As is often the way for Warhammer 40K, things have gone horribly wrong. First, robo-skeleton Necrons woke up a malevolent star god in the '500 Worlds' supplement. This was followed by pirates raiding the beleaguered Imperium in 'Maelstrom.' Now, the forces of Chaos are pouring from a tear in space-time to bring down mankind (a standard Tuesday for the grimdark future, in other words). An accompanying book called 'Eye of Terror' tells us all about the latter event, including how to play what it describes as "the most enormous and spectacular wargaming experience in the 41st Millennium." But this isn't what excites me most. It isn't the models launching alongside the project either, cool though they are. No – what I'm most interested in is how misty-eyed it makes me feel.
Don't worry, I'm not that excited to see a new Defiler or hints about the return of exiled Primarch Perterabo. Rather, it makes me oddly nostalgic. That's because these releases and the upcoming Armageddon collection (which closes out the current version of the game in time for Warhammer 40K 11th Edition this June) tell of impossibly vast conflicts that remind me of something we've not seen in a really long time – worldwide campaigns.
While you can pre-order the new models and books for Eye of Terror direct from Warhammer, it's worth checking indie stores like Miniature Market in the US or Wayland Games in the UK if you get a moment; they often provide a discount of between 10-20% on new products.
Growing up, I remember Warhammer 40K and its fantasy equivalent running enormous, story-driven campaigns that allowed fans across the globe to define the future of the setting. All you needed to do was send in the results of your battles, and this would be put toward. Our real-world victories and losses would then dictate who 'won' the in-universe conflict. We've not seen this kind of event in a long time, and even though these books aren't the same thing, they provide the same sense of being involved in something bigger.
When 500 Worlds came out, I was asked by Games Workshop to make, paint, and send over a unit of Ultramarines for an almighty tie-in battle over at Warhammer World (naturally, I dubbed them "Radar" squad). When combined with the book collection's narrative of Titus from Space Marine 2 struggling to reclaim lost territory, it felt like the campaigns of old. It made me want to get stuck into the conflict myself and be 'part' or something, and Eye of Terror pulls exactly the same trick. More so, in fact; its ridiculously massive Apocalypse game type allows for matches of a scale you're sure to remember for years to come. Particularly if you're using the gorgeous new Knight Destrier, or the much-improved Chaos Space Marine Mutilators (I've been making these while digging into the book, and they're fabulously gruesome).
I suspect the same will be true of Armageddon when that book set comes out, to say nothing of next edition's launch box with the same name. When all eyes are on one location and victory hangs in the balance, I feel like I'm part of something much bigger – just like I did in those campaigns of old.
Maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and start an Armageddon-themed campaign with my pals when 11th Edition launches. Games Workshop doesn't seem as though it's bringing back those worldwide matches any time soon, after all, so I guess I'll have to claim a slice of paradise Armageddon for myself…
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