The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Behold Alien Assault, a recently released freeware offering by Swedish development team TearDown, the rules of which will be instantly recognizable to players of Games Workshop’s Space Hulk.

Your team of soldiers in their green S.P.A.R.T.A.N battlesuits will take the fight to vicious aliens lurking behind heavy steel doors and prowling along dark claustrophobic corridors. But not to worry, a very intuitive mouse-driven interface and a comprehensive tutorial campaign makes learning the ropes of Alien Assault a breeze even if you’re no Space Hulk veteran.

Unfortunately, the close quarters combat in Alien Assault is brutally unforgiving and your troops rarely survive once those pesky aliens get to servo-gauntlet’s range to use their sharp claws Positioning your soldiers in areas with clear fields of fire, mutual support between soldiers (the standard issue Thunderbolt assault carbine can be frustratingly inaccurate at times) and the proper use of overwatch mode will hopefully retain enough survivors in your team to enable you to complete the mission objectives.

Uh-oh. Blips = BAD!

Sound effects are suitably atmospheric – from the crunch of your soldiers’ heavy armoured boots to the growl of hungry aliens attempting to tear your team into bite-sized pieces. I haven’t really got much other information to offer about Alien Assault apart from the rather obvious stuff stated above since I’ve been constantly sending soldiers to become alien snacks in Mission 7 : Onslaught

Don’t get too attached to your soldiers – the lifespan of each soldier is violently short

Download Alien Assault.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Aliens – The Board Game (Flash Version)
The Art of Space Hulk
C-Dogs SDL – Tactical Action Game
DoomRL Revisited
Explore 3000 Rooms & Kill 10000+ Monsters in Meritous

© Fantasy Flight Games

A brand new board game from Fantasy Flight Games based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy universe, Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World pits four players against each other in a quest to corrupt, control and destroy the nine major regions of the Old World as one of the four Ruinous Powers of Chaos.

© Fantasy Flight Games

While it isn’t practical for me to buy this board games since it’s rather hard for me to find another three disciples of Chaos to play the game, the plastic figures designed by Michael Jaecks to depict both human and daemonic followers of Chaos are a constant temptation to order Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World as an (expensive) collectible

© Fantasy Flight Games

Coloured in blood red for Khorne, diseased green for Nurgle, eldritch blue for Tzeentch and decadent purple for Slaanesh, these plastic figures are just part of the beautifully crafted game – just check out the game board which was intentionally designed to resemble a map of Old World stitched together from pieces of skin flayed from some very unfortunate humans.

© Fantasy Flight Games

© Games Workshop

Interestingly, the banner a the official site uses the cover art from the Warhammer 40,000 : Chaos Daemons Codex instead of the Warhammer : Daemons of Chaos Army Book.

The other recently released board game by Games Workshop, Space Hulk, didn’t hold the same attraction for me despite the lovingly-detailed miniatures – Space Hulk loses much of its immersion and appeal when playing with unpainted or badly-painted miniatures

Download the rulebook for a peek at the game mechanics or watch the introductory trailer for the game at the official Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World website.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Rogue Trader – Forsaken Bounty (Free Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay Adventure)
More Warhammer Online – Age of Reckoning Artworks & Concepts
Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer vs Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn
Mark of Chaos – The Collected Concept Art
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (IV) – Andrea Uderzo

Everytime when Games Workshop (or one of its licensees like Fantasy Flight Games or THQ) puts out a new edition / expansion or even a totally brand new game, there’s always bound to be a glorious selection of artwork for the eyes to feast upon. The recent re-release of Space Hulk is no exception despite the fact that it is no new game – the first edition came out 20 years ago in 1989. Nonetheless, it’s bloody nice of Game Workshop to commission fresh new artwork by the likes of Adrian Smith (yum!), Alex Boyd, Dave Gallagher and Paul Dainton specially for this third edition of Space Hulk which is up on the Games Workshop website for your viewing pleasure

Since my favourite artist when it comes to Games Workshop is none other than the mighty Adrian Smith, no prizes for guessing which piece I prefer the most

© Games Workshop

Above is the box art featuring three Terminators from the Blood Angels Space Marines Chapter purging a space hulk of Genestealers with stormbolter, power sword and thunder hammer. The trio aren’t just any random Space Marine Terminators though – they’re artistic impressions of three actual Terminator miniatures from the Space Hulk boxed set.

© Games Workshop

From left : Brother Goriel with Stormbolter and a Genestealer trophy in the other hand, Sergeant Lorenzo with power sword – the Blood Angel’s most experienced 1st Company Sergeant and Sergeant Gideon with thunder hammer and storm shield. Click the links to see 360° views of the miniatures as painted by Games Workshop’s in-house ‘Eavy Metal team.

© Games Workshop

Alex Boyd’s artwork graces the cover of the Rulebook and Mission Book.

