ISSUE 48
27 December 2014

Editor: Jes Bickham
jes@whitedwarf.co.uk

Publisher: Paul Lyons
paul@whitedwarf.co.uk

Welcome to the final White Dwarf of 2014 – and what a year it’s been! With dazzling new miniatures having been released every week since January, there’s loads to celebrate, which is exactly what we do in our Review of the Year feature.

In this issue you’ll also find two exclusive new Cities of Death missions in the magazine that you won’t find anywhere else, to go along with the rules we gave you in issue 47 of White Dwarf. Along with the Canyon of Death minigame, you’ve got some prime gaming goodness to get stuck into before the holidays are over (plus a perfectly horrifying End Times tale in Codex: Apocrypha to send you off to sleep.)So please enjoy the issue… and have a very happy new year!

Forge World make highly-detailed resin models, large-scale kits and books for Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy. Here we take a look at the Mechanicum’s latest creations, the Vorax class Battle-automata and the Questoris Knight Styrix.

VORAX CLASS BATTLE-AUTOMATA MANIPLE

The Vorax Battle-automata are unusually vicious and malevolent machines, their cortex engrams programmed for search and destroy missions. They will fight and kill without mercy until they fulfil their orders or they’re destroyed in the process.

Based on the revered Crusader-pattern robots from the Dark Age of Technology, the Vorax are fast moving killers, their long, back-jointed legs enabling them to run low to the ground and close with their foes at speed, their insect-like heads constantly searching out new targets. This set includes three Vorax class Battle-automata, each armed with a pair of rotor cannons, two power blades and a carapace-mounted lightning gun. The kit also includes an option to upgrade one of them with an irad-cleanser.

QUESTORIS KNIGHT STYRIX

The Questoris Knight Styrix is one of the rarer patterns of Imperial Knight, a relic jealously guarded and maintained by the Mechanicum of Mars. Like its parent chassis – the Questoris Knight Magaera – the Styrix plays host to many technological wonders that mystify all but the most learned tech-savants. Among them are the ionic flare shield and the blessed autosimulacra that protect, maintain and repair the Knight’s ancient chassis in the crucible of war.

The Styrix’s battlefield role is that of extermination and, as a result, their pilots are often shunned by other nobles who see the carnage they cause as messy and inelegant. Armed with a massive volkite chieorovile, a hekaton siege claw, a twin-linked rad-cleanser and a graviton gun, the Styrix concentrates its firepower on heavily-armoured infantry, reducing them to smouldering ash before recalibrating the ocular augmetics in its skull-like face to focus on a new target.

Forge World produce highly detailed resin models from the worlds of Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy. To find out more, visit: www.forgeworld.co.uk

The last year has been one of the most exciting years in the history of Games Workshop, with a staggering array of Citadel miniatures, boxed sets, rulebooks, painting guides, tools, paints and more. This week, the White Dwarf team take a look back at the year that was…

For the White Dwarf team, 2014 has been a big one – it’s the year that White Dwarf went weekly, it’s the year Warhammer: Visions was born, and it’s a year that’s seen an incredible selection of Citadel miniatures released into the waiting world. From the thunderous arrival of the Imperial Knight, to Durthu, mighty tree lord of Athel Loren, Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead, and the brothers Glott, it’s hard to remember a year where we’ve ever had it so good for miniatures – and that’s only the big stuff. What about the new Militarum Tempestus Scions or the Bullgryns, the stunning new Venomthrope kit or the Flash Gitz, with their do-it-yourself snazzguns? Every month of the year has seen amazing models, and that’s not even mentioning all the brilliant books, scenery and hobby tools.

The Imperial Knights were accompanied by a Codex exploring a hitherto little known aspect of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Then there was Codex: Militarum Tempestus, Sanctus Reach and Shield of Baal, while Warhammer: Nagash saw the beginning of the End Times, heralding the ultimate battle between order and Chaos. It’s been one hell of a year.

The year began with a wave of Tyranid bio-monstrosities that had several White Dwarfers and countless other extra-galactic xenos fanatics jumping for joy. From the aerial nastiness of the Hive Crone and its attendant Tentaclids to the revolting inside-out stomach-mouth of the Haruspex, the Tyranid race adapted to become more terrifying than ever, right in front of our eyes.

IN THE BEGINNING

January saw the release of the Harpy, Hive Crone, Haruspex, Exocrine, Hive Guard, Tyrant Guard, Tyranid Warriors and Codex: Tyranids for (perhaps unsurprisingly)the Tyranids.

But that wasn’t all, because January also saw the release of Gandalf™ the Grey, the Master of Lake-town, Alfrid the Councillor, Bard the Bowman™, the Lake-town Captain and the Lake-town Swordsmen, Spearmen and Bowmen for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

DID YOU KNOW?

January’s White Dwarf included one of our favourite Battle Reports where we ignored the force organisation chart to pit a horde of Tyranid Monstrous Creatures against an army of Tau Battlesuits. Little did we know at the time, but just five months later the 7th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 would enable you to do just that with an Unbound army. We like to think we had the idea first…

Hot on the heels of the Great Devourer came the stalwart Warhammer Dwarfs, spearheaded by the fantastic new Gyrobomber, a steam-powered vehicle for raining grudgebuster bombs down upon the Dwarfs’ enemies. That wasn’t all, though, as the Dwarfs also saw an iconic character, King Belegar, as a miniature for the first time, a new Runelord and four plastic regiments. Beards ahoy!

RISE OF THE DWARFS

In February we were greeted by the Gyrobomber, Gyrocopter, Hammerers, Longbeards, Ironbreakers, Irondrakes, Belegar Ironhammer, the Runelord and Grim Burloksson. The throngs of fans eagerly enjoying the Dwarfs also got a new book, with Warhammer: Dwarfs introducing the Age of Thorgrim Grudgebearer.

WHITE DWARF REBORN

February was also the month in which White Dwarf went weekly, bringing a regular helping of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 news every Saturday, with rules for all the new releases, Paint Splatter, Battle Reports, new features like the now legendary Bit of the Week, and more. White Dwarf didn’t go it alone either – it was joined by Warhammer: Visions, a new publication from the team that produces White Dwarf. Warhammer: Visions is a visual feast that showcases the best Citadel Miniatures in the world.

One of the most impressive Citadel miniatures ever produced took the galaxy by storm in March, as the Imperial Knights stomped onto the scene. A tiny part of Warhammer 40,000’s history suddenly exploded to life in miniatures collections everywhere as the Imperial Knights and their Knightly Houses were introduced in glorious detail. The Imperial Knights were accompanied by a rich, detailed and absorbing background, gorgeous heraldry and iconography (and a massive hardback book that contained it all). In March, the real question was: is your Knight going to be Imperial-aligned, Adeptus Mechanicus-aligned, or Freeblade?

DON’T FORGET…

The Imperial Knight was certainly the most memorable of March’s releases, but the same month also saw the release of Codex: Imperial Knights, the Imperial Knight Companion, Apocalypse War Zone: Damocles, the Chaos Space Marine Helbrute and the Crimson Slaughter Codex supplement. Phew!

You’d think following in the (very large) footsteps of the Imperial Knight would be a hard task, but April saw the release of more Imperial reinforcements – the Astra Militarum. The first release was a new vehicle, the Taurox Prime, quickly followed by the Tempestus Scions, a Hydra flak tank, two Codexes (yes, two), a new Commissar and a boxed set of Ogryns wearing seriously creepy gas masks.

