By Fire and Sword - a historical wargame

This is relatively new historical game, which sports a novel army composition rules and put huge attention to reflect historical realities, yet avoiding unnecessary complications. According to information on the Facebook profile, it soon will be officially released in English.

"The premiere of the English version of By Fire and Sword will take place on
20 April 2013 at the SALUTE 2013 in London. Before the premiere, at the
beginning of March, we will start a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo in
order to gather means for the print of the English version of the rulebook."

 Check also this blog for more information (reviews, interviews, ect.)

New large boxes in late November?

Do anybody knows something about the content of new large boxes scheduled for release on November, 28th? (Updated below, 21-10-09)
I've seen only this info:
EMPIRE BRIGADE
Released 28-November 2009, 84 Fig Box, Retail price £100.00

ORC & GOBLIN BRIGADE
Released 28-November 2009, 109 Fig Box, 100.00

UPDATE: A photo appeared with three of these things:


ORK MEGAFORCE
Released 28-November 2009, 55 Fig Box, £100.00
40x Boyz, 5x Loota/Burna, 9x Warbikes and Truck.

SPACE MARINE MEGAFORCE
Released 28-November 2009, 33 Fig Box, £100.00
20x Tactical Marines, 5x Assault Marines, 5x regular Scouts, Dread, Rhino and Predator.

Additionally, expected Dark Angels bastion will be released:
FORTRESS OF REDEMPTION
Released 28-November 2009, 1 Fig Box, £60.00

I'm not sure about the last two things, but most probably they will just return to independent distributors stock without changes in their content:

IMPERIAL SECTOR
Released 28-November 2009, 1 Fig Box, £50.00

IMPERIAL STRONGPOINT
Released 28-November 2009, 1 Fig Box, £55.00

Tomb Kings rumors - new Army Book in 2010

Few rumors about Tomb Kings for this time. Just recently, one guy from our local GW store told me that Tomb Kings are going to get new Army Book somewhere in 2010, but no word on precise schedule. The expected changes are going to be focused on re-deploying existing units over the sections of the book, without adding new ones. Also, a bunch of new characters will appear, some of them opening new possibilities for army construction. As for the models, both Skeleton Warriors and Tomb Guards are going to be redesigned, the latter appearing in plastic like recent VC Grave Guard. Additionally, Bone Giant is told to be more potent creature. And that's all, not too much details in fact... What do you think, is all these probable? Have anybody heard something similar? I'm interested in this army since I bought at a bargain price some large unpainted force of these bony guys to try Army Painter products on them...

www.coolminiornot.com/194746 (by StudioAcorn)

I wish, they will also improve Ushabti, so they will fit into my army. I like the models very much but have no space for them at the moment.

Some Planetstrike sets and more

Expected novelties appeared on GW website. The Spear of Sicarius is one of the most expensive boxes which you can order from them (~600 GBP). The content you can see below.


For those wanting to make some conversions, there are two sprue sets - the Bastion and the Cities of Death floor (8 GBP each).

The whispers about plastic scenery with destroyed Rhino came to be true and this set can be ordered for 15 GBP, now.


Additionally, WFB Orc&Goblin forces got some defensive support in form of metal shields, but the price is rather high in comparison with std. plastic set (6 GBP vs. 2 GBP, respectively).

Finally, the Chase goblin set appears no-line upon previous announcement in White Dwarf magazine.
Our colleagues from BOLS caught a Demon Prince conversion in one of Planetstrike preview pictures. I'm curious if this model has a new plastic DP torso over his older brother metal legs?

The Chase - new WFB O&G models

New goblin and squigg models are coming this month. A preview has been shown in July'09 White Dwarf magazine. Although it's labeled Out Now, I cannot find it on GW website at the moment. Price is 7 GBP which is more less in line with other recent Orcs & Goblins collectors releases.


Despite that I'm big fan of all O&G stuff, I wonder what reasons are behind all this special models for them. The contrast with some completely abandoned armies (like Tomb Kings, Beasts or Bretonia) is especially striking. Is this all about sales level and popularity of particular armies? Under normal conditions, are those less popular armies supposed to get some attention from the company to bring them in line with the others? Well, probably I don't understand what business is about...

New Psykers (IG rumors part 3)

www.coolminiornot.com/159554

One of the most interesting trick-source unit in the approaching IG codex are Sanctioned Psykers. Both, Primaris Psyker (HQ) and Psyker Battle Squad (Elite) have a nice shooting attack, but their other psychic abilities are of more interest.

Primaris Psyker (HQ, Independent Character, Psyker)
- 70 pts;
4/4/3/3/2/3/3/9/5+
Wargear:
Flak armour, Laspistol, Force weapon, Frag grenades, Refractor field;
Special rules:
- It's For Your Own Good - if suffer Perils attack and there is a Commissar in the unit then Psyker is automatically killed (executed by Commissar);
Psychic Powers:
- Lightninc Arc: shooting attack - 25"/6/5/Assault 2D6;
- Nightshroud: At the start of psyker's Movement phase; If successful, to shoot at psyker (or his unit) enemy must pass Leadership test or is loosing his shooting (vehicles counts as Ld 10); effect lasts until nex psyker's Movement phase.

www.coolminiornot.com/108131

Psyker Battle Squad (Elite, Psyker (not the Overseer))
- 60 pts for Overseer and 4 psykers; can buy up to 5 more for 10 pts/psyker
Squad may take Chimera transport;
Wargear:
Flak armour, Laspistol, CCW;
Sanctioned Psyker - 2/3/2/3/1/3/1/9/5+
Overseer - 3/3/3/3/1/3/2/9/5+
Special rules:
- Psychic Choir - all squad acts as single psyker for using Powers;
- Ultimate Sanction - if the squad suffers Perils attack, then the Overseer kills D3 psykers instead; if Overseer already killed then every psyker have to resolve Perils attack.
Psychic Powers:
- Soulstorm: shooting attack - 36"/S/D6/Assault 1, Large blast (S = number of psykers in the squad);
- Weaken Resolve: during Shooting phase at 36" range with Line of sight; for the remainder of the turn, the target enemy unit has Ld reduced by the number of psykers in squad (to a min. of 2).

www.coolminiornot.com/5062

Disclaimer: all above are web-collected unconfirmed rumors. You should refer to a copy of official IG codex once it will be available in order to play your WH40K games.

