Centuries of secret plans being ruined by the upstart Skaven is enough to put anyone in a bad mood, but the Helsmiths of Hashut are fouler of temper than even the most irritable of their duardin kin, and their response is all-out war. Their schemes accelerated by necessity, the Helsmiths gather their armies and pour out from their ziggurats, bringing death and desolation to all in their path. A new faction is here for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and after that there’s a heap of Black Library books to enjoy in this week’s Saturday pre-orders.
Battletome: Helsmiths of Hashut
Unshackle your ambitions (while shackling some daemons into weapons) with Battletome: Helsmiths of Hashut, a 90-page hardback book that covers all the background and rules for the latest faction to march upon the Mortal Realms. It contains all your faction rules and warscrolls alongside spell and prayer lores, giving you everything you need to grind your foes beneath your armoured boots.
Alongside all these rules, you’ll find a wealth of background information supported by new art and stunning miniatures photography, telling of the history of Hashut and his followers – guaranteed not to be biased in favour of this ancestor god who was supposedly spurned by his siblings. Rules for Path to Glory plus two Regiments of Renown, two Armies of Renown, and the Helforge Host Spearhead complete the package.
Battletome: Helsmiths of Hashut (Gamer’s Edition)
Just like the Zharrdron themselves, the Gamer’s Edition of the Battletome is a small but mighty package, leaving out none of the content in the larger version. It’s an efficient way of getting your rules to the table, and includes a pack of 32 reference cards covering warscrolls, faction rules, and the Helforge Host Spearhead. This product is available while stocks last.
Urak Taar, the First Daemonsmith
Daemonsmiths practice the diabolical arts taught to them by Hashut and the oldest of them is Urak Taar, the ruler of the Forge Anathema, who claims to have studied directly under the Father of Darkness. Through sheer force of will and an insatiable thirst for knowledge, the First Daemonsmith holds the stone-flesh curse at bay, casting powerful sorceries from atop Ghorrakos – the brass-bodied Infernal Taurus he forged for himself.
You can also choose to build this kit as a Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus, a powerful sorcerer who particularly enjoys commanding their statuesque mount to charge headlong into enemy units, provoking allied Bull Centaurs to follow suit with deadly momentum. The Daemonsmith has two head options and two options for each arm, while the Infernal Taurus has two pairs of horns to choose from, plus a forehead gem with and without smoke emitting from it.
Daemonsmith
Sunder the earth, choke your foes with ashen smog, and immolate them in waves of molten metal with the help of a Daemonsmith. These studious Zharrdron have spent many years learning the lessons taught by Hashut, and turn their infernal powers against their foes.
This kit can instead build an Ashen Elder. These priests invoke the fury of the Bullfsuather in battle, and ensure their followers conduct themselves with the correct level of zealotry. Any Helsmith found lacking is likely to find themselves in more than a little bit of trouble with these stern clerics.
War Despot
The tyrannical commanders of a ziggurat’s royal clans are called War Despots, exacting generals who expect their soldiers to succeed in the face of great adversity – or suffer the consequences. They have drunk deep on dark power to become larger than their kin, and use their almighty strength to cut down rivals and foes alike with their brutal daemonflame glaives.
Bull Centaurs
Pampered and adored by the Zharrdron like living demigods, Bull Centaurs are some of the few mutants born throughout the ziggurats who are considered blessed by Hashut. They are savage and brutal creatures, but not stupid – rather, their inflated sense of self importance has them view their enemies as lesser beings who they were born to eradicate.
This box builds three plastic Bull Centaurs, or three Anointed Sentinels. These masked temple guards ceremonially shave their beards for their role, and have their chests tattooed with intricate designs. Unlike their pugilistic brethren, they favour restraint in battle, only launching counterattacks when the enemy interrupts the Helsmith’s desolation, which the sentinels view as a sacred duty. Bull Centaurs have a set of four interchangeable horns, while Anointed Sentinels have a set of three interchangeable masks, and the kit also comes with a Helsmiths of Hashut transfer sheet with 450 transfers.
Infernal Cohort
Nearly every Helsmiths of Hashut army will march to war with a large complement of soldiers drawn from the royal clans – or those indebted to them by the Wages of Toil. Known as the Infernal Cohort, they are disciplined combatants who form mighty shield walls. Some units are armed with Hashutite blades and specialise in rapid advances into enemy territory, while others are armed with Hashutite spears and act as a defensive anchor for the Helsmiths, goading enemies to charge their bristling wall of spears.
This box contains 11 miniatures – 10 Infernal Cohort and a hobgrot who carries a gong for the unit’s musician. One of the duardin can be built as a champion with a hammer and shield or two-handed axe, one can be built as a standard bearer with three head options and three banner toppers to choose from, and one can be built as a musician, whose hobgrot has two head options. Standard Infernal Cohort miniatures all feature separate left arms and shields that are both interchangeable between models. This box also contains a Helsmiths of Hashut transfer sheet with 450 transfers.*
Dominator Engine
Dominator Engines are terrifying mechanised constructs built in the image of Hashut and powered by furnaces fuelled by an inferno of daemon-essence. Few know of the rites and scribings required to bring one to life, but even the enemies of the Helsmiths can feel the effects of the malign aura that exudes from them. They are frequently armed with bane maces, which roar with incandescent flame as the Dominator Engine uses them to crush its foes.
Dominator Engines can also be equipped with immolation cannons which spew forth torrents of daemonfire that rapidly spread to nearby enemies. Each Dominator Engine has two stomach plates with distinct designs, plus a choice of two face plates and two pairs of horns that can be mixed and matched, as well as poseable arms.
