Space Marines are on hold for at least a week, but GW has revealed some juicy new 40k Kill Team and Blackstone Fortress (BSF) releases in the meantime!
Warhammer Community says 40k Releases are still on the menu, even though it won’t be “new” marines per ce…
Next week sees some amazing releases for both the 41st Millennium and Middle-earth! An expansion for Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress brings new mechanics to your quests, Kill Team’s new Starter Set makes skirmishing even easier, and a host of classic models return for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.
More on the Middle Earth releases later, let’s dig into the rest:
Blackstone Fortress Escalation
…the new Escalation expansion really takes things to the next level. It features four brand-new explorers – a Rogue Trader, a Crusader, a Primaris Psyker and a Technoarchaeologist – and X-101, a servitor retinue character. Of course, it’s not going to be easy for them, as eight new hostiles stand in their way – a Cultist Firebrand and his Chaos Cultist followers.* Team!
13 new miniatures are on the way inside this set, with what looks to be possibly six new characters. Traditionally these models to get stand alone rules for Warhammer 40k. Competitively though their keywords or points costs all seem to hamstring their effectiveness on the tabletop.
They are certainly ideal for one-off hobby projects, collecting all the models of your faction, or to actually use with BSF itself!
If you’re wanting to suit up for adventure with a new character, Escalation will also be bringing in a Servitor, a Tech-Priest, a Rogue Trader, a Psyker, and a Crusader.
As for the new bad guys, they’ll be lead by the dude with a flame staff. His other followers are a band of some twisted new Cultist models. Hopefully, we’ll see a kit for these guys come out in the future.
Kill Team 2019 Starter
This much-anticipated new boxed set for Kill Team features two complete kill teams – one Adeptus Astartes and one T’au Empire – the Kill Team Core Manual and all of the cards, tokens and dice that you need to play. It also comes with a double-sided gameboard and six frames of Sector Mechanicus scenery, giving you an entire industrial Killzone for you to fight over.
Previous releases from last year, the two Kill Teams coming sides this new starter set both sold for $60 including models and terrain.
Fangs of Ulfrich
Advance Team Starpulse
The new 2019 starter is coming with two pre-existing Kill Teams essentially packed into one box. The Starpulse trench terrain is missing in the new starter set. But at least the box set is coming with a play mat to fold out.
As far as the rest of the terrain kits go, it looks like a Sector Mechanicus Furnace ($50), an Alchomite stack (from the Space Wolves Kill Team box), and some other random scaffolding pieces. We don’t know the pricing on this box set just yet. However, it looks like it’ll be another option for new players to split and jump into the game.
For the complete breakdown of pricing versus contents be sure to check out our Savings Alert post on if the 2019 starter is worth your hobby dollars!
With that said, what do you think about the contents inside of the new Kill Team and Blackstone Fortress sets?
Would you rather buy your own Kill Team kits and terrain? Do you think the terrain in the starter is worth it? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter each morning as well!
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, 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 models made of both pewter and resin.
