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GoatboyBeta wrote:Its a shame about the explorer sprue layout, as it probably means they will not be released outside of the big box.

I think the most we can hope for is a standalone "Kill Team" release.

streetsamurai wrote:looks better and better. The envloppe thing is midly intriguing, but I expect it to only be the ''fluff ending''. Shame about the coloured plastic though

I'm betting this is gonna turn out to be where the "Abaddon is in the set" comes from...

 Barzam wrote:
Did we ever get full confirmation of exactly what that robot is? Is it supposed to be an actual AI equipped robot, or is it supposed to be a servitor?

My guess is sentient robot coming along for the fun.

Official box opening is up:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/11/05/5th-nov-blackstone-fortress-unboxedgw-homepage-post-1/

You're a day late.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/11/06/6th-nov-blackstone-fortress-setting-the-scenegw-homepage-post-1/

The more I look at the Explorers, the more I think that this is meant to be a 'sneak peek' of some updated units/profiles down the line.

A few other people commented on the Ratlings and how they don't both have rifles out...I think they're onto something! Like we saw with Ogryn getting fleshed into two distinctive units, I could see us getting Ratling Saboteurs and Ratling Snipers.

The other guy is the spotter, and if something get close he'll grappling hook both out of harm way.

Chopstick wrote:
The other guy is the spotter, and if something get close he'll grappling hook both out of harm way.

Which still would be a big change as Ratlings don't currently have Grappling Hooks or 'spotter' rules! They're like Marine Scouts: everyone has a rifle.

That said, the one with the eyepatch actually has a detonator.

Also how great is this piece of art?

 Zethnar wrote:

Ancient Otter wrote:
Why did GW kill the original Warhammer Quest out of curiosity?

You mean the original 1994 Warhammer Quest? They didn't kill it. Time passed and they slowly stopped supporting it as it no longer made as many sales. While it was active they released a decent amount of content for it, treasure packs, new characters, new adventures via White Dwarf and I think there was even a couple of campaign expansions.

If you mean the new Silver Tower / Hammerhal stuff then I don't know if its too early to say if they've killed it or not. There's definitely potential for them to release further boxed games in the series (you could even argue that Blackstone Fortress is a continuation of the series).

They also lost the masters or what have you for the floor tiles during the move from Chewton Treetops to Lenton.

Or so one WD article claimed!

 Kanluwen wrote:

Chopstick wrote:
The other guy is the spotter, and if something get close he'll grappling hook both out of harm way.

Which still would be a big change as Ratlings don't currently have Grappling Hooks or 'spotter' rules! They're like Marine Scouts: everyone has a rifle.

That said, the one with the eyepatch actually has a detonator.

Also how great is this piece of art?

Spoiler:

Ugh, now there's a proper Ranger pose!

That piece of art gives me a Lord of the Rings vibe (Vaulin's tomb or whatever)

Its a really lovely image

Those Beastmen look like really tall models, or is it just the camera angle?

Ambull spotted over on the Necromunda 17 FB group.

 Ratius wrote:
Those Beastmen look like really tall models, or is it just the camera angle?

Atleast equal in hight to the lord.

The expansion of the original Space Crusade was nice. Additional heavy weapons, the original Tarantula heavy weapons kits and 2 new dreadnought bosses. For Blackstone, some new support characters and a couple of uberbosses would fit the bill nicely.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Ambull spotted over on the Necromunda 17 FB group.

That's the image on the back of the Encounters card deck, I believe.

I doubt it would happen but I would love to see an expansion flip over the roles.

E.g. the Imperium wins and we get a host of IoM types as the NPCs with a team of mainly Necron, or Aeldari or Daemons trying to retake the BSF.

Ooooh. Nice twist

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Ambull spotted over on the Necromunda 17 FB group.

Where does the photo come from?

Go to the GW in boxing page and it's one of the card reverse side artworks.

True. thanks

Now that the unboxings have begun, are there any pictures of the Chaos datasheets yet?

those models look like they could fill a battalion for cheap if given the right keywords

 Ratius wrote:
Those Beastmen look like really tall models, or is it just the camera angle?

They do look tall. But Tzaangor are tall and I guess they had to match the height of them for continuity.

 zedmeister wrote:

Ancient Otter wrote:
Why did GW kill the original Warhammer Quest out of curiosity?

