lord_blackfang wrote: Sigmarine with Lantern 2.0
Elf dual wielding boat anchors
Nighthaunt with scythe to defy racial stereotypes a little
Free Cities pistol expert
Bigass horse, looks Darkoath?
Overall I'm guessing the "realm shaking things on the way" is a big ol year of "book and 1 hero" releases.
most likely.
But, we are still "owed" Umbraneth or Malerions Aelves or whatever they end up being called, and Chaos Dwarves as things that are being heavily hinted but yet to arrive, and there are rumors of the big-ass Skaven refresh happening with the launch of AoS4 this summer, so we may get a little something more-more.
I REALLY hope GW are going to update the Marauders for Slaves to Darkness. It still utterly baffles me that they've given them almost a dozen themed war parties through Warcry - each one of which looks freaking awesome - and yet the basic Maruders are still there looking REALLY rubbishy
I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
Well i think most people assumed the basic marauder was extinct with all the various cultist types around now. But perhaps this is going to be a Darkoath specific version rather than just generic.
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lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
Yes, 4 range refreshes in almost one year certainly feels unsubstatial
Overread wrote: I REALLY hope GW are going to update the Marauders for Slaves to Darkness. It still utterly baffles me that they've given them almost a dozen themed war parties through Warcry - each one of which looks freaking awesome - and yet the basic Maruders are still there looking REALLY rubbishy
Frankly I’d bet on them getting punted over to TOW when Chaos Warriors come out like what’s just happened to Cities of Sigmar.
Overread wrote: I REALLY hope GW are going to update the Marauders for Slaves to Darkness. It still utterly baffles me that they've given them almost a dozen themed war parties through Warcry - each one of which looks freaking awesome - and yet the basic Maruders are still there looking REALLY rubbishy
Frankly I’d bet on them getting punted over to TOW when Chaos Warriors come out like what’s just happened to Cities of Sigmar.
Though not fully. We know there's units in both cos and tow. No reason marauders can't be same.
lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
I know what you mean and I think its simply because the game has a lot of factions that are "half" size or which are still in need of a massive range update.
I think it just shows how massive a hole AoS had in terms of army updates, esp when we honestly don't consider it a 5-7 year old game but a 35-40 year old game (because most of the armies are from Old World). Plus how many armies got broken down into tiny fragments of what they were before.
Take Death - the entire GA of Death is basically 1 single army from Old World broken into 4 parts. What was once one massive army is now fragmented into 4. Which means to bulk those up GW has to do 4X the work to get there. Now they've done really well - Nighthaunt and Soulblight feel very fleshed out; Flesheaters are getting some well needed attention now and Ossiarchs had a strong start, but I'd really love to see them get a nice chunky update. Perhaps a point and stat reduction to allow for a chunky update otherwise they'd run the risk of being an elite army that can't take many of their toys to the table.
My feeling is that Marauders (and Marauder Horsemen) get the Empire treatment ala Cities of Sigmar and get cut from the Slaves to Darkness battletom in AoS4. They will stick with the warcry cults as an alternative to marauders, and let proper marauders become a TOW thing.
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lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
Right? I'm the same way with it lol. I think its in part because theres still a lot of old WHFB models present, but also a lot of the early AoS releases were very WHFB adjacent (and could well have been WHFB sculpts that were released for a different game). Fyreslayers for example might as well be WHFB dwarf slayers, but barring a couple of the sculpts were all released in the AoS era. Many of the new Seraphon sculpts are for thing thats had rules in the WHFB era, likewise like 2/3rds of the Gloomspite gitz units are old WHFB units, half of which have had AoS resculpts, the other half are still old WHFB minis. Flesh Eater Courts are an outlier, as the majority of the minis to date are legacy WHFB sculpts, and the new wave thats coming out are all new units that never existed in WHFB with only one actual resculpt (Varghulf) of an hold WHFB mini.
lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
I know what you mean and I think its simply because the game has a lot of factions that are "half" size or which are still in need of a massive range update.
I think it just shows how massive a hole AoS had in terms of army updates, esp when we honestly don't consider it a 5-7 year old game but a 35-40 year old game (because most of the armies are from Old World). Plus how many armies got broken down into tiny fragments of what they were before.
Take Death - the entire GA of Death is basically 1 single army from Old World broken into 4 parts. What was once one massive army is now fragmented into 4. Which means to bulk those up GW has to do 4X the work to get there. Now they've done really well - Nighthaunt and Soulblight feel very fleshed out; Flesheaters are getting some well needed attention now and Ossiarchs had a strong start, but I'd really love to see them get a nice chunky update. Perhaps a point and stat reduction to allow for a chunky update otherwise they'd run the risk of being an elite army that can't take many of their toys to the table.
Thats true of Soulblight Gravelords, Nighthaunt, and Flesh-Eater Courts... but Ossiarch Bonereapers? They are one of a handful of born and bred AoS factions and weren't spun off of VC at all. They are more a replacement for Tomb Kings than anything to do with the old VC army. Yes, they have skeleton warriors, but of a pretty distinct and different flavor from the actual VC skeleton analogue within Soulblight.
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Inquisitor Gideon wrote: I could see new ones being Darkoath specific in style and then the old being kicked over.
...you mean... Darkoath Savagers? They already exist.
Thats true of Soulblight Gravelords, Nighthaunt, and Flesh-Eater Courts... but Ossiarch Bonereapers? They are one of a handful of born and bred AoS factions and weren't spun off of VC at all. They are more a replacement for Tomb Kings than anything to do with the old VC army. Yes, they have skeleton warriors, but of a pretty distinct and different flavor from the actual VC skeleton analogue within Soulblight.
Yes and no. The concept of them is AoS, but the designs for them are from Old World End Times. Morghasts and Mortarchs basically established the core idea of skeletons built of skeletons and bone constructs as a structure for the army design. From the style of those two models came the Ossiarchs. Almost exactly the same way the Nighthaunt were a few ghost models in the Vampire army and are now their own thing (heck if anything the fact that a few ghost units remain in Soulblight is a bit odd looking when they don't have ghost units anywhere else now).
Ossiarchs were also very new because GW didn't really tease them at all pre-launch. Which I think honestly was part of what hampered their early popularity. Lumineth are well known and teased lore wise; we have loads of little teases for the Shadow Aelves too. However Ossiarchs kind of appeared as "They've always been there but no one noticed until now they are here" kind of thing. They popped up very suddenly and I think the only lore teasing was in the side game. Even then it wasn't really hinting at a whole new army as such until things got into the pre-release phase.
I still hold out that they just need another chunky release like Lumineth got to really flesh out the concept of the Ossiarchs even more. The fact that they keep appearing as Christmas and discount bundle sets suggests to me that they must be selling well enough for GW to do that.
chaos0xomega wrote: My feeling is that Marauders (and Marauder Horsemen) get the Empire treatment ala Cities of Sigmar and get cut from the Slaves to Darkness battletom in AoS4. They will stick with the warcry cults as an alternative to marauders, and let proper marauders become a TOW thing.
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lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
Right? I'm the same way with it lol. I think its in part because theres still a lot of old WHFB models present, but also a lot of the early AoS releases were very WHFB adjacent (and could well have been WHFB sculpts that were released for a different game). Fyreslayers for example might as well be WHFB dwarf slayers, but barring a couple of the sculpts were all released in the AoS era. Many of the new Seraphon sculpts are for thing thats had rules in the WHFB era, likewise like 2/3rds of the Gloomspite gitz units are old WHFB units, half of which have had AoS resculpts, the other half are still old WHFB minis. Flesh Eater Courts are an outlier, as the majority of the minis to date are legacy WHFB sculpts, and the new wave thats coming out are all new units that never existed in WHFB with only one actual resculpt (Varghulf) of an hold WHFB mini.
lord_blackfang wrote: I don't know what it is between AoS and me, I keep feeling like it's not getting any substantial releases while I unpack my boxes of full Seraphon range overhaul, modernized Night Goblins, new Flesh-eaters etc.
I know what you mean and I think its simply because the game has a lot of factions that are "half" size or which are still in need of a massive range update.
I think it just shows how massive a hole AoS had in terms of army updates, esp when we honestly don't consider it a 5-7 year old game but a 35-40 year old game (because most of the armies are from Old World). Plus how many armies got broken down into tiny fragments of what they were before.
Take Death - the entire GA of Death is basically 1 single army from Old World broken into 4 parts. What was once one massive army is now fragmented into 4. Which means to bulk those up GW has to do 4X the work to get there. Now they've done really well - Nighthaunt and Soulblight feel very fleshed out; Flesheaters are getting some well needed attention now and Ossiarchs had a strong start, but I'd really love to see them get a nice chunky update. Perhaps a point and stat reduction to allow for a chunky update otherwise they'd run the risk of being an elite army that can't take many of their toys to the table.
Thats true of Soulblight Gravelords, Nighthaunt, and Flesh-Eater Courts... but Ossiarch Bonereapers? They are one of a handful of born and bred AoS factions and weren't spun off of VC at all. They are more a replacement for Tomb Kings than anything to do with the old VC army. Yes, they have skeleton warriors, but of a pretty distinct and different flavor from the actual VC skeleton analogue within Soulblight.
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Inquisitor Gideon wrote: I could see new ones being Darkoath specific in style and then the old being kicked over.
...you mean... Darkoath Savagers? They already exist.
As a proper full on kit, not a Warcry specific one.
