Jeff: I’ve said it before, outside of Space Hulk and Necromunda the 40k setting hasn’t done much for me in the past. However, with Dark Future being an old favorite of mine, Speed Freeks looks like it might have what it takes to make it a 40k triad. Long ago, there were rumors that the Dark Future setting was possibility the start of the 40k universe as we know it. Where it all began. I’m digging how the art on the rulebook and shields look like a homage to the cover of the single DF expansion, White Line Fever. All this said, I’m not sure I have the space or time for a two player game this big. Well, the initial picture makes it look two player only. It would be in competition with Space Hulk and Blood Bowl. Two, 2-player warhorses that have never been unseated in this space. I’m also not sure how fast the sense of speed will feel in the game. Add in all the painting of the orcs and vehicles, and despite the Fury Road love, I’m not sure I will add this to the collection. It may be a case where I’d love to paint up a little gang to play on someone else’s set.

Casey: I’ve never had much interest in playing orks (though I love everything they bring to 40k), but my buddy and I did play Gorkamorka when it first came out. I was fun, though I usually got my teef knocked out by my opponent. While Speed Freeks shares some DNA, it’s not the second coming of Gorkamorka. It just doesn’t look like it plays the same. There’s no models on foot running around or falling off trukks. It looks like there’s some sort of secret dice-rolling mechanic which looks interesting. The buggy models are brilliant looking. Looks like the bikes are the same models that are currently available, but those are still really good models as well. The warboss on trike that’s also coming out during Orktober also looks insanely awesome. I think ork players are going to have a lot of fun this fall. I don’t think I’ll buy into this box, but if someone in my game group really got into it, I could give it a shot.

James: Hands down this is a box of some fantastic looking models.  Each of the new models is leaps and bounds over their predecessors in every category!  Would I invest in this game?  Probably not unfortunately.  If this had been the new Gorkamorka then I would have been all over it and ready to turn in my hard earned teef to own it.  Alas, I just don’t see how this game would work.  Dark future had the ability to play on an endless road that generated randomly as you drove.  This game it just looks like you’d be driving around in a big circle trying to kill each other.  Could it be a great game?  Quite possibly!  It’s just not the type of game I see myself investing in.  If I had dreams of an orc army then certainly.  Maybe in the future if I could develop a quick and quality way of painting orc skin it would be a consideration.  Overall though, excellent models.

Jeff: These heads look fantastic and show GWs commitment to more diversity. Good sculpts.

Casey: Good looking heads, I kind of feel the same way as the weapons preview and that is I’d rather just see the whole models when they are finished. Looking forward to these.

James: Never really followed the lady marines so I am rather ambivalent by them being put into production. The heads look fine and I like the raised visor on the one.

Jeff: Another game I’d like to play. And to be honest, I think I like the look of this hero on his way to his Knight maybe a little better than the Knight itself.

Casey: Maybe if I get into Adeptus Titanicus these could be of use, but I have no interest in owning any 40k scale knights. The model on foot is pretty cool though.

James: A humorous video to show off a transfer sheet.  I don’t recall that much advertising going into a sheet paper before but perhaps for 40K players it’s a big deal.

Jeff: Perfect for putting together my GSC KT with. I’ll have to be sure to do that in the near future.

Casey: Another nice online tool. I’d like to play around with it while I dream of getting into Kill Team.

James:  This I am looking forward too. Hopefully it will be a helpful tool to help pass the time at work putting together kill teams for fun. I used the Blood Bowl app one time and that was that. Hopefully this would be more helpful.

Jeff: I’m generally not a webcomic guy, but I’ve read all the Roll Models strips, so…maybe I am? I might check these out, but unless there are plenty of general hobby jokes, I may not get some of them.

Casey: Meh.

Jeff: Here we go. This is the announcement I was looking forward to. It appears as if this setting is actually also within the city of Shadespire. The NightVault is a location in or under the city? I’m not 100% sure, but sounds like that’s the case. The Briar Queen model is incredible and it love it when GW takes side characters that get little blurbs in Battletombs and drops them in actual titles. I think I’m one of the few AoS players that prefer the older SCE models though. I like the simplicity of the Liberators over the new Chamber with all the robes and faces…more to paint. Hard to comment on what little I know of the rules, but I was hoping they wouldn’t allow cards across the seasons/settings. I get it’s a way to maybe help out some underperforming warbands, but I fear seeing some of the same neutral cards over and over. I kind of liked the idea of each setting having warbands that could battle each other, but the cards where unique to the setting. I mean, would a shardglass card make sense in a non-Shadespire setting? Seems we’re losing the ability to make each setting unique as they come out. Oh well, I can maybe do some restricting in-house. I’m also curious to see how they bolt on a magic system. I would have thought magic could be handled as simple as an upgrade card or a type of attack. A whole new type of card and dice though. Eh. Still, I’m excited to get all these warbands. Oh, speaking of that…love the troggoth and the squig. I’ll probably not use the tall mushrooms for propping up the squig though. Maybe I’m old school, but I still much prefer the clear flyer stands to having part of the base holding up a flying model.

