These are the six most talked about things from GW’s 40k Open day over the weekend. It was a massive set of announcements and you didn’t want to miss…
Warhammer Community dropped a ton of previews this weekend. So let’s go over the most talked-about teasers and our take on why they are so important!
An entire day dedicated to Warhammer 40,000? At Warhammer World, the official home of the hobby?! Sounds like an awesome day out, right?
8th Edition has had plenty of events shake up the galaxy. From Abaddon launching his latest crusade to Blood Angels getting almost kicked off their home planet, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle in the galaxy right now.
#6- 40k’s Next 3 Psychic Awakening Rulebooks?
But there’s more – we can treat you to the release timeline and titles of the next three books in the series after Blood of Baal – coming in January, February, and March respectively!
We’ve also got a pretty solid tease at who the 4th book: Ritual of the Damned could include, and it seems to match the previous rumors.
In a video they put up, we can see the three previous books on the map represented by rotating coins with the emblems of each faction involved. The next book is very close location-wise to book 2: Faith and Fury. The coin for Book 4 has the emblems of Thousand Sons, Grey Knights, and Dark Angels.
The voice-over in the video can be assumed to belong to a Thousand Sons character, as he describes his old home of Prospero to be under attack.
Each book will be accompanied by an epic champion to lead the charge in this terrible age. These legendary heroes will include reborn, reimagined and brand-new characters, but we can’t reveal any more details at the moment.
There’s also positive news involving models! They say Legendary so we can assume these guys won’t be push-overs. Anything from a lieutenant, to a returning Primarch, are on the table here.
From the video, the full teaser for book 4 looks to be coming on Christmas Day.
Tau and Orks look to be the factions that will feature heavily in book 5, and 6 respectively. Yeah, Xenos!
Next up is Sisters of Battle, and holy cow did they get a HUGE amount of reveals.
#5- Triumph of St. Katherine: The Most Unique 40k Model?
As time has gone on from the initial Army Set, we’ve realized that the box was just the tip of the iceberg for the Sororitas faction. There is a new datasheet that doesn’t have a model yet found inside the Sisters’ codex. The new unit is called the Triumph of Saint Katherine, and the art above had us thinking it would be one big funeral procession.
Taking the body of St. Katherine to the battlefield, this unit has one of the most unique datasheets in 40k and will probably turn out being one of the most unique models as well. The major point here is that this thing has 18 wounds, is T3, and gets a mix of 14 attacks. While 14 attacks might seem like a lot, it really all boils down to light infantry-killing. But it has a ton of rules to keep track of. While it’s a character over 10 wounds, it does have a bonus -1 to hit, Sisters models nearby become fearless, it can dish out D3 mortal wounds, can perform bonus acts of faith, and nets miracle dice.
The Model Revealed:
How utterly incredible is the Triumph of Saint Katherine?! Whether you’re a painter looking for your next centrepiece project or a gamer in search of a powerful lynchpin around which to form your army (or both!), look no further than this stunning centrepiece. You won’t even have long to wait – you’ll be able to get ahold of all of these stunning new units early next year.
As suspected it was a funeral procession of sorts that will for sure make an amazing hobby project for Sisters players and collectors alike! Definitely inspired by the art piece above, this model consists of six battle sisters and at least four of their accompanying cherubs.
Hobby heroes Sprues & Brews and Garro were at the event and shared some great pictures of the model as well:
St. Katherine is coming on two “squad-sized” sprues, and mounts on a custom textured base that appears to be the 120mm large oval.
Here’s a close up of the assembled model showing the coffin and battle sisters, looking semi reminiscent of the Nighthaunt Black Coach in AoS. The layout definitely has a few nods to the new Katakros and retinue on a base as well!
Above is the painted version on display. With Katakros costing $110, how much do you wager this model will cost for it’s rumored release in February 2020?
How Good Will It Be In-Game?
Against most shooty armies in 40k (which there’s a lot of), The Triumph of St. Katherine may not last long. Sure, it has a 3+/4++ save, but at T3 and being over 10 wounds, this gaggle of mourners will probably get pelted into the ground. Especially if it comes with all those bonus rules for the rest of the army to work off of.
With Raven Guard, they’ll be hitting it on a flat 3+ and wounding it on 2+ with regular boltguns thanks to Surgical Strikes. The Catechism of Fire litany for Chaplains will tear it apart as well. Sure, the litany only works against the closest visible enemy unit, but this thing has next to no shooting at all and will get more benefits by being stuck into combat.
As for Tau and their Riptides, it won’t take more than a quick overcharged burst to shred this thing.