Thats true of Soulblight Gravelords, Nighthaunt, and Flesh-Eater Courts... but Ossiarch Bonereapers? They are one of a handful of born and bred AoS factions and weren't spun off of VC at all. They are more a replacement for Tomb Kings than anything to do with the old VC army. Yes, they have skeleton warriors, but of a pretty distinct and different flavor from the actual VC skeleton analogue within Soulblight.
Yes and no. The concept of them is AoS, but the designs for them are from Old World End Times. Morghasts and Mortarchs basically established the core idea of skeletons built of skeletons and bone constructs as a structure for the army design. From the style of those two models came the Ossiarchs. Almost exactly the same way the Nighthaunt were a few ghost models in the Vampire army and are now their own thing (heck if anything the fact that a few ghost units remain in Soulblight is a bit odd looking when they don't have ghost units anywhere else now).
Ossiarchs were also very new because GW didn't really tease them at all pre-launch. Which I think honestly was part of what hampered their early popularity. Lumineth are well known and teased lore wise; we have loads of little teases for the Shadow Aelves too. However Ossiarchs kind of appeared as "They've always been there but no one noticed until now they are here" kind of thing. They popped up very suddenly and I think the only lore teasing was in the side game. Even then it wasn't really hinting at a whole new army as such until things got into the pre-release phase.
I still hold out that they just need another chunky release like Lumineth got to really flesh out the concept of the Ossiarchs even more. The fact that they keep appearing as Christmas and discount bundle sets suggests to me that they must be selling well enough for GW to do that.
I think you have to go with the idea that anything designed for the end times was properly designed for AoS and just had a brief stint on squares.
That would be my take (Mortachs and Nagash designed for AoS, made a stint in WHFB to bridge the gap). Also, its my recollection that they weren't really "Vampire Count" units in The End Times, were they? They were generic "Death" units that IIRC worked for both VC and Tomb Kings as part of the combined mish-mash grand army thing they were doing at the time with the various factions.
Going back to Darkoath Savagers - I dont really see what the distinction between "a proper full on kit" and a "Warcry specific one" are. They have rules in the Slaves to Darkness battletome, which is really the only thing that matters. Its no different from Death Korps of Krieg in 40k, would you say they aren't a proper unit or whatever because they don't have a proper full on kit because they are sold in Kill Team branded packaging? Because I wouldn't.
A regular infantry kit would be just infantry; a leader model and possibly optional parts for banner/icon/musician leaders.
Meanwhile Warcry kits might feature less "troops" and fewer generic and more specific; with an increase in the number of models that can be totally unique.
Granted when they get StD stats they are simplified a lot, but there is a distinct difference.
It can make them a bit more messy on the wargame side of things; even if it might just be one extra attack or health point here and there. They are still a bit more complex than a standard troop block.
I think thats splitting hairs personally. I would be surprised if GW releases a generic "Darkoath marauders" kit that would otherwise be so conceptually similar to the savagers in appearance and function.
GaroRobe wrote: So are we thinking the boot from the Christmas rumor engine is dark oath too?
Also do we need Callis and Toll? We have so many named witch hunters but no generic versions
With Hexbane's Hunters being part of "Order of Azyr" for Warcry, I'm really hoping we at least get a Warcry box with a generic Witch Hunter as the leader and various henchmen this year.
GaroRobe wrote: So are we thinking the boot from the Christmas rumor engine is dark oath too?
Also do we need Callis and Toll? We have so many named witch hunters but no generic versions
With Hexbane's Hunters being part of "Order of Azyr" for Warcry, I'm really hoping we at least get a Warcry box with a generic Witch Hunter as the leader and various henchmen this year.
I'm hoping we never, ever get that.
Inquisitors having generic options is annoying enough. We don't need that crap in AoS. Let the Order of Azyr be a League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk.
Why? There are easily thousands of Inquisitors, and probably as many witch hunters.
It’s not like they’re god-tier heroes or are so insanely rare or so powerful that they would almost never appear on the tabletop. It’s no different than having generic HQ options. People like to convert up their own stuff instead of relying on named characters who probably have a harder time justifying their inclusion into a tabletop list
GaroRobe wrote: So are we thinking the boot from the Christmas rumor engine is dark oath too?
Also do we need Callis and Toll? We have so many named witch hunters but no generic versions
With Hexbane's Hunters being part of "Order of Azyr" for Warcry, I'm really hoping we at least get a Warcry box with a generic Witch Hunter as the leader and various henchmen this year.
I'm hoping we never, ever get that.
Inquisitors having generic options is annoying enough. We don't need that crap in AoS. Let the Order of Azyr be a League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk.
Ah yes. Couple inquisitors are obviously cloned in their thousands to fill up the thousands roaming Sigmar's realms
Ah yes. Couple inquisitors are obviously cloned in their thousands to fill up the thousands roaming Sigmar's realms
Right, because a "Build Your Own Inquisitor/Order of Azyr Agent" setup won't end up being netlisted at all...
Yes, the perfect reason to eliminate options for the player.
lol, what options?
There's 3 "main" groups of the Order of Azyr: -Stakesmen, nullstone specialists in anti-magic. -Pyremen, traitor-hunters -Maskbreakers, the rarest of all and specialists in hunting shapeshifters.
There's literally ONE of those groups that is relevant to the lore and game in the form of Stakesmen. The others are effectively RP fodder.
Now, if you want to argue that Order of Azyr should have a unit of "spellhunters"(a thing mentioned that Stakesmen lead)? Cool, I'm game.
But no generics, no full subfaction. It would just be making the Sigperium Sigquisition.
Steering away from this line of conversation somewhat, i wonder what the second video will be? Tomb kings obviously for the old world second, but i'm curious what it'll be for AoS.
The Nulahmian is coming with that book. We know there's Regiments of Renown for the Mortarchs. Callis and Toll likely are coming as part of it as well.
I think that would probably be for book 5 more. We've already seen 4 with Ushoran and probably the FEC's full release along with it. I could well be wrong, but i think 4 is going to be FEC dominated along with snake vamp.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: I think that would probably be for book 5 more. We've already seen 4 with Ushoran and probably the FEC's full release along with it. I could well be wrong, but i think 4 is going to be FEC dominated along with snake vamp.
Rules for the Fang of Nulahmia will be available as a free download on Warhammer Community. You’ll also find her in Dawnbringers: Book IV – The Mad King Rises, alongside an Army of Renown specifically designed for cabals of vampiric agents (and their beloved pets).
The Mad King Rises also contains plenty more for Death armies, including six Regiments of Renown – one for each Mortarch! Check back in the new year for more coverage.
They won't be counting the FEC release as part of the book, just like Cities of Sigmar wasn't counted as part of the other Dawnbringer books.
Ah yes. Couple inquisitors are obviously cloned in their thousands to fill up the thousands roaming Sigmar's realms
Right, because a "Build Your Own Inquisitor/Order of Azyr Agent" setup won't end up being netlisted at all...
Yes, the perfect reason to eliminate options for the player.
lol, what options?
There's 3 "main" groups of the Order of Azyr:
-Stakesmen, nullstone specialists in anti-magic.
-Pyremen, traitor-hunters
-Maskbreakers, the rarest of all and specialists in hunting shapeshifters.
There's literally ONE of those groups that is relevant to the lore and game in the form of Stakesmen. The others are effectively RP fodder.
Now, if you want to argue that Order of Azyr should have a unit of "spellhunters"(a thing mentioned that Stakesmen lead)? Cool, I'm game.
But no generics, no full subfaction. It would just be making the Sigperium Sigquisition.
You can let different games be different.
It's almost like those groups are are tailor made for a small scenario driven skirmish game........like a Warcry band? Warcry bands get AoS rules. That's just the way it is.
I don't really see what your deal with having a generic Witch Hunter is.......they existed in Fantasy in droves, they exist in 40k in droves.....and I'm sure they exist in droves in the AOS world. Heck, Hexbane's Hunters are pretty much just that.....generic Witch Hunters given names....they aren't really extraordinary in any way.
I don't doubt we will see generic Witch Hunters in the game in some form or another eventually, and I don't see why having an option you don't have to use is so upsetting.
Yes. But until (if at all) I see the model in bare plastic, I'm willing to believe that the sculpt is fine and it's just a victim of GW's love of extreme edge highlighting.
Where are you seeing them? I might have tired eyes after being up for NYE, but I don't see anything obvious.
Exceptionally slight one on the knee - and some very faint ones on the flat of the axe head in the lower small image on the right.
Though honestly outside of photos you might not even spot them to the naked eye and its been known for a long time that GW 3D prints masters for the painters to paint up for release in advance.
Edit: never mind, I just saw who the poster was. So skaven and chaos dwarves. Quite a chaos year.
Keep in mind this rumour is only really saying Chaos Dwarfs in AoS 4 not necessarily in 2024. The year of an edition launch also normally only has the two launch factions and some single model battletomes so I wouldn't expect anything big until early 2025 and wouldn't expect a new faction until mid/late 2025
Edit: never mind, I just saw who the poster was. So skaven and chaos dwarves. Quite a chaos year.
Keep in mind this rumour is only really saying Chaos Dwarfs in AoS 4 not necessarily in 2024. The year of an edition launch also normally only has the two launch factions and some single model battletomes so I wouldn't expect anything big until early 2025 and wouldn't expect a new faction until mid/late 2025
True enough. But the fact he's basically confirmed it would say to expect sooner rather than later.
Scottywan82 wrote: Neat! Not really an army that needs more heroes, but that does look like a nice one.
So it's an alt sculpt for an existing hero, one which can only be found as part of the $110 magmadroth kit currently -_-
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Geifer wrote: I'm interested to finally see what the AoS take on Chaos Dwarfs looks like, but yeah, probably still too far off to think about now.
