G-dubs brings us some AWESOME new models and news to oggle!
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community site.
Welcome to the third incredible online Warhammer Preview! Sit back and prepare to be amazed by new models, expansions for your favourite games and peeks at new Warhammer media. We’ll be rounding up all the reveals right here as they happen, and you can watch all the action live on Twitch now, complete with insights, guests and more. Subscribe to Warhammer Live to join in the chat and share your excitement!
2:00 pm – A MASSIVE Reveal
What’s big, brutal and soon to make a huge impact on the Mortal Realms? These guys.
The Sons of Behemat are coming.
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This is Warhammer’s biggest plastic monster yet… it towers over a regular gargant and easily stares Archaon and his three-headed mount in their many faces. It’s festooned with details that mark it as a creature of the Mortal Realms, including trinkets from across the various factions and bits of monster – presumably to snack on after battle.
The Sons of Behemat are a brand-new army for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, made up entirely of gargants. The classic Aleguzzler Gargant and three Mega-gargant variants – Gatebreaker, Warstomper and Kraken-eater – make for an army that’s small on model count and big in every other way – especially the carnage they can cause!
What’s more, as well as the Sons of Behemat being an army in their own right, every single Warhammer Age of Sigmar faction can take one as an ally, their potent destructive services paid for in copious quantities of food and ale – and the promise of a good scrap. This is truly a kit for everyone, so start figuring out how to fit this mammoth centrepiece model into your army’s colour scheme now!
2:15 pm – The Adventure Ends…
You’ve opened the Hidden Vault, raided the lair of the Dreaded Ambull, defeated Obsidius Mallex (twice) and fought all the Chaos and xenos enemies the Blackstone Fortress has thrown at you. Now, it’s time for the grand finale…
Ascension is the spectacular final act of the Blackstone Fortress saga, and like any good ending, it’s gonna be explosive…
The Fortress is awakening, Precipice is in peril, and the explorers must band together to prevent all they’ve worked for from being destroyed. Ascension gives you a different way to play, as you race through the ever-changing corridors of the Blackstone Fortress in search of a way to shut it down and stop Obsidius Mallex once and for all. This massive expansion will bring you new adventures, new rewards and new enemies, such as these Guardian Drones.
They are absolutely huge – that’s a Spindle Drone one of them is holding in its terrifyingly sharp claw. Blackstone Fortress: Ascension contains loads of new cards and surprises for your adventures, as well as the biggest reward for completing a quest EVER, so get your explorers ready – they’ll need to be for what lies ahead.
2:25 pm – Aelves at the Eightpoints
For years, you lot kept asking for aelves, and boy, have the Warhammer Studio delivered. You’ve got blood-soaked aelves, fish-riding aelves, now shiny aelves. Had enough yet? No? Thought not… So let’s look at a new Warcry warband made up entirely of aelves from the Realm of Shadow.
Warcry is great for letting us look at the areas of the Mortal Realms that you don’t tend to see anywhere else – and these new additions are no exception. The Khainite Shadowstalkers are the spies that Morathi uses to enforce her will across the realms. Even for a race from a land of shadow and renowned for their innate stealth, these guys are sneaky! They’re like mist in the shadows, only the mist has a poison dagger and a repeater crossbow… These dynamic models hark back to a classic Dark Elf aesthetic from the world-that-was, that of Khaine worshippers like Assassins and Shades.
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The Khainite Shadowstalkers will be infiltrating your games of Warcry soon – so it’s a good time to start painting some reinforcements for your warband…
All Light Casts A Shadow
From darkness to, well, more darkness, but mixed with light, we also have another Lumineth Realm-lords model to show you.
This is a Scinari Cathallar,* and she plays a vital role in Lumineth society. All Lumineth use aetherquartz, the realmstone of Hysh, which gives them enlightenment of mind, body and spirit. But this has a price, and the Aelves pay by siphoning their turbulent emotions into the aetherquartz. In battle, Scinari Cathallars weaponise this emotion, drawing it from their allies and turning it against their enemies. Foes are rendered helpless by the overwhelming rush of despair and darkness.
This characterful Hero model is a fascinating contrast to the rest of the Lumineth Realm-lords range – the shadow cast by Teclis’ light. Let us know what you think of this, and the rest of the forthcoming Lumineth, on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page.
2:40 pm – Blood Bowl On Very Hard Mode
Is Blood Bowl too easy for you? Are even your Halfling and Goblin teams stomping all over the opposition? Time for a new challenge…
No, you’re not hallucinating. Those are Snotlings. A team of Snotlings. Sure, they have a Pump Wagon, and sure there are loads of them, but, you know, they’re Snotlings. They make Goblins look fierce and Halflings seem thoroughly athletic by comparison.
