This week is a big week for Skorne and Warhammer 40k, with a lot of stuff in the pipeline for both.
The biggest and most hopeful piece of news this week though is probably the fact that Privateer Press’ Monsterpocalypse got picked up by Dreamworks with the option to be made into a movie. And they’re looking to Tim Burton to direct!
I understand that ‘picking up’ is very far from filming, but with any luck this will mean that Monsterpocalypse will be able to appeal to a much wider audience and act as an entryway into other miniature games, like Warmachine and Hordes in particular.
Since we’re talking about filming, Games Workshop’s very own Ultramarines the movie is also going along pretty nicely, with some cast members stated, and the CG on the weapons and vehicles being posted on the site. Hope we’ll be able to see it soon!
More from Privateer Press, who previewed two Skorne models this week. Our first is the Skorne Paingiver Taskmaster, who looks to be a Paingiver Solo. I see a reach-like grabby stick on him, and I bet he’s really going to affect beast, both friendly and enemy. Some would argue that his arm sleeves are a bad idea (especially on someone that is supposed to hold large animals at bay; beasts that have teeth and claws), but I think it makes sense. He needs some sort of arm shield in case the beasts do decide to attack. It should probably be a bit tighter, but well, when it comes to awesomeness versus practicality on a model design, I vote awesomeness all the time.
Our second mini is the wonderfully corpulent Dominar Rasheth. As the description says, it is absolutely AMAZING that in a culture that prides discipline and self control, we have such a paragon of excess rolling around, as a Dominar no less! He channels so much Baron Harkonnen that between him and the Razorwurm, I almost want to pull of a Dune-inspired skorne army! Hmm. I bet that Cataphracts could be Sarduakar… That being said, his fluff says that he’s the controller of most of the Titans in the Skorne army, and between him and the Agonizer Palanquin, I think that we’re going to have a crazy beast/titan Warlock on our hands.
We also have some previews on what we’ll be seeing in Privateer’s next shattered grounds league. Continuing the desert trend, we have a variation of the Skorne Paingivers; the Skorne Beast Slavers. While they lose condition and medicate, the ‘effect’ of condition is still around, with the added ability of being to add or remove fury TWICE on either friendly or enemy models. That, combined with duck means that you’re going to be running them really in front. They do lose some stock against Warmachine though, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Games Workshop hasn’t been slacking off either, with a huge release of tanks, support and upgrade kits in line with the upcoming Spearhead release. This includes both updates to the Imperial Guard and Eldar workhorse tanks. The Eldar Fireprism and Nightspinners look pretty cool (although I would prefer something stubbier on the Fireprism, but that’s my inner Ork speaking), and the versatility of the new Imperial Guard kits are just amazing.
Another thing that’s interesting is the upgrade sprue available for all tank enthusiasts (not sure Eldar and IG).
Not only that, but they’ve shown some more releases from Forgeworld and the Black Library! Forgeworld seems to really like orks in the new Imperial Armour 8 book, not that I’m complaining. All them orky bits are just amazing! The Chinork big copta’ isn’t bad, but what I really like is the giant lifta-droppa!
And I really like the art inside as well. As someone that is used to Warmachine and Hordes army books let me tell you that I’m tempted to get IA8 because full colour art is always appreciated. I wish we got art like this in the codex.
We’ve also got some more hints at what the 40K MMORPG is going to be like. Lean and mean looks to be the keywords here, and I suppose it only makes sense. A smaller budget means that you need less subscriptions to break even, and if you can make magic at a lower cost, why the hell not? THQ of course is well know for their Dawn of War success, so if they can carry that same success over, I don’t think we need to worry about the MMORPG having enough subscribers.
Unfortunately, the beginning of the week also contained a sad note to HereBeGeeks as Frank Frazetta, 82, died on Monday due to a stroke. Artist for great icons such as Conan and Buck Rogers, he was an integral part in shaping the aesthetic and style of modern fantasy and science fiction. Like it or love it, every geek has to admit that without him, there would be much less muscular men, buxom women and chainmail bikinis in this world. Without him, there would be a very different set of games that we play, and by extension, a very different set of models that we would paint and game with. I don’t know but I’m sure that every game, from Hordes to Warhammer Fantasy, derives at least some inspiration from him. And because that, we mourn the passing of a great.
