Bolt Action – Third Edition Core Rules
When the first edition of Bolt Action hit the shelves, Warlord Games promised nothing less than to do for historical wargaming what Games Workshop once did for science fiction: an accessible rule set, a huge miniature range and lots of supplements, all from a single source. That got me hooked from day one. Back in 2017 I reviewed the second edition rules and described it as a careful update, errata and community feedback worked in, a few new ideas like officer orders and HE templates, and twelve more pages than before.
The third edition of Bolt Action was released in autumn 2024, and I have to admit that I did not feel the urge to switch right away. The second edition and its vast library of supplements served me well for years. But now a lot of material for the new edition is out, so it is time for a proper look. And this is not a careful update. This is the first real overhaul since Bolt Action was launched.
Just like the previous editions, the third edition was written by Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, who have been with Bolt Action since its very first days. It is available in English, German, French and Spanish for 38 GBP or 44.50 EUR, as a hardback, a mini-softcover and digital PDF. This review is based on the German hardcover and the English PDF, both provided as review samples.
As usual, the rulebook comes with a free special miniature when ordered directly from Warlord Games or selected retailers. This time it is Sergeant Francis S. Currey, a fitting choice as the accompanying starter set covers the Battle of the Bulge. Born in 1925 in Loch Sheldrake, New York, Currey served with Company K, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. On 21 December 1944 near Malmedy, his position came under attack by German armour and infantry. He found a bazooka in a nearby building, crossed a street under heavy fire to fetch rockets and knocked out a tank, then drove the enemy off with grenades and a machine gun so that five of his comrades could escape. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in July 1945 and died in 2019. Fun fact: he was the first Medal of Honor recipient to be turned into a G.I. Joe action figure.
Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 Super Mega Set
Back in 2019 I introduced you to Munchkin Warhammer 40,000, the crossover of Steve Jackson Games' card game classic and the grim darkness of the far future. Over the following years we covered the German releases of the supplements as well: Faith and Firepower, Savagery and Sorcery and Cults and Cogs. After that, the German line went quiet. Three more supplements were released in English, but never made it into a German box. Until now.
With the Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 Super-Mega-Set, Pegasus Spiele puts the complete line into one big box. Base game, all six supplements, accessories and a handful of promo items. For three of those supplements, Rank and Vile (Abscheuliche Ränge), Storming the Warp (Die Erstürmung des Warps) and Grudges and Gore (Groll und Gemetzel), this is the very first German release.
What is it about?
If you have never played Munchkin, here is the short version. Munchkin is a card game that parodies classic roleplaying. You kick down doors, fight monsters, grab their loot and level up. The first player to reach level 10 wins. That sounds like a cooperative dungeon crawl, but it is the exact opposite. Everybody at the table wants to reach level 10 first, so you help each other only if it pays off, and you happily stab your friends in the back the moment they are about to win.
Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 takes this formula into the 41st millennium. Instead of becoming an elf or a dwarf, you join an Army. Instead of a sword +2 you carry a bolter, and instead of an orc you face a Pink Horror of Tzeentch. The real fun lies in the details, though. Many cards do not just play in the Warhammer universe, they play in the Warhammer hobby. You suffer a curse because you forgot your terrain at home, an unpainted enemy miniature loses five levels, and a converted model gives you a bonus. Designer Andrew Hackard and illustrator John Kovalic, a self-confessed 40k fan, clearly know both the lore and the hobby. Over 700 cards later, I am still amazed how few of them feel like random Codex names slapped onto generic cards.
The Super-Mega-Set is exclusive to the German market. Pegasus already did the same for classic Munchkin, putting the fantasy base game and its expansions into one box, and now the Warhammer 40,000 line gets the same treatment. All of the content is available in English, but only as separate products, the oldest of them since 2019 and the most recent one, Grudges and Gore, only since early 2026.