I'm not sure, there is a decently large body of evidence for Chorfs being on their way for AoS. To the point where they have reached 'all but explicitly stated' status. The hints started back in the launch stream for 3rd so it seems they've had the time. We'll see I suppose!
Because not everyone has easy access to a store? Nor necessarily the time to get to one during the week they have it either? I've had to use the loot group for nearly every one i've wanted thus far.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: Considering Brokk Grungsson and his big ass hat, i don't think they'll shy away from them.
Yeah, that top hat came to mind. Of course we're talking about monkey's paw a lot lately when it comes to GW delivering, so hey, hopefully they don't want to preserve a single special character's status by making all the Chaos Dwarf hats smaller than they should be.
On the other hand, what better reason to turn evil than hat envy? I could see GW's designers coming up with that idea.
Geifer wrote: I'm interested to finally see what the AoS take on Chaos Dwarfs looks like, but yeah, probably still too far off to think about now.
I'm not sure, there is a decently large body of evidence for Chorfs being on their way for AoS. To the point where they have reached 'all but explicitly stated' status. The hints started back in the launch stream for 3rd so it seems they've had the time. We'll see I suppose!
I think of it much the same as Matrindur described above. Sure, we'll get to 2025 in time, but even then that's the most optimistic estimate and there's a lot of stuff in the meantime (and not just GW or wargaming in general) to spend brainpower on.
It's not likely, but not impossible. Both aren't traditional Chaos factions and Warcry started as a game with just Chaos warbands. Chaos Dwarfs vs Skaven fighting it out in the depth of a mountain hold could have some cool industrial terrain, too, as both armies have this vibe.
I think the edition starters are the only place stormcast are guaranteed to get a box lol, unlike space marines they don't always get holiday battleforces, etc.
Chorfs vs Skaven would be a great starter box for AoS, I think. Two cool looking, non-traditional armies of very different playstyle.
I think for most GW games, the poster boys are ‘human’ as a lot of players seem to identify with them. But there’s an element of them being pushed and being popular to that, of course.
However, Mr Whitefang has said it’s going to be Stormcast vs Skaven.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: But it's only a store anniversary, so it's not like most people are going to be able to get it anyway.
As a poster from the UK - assuming your flag is accurate - how the heck do you figure that?
Not every place has gw store?
Our country has whopping 1 place to get.
Guess do players from other cities head for that store
Gw stores are common in uk but in other countries non-gw stores more common.
My question was intended to refer to people in the UK, not outside of it - if you are based in the UK and want one, you should be able to get one, either directly or via the Loot Group.
If you're in the UK and you don't want to put any effort in to get a limited model you want, that's on you.
I've got to say a lot of the sculpts coming out of the AoS team right now feel very inspired. Like the staff are really getting into the setting, designs and freedom of creativity.
I say that even after the big Necron and Tyranid updates which added new original things and ideas (heck they even made the ugly duckling biovore into a good looking model). There's just something extra about the AoS line right now.
Old World might end up a touch like 40K for a time- a lot of new sculpts that present great polish and improvement over original/older designs and which utilize new skills and technology well; but might lack some of the flare. At least for those armies already established - Cathay and Nippon might well be shining beacons that bring some of that AoS magic into Old World for the design team
I don't know that AoS is a better game, I think from the previews I may like TOW more.... but AoS is certainly the best *product* that GW offers for sale.
Let's not have these snippy little arguments over which is the better game.
If you like updated models, regular releases of new sculpts, brand new concepts for armies and characters, as well as streamlined games that you can play in a couple of hours, play AoS.
If you want ancient models in a mix of metal, resin, and plastic with mold lines as thick as a fingernail where half of the factions with any imagination have been stripped from the line and future updates and rules that are a mix of crunch and USRs spread across multiple books as well as balance issues that were never made for any semblance of matched play, play Old World.
But hey, at least Old World has skeleton archers?
Anyway, I'm excited to see how GW makes Chaos Dwarves, considering the other kinds of dwarves in AoS are in such weird spots right now.
Anyway, I'm excited to see how GW makes Chaos Dwarves, considering the other kinds of dwarves in AoS are in such weird spots right now.
Ironically, the classic CD had even less units than Fyre Slayers to chose from.
I hope they dont go back to the classic style, I always hated them. Forge World made some pretty cool models though.
Anyway, I'm excited to see how GW makes Chaos Dwarves, considering the other kinds of dwarves in AoS are in such weird spots right now.
Ironically, the classic CD had even less units than Fyre Slayers to chose from.
I hope they dont go back to the classic style, I always hated them. Forge World made some pretty cool models though.
Agreed. I would like to see kits that lined up better with the Hellcannon crew too. Or the handful of Chaos Dwarfs in Warcry.
Not trying to start an argument, but classic CD had a lot more units and variety than the Fyreslayers currently have.
CDs in 4th/5th had two different monstrous mounts, there were three different dwarf units (five, counting artillery), four different hobgoblin units (five, counting artillery), they could also have units of black orcs, orcs and goblins.
Personally I'd like to see chaos dwarfs in AoS, and I'll play them if they look halfway decent.
drbored wrote: I think the Spearheads will sit alongside the Vanguard boxes.
Price will tell if they're actually a good value, but if they are 30% off like the vanguard boxes, then it's not a bad way to jumpstart.
The other big unknown is whether these boxes will be limited deals, like the various Regiments of Renown for Dawnbringers have been.
Gw has 1 discount box as line product. No reason to think these last. They are almost quaranteed to be one and done like boarding patrol for 40k last year.
End of edition quick product to release while waiting for new edition.
I'd never fully trust what the GW social media managers actually know, but they have just replied to a comment on Instagram to say "It's here to stay" when asked if Spearhead: Stormcast Eternals is a limited release or a new addition to the range.
So I'd half expect Spearheads to be a return to the Start Collecting style boxes, a smaller, (ideally) cheaper box than the Vanguard sets intended to be a more sticker-shock friendly starting point
Tim the Biovore wrote: I'd never fully trust what the GW social media managers actually know, but they have just replied to a comment on Instagram to say "It's here to stay" when asked if Spearhead: Stormcast Eternals is a limited release or a new addition to the range.
So I'd half expect Spearheads to be a return to the Start Collecting style boxes, a smaller, (ideally) cheaper box than the Vanguard sets intended to be a more sticker-shock friendly starting point
Btw that box has almost 200e worth of stuff. MORE than vanguard. Unless gw increases discount %(hah!) this hence costs more than vanguard. So not return to start collect style.
tneva82 wrote: Unless gw increases discount %(hah!) this hence costs more than vanguard. So not return to start collect style.
A man can dream.
Is the assumption Vanguard boxes are going the way of the dodo then? It's a bit weird they'd double dip on main range discount sets, even if Spearheads are slightly differentiated with a Warscroll Battalion for the contents (I'd thought Vanguards still had those? Shows how much attention I've been paying)
tneva82 wrote: Unless gw increases discount %(hah!) this hence costs more than vanguard. So not return to start collect style.
A man can dream.
Is the assumption Vanguard boxes are going the way of the dodo then? It's a bit weird they'd double dip on main range discount sets, even if Spearheads are slightly differentiated with a Warscroll Battalion for the contents (I'd thought Vanguards still had those? Shows how much attention I've been paying)
Either vanguard goes away replaced by these more expensive ones or these are end of edition limited print run discount boxes.
(vanguards don't btw have warscroll battalions anymore)
Either way there won't be 2 stock discount boxes for 1 army. One is going away.
came here to post it. Loved the story and the exposition on the relationship between the various characters and factions, etc.
The AoS writers really hit it out of the park with the FEC narrative. What seems to have started as a joke has become easily the most compelling storyline and background material not just in AoS but warhammer as a broader whole. Its really a shame that there isn't a FEC novel series, as it strikes me as the kind of thing that could potentially appeal to broader fantasy audiences in general.
Agreed with both of you. Very good read, and FEC novel would be really great to have. Even if I despise most of AOS lore, FEC are trully amazing part of it that could easily make a fun read for any fantasy fan.
Yes, that was probably the best of these little stories so far.
Poor Gormayne, not only is he a sane ghoul, he forces himself to be sane because someone has to be.
Although now I'm really curious to know just what Ushoran sees when he looks at "Lord" Ouboroth.
Technically Ouboroth is an ex-god creature. Potentially Ushoran might see more of the intelligence behind such a creature, manifest as a person.
But yeah the Flesh Eaters have a lore that is just so different to everything else and its amazing how popular its become! It's also amazing because for the longest time it was a lore almost totally detached from the models
Also Ghoul Slayer has some fun Flesheaters fighting against the hellish monster that is Gotrek
Eh to be fair a lot of AoS armies need updates in various forms so there's a bit of a "wait your turn" thing going on.
I think that overall its fairly easy to reflect the madness, they just need to have adornments and weapons and poses that suggest they are doing things that they aren't. So a cannibal handling a long sword and polishing it becomes one holding a huge bloody meat cleaver and rubbing it with a flayed skin and so forth.
Although GW might have experimented with a few different designs and approaches toward how they want to display the army and the style of madness
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: He's definitely big, but he gives an illusion of small because he's much more compact compared to regular drakes.
Yes and no. His dragon is slightly bigger than the dragons being ridden by the Stromdrake Riders but it's still physically smaller than the Corpsevulture for Kruleboyz even if it wasn't in the pouncing cat pose.
Ionus is a beautiful sculpt.
I dont like stormcast, and thus live in denial that I collect them, so I will most certainly get him for my not-collection of stormcast, you know, the guys I just happen to have lying around.
