The Download Munkey : A Link A Day ;)

Just saw this cinematic trailer for Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2, the upcoming sequel to Computer Gaming World’s 2004 RTS Game of the Year.

The action is even more visceral in this prerendered CG trailer by Plastic Wax than the intro trailer (also prerendered) for the original Dawn of War by Blur Studios as befits the mega-violent nature of Games Workshop’s vision of the 41st millennium.

© THQ

Flashy lighting effects and shiny surfaces are put to good use in this trailer as the stealthy Eldar attempt to ambush a squad of Space Marines from the Blood Ravens Chapter during their nighttime mission in some unknown jungle. The graphical effects makes it feel more more Unreal Tournament III than Warhammer 40,000 at times.

© THQ

My only grouse for this trailer is that I expected Space Marines and Eldar to look less like *us* - the former because of their genetic and bionic augmentations and the latter because they’re supposed to be an alien race.

© THQ

Iron sights on Space Marine Bolters in the 41st millennium? WTH?

© THQ

A Eldar Farseer … or a very convincing human cosplayer of the 41st millennium

Personal nitpicking aside, it’s still a must watch/download for Warhammer 40,000 fans, Dawn of War fans and CG action film fans (in no particular order) for some really fantastic fighting sequences.

Copious amounts of blood are a pre-requisite for Dawn of War cinematic trailers (below).

© THQ

I especially enjoyed the duel between the Eldar Howling Banshee and the Assault Marine, the graceful movements of the agile Banshee making the Space Marine’s broad slashing strokes with his whirring chainsword look incredibly awkward and amateurish.

© THQ

Spectacularly choregraphed CG action trailers like this are the reason why I started collecting game videos in the first place

Download the trailer in Quicktime or Windows Media Video format from GameTrailers or check out the official Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn Of War : Soulstorm Art Assets
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VI) - Kevin Chin (King Mong)
Warhammer 40,000 Dark Millenium Card Database
Blur Studio - Incredible Cinematic Trailers for Games Part I - Transformers : The Game, Halo Wars, Warhammer 40,000 : Dawn of War

Yes, I know that I’ve written about the fabulous concepts for Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning last year The monthly email newsletter for Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning is always chockful of new hi-res concepts and artwork for the game and last month’s edition was no exception. Yes, I know August’s newsletter is out but I don’t check my email that regularly

I sometimes find it hard to believe that Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning is an officially Games Workshop-licensed game since the amount of freely downloadable high resolution concepts and artworks is a huge difference from the usual Games Workshop practice of doling out small selections of their fantastic artworks over at their official websites. But then, I’m not complaining

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

The July edition also comes with not one but two brand-new artworks (probably brand new to me because I haven’t checked out the official website for quite a while ), the first one featuring a magnificently armoured Tzeentech Chosen against a Warrior Priest of Sigmar (who else!) and the second between a Dark Elf Witch and a High Elf White Lion. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a spendidly armoured elf and I like

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

And here’s the official packaging art illustrated by Dan Bader - I’m surprised that they didn’t pick one of the longtime Games Workshop artists for the cover but Dan’s work is fantastic nonetheless.

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

As for the concepts, it’s great to see new pieces by Adrian Smith, in creating some hideously mutated heretics of Grandfather Nurgle. I’m not really sure whether the Apothecary above can be trusted to heal anyone judging from his afflictions and gifts from Nurgle

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

A Nurgle zealot, also illustrated by Adrian Smith.

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

Yet another Adrian Smith concept, this time of a Dwarf slayer. Apparently the name of this crazed fellow is Garagrim Ironfist from the filename of this image.

© Mythic Entertainment / Games Workshop

This edition of the newsletter also provides a glimpse at some of the Dark Elf NPCs. The Dark Elf townsfolk like this merchant look just as cold and treacherous as their warrior kin.

Download the Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning concepts and commissioned artworks. If you’re a fan of the imagery of the Warhammer universe, I highly recommend that you subscribe to their email newsletter - it’s really a convenient way to check out all the latest concepts, artwork and wallpapers released over the past month compiled together with a selection of some seriously good fanart.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (I) - Adrian Smith
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VI) - Kevin Chin (King Mong)
Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer vs Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn
Keith Thompson - Illustrator
Warhammer : Mark of Chaos - Battle March Wallpapers

The Warhammer 40,000 enthusiasts who run the WH40K blog Bell of Lost Souls have outdone themselves again with the release of their unofficial campaign book Macharian Crusade detailing the ambitious campaign of conquest of over 2000 worlds by the Imperial Guard’s Lord Commander Solar Macharius in the 41st millenium.

