Forge World Newsletter #282 - Space Marine boarding Parties, Techmarine & Contemptor Weapons!!

always the important bits reproduced below:

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Hi there, It’s a Space Marine-packed newsletter this week, with a new special character, upgrade set, and two more Contemptor weapon options, as well as an abundance of news about Forge World’s presence at Games Days in both the UK and Australia.

Armenneus Valthex, Astral Claws Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer
Known as the Alchemancer, and a figure of key importance to the Astral Claws, Armenneus Valthex was both Lugft Huron’s personal armourer and the Chapter’s Master of the Forge.
One of the greatest living experts on the many techno-arcana of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Valthex’s symbol of office is an ancient device known as the Indynabula Array, to which he has added a powerful conversion-beam projector of his own construction.

Armenneus Valthex, Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer, designed by Mark Bedford, is a finely detailed, multi-part resin model. Full rules for this forge-wright par excellence can be found in Imperial Armour Volume Nine: The Badab War Part 1. Armenneus Valthex is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 26th September.

Space Marine Boarding Assault Upgrade Set
The noble warriors of the Adeptus Astartes have access to a huge array of specialised equipment as befits their exalted status amongst the military might of the Imperium, and much of this wargear is ancient beyond measure, revered and honoured for each victory it brings them.

The Space Marine Boarding Assault Upgrade Set, designed by Stuart Williamson, is a detailed resin conversion kit that consists of two lascutters, a graviton gun, and sufficient boarding shields, weapon arms and heads to build five Boarding Space Marines, as well as additional components to build a Boarding Sergeant.
Perfect for representing several of the Boarding Assault Stratagems or a Tactical squad equipped with siege mantlets as described in Forge World’s Badab WarImperial Armour books, this upgrade set is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 26th September.

Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought Weapons
This week we can announce two new weapon options for the incredibly popular Contemptor Dreadnought:
The Contemptor Cyclone Missile Launcher, similar in design to that commonly fielded by Space Marines equipped with Terminator armour, offers a Contemptor Dreadnought tactically flexible, long-range firepower.

The Heavy Conversion Beamer is an ancient relic-weapon of incredible and poorly-understood power that only the advanced systems of the Contemptor Dreadnought can hope to accurately direct and control.

Both these weapons, designed by Will Hayes, are available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 26th September, and updated Experimental rules for the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought can be downloaded from the Forge World website.

Games Day UK at the Birmingham NEC – 25th September
The biggest day in our event calendar, Games Day UK, is rapidly approaching, and here at Forge World we are preparing for an amazing show.
With both Forge World and Warhammer Forge models being finished thick and fast for both display and sale well in advance of their scheduled release dates, our Studio teams are preparing unreleased master models, finishing off work in progress and frantically painting recent releases!
Last year’s major announcement from Forge World was the unveiling of the Warhammer Forge range, and this year our Studio area will again be split into two stands, allowing both teams to showcase as much as possible.
Our Sales Stand will undergo a major transformation this year, and will be situated in the biggest GW Hobby Centre in the world. This means that it’ll be much quicker and easier to get to the stand, receive your models, and make your way to the checkout area than in previous years – hurrah!
We’ll be bringing you more news and updates on both our Games Day UK event page and on our Facebook page between now and the 25th September.

Reservation Orders for Games Day UK
We are now accepting reservation orders for Games Day UK, and as with our other UK shows this year, we’ll be taking payment in advance for these orders so that it’s much quicker and easier for you to collect them at Games Day – without a massive queue and at your leisure, at any point throughout the day.
A reservation order is the best way of ensuring that we have exactly what you want at Games Day, including our Show Only figures, so please call the Forge World Customer Service team on 0115 900 4995 to place your reservation – we’ll need your name and a contact e-mail address, and you’ll need your credit or debit card to hand as well. The cut off date for Games Day UK reservation orders is 12th September – after this we can’t guarantee that we’ll have everything available for you.

