Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Skaventide, Spearhead, and More Revealed at this Weekend’s Warhammer Preview
This past weekend, Games Workshop hosted the first of its 2024 Warhammer Open events in the United States, with two preview events for upcoming releases shown off to both attendees and anyone else following along on the Warhammer Twitch channel.
The first of these previews held on Thursday night focused on the new launch box for the upcoming new edition of Age of Sigmar, 4.0. This launch box, called “Skaventide”, features all new miniatures for both Stormcast Eternals and Skaven. Both sides feature updates for older models, including the new Stormcast Eternal Liberator and Skaven Clanrats, as well as all new models, like the members of the Stormcast Ruination Chamber and the Skaven Claw Lord on Gnaw Beast. The launch box will also feature a full rulebook for the new edition, and a card deck for the 2024-2025 season of the General’s Handbook.
The preview event also was our first look at Spearhead, a new game mode for Age of Sigmar designed to be played with the models from the Spearhead starter sets. The Skaventide launch box will include everything players need to play Spearhead, including a double sided board, rules, terrain, and cards. We’ve tried this new mode for ourselves here at Goonhammer, and you can find out our thoughts on it here.
After taking all the spotlight on Thursday, the grim and dark far future had its moment in the sun with a second preview on Saturday. This preview gave us our first look at the next two codexes releasing this summer for Warhammer 40,000, Adepta Sororitas and Genestealer Cults, each featuring a new hero model. Following this, Games Workshop revealed a new plastic battleforce box for Mechanicus forces in Horus Heresy, and a new campaign book for Imperialis about the battle of Tallarn. Games Workshop ended the show with a new box for Necromunda centering around members of House Van Saar exploring the irradiated and genestealer infested ruins of Hive Secundus.
Warhammer Skulls Event Returns this Week
Not content with just one weekend full of preview stuff, we have even more previews of new and upcoming hotness is on the way this week. This time, the previews from Games Workshop will be of a digital variety with the return of the Warhammer Skulls event.
Rahul Kohli, who voices the main character in Boltgun, returns this year to host the online showcase event packed with “excellent world premieres” for games like Space Marine 2, Boltgun, Rogue Trader, and Total War: Warhammer 3. There’s also the possibility of all new games for the Warhammer setting being revealed, as in previous years. The show will be streamed on the Warhammer Twitch channel on May 23rd at 12PM EST/5PM BST.
Additionally, Warhammer video game fans can enjoy deals on Warhammer games from online vendors like Steam and GOG following the showcase.
Wizards of the Coast Unveils Art for the New Players Handbook
Wizards of the Coast revealed the new cover art for their upcoming release of the revised Player’s Handbook, and as well as when preorders for the new book will go live and pricing.
The new art, as shown off in Game Informer, is a celebration of the game’s history on it’s 50th anniversary. The art from Tyler Jacobson has several characters across the setting’s history banding together to battle against a red dragon and its minions lurking on the bottom edge, all while a colossal golden dragon watches from the background. The art on the back of the book features original heroes riding on the back of a bronze dragon towards a new adventure, brought together by the book’s red spine as a subtle nod to the famous red box starter set.
The allusions to the games past, as well its promises of new adventure, are very intentional on the artist’s part. “With the cover art, we wanted to represent each experience,” Jacobson tells Game Informer. “How do we make the Player’s Handbook look like it’s the players’ experience?”
The 384 page book will release in September, with preorders going live on June 18th for $49.99.
Larian Games Opens a New Studio in Warsaw
While most news of the video game industry nowadays is wave after wave of soul-crushing layoff, Larian’s massive success from Baldur’s Gate 3 allowed them to do the unthinkable: actually expand enough to open an entirely new studio in Warsaw.
Warsaw is the seventh studio for Larian, who’s other locations include Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, and their home office in Belgium. Swen Vincke in a press release expands on their plans for the Warsaw location, saying “Our plan for the Polish studio is very simple. Build a team that can work on our two—very ambitious—new RPGs and enjoy the fruits of their labour. We’re a very bottom-up company so I’m eager to see what new things they’ll bring us. I think it’ll work really well.” While no further details have been shared about the projects that the Larian team is working on, the studio expansion is encouraging for fans of Larian’s work.
The Website for Japan’s Largest Tabletop Games Convention Hacked
Game Market, the largest board gaming convention in Japan, reported on their website last week that their website was illegally hacked, and thousands of images from their events have been deleted without Game Market’s consent.
Game Market reports that the hack happened around 10:00 AM Japanese time on May 15th. Due to the attack, images for thousands of articles about board games in Japan and pictures from Game Market events were lost. While the team at Game Market is working hard to find and restore these images to the website, it is unclear how much can be recovered and how much is lost forever.
In the blog (translated from it’s original japanese via google), Game Market states “We sincerely apologize for the loss of the irreplaceable information that you have accumulated over the years. When I think of everyone’s hearts and efforts, I feel an indescribable amount of remorse and apologies.” Game Market also emphasizes that it is looking into the culprit of this attack, and is working to tighten the security of it’s website servers.
Fortunately, vendor information was not lost from the breach, as it is kept in a separate system that was untouched in the hack. Yet the loss of so many images that act as a visual history of the Japanese board gaming scene is heartbreaking.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
Have any questions or feedback? Have an interesting tabletop news story we should be including in our round-up? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. And if you want regular updates in your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