© Bell of Lost Souls

While their previous fan offerings like the Age of Heresy rulebook were catered more for players of the 41st millenium tabletop game, Macharian Crusade includes some interesting background fluff on Macharius and his seven year campaign undertaken at the head of six Imperial Guard army groups (an army group is listed in Wikipedia to comprise 400,000 to 1.5 million troops) in the Segmentum Pacificus.

© Bell of Lost Souls

© Bell of Lost Souls

Maps detailing the progress of the Macharian Crusade together with photos of some excellently painted miniatures are generously interpersed within the 136 pages. Coupled with the professionally-done format and layout (almost looks like a Games Workshop production!) makes it a must-download for any WH40K fan (even for those who don’t play the game.

© Bell of Lost Souls

On a related note, here’s some additional Game Workshop links on Lord Solar - a Games Workshop character sheet for Lord Macharius from the old Games Workshop UK site and photos of the resin Macharius Heavy Tank model armed with two battle cannon and sculpted by from the masters at Forgeworld. The (paper-only) Forgeworld 2008 catalogue also lists Vanquisher and Vulcan variants alternatively equipped with two anti-tank Vanquisher cannons or a single anti-infantry Vulcan mega-bolter respectively in place of the battlecannons.

© Forgeworld

Download the Macharian Crusade campaign book from Bell of Lost Souls.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Dr Badman’s Cute Warhammer 40,000 Avatars
Space Marine Primarch Galore at Games Day Chicago 2007 Golden Demon
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (III) - Karl Kopinski

A wallpaper of the command squad of the Ultramarines 4th Company from the Sony PSP/Nintendo DS Warhammer 40,000 tactical game Squad Command developed by Finnish developers RedLynx.

The heavily adorned armour of the central Space Marine probably indicates that he’s a Space Marine Commander - could he be the legendary captain of the 4th company Uriel Ventris?

Anyway I believe that the shoulder trim for the 4th company should be green instead of gold. Then again, who really cares when these Space Marines look so cool?

© THQ / Games Workshop

I’m still trying to identify the artist who did this amazingly detailed piece - might be Alex Boyd or Karl Kopinski but I’m might be wrong

Tried running the PSP demo for this game on some of the WIP PSP emulators PSP Player, PSPE and Potemkin but couldn’t get it working guess I have to add a PSP to my Christmas wishlist this year

© THQ / Games Workshop

The third wallpaper shows a derelict fortress wall (top) which is strangely similiar to the besieged fortress (bottom) on the cover of Horus Rising illlustrated by Neil Roberts. Pure concidence?

© THQ / Games Workshop

Download the wallpapers, check out the concept art (above) and view the official trailer @ YouTube.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - Kevin Chin (King Mong)
BrikWars - War with Mini-Figs!
Chaos Space Marines Wallpapers + Japanese Codex Download
Games Day Chicago 2007 Golden Demon
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - John Gravato
Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator - Andrea Uderzo
Warhammer 40,000 Vehicles in Lego

Found Frank Frazetta’s (a fantasy artist whose uhm, fantastic work I recently got acquainted with over at The Lair of the Evil DM) marvellous painting of the Death Dealer, an armoured horseman with ominous fiery-red eyes (see below) purely by chance quite a while back. This particular painting from 1973 happens to have an article in Wikipedia which is quite a feat for any piece of fantasy art.

© Frank Frazetta

After seeing this particular artwork, I think I now know where the hulking armoured champions of Chaos in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy Battles might have been inspired by. As a sidenote, Warhammer Fantasy first came about some ten years after Death Dealer in 1983, this year 2008 being its 25th anniversary.

Here I present Adrian Smith’s depiction of Karrig Sturn, Despoiler of Tzeskagrad from the Warhammer : Hordes of Chaos page @ Games Workshop UK (more artworks) as a comparision. I would love to see a coloured version of this piece

© Games Workshop

While there are definitely many similarities between the two artworks, I list below the most significant ones.

• Both the Death Dealer and Karrig Sturn have sturdy warhorses (although the hind legs of Karrig’s mount seems to be buckling due to the combined weight of both its master and its own armour) in almost similiar poses with bowed heads and gaping mouths
• Both warriors are wielding vicious axes singlehandedly with their swords still in their scabbards. They also seem to be staring straight at the viewer but the Death Dealer seems more menacing due to his glowing red eyes.

View Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer (Google Images) and Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn in their original resolutions.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Adrian Smith - Illustrator
Andrea Uderzo - Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator
Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning Illustrations & Concept Art
Warhammer : Mark of Chaos - The Collected Concept Art
Warrior Knight Wallpapers