Let’s start with the first big thing, which is the fact that I was so certain that I was not going to care about the Black Library releases that I didn’t even watch the livestream yesterday, so I missed the awesome introduction of miniatures for Gaunt’s Ghosts.

The Gaunt’s Ghosts miniatures are awesome for several reasons. The first is that they are sculpted based on beloved characters from a beloved series, and speaking as an author I find that just so incredibly cool. I would love to see my characters realized in such beautiful detail, because–that’s the second thing–the sculpts are not just good sculpts, but they’re character based sculpts. And by that I mean that they’re not Awesome Guy Standing In Power Pose (with maybe the exception of Gaunt himself) but each pose and facial expression is based on that character’s backstory.

Take this guy, for instance: Colonel Colm Corbec. This is a character who has seen a thing or two in his life, and has lived to tell the tale. His gun is not elaborate, per se, but it almost has the feel of being old, like a collector’s piece. Colm Corbec has lived with this gun, and he’s lived in that cloak, and he’s lived with that beard, for a long time.

Each one of these sculpts tells a story. They’re not in combat poses, with the exception of Master Sniper Hlaine Larkin–they’re just waiting for action. There is a pause in the fighting, or it’s the dawn before a raid, and they’re calm and collected, ready for the tussle. My favorite, hands down, is Sergeant Scout Oan Mkoll, who looks like he has used that knife on SO many throats and there will be more blood spilled with it today. But… for now he rests. The addition of the weedy tree is excellent for his pose–more than just the Tactical Rock, but the way that he’s living in the tree. I get the feeling that all of these Gaunt’s Ghosts are waiting in a swamp for some signal to go into battle.

But moving on to:

WarhammerFest Day 4: Boxed Games

I think it’s safe to say that, at this point, if they haven’t announced a print-on-demand version of Cursed City, they never will. I still hold out hope that they’ll release the models individually later without the game or its expansions, but I think the game is officially dead. I still am reluctant to target any group in particular with the blame. It doesn’t seem to be marketing’s fault, and it doesn’t seem to be development’s fault. The PR problems almost certainly are coming from the top down, so that’s not good, but I get the feeling Games Workshop is feeling equally screwed on this whole deal as we are. Whether it’s tariffs and Brexit or Suez Canal or some other supply chain screw up, I can’t place any blame on anyone as being malicious, and Games Workshop (seems to be) to savvy to make a mistake of this magnitude through their own efforts.

But that’s enough of Cursed City.

Direchasm: Elathain’s Soulraid

On to the first thing that I really didn’t care about (but kinda cared about) which is the new Direchasm box. I’ve said before that I love the particularly high quality sculpts in the Direchasm line (although I just sold my Crimson Court on eBay because I was dissatisfied with them). But I just don’t love the Age of Sigmar elves. Not the Lumineth Realmlords or the Sylvaneth or the Idoneth Deepkin. (I totally admit that there are things I LOVE about the Idoneth Deepkin, but they are the giant sea turtle and the guys riding sharks.) But none of the things I love about the Idoneth are the elves themselves, so of the five models in this box, three of them were not to my taste at all. I recognize people may love them, but totally not my bag.

But the two things that I absolutely loved were the fish and the crab. The fish looks like a fish that you might see in any aquarium until you look at his face and that menace that he’s showing, like he is going to mess you up. The crab is more of just a cool fantasy crab, but hey–I’ll take a cool fantasy crab any day.

Necromunda: House of Shadow

I love House Delaque anyway, and I am a total fanboy for almost anything Necromunda. I love the aesthetic of the world, and I love how that is translated down into the models. I love how they are definitely in the universe of 40k, but they are decidedly not 40k armies. The developers have done a fantastic job of getting the tone and feel just right.

There is something about these guys that is just so ghoulish and evil. It’s not that you wouldn’t want to run into them in a dark alley–you wouldn’t want to run into them in the bright sunshine of a public park. I don’t know exactly what their role is and what they’re trying to acquire, but it seems like they’re after more than just killing you. They want to take parts of you for some evil plan.

And then this thing is just so alien and inhuman that I don’t know what to think of it. Some kind of machine with the remnants of living flesh attached to it. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care. I want one.

Aeronautica Imperialis

So I admit that they had me fooled with the teaser for this, thinking that they actually were going to be releasing a plastic Thunderhawk Gunship. But in my defense (and for the sake of deifying the painters, look at this thing. This photo is an enlarged view of the Thunderhawk Gunship, and every littlest detail has been edge highlighted. I’ve painted Aeronautica Imperialis before, and they are not big, so if you’re getting the idea that this was a small feat then think again. This took some frigging skill.

Conclusion

So it was a pretty good day for WarhammerFest. I think it’s absolutely a lock to say that tomorrow is going to be ORKS ORKS ORKS, and I don’t think anyone would put money against the idea that Saturday is going to be Age of Sigmar 3.0. It MAYBE won’t be, but it seems like the time has come for it, especially since the release of Kragnos and the end of the Soul Wars (plus 3 years seems to be typical for new editions.)

What did you see that you loved? Do you like the Idoneth Deepkin more than I do? Leave a comment below!