5 on Friday 10/01/25

It’s Friday, and here on No Rerolls that means it’s time for an all-new 5 on Friday. We’re going to start with 5 exciting releases for this week before moving on to our usual digest of some of our favourite articles from the past week. Of course, we’re slow readers, so don’t be surprised if there are some articles that are a little older – these are just some of the great articles we happen to have actually read in the past week.

Releases & Previews

Every week there are many games, books, and miniatures released. This will probably be a mix of previews, preorders, and releases, and with release dates being the way they are in this industry, it’s always pretty approximate. Excuses out of the way, here are 5 of the releases that caught our attention this week:

Games Workshop releases new Orruk Warclans battletome for Age of Sigmar – Destruction is the best grand alliance. That’s a given. Here comes the first destruction battletome of 4th edition Age of Sigmar:

I think I’ll be revisiting my Ironjawz, and maybe looking to finish my Kruleboyz. We’ll see! A new book is always an exciting time to refresh an existing army, innit?

Affiliate Links:

Element Games
Wayland Games

Ganza Gaming releases Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG – Honestly, the name and cover drew me to this one. I was drawn in by the mystery of this flesh pit:

Ancient, unknowable horror beneath a national park? Oh, yes! Based on the well-established Cypher system, this game looks like some good, horror-based fun.

Affiliate Links:

DriveThruRPG

Mantic Games is taking preorders for their Worms board game – Worms was a big game for me, growing up. I started with the original game, on PC, SNES, and PS1. Worms 2 was probably peak worms for me, and the PC version had insane levels of customisation options. Worms Armageddon was also pretty excellent. I’ve been away from the franchise for some time, but was interested to see this come up for preorder from Mantic:

I need to properly look into the game and see if it’s for me. The franchise is certainly one that still appeals to me, but we’ve all seen terrible cash-grab games in the past. I have high hopes that Mantic will be faithful and really push for a solid game, though. One to watch, I reckon.

Affiliate Links:

Element Games
Wayland Games

Catilus releases 5E-compatible supplement, Periodic Table of Elementals – This feels fun! A whole supplement of elemental creatures based on the periodic table? Count me in!

I love that this feels really well thought-through. It’s got the statblocks and some beautiful art, but it also has facts about the real-life elements. That’s really cool! I like the idea of this. I like it a lot.

Affiliate Links:

DriveThruRPG

Games Workshop releases Commanders of the Empire set for The Old World – I remember when this little set first came out for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I really liked it and it’s cool to see it returning for The Old World:

With a mounted hero, a foot hero, and a ton of options, I really loved this set. I like that in addition to the weapon options, you can also build a battle standard bearer. I notice that this time around the good folks at Games Workshop have gone for a more Middenheim vibe with the pictures models, as opposed to the more Altdorf-themed miniatures that I believe were pictured on the original packaging.

Affiliate Links:

Element Games
Wayland Games

Blog Posts & Articles

The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:

Eclipse: Second Dawn – Painting #6 @ Dragons of Lancasm – Part of an ongoing series that I’ve been enjoying, this post features a blue fleet for Eclipse. They’re looking great! The completed set is going to be amazing.

Board Games: How I Found My New Obsession (and It’s Hilariously Addictive) @ Travel Odyssey – Welcome to the hobby! There are some fun games featured in this post. Codenames and Dixit are both fantastic games, and I also need to revisit Spyfall. I’ve not played that in forever, and it’s so much fun.

2024 in Books @ Wordaholic Anonymous – I really enjoy the reviews on this blog, and it’s actually a big part of what got me into reviewing books on here, too. There are a fair few titles in this post that are sitting on my to-read pile. I think the topmost of these in terms of “sure, I’ll get to it!”, is The Infinite and the Divine.

Turnip28 Chaff @ A Loft Full of Lead – I can’t believe I’ve still not started on Turnip28. I’ve been saying I would get into it for years now, and have backed the Patreon for a while, and both Kickstarters. Maybe this year? Who knows. All I know is that the minis in this post are really nice, and nicely painted.

Archon Studios Dungeons and Lasers: Woodhaven – Outhouse & Furniture @ Azazel’s Bitz Box – Oh, these are cute! I like Archon stuff, and have a couple of Dragons that I need to get painted. I like these furniture pieces, and they’re painted well. I really appreciate the distinction between the indoor and outdoor pieces, in terms of colour and weathering.

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There have been a lot of posts since my last 5 on Friday: