Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Sadly a little disappointed in the box art (luckly the models are awesome) GW created two dark grim worlds and gives it this fluffy bright cartoony box art.

Flashman wrote:It doesn't look like there is a predominance of blood in the surrounding topography.

It's just a name.


It's actually really a peninsula.

The island doesn't have to be made of blood, maybe blood owns the island. "Blood" could be a subsidiary of Khorne Industries Interdimensional.

Well, damn GW. Damn them all. That's me now stripping the paint off all my old 5th edition High Elves and quite possibly, me getting back into Fantasy.

Maybe it's the Island of Blood because of the clots that will buy it

only joking please don't shoot!

Boxart is a bit naff but seems similar to the Skull Pass box and it won't put people off.

What tickled me was the comment on the Website, about how he took ages to take the lid off, too busy weighing it in his hands. Groping the box? What a pervert.
Who the feck does that! I mean who doesn't rip the lid off and dive right in with sprue cutters like Edward Scissorhands on speed?

Eldar Own wrote:

Munch Munch! wrote:This looks very impressive. I can't wait for September when this is released.

Me neither, the models all look pretty cool. And there's lots of them. The question is do i want another army...? I have loads already after all.

I think i'll see if i can sell the skaven to a skaven player for roughly the cost of the box set? Talking about cost does ayone know how much it'll be? Im guessing in the range of £50 somewhere.

Why wouldn't the skaven player just buy the box set then...

Lorne wrote:Sadly a little disappointed in the box art (luckly the models are awesome) GW created two dark grim worlds and gives it this fluffy bright cartoony box art.

Looks like another Dave Gallagher painting to me. Island of Blood is aimed at new players and parents at Christmas/birthdays etc so it can't look too grim/dark. Personally I don't like the way everything has to be so fracking dark dark dark and more dark these days. I mean Chaos is supposed to want to turn the world into one eternal battle and it looks like they've succeeded. I mean is there any part of the Warhammer world that is worth fighting for now? I get that they need a reason for the conflicts but the latest blurbs just seems to promote an all out apocalyptic world full of anarchy. It makes it very hard to come up with anything truly shocking or anything worth fighting to protect or defend. I prefer a Warhammer where the forces of destruction gnaw at the edge of the world than one where they seem to have overrun it.

Well that settles it doesn't it?
I mean, I resisted the plastic doomwheel. I resisted the new clanrats. I resisted the screaming bell, for god's sake. But now, cheap plastics that come in the starter, and an amazing skaven warlord? Sigh. I guess I'm starting Skaven.

I like the brightness. To quote SomethingAwful.... "Steve: Everyone is always yelling in 40K. They're always shouting about something and there's always something giant in the background."

Flashman wrote:GW "Must refrain from showing decent shots of models despite the fact they are all over the internet already."

Gaming community "Sigh!"

Is there any fluff to this Island of Blood malarkey? AoBR was noticeably devoid of any scenarios (although they did appear in WD). Kind of curious as to where this Island of Blood is and why Skaven and High Elves are fighting over it. It doesn't look like there is a predominance of blood in the surrounding topography.

IIRC, the Island of Blood is an island in the Ulthuan chain. The High Elves don't have alot of territory as it is, so there going to do everything to stop vermin from taking it. Also, they're High Elves! Everything about them is pride. They aren't going to sit around drinkin tea while another part of their lives is teared away. The Skaven are probably fighting over it to expand their under empire and dominate the world. Also, a new island means untainted and untapped genetic, mineral, and other resources to use and tamper with. Maybe a grey seer had a vision of the horned rat coming to that island. There's a bunch of reasons you could make up for why the skaven are fighting.

tallshortguy wrote:

Eldar Own wrote:

Munch Munch! wrote:This looks very impressive. I can't wait for September when this is released.

Me neither, the models all look pretty cool. And there's lots of them. The question is do i want another army...? I have loads already after all.

I think i'll see if i can sell the skaven to a skaven player for roughly the cost of the box set? Talking about cost does ayone know how much it'll be? Im guessing in the range of £50 somewhere.

Why wouldn't the skaven player just buy the box set then...

Ssssh! The skaven player might hear you!

