The update is a day late but here we are – hoping this isn’t just an April’s Fools joke.

And.., uhm.., it’s Holy Lands themed?

I can’t say I expected the Holy Lands to make such a sudden yet strong return to the game – mostly with collectible minis – but we did get at least also some good news in regards to Screaming God.
CoD was also mentioned, but your mileage will vary greatly in that regard.

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Of course, the biggest thing needs to be mentioned first: the Screaming God! It has officially arrived at ports world-wide and is currently in the process of getting sent out to the warehouses and prepped for delivery. Considering the Easter weekend is right around the corner, I would suspect the first e-mails asking for shipping to be payed to be sent out next week or the one after.
For us non-US-folks, Adam has hinted in the KS update that Preacher would also soon be (finally) available from localized hubs, possibly alongside Screaming God.

In regards to CoD – we are propperly back in the dark on that one. Getting it in 2026 wasn’t really feasible to begin with, in my opinion, so I can’t say I am all that surprised.
To keep it short and concise: it will be done when it’s done, and Adam believes it needs to be done right.

However, in turn, the First Hero has been moved up in the timeline to potentially release earlier than anticipated; as a part of the Revamped Wave 2 even. Though I would not get my hopes up about it releasing anytime “soon” all that quickly though, considering we have heard next to nothing about it right up until now.
Should this be the first time you are hearing about this expansion at all, it is meant as a sort of stepping stone for experienced players to start campaigns beyond LY0. It is meant to give you the chance to start a campaign in LY12 or 20 (I believe), essentially skipping the early game, by having you face off against a special hero-survivor-boss in a Vignette-style encounter and if you manage to defeat them, you take over the settlement as its new leader(s) with all the consequences that might carry.
So far, 1 Gencon-demo of the fight can be viewed on Youtube (thanks to Bra Mithra) and that is almost everything we know about it at this point.
Going by the KS update – supposedly it is going to be a Core monster.

For what its worth, I do believe we are going to see the Titan Bee and Honeycomb Weaver, as well as Dead Armor boxes first and afterwards the First Hero might come sliding into view, which, honestly, I would also expect in 2027 at the earliest.

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As for the sale: Holy Lands means lions!
And oh, boy, did they add lions.

The Lion Champion was a part of the line-up of preview artwork shared in an earlier update this year and as far as collectible minis goes, it does not disappoint.
The competition is fierce however, not only have we been blessed with a Painters Scale of one of the earliest monster designs – the Mother – but also a group of Holy Priests (probably part of the “bloodbank” type of products), the Lion Knight Scholar with a beta-content for the Lion Knight-nemesis encounter (including a trait for the monster!); but also the first gorgeous Shadow Box.
This 3D-resin relief is the star of the show this time, no questions asked!
..
Oh, and I almost forgot about Forgot’s Bust. They seem to have put special care into getting the glasses on her this time!

As for gameplay releases, this month’s offering is another Pillar box! The Pillar – Forge Priest adds a new terrain to the game that will spawn 2 Ore Veins and a Forge Priest minion into a fight!
By the end of the day we also been blessed with spoilers on the discord revealing the monster’s statline – and it is a beast!
Without giving away too much, just know that it will be a far larger threat than any Lvl1 Quarry monster should you draw it during an early Lantern Year – with an equally high TGH value as well.

If you are new to the game, the Core game is also available once again – just know that you will have to give them some time to actually ship it to you!
I have seen a bunch of talk in the discord over the passing days from people paying shipping for their pre-orders and their items not moving for ages.
Whilst it may not be a sufficient excuse, I am sorry to say, but that is fairly normal here. Especially if you are in the EU. Try to find some solace in the fact that it will get to you, and that you do not need to worry about that, but it will usually take some time. That is unfortunately just the reality of it.
But, it is still a good idea to contact support after 14 days have elapsed.
From my personal experience, they will try to help you to the best of their ability and fix any issue you might be having.
To further add a layer of my own personal experience to this: it took a little over a full month for my Core game to be delivered to me (ordered early August 2023, received early September 2023).

And finally, for the Sim we have Candy & Cola. All currently released Wanderers seem to be making their way to the sim one by one.

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Well, this isn’t what I expected at all from this month’s sale/update.
Holy Lands? Official CoD-delay?
And I do have to admit that I got lost in the hype a little as well, as I fully expected to be paying Screaming Goat shipping today. But alas.., what is one or two more weeks at this point?

For the time being, I will definitely be picking up the Forge Priest as a treat and then continue waiting for the Goat.

As always, thank you very much for your time, happy April Fools day (I’m just glad that’s over),
Amathul