The Lords of Titan have arrived...

The new Grey Knights models are now available for pre-order. Take a look at the some of the new kits, including the Nemesis Dreadknight here.

New Blood Angels vehicles available for order

Finally! An official photo of the Stormraven.

A while back I was scratching around the internet, reading threads on various Warhammer 40,000 forums, and came across a conversation about the Stormraven. Until recently there have been no official photos or even concept artwork of the vehicle. This has not stopped some modellers converting their own Stormravens based on the description of it being able to carry a squad of ten Space Marines and a Dreadnought. While most of these conversions are merely a Land Raider with Valkyrie wings stuck on, there are other very good looking conversions out there.

More recently additional hype was generated over the Stormraven, as in November 2010 a picture of the model was 'leaked' on the Games Workshop website, and quickly disappeared. Today Games Workshop has again released pictures of a Stormraven as part of a Blood Angels Sample Army List: Death from the Skies, as well as make the model available for order.

Three Stormraven Gunships and their passengers. Image from Games Workshop.

As well as releasing the Stormraven model, it appears there is a new kit for the Furioso Dreadnought, which includes additional pieces to assemble either a Librarian or Death Company variant. Either way, they all look part.

Grey Knights to get an update

Games Workshop have just announced that a new Codex for the Grey Knights will be released in April (Full article here. Registration required). To coincide with the Codex: Grey Knights, a "comprehensive range of fantastically detailed Citadel miniatures... [comprising]... an exciting selection of plastic kits [enabling] you to build your own Grey Knights army" will be made available too. No further details regarding any of the new products have been released yet. 

I have liked the look of the Grey Knights and even considered starting out with them. That was until I found out that the figures were almost exclusively cast in metal, and therefore a bit pricey, especially as a starting point. I'm quite excited about these new products, as they will make adding a few Grey Knights to a collection a more  affordable venture.

Classic Space Marine models re-released

The silly season is just about over and everything is returning to normal. But before everyone goes back to work or school,  Games Workshop has provided a bit of news to get excited about. On Wednesday several classic Space Marine models were made available for advance order: 

Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines and Lord of Macragge.

Bjorn the Fell-handed (left), of the Space Wolves, is reportedly the oldest warrior still serving the Imperium, while Njal Stormcaller (right) is the most powerful Rune Priest (akin to the Librarians of other chapters) of the Space wolves Chapter. Models not shown to scale.

As well re-releasing these three 'classic' sculps, Games Workshop has made the Ultramarines Chapter Champion and Marneus Clagar's two Honour Guards available for advance order. Previously these models were only available in an Ultramarines box set that also included the Chapters Standard Bearer and  Marneus Calgar in Tactical Dreadnought (terminator) armour.

Contents of the Marneus Calgar & Honour Guard set, fom left to right; Honour Guard 1, Chapter Standard Bearer, Marneus Calgar, Honour Guard 2 & Chapter Champion.

while it is nice to have some of these available to order separately, especially for those who may already have an old sculpt of Calgar, the set is a more cost effective option to those who wish to add Marneus Calgar, Honour Guard and Chapter Champion to their army. For a similar price as buying the available models separately, including the older Calgar sculpt, one can get the box set. As a 'bonus' the set also includes the Chapter Standard Bearer, which has yet to be released as a single figure.

I would like to add all of the the Ultramarine models shown above eventually, except perhaps for the older Calgar sculpt. I much prefer the look of the Marneus Calgar model in Terminator armour, as there is a lot more detail in his armour, and I'm this model would have a greater presence on the battlefield due to its heightened stature. Although I wouldn't mind owning both Calgar models, perhaps fielding the one in regular power armour for city battles where movement space might be a limiting factor.

Malcador Infernus revealed

Instead of sending only the final piece of the Christmas Jigsaw, Forge World has sent an image of the completed tank. Named the 'Malcador infernus', the business end consists of a fairly substantial flamer. Some of the comments I've seen around the forums suggest that this weapon may even be a Titan-grade flamer like the Inferno Gun. Either way this weapon is sure to have a devastating effect.

I like the look of this tank, as it is thoughtfully engineered. For instance the cockpit is offset, such that the crew's view would not be obscured by the heat haze this weapon is sure to generate when fired. Since the weapon is not mounted on a turret, the tank would have to engage its target head on, allowing for the trailer, which I'm assuming would store the weapons's fuel (perhaps liquid promethium), to be shielded from most frontal attacks. Protection of the trailer could be enhanced if several Malcador Infernus tanks rolled into battle in formation abreast of one another with heavy vehicles covering their flanks. An advantage of having the fuel stored externally on the trailer, is that if hit, the resulting blast may not be as devastating to the vehicles' crew and structural integrity as had the reservoirs been mounted on the chassis.

There is already talk of players wanting to field Ork and Chaos variants of the tank so I am looking forward to seeing some heavily modified versions of this model next year.