Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team – Hivestorm
Kill Team's latest edition went for pre-order today and will be shipped in two weeks from now on October 5th. While a lot of the new components are available as individual items, there is a new starter set called Kill Team - Hivestorm as well. And just this set will be covered in today's unboxing review.
With Hivestorm we will see the 4th edition of Kill Team, which introduces two new Kill Teams, new terrain (called Killzone: Volkus Terrain and an updated set of rules. The two factions battling each other in this boxed set are the Tempestus Aquilons, the elite of the Astra Militarum equipped with Grav Chutes and the Vespid Stingwings, the updated insectoids of the T'Au Empire. And on top of that, we even get a new equipment sprue, with further scatter terrain and various grenade markers (along with the updated templates).
Just a quick heads up, as covering the Hivestorm box already went up to 70 pictures just for the unboxing, we're going to split the content into multiple articles.
Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marines Terminator Squad
With a bit of delay, we take care of the Space Marines Terminator Squad for Warhammer 40k, and these are the Indomitus pattern models in a fitting Primaris scale, introduced first with the release of Leviathan as push-fits, and later followed by this multi-part kit with more options.
This is a really interesting release, especially for me as Terminator were something that was completely out of reach when I started the hobby. Back in the 90s the models were only available in metal, and a single terminatur was 18 DM (9,2 EUR but 15,10 EUR with inflation) and a box of 5 was 85 DM (42,25 EUR, but 71,30 EUR with inflation) and that was quite an amount of money for a teenager for a single unit. Just by that comparison, the new RRP of 55 EUR is cheaper than the metal models were back then. But the "first" plastic terminators (there were plastic terminators from Space Hulks first edition) were already a huge improvement, as you could get 10 of them from a box of Space Hulk (99 DM), later as an individual kit, and they were part of the battle force that was released in 1998, which made them much more accessible and dropped their price below retail.
Horus Heresy – Mechanicum Battle Group
After the Solar Auxilia Battle Group and Legiones Astartes Battle Group, we now have a third Battle Group covering the core of the next faction in plastic - the Mechanicum!
This is a huge step for this army, while Solar Auxilia could re-purpose plastic kits for tanks, the Mechanicum only had the Scitarii as a plastic kit, the entire remaining range was resin. And they did not just add a kit or two, but a whole bunch and put them together right for the start of this impressive Battle Group.
Necromunda – Hive Secundus
Games Workshop adds the third theatre to the Necromunda Underhive with the latest supplement - Hive Secundus.
This new stand-alone starter set throws the gangs of Necromunda into Hive Secundus, providing you with everything you need to get started, two different gangs, a rule book, dice, templates and markers, along with some basic terrain at a RRP of 110 GBP/ 145 EUR.
Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team – Termination
The latest addition to the Kill Team boxed sets is Termination, and the third one for 2024 after Salvation (Space Marines vs Aeldari) and Nightmare (Drukhari vs. Chaos Space Marines). This time it is the Genestealer Cult vs. League of Votann, the Brood Brothers against the Hernkyn Yaegir to be more precisely.
None of the boxes are stand-alones, you will still need the Core Rulebook to play. The lite rules are free to download on Warhammer Community.
Warhammer 40,000 – Dark Angels Grand Master of the Deathwing Belial
Last year Supreme Grand Master Azrael got the Primaris update and Lion El'Jonson returned to the 40th millenium as well. This year with the new Dark Angels codex and a fitting Deathwing themed box, Deathwing Assault, the Grand Master of the Deathwing, Belial returns with an updated model.
The old model was released in 2013 as a finecast (a spin cast resin used by Games Workshop to substitute metal, when the raw material gow more expensive and the updated their process in production) kit and among the taller heroes when it was released. Now it is time for another increase in size, to fit with the new larger Indomitus Terminators.
Warhammer 40,000 – Deathwing Assault
The 1st Legion returns with their updated 1st company, the Deathwing Terminators under the command of Belial. While we already had a rather Deathwing heavy boxed set last year with Wrath of the Soul Forge King, bringing a lot of the 2013s Dark Angels Terminator sprues into circulation once again - only to be completely out of scale with the release of the new Terminator models of Leviathan - now the updated and upscaled Deathwing Knights are part of the Deathwing Assault, which we're going to take a look into today.
Deathwing Assault is a themed army boxed set, covering a battle force of Dark Angels (or its successor chapters) 1st company Terminators, including Belial as a character and the current rules, covering the Codex Supplement and Data Cards for the Dark Angels as well.
Warhammer Merchandise – Koyo Pins
Koyo announced their new series of Warhammer faction pins and to take a closer look, the send us a few of their current Warhammer Age of Sigmar 2nd series.
The pins are 4,95 GBP / 5,95 EUR and come in blind packs. Each series has 12 regular silver pins and a special golden one. Each icon covers one faction.
Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team – Salvation
With Salvation the next season of Kill Team starts, leaving Gallowdark behind and opening up something new. And with the new season, a few things have changed. The big boxes were split, so you have now a separate Killzone: Bheta-Decima box with the terrain features, and in this case the Salvation boxed set for the two Kill Teams, in this case Space Marine Scouts and Aeldari Striking Scorpions, as the new season focuses more on spec ops and infiltration.
None of the boxes are stand-alones, you will still need the Core Rulebook to play. The lite rules are free to download on Warhammer Community. Anyhow, today we're just looking at the Salvation boxed set.
Da Red Gobbo Surprise and Grotmas Gitz
This year Games Workshop offers two Christmas miniatures, that are available until January 8th of 2024. In addition to Da Red Gobbo himself, as Da Red Gobbos Surprise in its 2023 iteration, we get a kind of Bad Santa variant to him, the Grotmas Gitz.
Both are 32,50 EUR / 25 GBP and have rules for the use in Warhammer 40,000 as well as Age of Sigmar, as downloads for free. But what is the story behind Da Red Gobbo?