IMPERIAL MIGHT

April’s releases for the Astra Militarum included the Hydra, Wyvern, Militarum Auxilla Bullgryns, Ogryns, Nork Deddog, the Officio Prefectus Commissar and Codex: Astra Militarum. On top of that, there was also a standalone Codex for the Militarum Tempestus, plus the Militarum Tempestus Scions, the Tempestus Scions Command Squad and the Militarum Tempestus Taurox Prime. April was a good month to be a defender of the Imperium.

TOOL TIME

April was also the month we released our new range of Citadel tools, including the new fine detail cutters, knife, drill, files, mouldline remover and sculpting tools.

HATS OFF TO THE SCIONS

The debate of the month was whether the Tempestus Scions look cooler with gas masks and helmets or berets and moustaches. The facial fuzz won out, of course.

Perhaps fittingly, the month in the UK most associated with fecund growth and vibrant colour was devoted to the Wood Elves, with an incredible new plastic Treeman beating a path as one of the most popular releases of the year. This towering plastic kit not only made a Treeman and Treeman Ancient, but also included parts to make one of the oldest and most iconic characters in Warhammer, Durthu the Treeman. These arboreal warriors weren’t the only new additions either – the Wood Elves themselves flourished with two new cavalry regiments, the Sisters of the Thorn and the Wild Riders, and also the Eternal Guard and Wildwood Rangers. Not to forget Araloth, an Elven hero who has since become a major part in the Elves’ bid for survival as the End Times approach…

Hot on the heels of the Wood Elves came Warhammer 40,000 – a brand new edition of the game that introduced a slew of new rules and missions for your games, alongside a new Apocalypse War Zone, pitting the Eldar races against Tyranids.

OUT OF THE WOODS

May’s releases included the Treeman kit (giving eager Athel Loren generals a Treeman, Treeman Ancient and Durthu), Sisters of the Thorn, Wild Riders, Eternal Guard, Wildwood Rangers, Araloth and a new book, Warhammer: Wood Elves. Warhammer 40,000 players were also bowled over with a new edition of the game – and a lucky few were able to get their hands on the ultimate edition of the game with the Warhammer 40,000 Munitorum edition. Of the new additions, perhaps the most enthralling were the new Tactical Objectives.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

As a precursor to the release of Warhammer 40,000, White Dwarf included a series of propaganda posters heralding the imminent arrival of the Dark Millennium. These are still found in gaming rooms and clubs the world over. Everyone loves a good poster, right? Rumours abound of one particular White Dwarf staffer having them all up over his bed!

Waaagh! Da Orks! Joon was da munf of da greenskins. In fact, so many greenies came out in Joon, dey also took over sum of Jooly. Lots of new kits (seven) were released, makin’ lots of luvverly new Orks for da great Waaagh! Dese inkluded da Gorkanaut (or possibly da Morkanaut), Big Mek wiv Shokk Attack Gun (wiv supa whirrly gubbinz), Mekboy, Painboy, four different Mek Gunz covered in Grots and da plastik Meganobz. Da stars of da munf though, were da Flash Gitz, showy Ork Nobz wearin’ pirate hats and carryin’ massive kannons wiv a bazillion (give or take…) weapon combos. Joon was definitely da best munf of da year!

HOW MANY NEW KITS?

Lots. Namely, the Gorkanaut, Morkanaut, Mekboy, Painboy, Mek with Shokk Attack Gun, Traktor Kannon, Smasha Gun, Bubble-chukka, Kustom mega-blasta, Meganobz and Flash Gitz…

AND…
Codex: Orks and the Waaagh! Ghazghkull supplement.

The Ork invasion (and dubious spelling) had barely simmered down before the Space Wolves entered the fray with the Sanctus Reach Campaign, which included the first campaign book, Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh!, and the Sanctus Reach boxed set, Stormclaw. This bumper box of models included two complete forces, and two new heroes: Grukk Face-rippa and Krom Dragongaze.

THE STORY BEGINS

With the Sanctus Reach campaign commencing in July, the month was given over to the unfolding battle between the Orks of Waaagh! Face-rippa and the Imperial Defenders of Sanctus Reach, and then later their Space Wolf reinforcements. The campaign commenced with Sanctus Reach: The Red Waaagh!, followed by Sanctus Reach: Stormclaw. Well, there’s a lot to be said when you’re fighting to decide the fate of a whole system…

SECTOR IMPERIALIS

You simply cannot talk about July without mentioning the incredible Realm of Battle: Sector Imperialis, released for Warhammer 40,000 this month. This set of six modular tiles turns your boring old kitchen table into a gob-smacking urban war zone. Suffice to say, here in the White Dwarf bunker, we absolutely love it.

The bloodshed and mayhem of the Sanctus Reach campaign was the precursor to more Space Wolves, as the Sons of Russ found their ranks swollen with two new flyers (the Stormfang and Stormwolf), a new Dreadnought kit (that makes Bjorn the Fell-handed, Murderfang and a Venerable Dreadnought) and the Old Wolf himself, Chapter Master Logan Grimnar riding into battle on a wolf-drawn chariot!

THE VLKA FENRYKA

As the baleful sun burned down upon old Blighty, the air was filled with wolf howls. August saw the heavily-armoured Stormfang Gunship, the troop-transporting Stormwolf, a Venerable Dreadnought, the frothing Murderfang, the sage and ancient Bjorn the Fell-handed and Logan Grimnar unleashed on the galaxy. Not to mention the release of the new Codex: Space Wolves, the first of a new series of painting guides in Companies of Fenris, and the conclusion of the Sanctus Reach campaign with Hour of the Wolf.

THE GREY KNIGHTS

The Daemon-hunting experts of the Grey Knights Chapter also got some loving in August with a new Codex providing them with up-to-date rules and datasheets and a wealth of exciting background. As collectors added shiny silver warriors to their armies, the Daemons of the Warp shuddered in fear.

Unless you have been sealed deep within Karak Eight Peaks, you will have noticed that the End Times are well and truly upon us (or at least the Warhammer world). 2014 was the year in which Nagash, the Supreme Lord of the Undead, returned to the Warhammer world and enacted his plan to thwart Archaon’s great Chaos invasion. All that began in September with the Nagash miniature, which took the world completely by storm, easily the biggest and most elaborate plastic kit ever made for Warhammer. His release heralded a real change in the status quo for Warhammer, as Warhammer: Nagash detailed the bloodshed and betrayals that followed in his wake. He was accompanied in short order by three of his Mortarchs, Mannfred von Carstein, Neferata and Arkhan the Black, all riding upon dread abyssals. There were also new Undead constructs in the form of the new Morghasts and Morghast Harbingers and, for the first time in plastic, Spirit Hosts. If all the gobsmacking new models weren’t enough, Warhammer: Nagash was released, the first of the End Times books – and what a book it was, with a gripping 296 pages of new background and fiction chronicling the terrible changes being wrought upon the world. The Warhammer world would never be the same again.