Games Day Australia Update
A huge selection of the Warhammer Forge and Forge World ranges will be available from the Forge World stand at Games Day Australia, which will be held on 1st October at the Australian Technology Park, Redfern, NSW. Both our 2011 Event Only MkIII Armoured Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith models will be on sale, and to mark the return of Games Day Australia, we’re also offering an exclusive last chance to buy some of our previous Event Only models as well.
We are now accepting reservation orders for Games Day Australia, and this is the best way of ensuring that we will have exactly the models you’re looking for, packed up and waiting for you to pay for on the day.
To place a reservation order, please send an e-mail entitled ‘Games Day Australia Reservation’ to fwreservations@games-workshop.co.uk, making sure to provide your full name and a list of the items you’d like to reserve. You can also phone the Forge World Customer Service team on 0011 44 115 916 8177.
You can place a reservation for anything currently available from the online store, as well as our Event Only MkIII Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith figures. We will provide a confirmation e-mail before the event that will contain your order number and a total cost in Australian Dollars, payable upon collection.
The cut-off date for Games Day Australia reservation orders is 12th September, so make sure your e-mail reaches us before this date.
Thanks, Ead Brown. Customer Service Manager, Forge World

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Blood Reaver - Book Review

Blood Reaver by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Driven on by their hatred of the False Emperor, the Night Lords stalk the shadows of the galaxy, eternally seeking revenge for the death of their primarch. Their dark quest leads them to a fractious alliance with the Red Corsairs, united only by a common enemy. Together with this piratical band of renegades, they bring their ways of destruction to the fortress-monastery of the Marines Errant.

Blood Reaver is the latest offering (quite literally as ADB seems to work well when it comes to the Dark Powers) for Aaron Dembski-Bowden seems to write their exploits at a level that must be sponsored by those same dark powers. I must say that despite being a loyalist through and through that I really enjoyed Soul Hunter and how it put a new spin on the Fall and the wars of chaos from the view of the Night Lords. I really liked how it took the aspects of the much talked about but often undealt with aspects of relative time (warp time) and absolute/galactic time (time in the real universe – though even that term is subjective given which side of the chaos line you fall) and how this will wear even a company of Space Marines, even Chaos ones, down to the bone. In short they find they are running out of everything and it’s up to the former Apothecary Talos to pull the Exalted's Warband out of its nosedive and restore it to the 'glory' days of its status as 10th company.

Despite being Space Marines and therefore usually cardboard cut-outs I found the characters were self-interested and thus interesting. So I really liked Soul Hunter, the way that the author made the Astartes seem both like relatable characters from their own perspective, and monsters from the perspective of their slaves and/or victims.

Blood Reaver is more of the same, However, it conspicuously lacks several things, and does several worse. One thing I have noted as have several other reviewers is how it lacks explanation for how the character Cyrion's telepathy seems to have disappeared – though I expect this is explained in the audio book (which still hasn’t arrived at mine yet). This explanation wouldn't have improved the story, but for a story that relies so heavily on continuity and characters being established in the previous novel, leaving it out is frustrating and doesn’t help those that don’t have the audio book.

What I really like is that Soul Hunter doesn’t rely on pre-established knowledge and were both wonderful excursions into relatable characters, which is so rare in Warhammer 40,000. Blood Reaver faces the problems that the middle of any trilogy faces, that you're expected to know what's going on and it doesn't go anywhere interesting. Even when the Covenant of Blood, the cursed ship, goes down with the Exalted one board the warband has already jumped ship to an identical one, albeit it with more lighting and a few different bits of decoration (oh and a problem with a bad smell!).

Personally though despite being a sequel and suffering everything that entails I think the book is a definite good read and a must have, I mean more relatable marines and chaos ones at that! What is the Black Library trying to do? Get me to start a Chaos force as well? I love the books and the characters and despite everything and that First Claw are the kind of dogs you should never turn your back on, I think I’m beginning to like them. So once again a solid novel from ADB and one that rates a solid four and a half again! What is it with me liking Chaos books again? I think I may have to turn myself in to the inquisition at this rate!!!

