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though you guys might be interested.
http://www.gw-fanworld.net/

Damn! Those are some beautiful sculpts.

Darrian

cheers for that - can't wait for most of the figs but those dire wolves look a bit odd to me...

Hmm... Plastic Ghouls + 40K = More Plague Zombies!!!

Now... if only LatD had an army list...

BYE

There's some good stuff their but some of it strikes me as odd.

-The direwolf heads are HUGE! Like stupid big. Ruins an otherwise decent looking model.

-The skeletons are still cool but that forward lean they seem to have is more notable on the box. Not a deal breaker but fairly cool.

And it is even more apparent that the only good new hero model is the mounted one shown awhile back. All the ones shown here are meh IMHO. Vlad is ok (some GS and losing the spike would make him really nice) but Manfred and Konrad are terrible: crappy poses, off-the-mark proportions and terrible face sculpts.

Blood knights are pretty damn nice looking though (didn't see those yet).

Whoa nelly, Those wolf heads look like three up heads on normal bodies.

I'm stoked that Vampire Counts are getting redone. I have to agree that the Dire Wolves look kind of strange (doesn't help that the picture is a bit grainy). The skeletons look cool though and the whole army seems to have a much more dark and deadly look to it.

sweet looking line troops

Like I've said elsewhere, both the Dire Wolves and the Ghouls are absolutely horrible, and the Blood Knights could've been better too but I won't dare to complain about them. Dire Wolves might actually be the worst models GW has ever made. I'm sure Trish Morrison did them, as only she and Gary Morley can sculpt something that bad.

Almost all of the Vampires on foot are absolutely awful as well, as the faces are distorted, cloaks look unrealistic, poses are bad and there's a much too strong Chaos feel to them. GW has had a lot of trouble finding people who can sculpt faces of hero models, so once again we get super masculine female models and males that look like monsters.

Guess I'm waiting to see what the Dark Elves look like.

What is wrong with the ghouls? Is this the new reinterpretation of them? What are they storing in that hump on their back?

Yeesh. Look almost like orcs.

The problem VC have always had is, they are scizophrenic. The main feeling the designers and sculptors seek is darkly gothic horror- but there is always the temptation to slip into black comedy whenever zombies are present. Also, the Hammer Studios Dracula films that terrified us when we were six, are kitschy & campy when viewed again at 30, so it can be hard to take a vampire seriously, if you popped Brides of Dracula into the DVD player for some inspiration while sculpting... .

I was talking to my FLGS owner & friend yesterday, and I mentioned the fact that the HE spearhead was a good basic army for someone just starting, but the VC spearhead didn't seem to be as good a value, from a beginner's standpoint. He is a VC player of long standing, and opined that the store was only going to order a couple of the spearhead release boxes, because now that they have seen the contents, they don't think it'll sell.

I've been thinking about starting VC when the new book comes out. Now I will definitely be buying the army book before I buy the army box. I just have issues with the contents.

Looking at the army box, I see:
2 characters
10 skeletons
10 grave guard
10 ghouls
10 dire wolves
1 corpse cart
1 vargulf

This does not say to me, "useful army straight from the box". This says to me, "buy more units immediately".

As for the new models:
2 characters- I don't dislike the new scuplts. Gothic horror.
10 skeletons- why only 10?
10 grave guard- okay, maybe.
10 ghouls- again, why only 10? ...and the new sculpts are somewhat cool, a totally different interpretation from what I am used to, and crap they are going to be hard to rank up.
10 dire wolves- sorry, I won't touch these abominations with a ten-foot clown-pole. Agree with all the abuse that has been heaped upon them, and will add: those look like rat skulls, not canine skulls.
1 corpse cart- kind of cool in a blackly humorous way (damn, comedy sneaks in already)!
1 vargulf- nifty! But I want to know its role in the army.

Well now ...

Vlad -- Actually looking nice with 'Eavy Metal paintjob, OTT but not out of place in WHFB, and the face isn't so bad in that pic. I can dig.

Chick -- Vomitous. Thank Grod for <insert non-GeeDub company here> (Reaper in a pinch)

Skellies -- Very nice still. The forward lean is cool.

GGuard -- Eviler skellies with Eastern European stuff, works nicely. Big improvement over metals

Ghouls -- With Fellblade, cool enough, pain for ranks. I like the other ones a big better, but I think servitors / plague mutants can come from these all the easier.