Stargrave – Acceptable Losses
The latest supplement for Stargrave is due on 19 November 2026, and I received a review copy of Acceptable Losses ahead of the release. After the treasure hunts of the earlier books, Joseph A. McCullough points the independent crews at a different job: soldiers for hire. Instead of chasing loot tokens for their own profit, they take contracts, fight for an employer and get paid whether the mission goes well or not. To support that, the book brings heavier armour, vehicles, mines, drop deployment, teleportation and artillery.
What is it about?
The Last War is over, but its leftovers are still lying around: combat armour, tanks, teleporters and orbital weapons. Acceptable Losses lets independent crews put that hardware to use. McCullough spent 15 years at Osprey Publishing and calls himself a fan and student of military history, and the introduction makes clear how much he enjoys military science fiction. He even adds a list of his favourite books in the genre, from Armor and The Forever War to Gaunt's Ghosts.
The book does not try to turn Stargrave into a platoon level wargame. McCullough describes it as a collection of ideas, parts and pieces, and you can use one rule, a few of them or everything. If you want Stargrave with bigger guns, you can bolt a vehicle onto an otherwise normal scenario. If you want a more classic red versus blue game, the scenarios give you exactly that. He also adds a warning that fits the whole supplement: the point of Stargrave has never been building an unbeatable army, and there is no fun in fielding a main battle tank if your opponent has nothing that can hurt it. Stories and cinematic action come first.
Oathmark – Battles of the Lost Age Core Rules 2nd Edition
Seven years after the first edition, Joseph A. McCullough returns to the Marches. Oathmark: Second Edition, Battles of the Lost Age was released by Osprey Games on 27 August 2026. If the name McCullough sounds familiar, it should. We have covered a good part of his work on this blog, from Frostgrave and Stargrave to The Silver Bayonet. Oathmark is the odd one out in that list, because it is not a skirmish game. It is a mass battle game, and it comes with a full range of plastic miniatures behind it.
Oathmark has always been a co-production between Osprey and North Star Military Figures. Osprey publishes the rules, North Star produces the miniatures. We have reviewed several of those plastic kits over the years, and they have left a lasting impression. The Oathmark Skeleton Infantry are, in my opinion, among the best models in the whole range. The Goblin Infantry have found a second life in Dino's Sword & Sorcery Adventures. You can find all of our coverage under the Oathmark tag.
I have to be honest here. I never played the first edition. What always caught my attention was the miniature range, and the fact that Michael Anderson was involved in sculpting it. The kits are modular, come with lots of weapon options and offer good to very good value for money. The undead in particular have been tempting me for years. A classic High Fantasy army of skeletons, put together from affordable plastic boxes, sounds like exactly the kind of project I would enjoy. The new edition was the perfect excuse to finally take a closer look at the rules themselves.
Warhammer 40,000 – JoyToy Imperial Fists Mk III Legionary
This JoyToy model has been on my wishlist for quite some time. Not the Legionary, a Breacher to be honest, but availability is an issue and prices vary quite a bit, so I pulled the trigger on a regular Imperial Fists Tactical Legionary in Mk III armour instead.
This is not my first larger-scale Warhammer figurine. I own a Funko Pop, a McFarlane Primaris Space Marine in the creator's variant (so you can paint it yourself), and an Ultramarine from the old Weta Workshop / Sideshow Collectible collaboration. And now one of JoyToy's, in 1/18 scale!
JoyToy is a Chinese collectibles manufacturer, founded back in 2015, and they've built their name on highly articulated, pre-painted 1/18 scale sci-fi and mecha action figures. Since 2021 they've held an official licence from Games Workshop, so we're talking about roughly five years now of JoyToy putting out proper Warhammer action figures. It started with a handful of Space Marines and has since grown into a massive range covering Primarchs, vehicles, Chaos Space Marines, Necrons, and most recently their first Age of Sigmar figures with the Blacktalons.
