The worlds of Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 are a little more welcoming this week as pre-orders popped up for the new Battleforce Boxed Sets from Games Workshop which give you a new collection of models for starting or bolstering an existing force.

Kicking things off we'll look to the world of Fantasy...

Age Of Sigmar

My favourite of the new set of four has to be the Sylvaneth set that they've put together. Featuring a Treeman plus loads of other awesome miniatures from the new range this just seems to scream out 'hobby time' to me. I really want to paint up a nature based army!

Additionally, it would also be very cool to pick up the Stormcast Eternal set to add to my main army from the world of Age of Sigmar. With my original set still primed and ready for combat it would be good to get in some other units and the rather epic Celestant-Prime into the mix.

For the forces of Chaos we have Khorne Bloodbound with a mass of new warriors who will be slavering over the prospect of slaughter ahead of them.

For Destruction you can also expand upon your Ironjawz army with these greenskins. I really like the character you get in this set which has an almost World of Warcraft side to his design.

Inside the set, you'll also get what you need to play with these troops in battles on the tabletop. All of them come with a couple of characters, some core battleline troops and then something special to spice things up too. I am very tempted by both the Stormcast and Sylvaneth sets. The bonus is, they're both Order!

It is a shame that we didn't see a Death set include here but they don't have new miniatures to draw on yet.

Warhammer 40,000

Similarly, the world of the grim-dark future is also welcoming some new armies starting off with some Space Marines in the shape of the Space Wolves and the Deathwatch.

The Space Wolves boxed set that you can see first above is actually the best saving for money of all of the sets according to a few commenters. Once again each of the sets gives you the basics you need to play the game with a few extras thrown in and the rules for using them on the tabletop as is.

Backing up the Xenos threat and working behinds the scenes on their own machinations we have the Tau Empire and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

I think of all the sets the Adeptus Mechanicus one feels the most disappointing because it doesn't include as many miniatures as the other sets. However, from a gameplay and points viewpoint it probably matches up quite well against the other sets that they've designed.

Once again it's a shame not to see some of the other races getting a look in like the Eldar and the Tyranids but maybe they are coming down the pipeline.

The Hobbit

Rounding things off for this week we actually have a release for The Hobbit: Strategy Battle Game! Here we have the new Lake-Town House which comes with a lovely plastic house, some jetties and walkways as well as a boat!

The idea is that this set can be combined with other Lake-Town House Sets to create a network and, of course, the place where (in the movies at least) Legolas and the Dwarves clashed with Orcs during the night.

Of course, you could also put together the scenario where Smaug starts to lay waste to the town on the water while Bard gets ready to fire the black arrow into his heart.

This is a neat little kit to play around with and we're looking forward to seeing what the avid fan base for the game does with them when it comes to building tabletops.

What will you be picking up this week?