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The Las Vegas Open was this weekend, and I eagerly stayed up late to watch the reveal show. And… it was kinda worth staying up? Honestly, I really liked a lot of the stuff they showed off and disliked very little of it–but these reveal shows need some serious help. I do not know why they prattle on and on like they need to pad out the program. They don’t, as far as I can tell, have any need to stretch the show into a full hour. They could easily just not ramble nearly as long and it would all be fine.

That said, let’s get onto the models.

Warhammer 40,000 — Las Vegas Open Reveals

The Brutalis Dreadnought is a close combat dreadnought with some really nasty looking claws (and fists, but seriously, we’re taking the claws.) I love everything about this dreadnought–I mean, I like dreadnoughts a lot anyway, and just making him chunkier isn’t going to have me complain. The Redemptor is a good dreadnought, and this is just a beefed-up version of it, but that beef does a lot of heavy lifting. I really love everything about it.

Next we have something which I have seen getting a lot of hate online, and I can KINDA see why people don’t like them so much, but I’m definitely buying them anyway. And that’s the Desolation Squad Space Marines. People have been making fun of these Space Marines, which appear to be filling the Devastator Squad role, because their guns don’t seem to fit their bodies. And they don’t. Their guns look too long for their bodies and they seem like they’re going to tip right over. I think that the problem is that the guns are just too long and too beefy, and the Space Marines don’t have any compensating weight. They should have heftier power packs or Gravis armor, or something like that. At the very least they should have something more to hold these up with than a simple trigger handgrip.

That said, I will 100% be buying these guys and trying to maker a go of them. The Primaris have needed a heavy weapon squad for a long time and as much as I love the Heavy Intercessors–and I do–Bolters are kinda boring? It’s nice to see some missile launchers in there. (But seriously: the Heavy Intercessors have big beefy armor, so why can’t the Desolation Squad?)

Moving on, we’ve got a Primaris Lieutenant and… he’s fine. The selling point for him is that he’s very customizable, that you can build him in a couple dozen different variations, and I’m happy about that. I’ve just never cared for Lieutenants–and it’s not even the fact that there are a ton of Primaris Lieutenants. It’s just that if you’re going to have an HQ unit, make him something better–a Captain or something. Lieutenants are weak sauce.

I am tempted to pick up this boxed set, though. I like the Brutalis and I like the Heavy Intercessors and I like the Desolation Squad well enough.

The next Las Vegas Open Reveals were things that we’ve already seen but which were exciting nonetheless: Wrath of the Soul Forge King is a boxed set that contains both Dark Angels and Vashtorr the Arkifane.

We’ve already seen all of these models before, but this is the first chance that anyone has to get their hands on Vashtorr and Azrael, and I think that will be reason enough for people to pick this box up–because I have yet to hear a soul complain about the Vashtorr model. My money is on him to be in the top three best models of 2023, and it’s only January.

I have two complaints about this box, though. First, we’ve already seen Obliterators and the Venomcrawler before, and they’re not terribly exciting. But whatever. Also, and more importantly, this is, I think, the first boxed set to include Terminators since the Primaris launched? Is that right? If it is, then this is probably(?) an indication that the Primaris are not going to have their own breed of Terminator. I really wanted to see these as some kind of scaled-up, beefed-up Terminator, but they seem to be First Born. Oh well.

Age of Sigmar — Las Vegas Open Reveals

Now this is something that I am VERY excited about. I’ve been a long time collector of Seraphon, and especially the larger models–I want dinosaurs and am less interested in Skinks and Sauruses. And this new release delivers with the Slann Starmaster and Raptadon Chargers and Raptadon Hunters.

The Slann Starmaster is very Lord Kroak without being a unique HQ–but this is almost as impressive a model as Kroak is nonetheless. I love the opportunity for customization in the headdress and accoutrements. I also kinda like how it is floating so perfectly on such tiny supports–BUUUTTT… That means those supports are going to be extremely delicate and that if they break you’re screwed. I mean, it’s no worst than the clear plastic flight stands, and it looks better, but seriously, this is just waiting to get damaged in transit to a game.