The End Times continued throughout October and November as the scions of Chaos arrived with the Putrid Blightkings, Gutrot Spume, Admiral of the Plague Fleets of the North, the hideous trio known as the Maggoth Lords and the chosen heralds of Father Nurgle himself, the Glottkin. As the champions of the Plague god, the Glottkin are despatched on a perilous mission into the heart of the Empire as the first major attack in Archaon’s efforts to conquer the world. This sweeping narrative was all told in Warhammer: Glottkin, the second instalment of the End Times series, and saw swathes of the Empire laid waste. One thing was for certain: the End Times had begun, and everything changed forever.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The End Times is the long prophesied doom of the world, a war so cataclysmic and terrible that it will see the plans of the Chaos gods at last come to fruition. The events of Warhammer: Nagash signal that this apocalyptic era is at last upon us as the Great Necromancer awakens and – seeing the machinations of Archaon, the Lord of the End Times, in the far north – begins to enact a plan of his own.

For fans of Warhammer this is a long-awaited, oft dreamed of time, when the greatest of heroes will at last clash swords in a battle to end all others. As we learned in Nagash, however, nothing will ever be the same again… And, as we saw in Warhammer: Glottkin in October and Warhammer: Khaine in November, there are a lot of famous deaths along the way.

MASSIVE MONSTERS

Where were you when you first saw Nagash? His arrival in the White Dwarf bunker will forever be etched in the minds of our merry little band as the miniatures designers brought him up to show us – his massive, armoured form, decorated in ossuary and surrounded by swirling spirits, was surely the most impressive Warhammer model ever released. Surely, we mused, it could never be rivalled? More fool us: we saw the Glottkin barely two months later.

Where Nagash had been lithe and sinuous, Ghurk Glott was squat and muscular, crowned with the rancid figures of his brothers, Otto and Ethrac. The White Dwarf team’s reception for this model was every bit as adulatory as for Nagash. We’ve got a feeling they are front-runners for our Model of the Year poll.

As autumn settled in, it was the turn of the dark kin to take centre stage, as the Dark Eldar stormed onto the scene with a sleek and deadly centrepiece model in the Voidraven Bomber. This amazing aerial death machine was accompanied by a host of infantry models including a new Archon, Succubus, Haemonculus and Wracks, not to mention a Codex and a supplement for the super-evil Haemonculus Covens.

A SYMPHONY OF PAIN

The Dark Eldar releases included the Voidraven Bomber, a plastic Archon, Succubus, Haemonculus and the Wracks kit (which even included parts to make Wrack gunners and pilots for Raiders and Venoms). They were accompanied by a new Dark Eldar Codex and a Codex supplement for Haemonculus Covens that enabled Dark Eldar players to field an army drawn straight from the oubliettes of pain. The end of the month also heralded the arrival of the Putrid Blightkings and the horrific Maggoth Lords.

WARHAMMER FEST

October 2014 also saw the birth of a brand new event from Games Workshop, as the first ever Warhammer Fest rocked the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The two-day event was filled with painting and modelling demonstrations, displays of amazing battlefields and armies and the incomparable spectacle of the 2014 Golden Demon competition.

The master scribes within the Black Library have been wearing their fingers to stumps to produce even more fantastic stories set in the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. Highlights of the year must include the first books in the End Times series of novels, kicked off with the brutal events told in The Return of Nagash, the incredibly bloody Fall of Altdorf and Curse of Khaine. The events that unfold in this triumvirate forever change the Warhammer world, and see the doom of many a beloved hero (or villain). In a similar vein, Kinslayer, the most recent novel in the acclaimed Gotrek & Felix series brought our reluctant hero ever closer to his fate, in a heart-wrenching story of betrayal.

Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy had their share of the action too, with favourites in the bunker including the final instalment in the Macharian Crusade by William King and the many titles and audio dramas for the Horus Heresy.

November saw two invasions: the pestilent invasion of the Warhammer world and another extra-galactic invasion of the Tyranids in Warhammer 40,000. The Tyranid onslaught was a riot of tentacles, as the Toxicrene and Tyrannocyte led the advance. Collectors were also thrilled by the arrival of new plastic kits for betentacled Venomthropes and swollen-brained Zoanthropes.

THE DOUBLE INVASION

With the Glottkin leading the charge in November the releases for this month came in thick and fast. First up was the Glottkin themselves, along with their eponymous book, Warhammer: Glottkin. While the world of Warhammer struggled to come to terms with an encroaching tide of pestilent filth, the Tyranids hit like a sucker punch, delivering the Toxicrene and Maleceptor, Tyrannocyte and Sporocyst (not to mention the Mucolid Spore) and the Zoanthropes and Venomthropes (and the all-new Neurothrope unit upgrade). There was also the first instalment of the Shield of Baal campaign, Shield of Baal: Leviathan.

WARHAMMER: KHAINE

The end of November saw the Elves drawn kicking and screaming into the End Times with Warhammer: Khaine. Heroes died, gods died, an entire continent died. It was a pretty bad time to have pointy ears in Warhammer.

Another year of ceaseless toil by the expert model makers in Forge World has brought tremendous bounties to us all – in fact, it’s hard to catalogue the amazing models they have unleashed into the worlds of Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy. From their Imperial Knight miniatures, such as the towering Cerastus Knight Castigator and the stunning Questoris Knight Magaera to the new Solar Auxilia lasrifle section or the new Mechanicum battle automata, there is a lot to choose from.

In the end, we decided to sum up what can only be described as a great year from Forge World with this picture of Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders Legion. Not only was he one of the staunchest heroes the Imperium has ever known, but the model is a stunning representation of the character, a great exemplar of the resin-masterpieces Forge World released throughout the year.

December saw the year go out with a bang as the Sons of Baal swept in, with a new Blood Angels Tactical squad leading the charge. We marvelled at the sheer number of options in the kit, and the striking craftsmanship of the symbolic adornments. A new benchmark for the Space Marines? All of which left the Blood Angels well equipped for the explosive conclusion to the Shield of Baal campaign…

THE STORM OF BLOOD

December was headed up by Shield of Baal: Deathstorm, which included complete forces for both Blood Angels and Tyranids, led by two brand new characters, First Captain Karlaen of the Blood Angels and the dreaded Spawn of Cryptus for the Tyranids. This was followed by a new Blood Angels Tactical squad, Sanguinary Priest, Terminator Assault Squad and a Blood Angels Terminator Librarian, as well as a new Codex and the concluding instalment of the Shield of Baal campaign, Shield of Baal: Exterminatus.

Fans of The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies were also treated to plenty of new goodies, with new models for Legolas Greenleaf, Tauriel, Thranduil King of Mirkwood, Thorin’s Company in their regal armour, Lake-town militia, Bard the Bowman (two versions of him, including one using the Wind Lance), Azog the Defiler, Bolg and of our biggest ever Middle-earth model: Smaug.

Phew… what a year. When you look back at all of that, it’s quite amazing, right? And we’ve hardly had the space to shed light on some of the things that have been released (the White Dwarf team went nuts for a whole week about how great the teeny-tiny Grot gun crew released with the Ork Big Guns were, and don’t get us started on the treasure that decorates the base on the Smaug model). It has been a year of groundbreaking new kits, and we’ve been thrilled to act as your guide to all the great releases as they happened.

With all that said, the only question we don’t have an answer to is what was your favourite release of the year?

This second instalment of our Cities of Death series adds a pair of missions to the basic rules introduced in last week’s issue. Now you can wage war in the Cities of Death with two new White Dwarf exclusive missions – Sewer Rats and Sniper’s Alley.

Last week, White Dwarf included the first half of your Cities of Death Objective cards, along with the rules for playing Cities of Death games in Warhammer 40,000. (If you missed last week’s issue, it’s still available from the website.) This week we proudly present a pair of Cities of Death missions from the Design Studio’s rules team – Sewer Rats and Sniper’s Alley.