Casey: Here we go! We’ve been talking about Warhammer Underworlds amongst ourselves quite a bit lately. The Briar Queen is most excellent! I was expecting a Knight of Shrouds type model to be the warband leader, but I love that we’re getting one of these banshee things along with the normal chainrasp type models. I’m disappointed we’re three stormcast warbands in and still no sight of a gryph-hound, but I think the evocators and incantor look quite cool. I find them much more interesting than the liberators and farstriders. I like the idea of magic, but I hope it does more stuff than just be a ranged attack. I’m happy the sets are cross compatible. I’m sure we’ll get to a point where we’ll have to start seeing card restrictions in tournament play, but we’re only two seasons into Underworlds so the cardpool isn’t really all that big.

James: There has been a lot of speculation about the contents of Nightvault so to finally see some models.  The Briar-wench is a nice looking model along with the rest of her crew.  There seems to be one gentlemen sporting a set of keys as a weapon, I’m sure there is some back story there.  The Briar-wench is a cool looking model so all in all a nice looking crew.  The Stormcasts…. Well I guess the models aren’t bad, it just seems ridiculous that this is the third stormcast group when there are many factions yet to represented once.  I understand that these guys are the heroes of the game but I am imagine there are plenty of people out there wanting to see their factions represented.

The moonclan pictures that have been previewed are not my favorite.  The description of the faction of goblins sprouting mushrooms sounds humorous, but when you see the models and there are sombrero sized mushrooms coming off of them then the idea just becomes lame.  Sometimes less is more.  The troll model looks great with the occasional small mushroom springing up, but once you get to the huge ones it just doesn’t work in my opinion.

I hope the magic phase is not too complex or powerful as that could harm the current rosters that aren’t using any.

Jeff: It’s not clear to me what this is. A video game? Khorne v Slaanesh deamons fighting in the Realm of Chaos? I guess this takes place outside the Mortal Realms, so doesn’t have anything to do with Slaanesh’s return in AoS? Is it a stand-alone game or just models for armies like Blight War?

Casey: I. Must. Know. More. I was a bit too young to be in on the old Realm of Chaos and all the oldhammer goodness, but over the past couple of years I’ve read up on the old Realm of Chaos books and their zany warband creation systems. I’d love to see that same kind of thing happen with this box. It’s supposed to have new models that can be used for AoS and 40k. As a recent convert to Slaanesh, I’m really looking forward to whatever this is.

James: Wasn’t sure about this so was a bit excited until I saw the video.  I was thinking of warbands in the realm of chaos battling it out endlessly.  Then I saw the video.  If its just bloodletters versus daemonettes then I’m not interested at all.  Bloodletters are some of my least favorite GW models.

Jeff: Cool model, but is a perfect demonstration of one of my issues with games that come from some other licensed sources. I assume this model is Gandalf and Pippen because of the story. So…gamers need to be held to that same situation? I can’t do Sam riding with Gandalf? Legolas on the back? I’d prefer just a no named Middle-Earth wizard that i could create my own backstory for. However, as one who has enjoyed some historical games, perhaps it’s best to view the LotR line through that same lens….most of the main players and situations are in place…gamers just relive the battles seeing if they can produce a different outcome?

Casey: Sweet mother of Mearas! Shadowfax looks amazing! Now that’s what I’d call a noble steed. Gandalf the White looks great too, really capturing Sir Ian McKellen as the white wizard. I’ve heard that Pippin is either option or can be removed as a separate dismount from Gandalf. In the Middle-earth game characters and warriors can dismount from their horses (or wargs) or have their mounts killed from under them but survive to continue the fight. It would be interesting to see if Gandalf could drop Pippin off somewhere to capture some objective then streak off on the speedy Shadowfax.

James: Still waiting to see some new models for the factions I like (all the bad guys) before I get excited about this relaunch.  The plastic Middle-earth Orcs are some of the laziest sculpted models I’ve seen. Once those are fixed I’ll be excited about Battle Companies.

Jeff: Is this the first time one title/brand has spawned games in both GW universes? I assume Blackstone Fortress will use similar rules as Silver Tower and Shadows Over Hammeral. I wonder though, does this new announcement now overshadow Rogue Trader? Has the hype on that died already?

Casey: YASSS! This has been a dream of mine for a long time. I thought Kill Team: Rogue Trader was going to be as close to a 40k dungeon crawler as we’d ever see. I’m really excited to see this. If it just happened to include an eldar exodite model (unlikely, I know, but elves have got to be included in a dungeon crawler in some form right?) I might just pee my pants. No, the hype hasn’t died on Rogue Trader, but that’s going to be in the Kill Team rules set. Totally different style of game.

James: A very interesting game.  If you don’t know anything about the blackstone fortresses then check them out online.  My first run in with them was with the Battlefleet Gothic game.  They played an integral part of the story during the game history and the whole idea of the ancient battle stations being repurposed by the imperium is cool.  In Abaddon’s 13^th black crusade (version 2) they played a bigger part in the fall of Cadia.  For a Warhammer quest game I think it makes a wonderful backdrop for the setting.  If they can pump the same kind of models they did with silver tower then I think this game will fly off the shelves.

All in all I can’t keep up with all these GW releases.  How can they continue to pump out such enticing products.  GW, set my wallet free!!!!