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We’ll level with you – you’re probably not gonna win all of your games with them, but you are going to have So. Much. Fun.
2:50 pm – The Original Loyalist
Many heroes of the Horus Heresy have made it to the tabletop in recent years, but one has been conspicuous by his absence…
Saul Tarvitz was one of the first-ever named Horus Heresy Space Marines (along with Garro and Varren, in 1988’s Space Marine rulebook), and his appearances in Black Library’s Horus Heresy novels only cemented his popularity. His death** at Isstvan III after he led a disparate army of Imperial loyalists in defiance of Horus’ betrayal made him a legend – and now you can bring that legend to your games of The Horus Heresy.
If you want to find out more about Tarvitz, keep an eye out next week… or download the opening trilogy of the Horus Heresy series, Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames, to see his rise to heroism and tragic demise.
3:00 pm – Many Legs – and a Tiny Dragon!
Psychic Awakening: Pariah is coming, and it’s a sweeping story that brings the Adepta Sororitas, the Inquisition and the Necrons into the Psychic Awakening. It’s a huge event that will see heroes new and old come to the fore. You’ve already seen Ephrael Stern and Kyganil… and that’s not all.
Illuminor Szeras is a classic Necron Character given a new lease of life. For years, we’ve known him as a hellish experimenter, determined to perfect the living metal bodies of the Necrons. Now he’s given himself a serious upgrade. This new model truly reflects his terrifying splendour and alien majesty and is, we reckon, one of the best Necron models ever.
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As well as his new look, Szeras has been upgraded with some nifty new abilities, including one that works against psykers – a taste of what the Necrons have in store for those who would tap into the warp, perhaps…
With the Great Rift and the encroaching hordes of Chaos drawing their attention, the Imperium is ill-prepared for a resurgent Necron threat – but a few brave Inquisitors are ready to make a stand, foremost among them Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus.
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Draxus is very different to other Inquisitors we’ve seen before – she’s a radical who’s comfortable with using the weapons of her enemies against them. In fact, as well as carrying a shuriken catapult and wearing an exotic skull on her armour, she even uses a live alien to fight her xenos foes – the faithful Shang.
Both Szeras and Draxus will be available alongside Psychic Awakening: Pariah. Prepare yourself by grabbing the eBooks of the Psychic Awakening series so far and getting up to date on the ongoing story.
3:15 pm – Hammers, Bolters and Fleur-de-Lys
In our last couple of previews, we showed you footage from forthcoming animated series, including Hammer and Bolter. This is an anthology show featuring tales from across the worlds of Warhammer. Each is written by different members of the Storyforge team, the creative minds behind our media projects, and animated in various styles.
Today we have a VERY exciting first look at Hammer and Bolter episode 2. Written by George Mann, whom you may know from his Raven Guard stories for Black Library, this instalment stars the Sisters of Battle.
These images give you a hint of the animation style you can expect from this episode, and a tantalising first glimpse at Sisters Elena and Agatha. Who could they be fighting? We look forward to finding out…
It’s incredibly cool to be able to explore the stories of the Warhammer universes in different media, and there is lots (and lots!) more on the way. Follow the Warhammer Storyforge on Instagram to be among the first to see more from this, and our other media projects.
3:30 pm – Brand-new and Made to Order
Remember how we gave you all a chance to own the formerly event-exclusive Lieutenant Amulius? How about getting your hands on not one, but two more brand-new models, available for the first time ever? Yeah, we thought you’d like that.
Like Amulius, these models are available for just two weeks, and this will be your ONLY chance to buy them. They’re Made to Order, so everyone who wants one will get them – and just take a look at them. We know you want them.
Lexicanum Varos is a classic Space Marine Terminator Librarian, perfect for use in any Chapter, including Deathwatch and Grey Knights. He even has a wrist-mounted storm bolter to match the silver-armoured Daemon hunters (or make his battle-brothers in other Chapters jealous). You might recognise Varus – we previewed him last year as an event-exclusive model who would have been available for the first time at AdeptiCon. With that, and other events, not happening, we’re bringing him to EVERYONE!
Sister Tariana Palos is a brand-new, never-before-seen model based on a classic piece of Anna Steinbauer artwork that graced the cover of a previous edition of Codex: Adepta Sororitas. She is every bit the archetype of a Battle Sister, perfect for use in your army, perhaps as a Superior or a Celestian. She’s also festooned with holy detailing, making her an ideal painting project.
