Games Workshop have kicked off Warhammer Fest 2021; a whole week of previews for upcoming models, books, and other media for the world of Warhammer.
For the uninitiated, Warhammer Fest is an annual convention held by Games Workshop celebrating all things Warhammer. Normally this convention would be a physical event full of seminars, tournaments, and big reveals for upcoming miniatures and merchandise.
However, with the UK’s ongoing COVID-19 protocols still in place, Games Workshop is holding a digital version of the event for a second time this year. From May 3rd through the 8th, Games Workshop will hold daily livestreams of around 30 to 40 minutes in length- showing off some of the products fans can expect to see in the coming months. You can find the full schedule below.
The first day of Warhammer Fest was all about Age of Sigmar; focused on the upcoming Soulblight Gravelords faction, and the final book in the Broken Realms series.
Broken Realms: Kragnos was teased some time back, and has largely been an enigma. Whereas the previous three Broken Realms books focused on well-known and established characters, Kragnos is a completely new entity.
The first round of Warhammer Fest previews finally introduced Kragnos himself, as well as revealing his suitably impressive miniature, and hints at what players can expect to find in this fourth and final Broken Realms book.
Kragnos is an ancient creature from the early days of the Mortal Realms, in the time between the destruction of the World That Was, and the return of Sigmar and his other godlike allies. Kragnos was the strongest warrior from a race of savage, centaur-like creatures. He rallied his people and unleashed a campaign of destruction across the budding Mortal Realms.
He eventually obtained godlike powers and status as he crushed empires, slaughtered ancient and powerful races of drakes and other monsters, and gathered the support of some of the world’s other more savage and destructive races.
Eventually he was sealed away in a mountain prison by the ancient Slann Starmaster Lord Kroak. However, a millennia after being imprisoned in the realm of Ghur, Kragnos has been reawakened by the events in the Broken Realms and Direchasm storylines. He now rallys the most destructive races in the Mortal Realms to continue his reign of terror.
In gameplay terms, Kragnos is a new godlike centerpiece model along the lines of Morathi, Alarielle, or Archaon. His appetite for war and brutality has earned him plenty of supporters among the Mortal Realms’ most savage races, allowing him to be taken with any Destruction army.
A few rules were teased as well, including stats boasting 18 wounds, a 2+ save, a bravery buff to all nearby Destruction units, and the ability to shrug off spells if the result of a 3D6 roll exceeds the spell’s casting value.
While Kragnos is the star of the final Broken Realms book, there will be plenty of new models and rules for other factions. Gloomspite Gitz and some of the other Destruction armies will be getting new rules, a new free city will be introduced, and some of the models recently previewed on the community site will get their warscroll cards in the book.
These include the Talon and Voice of Slaanesh, the Warsong Revenant, the father and daughter witch hunter duo of Galen and Doralia ven Denst, and the massive new Lord Kroak model.
Games Workshop also showed off some new models for the upcoming Soulblight Gravelords faction, focusing specifically on the “heroes” that will be leading the undead legions. The largest and most impressive of these new reveals was Lauka Vai, the Mother of Nightmares.
This massive new centerpiece model is the leader of the Avengorii vampire dynasty, and is a disturbing amalgamation of a vampire queen and bat-like centaur beast. The kit can also be assembled as a Vengorian Lord, a similarly chimeric vampire general that can be chosen as a leader for the other playable vampire dynasties in the faction.
The bestial Vykros dynasty that was featured as the main antagonists of the recent Cursed City board game will be getting plenty of models as well, including a new version of Radukar. Now called Radukar the Beast, the monstrous vampire lord that players thought they vanquished in the board game returns, and is harnessing the full power of his clan’s animalistic blood.
Radukar isn’t the only Vykros character shown off in the livestream. He is accompanied by Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos; an incredibly ancient vampire lord with an affinity for wolves. It is even said that she can inflict curses upon her enemies that turn them into loyal and savage lupine companions.
Of course you cannot expect your vampires to do all the work themselves, so you will probably want to grab some boxes of the new Dire Wolves kit that will replace the current plastic models that date back to the days of Warhammer Fantasy.
Rounding out the stream was an announcement for a new Age of Sigmar video game. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Arena by Trophy Games is an auto battler set in the Mortal Realms, and features a more lighthearted and cartoony art style than its original source material. You can find the teaser trailer below.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Arena launches 2021 on Windows PC (via Steam), Android, and iOS.
That’s all for the first day of Warhammer Fest 2021 news and reveals. The next day will focus on Warhammer 40,000. Which of these reveals are you excited for? Tell us in the comments below!
Image: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Arena official website