But I must also try to get my hands on Belthanos for my actual Sylvaneth collection.
I knew I had subscribed to Stormbringer, but every delivery is a welcome surprise.
Just got the Exclusive Gutrippa Boss, a Lord Imperatant with Gryph-hound, Swampcalla Shaman and Xandire’s Truthseekers, which are some of my favorite SCE models after Neave Blacktalon and her cohort.
Also, some paints and a neat binder to sort the magazine issues.
I feel the opposite. We've had necromantic bands before and these don't really do anything special. I'd rather have had something more unique personally.
I've said it elsewhere, but whilst GW is doing awesome with Soulblight, the Zombies just keep being a miss for me. Their Warcry Warbands even more so as they seem to reach out to different zombie backgrounds and such and just not knitting together into a modern Soulblight army.
I think in part its because old Vampires always had that feel of just turning up in a random city or region and raising an army as they went. So they'd just raise everything in the graveyards - zombies, skeletons and all for a motley army that marched as they went like a tidal force.
Modern Soulblight do that too, but because they aren't in hiding they give me more of an organised army feel. That comes through with their skeletons, beasts and monsters and even the undead Dire Wolves. But the zombies just feel out of place now. Slow, lumbering, not really martial or organised or such. I might just be that I'm not the biggest fan of their designs in general; and that things like the corpse cart feel old world rather than AoS in design; but eh the zombies have yet to grab my attention.
New DoK hero though is awesome and I love the use of feathered wings! I like to think that everyone who stuck Dark Eldar feathered wings on their Khinerai helped inspire someone at GW to do that same thing!
Nice little read. I enjoyed the flashback into childhood Astreia.
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nels1031 wrote: I knew I had subscribed to Stormbringer, but every delivery is a welcome surprise.
Just got the Exclusive Gutrippa Boss, a Lord Imperatant with Gryph-hound, Swampcalla Shaman and Xandire’s Truthseekers, which are some of my favorite SCE models after Neave Blacktalon and her cohort.
Also, some paints and a neat binder to sort the magazine issues.
It's a good little mag. I just got three Nexus Syphons come in yesterday.
So, who gifted the witch hunter cat lady the seeing glove? Is it supposed to be reference to existing AoS character I can't think of or new plot thread?
Would've preferred the Callus and Toll bundle to have come with a new Lord-Veritant variant depicting the White Reaper of the Knights Excelsior instead of a new (another!) Hammers of Sigmar character.
Granted, the White Reaper may be truly dead per the last narrative event, but he has history with Callus and Toll(as well as the Ven Denst duo).
His Master's Voice wrote: The only thing I don't absolutely love about the Crone is that she's a DoK model, where she should really be the herald of Malekith's faction.
I don't quite get it, the lore says DoK hate her and she's super serious about aiding the forces of Order, but looks like her box will come with DoK models.
Seperatist faction. There's always been a constant plot thread about Daughters that doubt or outright disbelieve Morathi. She just normally has them killed before they get any traction going.
Daughters of Khaine are part of Order and allies of Sigmar. In fact they are probably second only to the Lizardmen or Stormcast in their national desire to destroy Chaos. They are a warrior cult built around Khaine/Morathi and hell bent on fighting Chaos.
The thing is they are not trustworthy allies, esp Morathi. They will stab their own allies in the back to gain advantage.
I suspect they get away with this because
1) They are very good at fighting chaos so you can't just abandon them
2) On the Global scale they are small. They have tiny holdings in the Shadow Realm and that is their main bastion of power. Many subfactions in Cities of Sigmar likely outnumber them.
The narrative in AoS often looks at the Gods not the people (humans); so wars that see cities swap hands and so forth can be super devastating to the mortals in that area; but at the grand god scale might be less major diplomatic incidents.
So there will be, within the DoK; factions who are very keen allies of the Cities of Sigmar and of the Stormcast. Just as there will be those who are die hard Morathi believers above all else and so on and so forth.
The Seperatist faction within DoK still believe in fighting Chaos, they just don't think Morathi is a god. As noted they are normally killed off. This character appears t obe one who was ignored and considered a non-threat for ages until she found that circlet and then suddenly she soared in influence and power. Likely beyond what Morathi and her agents can easily kill off. Esp if she's also still useful to Morathi.
Even when Morathi took over that city? To the best of my knowledge, she stopped there and still supports the fight against Chaos.
Indeed, now she’s achieved true Godhood? One could argue her mortal concerns will fall away, and she may become an overall more reliable ally as there’s not really anywhere else for her to go at the moment ambitions wise.
Yes I’ve no doubt she’ll want to become The Next Sigmar, the God of the Gods. But for now there are far more pressing threats to that ambition than her sometime allies.
Belief is still a thing and whilst she's attained Godhood that only means that she's not longer got to "trick" the Iron Heart out of belief power. Power wise it means she's stronger and she's gained some separation from her snake-half which now seems to be more akin to an avatar of her will.
However she's still only got a very small population of DoK believers and whilst they are present in many Cities of Sigmar; she's not a major god compared to the others.
So even with 1 City behind her now she's still going to be a super unreliable ally just as likely to stab you in the back for her own reckless advance. Which I think is one big difference with her. All the gods are willing to backstab/one up their counterparts for their own gain and advance. Morathi is just insanely reckless when she does it and each time she does its making that prison around Slannesh that big weaker.
To be fair its easily done. I find the most annoying thing is that GW has still not given the setting a proper dating and time system.
I think there's still a few characters like Gotrek who have stories that on one side cover a few months/years and yet on the other are covering major events that span hundreds of years.
Callis & Toll may be our best indicator. They met at the tail end of first edition and are still active (though aged) in third. We can infer that the necroquake timeline, the events of second edition, is a few decades at most.
We also know the Age of Chaos was a matter of multiple centuries (I recall a lore drop at some point that put it at 400 years though they have since gone to referencing it as an undefined number of centuries that is a decent benchmark IMO), and that there was at least a century (or the better part of one) between the Realmgate wars and the Necroquake.
Complicating things is that Chaos can readily screw with time and large swathes of the Realms have been sitting under Chaos control for some time. *Further* complicating things is the potential cannon of time flowing differently in different Realms, something mentioned in the Realmslayer audio but I haven't encountered since.
Yeah I think the Chaos Age has been 5-400 years a few times. I think in-world some people won't recall the specific duration since a lot of records were lost and for many even 100years is long enough for it to be a "constant" state in their lives and their parents.
The Flow of Time being different in different worlds has reared its head a few times, however I've always figured that there has to be a way to counter that since the amount of interconnected trade and such between Realms would require some kind of management.
It also strikes me that its one of those bits of lore that's a little like some of the early Realmgate books in that they had a lot of totally nuts stuff going on that seems to have toned back a bit since then.
That said I still highlight it as a major failing of the setting in allowing people to get into the stories and characters.
I disagree. I appreciate the open time frame, personally it's allowed me to write and slot events into periods which may otherwise have been locked out. It's a freedom that can be utilised very well if properly handled.
I love how we're still pretending that it's the books that were off the wall, not the stupid whispergames played by people online with lore they hadn't read.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote:I disagree. I appreciate the open time frame, personally it's allowed me to write and slot events into periods which may otherwise have been locked out. It's a freedom that can be utilised very well if properly handled.
Eh I prefer tighter timeframes and structure. For me its part of the foundation of a world setting that then allows creation of stories to work. When you know how events in different settings with different characters and realms and such all relate together in time then you can start to write stories about travel and exploration and link different characters together in meaningful ways with some understanding of what major events they will or won't have experienced and so forth.
Kanluwen wrote:I love how we're still pretending that it's the books that were off the wall, not the stupid whispergames played by people online with lore they hadn't read.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones - Ghur also has oddities like whole areas where the land just reshapes itself in minutes from plains to mountains - how the feth to you farm/build/settle/live/travel when you have insane changes like that! )
Inquisitor Gideon wrote:I disagree. I appreciate the open time frame, personally it's allowed me to write and slot events into periods which may otherwise have been locked out. It's a freedom that can be utilised very well if properly handled.
Eh I prefer tighter timeframes and structure. For me its part of the foundation of a world setting that then allows creation of stories to work. When you know how events in different settings with different characters and realms and such all relate together in time then you can start to write stories about travel and exploration and link different characters together in meaningful ways with some understanding of what major events they will or won't have experienced and so forth.
Kanluwen wrote:I love how we're still pretending that it's the books that were off the wall, not the stupid whispergames played by people online with lore they hadn't read.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones - Ghur also has oddities like whole areas where the land just reshapes itself in minutes from plains to mountains - how the feth to you farm/build/settle/live/travel when you have insane changes like that! )
Same way you do it on a planet like Fenris, where entire continents up and disappear and then reform at random. Writer fiat and accepting people have adapted to survive situations like that.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote:I disagree. I appreciate the open time frame, personally it's allowed me to write and slot events into periods which may otherwise have been locked out. It's a freedom that can be utilised very well if properly handled.
Eh I prefer tighter timeframes and structure. For me its part of the foundation of a world setting that then allows creation of stories to work. When you know how events in different settings with different characters and realms and such all relate together in time then you can start to write stories about travel and exploration and link different characters together in meaningful ways with some understanding of what major events they will or won't have experienced and so forth.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones)
Pff, that's just Atechnogenesis. If it eventually leads to an army of dudes riding robot horses, it'll all be worth it.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones)
Pff, that's just Atechnogenesis. If it eventually leads to an army of dudes riding robot horses, it'll all be worth it.