From my guess, it was slowly phased out probably due to low sales figures and an internal change. It slowly disappeared around 1997 to 1999 which is around the time where GW started to reduce focus on producing these boxed games and shunt existing ones to Fanatic. WHQ did survive during the early days of Fanatic with Deathblow Magazine and the Pits and Traps expansion. There was a Skaven and Chaos Dwarf expansion rumoured. The Skaven one ended up in White Dwarf. The Chaos Dwarf one ended up as a single board section bundle in White Dwarf 200 and 2 limited release Chaos Dwarf axemen.

Thanks, I was trying to remember why a game so well regarded just seemed to disappear.

The dream would be if GW could do print-on-demand tiles and cards for new adventures as well.

So, in terms of expansions. Here’s a wee trip down memory lane for Us Sad Old Gits, and a clear example thingy for those newer to the hobby.

The original Warhammer Quest came with four characters. Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf and Wizard. To my mind, the quintessential quartet of any dungeon crawl.

But over time, GW saw fit to release additional characters. Their sets looked something like this.



Model. Rules. Necessary tokens. These were relatively inexpensive, and proved an interesting way to expand the game’s longevity and variety.

Interesting note for fact fans? It was these very sets that first introduced Warrior Priests and Witch Hunters to Fantasy!

Various and sundry were released commercially. From incomplete memory? Chaos Warrior, Elven Prince, Trollslayer, Pit Fighter, Warrior Priest, and Witch Hunter (that’s all the ones I can recall anyway).

Then came slightly more involved expansion. Lair of the Orc Lord and Catacombs of Terror.

These came with additional, Quest specific board pieces, and doors to join them on, alongside then unique models. Here’s what you got in Catacombs of Terror.



These were readily available, and all helped add extra play time to the core set. Sadly, only the two were released (I think? May have been a third? I confuse them with stuff like Grudge of Drong).

And that’s more or less what we now expect from Dungeon Crawlers looking to remain in the market and keep us spending.

However, with the AoS Quest Games, GW took a different approach. Rather than Character Packs, they basically made available rules for the majority of plastic clampack characters, with none being specific to Quest.

They’ve also provided expansion rules in WD, and a couple of card sets for Monsters and Heroes (there’s also an App, but that’s a big new tangled for this old goat).

For BSF, I want the older style. Proper Quest expansions. New enemies. Perhaps even expansion sets centred around new Adventurers. Imagine the stuff coming, but an Eldar Corsair Prince, or Freebooter Kaptin. Use the opportunity to show lesser seen, or plain unseen, sections of the other races. For Necrons? A Lackey of Trazyn, with Specialist Constructs in tow.

Or hell, really push the boat out, and provide rules for the sets I described as both protagonists and antagonists. Give us the best of both worlds.

And if we see a return to the ‘classic’ character packs - stick to the same ethos of them being unique to the game. The scum and villainy of the 41st Millenium, rather than actual movers and shakers.

Elf Ranger Mage was what you're probably thinking of when you say elf prince. There was also an elf wardancer and imperial noble. And at the very end a Bretonnian knight. Which was probably even more unbalanced than the pit fighter.

Only the two major expansions though, plus some additional adventures that appeared in white dwarf. The big thing, though, was the monster tables. So as you level up there's tables to roll on for what monsters to fight, which included pretty much everything in the miniatures range. The only reason I got into Warhammer Fantasy was because I already had a good start to an undead and a chaos warrior army from buying stuff for Warhammer Quest.

Some of my own recent Warhammer Quest adventures: http://adventuresinminiaturegaming.blogspot.com/p/warhammer-quest-adventures.html

You forgot the Wardancer, Bretonnian Knight and the Citadel Journal/Deathblow Halfling Thief, Kislev Shaman and Ogre.

Oh my goodness, you all have me wanting to play WHQ.

I am so hoping this becomes very much what that game had developed.

Its hard not to get carried away with wishlisting. But if GW took the template of an easy to build sprue(or two) plus cards and tokens they use for the Underworlds warbands and applied it to WHQ 40k expansions I would be a very happy bunny. Themed groups of new explorers or adversaries, maybe even a mix of both?