Great. This would be a great way to get into fantasy, and 100$ in manageable,but right now I have no money, so....

I don't really like either army, but if I had to choose, I'd play Skaven...More models=Less cost for real army... Is it stupid to play skaven though? Would I be a band-wagon jumper if I picked them up? People seem to be playing skaven like crazy now..

Well given that you say you aren't too keen on either army...

Buying into Skaven cos they are new and shiny doesn't seem a practical way of doing things.
Better to save your cash for something that really grabs you imho.

You play what you want to play. People who use the 'bandwagon' label are just not worth worrying about.

Well, I still want to learn how to play fantasy, so the rulebook is important....And who can refuse so many models for so cheap? If nothing else, they could make Guardsmen proxies

I really want to play bretonnians (or Tomb kings, or possibly Vampire counts). Neither of these armies would make good proxies for brets. I need more horses

Both armies are good as demonstrations of what armies in Fantasy are like. High Elves are elite, fragile, hard hitting. Skaven are cheap, numerous and lacking in punch. Both have a decent amount of shooting and special units (a monstrous mount, cavalry and a mage for the Elves, Monstrous Infantry, Warmachines and a Mage for the Skaven) so you can use the two armies to learn the rules of the game really easily. I think it's good value for money, even if you don't particularly like the armies, but if you really wanted, you could just buy the hardbacked book.
Problem is, that'll set you back nearly as much, and it's really heavy. At least you could convert the Griffon in the box into a mount for your general with only a small amount of work (for bretonnians, they get griffons and hippogriffs, right?).

I would say spend your cash on a Battalion box of an army you really want as first option. You will be able to pick up a small rule book for a song soon anyway.

Can understand what you are saying, I got the Skull Pass to learn the game but I liked both Dwarves and Gobbos.
But would say if I was in your position would deffo go Brets, cos that is what your heart seems to be pulling towards

Just my take on things.

Now skaven are going to become a popular army, and be another bandwagon force.

aw.

Chibi makes a good point actually- you should be able to pick up a cheap pocket rulebook soon after the box comes out. Lots of people will buy two, and won't need the second book.
Myself, I'm a sucker for pretty plastic, I'm not even sure if I could bring myself to trade away the high elves !

Samus_aran115 wrote:Great. This would be a great way to get into fantasy, and 100$ in manageable,but right now I have no money, so....

I don't really like either army, but if I had to choose, I'd play Skaven...More models=Less cost for real army... Is it stupid to play skaven though? Would I be a band-wagon jumper if I picked them up? People seem to be playing skaven like crazy now..

Skaven...

It takes a special insanity... I mean, dedication to play skaven, because you are going to be painting a LOT of rats, especially since 8E rewards numerically large units, and skaven are cheap enough for you to have many such units. 2x40 slaves naked and 3x30 clanrats with spears and shields are only 610 points (before HQs), leaing plenty for rare/special/character choices...

EDIT: I'm going to use the Griffon rider for my Brets. One could use the elven cav for mounted yeomen... proxy the spearmen for Men at arms... and if you want to do a conversion, you can chop the swordmasters in half; put the top half on the horses to do Questing Knights and the bottom half under the elven cav torsos for archers.

It wouldn't look terribly Bret without a lot of GS work (and maybe not even then) but it's not completely hopeless.

Not sure about calls of bandwagon if you choose an army you get a nice core for in a starter box, to me it sounds a pretty good idea.
I've had some old 4th ed HE kicking around a while and always thought I'd get round to doing them, and upon hearing they'd be in a starter again decided to hold off. A 2nd wave of plastics too I'm sold! Sticking with finishing up a woc army first though to get warhammering again since my undead in 5th ed until I see what releases they'll get but one things for sure, their current plastic character sets are nice and I want that dragon model! Would love to see the spearmen redone because of the hands but not holding out hope of that happening.
Still the sheer beauty of those skaven plastics has me tempted...

Vulcan has a good point here.
You have to be used to watching a 70 point model blow up, taking 12 stormvermin with it in the blast, then laugh it off.
If you cant do this, skaven arent for you lol.


