Warhammer Day 2021
This year's Warhammer Day kicked off by pointing people in the direction of a number of deals that have already started. They're offering two weeks free of Warhammer+ (or an extra two weeks if you're subscribing), there are two new miniatures to mark the day, and a number of reductions on boxes such as Warhammer AoS: Dominion, and one I've succumbed to and bought: Aeronautica Imperialis.
The first big reveal is a new 40K battle boxset: Shadow Throne. This set is set on Holy Terra, and brings together the Genestealer Cult and Sisters of Silence with a couple of new miniatures. The first of the new miniatures is Aristothes Carvellan, a Blade Champion, and the other is Mersea Thrayk, a Reductus Saboteur, who can be used to place mines on the battlefield.
The 32-page Shadow Throne book included in the box contains exciting narrative missions to play out the Unthinkable War. The Imperium’s response is uncharacteristically swift and coordinated, which says a lot about how dire a threat these Cults pose.
This also included the news that the Codex: Adeptus Custodes and Codex: Genestealer Cults releases will be around the same time. These will bring new crusade options for both armies.
Next up is Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and a Chaos Battletome for the Maggotkin of Nurgle with 'Path to Glory' rules. This is the first update to it since the initial release of Age of Sigmar. It's not just the new battletome on it's way though, there's also news of a new miniature: Rotbringer Sorcerer.
Blood Bowl is a game I've not played since the days of the polystyrene boards, though recently I bought the MTO Tomb Kings team. Yet, I've still not played a game using the most recent rules. Today's Blood Bowl announcement is 'Dungeon Bowl'. It's a subterranean blood bowl game that feels like it's somewhere in the realm of Warcry: Catacombs, and HeroQuest with passageways and treasure chests. There's still a ball though, so it feels like it's HeroQuest crossed with a game of 'Capture the Flag'. To me, that sounds like a good thing and I'm actually very tempted by this.
Each team is sponsored by a college of magic. So, we've got the College of Fire team which is a mixture of grots, dwarves and ogres. If you want Skaven, then you'll want the College of Shadow team. There are also rules for the other colleges of magic, which if they follow the eight magical colleges we've heard of previously, the others will be: Light, Heavens, Metal, Life, Beasts, and Death.
We've seen Warcry: Red Harvest teased over the last week. For starters, it sounds like a bloody parody of Return of the Jedi's working title, Blue Harvest. So what actually is it? It's a new update to the skirmish game which now brings the fight to Archaon's monolithic fortress. This means new scenery, and new miniatures. Amongst the new miniatures is the Tarantulos Brood - the warband that includes the spider-like mini that we saw previewed recently. It also confirmed that the other miniature we saw is a Darkoath Savager, and they are the other warband in this set.
Whilst it's nice to see the Darkoath back, the Tarantulos Brood look very unique and I can see this being a very popular warband. We should see rules for these miniatures to use in Age of Sigmar eventually. This set also includes a new double-sided board, the usual dice, cards, and tiles. This can be used as a full boxed game, or as an expansion to the ones that have come before.
With the big boxes out of the way, we got to see a preview of the next season of 'Angels of Death', which will feature on Warhammer TV in the near future. This was primarily another chance to plug the service again, to try and get some more subscription - it seems they're going 'all in' on this service! I do have to agree though, it is a bargain considering the exclusive content and the miniature you get.
One of the big things people wanted for Warhammer: Underworlds Harrowdeep is a pirate warband. Whilst there have been a lot of noise about 'breaking changes' to the gameplay, and complaints about the price increase, what is going to really tempt people into it is what warbands it brings. They did not disappoint us either, introducing Blackpowder's Buccaneers. As they're now going into unusual combinations of warbands, this one looks fun with a monkey, a bird, two gnobblars, and an ogre pirate.
For the Horus Heresy, the character series that started with Angron in 2012, is now complete with the announcement of Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of the White Scars, the Fifth legion. This miniature, like the ones before it, will be made from resin, and comes on a fantastically sculpted base which looks like it's designed from the Siege of Terra.
The show then ended with a tease of something Christmassy, which may be a tease of what this year's Christmas miniature will be - a squig-riding Santa Claws.
