The Warhammer TV team break out of the studio to play Warhammer 40,000 in an end-of-season special

Another season of shows on Warhammer TV finishes this week, which means we’ve got an awesome selection of end-of-season specials lined up for you. These changes from your regularly scheduled programming include an episode of the Black Library Book Club and the return of Brainboyz. The main event is a new instalment of Open Play, which sees three of our hosts charge out of the studio, across the car park, and into Warhammer World proper to take part in a Warhammer 40,000 tournament using the Asymmetric War missions from the latest Chapter Approved Mission Deck.

Who better to tell you about the episode than Alex and Si, who took part in the event? A special shout out to the Warhammer World Events team too, who helped accommodate the gang and all their filming equipment on the day.

Alex: For this episode I bravely – or foolishly – elected to paint up a new force and so ended up settling on a Chaos Knights War Dogs list that perfectly fit into the 1,000-point limit for Incursion games. Walking into Warhammer World I was a little apprehensive as I lean more towards the narrative side of gaming rather than  competitive, but the camaraderie of the players and the friendly atmosphere of the Wednesday Warhammer event washed that feeling away immediately. After three savage games of Warhammer 40,000, the only question on my mind was when I could do this again. It was fantastic! 

(The second thing on my mind was expanding the list, and now there are two chunky Chaos Knights ready for painting on my hobby desk!)

Si: Ever since the release of the Space Wolves army set earlier this year, I’ve been frantically working on updates for some of the older units in my collection, gradually* replacing them with shiny new ones. As such, I’d not actually played any games with them since the new Codex arrived, as I’d been too busy painting them instead! Suffice it to say that this event was the perfect opportunity to unleash elements of my new-look army on the battlefield at last.

Given the unusual deployment zones found in Asymmetric Wars, I figured that speed would be my greatest asset. I therefore planned to pin down my opponent’s army in combat as quickly as possible so that I could gain battlefield control and lock down the objectives with an Intercessor Squad behind the main areas of fighting. To that end, I went with Ragnar Blackmane leading six Wolf Guard Headtakers, and two units of Blood Claws, each led by a Wolf Priest for added hitting power and model replenishment. That’s three hard-hitting units that could advance and charge, which I further supplemented with two packs of Thunderwolf Cavalry. Awooo, indeed.

The event itself was loads of fun, and I was fortunate enough to play against three fantastic opponents, who really played in the spirit of their armies, which ensured all my games were an absolute blast. To my mind, that made each game a win for both players, irrespective of the actual result!

Cheers, folks! You can watch that episode of Open Play right now on Warhammer TV – maybe it will inspire you to play in your first event?

Also on the cards this week is an episode of the Black Library Book Club in which the group are looking back at the novel that kicked off the whole of the Horus Heresy, the legendary Horus Rising by Dan Abnett. They’ll be picking out their favourite moments and discussing the Great Crusade. 

Finally, on Brainboyz, four guests split into two teams and get tested on their knowledge of all things Warhammer over five rounds, starting with simple true or false questions, through questions about the player’s favourite factions, and guessing models from some hilarious pictures of people doing their best to replicate poses and wargear with stuff on hand.

All of these Warhammer TV shows, and more, are available to subscribers of Warhammer+. If you’ve subscribed by the 30th of November, you’ll automatically be entered into a draw to win copies of The Art of Warhammer Video Games signed by Andy Hall, the Warhammer 40,000 Character Encyclopedia  – which includes a Lieutenant Titus miniature – signed by Wade from the Warhammer Studio, and Words of War: The Miniature Book of Space Marine Quotes. 

There are five sets of prizes to win! Terms and conditions apply. 

You can enjoy a back catalogue of more than 500 shows and animations all as part of your Warhammer+ subscription. By signing up for a whole year you also get to choose from one of two brilliant diorama miniatures, completely free of charge, and get full army-building access to useful apps for both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. You can select your miniature, redeem codes from Codexes and battletomes, and enter the Warhammer Vault all by logging into your MyWarhammer account. 

If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can get a taste of all the brilliant shows and animations on Warhammer TV for free by signing in with your MyWarhammer account. You can check out – deep breath – The Enemy Without: A Deathwatch Vignette, Loremasters episodes on Titans, Librarians, Stormhosts, and the Skaven Great Clans, Battle Report episodes covering Tempestus Aquilons fighting Vespid Stingwings in Kill Team and the Stormcast Eternals attempting to quash the Skaven threat in Age of Sigmar, a Deep Strike episode on Total War: Warhammer, and a Citadel Colour Masterclass guide to painting glossy, rotting innards – yum, our favourite.

* As anyone who knows Si will attest, his painting speed is glacial at best, so “gradually” is quite the understatement.