A key release date, long awaited by Eldar fans, has finally been revealed: the new plastic Warhammer 40k Striking Scorpions will go to pre-order on December 23, and release to stores on January 13 as part of the Kill Team: Salvation box set.
This long awaited Kill Team expansion – which includes ten of the plastic Striking Scorpions alongside new Primaris Space Marine Scout models – was first revealed in an October 14 Warhammer preview stream, but we didn’t know when it was coming until GW’s Warhammer Community site included it in the latest pre-orders roundup on Sunday, December 10.
According to GW’s report and images, the Kill Team: Salvation box contains:
- 10 Aeldari Striking Scorpions
- 10 Space Marine Scouts
- Five small bits of Adeptus Mechanicus themed terrain
- Datacards and token sheets for each team
- An 88-page manual including “lore and rules for both Kill Teams”
- One full size transfer sheet each for the Space Marines and Aeldari
- Two small Raven Guard chapter specific transfer sheets
GW gives no indication of the box’s price, but we’d make an educated guess at it being around $99 (£65), or a little lower. That’s the price tag of the Kill Team Starter Set, which includes more miniatures, terrain, and other bits – but we might have to pay a little more for brand new minis, as opposed to a dedicated starter product.
Long-time Warhammer 40k fans have been keeping a keen eye out for this particular release, because both the included squads are classic units for their respective Warhammer 40k factions, but ones whose current models are starting to look very outdated.
The venerable Striking Scorpions – deadly Aeldari Aspect Warriors who use stealth to sneak up before eviscerating enemies in melee – are currently only available in a finecast resin kit first released in 2006.
The new Space Marine Scouts, meanwhile, will replace plastic models that were fine in their day, but now look totally out of scale alongside their Primaris Space Marine counterparts.
The new models are appropriately akin to the scale and look of the neophyte models in the new Black Templars Crusader Squads; the old Scouts, by comparison, were about the same build as the new Astra Militarum troopers.
Also coming to pre-order on December 23 and releasing January 13 are the rest of the individual Tyranids units from the Warhammer 40k 10th Edition launch box, Leviathan. According to GW’s Sunday article, that includes:
- Von Ryan’s Leapers
- Winged Tyranid Prime
- Psychophage
- Neurogaunts
- Screamer-killer
- Neurotyrant
While not all of these models are equally in demand, we’re very much looking forward to picking up more of the Von Ryan’s Leapers ‘mini-lictors’ for our Hive Fleet.
However, in a move that will aggravate many folks building ‘Nids armies, you’ll only be able to get the Screamer-killer in a bundle with the less desirable Neurotyrant, titled ‘Horrors of the Hive’ – making it more expensive to load up on the more desirable, ultra-destructive Screamer-killers.
No final prices have been revealed for any of these standalone Tyranids kits yet, but we’ll update you when we know more. In the meantime, you can pick up some tips how to paint Tyranids with contrast paints super-fast; or go back to basics with our full guide to painting miniatures.
In other Warhammer news, GW has paid an even bigger $3k profit share bonus to staff this year despite a dip in its share price; and another new Warhammer 40k game has come out – this time Owlcat’s Rogue Trader CRPG.
It’s rather large – but our editor Alex Evans has played nearly 40 hours now and is mostly pretty impressed – read more in our Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader review in progress.