Deathshrieker Rocket Battery
The Zharrdron are extremely well practised in making powerful war machines, leaning on old duardin techniques to create missile weaponry and artillery platforms empowered by daemonic essence. The Deathshieker Rocket Battery is one of these ordnance pieces, so called because its payload screams as it arcs through the sky, detonating into conflagrations of daemonic flame.
This kit can also be built as a Tormentor Bombard, which fires raw Chaos-stuff as ammunition, wiping out enemy formations with deadly explosions. Each war machine comes with accompanying crew, and the box contains a Helsmiths of Hashut transfer sheet with 450 transfers.
Infernal Razers
The Helsmiths specialise in making powerful weapons fuelled by entrapped daemons, and the hand-held firearms wielded by the Infernal Razers are some of the deadliest in the Mortal Realms.
This box builds five hardy warriors who operate in small, close-knit teams, purging enemies with their Karagthrun Flamehurlers or shredding armour and flesh alike with blasts from their Grizmalok Blunderbusses. The champion can be built with a choice of two heads.
Hobgrot Vandalz
Cunning and cowardly in equal measure, Hobgrot Vandalz are sorry creatures who have found that one of the few ways to stay the blades of the Zharrdron is to pledge unflinching allegiance to them. The Helsmiths reward this ‘loyalty’ by sending units of Vandalz out ahead of their battleline, where these enterprising hobgrots claim territory for their allies… before scurrying away from the inevitable artillery barrage.
This box contains twenty Hobgrot Vandalz, whose champion can be armed with a cruel chain weapon or a vicious dagger. It also contains a Helsmiths of Hashut transfer sheet with 450 transfers.*
Helsmiths of Hashut Dice
Complete your collection with a set of 16 Helsmiths of Hashut dice, which are cast in a rich, marbled purple that matches the colours of the Forge Anathema. Each dice has daemonfire green pips, and features the faction icon on the six face. This product is available while stocks last.
Krakenblood
On the savage ice world of Fenris, a young Ivar Krakenblood is plucked from the masses and made into a Space Wolf, anointed to one day serve as a Wolf Priest. A proven warrior, he has yet to make his saga a legend that will be told for generations to come, but a new mission delivered to him by Ulrik the Slayer may prove to be the turning point. Tasked with retrieving a lost relic of the Chapter, Ivar unites with a band of old friends and new allies, and challenges the fates themselves in a battle against a powerful foe.
Krakenblood by Marc Collins is available to pre-order in a gorgeous special edition, which features an introduction by the author and the existing short story ‘The Price of Morkai’. It is presented in a black cloth cover with screen-printed art and gold foil details, plus black page edges and a ribbon bookmark and is available only while stocks last.
In the wake of her victory in the fallen city of Phoenicium, Abraxia – favoured servant of Archaon – rules over the newly minted Blackpyre. But as a new era of strife dawns over Ghyran, Abraxia finds herself beset by conspiracy on all sides. Can she overcome the challenges before her and prove her dominion over the Everchosen’s servants? You can find out in Abraxia: Spear of the Everchosen by Chris Thursten, which is available to pre-order in hardback, eBook, and MP3 audiobook formats.
The Dark Coil: Ascension
The galaxy is a vast and uncaring place, untold billions living and dying even as infamous villains and legendary heroes clash in conflicts that will be remembered for years after. Such events may seem completely disparate, with no linking factor, but many of them are caught in the sprawling web of dark conspiracy.
The Dark Coil: Ascension collects novels The Reverie and Requiem Infernal alongside eight short stories, all written by Peter Fehervari and linked together through subtle narrative threads. You can pre-order it in paperback and eBook formats now.
Anvils of the Heldenhammer: The Ancients
Two decades after Anvilgard fell to Morathi-Khaine and her followers, becoming the city of Har Kuron, the Knight-Incantor Tivrain Greymantle is on a secret mission to free those unlucky few still incarcerated within. Acting in open defiance of Sigmar, she must battle her way through a horde of Khorne Bloodbound and steel herself for a terrifying challenge, more dangerous than any she has faced before.
Anvils of the Heldenhammer: The Ancients by Dale Lucas is available to pre-order in paperback format now.
On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories
Following an injury that nearly ended his military career, Fusil-Major Rosforth now rides into battle atop an unlikely friend, the Maneater ogor Slobda. The Skaven are swarming Ghyran, and so this unlikely pair must lead a band of survivors to safety in the title story of On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It’s accompanied by a new short story by Hal Wilson, and 10 more stories by authors Liane Merciel, Noah Van Nguyen, Nick Horth, Christopher Allen, Anna Stephens, and Matt Keefe. You can pre-order it now in paperback.
The Rose in Darkness (French Edition)
On the shrine world of Opal, Sister Superior Augusta of the Order of the Bloody Rose and her squadmates are on a mission to retrieve the skull of the revered Saint Veres, during a time of great reverence and celebration in the planet’s capital. Beneath this joyful facade, political strife bubbles and rebel attacks gnaw at the city as a secret festering beneath the metropolis begins to surface and a Genestealer Cult makes itself known, lighting a beacon that will draw the horrors of the hive fleets to Opal.
The Rose in Darkness by Danie Ware is available to pre-order in French language paperback and eBook formats now.
Minka Lesk: The Last Whiteshield (German Edition)
From young Whiteshield conscript to renowned Cadian officer, Minka Lesk has seen many battles in her life, from the fall of Cadia to the grinding siege of Crannog Mons. You can follow her impressive career in Minka Lesk: The Last Whiteshield, an anthology that collects three novels and two short stories by Justin D Hill. You can pre-order it in German language paperback and eBook formats now.
* This product is delayed in Australia and New Zealand.