In Sewer Rats, the two forces have been infiltrating the city ahead of a major battle, while in Sniper’s Alley precision fire and invading the enemy’s deployment area are the order of the day.

All you need to do to play is pick one of the following two missions, and use your Cities of Death Objective cards to help work out your goals as you play. Don’t forget that you can also adapt any of the Maelstrom of War missions found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook to play with your Cities of Death objective cards.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that Shield of Baal: Leviathan includes six more Cities of Death missions, which you can use with the objectives presented over the last two weeks, including missions like Firesweep, High Ground and Domination.

Both sides are attempting to cross a contested area of the city to strike at enemy supply lines. The only problem is that the area is Sniper’s Alley, a notorious killing ground where sharpshooters have honed their deadly skills to new heights and only those that stick to cover have any hope of survival.

Both sides are attempting to cross a contested area of the city to strike at enemy supply lines. The only problem is that the area is Sniper’s Alley, a notorious killing ground where sharpshooters have honed their deadly skills to new heights and only those that stick to cover have any hope of survival.

THE ARMIES

Choose armies as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Use the deployment map included with this mission. Set up terrain as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules. We recommend that you set up at least six buildings and/or ruins, and use more buildings and ruins if they are available. If you have a Realm of Battle: Sector Imperialis, we recommend you set the battlefield up with two long parallel roads running the length to create long fields of fire.

Each player rolls a D6, re-rolling ties. Whoever scores higher decides which half of the table they wish to deploy in. The opposing player deploys in the opposite half.

OBJECTIVE MARKERS

After terrain has been set up, but before determining table quarters, the players must place six Objective Markers that are individually numbered 1 through 6 on the battlefield, using the rules from Warhammer: 40,000, as modified by the Cities of Death special rules.

DEPLOYMENT

Before any models are deployed, both players should roll to determine their Warlord Traits.

Players must deploy using the standard deployment method as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

FIRST TURN

The player that deployed first can choose to take the first or second turn. If they decide to take the first turn, their opponent can attempt to Seize the Initiative as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

Cities of Death Objectives

Each player generates three Cities of Death Objectives at the start of their first turn; the first objective generated by each player will always be ‘Streets of Death’ (no. 53, Type: Purge).

GAME LENGTH

This mission uses Variable Game Length as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

At the end of the game, the player who has scored the most Victory Points is the winner. If both players have the same number of Victory Points, the game is a draw.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

Achieve as many Cities of Death Objectives as possible. If, at the start of a player’s turn, he has fewer than three Active Cities of Death Objectives, he must generate a number of new Cities of Death Objectives until he has three.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

First Blood, Linebreaker*, Slay the Warlord.

MISSION SPECIAL RULES

Cities of Death Objectives, Mysterious Objectives, Night Fighting, Reserves.

Sniper’s Alley: Any model with the Sniper special rule, and any model firing a weapon with the Sniper special rule, re-rolls failed To Hit and To Wound rolls. In addition, any Wounds allocated by these attacks to models on open ground are resolved at AP2.

*Enemy Supply Lines: In this mission, you can score the Linebreaker secondary objective up to three times – i.e. at the end of the game, you score 1 Victory Point for each of your scoring units that is completely within 12” of the enemy table edge, up to a maximum of 3 Victory Points.

Both armies are attempting to creep through the half-collapsed tunnels of the city’s vast sewer network to strike unexpectedly and secure vital objectives.

THE ARMIES

Choose armies as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Use the deployment map included with this mission. Set up terrain as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules. We recommend that you set up at least six buildings and/or ruins, and use more buildings and ruins if they are available. The Realm of Battle: Sector Imperialis is perfect for this scenario as each board section contains several sewer manholes.

Each player rolls a D6, re-rolling ties. Whoever scores higher decides which quarter of the table they wish to deploy in. The opposing player deploys in the diagonally opposite quarter.

OBJECTIVE MARKERS

After terrain has been set up, but before determining table quarters, the players must place six Objective Markers that are individually numbered 1 through 6 on the battlefield, using the rules from Warhammer: 40,000, as modified by the Cities of Death special rules.

DEPLOYMENT

Before any models are deployed, both players should roll to determine their Warlord Traits. Players must deploy using the standard deployment method as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

FIRST TURN

The player that deployed first can choose to take the first or second turn. If they decide to take the first turn, their opponent can attempt to Seize the Initiative as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules.

CITIES OF DEATH OBJECTIVES

Each player generates three Cities of Death Objectives at the start of their first turn; the first objective generated by each player will always be ‘Streets of Death’ (no. 53, Type: Purge).

GAME LENGTH

This mission uses Variable Game Length as described in Warhammer 40,000: The Rules .

VICTORY CONDITIONS

At the end of the game, the player who has scored the most Victory Points is the winner. If both players have the same number of Victory Points, the game is a draw.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

Achieve as many Cities of Death Objectives as possible. If, at the start of a player’s turn, he has fewer than three Active Cities of Death Objectives, he must generate a number of new Cities of Death Objectives until he has three.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

First Blood, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord.

MISSION SPECIAL RULES

Cities of Death Objectives, Mysterious Objectives, Night Fighting, Reserves.

Sewer Network: At the beginning of the game, you and your opponent should identify all the sewer manholes on your battlefield. (About 12 to 16 is ideal.) Any unit of Infantry, Beasts or Swarms and any unit that consists of a single Monstrous Creature or Walker that arrives from Reserves can enter play using these sewer manholes.

When a unit arrives from Reserves and you wish for it to deploy using a sewer manhole, roll a D6: on a 2-6 select any sewer manhole that is more than 6” from any enemy unit and deploy your unit using the rules for Deep Strike, with the exception that the first model is placed on top of the sewer manhole and does not scatter. On the roll of a 1, your opponent chooses which sewer manhole your unit arrives from, but the unit is otherwise deployed as described above.

Welcome, reader, as the deep winter closes in, to this very special End Times entry in the Codex: Apocrypha. Behold one of the dread book’s darkest and most terrible tales: The Rise of the Beasts…

AUTUMN, 2525

The Lord of the Cloven Ones stalked through the Forest of Shadows, a bloodied once-hound sniffing at his side. Less than a spear’s throw away the beastman’s good eye picked out the fast-flowing Struhel, its waters grey with corruption. Khazrak could smell the plague’s corruption thick on the air, its power dancing on the winds behind. Lying bloated at the water’s edge were the scattered remains of a human patrol, the obvious pain of their deaths bringing a leer to the lord’s goat-like features.

Each of the cadavers was whole, though their bodies were distended and strange. From the eye socket of the nearest figure sprouted a long, white-necked tuber, its orchid head comprised of three rot-pink cushions that buzzed with oily flies. Khazrak made the sign of the Urfather, his hound attentive as the sights and smells of the sacred tableau sank in. Two other corpses had similar plants pushing out from their mouths, the white column of the parasitic growths forcing their mouths unnaturally wide. A third had a smaller plant pushing out from his nostril. The sight raised a dark chuckle from the cyclopean beastlord.

As Khazrak watched, the largest of the tuber-like growths shivered inside its host, the body going into such violent convulsions its rotten flesh began to tear. Thick white roots pushed out from the corpse’s nose, ears and mouth, jointed and strong like the legs of some impossible spider. The flies around the strange orchid’s head buzzed louder and louder as it strained and pulled against its host, finally detaching the head entirely in a welter of black blood and necrotised flesh. The grotesque plant staggered like a drunken ungor for a moment before righting itself and emitting a strange hiss. All around it the other corpses began to convulse, roots sprouting from the orifices of each head.

