Warhammer Storm of Magic Expansion - 9th July 2011 release

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Calling all Fantasy Battle fans... the Storm of Magic book could be a major Warhammer game changer and it's out on Saturday 9th July !

If the Storm of Magic rules turn out to be as good as the presentation and the miniatures and terrain & scenery that are being released with it then we could be in for a treat.

It looks like Games Workshop are putting everything into this launch, there's a lot of new "kit", miniatures (including Finecast, some large monsters and new spell casters) and everything so far looks to be top quality.

Whatever you think of Games Workshop (and I know there are been a few dissenting voices recently), you cannot question their commitment to the hobby and the speed at which they introduce great new Fantasy battle products.

I can't write much of a review right now other than to say that I've been very happy with what I've seen and read on their website and the look of the new miniatures and even more so the terrain such as the portal and skull throne. The inside of the rulebook looks promising from it's appearance at least and I really like the cover too. So far, so good. I'll write again once I've got my hands on a copy to let you know if GW have come up trumps or slayed my beloved game !

For the meantime, enjoy the pics below, there's loads more at the Games Workshop advance order page that you can get to through the home page (www.games-workshop.com) - including sprue pics and miniature close ups and also some intro and chat on the GW "What's New Today" blog page.

BTW, in case you want a quick summary...

Storm of Magic places the emphasis firmly on monsters and devastating "cataclysm spells". We must hope and pray that the design team have retained a nice balance and kept the relevancy of your bog standard foot sloggers rather than going for over-the-top power mongers everywhere across the battlefield.

click to greatly enlarge pictures

Images are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Great new Chaos Dwarf models by Warhammer Forge

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Forgeworld... Games Workshop... Warhammer Forge - however they're related (who knows, do we care !?) their off-spring looks good :)

Check out these these new minis from the Warhammer Forge section of the Forgeworld website (which looks like it's just Games Workshop in disguise - with slightly more daring miniatures)

First off we have the stunties gone wrong (ie Chaos Dwarfs) This army is now looking well worth collecting for a number of good reasons:-

• First and foremost they are something a bit less common and therefore have that mystique and show-off factor that can be quite appealing (or at least it is to me - see my Nauticans !)
• Next up, they have a very well supported community and unofficial Chaos Dwarf pdf army book that is widely accepted to be balanced and is permitted in quite a few tournaments.
• Importantly for many people, the army sports some excellent new miniatures from both Warhammer Forge and Mantic Games and you can still find the old Dwarves of Chaos minis on eBay too!
• The army now has some truly unique war machines that give it a completely different feel to anything else out there in the Warhamer World.
• People will be less used to playing against Chaos Dwarfs so, in theory (my theory), you should have a better chance of winning with them :)

Images from http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/CHAOS_DWARFS click to enlarge them.

Magma Cannon

Iron Demon towing the Magma Cannon

Death Shrieker Rocket

And, while I was visting the Forgeworld site I noticed some amazing new Empire-like / mercenary miniatures that I hadn't seen before (so maybe you haven't either)....

Check out the bell ringer for an interesting and original alternative to your usual musician. What with the standard bearer with the ship's tiller (or steering wheel if you like) and the ship's bell, these guys are clearly straight off an Empire galleon (or pirate / mercenary ship maybe ?) Either way, I love 'em :)

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/THE-EMPIRE

The banner looks a bit scary though - definitely not my kind of mermaid !

Images are © Games Workshop / Forge World. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Storm of Magic Expansion - WFB NEWS

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Games Workshop will soon be releasing Storm of Magic a Warhammer Fantasy expansion that focuses on monsters and magic.

Someone just shared a link on the Battle Reporter Facebook group. I don't have a lot of time tonight to investigate further so I'll just share the pics and give a brief round up.