It definitely sounds like an awesome model, but a 6″ movement and the inability for it to be transported really just makes life tough for this unit.
#4- New Mulipart Sisters of Battle Kits for 2020
We knew there would be new kits for all the units that came in the Army box. Here is the latest new Infantry model reveals from the 40k Open.
You’ve got to love a Repentia. What others accomplish through tactics, strategy and tech, these Sisters do through the precise and intense application of rage – and chainswords the size of Space Marines! Next year, adding these frenzied fanatics to your army is going to get even easier thanks to the multipose Repentia kit!
Packed with dynamic poses and plenty of options for customisation, this set will be great for fleshing out your Repentia squads – and flensing the flesh from your enemies! Look out for these sometime next year.
Battle Sisters Squad:
We had seen these Images of new Sororitas units. Now we have a closer look at the painted and unpainted versions of them as well!
Coming from the mouth of GW, the basic Troops kit will also offer two other unit builds:
What’s more, this set also builds you Dominions, forward-scouting vehicle killers and special-weapon wielders, as well as Celestians, elite bodyguards who’ll carve up anyone who dares attack your Canonesses. These units are marked by their own special components.
Sisters have had so much love put into them, each model looks like it could be a character in their own right.
From the event, we have our first pictures of the sprues. These look to have enough torso back for 6 sisters, and fronts for five. There is also a good chance that the box of ten will probably have two sets of sprues inside it.
You can see the sprues also have the special weapon options for making Dominion squads as well as a cherub, and standard.
The Sister Superior also has a choice of weapons from the combi flamer above top to this condemnor crossbow bolter.
Sister Hospitaller
First seen with a Bane-type mask and special Sororitas object in her right hand, it looks like the model was tweaked once more and painted up.
You can tell that the Hospitaller had her cool little religious pendant in her hand changed some with her face fully open under her hood.
She looks to be a two sprue kit with custom basing bits, similar to Fierros, and may retail for $40.
Diologus & Imagifier Models Spotted
New Diologus Model
GW has certainly come a long way. The new Diologus model was first spotted in an early teaser photo. However, was officially unveiled with some serious cosmetic upgrades.
The Imagifier also got a helping hand. Carrying what looks to be some vague idol to Celestine, she’ll be a must-have unit to inspire the rest of your ranks.
Multipart Canoness Options
Canonesses also got more love from GW getting some pretty amazing multipart options. From staves to power swords, plasma pistols to inferno pistols. the Canoness is looking to be able to fit a variety of frontline roles.
Here you can see her scale better compared to the rank and file sisters.
Junith Eruita on the Pulpit of Doom
The heroes of the Sisters of Battle aren’t just Living Saints, like Celestine – among their number are storied commanders as legendary as any Space Marine Captain. Perhaps foremost among them is Junith Eruita, a Canoness Superior of the Order of Our Martyred Lady with a centre-piece kit so magnificent it rivals any model in the Warhammer 40,000 range!
Junith was another model recently spotted circulating around the web. It didn’t take long to GW to pull the curtain back on this one. How could you say no to a named Sister floating around on a pulpit carrying four flamers???
From the looks of it, Judith will be arriving on three smaller squad sized sprues, and mount on a regular flight base.
#3- New Mulipart Sisters of Battle Vehicle Kits for 2020
The Rhino is one unit we were waiting to see. These were originally previewed to come with circular doors. However, it appears to have been changed some point after its first preview.
Here is an assembled Rhino with what looks to be pre-production resin casts, that was on display along with its plastic upgrade sprue.
The new Sisters Rhino kit may be packaged with this sprue instead of the normal Astartes upgrade sprue.
If boxy transports aren’t your thing, there were some other Rhino-chassis type vehicles previewed showing the circular doors fans loved. We’re also getting the Immolator and Exorcist!
Sisters of Battle Immolator
Immolator with Flame weapon option
Immolator with Flame weapon option, unpainted. Get a load of that clear plastic weapons cowl! There is also a Heavy Bolter weapon variant as well.
Painted up with Contrast paints or washes you could emulate the look of stained glass on this!
Sisters of Battle Exorcist
Exorcist with Lady Ga-Ga style helmeted weapons operator.
It appears from these shots of the unpainted kit, that there is no lack of detail when it comes to these battle shrines The Exorcist and Immolators are clearly are a step above the normal Rhino design-wise.
You may want to assemble and paint the weapons pulpit separately so that you don’t miss any shred of detail with your brush!
Simply stunning, and full of class when fully painted. The appeal of the new Sisters vehicle designs is very intoxicating, to say the least.
Immolator & Excorcist Sprues
From all appearances in these previews, it looks like both the Immolator and Exorcist share this same “base” rhino chassis sprue.