See this is what I'd love to see from AoS - more representation of its lore in the game. Heck I'd also love more artwork too! GW is hell bent on art of models and model photos, but I really would love to see them produce landscape images and scenery images and so forth for their books and media distribution directly. I know the RPG has some, but I'd love to see GW central do this kind of stuff.
Overread wrote: See this is what I'd love to see from AoS - more representation of its lore in the game. Heck I'd also love more artwork too! GW is hell bent on art of models and model photos, but I really would love to see them produce landscape images and scenery images and so forth for their books and media distribution directly. I know the RPG has some, but I'd love to see GW central do this kind of stuff.
White Dwarf did a little with that series of articles covering the realms, but that was mainly a chance to show off alternate colour schemes to show which realm your dudes came from. Nice thought, but low effort.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones)
Pff, that's just Atechnogenesis. If it eventually leads to an army of dudes riding robot horses, it'll all be worth it.
There is a bit of both going on, but the lore still has lakes of quicksilver and storms of rust and such Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones - Ghur also has oddities like whole areas where the land just reshapes itself in minutes from plains to mountains - how the feth to you farm/build/settle/live/travel when you have insane changes like that! )
I always vaguely assumed that was the point of the Sigmar bastion cities (and the elfs and lizards have elaborate ward structures and technological shenanigans). They stabilize the local region so farming and normal life can happen.
Fringe communities are linked into the base 'network' and extend the effect outwards, and the Realms push back.
In essence, Sigmar is trying to enforce mundanity on the realms, which chaos is trying to feth things up even more. The individual Realms as sources of magic are (passively/innately) fighting both while converting everything they can to their own nature.
It would at least make some sense in the setting. Honestly I think the issue with AoS is that there's no overall "master" of the setting creating it. It's really a cobbled together case of "this seems cool" from writers and creators - each one creating basically small self contained pockets of lore and info and development; but without that sense of thinking beyond the story they write in the moment.
So you get really wild and crazy things going on; but no one is pausing to go "so wait how DO they farm" or "so just how do they trade" or even "so just what does the average person live like?"
So as soon as you start asking those questions things get a bit iffy. Like how it can be said that realms are the most variable in certain areas and less so in others; but that only means that those living in calm areas might have it easier and those in more wild areas still have no argument for how they survive or why they'd even move there.
I suspect in the fullness of time we might get these answers, but I'd wager they'd come with some ret-cons or some "and then Nagash did a thing and something stopped happening and things settled down"
Well, I think a lot of that is stuff that traditionally gets fleshed out of RPG tie-ins rather in the core game itself.
But I do agree that there seems to be a lack of an overarching vision or master plan or whatever to the setting. A big problem with the lore as it stands is that theres an overwhelming lack of connective tissue which links together all the locales, factions, and ongoing narrative developments into a cohesive whole. I'm not sure that events occuring in Ghur really have any bearing on or relation to events occurring in Ghyran or Aqshy, for example, whereas in WHFB even though Naggaroth, Lustria, and the Border Princes were on three different continents I could understand how the events occurring on them fit together. Likewise, Cadia, Vigilus, Baal, etc. are all different planets, but I get how they all relate to the broader political and military situation of the Imperium.
I can't say the same for Hammerhal, Misthavn, or Hallowheart. Hell, I can't even really tell you which realms these cities are in or where they fit geographically within their respective realms. If you can't relate to a setting in terms of time or place, then its not a very good setting - and I say that as someone who actually really like Age of Sigmar as a greater whole and would like to see it further developed.
chaos0xomega wrote: Well, I think a lot of that is stuff that traditionally gets fleshed out of RPG tie-ins rather in the core game itself.
But I do agree that there seems to be a lack of an overarching vision or master plan or whatever to the setting. A big problem with the lore as it stands is that theres an overwhelming lack of connective tissue which links together all the locales, factions, and ongoing narrative developments into a cohesive whole. I'm not sure that events occuring in Ghur really have any bearing on or relation to events occurring in Ghyran or Aqshy, for example, whereas in WHFB even though Naggaroth, Lustria, and the Border Princes were on three different continents I could understand how the events occurring on them fit together. Likewise, Cadia, Vigilus, Baal, etc. are all different planets, but I get how they all relate to the broader political and military situation of the Imperium.
I can't say the same for Hammerhal, Misthavn, or Hallowheart. Hell, I can't even really tell you which realms these cities are in or where they fit geographically within their respective realms. If you can't relate to a setting in terms of time or place, then its not a very good setting - and I say that as someone who actually really like Age of Sigmar as a greater whole and would like to see it further developed.
Agreed and this is why GW need more dates and maps. Part of the issue is that AoS as a setting was basically made to be a "do whatever the freaking heck you want" kind of setting. In a way they kind of tried to make it like a Minecraft system - an engine that could create infinite worlds and stories for anyone. Heck it needs a dating system beyond "which ages does your story happen in" and "if its the Age of Sigmar, is it before or after the Necroquake". Because that's basically it for dates. Which makes it really hard to envision what's going on.
On some fronts the Necroquake is only a hundred or so years after the AoS begins; in other stories the Cities of Sigmar have had multiple generations and even generations of Elves who don't recall the Chaos Era which means it has to be many hundreds of years. Yet other times it seems like the armies of Stormcast are only just getting going when the Necroquake hits.
This lack of a backbone to the setting clearly affects the writers.
The problem is when you try to pull it all together things get confusing and complicated and messy. Eg you've a whole realm full of metals. So in theory so long as you've one active trading partner there; every faction should be able to have EVERY bit of armour, metal and machinery you could imagine. Then there's another realm where the Dead are collected. In theory Nagash's legions should be so bonkers vast that he just outright wins with perhaps only Chaos able to stand against him. It's not like Death in the Old World where you had a portion of the undead running around their local Vampire or a fallen nation that wasn't breeding any more (Tomb Kings). Nagash has armies built from the constant supply of the dead in the realms. He loses a handful to Sigmar, but by and large Nagash should basically have an infinite army by now.
Meanwhile in Ghur you've got creatures so vast that whole cities are built upon their backs; God Beasts that are impossibly powerful and strong which on their own could crush Cities of Sigmar in a heartbeat without thinking of it.
As much as I utterly love the creativity of the setting, the setting as a whole feels hollow. I don't think it helps that they focus on the Narrative on the Gods and it certainly doesn't help that they lose Josh Reynolds as a writer as he felt like the only one who was trying to build a greater lore/setting from the system.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: Seperatist faction. There's always been a constant plot thread about Daughters that doubt or outright disbelieve Morathi. She just normally has them killed before they get any traction going.
Godsbane even features ones that actually attempted to kill Morathi.
Spoiler:
And now may even have a weapon capable of killing a god.
Stormcast, Griffhound and Lantern guy are all carrying keys on them. Which I think almost outright confirms these are another bunch of potential "was going to be in Cursed City" models.
Overread wrote: Stormcast, Griffhound and Lantern guy are all carrying keys on them. Which I think almost outright confirms these are another bunch of potential "was going to be in Cursed City" models.
Or that they are based in hanmerhall ashqa
Ashqhy has had a long association with keys, first shown in the symbol for the wind of fire in WHFB and then the motifs of the college of fire in Altdorf.
Also, crazy cat lady is using a skeleton key as a hair pin.
Overread wrote: It would at least make some sense in the setting. Honestly I think the issue with AoS is that there's no overall "master" of the setting creating it. It's really a cobbled together case of "this seems cool" from writers and creators - each one creating basically small self contained pockets of lore and info and development; but without that sense of thinking beyond the story they write in the moment.
So you get really wild and crazy things going on; but no one is pausing to go "so wait how DO they farm" or "so just how do they trade" or even "so just what does the average person live like?"
So as soon as you start asking those questions things get a bit iffy. Like how it can be said that realms are the most variable in certain areas and less so in others; but that only means that those living in calm areas might have it easier and those in more wild areas still have no argument for how they survive or why they'd even move there.
I suspect in the fullness of time we might get these answers, but I'd wager they'd come with some ret-cons or some "and then Nagash did a thing and something stopped happening and things settled down"
Well we know realms aren't all same. Realm of fire isnt all firestorm. Water, farmable land etc are there.
Overread wrote: It would at least make some sense in the setting. Honestly I think the issue with AoS is that there's no overall "master" of the setting creating it. It's really a cobbled together case of "this seems cool" from writers and creators - each one creating basically small self contained pockets of lore and info and development; but without that sense of thinking beyond the story they write in the moment.
So you get really wild and crazy things going on; but no one is pausing to go "so wait how DO they farm" or "so just how do they trade" or even "so just what does the average person live like?"
So as soon as you start asking those questions things get a bit iffy. Like how it can be said that realms are the most variable in certain areas and less so in others; but that only means that those living in calm areas might have it easier and those in more wild areas still have no argument for how they survive or why they'd even move there.
I suspect in the fullness of time we might get these answers, but I'd wager they'd come with some ret-cons or some "and then Nagash did a thing and something stopped happening and things settled down"
Well we know realms aren't all same. Realm of fire isnt all firestorm. Water, farmable land etc are there.
Wd had nice article about that.
There was a whole series of them, as I recall. They were easy to miss, though. They didn't really make it clear what they were for and the other lore sections of AoS books don't illustrate what normal life looks like in the Mortal Realms very well.
It doesn't help that a lot of GW's direct fiction often focuses on wars/battles/major events.
Personally I felt like the Novellas that they started doing way back at the start of AoS actually did a lot of good as they tended to be smaller stories and actually focused on a lot of what I consider good worldbuilding elements.