However, i may pick up a box or 2.


for those interested in selling parts of the set:

AoBR stuff - when sold in different lots i got my money back just by selling the marines.
So all in all, i got the rules, dice, items and orks for free.

Did the same with the skull pass set.

Will be doing the same for the island of blood set.



People generally want a single item / unit from box's like that.
Since ebay is huge, there is allways someone on there that wants what you have.
So buy a box or 10, take what you want and wait a week.
See how prices settle and then undercut them slightly.

so yes, skaven / elf players will buy all the parts for the same cost as a whole new box, just in units rather than all in 1 go.


I simply want a single box for the models, ill then happily buy more Rogres (if they have convertion potential) via ebay.
Ill also buy 14 more warlock engineers from ebay since i need 15 in total for my Skyre list lol. (thats if i can convert them enough to look different)

On the "Bandwagon" issue i would say this only applies if you dont paint them up and go for another army whilst wanting to subject your opponents to an unpainted force.

My stand point is players with unpainted figures should be destroyed on site (the player not the minis) if you want a battle game with no artistic demands play Chess.

Gah!! I give in! DO YOU HEAR ME GW! I will play Fantasy aswell! Skaven for me I suppose, I like horde armies.

With the number of us either taking up Fantasy for the first time with this box, or starting a new army with one of the two options.

Any chance of some kinda, construct and progress threads for both sides over in P&M?

I'd be very interested in following folks work, and probably contributing myself.

Ahhh!, I just relised this comes out at the same time as reach, I'll have no money for it

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!!

Munch Munch! wrote:

Flashman wrote:GW "Must refrain from showing decent shots of models despite the fact they are all over the internet already."

Gaming community "Sigh!"

Is there any fluff to this Island of Blood malarkey? AoBR was noticeably devoid of any scenarios (although they did appear in WD). Kind of curious as to where this Island of Blood is and why Skaven and High Elves are fighting over it. It doesn't look like there is a predominance of blood in the surrounding topography.

IIRC, the Island of Blood is an island in the Ulthuan chain. The High Elves don't have alot of territory as it is, so there going to do everything to stop vermin from taking it. Also, they're High Elves! Everything about them is pride. They aren't going to sit around drinkin tea while another part of their lives is teared away. The Skaven are probably fighting over it to expand their under empire and dominate the world. Also, a new island means untainted and untapped genetic, mineral, and other resources to use and tamper with. Maybe a grey seer had a vision of the horned rat coming to that island. There's a bunch of reasons you could make up for why the skaven are fighting.

Well, there's also the problem with the Isle of Blood being an informal name that the Elves have given to the island where the Sword of Khaine is laying.

Y'know, the blade that ended a Daemonic infestation and is the center of a massive spell that is keeping the Chaos Gateways to a manageable level?

Kanluwen wrote:

Munch Munch! wrote:

Flashman wrote:GW "Must refrain from showing decent shots of models despite the fact they are all over the internet already."

Gaming community "Sigh!"

Is there any fluff to this Island of Blood malarkey? AoBR was noticeably devoid of any scenarios (although they did appear in WD). Kind of curious as to where this Island of Blood is and why Skaven and High Elves are fighting over it. It doesn't look like there is a predominance of blood in the surrounding topography.

IIRC, the Island of Blood is an island in the Ulthuan chain. The High Elves don't have alot of territory as it is, so there going to do everything to stop vermin from taking it. Also, they're High Elves! Everything about them is pride. They aren't going to sit around drinkin tea while another part of their lives is teared away. The Skaven are probably fighting over it to expand their under empire and dominate the world. Also, a new island means untainted and untapped genetic, mineral, and other resources to use and tamper with. Maybe a grey seer had a vision of the horned rat coming to that island. There's a bunch of reasons you could make up for why the skaven are fighting.

Well, there's also the problem with the Isle of Blood being an informal name that the Elves have given to the island where the Sword of Khaine is laying.

Y'know, the blade that ended a Daemonic infestation and is the center of a massive spell that is keeping the Chaos Gateways to a manageable level?

Do you mean the Isle of the dead, where Caldor's vortex is?

The Isle of the Dead is another name for the Isle of Blood.

Warhammer Online had one fantastic thing going for it in allowing you for exploring the background!