The Island of Blood Launch

This weekend sees the release of The Island of Blood, the brand-new Warhammer boxed game and it is a momentous occasion. This morning I started reading Andy Kenrick's editorial in this month's White Dwarf where he looks back to the first ever Warhammer boxed game he bought and it made me realise that events like this don't come around that often. Just as Andrew looked back to the first box released in 1992 I'm sure we will look back and no doubt remember which store we went down to pick up our copy, who we swapped our High Elves or Skaven with, which model we stuck together and lovingly painted first and, of course, who we gave a good stuffing to on the battlefield. All across the world we will be celebrating, so why don't you join us by heading down to you local Hobby Centre tomorrow or getting together with a bunch of friends to open your box and play some games.

The Island of Blood contains: 27 High Elf miniatures including a Prince on Griffon, Mage and three full units; 47 Skaven miniatures including a Skaven Warlord, Warlock Engineer and the never-seen-before Poisoned Wind Mortar; a 32-page full-colour 'getting started' booklet, a 200-page rulebook, dice, templates and range rulers. Whether you are looking to play Warhammer for the first time, want to start an army, add to an existing force or need some allies to fight a legendary battle, The Island of Blood boxed game has it all and it's available to buy in stores from tomorrow or order below for shipping first thing on Monday. If you are really gearing up for a new army then I've also included the Skaven and High Elf army books and battalions, as well as this month's White Dwarf, which is packed full of content to help you get the most out of your copy of The Island of Blood boxed game.

Once you've got your boxed game in you're hands and your ready to start playing make sure you check out Andy Hall's The Island of Blood: Scenarios article. Andy has written three Warhammer scenarios specifically for the models that you get in the box, so before you even think about how else you are going to use the models you get three great games in. If you're a fan of magic, be sure to check out the second scenario and pick up an Arcane Ruin to add to the fun. Also if you haven't yet seen it, be sure to check out the 360 'Eavy Metal gallery which shows some of the centrepiece models off in all their glory.

I remember when we launched The Battle for Skull Pass I went down to our Solihull Hobby Centre here in the UK to help out with their launch. My biggest memory was of people walking around the store with their box looking for a hobbyist to swap their Goblins or Dwarfs with, when they found someone they would sit down and make the swap and chat about the box and their hobby plans in general. Every now and then a cry would go up from the staff 'Whose looking to swap their Goblins', this went on all day and eventually everyone who wanted to double up their army left happy. This morning, when everyone went to Warhammer World to collect their staff orders, we thought we would set up a swap shop just to make sure that no HQ hobbyist went home without finding the swap they were looking for. Here are just a couple of pictures but remember if you want to swap some of your models or just take part in the celebrations tomorrow then just head on down to your local Hobby Centre to partake in the fun.

• 
  

  The clipping race begins. I don't exactly know what Greg and Dave were laughing about but I'm sure it had something to do with Warpfire Throwers and squishy Elves. Getting everyone together was good fun despite the concentration required to ensure that all 10 digits remained attached at the end.

• 
  

  Once you get started there is no stopping until the swap is complete. Graeme has been talking about getting his hands on Erik's Elves for months and this is the moment. Our top tip is not to forget to swap bases as well; your Rat Orgres won't look quite as good on Ellyrian Reaver cavalry bases!

As ever the trusty guys in reception have been working hard on their The Island of Blood armies for the cabinet. Here are just a couple of their models and we will show you some more next week.

• 
  

  Mark Farr has bought two The Island of Blood box games so that he can paint one of the sets normally and use the other one for conversions. For this Battle Standard Bearer conversion Mark took the Skaven Warlord and removed the banner from his back and one of the weapon arms. He then took a banner from one of the Clanrat units and added it to the arm that he had removed the weapon from. Mark has also made a number of small change like removing the skull from the shoulder and adding a spike. Overall Mark has been able to come up with a different model that still maintains the feel of his army.

• 
  

  Simon has also bought two box sets, mainly because he wanted to get his hands on two Griffons. Simon changed the lance on this one and added a sword from the High Elf Prince and Noble box set. I especially like the different ways that people are painting the Griffon. For the front of his Simon used a base colour of Scorched Brown and then gave it a heavy drybrush of Calthan Brown followed by a medium drybrush of Khemri Brown (the linking colour between the two halves). He then gave it a light drybrush of Bleached Bone before finally adding a very light Drybrush of Skull White on the tips. For the lion end he used a base colour of Khemri Brown followed by a first highlight of two-thirds Khemri Brown to one-third Dheneb Stone. The second highlight used one-third Khemri Brown and two-thirds Dheneb Stone. For the final highlight he used Dheneb Stone.