Dire Wolves -- I actually can't say I hate them, though the pic is bad and my comp makes the darkness of it even worse. If those giant heads are skulls or something, then maybe-just-maybe it could work. Sadly they don't look very useful for other wolf-y projects, which is definitely a big failing.

Corpse Cart -- Wow, large. A cool thing to be sure, but does it not enhance zombies? And no zombies in the spearhead ...

Varghulf -- Also bigger than I expected. A cool thing.

- Salvage

Fellblade,

From what I understand the Spearhead is designed simply to offer the new miniatures in the line earlier than they are generally available. This is targeted towards the experienced gamer who already has models and just wants to get his hands on the new stuff. The old army boxes were designed along the idea that it was a starting army, everything you need for the 500 point range to start a new army. These were unpopular and didn't sell very well. The spearhead represents a new marketing strategy and you should have zero expectations that the models will constitute a viable starting force.

I think the quantities are odd, 10 skellies, 10 GG, etc. but perhaps it's because VC are getting more new models than the HE did. More variety of models means fewer of each type to keep it within the target price point. I have zero interest in HE so I don't remember the exact contents of their spearhead though.

As to the actual models...

I like the ghouls although I hope I can trim a little of the skulls and such, those are a little over done. I think the paint job is bad and makes the models look worse than they are. The real problem I have with Ghouls is whether or not I'll be using them in my army. No longer being alive and ranking up doesn't bode well. I'll reserve final judgement until I get the book and see what their rules/stats/cost are. The spearhead appeals to me because 10 ghouls would be usefull for my Mordheim warband in case they find no place in my VC army.

Varghulf is ok. I find I like it less the bigger I realize it is. I thought it was awesome when I thought it was the size of a Vampire, cool when I thought it was slightly bigger than an ogre, and now that it looks like it's on a 50mm base I'm just kind of lukewarm.

Dire-wolves have big heads... BIG heads... I just don't know. I like the rest of the body and I hope that a little putty fur will help make those heads look smaller. I'll still buy these because at least they're dead looking, unlike the current models.

Vampires are bleh. So disapointed. I just hope there are more that we haven't seen yet.

Skellies, GG, corpse cart are all home runs in my opinion.

Swoop!

Agreed with Swoop, just like the Ork Spearhead for 40k, the new "army deals" are just a way to get the new models to veteran gamers. The guys who tend to buy just the new product anyway to "finish" their army once more.

It would be nice if they saved you a little cash, though, maybe 10%-15% off retail. I was surprised when the Ork Spearhead came up to exactly the price of the contents.

Zoned

Heh. In that case, why did the High Elf 'spearhead' contain mostly old models?

Methinks this strategy, if such it be, of getting new models to veteran gamers, is doomed to failure.

If I were a veteran VC player, and already had 2000+ points of skeletons and black knights and fell bats and whatnot, I would see no reason to purchase this box. Rather I would pick up the few new things I need later, individually. Whereas, if I were planning on starting a VC army from scratch (hey! I am!), this box leaves me totally underwhelmed, and is equally likely to be ignored in favor of getting exactly what I want, individually, later.

well, if you take the space ork box for example, there was all the new stuff in it. and I was very happy to get it a month earlier

Heh. In that case, why did the High Elf 'spearhead' contain mostly old models?

Cause there was only a handfull of new HE models?

Agree though that this seems to be a bad idea. Most vets don't want a smattering of items, but very specific new models. Ah well, not my problem.

fellblade wrote:Heh. In that case, why did the High Elf 'spearhead' contain mostly old models?

Because it was never called "spearhead," it was called "army."

I would imagine this is a new sales tactic that will depend on the army being released. Lots of new models, especially plastic infantry kits = spearhead. Few new models = repackaging into "army," with old plastics infantry models as mainstay.

I would imagine that GW is being realistic about how many people are going to plump for the spearhead - few. Who does it target? Older, veteran gamers. More specifically - older, veteran gamers who already have ~2000pts of that army. They don't necessarily need to add too much more to their army, but they will probably pick up the new figs if they look cool or if the unit becomes more powerful in the new rules.

Due to the limited audience for this product, maybe this is why GW is charging full value for the contents of the box (no discount compared to buying the pieces individually.)

Zoned

Eh. I don't know if this is a bad idea of not. As an existing Ork player, what models do I like out of the Ork Spearhead, based purely from a modellng stand point?

Pretty much all of them.

As a competitive player, what units from the Spearhead will I use pretty much all the time?

Big Mek
Loota Boyz
Tankbustas (as Rokkit Boyz in Shoota squads.)
Da Boyz

What units will I use in casual play?