© Games Workshop

Being a rather recent convert to the wartorn Warhammer 40,000 universe, I find those old-school Space Marine Terminators in the last two artworks a bit weird – I can almost imagine the agony of the Space Marine being hunched up in one of those uncomfortable-looking Tactical Dreadnought suits while fighting against vicious Genestealers – see the Deathwing Terminators on the far left of the piece above by Christopher Baker.

While you’re there enjoying the artwork, don’t forget to click the tiny green Next button to grab two awesome Space Hulk wallpapers. Naturally, I prefer the one featuring the three Blood Angels Terminator heroes – I never ever pass up a opportunity to collect the artwork of Adrian Smith

Check out Art of Space Hulk and the Space Hulk wallpapers.

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Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (I) – Adrian Smith
Warhammer 40,000 Wallpapers from Firebase Magazine
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VI) – Kevin Chin (King Mong)
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (IV) – Andrea Uderzo
Lord Solar Macharius & The Macharian Crusade

Recently learnt of Adam aka Darkseer’s blog Warhammer Tau where the former editor of WarSeer’s unofficial Warhammer 40,000 magazine FIREBASE now shares his experiences building, painting and gaming with his Tau army (on the tabletop, not in computer games ). Without FIREBASE, I would never have encountered the marvellous Warhammer 40,000 fanart by the likes of Tim Divar and Nacho Fernandez

While the battle reports and tactica don’t really interest me that much since I don’t play the tabletop game, I do enjoy Adam’s painting guides (check out his beautifully painted Firewarrior below or the actual painting guide) and the occassional post on Warhammer 40,000 imagery and Golden Demon showcases since I’m an avid collector of Warhammer 40,000 art (and to a certain extent, miniature photos).

It’s incredibly hard to find websites and blogs that discuss about the awesome artwork which gives Warhammer 40,000 its distinctive flavour, much less Tau art (considering that Games Workshop devoted a measly 9 pages to the Tau in the 256 pages Art of Warhammer 40,000) which makes Warhammer Tau a worthy addition to my bookmarks and RSS reader

Check out Warhammer Tau or head straight to some of my favourite posts – on Adam’s influences that made him choose Tau, Tau fanart, Art of Tau vs Tyranids from Apocalpyse,
a Tau Firewarrior painting guide, a crashing Tau Piranha from Golden Demon Baltimore 2009 and a set of 6 battle reports with comprehensive tactical analysis from 40K Carnage 2009.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VII) – Nacho Fernandez (nachomon)
Warhammer 40,000 Wallpapers from Firebase Magazine
Games Day Chicago 2007 Golden Demon
Dr Badman’s Cute Warhammer 40,000 Avatars
Dark Crusade Wallpapers @ Relic Forums

Rogue Trader is a new Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay series (essentially a pen & paper RPG) published by Fantasy Flight Games, where you play as a titluar rogue trader – a swashbuckling spacefaring explorer/merchant of the 41st millenium or as one of the specialist crew members that accompany these courageous individuals on their journeys into the unknown searching for undiscovered worlds, lost civilizations and loot in the form of ancient relics or alien xenotechnology.

© Fantasy Flight Games

Cover art by Sacha Diener

© Fantasy Flight Games

The game probably can be played solitaire but the best experience should be with 3 or 4 friends – five characters including Rogue Trader Sarvus Trask (below) are detailed in the sample adventure Forsaken Bounty which you can download as a glossy high resolution PDF for free at Fantasy Flight Games.

© Fantasy Flight Games

Arch-Militant Lorayne Thornhallow. A lovely lass who reminds me of Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of The Carribean movies

No time for pen & paper RPGs? Maybe these delightful wallpapers or the preview pages about the Explorator career path from the upcoming Core Rulebook may interest you then

© Fantasy Flight Games

If inquisitorial scenarios are your cup of tea, try the demo adventure Shattered Hoper for the Warhammer 40,000 : Dark Heresy series instead (also published by Fantasy Flight Games).

While I don’t have the patience or time to try out these Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay adventures, I do hope that Games Workshop will eventually turn some of these series into tactical turn-based computer games – I still have very fond memories of SSI’s Warhammer 40,000 : Chaos Gate, an X-COMish squad-based game where a company of Ultramarines square off against the hated Chaos Space Marines from the Word Bearers.

Download Rogue Trader : Forsaken Bounty and other assorted goodies from the official Fantasy Flight Games website. Credits go to Warhammer 40,000 blog Bell of Lost Souls for the info on this game.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Warhammmer 40,000 : Dark Heresy Pen & Paper RPG
Warhammer 40,000 Wallpapers from Firebase Magazine
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (IV) – Andrea Uderzo
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VI) – Kevin Chin (King Mong)
Urban War Wallpapers