Khazrak watched in wonder as the parasitic orchid stalked slowly past the disembodied head it had taken for its own, flies droning around it as it made its way inland. The man-part of the cloven lord’s mind flared for a moment, giving a name to the walking plague he was witnessing – Nurgle’s Rose. Truly the wonders of the Urfather were endless.

The cloven lord tossed back his head and howled like a daemon wolf, his call answered by a thousand twisted throats as the bray-herd replied in kind. A sign from the gods. Now was the time to strike…

BEASTS, ARISE!

From every herdstone in the Old World, the beastmen tribes marched to war.

By harnessing the winds of change that blew across the Empire, Malagor had completed a ritual of such wide-ranging potency that every hamlet, farm and township had been assailed by its own altered livestock. Army upon army of beastmen were born in a single night, each driven by a maniacal desire to feed on those who had planned to slaughter them for their own feast days. In one stroke, the Crowfather had turned the scales of domesticity upon the race of men. He had not only robbed the Empire of much of its edible meat, but also ensured that its citizens were penned into their own homes by the very beasts they had sought to tame. Roadwardens, garrison-farmers and militia were all too busy battling against their own homeborn terrors to unite against the tribes converging upon the cities of men.

And converge they did, in their millions. Along beast-paths and secret scent-tracks worn into the forest floor a river of unclean flesh flowed, directed in its advance by the feral cunning of Khazrak One-Eye. Long columns of Gor and Ungor wound undetected through the trees, coming closer and closer to the walls of the cities they despised. In other parts of the forest all subtlety was abandoned, tribes of minotaurs, giants, ghorgons and worse smashing the trees aside so that the cloven hordes behind could advance en masse. Forest goblin tribes and hermitic necromancers alike cowered in their lairs, fearing to challenge the beasts in such numbers. Some warherds even came along the roads of the Empire themselves, ranked and bunched in the manner of men, their advance as brazen as the war-horns they sounded in anticipation of their triumph.

Vauss Fenaelen awoke to meet his wife’s terrified gaze; her face was blurred with sleep, her emotions writ large nonetheless. He had been woken from uneasy dreams of bleating and biting, but his relief at the horrible vision’s end died as the noise outside broke upon his consciousness. It was a din as if every one of his livestock were giving birth at once. Worse still, it was getting louder.

The farmer scrabbled out his tinderbox from the warped wood of the drawers by the bed and struck a flint, carefully lighting his storm lantern and cultivating the flame. As light flowed out, golden and reassuring, the cacophony of shrieks, screams and bellows outside suddenly stopped. Vauss met his wife’s gaze once more, her eyes white in the gloom. She’d retrieved the pickaxe from under the bed and was clutching it with hands that shook like those of a fever victim. The farmer took her cue, stalking quietly to the opposite wall and taking down his old military sabre. The blade slid from its scabbard with a soft and reassuring hiss.

“Daddy?” came the timid voice of Katyin from the hallway. A small face poked around the corner of the bedroom door, her auburn curls glowing like a copper halo as she stepped into the light. “Daddy, Gertrude’s trying to get in.”

Suddenly the shutters burst open with a bang and a goat-headed monster bleated black hate into the room. Devil-eyes rolled red in a veined and distorted skull, its head wildly lolling as blood-flecked foam spilled from its gnashing lips. Two disgusting hoof-hands scrabbled for purchase as the creature pushed up and into the room. Alongside it came the fang-stretched muzzle of a horse-thing, battering the right-hand shutter to splinters with its heavy, ridged head as it loomed inside.

Katyin screamed as her mother rushed forwards, slamming the pickaxe’s point into the forehead of the goat-thing. It gnashed and tore at her clothes for a moment before convulsing violently, yanking the pick from her palsied hands. A crash of crockery came from the kitchen, and for a moment Vauss looked down the hall and back again, paralysed with indecision. In that spare second the horse-beast pushed its muscular torso against the outside wall, grunting with effort. The bricks gave way in a tumble of mud and straw that filled the room with dust. The horse-creature fell inwards, its knife-like fangs sinking into Atte’s shoulder. Her scream mingled with the hellish barnyard noise that had started up again from the garden outside.

Vauss lunged forward, his blade sinking deep into the horse-beast’s eye socket. It thrashed and shivered, hooves clattering as the farmer yanked out red steel. Teeth still locked, the creature’s corpse bore Atte down into the scattered clay.

Before the farmer could react a leering porcine face emerged from the dust, drooling blood from its flabby jaws. The creature that had once been Heinrich the black pig stalked unsteadily into the room on hind trotters. Still screaming, Katyin flailed upwards and hit the side of the beastman’s head with her doll. It twisted round, lowering its wobbling snout towards her face. Vauss took his chance, kicking the pig-man’s head so hard it slammed into the remains of the window frame and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

There came a deafening bellow from the hallway, and Vauss span round, blade raised and breathing hard. A giant ox-thing was smashing its way down the hall, twice the size of the beast of burden it had once been and rippling with barely-contained rage. Its crude hands tore dressers and paintings from the wall, distended nostrils snorting red mist as it barged its way to the bedroom.

Vauss cried out with primal fear, inadvertently stumbling backwards into the gangling arms of a sheep-headed freak. His lantern was knocked from his hand, smashing down to leak burning oil across the floorboards. Hope rose in Vauss’s chest for a brief second, but the beasts did not scare at the sight of flame. Glossy eyes flickered evilly in the firelight as the triumphant bleating of the beasts mingled with the shrieking of the farmer and his family. The noise rose to a deafening crescendo as the ox-thing in the corridor shouldered his way through the doorframe and swatted Vauss’s blade from his hand. The flames on the floorboards flared once, and went out.

It was then that the feast began.

Alongside the bestial armies of Malagor and Khazrak marched the daemonic hosts of the Chaos Gods. Since the Crowfather’s great ritual had opened portals across the Drakwald, a dizzying variety of immortal forms had poured from the herdstone-shaped holes, stable portals conjured by the bray-shaman’s magnificent sacrifice. The Old World was in the grip of potent and nightmarish forces, the perfect environment for the daemonic hordes to thrive. The daemon legions were given sustenance not only by the etheric winds that howled out from each portal, but also by the unbridled magical energies that swirled unseen across the Empire in the wake of the Glotts’ plagues.

Most of the daemons to have stepped from the Realm of Chaos into the mortal world were the footsoldiers of Nurgle. The foetid garden of their master grew thick and vital, for when plague blossoms in the real world, so too does its reflection in the otherworld. Out from the choking fronds of that surreal garden came one-eyed plaguebearers, each muttering his own numerical chant as he counted the grisly blessings showered upon an ungrateful Empire. With them came leader-creatures mounted upon giant, swollen rot-flies, each steed stopping here and there so that their elephantine proboscises could slurp at the bodies of the dead. Slug-bodied beasts flolloped and gambolled at the side of each column, overjoyed whenever they sniffed out some petrified outrider or scout at the side of the road and made them into playmates, however briefly. Here and there came the waddling behemoths known as Great Unclean Ones, chortling like fond grandfathers on a summer day’s stroll as they watched their children cavort in their newfound playground. The whole parade had an atmosphere of carnivalia to it, a joyful celebration of the new life that had spread like wildfire across the lands.

