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Well mates, after being completely taken off guard with the new Vampire Counts book coming out so recently, its safe to say that I'm no longer 100% sure on which Army will be getting a new book. From what I have heard so far from multiple people fomr places such as Warseer and other forums, the general consensus is that it will be either Empire, Dwarfs or Bretonnia that will be receiving a new army book later this year, however I dont see why because at it currently stands, the Wood Elves are the Army that need a new book far more then anyone else in 8th edition as they cant seem to win any games at this point (my brother plays Wood Elves and lets just say its been painful for him) . Anyways, just your quick thoughts on which army do you think will be next or if you guys have heard anything pending on the new book. Granted though it might be just rumors, its still an interesting topic to talk about as the VC got a lot of interesting new units and characters. .

The rumormill says it is Empire

I voted Wood Elves. That's just blind hope though. In reality I do think it will be Empire then Dwarfs and my poor Wood Elves wont get anything till next year.

Edit: spelling.

Kredic wrote:I voted Wood Elves. That's just blind hope though. In reality I do think it will be Empire then Dwarfs and my poor Wood Elves wont get anything till next year.

Edit: spelling.

Its just like what happened with the older editions, we got some models and a book and then were ignored all the way up till 7th edition, I am having a sinking feeling that may very well happen. Wood Elves deserve it more then any army but because for GW its all about money, money, money something tells me it will be one of the other armies. Hope for Wood Elves, know it wont be them.

Empire, Warriors of Chaos, Dwarves(this might not happen), Dark Elves

That is the forecast from all the trustworthy rumor mongers. Dark Elves are slated for 2013.

And so brets are passed up for armies that don't really need updates in the first place

EmilCrane wrote:And so brets are passed up for armies that don't really need updates in the first place

As are Wood Elves. GW just doesn't see them as money makers, therefore they are left behind.

Wood Elves would be nice.

I don't get that personally, WE with some savage new models, like re-doing Ariel could be huge.

There are legions of HE and DE players so it's hard to see the logic that there would not be sufficient interest, also they think a book on Orion would sell

I don't think they send out new books based solely on who needs it most. The problem that Dwarfes, Wood Elves, and Brettonians have is that their range is fairly old, so in order to redo the army they also have to redo most of the existing range, which takes time.

Wood Elves, for example, would need Wardancers, Hawk Riders, Wild Riders, and Eternal Guard redone at a minimum, and that's in addition to any new units they want to add, which would probably be at least 3 new kits. It was much easier for them to redo Vampire Counts since all the existing models are fine, so they could focus all that time on getting the new units ready. It would take twice as long to do that with Wood Elves from the point they started considering a new release for them (which probably wasn't that long ago). I think Dwarfes, Brets, and Wood Elves only got to the point where they really need updates when 8th came out. Not even really Dwarfes, they're just an old army but can still perform. 8th didn't really break them like it did with Wood Elves and Brets.

From the business standpoint it would make sense to give Wood Elves a "Necrons" treatment... a few of the current sculpts will stay, but 50-75% of the range will be redone. That's going to be a significant chuck of time, but the pretty new models should bring in a good chuck of money, which they learned from Dark Eldar and Necrons releases.

My vote is on Empire to go with the rumors but also because all they really would need for a release is a new book and a couple plastic kits. They could probably crap out an Empire book in 6 months.

As of mid december it was to be Empire, then dwarfs.

Yesterday studio source again said Empire next.

My pick is April release.


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I hope so, as I will be able to buy models at Adepticon.

I expect Empire, based on the various rumor mills.

I'm not really sure that Empire needs a new book right now, they've got a reasonably competitive army and they're not totally out of date.

The only thing the army is lacking is the Huge Beast of Doom (apart from Walter and Stank), that has become the staple of WHFB armies. But, we have cannons and mortars. What else do you need?

As an Empire player, I'd rather see Brets and Wood Elves get an army book.

biccat wrote:
As an Empire player, I'd rather see Brets and Wood Elves get an army book.

This

As a Empire player I am more than happy with my book right now

Johnny-Crass wrote:

biccat wrote:
As an Empire player, I'd rather see Brets and Wood Elves get an army book.

This

As a Empire player I am more than happy with my book right now

Agreed mate, though our book has a few flaws that I think need to be tweaked, overall the Empire Army as a whole is solid as a whole and from what I can see, when they do come out with our new book I really dont expect much change except a number of point changes, less magic items, and possibly a Large Beast, but we already have the Steam Tank and War Altar so I dont see why we would need one. Only thing I'm really looking forward to see is the point changes to all of our the State Troops (particularly Spearmen), changes to our Warrior Priets, and Greatswords being able to have a Magic Banner for a change.

But saying that, I agree that the Wood Elves need the new Army Book right now.

Given how long it's been since WE and Brets last got a book and how many armies will have gotten multiple books since then does it not suggest that those two armies are essentially out of production? As the long as the existing models keep selling enough to turn a profit then they'll remain available but the sales of each don't justify the expense of a new book and range of figures when that could be given over to a much profitable army. Or am I just being pessimistic?

