A Gaunt’s Ghosts Collection & New Options For Warhammer 40K
June 7, 2021 by brennon
Games Workshop has been showing off the new pre-orders coming up this weekend for Warhammer 40,000. Gaunt's Ghosts feature heavily with a new set of miniatures showing off Ibram Gaunt and five of the most famous Ghosts.
Gaunt's Ghosts // Warhammer 40,000
Shop Warhammer 40,000 @ Store.OnTableTop
This has been designed as a bit of a collector's set but they do have rules for use in Warhammer 40,000 which is neat. More is going to be divulged on that throughout the rest of the week in the run-up to pre-orders going live.
I think the new plastic sculpts are looking great and there is plenty of character burned into each of the miniatures. I know they will have rules for using them in Warhammer 40,000 but I think it would be neat to see more people dropping them into the likes of Kill Team. I feel like that's where they would be at their best!
New Books
As well as the new miniatures, you'll also find a bunch of additional content for Gaunt's Ghosts fans. The first is The Vincula Insurgency.
The Vincula Insurgency // Warhammer 40,000
This is a new story set during the early years of the Ghosts. The team head to a ruined border town where they find that something mysterious and alien is stalking them through the streets. There are plenty of dark secrets to uncover that informed the lives of the Ghosts for many years.
You've also got quite the coffee table book in the form of The Sabbat Crusade set.
The Sabbat World Crusade // Warhammer 40,000
This is a book packed with all manner of lore and background information. It comes in that big ol' collection with commemorative coins, art pieces and a very nice looking book. Whilst this is one of the limited edition sets, it will be available as a print-on-demand version later on down the line. Alas, it won't come with the fancy stuff!
A new Sabbat War anthology is also going to become available this weekend too. So, if you're looking to get lots and lots of Gaunt's Ghosts goodies then this would very much be the weekend to store up your hobby gold.
New Astra Militarum Bitz
The Cadian Shock Troops are getting themselves an upgrade sprue which will be dropped into their plastic kit. If you've wanted more options then you'll have both heads and weapons to tinker with from now on!
Astra Militarum Heads // Warhammer 40,000
There are twenty-five different heads, to begin with. All of them give you an assortment of bare-headed and helmeted options for your Astra Militarum force. I do like that we're seeing the vast array of different peoples that would have been drafted in to fight for The Emperor and The Imperium Of Man. Finally, a bunch of female heads too!
As well as the heads, your team will also be able to add in some new weapons including Bolters, Melta-Guns, Plasma Pistols and more.
Astra Militarum Weapons // Warhammer 40,000
Suddenly, your squad of Guardsmen are going to be able to actually hold their own a little bit more easily. I do wonder how easy it would be to convert these Cadian Shock Troops so that these bits could be used for any other regiment that isn't Cadia? Maybe they'd fit the old Catachan set?
Here is a look at how these new options come together when assembled and painted.
Astra Militarum Examples // Warhammer 40,000
Looks like it's a good time to be an Astra Militarum fan. I reckon that a lot of folks are going to be snapping up Gaunt's Ghosts in particular. Do you intend to pick up the Ghosts by themselves just to use as a little painting project?
Pick up these new miniatures this weekend!
"Do you intend to pick up the Ghosts by themselves just to use as a little painting project?"
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
So G’Wullu still can do multipose miniatures…
They’re the same miniatures as they were selling before, they’ve just dropped in a new sprue of heads and guns so that they look a bit more in line with the current range (and possibly so that 3rd party companies offering kits and bits that are compatible/suitable as proxies look less appealing)
Gee Dubs has a long way to go before they can really compete with the third party companies out there, in terms of bits and models. The sheer volume of headswaps, weapon swaps, and parts that let you outright make whole custom Guard armies really makes the bland Cadians pale in comparison. And it’s a shame too; with all of the characterful Guard regiments GW has made in the past, like the Praetorian Guard, Iron Guard, Steel Legion, Tallarn Firstborn, and even the Catachans, it’s kind of sad that they sink most of their effort into the dull Cadians.
GW could compete with 3rd party bits suppliers at the drop of a hat. They deliberately choose not to because it isn’t worth their while financially. GW could compete with the 3rd parties at the drop of a hat, they are deliberately choosing not to do so. It is reasonable to assume that any new Cadian/Astra Militarum kit will have a diverse range of racial and possibly gender diversity. The fact that they are releasing this head sprue suggests to me that there isn’t actually anything in the pipeline for Imperial Guard, certainly not a replacement for the Cadian kit,… Read more »
Given where we are in the Codex cycle at the moment, and that we have these two notable releases for the Guard with no announcement of an accompanying Codex, my suspicion is that Astra Militarum will be towards the end of the schedule – it’s not hard to imagine that after the upcoming Thousand Sons & Grey Knights we’ll probably see the Imperial & Chaos Knight Codices, then some combination of Chaos Space Marines, Tau, Custodes/Sister of Silence, Ynnari and Craftworld Eldar before we see the Guard. And of those Guard & Eldar I reckon will be recipients of substantial… Read more »
They can do it because it was cheaper and required less effort than making new sprues for the imperial guard …
(I wonder if those fit the new Sigmarite models … )
I’ve used Cadian headswaps with Stormcast to make my own not-Thunder Warriors. They actually fit surprisingly well.