Yet though the tiny forms of life that Father Nurgle cherished were blooming unbounded across the land, the would-be rulers of the Empire’s provinces were dying in droves. It was an equation that suited the Lord of Decay well indeed. For every human life taken by the plague, a score of fungi, a hundred maggots, a million minuscule monsters were allowed to thrive.

Across the east of the Empire, Malagor’s old ally Moloch Slugtongue robbed the land of even more of its strength. Wherever that wizened fiend walked, famine followed. The locusts and cockroaches that flocked in his wake were put to good use gnawing away the last of the harvest that the people of the Empire had stowed away. Tall, strong men were slowly reduced to sallow shadows that moaned and clutched at their bellies, eating cats, dogs and rats in their overriding hunger. Armies of the starving and the desperate were mustered, and though many a warherd was brought to battle, the Lord of the Black Harvest was never found.

To a mortal man, the realm looked ravaged and weak, a black and rotting shadow of the ordered realm that had stood before. To the cyclopean eyes of Nurgle’s footsoldiers, however, the Empire teemed with life as never before. Each Plaguebearer outwardly grumbled at the magnitude of the task ahead of him, for even with their unprecedented numbers counting every sore and bubo would take weeks. Yet inside their hearts a secret joy blossomed, just as the spores of Nurgle’s Rose bloomed across the lands – this was their time, and they knew the best was yet to come.

Daemon, monster or beast, all were to play their part as the poisonous seeds sown by the Glotts bore fruit into full scale war. Whether they knew it or not, the majority of the armies that were marching to do battle were serving the interests of Khazrak One-Eye himself. Tribe after tribe stalked towards the City of the White Wolf, just as a predator stalks unseen towards its prey.

Reeling from the deep wounds suffered in the summer months, the Empire prepared itself for a new season of war. Though none of its generals would admit it, it was a war they feared they had already lost…

Alone in his palatial quarters, Graf Boris Todbringer sharpened his dagger over and over, the runefang laid unsheathed across his lap. His yellowed teeth were gritted, his one eye staring wildly with the frustration coursing through his troubled mind.

Somehow, the beasts were winning.

All over Middenland, the Deathknell Watches were reporting massacres, burnings, and raids from uncharacteristically focused warbands of beastmen. Each time the creatures would emerge from their hiding places in the forest, charging from all directions in such great numbers that they simply barged down the defences of their targets. The horned giants at the heart of each throng had battered down any stout gate or wall that was raised against them. It was Todbringer’s worst fear made real. Someone or something had united the feral tribes and forged them into an unstoppable weapon of war.

The Graf had a gnawing feeling that he knew exactly who was to blame. It was Khazrak, the One-Eye. The-one-who-took-his-eye. The one who I must kill. The one who won, the once, aye. The words whirled around his head, over and over. That was what his guardsmen called him too, behind his back. Boris One-Eye. The last to do it in earshot he’d had hanged from the barrack roof. He could almost hear the creak of the rope, feel the rough hemp of the noose as if he’d tied the thing himself.

Todbringer stood up suddenly, filled with electric energy. The runefang on his lap clattered to the floor. Scooping up the sword and sheathing it, he grabbed his helmet from the skull-topped mannequin near the confusion of wood that had once been his oaken desk.

Ridiculous thing really, he thought, turning the helmet round to look at the sculpted keep-crest surrounded by a trio of long feathers, ornamented well beyond practicality. No wonder the beasts despised the Empire as a realm of weaklings and fools. But status must be celebrated, and the common herd given something to look up to. No crown of horns for man.

He rammed the helmet down over his thick mane of red hair and moved over to the book of troop rosters, already estimating of how many soldiers he could prise from Middenheim’s defence. The time to strike was nigh.

There would be blood spilt this day, a very great deal of it. And by sunset he would hold Khazrak’s severed head aloft to feel the red rain patter down on his face.

Stricken and out of ammunition, a Stormtalon Gunship must try and escape back to Imperial lines, pursued by a raging Ork pilot in a Dakkajet. Through a narrow, winding canyon, both pilots must use wits and cunning if they are to survive.

Banking his Stormtalon hard, Brother Aeran swung his head back, scanning across the ashen sky and roiling clouds. His weapons had run dry in the main attack, so his only chance was to outrun the Orkish scum and get back to the Imperial lines. Red and menacing, the Ork fighter hung doggedly on his tail, streams of fire whipping past or pinging from the Stormtalon’s armour. Aeran had tried to evade, but the Ork was good. Too good…

Ahead, the terrain opened into a winding canyon. Seeing his chance, Aeran hauled his Stormtalon down in a steep dive, ramjets howling as he sped towards the crevasse. Hard on his tail, the Orkish plane swooped in behind him, guns chattering.

The Canyon of Death is a game for two players representing a breakneck chase through a canyon between a lone Stormtalon Gunship and an Ork Dakkajet – can the Stormtalon get to safe territory before the Dakkajet blasts it to bits? Throughout the game, the Stormtalon has the advantage that he can see the upcoming twists and turns in the canyon, and can manoeuvre accordingly. He also has the chance to choose between multiple routes, hopefully causing difficulties for the Dakkajet. The Dakkajet can’t see the canyon ahead, and has to base his manoeuvres on the Stormtalon’s movements. He has one distinct edge, however – he can open fire on his opponent every turn.

If the Stormtalon escapes through the other end of the canyon, or the Dakkajet is destroyed, the Stormtalon wins the game. If the Dakkajet can shoot down the Stormtalon (or it crashes), then the Dakkajet wins.

YOU WILL NEED

To play, you will need the following:

A deck of playing cards

A Stormtalon and a Dakkajet

Four dice

Note: Aces (that is, ace cards, not flying aces!) always count as a number card with a value of 1 in this game.

Aim of the Game

The Stormtalon is trying to either make it through the canyon by moving off the last Canyon card, or cause the Dakkajet to be destroyed while navigating the canyon’s many hazards. The Dakkajet is trying to shoot down the Stormtalon before either of these things happen.

We recommend that after you’ve finished, you switch sides and play again!

Set-up

Separate the cards by suit, discarding any jokers, to create four decks:

The spades form the Canyon deck.

The hearts form the Damage deck.

The diamonds form the Stormtalon’s Flight deck. Remove the Jack, Queen and King from this deck.

The clubs form the Dakkajet’s Flight deck. Remove the Jack, Queen and King from this deck.

Set up the Canyon. Shuffle the Canyon deck, then deal out the cards as shown to the right. Leave about 6” of space in front of each card – they don’t need to be in a straight line, so they should easily fit on a 6’ x 4’ gaming table. Remove the remaining cards from the game without either player looking at them – this means that no one knows for sure which cards make up the Canyon.

Place the Dakkajet 4” behind the Stormtalon, with a D6 on its base showing the number 4. This is the Dakkajet’s Pursuit Dice and represents how closely the Dakkajet is following the Stormtalon. The closer it gets, the more damage its weapons will cause!

Shuffle the Damage deck and place it in reach of both players.

Each player shuffles their Flight deck, then draw an Agility hand of three cards, which is kept secret from the other player.

EXAMPLE OF NAVIGATING

Buzzgob and Aeran are playing a game of Canyon of Death. Aeran is controlling the Stormtalon, so he looks at the next Canyon card, revealing a 5. Looking at his Agility hand, Aeran decides to play a 4. This card is lower than the Canyon card, so he’ll avoid damage.