Available from:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/
Blood Reavers by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Softback, 416 pages • ISBN 9781849700382

Forge World Newsletter #277 - Heresy Era Heavies, Dark Eldar Vehicles & Transfers

As always the important bits reproduced below:

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Hi there, In this week’s newsletter we are excited to announce four great new products: an addition to our Dark Eldar range in the form of the terrifying Reaper, a Space Marine Heavy Weapons set, and two decal sheets for the Eldar and the Astral Claws.


Dark Eldar Reaper
Akin to the Ravager, the Reaper is a swift and deadly gunship. Its sleek, dart-like hull is built around a single, monstrously-powerful weapon codified by the Xenosavants of the Adeptus Biologis as a Storm Vortex projector. This cannon operates much like the smaller Haywire blaster, and unleashes a cascading pulse of electromagnetic energy that is far more powerful than anything possible in a hand weapon. The vortex chamber at the Reaper’s heart is a cage for howling energies harvested from the spires of Commorragh itself, which when combined with its speed and manoeuvrability makes the Reaper an elegant but still devastatingly lethal weapon when compared to the brutal armoured warfare practiced by lesser races.

The Dark Eldar Reaper is a complete resin and plastic kit which contains a plastic Dark Eldar Raider kit and a set of detailed resin conversion parts, designed by Stuart Williamson, which allow the reaper variant to be added to any Dark Eldar army.
Experimental rules for this sleek and powerful craft are available now to download from the Forge World website, and the Dark Eldar Reaper is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 27th June.


Space Marine Heavy Weapons Set
The noble Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes are supplied with weapons and armour by ancient alliance with the Adeptus Mechanicus. Some of the less common patterns of heavy weapons created by these techno-magi date from the hallowed and ancient days of the Great Crusade and the Astartes Legions of old. These shoulder-mounted patterns afford greater protection to the wielder as they allow less of the firer to be exposed to incoming enemy fire as they unleash their destructive salvo.

This Space Marine Heavy Weapons Set, designed by Phil Stutcinskas, contains four resin heavy weapons: a Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, Heavy Bolter and a Lascannon, as well as supporting and counter-balancing arms, and backpacks that can be used with the full range of both Citadel and Forge World Space Marine kits.
This detailed resin upgrade set is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 27th June.


New Astral Claws and Eldar Decal Sheets
Our final releases for this week’s newsletter are two new additions to our range of A4 Decal sheets, designed by Kenton Mills and Paul Rudge.

The Eldar Decal Sheet is packed with over 1,000 individual decals that are suitable for use on both vehicles and infantry. Craftworld, Path and Aspect runes are all included as well as unique runes for the doomed Craftworld of Mymeara and the Corsair bands of the Sky Reavers, Sunblitz Brotherhood and the notorious Void Dragons.

The eagerly-anticipated Astral Claws Decal Sheet contains over 500 Chapter badges, Tyrant’s Claw symbols, blazons and the Maelstrom Warders heraldry suitable for use on both vehicles and infantry. The sheet also contains Chapter badges for the ill-fated Tiger Claws Chapter and is packed with the Astral Claws ‘true’ lion-headed Chapter device as well as the heraldry of Lugft Huron that became synonymous with the notorious Badab War campaign.
Both of these decal sheets are available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing 27th June

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Liking the look of the heavy weapons but could do to be more "modern" but the look is good and well in line with the look of the pre-heresy range.
not a bad issue this month.

Forge World Newsletter #276 - Astral Claws Accessories

As always important bits are shown below:

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Hi there, This week sees the release of four hotly-anticipated Astral Claws upgrade sets. We’ve also got a few more details about Forge World’s presence at the Warhammer World Badab War Campaign weekend on the 25th - 26th June, further information about Games Day Chicago and a new date for your diary, Games Day Spain in Madrid on the 3rd July.


Astral Claws Upgrade kits
Prior to the Badab War, the noble Astral Claws were renowned for their duty, loyalty and victories in the name of the Emperor. Their fall from grace under the leadership of Lugft Huron is a cautionary tale to loyal Astartes Chapters of the dangers of hubris and pride amongst their kind.