From there, the Exorcist kit looks to also contain this sprue which was pictured to the right of the chassis sprue above.
The Immolator, on the other hand, may come with these two sprues that contain the rotating turret and weapon options as well. They were pictured to the left of the base chassis sprue above.
As one final “bonus” large kit we are still waiting to lay our eyes on is the Battle Sanctuary. From its Datasheet, it appears to be more of a terrain piece than a vehicle
Sisters of Battle Battle Sanctum
The Battle Sanctum rules sheet was spotted recently and it looks like it might not be a flying vehicle after all…
It looks like the Battle Sanctum is a terrain piece lying in wait. The key giveaways are that once it’s set up, it can’t move and you can throw Infantry dudes and dudettes inside to man the walls. It’s only Power Level 3, and it costs 50 points.
But how big will it be? Can we take multiple in a list? These are just a few of the questions that seeing this rules sheet brings up.
If we are able to bring more than one and they don’t take up too big of a footprint on the table, they could be used as Miracle Dice generators and may be the groundwork for a Sororitas gunline.
We haven’t seen the model just yet so keep your eyes peeled. It will be incredible to see so much hit a single faction seemingly all at once.
#2- Cult Mechanicus Archaeopter Stratoraptor & Transvector
First the Skorpius now the Achaeopter! Once again out of nowhere Adeptus Mechanicus is getting even more new models.
It’s not just the Ecclesiarchy that will be receiving reinforcements – the Tech Adepts of Mars are preparing to unleash their latest creation on the enemies of the Omnissiah. Look to the skies, for the Archaeopter is on its way!
This archaic-looking aircraft can be assembled in one of three patterns – a gunship, bomber or transport variant – and will provide your Adeptus Mechanicus forces with a suite of new tactical options.
Looks like a few Rumor Engines have been identified including one of the most popular ones in recent memory, the revolving bomb rack!
As seen above the Archaeopter is coming with two variants. Here the transport version (what we assume is the “transvector”) appears to be on a knight sized 170mm large oval with a new flying stem of sorts.
Similar in appearance to the stems the Priamris Inceptors, and Sisters Seriphm use, those stems actually come in three sizes (45mm, 50mm, and 55mm respectively). From these pictures, it looks like so far, only one size of the large flying stem has been spotted.
Here’s a look at the landed version of the Archaeopter. From the Games Workshop preview image above, it looks like the primary weapon system goes in the rear of the craft:
You can see the bomb rack a little better here on the cover of the assembly manual, however, there also appears to be a twin-linked weapon system variant for that mount as well.
And lastly is an update from the media team.
#1- Warhammer Open 2019 Animations Announcement
Some of this you may have already seen. Some are early proofs of concept, or “what if?” material, the team has been playing around with. Others may be released as fully realised animated series. As to which of the animations falls into which camp, stay tuned over the coming months for updates.
While the focus is clearly Angels of Death, there is a bunch of tidbits of other potential shorts we may see more information about in the coming months. It does appear to undergone some serious re-design, it may have possibly been scrapped and restarted.
Written by the Warhammer Story Forge (more on those fine wordsmiths soon), Angels of Death is being animated in collaboration with Richard Boylan and Boman Modine. Some of you may remember Richard’s striking and atmospheric work from the fan-made animation of the Helsreach audiobook, and Richard and Boman collaborated on Guardsman. Alongside the Warhammer Story Forge, the team is creating something really special – an all-new Blood Angels story brought to visceral life. This is the 41st Millennium you always dreamed of seeing on screen.
Angels of Death is being animated in collaboration with Richard Boylan and Boman Modine. Some of you may remember Richard and Boman’s work from their Helsreach animation in 2018.
The first full trailer for Angels of Death will be with us in January – due to debut at the Las Vegas Open Warhammer Preview.
That’s it for the 40k Open Day 2019, it’s a huge amount to take in but all of it is extremely exciting if you’re invested in the universe!
What do you think about a series showing the struggles of Blood Angels in the Grimdark universe? Are you excited about the massive amount of Sisters of Battle support? Or perhaps you are most excited for lore moving forward in the next Psychic Awakening books?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter (with discount coupon codes) each morning as well!
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
Bio: Virginia restless, miniature painter & cat dad. He blames LEGOs for all this, as there was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all. Spikey Bits sprung from Rob staying motivated to hobby on his backlog of projects, while sharing his knowledge with others during the early blogging era.
LEGO maniac and scale model hobbyist in the 80s turned miniature wargamer and trading card player ever since. He’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition), but Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and minatures made of pewter and resin.