The bigger stories I find tend to get hooked on the big things going on which leaves the small person/small group behind
Yeah I've been meaning to get into those! Though I've a feeling I'll be distracted by Brets for a while so will likely end up picking up their Chronicle Omnibus book after I get through the newest one.
Overread wrote: It would at least make some sense in the setting. Honestly I think the issue with AoS is that there's no overall "master" of the setting creating it. It's really a cobbled together case of "this seems cool" from writers and creators - each one creating basically small self contained pockets of lore and info and development; but without that sense of thinking beyond the story they write in the moment.
So you get really wild and crazy things going on; but no one is pausing to go "so wait how DO they farm" or "so just how do they trade" or even "so just what does the average person live like?"
So as soon as you start asking those questions things get a bit iffy. Like how it can be said that realms are the most variable in certain areas and less so in others; but that only means that those living in calm areas might have it easier and those in more wild areas still have no argument for how they survive or why they'd even move there.
I suspect in the fullness of time we might get these answers, but I'd wager they'd come with some ret-cons or some "and then Nagash did a thing and something stopped happening and things settled down"
Is there a list of what white dwarves they are in?
Well we know realms aren't all same. Realm of fire isnt all firestorm. Water, farmable land etc are there.
Wd had nice article about that.
There was a whole series of them, as I recall. They were easy to miss, though. They didn't really make it clear what they were for and the other lore sections of AoS books don't illustrate what normal life looks like in the Mortal Realms very well.
I'm not sure how GW can fix the misinformation problem with AoS. A lot of the questions that people are asking are answered in both the 3rd edition core book and the Soulbound core book.
There is an AoS lore master. Phil Kelly is in overall charge of the lore of AoS and there is a lore bible. He wrote several articles answering these kinds of questions about AoS (which repeats material that can be found in the core books).
The realms are more normal at their centre and more magical at the edge except the realm of death which Nagash messed up.
The problem is that during the age of chaos a lot of the 'normal' parts of the realms were corrupted by chaos. The centre of the realm of metal used to be a beautiful place shaped by Grunge, but then Tzeentch came along and shattered everything into crazy magical fragments.
The normal People survive thanks to Aqua Gyranis which is the currency and also a super fertiliser. The cities are like someone said. Groups of flagellents are sent out from the cities to purify the land with their blood, making it suitable for farming.
Travel is extremely dangerous, as most of the realms is still controlled by chaos. That's why every nation can't just get what they want. They rely on the KO for long distance trade.
The realmgates are a bit like warp travel. Someone who travels through one may arrive instantly or weeks later.
This means that there's probably a bit of an interstellar effect going on.
As for the time line, I think part of the problem with the end of Warhammer Fantasy was that it was set in a particular year. So 7th edition would come out, you'd have all sorts of campaigns and battles and the 8th edition would come out and it would still be exactly the same year, with all the same characters doing the same thing. This didn't really allow for the players to have any effect on the setting. I think that's why they've continued to avoid dates this time round despite answering a lot of the other questions people have about the setting.
As for the time line, I think part of the problem with the end of Warhammer Fantasy was that it was set in a particular year. So 7th edition would come out, you'd have all sorts of campaigns and battles and the 8th edition would come out and it would still be exactly the same year, with all the same characters doing the same thing. This didn't really allow for the players to have any effect on the setting. I think that's why they've continued to avoid dates this time round despite answering a lot of the other questions people have about the setting.
That's not a problem with having timelines at all. Having a timeline doesn't mean you have to remain in the same year or date period with the game. In fact having a timeline means you CAN advance the timeline and people understand that "edition 2 is the next 100 years" or so of story. That things have moved on, taken a step forward and so forth. AoS does this, but we don't know how big a step is taken - was it 20 years or 200 or 400 or a week? We don't really know we have to infer and that's complicated unless you keep up with every scrap of lore published by GW. You end up with a situation like the Marvel films, where to keep up you've got to digest and hunt down everything published to keep up with just one continuity. Yes it can work, but its insanely messy and its super easy to fall off the waggon and get lost.
The issue with Old World not advancing is more linked to the writers, but also marketing and models. When you introduce a named human character you are bound to a period of time for that character to be alive in. Yes you can fudge it a bit with magic and so forth, but in general you can't do that for all of them (at least not without it appearing insanely tacky). So you keep your named hero model and named character that markets so well around. This means you are bound to a limited span of time to use them within.
Honestly the fix there is what GW are doing right now with leader models. You keep to named heroes now and then and just rotate them as the setting advances. Bob the Warlord has his 50 years of battle, war and stories. His unique model on the table and everything. Then the timeline advances and Bob retires or gets killed or dies in a blazing glory. His model becomes "Generic hero 101" that GW can keep around or retire and a new hero, Dave, arises from the story to propel it forward.
GW are producing enough leader models now that they could easily adopt that strategy. Heck Fyreslayers have had almost nothing but leader models released. It would also solve the leader-bloat that GW have going on right now because those heroic leaders could just step back as alternative sculpts for generic ones. So instead of dozens of leaders with slightly different profiles; you have a few core ones and then rotating named ones.
Instead GW took the angle of telling the story around Gods and long lived races. This left humans out of the running, but its also left normal story telling out of the running because most of the Gods and God characters don't age. So generations of humans (the race many many many people wlil most associate and understand) come and go like nothing.
Again having a date system isn't a problem, esp with AoS as its not bound to a single millennium like 40K is with marketing; nor is it bound to an "end times" mechanic. AoS bound to an Age and that can last for as long as GW want it too. It has no "End Times" on the horizon; in fact its horizon is at the polar opposite end of the spectrum. It HAD its End Times (Age of Chaos) and is coming out the other end. AoS could have dates easily and advance its own storyline very simply in a logical fashion that could allow for much easier following of its story and characters.
Personally I think GW is avoiding dates for the same reason they avoided maps at the start - they don't really know themselves and they are afraid to do so now because it will likely have ot ret-con some stuff.
Honestly I'd be ok with the stories having an element of "And then we added dates and all the stories that came before work, but their timelines are a bit wriggly because the characters in the setting didn't have good records and date/time measurement systems and such".
It even fits with Sigmar's general move toward imposing Order on the Realms. You cannot have me believe that the God who is the named one on the Age, whose whole thing is order and structure - wouldn't have maps and time as huge backbones of his Order.
Also I'm pretty sure the Khadorans would have clocks - you can't expect me to believe they wouldn't have the means to measure time so they can charge the correct fee for services rendered; or a fine for those who are late!
Instead GW took the angle of telling the story around Gods and long lived races. This left humans out of the running, but its also left normal story telling out of the running because most of the Gods and God characters don't age. So generations of humans (the race many many many people wlil most associate and understand) come and go like nothing.
I think this is why Godsbane worked as a novel. It not only introduced a way to kill off God level characters(albeit one that perpetuates a cycle), it was also an opportunity to show that a fairly significant portion of the Mortal Realms is also tired of the future of the realms being dictated by the gods.
Instead GW took the angle of telling the story around Gods and long lived races. This left humans out of the running, but its also left normal story telling out of the running because most of the Gods and God characters don't age. So generations of humans (the race many many many people wlil most associate and understand) come and go like nothing.
I think this is why Godsbane worked as a novel. It not only introduced a way to kill off God level characters(albeit one that perpetuates a cycle), it was also an opportunity to show that a fairly significant portion of the Mortal Realms is also tired of the future of the realms being dictated by the gods.
GW keeps teasing us with Gotrek doing it though he keeps getting distracted!
Instead GW took the angle of telling the story around Gods and long lived races. This left humans out of the running, but its also left normal story telling out of the running because most of the Gods and God characters don't age. So generations of humans (the race many many many people wlil most associate and understand) come and go like nothing.
I think this is why Godsbane worked as a novel. It not only introduced a way to kill off God level characters(albeit one that perpetuates a cycle), it was also an opportunity to show that a fairly significant portion of the Mortal Realms is also tired of the future of the realms being dictated by the gods.
GW keeps teasing us with Gotrek doing it though he keeps getting distracted!
As a Living Ancestor, Gotrek killing a god is no different from Teclis killing Nagash, though.
Spoiler:
Though, that's the cycle perpetuated by Godsbane: Godsbane itself asborbs the power of the killed god and gives it to the wielder, thus making them a god for all intents and purposes.
I was thinking about how the style of AoS has changed wth the latest edition. First up the orruks made as a totally different, gritty more realistically scary kind of greenskins. and the gritty cursed city that set the theme for the vampiers.
Now we have finally seen regular humans in a grim crusade, grunts dying face down in the mud far from the glory of sigmars greatest cities. And also the deranged nightmare canibals crawling out of murky graveyards.
Feels like they try to change the meta of the narrative, away from the superfantastic "we got giant flying turtles and gods walking the battlefield" style.
Even the stormcast got new armour that looks more like "realistic" fantasy full plate armour.
I think I agree with that. Its still very much a mythic fantasy setting, but they are handling it in a grittier and more grounded manner than they were at the start when it was all "Gods and Generals and Killer Angels" and very focused on armies of demigods and bands of heroes rather than armies of "poor bloody infantry" type folk.
These days the setting is becoming more "Gods and Mortals" and theres a greater emphasis on characters who are maybe not "everyman's" but are more recognizable as being closer to "baseline" for their respective factions, and *their interactions* with the heroes, demigods, and gods with the setting. Its a different perspective that really helps make the setting a bit more approachable.
Fayric wrote: I was thinking about how the style of AoS has changed wth the latest edition. First up the orruks made as a totally different, gritty more realistically scary kind of greenskins. and the gritty cursed city that set the theme for the vampiers.