These vehicle and infantry upgrade sets bear a variety of personalised heraldry, honorific badges and honour markings such as trophies and purity seals, and display the Tyrant’s Claw symbol that became synonymous with the Chapter during its Secession from the wider Imperium.

Designed by Simon Egan, the Astral Claws Rhino Door Set and Land Raider Door Set are compatible with the Space Marine Land Raider and Rhino vehicle kits available from both Games Workshop and Forge World.


Simon has also designed two detailed infantry upgrade sets for this most ill-famed of Chapters: the Astral Claws Shoulder Pads and Terminator Shoulder Pads. These accessories can be used with the full range of plastic and resin Space Marine infantry kits available from both Forge World and Games Workshop. All four of these upgrade sets are available to order now for immediate despatch.

Badab War Campaign Weekend – 25th - 26th June 2011
Warhammer World’s Events team are re-fighting the infamous Badab War campaign over the weekend of 25th - 26th June, and there are still a few tickets available for the Secessionist side of this bloody civil war.


The complete rules for army selection can be downloaded now as part of the event pack. Head over to www.games-workshop.com and you will find it in the Badab War event pages in the Warhammer World section of the website.

There will also be the opportunity to take part in some social wargaming on the Friday evening with Boarding Action mini games being played on specially made Raptorus Rex terrain boards. This will not contribute to the overall results of the campaign, but it will be a great way to meet new people, socialize and get in some practice with your army!


The Forge World team will also be present at the weekend, with a lavish Badab War display featuring miniatures and artwork in the Gaming Hall. Imperial Armour writer Alan Bligh will be on hand to answer your questions and wax lyrical about the dark and shadowed secrets of the Badab War in addition to hosting a ticket-only Q&A session on the Saturday evening.


A selection of our previous Show Only models will be on sale in limited numbers along with this year’s MkIII Armoured Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith, and one or two exclusive, unseen miniatures well in advance of their scheduled release dates. That’s all we can reveal for now, but more details will follow in future newsletters.


For more details about the campaign weekend, please contact Games Workshop Customer Service on 0115 91 40 000, the Events Team on 0115 900 4175 or e-mail whworldevents@games-workshop.co.uk.


Games Day Spain – 3rd July 2011
Forge World will be attending Games Day Spain 2011, held at the Pabellon de Convenciones at Casa del Campo in Madrid. Our sales team will be bringing a wide selection of the Warhammer Forge and Forge World range, including both of our Show Only models for 2011: the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith and MkIII Armoured Boarding Space Marine.


Games Day Chicago – 24th July 2011
Forge World will soon be returning to the US for Games Day Chicago 2011, held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Centre. Forge World sculptors Will Hayes and Mark Bedford will be accompanying our intrepid sales team and a huge selection of the Forge World and Warhammer Forge range, including our Show Only MkIII Armoured Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith, will be available on the day.


We are now accepting reservation orders for both Games Day Chicago and Games Day Spain, and this is the best way of ensuring that we will have exactly the models you’re looking for, packed up and waiting for you to pay for on the day.


To place a reservation order, please send an e-mail entitled ‘Games Day Chicago Reservation’ or ‘Games Day Spain Reservation’ to fwreservations@games-workshop.co.uk, making sure to provide your full name and a list of the items you’d like to reserve.


You can also phone the Forge World Customer Service team on 011 44 115 916 8177 from the US and Canada or 00 44 115 916 8177 from much of Europe.


Thanks, Ead Brown, Customer Service Manager, Forge World

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Nice pads lets hope there are more things to come for all of the IA chapters/

Imperial Armour 10: The Badab War – Part 2 - Book Review

Imperial Armour 10: The Badab War – Part 2 - Alan Bligh et al.

