Games Workshop Reveal New Board Games At New York Toy Fair

February 24, 2020 by brennon

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Games Workshop has revealed a bunch of new board games and more at the New York Toy Fair this past weekend. Whilst there are also some new releases for Aeronautica Imperialis and Warhammer Underworlds, we'll start with the board game goodness.

Rise Of The Orks Cover - Games Workshop

The first game is a cooperative affair for one-to-five players called Rise Of The Orks. This new game builds on the Space Marine Adventures series and now sees you tackling waves of Orkish invaders in a base defence style bit of tabletop action.

Rise Of The Orks Gameplay - Games Workshop

As you can see, the game comes with plastic pre-coloured miniatures for each of the Space Marines you'll be controlling who are all clad in terminator armour. The Orks will then be represented by tokens which are pouring in from all directions. You could very well replace those tokens with miniatures if you were so inclined to do so but it seems cool either way.

Next up we've got Crypt Hunters which takes us from the world of Warhammer 40,000 and instead invites us to the Mortal Realms of Age Of Sigmar.

Crypt Hunters - Games Workshop

This game switches up from being a cooperative experience to a competitive one. One player is going to be taking control of a team of Stormcast Eternals whilst the other becomes the Dungeon Keeper, building up a labyrinth of passageways, throwing endless waves at Nighthaunt Chainrasps against the valiant heroes.

Crypt Hunters Gameplay - Games Workshop

This seems like another fun foray into the worlds that Games Workshop has created and gives you a chance to play something adjacent to their games without having to pick up a massive army. I do like the idea of breaking these out for younger gamers and those who don't really have the time to invest in a mass battle game. Depending on how many of these games you pick up you might end up having quite the nice little collection for use in some of the skirmish games before long!

Blitz Bowl Season Two is next on the cards as we get invited back pitchside as a bunch of Humans end up going up against a fierce band of Dwarfs!

Blitz Bowl Season 2 - Games Workshop

Much like with Season One, this will provide you with a nice contained look at Blood Bowl without having to worry about exploring the more complex elements of the game. The smaller nature of the experience means that it can be played in just thirty minutes which means that it might even be fun to play a few games during the evening, swapping sides to see who is truly the best at Blitz Bowl!

I would assume that you can take the teams from this set and play them against the teams from Season One as well which would be a nice addition.

Whilst it might seem like Games Workshop is diluting the tabletop gaming pool with releases like this I actually think this is a pretty great way for them to get the brand of Warhammer into more people's lives. If the mechanics for these games are good fun then I could see them being a nice investment and, as I mentioned above, they could also end up offering little gateways into the wider hobby.

Also, for someone like me who has no interest in building up a full Games Workshop force for either of its big games but quite enjoys the worlds, these might be the kind of experiences I would be interested in exploring in more detail. I already had a few looks at Crypt Hunters as an interesting avenue into the Mortal Realms.

Warhammer Underworlds Orruks

As well as all of the new board games coming out, we also saw them reveal a new warband for use in Warhammer Underworlds. Meet Morgok's Krushas...

Morgoks Crushas - Games Workshop

Start A Warhammer Underworlds Warband @ Store.OnTableTop

I am consistently impressed with the miniatures that Games Workshop put out for Warhammer Underworlds, packed with character and obviously a chance for the sculptors to show off the faction in a more condensed sense. I think you get the idea as to how big and boisterous the Orruks of the Ironjaws are simply from these three models. They will also have rules for use in Age Of Sigmar so they could also be a nice stepping stone for you to play different games too if the card-based play of Underworlds isn't for you.

Aeronautica Imperialis Avengers

As well as some new options for the Fantastical we also got a good look at some new planes flying into the 8mm world of Aeronautica Imperialis. Here are the Avenger Strike Fighters.

Avenger Strike Fighters - Games Workshop

Grab Aeronautica Imperialis @ Store.OnTableTop

According to their latest blog post, these particular planes are cult classics amongst the Warhammer 40,000 community and will soon be gracing the tabletop, laden down with all sorts of different weapons. I think I've mentioned it before, but Games Workshop has caught the attention of quite a lot of old hobbyists with the Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus games which is nice to hear!

New Toys For Big Kids

As well as the miniatures we also heard that Games Workshop has teamed up with McFarlane Toys to work on a series of Action Figures. We start, as you might imagine, with a Space Marine.

Space Marine Action Figure - Games Workshop

There will be both painted and unpainted versions of these action figures and they will be highly posable. So, if you want to paint them in the colour of your favourite Chapter then you can certainly do so. Also, there is talk of them doing more than just Space Marines with other factions getting a look in! It would be fun to see them do Orks and Aeldari!

What do you think of all of this news?

"...they could also end up offering little gateways into the wider hobby"

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