Now we have finally seen regular humans in a grim crusade, grunts dying face down in the mud far from the glory of sigmars greatest cities. And also the deranged nightmare canibals crawling out of murky graveyards.
Feels like they try to change the meta of the narrative, away from the superfantastic "we got giant flying turtles and gods walking the battlefield" style.
Even the stormcast got new armour that looks more like "realistic" fantasy full plate armour.
The very beginning of the first AoS novel is half starved nobodies running away from gangs of Khorne worshipping cannibals. So no, it's the same as it every was.
Fayric wrote: I was thinking about how the style of AoS has changed wth the latest edition. First up the orruks made as a totally different, gritty more realistically scary kind of greenskins. and the gritty cursed city that set the theme for the vampiers.
Now we have finally seen regular humans in a grim crusade, grunts dying face down in the mud far from the glory of sigmars greatest cities. And also the deranged nightmare canibals crawling out of murky graveyards.
Feels like they try to change the meta of the narrative, away from the superfantastic "we got giant flying turtles and gods walking the battlefield" style.
Even the stormcast got new armour that looks more like "realistic" fantasy full plate armour.
The very beginning of the first AoS novel is half starved nobodies running away from gangs of Khorne worshipping cannibals. So no, it's the same as it every was.
That's basically the first paragraph or so - the entire rest is Stormcast being impossibly awesome maching for days on end through Chaos Wastelands; climbing volcanoes; battling over quicksilver; charging through festering forests so plagued with poison that nothing normal can live there etc.... Yes humans WERE there at the very beginning and they were doing their best to survive; but the real action and meat of the Realmwars is STORMCAST.
I just put together a box of dire wolves last week, I don't think I need more. Just gonna round off my stable of heroes with the Grand Justice and Cardinal. Will consider a second trio of Knights if the price is alright.
GW are no longer posting the price lists in their retailer documents it seems to have stopped from the new year, I’m surprised they didn’t do it earlier, so we are back to waiting on individual retailers to “release” them.
FEC prices a little under what I expected (not far off though).
GW are no longer posting the price lists in their retailer documents it seems to have stopped from the new year, I’m surprised they didn’t do it earlier, so we are back to waiting on individual retailers to “release” them.
FEC prices a little under what I expected (not far off though).
It was nice of you to keep us informed all these years, Dave. Cheers.
Could definitely be something spite related on a branch. Although I do feel a possibility of something nurglish with bugs hanging around on their models .
Bringing T&T is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!
Its still not enough to get me to buy a book thats going to be 80% out of date in ~5 months, but it tempted me. Maybe I'll wait til later this year and pick one up half price on ebay after the new edition drops.
but this was not really a "rules as written" problem but one guy thought he was being smart by taking a full reserve "beta" strike army but the other guy was smarter
pogey wrote: I assume the weighted dice in water was a reference to the recent flushing weighted dice down the toilet debacle
I haven't heard of that one. But you can float dice in heavily salted water. If the dice is weighted it will always roll so the weight is downwards.
A guy at an event was accused of having weighted dice and when they came to test his dice, he ran to the restroom and tried to flush them and the weighted dice were too heavy to flush away.
pogey wrote: I assume the weighted dice in water was a reference to the recent flushing weighted dice down the toilet debacle
I haven't heard of that one. But you can float dice in heavily salted water. If the dice is weighted it will always roll so the weight is downwards.
A guy at an event was accused of having weighted dice and when they came to test his dice, he ran to the restroom and tried to flush them and the weighted dice were too heavy to flush away.
pogey wrote: I assume the weighted dice in water was a reference to the recent flushing weighted dice down the toilet debacle
I haven't heard of that one. But you can float dice in heavily salted water. If the dice is weighted it will always roll so the weight is downwards.
A guy at an event was accused of having weighted dice and when they came to test his dice, he ran to the restroom and tried to flush them and the weighted dice were too heavy to flush away.
can't tell this story without including this. really makes clear how pathetic and funny it is
can't tell this story without including this. really makes clear how pathetic and funny it is
Looks like a legit roll to me! If anything, the alleged run for the border is more damning than that roll. I haven't played in tourneys or even events in many years; is the tourney trial by ordeal a recent addition?!?!? In this case, if his innocence is proved by the toilet roll I'd be more curious if he wanted to fish out the dice for further use...
well, i assumed that it would be coming out in january, and if not that, at least close to the 40k dataslate, which was over a week ago. they never confirmed anything, but in january social media people were saying "soon", so it feels odd that it's a bit delayed in comparison
An even funnier read is all the comments on the Facebook post - lots of whining about the missing Battlescroll.
Some solid humor in that thread though. Got the American Psycho "Let's See Paul Allen's Business Card(Warscroll)" meme, The Titanic "Its been 84 years" .gif, A Groundhog Day photoshop meme, the instant classic "Pablo Escobar staring into space" meme. Its a good laugh!
The short story was a good read. Looking forward to more Daughters of Khaine civil war developments. Would Krethusa the Croneseer be a better ally to Order, or somehow worse than Morathi-Khaine?
Well she seems to actively seek out the Cities judging by some photos. But i have to imagine the biggest way she could screw over Morathi is by just being honest.
An even funnier read is all the comments on the Facebook post - lots of whining about the missing Battlescroll.
Some solid humor in that thread though. Got the American Psycho "Let's See Paul Allen's Business Card(Warscroll)" meme, The Titanic "Its been 84 years" .gif, A Groundhog Day photoshop meme, the instant classic "Pablo Escobar staring into space" meme. Its a good laugh!
The short story was a good read. Looking forward to more Daughters of Khaine civil war developments. Would Krethusa the Croneseer be a better ally to Order, or somehow worse than Morathi-Khaine?
I suppose that all depends on whether or not Morai-Heg is actually Tzeentch up to his usual tricks...
Wild Speculation: AoS4 will have a Combat Patrol format and this time they're curating the forces ahead of time, hence the rebranding. So Speaheads will be balanced against each other, possibly without stat tweaks.
lord_blackfang wrote: So Speaheads will be balanced against each other, possibly without stat tweaks.
Not so sure about that Spearhead Stormcast: 900 points
Spearhead Cities of Sigmar: 550 points
FEC is closer to Cities with 605 points so maybe Stormcast are just the special case here
We don't know yet but pretty likely at different price points as the Cities one has 185€ of models inside while the FEC only has 144€ inside.
For Cities and probably Stormcast around 120€ fits the expected discount, for FEC that would be around 95€
lord_blackfang wrote: So Speaheads will be balanced against each other, possibly without stat tweaks.
Not so sure about that Spearhead Stormcast: 900 points
Spearhead Cities of Sigmar: 550 points
FEC is closer to Cities with 605 points so maybe Stormcast are just the special case here
not like the boxes match in 40k with regular points cost either but get their own rules to be "balanced"
Of all the bad things I can think of about 40k 10th, I dont think Combat Patrol is the list. It is its own self-contained game mode that serves a specific purpose for a specific type of customer, and thats about the start and the end of it. Could it be better? Sure. Is it bad? Not even a little bit.
Shadow Walker wrote: FEC Spearhead is a great box. I like all the minis from it.
Yes, rotten timing tho, right after single kits release, so I already ordered all the Guard and Knights I wanted.
I have been waiting just for the Crypt Guard separate release (as AOS is just a fantasy minis source for me to populate my mini agnostic games) but that box is so tempting. Must remain strong
chaos0xomega wrote: Of all the bad things I can think of about 40k 10th, I dont think Combat Patrol is the list. It is its own self-contained game mode that serves a specific purpose for a specific type of customer, and thats about the start and the end of it. Could it be better? Sure. Is it bad? Not even a little bit.
Lets just say that the next friend who insists that I run a CP box just to play a quick 500 point game, is going to experience - first hand - my impression of Will Smith...
chaos0xomega wrote: Of all the bad things I can think of about 40k 10th, I dont think Combat Patrol is the list. It is its own self-contained game mode that serves a specific purpose for a specific type of customer, and thats about the start and the end of it. Could it be better? Sure. Is it bad? Not even a little bit.
Lets just say that the next friend who insists that I run a CP box just to play a quick 500 point game, is going to experience - first hand - my impression of Will Smith...
This sounds like a personal anger issue more than an actual problem with combat patrol?
Combat Patrol being its own thing is fantastic and I hope it doesn't go away. It gives 40K a fantastic "get a box get playing" game which is sorely needs to really help get new blood into the game.
Those newbies can get a box of models and get into the game fast and the game works with that one box of models.
They aren't sacrificing half the functionality of the game or their army; they aren't playing with a crippled set of the core rules or accepting that its a bit wonky until you get more models. It works right out of the box.
Warcry and Underworlds do the very same thing. These small format games are ideal for getting people into the hobby and engaged with the game side of things.
I think its ever ever so important for the recruitment and retention of new fresh players into the hobby. You can't rely on newbies getting to 500-1K-1.5K worth of points to where the game "works properly" without burning out if they've got nothing to really properly engage with until they get there.
This sounds like a personal anger issue more than an actual problem with combat patrol?
If challenged to a 500 point game, and they want to use a CP box collection - no problem. But expecting me to also buy a CP box to replace my perfectly good patrols from 9th edition is another matter altogether.
This sounds like a personal anger issue more than an actual problem with combat patrol?
If challenged to a 500 point game, and they want to use a CP box collection - no problem. But expecting me to also buy a CP box to replace my perfectly good patrols from 9th edition is another matter altogether.
Well, then, don't? Just use your existing models and the Combat Patrol datasheets, which are free.
Well, then, don't? Just use your existing models and the Combat Patrol datasheets, which are free.