Buzzgob isn’t able to see the Canyon card, however, and so has to try and guess what Aeran is up to. He plays a 2 from his Agility hand, hoping to avoid damage from the canyon. As a result, Buzzgob falls a little further behind Aeran’s Stormtalon, and increases the score on the Pursuit dice by one. He does avoid taking damage, however, and can shoot at the Stormtalon as normal.

In the following turn the flyers have reached an area in the canyon with two possible routes, so Aeran has two Canyon cards to choose from. He opts for the higher of the two cards in the end – a 7. (He turns over and discards the one he doesn’t want – a 2.) He then plays a 7 from his Agility hand, equalling the number exactly.

Buzzgob, who isn’t party to the number on the Canyon card (but does know the other route was a very perilous 2), makes his best guess from his Agility hand and plays a 10. This means that he will gain ground on Aeran (lowing the score on his Pursuit dice by one) but will also take three hits from the canyon too as his wings bump and scrape the canyon walls. Assuming Buzzgob survives the damage from the three hits he has suffered, he can then open fire on the Stormtalon as normal.

TURN SUMMARY

Each turn is played through in the following order:

• Navigate

• Manoeuvre

• Advance

• Open Fire

• End of Turn

NAVIGATE

The Stormtalon player secretly looks at the Canyon card(s) immediately in front of his flyer, without letting the Dakkajet player see them. If there are two cards immediately in front of the Stormtalon, they represent two different routes; the Stormtalon player looks at them both, then reveals and discards the one he does not wish to navigate through.

MANOEUVRE

The Stormtalon player plays a card from his hand, face-up. Then, having seen the Stormtalon’s card, the Dakkajet player plays a card from his hand, face-up. If either player is unable to play a card as he has none in his hand, his pilot finds himself unable to avoid careening into a canyon wall, and is destroyed – the other player wins immediately!

If the Dakkajet played a higher numbered card than the Stormtalon, reduce the number on its Pursuit Dice by 1 (to a minimum of 1). If the Dakkajet played a lower card than the Stormtalon, increase the number on its Pursuit Dice by 1 (to a maximum of 6).

Reveal the Canyon card immediately in front of the Stormtalon and resolve it (see ‘Resolving Canyon cards’).

ADVANCE

The Stormtalon moves forward so that the front of its base is just behind the next Canyon card(s) in line. If there are no more Canyon cards, the Stormtalon has made it to the edge of the canyon and will escape unless the Dakkajet can shoot him down this turn.

The Dakkajet moves forward so that it is a number of inches behind the Stormtalon equal to the number on its Pursuit Dice.

OPEN FIRE

The Dakkajet can now shoot the Stormtalon by rolling three dice. Each dice that scores equal to or higher than the number on the Pursuit Dice causes a hit (see ‘Taking Hits & Damage’).

If the Stormtalon is destroyed, the Dakkajet wins!

END OF TURN

If there are no Canyon cards in front of the Stormtalon, he escapes to friendly territory and wins the game!

Otherwise, both players move any cards they played from their hand this turn to their discard pile.

Both players draw cards from their Flight deck to restore their Agility hand back up to its starting size of three. If there are insufficient cards in either deck, a player must draw as many as he can.

RESOLVING CANYON CARDS

Canyon cards show how difficult this section of the canyon is to navigate, and reveal any special locations. A high numbered card is a relatively open area, while a low numbered card is quite dangerous! Face cards represent special locations, which are detailed below. Once turned over, each Canyon card is resolved in the following way:

If it is a number card, it is a hazard. If a player’s card is higher than the revealed card, he takes one hit for each point of difference.

If it is a Jack, it is a wide open area, giving each pilot a chance to level his craft. Each player rolls a dice, then takes that many cards at random from his discard pile and shuffles them back into his deck.

If it is a Queen, it is an Icarus Autocannon battery, positioned to defend the territory beyond the canyon. The Stormtalon can immediately shoot at the Dakkajet with four dice, requiring 5+ to cause a hit (see below). If the Dakkajet is destroyed, the Stormtalon wins!

If it is a King, this area of the canyon is filled with a swarm of flying xenos creatures that hamper mobility, vision and firepower. Each player rolls a dice, and discards that many cards from the top of their deck.

TAKING HITS & DAMAGE

When a flyer takes a hit, the controlling player must either discard a card at random from his hand, or draw the top card of the Damage deck and place it next to his flyer:

A numbered Damage card causes damage equal to the number shown. A flyer is destroyed if the total damage on all the Damage cards next to it is 20 or higher.

If a drawn Damage card is a face card (Jack, Queen or King), the value of the next numbered damage card is multiplied by two. If multiple face cards are drawn in a row, they are cumulative! (Place face cards next to the multiplied damage card as a reminder, but don’t draw another Damage card until another hit is taken, as normal.)

Whenever the Dakkajet takes one or more hits, he must also increase the number on the Pursuit Dice by 1 (to a maximum of 6).

EXAMPLE OF TAKING HITS

Having fallen back slightly in his pursuit of Aeran, Buzzgob now has a five on his Pursuit dice. This means that when it is time to open fire, he needs to score a 5 or more on the dice he rolls. As always, he rolls three dice, and the results are 3, 4 and 5. With one successful hit against him, Aeran now needs to decide whether to discard a card from his Agility hand or flip over the top card from the damage deck. Resolving to keep his Agility cards, he flips over a Damage card, and gets an 8, meaning his battered Stormtalon is nearly halfway destroyed.

Later in the game, Buzzgob misjudges his pursuit of the Stormtalon by three, meaning he has taken three hits. He decides to discard a single card from his Agility hand to negate one hit, and then suffer the damage from the other two. The first is a 3, and the second a Jack. The face card means that the next time he takes damage, he must double the result!

Join us for a round-up of the week as we share comment, opinion and trivia on all the latest releases, plus other fun tidbits that have cropped up in the White Dwarf bunker. This week it’s Cities of Death, Grombrindal’s resolutions and a vote for your Miniature of the Year.

With your complete set of Cities of Death Objective cards (from last week’s and this week’s issues of White Dwarf), the rules for adapting your games of Warhammer 40,000 into a Cities of Death game (found in last week’s White Dwarf – still available from the Games Workshop website and in digital form – and in Shield of Baal: Leviathan), and the two new missions found in this issue, you now have everything you need to send your own armies into the bloody mayhem of the Cities of Death.

The two new missions found in this week’s magazine give you a really good starting point for your Cities of Death games, but don’t forget they aren’t the only Cities of Death missions out there. In Shield of Baal: Leviathan there are six more for you to try out. You can also use the Cities of Death Objectives in ordinary Maelstrom of War missions – simply swap the objectives over. If you do this, just make sure you include enough city ruins and buildings on your battlefield to enable all of the objectives (usually a minimum of six).

You could even use the Maelstrom of War objectives in Cities of Death missions if you wanted to – they are versatile enough to easily accommodate each other.

URBAN WAR

STUBBORN DEFIANCE

The Imperium of Man has a hard-earned reputation for fighting to the bitter end, most of all when their cities are at risk, a fact earning such urban war zones the moniker ‘Cities of Death’. For the regiments of the Astra Militarum and Planetary Defence Forces across the galaxy these places represent home. Though the Cadians or Valhallans might be fighting light years from the soil of their mother planet, they will fight bravely to defend it all the same.

