The Island of Blood

Just received an email from GW about the new Warhammer fantasy boxed set which will accompany the new 8th edition rulebook. Here is the blurb from the email.

"The Warhammer world; it is a place riven by battle, where mighty armies clash for glory, honour or the entertainment of Dark Gods. Darkened skies, tortured by cataclysmic magics tear open and rain blood upon the ceaseless combatants and the landscape is wracked by the carnage around it. Trees writhe in mutated agony, lashing out with limb and branch and rivers flow thick with the corpses of the slain.

All upon the land are consumed by the unending battle, an age of war in which victory and defeat hang in the balance. Cast against this macabre tableau fight mighty armies -warriors by their million raise banners of defiance or icons of dismay, taking up arms in the clash for survival. Beleaguered and surrounded, the forces of Order fight desperately to stem the tide of the armies of Destruction. Delighting in the carnage and ruination, the Dark Gods look on.

The Island of Blood is but one battleground upon the face of the Warhammer world, a mystical and dangerous place that has been twisted and mutated by the warping power of Chaos. In ages past the Island of Blood was a battleground upon which armies have bled and died in the ageless battle for supremacy... and they will do so again. Soon.

The Island of Blood is the new boxed game for Warhammer and is released this September. Packed full of stunning plastic Citadel miniatures and containing all the rules, dice and templates you'll need to play, it's the essential purchase for fans of the Warhammer hobby.

In August we'll feature more information about The Island of Blood on games-workshop.com and the full details will be released in September's White Dwarf.If you can't wait until September to get your hands on the new rules then don't forget that the new Warhammer Rulebook and complete range of accessories are available."


From the look of the picture, the two races will be High Elves and Skaven. Seems to make sense since Skaven have just had a host of new plastic box sets released using GW's new plastic technology. I'm not too sure High Elves are a good idea (despite not being in a boxed game since the 4th edition way back in 1992), I find them too 'clean' and uninteresting.

There are various rumours about the impact of the 8th edition, some even going so far as to state that it will 'make or break' the fantasy game. Clearly, GW are pursuing the Apocalypse mould with massed ranks of troops and large, sprawling battles. They're going to have to speed up the game mechanics if that's the plan. I've read somewhere that the War of the Ring may have been a dry run for the new 8th edition rules. Not long to find out!