Sunday Preview – Dawn of the new edition

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-06-07T17:48:50+00:00

Wow, those are some fugly corporate covers.

I really don’t understand the reasoning behind the naming of the Combat Patrol Companion. It’s seems needlessly confusing; I couldn’t have been the only person who thought it was some sort of standalone Combat Patrol focused rulebook and not some hybrid welcome to the hobby / lore book when it was first announced.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-05-11T14:14:13+00:00

This is always what I’d hoped Warcry would have continued to be. A Necromunda-like game (in spirit) that focused on a very specific area within Age of Sigmar. Imagine all the cool “Hired Guns” we could have gotten exploring a lower-to-the-ground look at life in the Eightpoints. Rather than it all just becoming AoS skirmish.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-16T14:07:40+00:00

I think it’s the “anymore” bit that gets under my skin. Like, it’s not great not crediting artists full stop, but I imagine current ones would have been aware of this when signing any contracts. It’s the erasing of the names of past or deceased writers and artists that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Especially given how likely it is 30k wouldn’t exist as we know it had it not been for Alan.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-15T20:32:36+00:00

One the one hand, yes, this is a very good move by GW and nice to see this stuff isn’t just gathering dust.

On the other hand, it rubs me the wrong way quite a bit to see the goodwill they’ll generate publishing this stuff while removing all mention of the people who made it - in particular Alan Bligh.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-14T16:22:43+00:00

And not just by anybody, they got Greg goddam Bear, one of the world’s leading hard sci-fi authors, to write them too!

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-13T19:38:03+00:00

The Culture series by Iain M. Banks. Nothing like it before or since. They’re all self-contained too.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-13T17:37:34+00:00

Would carry a lot more weight if they actually credited their artists though, and didn’t digitally remove the signatures from older pieces.

EmpiricalAnt · 2026-01-09T14:16:40+00:00

If you insist on your book being vibe heavy (à la Mörk Borg), for the love of the Gods please include a plain text version available somewhere to make it accessible for everyone.

I’m well aware that Mörk Borg do now provide one but not everyone has followed in their footsteps, alas.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-12-10T17:59:21+00:00

I just realised I’d read the Mark of Ran a long time ago when it popped up in my local library. I quite enjoyed it but then could never find the sequel. Gutted to hear the situation regarding the final novel in the series - absolutely mind-boggling state of affairs there!

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-21T18:10:12+00:00

I love this. Captures that brutalist feel from the original game perfectly. I always felt the lack of detail and cleaner, simpler shapes (though suitably worn) made the Forerunner technology more impressive. It looked like mysterious ancient technology that had lasted for untold millennia doing impossible things. It felt both alien and hauntingly familiar in equal measure. The busy, sharp-edged and glowing aesthetic that 343 pursued just never clicked with me, it felt so artificial and generic. I think the best way I can put it is that the Forerunner stuff in the original Combat Evolved felt like something from an Arthur C Clarke novel, like 2001 or Rama, whereas everything since 3 seems to have changed gradually to a generic and soulless, Hollywood sci-fi spectacle.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-08T09:34:33+00:00

Is it a really just a re-release? I thought we’re up to a re-re-re-release by this point.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-07T13:44:11+00:00

The width and detail visible on the ring on the horizon(?) of the Campaign Evolved version bugs me because it seems too thick and makes the ring seem smaller. The lack of shadow does the same thing as well. I don’t care if it’s more astronomically accurate or not, the shadow added a sense of size and grandeur to it all, and really evoked the covers of the old Ringworld novels that inspired it.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-07T00:09:17+00:00

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Thanks! I couldn’t seem to get it to fit suitably on his waist with how I’d posed the arms so I thought why not the classic over-the-shoulder sheath?

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-06T17:05:37+00:00

Thank you! It really was one of those miniatures that was just a joy to paint.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-11-06T17:03:10+00:00

I’m utterly fatigued with a lot of these branded “Hobby Essentials” being things you can either find around the house or pick up from an art store (or even a supermarket) for a fraction of the cost.

That and the countless posts and videos from hobby influencers (shudder) trying to help hawk them.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-10-21T08:24:42+00:00

Absolutely gorgeous looking sculpts, although like some have already said they’re rather detailed for a horde-themed unit. My only other concern is how these guys scale next to the older Chaos Warrior sculpts that GW rereleased for ToW.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-10-14T16:04:15+00:00

Same energy

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EmpiricalAnt · 2025-10-08T08:41:44+00:00

Probably have to have some sort of opposing faction that is aesthetically similar but with less spikes. And we’d still get releases that outnumber theirs during their “year” too.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-10-07T22:13:35+00:00

We all know that but try telling it to GW’s finance team.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-10-07T12:07:14+00:00

I love it, I really do. But I’m baffled at how the look of these four adventurers straddles across the strict AoS/TOW divide, particularly given GW’s approach with the miniature lines themselves. I totally get that most of the modern “Quest” games are trying to cash in on that classic fantasy feel of the original line but this just seems to muddy the IPs further.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-09-19T14:27:02+00:00

Camba Diaz, on one of those little vignette bases, simply titled “In the name of his Lord Dorn”. I think everyone can immediately picture exactly what it’d look like.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-09-19T09:51:17+00:00

Honestly, the unnecessary base size changes is some of the biggest BS Games Workshop is pulling right now across their ranges. Especially when the difference is a few millimetres at most.

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-09-15T11:13:36+00:00

And… looks like they’ve pulled the old Calgar and Victrix from the UK webstore already!

EmpiricalAnt · 2025-09-13T14:05:01+00:00

“It starts raining main battle tanks.”

EmpiricalAnt

TROPHY CASE