A MILLION WORLDS

There are over a million worlds in the Imperium, from temperate, gentle worlds like ancient Terra to cruel death worlds such as Catachan. This endless variety of climates and conditions has created a multitude of different population centres, from the soaring spires of Necromunda to the industrial heartland of Vostroya or the kasrs of Cadia. Such variety makes preparing the defence of a city difficult for Imperial logisticians, since one fights differently in the vertical hives of Mordia to the low desert cities of Hyrion Major.

Difficult as it is to believe, we’ve heard that there are actually things in people’s stockings other than shiny new Citadel miniatures. In fact, we hear quite a few of you might have got a new iPad for Christmas. Did you know that an enhanced iPad edition of Warhammer: Visions is available from the Apple App Store? Nothing will ever beat the crisp, fresh goodness of a printed Warhammer: Visions, of course, but if you haven’t taken the digital plunge yet, it couldn’t be easier and there are few better reasons. Best of all, with digital editions you can always get back issues of every issue published to date, so don’t think you’ve missed out on any!

Warhammer:Visions on your iPad or Mac! Visit Apple App store for more details:

LAST MINUTE PAINTING

The impending Christmas break hasn’t slowed the relentless tide of painting and modelling here in the bunker – in fact, looking at some of our desks, it’s a wonder anyone can find their keyboard for the seas of plastic frames, part-painted models and water pots. In one corner of the bunker, Tyranids mass in unholy numbers, while beneath an especially cluttered desk a new Skaven horde takes shape – in fact, with an End Times Triumph and Treachery battle looming, one bewhiskered team member has painted half the ratmen in The Island of Blood boxed set in just over a week…

As demob fever grips the White Dwarf team, and we prepare to flee into the icy wilds for some well-earned mince pies and eggnog, one of the topics of conversation buzzing around the office has been what’s on our Christmas lists.

While cries of Glottkin, Imperial Knights and even Forge World Primarchs have gone up in response to the hottest topic of the week, and stocking fillers like basing kits and Water Pots are inevitable favourites, the thing that almost every member of the team has on his or her Christmas list is a Citadel Project box. Combining work surface, paint and tool storage and organiser, it’s a must have for keeping your latest project in an orderly fashion.

As we have reviewed the various models released this year, one model has stood out above all the others for one reason: he’s incredibly happy with his work. Of course, we mean the maniacal Ork operating the deffstorm mega-shoota on the Gorkanaut. He’s sat grinning away in the back of the gun like an insane cross between a bomber’s tail gunner and a biker on a massive warbike. Every time we see him, we can’t help but smile too.

Notes from the worlds of Warhammer. This week: Flyers.

THE STORMTALON

A gunship utilised by many Space Marine Chapters, the Stormtalon is both a ground-strike attack craft and escort vehicle. Typically, Stormtalons accompany high-value battlefield assets into the combat area, such as Land Raiders transporting command units, before reverting to a hunter-killer role, where they seek and destroy high-threat ground targets. Stormtalons are capable of raining down a tremendous amount of firepower whilst hovering directly over their target, then powering away to a different area of the battlefield once their mission is accomplished.

THE HELDRAKE

Considered one of the most fearsome flyers in the galaxy, the Heldrake is a Daemon engine, a terrible fusion of flesh, steel and Daemonic power. The Heldrake is armed with either a hades autocannon, a medium-ranged weapon capable of tearing apart all but the heaviest vehicles, or the baleflamer, which engulfs its targets in a burning wave of Warpflame. Perhaps most frightening of all, however, is the Heldrake’s ability to grapple with its targets in mid-air, raking them with powerful talons to tear open cockpits and shred wings.

ORKY JETS

From the Dakkajet to the Blitza-bomma, the Orks have a wide and varied selection of attack planes, all of which appear quite similar at first glance. What sets them apart is their function and weapon load – whether they are intended to dive-bomb armoured targets, unleash blazing promethium on infantry formations or duel in the skies against enemy fighter jets.

There is no other weapon as iconic (and some would argue as powerful) in the Warhammer world as Ghal Maraz, the Hammer of Sigmar. Fashioned by Dwarves and gifted to Sigmar in thanks for rescuing the Dwarf king, Kurgan Ironbeard, from an Orc raiding party. With it in hand, Sigmar vanquished many terrible foes, including Nagash. In the centuries since his passing, it has been his symbol, wielded in battle by the Emperors.

The White Dwarf team is a font of hobby knowledge, a metaphorical repository of useful facts. If you have a question about Warhammer 40,000 or Warhammer, need a bit of painting advice or you’re after a few tactical tips, drop us a line:

team@whitedwarf.co.uk

A NEW YEAR, A NEW AXE TO GRIND

Oh mighty bearded one, I was wondering, do you have any New Year’s resolutions and, if so, what are they?
- Bobby ‘resolution centre’ Jones

GROMBRINDAL SAYS

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions but, seeing as you called me mighty bearded one, I came up with a short list:

1. Hit more Elves.

2. Drink more beer. Specifically Bugman’s XXXXXX, but I’m not fussy.

3. Grow more beard. I already have a magnificent beard, as well you know, but there’s nothing wrong with making it even more magnificent.

4. Hit more Elves. You can never get enough of a good thing, right?

5. Survive the End Times. Come to think of it, this should be top of the list…
- Grombrindal

This week’s Reader’s Model, by Julien Rubio, is inspired by the gold-armoured Adeptus Custodes made famous in the Black Library’s Horus Heresy novels.

Julien raided his bits box to find all the parts to make this model, converted using parts from the Space Marine Terminator squad, Tomb Kings banner tops, plus bits from High Elves and countless other kits. The Nemesis force halberd alone is made from more parts than we can recognise. Reckon you can name them all? It’s all topped off with a cracking paint job, of course.

If you’ve painted a miniature that you think is worthy of a place in White Dwarf then why not send a picture to:

team@whitedwarf.co.uk

If it’s something we can use, we’ll be sure to get in touch.

There’s nothing like fresh meat to buoy up the spirits of an Ogre on campaign. The problem with this lovely steak from the Mournfang Cavalry kit is nobody is quite sure what animal it’s from. We reckon it’s either from an Orc war boar or a Minotaur…

What do you think is the greatest Citadel miniature of 2014? Having pored over this year’s amazing releases, we’re interested to hear what you think was the best Citadel miniature released between January and December 2014 – and here’s how to let us know…

Something we love to do here in the White Dwarf bunker is talk about our favourite Citadel miniatures, and one of the topics that has raged around the office this week is which model is the greatest of the year. So, we decided we’d ask you, our readers, what you think.

All you need to do is choose your five favourite Citadel miniatures released any time from January to December 2014, and send the list to: team@whitedwarf.co.uk. We’ll get our horde of tame Goblins to count up the results to see what the overall favourite is, and print the results in the new year. We’ve included a brief summary of what came out when in our Review of the Year, beginning on page 4, but remember you can pick any five Citadel miniatures released in 2014. We’ll close the voting on Saturday 10 January, so don’t take too long making your mind up.

Below you can see a reminder of a few of the year’s highlights. You could pick one of these great new models, or anything else released in 2014. So, you could nominate both the Imperial Knight and Helbrute, or maybe you want to nominate Araloth rather than the Treeman. The choice is entirely yours: just remember, five models from 2014, by Saturday 10 January.

SEND YOUR PICKS TO: team@WhiteDwarf.co.uk

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