham open:

Minis News 18 Dec 05 - part one

Hmm. I've given up trying to make excuses, but I am still here, at least:

Copplestone Castings News

Return of the K18 Polar Encampment accessories pack for the pulp line, previously withdrawn due to moulding problems. Find it on this page.

2 new 10mm packs in Copplestone's Warmaster-alike line, to be found here:

TM5 Half-Orcs with Swords - 1 x command strip plus 5 x Half-Orc Sword strips. 11mm tall. Strips supplied as random variants.
TM6 Orc-Wolf-Riders - 12 x Wolf-Riders. Strips supplied as random variants.

Freebooter new model

DUN006, Darkelf Priestess Ath´Celah, will be available in January, and can be pre-ordered now from the Freebooter site at a price of E11,50.



Games Workshop News

Some new advance orders on the site, not previewed in the recent white dwarf 312:

- WFB Dwarf Lord with Great Weapon
- WFB Dwarf Thunderers
- WFB Dwarf Cannon
- WFB Dwarf Slayer Command
- WFB Dwarf Slayers
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Winged Helm (Direct Sales only) - pictured
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Horned Helm (Direct Sales only) - pictured
- WFB Dwarf Lord with Hammer and Shield
- Fell Cargo - new WFB novel by Dan Abnett
- Vermintide - WFB novel, Bruno Lee
- Dark Adeptus - 40k novel, Ben Counter
- Death or Glory - 40k/Ciaphas Cain novel, Sandy Mitchell
- Xenology - 40k background book
- Fleshworks - Necromunda Book, Lucien Soulban (yeah right)

 

They also "discovered" some unsold Dwarf army deal boxes.

New sneak peeks on the site:

- chaos giant (looks fantastic)
- commander shadowsun (ditto)

Reaper New Additions

New miniatures, and a lot of new paints. Just the minis listed here:

03004: Dorva, Female Dark Elf
03005: Cavern Dragon
03007: Egyptian Cat Statue
03008: Egyptian Jackal Statue
03010: Silas, Male Cleric (pictured)
03014: Nightstalker Assassin
14230: Sir Daman, Mounted Sergeant
14226: Sir Danel, Mounted Hero
14231: Crusader Heavy Cavalry, Adept
14236: Neb'nesew Ne'pet, Nefsokar Warlord (pictured)
14237: Senet Net'merew, Nefsokar Mounted Warlord

 

Minis News 10 Dec 05

Back from my travels, catching up again.

Ilyad green

Another strong model from Ilyad, following on from the previous Howling Crest (Crete Hurlante) virago - a Howling Crest Champion, modelled by Jacques-Alexandre Gillois.



Fantasy Warriors re-releases for December

Merliton continue to roll out their recasts of the old, classic Grenadier models. New for December:

- Dwarf with spear command group (pictured)
- Dwarves with axes on bears
- Dwarves with spears on bears
- Dwarf bear-rider drummer
- Dwarf bear-rider hero
- Dwarves on giant bats
- Jumak the Destroyer (orc)
- Brenn IV, Dwarf King and Army Command Group
- Dwarves with axe on bears Command Group



ebob Mongol Cavalry

Some beautiful 28mm mongol cavalrymen from ebob, based on his equally excellent horses. In the time between the announcement coming out and me making this post, the first castings have sold out, but more are promised.



Carolingians and Late War Germans from Artizan Designs

Carolingian period infantry (pictured) and cavalry (the latter using ebob's horses, and late period WWII Germans in winter gear.



Eastern Front Studios greens

Despite the name, these are fantasy models. The images are really too big (even for me) to include in here, you can get to them via this link. Eastern Front Studios are here.

Another Hasslefree Orc Preview

Yet another, and keeping up the high standard.



Spyglass

Sadly, Spyglass say they're going to be winding down in terms of the models they release, with the possible exception of the specialist zO line. Disappointing, and illustrative of the good reasons for supporting independent/smaller manufacturers.

Darkson Designs new models

Some new/upcoming releases for Darkson Designs' alternative WWII universe, greatcoated germans and American NCO (again the images are too big to include here).

GW news

Games Workshop UK now have the promised Dwarf characters on advance order, up to Josef Bugman (pictured below). I acquired the Dwarf army deal, and so have the new Army Book (or had it waiting for me on my return, I haven't actually read it yet). They also have a Tau ethereal on their sneak peeks section. Also pictured below, the 2006 limited edition games day mini, now being advertised on the GW-US sites.

 

Mail order company Alliance Games by the way has the following advance orders, for further clues on the Tau and other releases (hmm, a new biovore):

GAW 47-34 Warhammer 40K: Imperial Guard Vostroyan Platoon $90.00
GAW 51-13 Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Lictor Death Leaper $25.00
GAW 51-14 Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Biovore $20.00
GAW 56-15 Warhammer 40K: Tau Sniper Drone Team $25.00
GAW 56-18 Warhammer 40K: Tau Aun Va Master of the Undying Spider $30.00
GAW 56-19 Warhammer 40K: Tau Piranha $25.00
GAW 56-20 Warhammer 40K: Tau Vespid Stingwings Command $30.00
GAW 56-47 Warhammer 40K: Tau Vespid Stingwings

New Mongoose B5 game?

From DakkaDakka - Mongoose to release a Babylon 5 ground combat game, "War without End", 15mm format, due April. Yech.