As I mostly collect regular tabletop miniatures and Lego, this is a bit of a side step, so I might not be familiar with all the proper terms for these. The Tactical Legionary comes with a bit less gear than some of the other figures available; it has a Phobos-pattern boltgun, four pairs of different hands, a holstered bolt pistol and a separate backpack. I paid roughly 30 EUR including shipping for this one. The Breacher costs about 60-80 EUR and comes with a breacher shield, bolt pistol, special weapon and an empty holster on top. There are further poses and variants for Sergeants or different weapons as well.
Pricing is honestly all over the place. There's an official MSRP from China, but most eBay listings I found actually ship from France, while on Amazon the offers come straight from China, with delivery times of up to three months. So it pays off to check where a listing is actually shipping from before you order.
Dead Man’s Hand – Standing Horses
Great Escape Games has sent us one of their novelties for Dead Man's Hand. It is a scatter terrain sprue covering standing horses with a few extras, and we're going to take a closer look at it.
The Dead Man's Hand - Standing Horses set covers four standing horses (two sprues) at 13 GBP, and there are bundles of 3 sets for 33 GBP instead of 39 GBP and 5 sets for 50 GBP instead of 65 GBP. Each set includes two of the sprues shown below, along with another sprue of 5 oval bases.
Casting overall was solid. Crisp details, but mould lines were an issue, as they were quite present. This might be due to the fact that we got an early production sprue for the review and they are still dialing them in. Nevertheless, all the details were captured properly and removing mould lines is less time-consuming than filling in gaps.
Graal Miniatures – Marius Mules Legends of Rome
Earlier this month we gave you a short introduction to Graal Miniatures, and today we are taking a closer look at the infantry from the currently running Kickstarter, which covers Romans in 32mm scale. We have a few of the characters in blisters and a unit from one of the boxed sets on the desk.
Although Graal Miniatures also offers digital products via their Patreon, the crowdfunding campaign is purely about physical, resin 3D-printed models, intended for game systems such as Saga: Age of Caesars, Hail Caesar or Swordpoint.
But first, a bit of context, because Romans are a safe bet in tabletop gaming and are already available in 25-32mm from plenty of manufacturers, in metal as well as plastic. But not all Romans are the same. We will keep this brief and simplified to give you a quick overview, rather than turning it into a multi-volume master's thesis. Simply put, when people talk about Rome they usually mean the period from 509 BC to 476 AD (referring primarily to the Western Roman Empire, as the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, lasted until 1453). That is a span of roughly 1,000 years, and we will leave the Regal Period before the Roman Republic aside for now.
The Roman Republic, from 509 to 27 BC, can be divided into three eras: the Early Republic, in which Rome gradually conquered Italy, the Middle Republic with the Punic Wars and expansion across the Mediterranean, and the Late Republic, which includes Caesar, the Roman civil wars, the Marian reforms and the Gallic Wars. Even these three phases show differences in the soldiers' armour and weapons. The Republic was followed by the Imperial period (27 BC until the division of the empire into West and East in 395 AD), during which the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent in 117 AD. After that comes Late Antiquity, lasting until the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. To simplify things once more, in tabletop terms you can roughly split them into Republican Romans and Imperial Romans, which is where the most obvious visual differences lie. Set apart from those are the Late Romans of Late Antiquity, who look quite different again.
Warhammer Colour – Part 1
I wrote this article in 2019 when the Contrast paints came out. Since then, so much has happened on the Games Workshop paint rack that an update was overdue: far more Contrast colours, reformulated Shades and, since March 2026, a new name for the whole range: Warhammer Colour.
The Citadel name has been with Games Workshop since the early days, when the company was more of a publisher and distributor than a miniatures manufacturer. The label covered miniatures (back then alongside Marauder and a few other ranges), but also paints and brushes. Glazes, Technicals and the like were still a long way off, yet those first paint pots left as much of a mark on many of us as the metal miniatures themselves.