Both of these models are available to order right now, and will remain so for two weeks. They’ll be produced and delivered once our factories and distribution centres are back up and running again. Think of them as a present to your future self.
Don’t miss out – grab your Lexicanum Varos and Sister Tariana Palos while you can.
The End… Or Is It?
And so, this Warhammer Preview comes to an end. But don’t be sad, because there’s more to come. Yep, although we’ve given you three looks into the future, we have even more to show you.
Keep an eye on the Warhammer Community website in early May for more information about when you can expect the next preview**** – and make sure that you do, because you really, really, really won’t want to miss out. We’ll see you then. In the meantime, join us on the Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Forge World Facebook pages, Instagram, Twitter and Twitch to let us know what you’re looking forward to most. Also, sign up to our newsletter to make sure that you don’t miss any of the latest Warhammer news.
* Since some of you have been asking, it’s pronounced SIN-ar-ee CATH-ull-arr
** But did he really die…?***
*** Yes. Yes he did.
**** Yes, this is the preview equivalent of releasing a trailer for a trailer. No, we’re not ashamed.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
Again GW hitting it out of the park with model design!
Also showing again they really need some more effort/people in the rules team.
This was the last stream showing what was to Cap off the Adeptacon show and the only rules they showed us to keep the hype going is a resounding MEH. Nothing to get excited about or think about in the future when the game can be played again in person.
9″ range ability on a Necron model that is a ranged attack HQ for anti armor…
Let’s just say you some how some way got him within 9″ of a psyker with Necron slow movement, the psyker just needs to move out of the way on its turn and cast without fear. Even if your opponent chooses to keep their psyker within 9″ of your character there is only a 16.7% chance of it doing a mortal wound or two without a reroll.(with a reroll only it will only happen about 9.2% of the time)
It is a joke rule that even at a glance you can see it will have a very minimal affect on the game.
The model team has been firing on all cylinders and went out with a BANG. The Rules team was given a model with the first piece of BlackStone, the stuff that literally cut the WARP from realspace, and this is the rule they thought up. A worse version of an other armies warlord trait that no one ever takes. What a way to end in a whimper.
I don’t want overpowered oppressive HQ but is it too much to ask that an HQ have abilities that are not crazy restrictive to come into play, then only have a low % chance to work and if it does work only do a mortal wound or two?
I hope my game theory is extremely wrong, Backstone is fought and killed (billions) for it should be more then what I see.
Am I completely missing something and wrong in my assessment of this rule?
Sorry I needed to fix my math it would bug me all day if I didn’t.
You already parils on 1’s and 6′ so there is only a 4/36 or 11.1% chance of the rule having any affect.
A measly 4.6% with a reroll…
How is this even a rule? I is not worth the ink printed in the book.
Indeed, it is the most useless non-fw ability in the game. And I thought shadow in the warp was bad. Looks like hating psykers is the only reliable protection against them.
Well, at least it confirms szeras will get a new data, as expected.
Still going to buy the model because like I said it is incredible and the modelling team is some the of best in the world.
The rules team needs to give a reason to have this magnificent model see the table top. We have not seen all the rules so maybe that rule is just a throw away one.
Odd they would preview it to if it is the worst rule to bring interest to it.
Those Shadowstalkers are really nice models – especially the leader.
Wish we could get something like that for Dark Eldar. You know, since they removed ~66% of our HQ choices and have yet to return or replace even a single one of them.
But don’t worry – it’s far more important that you print yet more Space Marines. The fact that the core SM book contains more HQs than DE has units just means they need even more releases to widen the gap.
Yeah, AOS is seriously miles ahead of the 40k range at this stage.
And I agree DE need some love for sure with new kits. The kits they have are gorgeous but they more options.
I know what you mean with regard to AoS models.
It’s not universal but I do think that it has something to do with AoS models usually being made to look important in more interesting ways.
In 40k, there’s been a depressing tendency towards just adding more bling, regardless of whether it actually makes sense. Hence the new Drazhar model looking like a coral reef at a disco.
GW is also trying pretty hard to update AoS to a new look and push the game’s sales as a whole, whereas with 40K they are much more content to kinda rest on what they’ve already got. Hence you are seeing a new AoS faction with a completely new model range every 4-6 months, whereas 40K factions have been languishing on the same models for a decade or two.
Is 9″ range a joke?.. Would have been better to just give him the deny ability any basic psyker has. Model looks cool, just a shame I’ll never see him on the tabletop if that’s the ability they are going to preview to “hype” him up.
True, or to make him “more special” how about a once per turn Deny the Witch, which if successful in cancelling a power then forces a perils.