The new astram figures are looking fabulous an I think the book’s will be a great read.
I will pick up the ghosts when they come out, but skip the cadian refresh. Hopefully the minimal effort on the cadians is a sign a new guard infantry kit is on the way with the the new codex.
I was having a think about that. Regards the Ghost’s, I’d not be surprised to see more sets coming out highlighting more of the notable personalities of the Tanith 1st as this novella series continues. As to the Poor Bloody Guard? This Cadian sprue seems like a stop-gap measure. As is I see the AM/IG needing at least ONE of these to happen when the new codex hits: *A redo of the core Jungle Fighters kit, to at least bring them in line with the Command & Heavy Weapon kits – still muscular, but much more realsitic. *a third line… Read more »
@dawfydd I am holding out for pastic steel legion – though I am not sure why given I have a full company of metal ones. I have no evidence but i could honestly see a multipart kit with different options for the regiments, which would be perfect.
Agree on the release of more tanith to support the novels, given the popularity of the books and that these are likely to fly off the shelves, it would seem like a smart bet.
Fingers crossed we don’t have to wait much longer for the Guard to get thier next update.
Honestly given how we are only missing updates to the Grey Knights, Custodes, Imperial Knights and the Guard, I’d be more than happy to wait for GW to cycle through the non-Imperial factions that need a range refresh (looking at you Craftworld Eldar) first, if it meant we got a hefty spread of plastic kits with our codex….
I would be inclined to say that the introduction of an “upgrade sprue” for want of a better word, for the Cadians suggests that actually a new set, Cadian or otherwise, is not on the way. If it was, they wouldn’t spend resources on either of these two sprues because they are unlikely to be compatible with a new kit as GW have moved away from multipose miniatures – head and weapon swaps on newer sets are much more difficult
@onlyonepinman – I saw the upgrade sprue as an easy fix to offer more options/diversity in the minis, which is a stated aim of GW, particularly after last year (though I assume the sprues were in the works earlier than that.)
I am not sure it means there are no new kits coming. Guard aren’t on the radar for what is coming next, and I can only see a new troops kit coming with the codex launch, which is prob 2022 at the earliest.
Either way, more options are good, and any new guard releases are very good in my book.
I see the Cadian sprues as being a way to “refresh” the Cadian range by providing 1) diversity and 2) greater range of weapons, two things that an entirely new astra Militarum kit would likely incorporate. Therefore if there were a new kit on the way any time soon to replace the Cadians, I doubt GW would have wasted time and resources developing these two sprues.
At the moment I would say that a new or updated astra Militarum kit is no close than 12 months but likely more
Now that I have seen those again Ghosts are far too over the top for IG and that new upgrade sprue for regular IG isn’t that great as to some how replace need for brand new kit so over all those are let down. Then again I admit that as Marine player I am part of that problem why Marines get most of new kits.
The Ghosts are a very good realisation of the characters from the book.
I just wish they would give us parts to make a decent sized force of the Ghosts.
I would totally field a small army.
I mean its kinda ridiculous that to make an army of Ghosts, who have the largest Imperial Guard book series, you have to go to an indie bits maker.
I mean if they did a plastic Ghosts monopose platoon ala the Sisters of Battle army box (soon to be Combat Patrol) but featuring the major personalities of the Tanith 1st, I’d buy the crap out of that. Especially if it was the Ghosts as they are at the end of Anarch…
I wonder how those heads would look on the jungle fighters
I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. The one with cards strapped to his helmet has a very “Nam” vibe to me.
The only one I am not sure about would be the guy wearing a balacalva/underpants over his face.
Slap it on one of the bared torso Jungle Fighters for maximum awkwardness
Jungle Fighters + Cadian Head = Starship Troopers…
I never got around to buying the original set in metal and sadly in later years the prices on ebay was too much. I will certainly not make that mistake again these are going straight into the basket this weekend. The upgrade kit is a mixed one nothing wrong with it as such but it is 23 years too late. Personally I would rather seen a brand new kit rather than updating one that is so old. The ghost models show how far we have moved on and an upgrade spure does little to hid the age of the old… Read more »