I'm sitting on a used empire army with some 20 swordmen and 40 spearmen and an unopened brigade, I am currently shelving them waiting for the update as it is so soon, but I just assume wait a year make a big horde of halbreds and swordmen, go ahead and make my war altar as I have heard rumors of it taking a hit.

Cirronimbus wrote:I don't think they send out new books based solely on who needs it most. The problem that Dwarfes, Wood Elves, and Brettonians have is that their range is fairly old, so in order to redo the army they also have to redo most of the existing range, which takes time.

The Wood Elf miniature range as a whole does not need to be updated besides converting the metal models to plastic ones. Other then that the model range for the WE is still fantastic looking and doesnt need to be updated to much, maybe adding a new kit/character or to but thats it, so it wouldnt be very hard to start up WE again. And I agree with EmilCrane once again we get passed over, however unlike WE Bretonnians can still be very effective in this edition (a player proved that at our store as he currently is undefeated with an almost pure KotR army.)

Empire is next, having one of the last oddball magic phases. Empire players, say goodbye to the ability to bank power or dispel dice because it is going away.

Dwarves after that. They have a really oddball magic item list, and are the last remaining army that can charge outside the movement phase. The anvil will still be there, but you'll be doing remaining moves with it, not ANY move.

WOC should be up soon too. The Hellcannon's misfire chart will be changed so it can't kill off your opponent's casters when your cannon misfires.

EDIT: I've heard that DE come up after that, and I'm trying to figure out why. Hydras are underpriced, sure. DE magic is powerful, sure. I'm not aware of any major rules anomolies that are that far out of whack with 8E. Skaven are far more out of whack, to judge by the size of their FAQ.

The Wood Elf miniature range as a whole does not need to be updated besides converting the metal models to plastic ones. Other then that the model range for the WE is still fantastic looking

That's the point though... they need to make new sculpts for all the metal kits, of which Wood Elves have the most (closely followed by Dwarves). They aren't new units but they are new sculpts so it'll still take some time. They also have to release new units because if they don't people will be upset / they'll make more money if they do.

I agree though the plastic/finecast range for Wood Elves is great.

According to Harry from warseer, WoC will happen before dwarves.

I agree that DE don't really need to be fiddled with.

Hargus56 wrote:I'm sitting on a used empire army with some 20 swordmen and 40 spearmen and an unopened brigade, I am currently shelving them waiting for the update as it is so soon, but I just assume wait a year make a big horde of halbreds and swordmen, go ahead and make my war altar as I have heard rumors of it taking a hit.

I would certainly go ahead and make halberdiers and swordsmen. You're always going to need state troops. Definitely hold off on the Waltar, it's unclear what is going to happen on the Lord/Hero front.

Vulcan wrote:Empire is next, having one of the last oddball magic phases. Empire players, say goodbye to the ability to bank power or dispel dice because it is going away.

Apart from the Rod of Power, what is 'oddball' about the Empire magic phase?

I like the sound of empire followed by woc.
We will see in time.

WoC does not need a new book in any way shape or form

They may not need one but it would still be nice.

WoC *definitely* need a new book. They've got ridiculously cheap core troops (marauders), silly abuses with warshrines, a warmachine that's hugely random and does good things when it screws up, and some odd magic.

Right now they're a strong army that steamrolls some armies and loses with relative ease to certain others. GW is definitely trying to get away from RPS situations, and they seem to be focusing new army books on armies that need them to "fall into line" with the way 8th edition is intended to be played.

... that said, Wood Elves badly need a book too. They really are the bastard child of the current crop.

I have to agree that WoC kinda need an update as well (but obviously not as much as Wood Elves and Brets.) Marauders are just ridiculous and most units in WoC aren't even used, except for the Warriors of Chaos and Marauders.

I fear for updates this edition since they've gone bare bones with magic items. VC went from 4 or 5 pages of items down to 9 items.

All this does is homogenize character builds to where there is only gonna be one or two viable ways to play certain characters. I especially fear for Dark Elves when this happens as they have some of the best magic items without being broken.

Aerethan wrote:I fear for updates this edition since they've gone bare bones with magic items. VC went from 4 or 5 pages of items down to 9 items.

All this does is homogenize character builds to where there is only gonna be one or two viable ways to play certain characters. I especially fear for Dark Elves when this happens as they have some of the best magic items without being broken.

Makes me wince thinking of losing the bow of loren but I guess being the red headed step child of 8th edition fantasy has its benefits that we get ALL of our magic items still...even if most of them are to much in point costs

That is the other thing woc would cut back on the magic items by a ton and then the gifts of chaos.

Up side would be the marks could all be useful.
Maybe also some new magic.

The thing even with dark elves is most of the character builds are more or less similar anyways so why have tones of extra options is their train of thought i think.

Don't make me start posting DE character builds. There are a ton of viable ways to run a dreadlord and I like having those options.

Homogenizing character builds makes for a stale list environment where there is only one or two ways to play the army.