If you're interested in the early days, there's no way around Mike McVey, who shaped the painting studio and 'Eavy Metal like few others. Realm of Chaos 80s has a great interview with him, which also shows the very first Citadel paints in their tall, round pots. That pot shape lives on to this day with Coat d'Arms. You'll often read that Coat d'Arms made the Citadel paints back then. That's not quite right: they were produced by HMG Paints in Manchester, and Black Hat Miniatures later took over the formulas from that era for their own Coat d'Arms range. If the pots look familiar even though you weren't around at the time, that's because Privateer Press used the same design for their P3 range, and so did Wargames Foundry.
StarCraft TMG – Two Player Starter Set Founders Edition
We got our hands on Archon Studio's StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game, specifically the Two Player Starter Set and the Protoss Starter Set, both in their Founders Edition. This is going to be a two-part unboxing, so before we get into sprues and box contents, let's set the stage: what the Gamefound campaign actually was, what StarCraft brings to the table as an IP, how the three factions differ, and what separates the Founders Edition from the sets that'll eventually sit on store shelves.
The Two Player Starter Set pits Terran against Zerg, while the standalone Protoss Starter Set lets us bring the third faction into the mix, which is exactly why we picked up both for these unboxing reviews (thanks to Celebration Parallax for providing them). Buying both bundled together via Gamefound came out to roughly 255 EUR, cheaper than picking them up separately at 175 EUR for the Two Player Set and 95 EUR for the Protoss Set. The RRP now after release is 199 EUR and 109 EUR for these boxes respectively. We'll cover the contents of both sets, this one below, and the Protoss set in the second part of this unboxing.
The Gamefound Campaign
Unlike some other product ranges, StarCraft: TMG didn't launch through a traditional crowdfunding campaign with stretch goals and years of waiting. Archon Studio, the Polish plastic specialists behind Dungeons & Lasers and the manufacturing partner behind Squidmar's Strakh dragon model, had already partnered with Blizzard Entertainment in March 2025 and were manufacturing the game straight for retail. What ran on Gamefound was a time-limited, direct-to-consumer preorder phase: from launch through mid-April 2026, fans could lock in the Two Player Starter Set and the Protoss Starter Set at a steep discount before the game moved into normal hobby retail and distributor channels. Archon has been upfront that this Founders phase was a one-time thing meant to build an early community around the game, not a recurring model, once that preorder window closed, these specific bundles were gone for good. Nevertheless, that promise was a bit oversold, as the regular range covers boxed sets with similar savings and without the waiting time of the Gamefound campaign.
What Is StarCraft, Anyway?
For anyone who spent the late 90s and 2000s more focused on painting than PC gaming: StarCraft is Blizzard's genre-defining real-time strategy series, built around three wildly asymmetric factions that somehow still stay balanced against each other, a big part of why the game became (and still is) an esports institution. Archon Studio's tabletop adaptation translates that into 32mm-scale skirmish combat, roughly 1,000 to 2,000 point games played in 60 to 120 minutes, aiming to capture StarCraft's tactical identity without needing the reflexes of a professional RTS player.
StarCraft TMG – Protoss Starter Set Founders Edition
As there are three factions in StarCraft, and the third one, the Protoss, was still missing from our first unboxing. Similar to how the story of StarCraft itself kicked off as a conflict between Terrans and Zerg, the Protoss aren't part of the Two Player Starter Set. Instead, they get their own standalone box - The Protoss Starter Set Founders Edition.
This isn't a stand-alone game in the sense of including everything you need from scratch, it's more of an addition to the Two Player Starter Set. It covers the Protoss force (miniatures, cards, and cardboard) and the dice to play with, but no terrain or playmat, those still come from the Two Player box.
The Protoss Starter Set Founders Edition was ~95 EUR within the Gamefound campaign, and the RRP now after release is 109 EUR, the same as the regular Protoss Starter Set. We covered the Terrans and Zerg in the first unboxing, and we'll cover the Protoss in this one.
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