You're missing the point that some players have it in their heads that we must both use Combat Patrol rules or nothing, for a quick 500 point game. My Harlequin and Knight armies don't have CP rules. My Eldar army would basically boil down to purchasing the Eldar CP boxset anyway for the missing models. If they want to use CP rules for their army, fine, but I'm not buying extra models for the sake of a game that lasts an hour at best.
Naturally I pass on those games, and find others to play with, but its got to the point with "Combat Patrol" that it might as well become its own spin-off like Kill Team and be done with it. AoS feels like its easier to get started with than with 40K, and I've not heard as much grumbling about balance, so it doesn't feel like it needs to go as far with the only advantage being free rules( which is always a good thing ).
Weird, I've not encountered anyone who has played combat patrol, sounds like its really taken off in your area though.
I wonder if GW will eventually follow it up with "Battleforce" as a larger format version, with permanently (well, as permanent as combat patrols seem to be anyway) available battleforce sets for each faction. If Combat Patrol is ~500 and "Battleforce" is ~1000, and then you add a third format thats Combat Patrol + Battleforce, you now have a hobby path for new players to escalate to 2000pts. Start with a Combat Patrol, then buy a Battleforce, then add them together, and then customize and flavor with your choice of 500 pts or so worth of units of your choice.
40K has always been popular here in the UK and you'd have to be living right out of the way to not find a game happening nearby, with GW stores up and down the country. And where there's a GW there's also bound to be a gaming club or two. Last time I visited Nottingham it was about a 3-hour drive up the road from where I live...
Most people are just looking for a bit of fun, but you do encounter the odd person who take's it a bit too seriously...
The battleforce box idea sounds cool, but would probably put their production capacity under strain. Its probably why we get 500 point boxes throughout the year, and then the larger army boxes for Christmas.
So another update in which most factions received additional/continued points reductions (except Kharadron).
GW: "Now you need to buy even more models to fill out your 2000 points list. Then we will scrap everything and reset everyone in four months, and all of those cool models you just bought will get points increases, driving you to purchase other, more points-efficient models . . ."
that and avoid getting suckered in by end of edition lifecycle changes. They do seem to have a tendency to make drastic price cuts and mechanical revisions at the tail end of each edition of their games, only to then tighten up points again and undo any of the well-received mechanical improvements when the next edition launches. I've heard that may be because the team working the next edition and the team doing balance updates are different groups within the studio and they apparently don't really coordinate much or make much of an effort to try to maintain continuity between them. To some extent thats because lead times associated with things (rulebooks go to print before last round of rules updates for the previous edition are released or something to that effect), but I'm sure theres a bit of compartmentalization and politics involved as well.
after i was the one to complain about it, GW decided to wait until i was on vacation to drop the dataslate...
anyway this all seems fine. i'm most annoyed at the plague monks change, which is pretty inconsequential overall, but does make it harder to take them as allies in a nurgle list. otherwise, nothing major to any armies i play... a little boring after all this buildup
Is that a plastic Ratling Gun at last?
Or, hm, something a bit bigger? It seems to have five crew (four to carry/push it and one seated gunner) but also only one wheel.
And now I must endure the torment of a whole half a year of awesome skaven models, new releases and temptation afresh after selling off my load of unbuilt Skaven
Darn GW better have some REALLY awesome new Tyranids up their sleeve to give me some moral boost!
Mr_Rose wrote: Is that a plastic Ratling Gun at last?
Or, hm, something a bit bigger? It seems to have five crew (four to carry/push it and one seated gunner) but also only one wheel.
1 large wheel and 2 small ones. It's a bigwheel trike
fair bit bigger than the old weapons teams! looks great, tho. love the idea of two guys pushing the gun, but one actually piloting it. reminds me of the open-top space marine vehicles, but way lower tech
Looks good. I hope the Sigmarine side of the starter/launch box is a bust. I enjoy seeing Skaven models, but have precious little interest in actually collecting the army. Makes things easier if neither side is tempting.
I'm just confused what GW will add to the Stormcast and really hope they might start not putting them in the starter set. I know its "Age of Sigmar" but always having them in the starter is bloating their army a lot.
Skaven need a huge rework and update so there's a massive amount of choices to put in on their side. Stormcast - they just don't need it and might even suffer for it in terms of just having too many choices and models outperforming each other in specific roles. Let another take the lime light GW and have 2 awesome updates/big model additions to factions that need it within the range that will pulll them up
Overread wrote: I'm just confused what GW will add to the Stormcast and really hope they might start not putting them in the starter set. I know its "Age of Sigmar" but always having them in the starter is bloating their army a lot.
Skaven need a huge rework and update so there's a massive amount of choices to put in on their side. Stormcast - they just don't need it and might even suffer for it in terms of just having too many choices and models outperforming each other in specific roles. Let another take the lime light GW and have 2 awesome updates/big model additions to factions that need it within the range that will pulll them up
The rumour seems to be 1st edition SCE designs, Liberators and the like, will be transferred to 3rd edition Thunderstrike armour with the old designs retired. The updated Liberator designs have already been used in Realms of Ruin.
Yes I’d much rather CoS in the starter but we are likely stuck with SCE for the foreseeable.
Overread wrote: See I was thinking Beasts of Chaos, Fyreslayers or one of the other "We've not seen anything much" armies.
Heck a second wave of Ossiarchs! Or perhaps the major faction from the Shadow Realm
It won't be any of those. It's going to be Stormcast. They're in the process of converting things over to Thunderstrike. People might not like it, but that's what is happening.
Overread wrote: I'm just confused what GW will add to the Stormcast and really hope they might start not putting them in the starter set. I know its "Age of Sigmar" but always having them in the starter is bloating their army a lot.
Skaven need a huge rework and update so there's a massive amount of choices to put in on their side. Stormcast - they just don't need it and might even suffer for it in terms of just having too many choices and models outperforming each other in specific roles. Let another take the lime light GW and have 2 awesome updates/big model additions to factions that need it within the range that will pulll them up
Redone of aos 1st ed models is current rumour. Redo more in kind of newer models.
stormcast are built from the ground up to be the subscription service starter box army. i'm not sure why people keep suggesting other armies to take their place in the starter boxes when that's simply not going to happen. it's like saying 11th edition's starter box should be drukhari vs tau. like yeah that would be cool but GW have a way that they do starter boxes and they're not going to break away from it
besides, as far as "generic starter box faction" goes, i think stormcast are pretty solid. i like the designs of the stuff i got in the dominion box and if i'm able to find a good discount on this new starter box, i'm probably gonna pick it up to compliment what i already have (hope there's a model as cool as Yndrasta in the box, tho)
It's because stormcast are not as popular as space marines are relative to other AoS factions - its not uncommon for stormcast to not be featured in Christmas boxes for example. Also WHFB before it had a history of starter box diversity. I think some people think there's a likelihood that GW could go a different direction w AoS than it does with 40k, especially if other factions are proving more popular and hooking in more customers.
It's also healthy for the game, esp as GW is going for these 3 year cycles. An army only needs so many big updates and big model releases every 3 years before its bloated on both fronts. That means even fans of the army might start buying less and less.
It's less exciting to buy new models when the ones you have already are still very good sculpts.
And an army can lose favour if the new stuff is "better on the field" than other models in the range and at which point you can't or don't want to field more and more of the army because some newer stuff does what they did better on the table. Which also then makes people worry that old model ideas are going to be retired from the army.
AoS can just do so much MORE for armies that really need more updates with all those big edition release slots.
Which is the other thing. AoS isn't sitting there with lots of big fully diverse fully updated armies. They've actually got a LOT of small armies sorely needing more model variety; and armies with old models.
Skaven are a prime example they are still running around with 1st generation plastics for some and early generation metals on others. That they are getting a new edition refresh makes a LOT of sense.
I could even see GW argue that Stormcast are a good choice because they can do a few token units and spend more on the Skaven getting a BIGGER update. I don't think that will happen, but it would be another nice thought to give more room to update more of Skaven in one big go.
Overread wrote: It's also healthy for the game, esp as GW is going for these 3 year cycles. An army only needs so many big updates and big model releases every 3 years before its bloated on both fronts. That means even fans of the army might start buying less and less.
People keep saying that but in practice it doesn't seem to exactly work out like that...
Doesn't even matter what people on forum says as long as profits say otherwise.
And something forum talkers tend to forget that those who stay multi editions and talk at forums...We are the minority. GW keeps selling models for new guys. Those who don't have existing armies and so don't worry that they are buying redone version of existing model.
Buy army, maybe 2nd, quit, fresh meat to replace him.
(there's even this thing called natural cycle that means this has to be. Players die, move to other hobbies...If GW couldn't find new customers to sell to it would have been busted loooooooooooooong time ago)
Overread wrote: It's less exciting to buy new models when the ones you have already are still very good sculpts.
Luckily old Sigmarines aren't very good sculpts. As long as the range has models from before the GW monkeys touched the monolith someone found a textbook on human anatomy, GW is going to have an easy time finding something worthwhile to put in a starter box.
WHFB always had that leg up on 40k that any good vs evil pairing could be in the starter as opposed to always marines (and then 40k even doubled down do doing marines vs marines boxes)
The last starter was High Elves vs Skaven, and before that it was Dwarfs vs Goblins... good times.
Oh and wildlife with mechanical pistons instead of muscle (yes I know I pick on the metal realm, but mostly because its one of the easier ones - Ghur also has oddities like whole areas where the land just reshapes itself in minutes from plains to mountains - how the feth to you farm/build/settle/live/travel when you have insane changes like that! )