Weirdboy (to make my existing Sluggas more useful.)
Trukk (again, for the Sluggas.)

So for me, only the Warbikers stand out as a unit I wouldn't use too often (unless I bought 2-3 more boxes...pretty low on the priority list,) and even then I would probably convert the Biker Nob into a Warboss on Bike, and I could give the other bikes to my buddies who also want to convert Warbosses.

I guess the acid test for me would be - if I got this as a gift for Xmas (I didn't ,) would I think "awwww, I wish this was lots of Boyz and gift certificates so I can buy Loota Boyz when they come out" or would I be genuinely happy. Personnaly, I would fall into the latter category. Good gaming!

Zoned

P.S: Whoops, forgot I wouldn't be using Bomb Squigs either...but they are cool figs.

P.P.S: It's also easier to analyze the value of the Ork Spearhead compared to the VC one since the Ork codex has been leaked out and we can say "unit X is competitive, unit Y is semi competitve...etc" We'll just have to wait for the VC book to get out before we pass judgement.

fellblade wrote:
I was talking to my FLGS owner & friend yesterday, and I mentioned the fact that the HE spearhead was a good basic army for someone just starting,

Are you talking about the right box - HE spearhead:

new Dragon
2 new chariots
new plastic noble
new plastic mage
5 new shadow warriors
3 new metal named heros


I'm sort of struggling to see that as a good basic army - 6 hero/lord choices and some specials.

Why does Konrad look like an up-ended turtle. Manfred looks pretty bad as well, I think I would stick with the excellent Mordhiem Vampires before touching those. Who sculpted them? They have Morley's taint about them.

To puree:

I think Fellblade is referring to the High Elf army, which contained all the new plastics, barring the Dragon, 32 Spearmen, 24 Archers, and 8 Silver Helms.

To be honest, I never even heard of the High Elf spearhead until you brought it up and searched for it on the GW UK website.

http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=Individual&code=HighElf01&orignav=13

So there you go, Fellblade, the actual High Elf Spearhead is just like the Ork and upcomming VS Spearheads. Good gaming!

I'm liking the new ghouls. Very different and they stand (crouch) apart from the skellies and other fully dead stuff. The cart is sweet looking too. It'd be a good conversion for a Witch Hunters thing. Also, Vlad is a good sculpt. The other vampires don't really do anything for me.

The weird thing is the box components. At least give players enough for a full unit of the new stuff. How far will 10 skeletons go? I guess it fits with the Orks spearhead, but they just seem to be lacking. I guess you could buy two spearhead boxes then.

Holy Crap!!! Varghulf is frakkin' huge. It is alot bigger that I thought it would be. I wonder what he is and what he does.

I suspect the quantity of miniatures is based solely on price. The want the box to be X price, with Y different types of models therefore Z numbers of these models.

I don't have a large VC army. I have some components that I got from a friend when he quit the game about 8 years ago and I have wanted to do VC ever since. I've played many battles with friends subbing models. For the most part I will be starting from scratch. The spearhead still appeals to me. It will give me the opportunity to get some models that'll I'll use one way or another and it will get me the army book early so that I will have plenty of time to make a few lists before I get real serious about buying models.

From what has been rumored on Warseer and the Vampire Count forum the Varghulf is M9, non flyer with stats somewhere near a war hydra. Possibly causing terror and regenerating. It's also apparently a "Vampire" which means undead unit within X inches are able to march.

Swoop!

Swoop wrote:I suspect the quantity of miniatures is based solely on price. The want the box to be X price, with Y different types of models therefore Z numbers of these models.

I expect it is down to getting 1 'box' of each new unit. Skellies and ghouls will probably be 10 per box like a lot of new troop units are.

After seeing the release info in another thread here on Dakka which lists $22-$25 for skellies, ghouls, etc. I suspect you are correct. I wonder if they'll do a "splash" release of 20 model boxes for launch. I'll have to ask my local black shirt next time I'm in.

Swoop!

I bet they do for the Grave Guard (they did for the Black Orcs). Probably not for the skeletons.

I had never seen that HE spearhead, the only thing I saw was the army box; and I have mistakenly conflated the two for the vampire counts. I can safely say that I won't be buying the 'spearhead' on offer, and I hope the actual army box has a more logical mix of units.

Does anyone know if the Blood Knights are metal, or plastic?

No idea on Blood Knights. I suspect they're metal though. From what I understand you can only ever have 5 of them so doing them in plastic seems a waste. I hope the horses are plastic at least but we'll see...

Swoop!