IG rumors continued - part 2

Being initially impressed by Leman Russ variety included in approaching IG codex, I went at first rather quickly through the other vehicles news. The truth however is that variations of Chimera tank play at least equally important role in the army as the bigger brother (generally speaking; details depend on particular army composition, of course). A common chassis bind together such different-role machines like Colossus, Bane Wolf or chimera, to cite a few. For this reason, now we will have a closer look at these toys.

Hellhound - Inferno cannon (Tmpl within 12" range, 6/4, Hvy 1) - 130 pts
Devil Dog - Melta cannon (24", 8/1, Hvy 1, melta, blast) - 120 pts
Bane Wolf - Chem cannon (Tmpl, 1/3, Hvy 1, poisoned 2+) - 130 pts
All three are 12/12/10 (F/S/R) and BS 3.

Hydra - Hdr. Autocannon (72", 7/4, Hvy 2) - 12/10/10 - 75 pts
This beast has Auto-targeting System disabling both, skimmers speedy cover saves and bikers turbo-boosting ones.

Basilisk - Earthshaker cannon (36-240", 9/3, Ord Brg 1, Large blast) - 125 pts
Medusa - Siege cannon (36", 10/2, Ord 1, Large blast) - 135 pts - can have special shells (48", 10/1, Hvy 1, blast, +D6 armor penetration, for 5 pts/model)
Colossus - Siege mortar (24-240", 6/3, Ord Brg 1, Large blast, no direct fire, no cover sv.) - 140 pts
Griffon - Grf. Heavy mortar (12-48", 6/4, Ord Brg 1, Large blast, no direct fire) - can re-roll scatter dice - 75 pts
All four are 12/10/10 and open-topped but can buy Enclosed crew compartement for 15 pts.

Manticora - 4 x Storm Eagle rocket (24-120", 10/4, Ord Brg D3, Large blast) - 12/10/10 - 160 pts

Deathstrike Missile Launcher - 1 shot fired upon (D6 + modifiers) roll equal or more than 6 (12-960", 10/1, Ord Brg 1, D3+3" special blast, no direct fire, no cover sv.) - 12/12/10 - 160 pts

At the bottom of these, there is a new plastic kit announced for Hellhound/Devil Dog/Bane Wolf (3 in 1) but we have to stick to Forge World (or scratch builds) for others.

Disclaimer: all above are web-collected unconfirmed rumors. You should refer to a copy of official IG codex once it will be available in order to play your WH40K games.

I love bizarre tanks! (IG rumors)

As said in the title, I love those bizarre tank constructions of the past, either rhomboid mothers of all of them (British Mark I - IX range), or multi-turret ones (like infamous Russian T-35). Some of them are considered successful, others failed, but this aspect is not important here. What matters is that they are protoplasts of our Land Raiders and Baneblades. In comparison, the design of Leman Russ Battle Tank can be regarded as quite modern. However, I know how much critics this poor baby take from some Abrams- and Leopard-lovers. For me, this vehicle is one of the most important ingredients in the Imperial Guards pot. Saying this, I'm grinning with glad that finally, after years of waiting, some of the Forge World variants found their place in the latest incarnation of the IG 40K codex. So, let's take a look ...
As everybody expect, all versions have BS 3. Equally common is the Wargear list consisted of Heavy bolter (HB), searchlight and smoke launchers and new Lumbering Vehicle special rule (vide infra). Any model may exchange its HB with Heavy Flamer (HF, free) or Lascannon (15 pts). Any model may take sponsons: HB or HF for 20 pts, Multi-meltas for 30 pts, Plasma Cannons for 40 pts per model, plus some additional minor upgrades.
Variants are as following:

basic Leman Russ - Battle cannon (72", 8/3, Ord 1, Large blast) - 150 pts, (F/S/R: 14/13/10)
Exterminator - Ext. Autocannon (48", 7/4, Hvy 4, Twin-linked) - 150 pts, (14/13/10)
Vanquisher - Vqs. Battle cannon (72", 8/2, Hvy 1, +D6 for armour penetr.) - 155 pts, (14/13/10)
Eradicator - Erd. Nova cannon (36", 6/4, Hvy 1, Large blast, no Cover Sv.) - 160 pts (14/13/10)
Demolisher - Dms. Siege cannon (24", 10/2, Ord 1, Large blast) - 165 pts (14/13/11)
Punisher - Pns. Gatling cannon (24", 5/-, Hvy 20) - 180 pts (14/13/11)
Executioner - Ecr. Plasma Cannon (36", 7/2, Hvy 3, Blast) - 190 pts (14/13/11)

For Lumbering Vehicle rule: if our tank moved at combat speed or was stationary, it can fire turret weapon (any type) in addition to other allowed weapons, but at cruising speed can only move D6 + 6".
As a closing remark I can remember that all this goodies come in squadrons of 1-3 tanks.
So, count your GBP carefully for FW resin sets, or (if you're patient) wait for GW plastics scheduled for late summer release.

Disclaimer: all above informations are unconfirmed rumors collected and put together from various websites over last few weeks. So, enjoy but don't hold a grudge against me, in case they are "not so precise".