With my new Pledge not to purchase any new figures until the first week or so of August, I have of course been beset on all sides with all manner of exciting upcoming releases and current offerings, in addition to the things I already knew I wanted. I have to keep reminding myself that pretty much any figures I want will still be available in two months' time, and probably for several years after that.

There are many tempting things on the market, though. The Warhammer Fantasy Skaven are scheduled to get a new book later this year, and with that book there will surely be new models. I also have a few more units and war machines in my inventory that I planned on adding to the army at some point. Perhaps the new book will even bring back the Doomwheel? What is a Doomwheel, you might ask? It's sort of like this, but mobile and with more spikey bits:


The Imperial Guard are getting a couple of new models in July and August, mostly various armor like some Leman Russ variants and the Hellhound/Devil Dog/Bane Wolf kit. I am also toying with the idea of some artillery pieces for them.

The Space Marines are getting one piece of equipment in July that I am really excited about. It's a Land Speeder variant called the Storm that can caddy five Scouts around the table. I'm thinking about using it to insert Scouts with Sniper rifles on a high point and then arming it with something shooty to support them. Space Marines are also getting an Ironclad Dreadnought, which isn't that exciting except the the weapon arms shown in the concept art are exceptionally neat. I don't think it will be worth the price GW is asking, though.

I am not very interested in the upcoming Warhammer 40k Planetstrike expansion, but some of the terrain kits that are being released to coincide with it look neat. I haven't reached a point yet where scenery is an issue, but if we get a new house and I have an area to set up a table in it might become a more pressing need.

The upcoming Elves for GW's Lord of the Rings line don't excite me much. There is still plenty of stuff I would like to do with the Lord of the Rings line, but most of the specialist troops are available only in expensive blister packs, which is very cost-prohibitive. The basic troops are an awesome deal, but until more stuff gets released in plastic I will probably have to stick with what I've got.

40k Orks and WHFB Orcs and Goblins don't have any new releases really, but I've got a lot of models for both armies and I would like to field them at some point. The Orc/Ork models have a lot of character and are quite zany, so they should be fun to paint. I just need to get around to it.

Over the last couple of years I've picked up quite a boxful of Reaper's CAV mechs. People get frustrated at the lack of a player base for the game and offload their collections at huge discounts. I really like the way the models look, and I need to make some room for them in my painting schedule. The same goes for the various Reaper Warlord stuff I've accumulated and the Mordheim figures I've got in another box. Also the Dogs of War units for Warhammer Fantasy, which as concepts go are some of the more interesting models in Games Workshop's line. I still need some halfling archers and a halfling hot pot, but haven't been willing to pay the price eBay is asking, which in many cases is more the GW is selling them for.

Additionally I've got the Baccus 6mm American Civil War stuff, 15mm World War Two for Flames of War, some superhero stuff from various manufacturers, a couple dozen Foundry pirates, some Vikings and their enemies in both 15mm and 28mm, and I think that's about it. Oh, and a few Warhammer Fantasy Dwarfs.

And now I get to the thing that really sparked this whole post. The latest issue of White Dwarf highlights the new Warhammer Fantasy Empire releases, an army that I like but have so far been able to avoid. I don't need a fourth Fantasy army, especially since two of my first three haven't seen paint yet. The good thing is that the Empire will still be around in ten years when I get caught up.

I put a little bit of paint on my Assault Marines tonight, but not a whole lot. I've still got a couple more hours until they are finished. They probably won't get finished tomorrow night as I am going to dinner at a friend's house, but I'm hoping Friday night will see them done and perhaps some progress made on another unit besides.