The Raptadons are awesome, and I have no complaints about them whatsoever. They are SUPER Jurassic Park, but that’s fine, because I collect Seraphon because I like dinosaurs. It’s fun to see them as feathered dinosaurs, though, and I really like their heads–which look like they could be made entirely from bone? The circular thing in the jaw looks like it’s ornamentation, which makes it seem like these faces are actually masks, but the rest of them doesn’t look like it would be a mask. So I don’t know.

Also, there are some Saurus Warriors, which admittedly look a lot better than the previous Saurus Warriors, but still, I don’t buy Seraphon for Skinks and Sauruses.

Warhammer Underworlds — Las Vegas Open Reveals

I’m going to say something that might be controversial but whatever: I think they need to discontinue the Daughters of Khaine. I do not like them whatsoever. And no, it’s not because they’re women warriors or because they’re scantily clad–it’s because I think they cross the line of fun “Blood for the Blood God!” and into unsettling “This is a big bathtub full of blood and everything about us is about blood.” And, granted, a lot of people really like their models to be unsettling and their wargames to be psychopathic.

But why are they in the Grand Alliance of Order? I do not understand this. (Well, I’ve read the lore and I understand it. I just don’t like it.)

Warcry — Las Vegas Open Reveals

So, I love this box, but I’m not going to buy it. Fool me once, Warcry, shame on you, fool me like five times, and shame the heck on me.

The Askurgan Trueblades are some pretty impressive looking Soulblight Gravelords. I’m not a big vampire fan, but I can appreciate good vampire models. And there really are some great models here. I love the guy with the hood, and I love the werewolfy guy.

The Claws of Karanak are impressive–gorgeous, really. I love everything about them.

Here’s my complaint with Warcry–and I’ve been burned many times: the models look fantastic, but they are extremely detailed and very small. They’re about the closest thing that Age of Sigmar has to truescale miniatures. But when you combine ALL THE DETAIL with tiny miniatures, they are very, very hard to paint.

Maybe this is a me thing. I like the game. I just like the game when I’m playing with other Age of Sigmar warbands. I have seriously bought the Corvus Cabal, the Chaos Legionairres, the Unmade, and the two warbands in the Red Harvest box. And the only things that I enjoyed painting out of any of them was the terrain in the Red Harvest box. That’s the best part of Warcry: the terrain. It’s been good in every single box.

The Horus Heresy — Las Vegas Open Reveals

We got the Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer, and I like it but I don’t love it. Well, I do love it, but I’m not excited about it, if that makes sense. Like, out of all the Horus Heresy vehicles we’ve seen so far, they’ve all been great, but this one isn’t the greatest. I would much sooner buy a Deimos Pattern tank, or a Sicaran or a Kratos Heavy Tank. They’re all great, I just think that the Land Raider Proteus chassis, which the Cerberus is based on, isn’t the greatest.

Kill Team — Las Vegas Open Reveals

In the complete opposite of my complaints about Warcry is Kill Team. I have indulged in buying a lot of the Kill Teams: the Veteran Guardsmen, the Legionaires, the Pathfinders, the Novtiates, the Kommandos, the Blooded, and the Corsair Voidscarred (wow, that was more than I thought) and I have loved painting every one of them, with the exception of the Novitiates.

And these new ones look to be a lot of fun. There is no doubt I will be buying the Adeptus Astartes Exaction Squad. They’re terrific miniatures. I love the almost medieval look of their armor–it looks like it could be something a knight would wear, except for the helmets, which look sci-fi. (I don’t like the leader’s ornate headdress. That doesn’t seem to fit.) But the dog is fantastic, and, well all of them are fantastic. This is an auto buy.

But, I’m just not excited about the Drukhari. And the terrain looks like the same terrain, for all intents and purposes, as the terrain from Shadowvaults. I know they want to have some kind of ongoing narrative about things taking place on a space hulk, but I don’t know why we’d want two sets of walls. (Yes, there are a few interesting things with these walls, but are the different enough?)

Anyway, I think I’m just going to buy the Adeptus Arbites on eBay from someone who splits up the Soulshackle box, rather than pay for the terrain and the Drukhari, too.

Conclusion

The Las Vegas Open reveals were about as interesting as I expected. They showed some cool stuff, but nothing groundbreaking. I think they’re saving big reveals for Adepticon and Warhammerfest. That’s when we’re going to get the news about Warhammer 40k 10th Edition.

Some fun stuff here, though.