The photos look as though they are from White Dwarf (due to be released soon for July 2011) and they were posted on Bugman's Brewery which got them in turn from Warseer so I recommend you check those out for more info. It looks like the emphasis is on big magic ("powerful Cataclysm spells" and a dark elf sorceress on a whirlwind) and big monsters, so far I've seen a Black Dragon, a Cockatrice, what I presume is a Chimera and maybe a Manticore.

There is also mention of cantrips (usually used to mean minor spells in role playing), ancestor runes (?) and quite a bit of focus on terrain and scenery which looks as though it could be an extension of the current mysterious terrain concept (named, I think, Arcane Fulcrums). The new scenery does look pretty hot, I like it a lot (see Dreadfire Portal, Eternity Stair and some kind of Scull throne below). It looks like we might be seeing a few new spell-casting miniatures too :)

It could be a good Fantasy Battle White Dwarf month !

Anyway, here you go... (images courtesy of Warseer)

click photos to greatly enlarge them in a new window

Images are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

New Mangler Squig Miniature - an awesome model !

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A fantastic new Mangler Squig model for the Orcs and Gobbos army - courtesy of MPG

These guys are quick off the mark and offer some great models that Games Workshop just doesn't cater for right now, such as the Jabberslythe, Cygor and Ghorgon miniatures for the Beastmen Army.

I really like the Mangler model, it fits in well with the tongue in cheek (or gobbo in gob !) side of the O&G army - I'm thinking Doom Divers, Fanatics and the infamous Snotling Pump Wagon ! (if it still exists ?) Let's face it, a sense of humour can help when you  field a greenskin army !

Anyway, I haven't got the O&G army book yet so I can't comment on the Squig Mangler unit itself because it was new to the 8th edition army. So, you'll just have to enjoy the pics...

As always, click the images to enlarge them.

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You can contact them through their Miniature Painting Group eBay shop.

Images used with permission of Miniature Painting Group.

Fantasy Battle Miniatures Gallery - back in business !

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A Warhammer Fantasy miniatures gallery and blog for you to follow !

For anyone who doesn't already follow my miniatures gallery here's nudge in the right direction....

I look out for and share the most inspiring bits I can find in the Warhammer and Fantasy gaming world. I usually post about miniatures but you'll find other stuff there that I think is worthy of a mention. I'm planning on branching into the conversions / modelling world so you can soon expect some posts on that too.

There are links to about 50 other fantasy blogs (mainly Warhammer Battle) so it's worth a visit to see what's happening in the WFB world. If you have anything you think would be worth a mention on the blog, eg. pictures or an amazing project you know about then please use the -- Submit Pictures -- link at the top left of the blog (or this one here).

Please let me know what you think of the site. Thanks folks, Sigmar

The Hobbit Movie News

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The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit : There and Back Again release dates and an excellent "behind-the-scenes" / "making-of" video Hobbit blog.

The first film, titled “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will be released on 14th December 2012. The second film, titled “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” will be released on 13th December 2013.

The cast includes quite a few actors and characters from The Lord of the Rings, Ian McKellen makes a welcome return as Gandalf the Grey (would it have been possible without him ?!). Orlando Bloom is back (with his ballistic skill 10 bow) as Legolas; the awesome Christopher Lee returns as Saruman (not quite evil... just yet); the moody Hugo Weaving returns as an equally moody Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo (presumably with "young face-paint" applied and Cate Blanchett as the somewhat scary Galadriel, Lady of the Wood.

I'm looking forward to seeing Smaug the Dragon, the 3 arguing trolls (if memory serves me) and especially the battle of 5 armies. I'm not sure how this one will translate to film and whether it will be directed towards the same kind of audience. I personally found The Hobbit book quite different from The Lord of the Rings book. At the time of reading (many years ago), I found it a little bit disappointing but I did read it after LoTR and The Silmarillion which are unbeatable stories really.

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A superb 10 minute look behind the scenes with Peter Jackson and other characters - well worth a watch.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."



2nd part of the video is not yet available (we're waiting for Peter Jackson !)