Once again having just completed the latest Imperial Armour book from Forgeworld I thought it would be a good idea to treat you to a good in depth review, however once again Gotthammer over at Collegia Titanica already beat me to it. So rather then write something that pales in to comparison next to his work I thought i would check with him and then post it over here. so for the most impressive review of an Imperial Armour book to date check out the Collegia Titanica here:

Collegia Titanica: Full indepth and detailed Imperial Armour 10: The Badab War - Part 2 Review

For me IA:10 was excellent, more reviewing of the fluff of the vehicles is nice as its something you can never have enough of, not to mention the mention of a medium Marine tank out there in the aether somewhere! I found that when reading this that whilst all the chapters were really well written about I felt that the Space Sharks and Mantis warriors needed more (the Mantis Warriors especially after the Deathwatch novels - I mean are they forgiven or still on the crusade?) but that was probably because they were the two chapters that most caught my eye!
Also given the Mantis Warriors were big contributors of Marines to the ranks of the Deathwatch what happened to their Marines on secondment, or infact Marines from any of the Successionist Chapters that were not "at home" as it were? That to me was the only real bit of fluff I would liked to have seen answered, who knows in a Garro style there may have been loyal Astral Claws on secondment within the Imperium, what happened to them?
My other favourite parts though were the colour plates, the way the armour was mixed so mk3 and mk8 were mixed up with other mks on one Marine was great, to me it answered a lot of questions I had about looks and is now gonna cost me a fortune in FW models. The well thought out schemes and vehicle markings shown on these colour plates are always what make the FW books for me, below are some examples.

Some of the little snippets, side notes and events suchs as those involving the Salamanders, Astral Claws and Executioners - the Red Hour or even The Doom of Hive Dominar should be written as a novel! Infact the Badab campaign could be the next Horus Heresy style novel chain for the BL - if only! My only complaint was the ending, too short and not enough clear up. The story just seemed to end with little or no details on what happened next, any follow up skirmished or subjagation of rebal populations of civilians or what the Claws did on their charge for the eye.

For me the overall rating for this book is a 5 because even though the end was so very short the overall look of the book and its partner just made it worth the obscene amounts of money it is from FW!

Availible from:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk

Imperial Armour 10: The Badab War – Part 2 - Alan Bligh et al.
Hardback, 208pp

Imperial Armour 9: The Badab War – Part 1 - A Review

Imperial Armour 9: The Badab War – Part 1 - Alan Bligh et al.

Having just completed the latest Imperial Armour book from Forgeworld I thought it would be a good idea to treat you to a good in depth review, however someone already beat me to it. So rather then write something that pales in to comparison next to his work I thought i would check with him and then post it over here. so for the most impressive review of an Imperial Armour book to date check out the Collegia Titanica here:

Collegia Titanica: Full indepth and detailed Imperial Armour 9: The Badab War - Part 1 Review

As im sure you can appreciate the whole review above is superb. The detail is something I like and the points raised are good. I agree with the most part and find that I liked pretty much the same as most others. The issue many people seems to have is the Griffons and their alternative colour scheme, personally i like it and a mixed force of them would look good.
The main thing for me though was the rules on boarding action, basiaclly a poor mans vbersion of Space Hulk but will definately lead to some interesting games. the little idiosincracies it opens up and the scope for some decent terrain is great.
The other rules for the Tyrants Legion again open up some great modelling options and if on rechecking its an official list it to me is the best Inquisitonal list to date, personally its how i think Grey Knights should work. the inclusion of human guardsmen and unique marine squads makes it a list worth seeing.
The book has certainly made me reconsider my upcoming projects, and depending on part 2 looks like i could be a very busy and poor individual in the new year. Tomorrow i will try to post some preliminary lists and ideas i have for forces for the new year.

Overall the book is amazingly well put together and bar the odd spelling mistake the fluff is excellent. the rules for the most part seem well rounded and the "new aspect" to the game play makes it work. Linked with the awesome artwork and the new models Forgeworld have released this book gets a solid 5 out of 5 from me! Well done Forgeworld!!

Availible from:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk
Imperial Armour 9: The Badab War – Part 1 - Alan Bligh et al.
Hardback, 208pp