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I think Sigvald's horns look good-they're a real throwback to the original concepts of Slaanesh,

Carlovonsexron wrote:
its more.fair to call.the new.elves phalangites rather than hoplites!

Nice.

 Esmer wrote:
Also, is it just me, or has AoS ramped up the Greekness factor of its factions? First you had the DoK with their Medusa theme, then Idoneth Deepkin, then Bonereapers with names like Katakros and Kavalos, then the new Elves became hoplites and now the Slaanesh Warriors of Chaos are wearing hoplite helmets too.
I assume this has something to do with the overall "gods and demi-gods" flavor of the setting.

I find the themes of AoS armies are so well developed and fleshed out that it is inappropriate to say they are anything else. GW unquestionably makes great miniatures and in that category of design I feel they particularly excel. Sure, you can pull out specific details like helmet crests but is it really fair to say a model is drawing on Greek themes because of that? Every culture has shared details among them; saying that a spear-shield-armor loadout belongs to one of them is more than a bit silly!

I think the reality is that these new miniatures don't have any theme other than mortal Slaanesh. It is it's own theme.

Removed.

Very happy to finally get some more Slaanesh mortals (although i do wish there were some sort of marauder/karonite/bloodreaver analogue [which I'd love to see for Nurgle, too!])

 joseph_curwen wrote:
Very happy to finally get some more Slaanesh mortals (although i do wish there were some sort of marauder/karonite/bloodreaver analogue [which I'd love to see for Nurgle, too!])

It's quite possible we will see some non-elite style mortals. We already know from the images there is more to come, and I'd be kind of suprised if we didn't get a chaff style unit.

I'd be surprised if there isn't a unit in the theme of the Underworld Warband style. Right now those Underworld Warbands have copied the core army design asthetics every time they've fitted to a specific core army. Right now the Slaanesh band stands out, so that might be a hint where things are going; that or the designer used the Warcry bands as inspiration.

 Overread wrote:
I'd be surprised if there isn't a unit in the theme of the Underworld Warband style. Right now those Underworld Warbands have copied the core army design asthetics every time they've fitted to a specific core army. Right now the Slaanesh band stands out, so that might be a hint where things are going; that or the designer used the Warcry bands as inspiration.

Well bellydancers would certainly fit with Slaanesh as some sort of light infantry.


Although we know there going to be (maybe) Slaangors and some bigger beast-like-thing but unit of light footsloggers in similar way to bloodreavers and acolytes could be interesting. Maybe some pleasure slaves?

For me what really stands out are the weapons. GW has been very tame with fantasy weapons in Old World in general - even AoS is quite tame. Stormcast have thunder throwing crossbows, but they are just beefy crossbows etc...

Slaanesh is starting to use pole, claw, blade etc... fantasy and more exotic style weapons that we don't tend to see much of. It's exciting because of what else we might see come for other factions. Will we see Daughters of Khain with claws and wrist blades; Dwarves with steam powered battle axes; etc...

 Overread wrote:
I'd be surprised if there isn't a unit in the theme of the Underworld Warband style. Right now those Underworld Warbands have copied the core army design asthetics every time they've fitted to a specific core army. Right now the Slaanesh band stands out, so that might be a hint where things are going; that or the designer used the Warcry bands as inspiration.

Usually, but not always. The Sylvaneth one had a new sorceress model and a tree revenant with a bow. The chaos maurders never got a full release, same with Mollog's squig brigade. Don't get me wrong; I'd gladly buy bellydancer slaaneshy mortals over the painbringers, but I'm not holding my breath.

The way I see it there's several categories that GW is steadily filling for mortal Chaos;

'light infantry' equivalent
Undivided - Marauders
Khorne - Bloodreavers
Tzeentch - Kairic Acolytes
Nurgle - empty
Slaanesh - empty

'heavy infantry' equivalent
Undivided - Warriors
Khorne - Blood Warriors
Tzeentch - Tzaangors
Nurgle - empty
Slaanesh - Painbringers/Twinsouls

'elite infantry' equivalent
Undivided - Chosen
Khorne - Wrathmongers/Skulltakers
Tzeentch - Enlightened (on foot)
Nurgle - Blightkings
Slaanesh - maybe those Slaangor(?) we see in the background?

Could argue for a light/heavy cavalry thing too but that I'm not as sure about.

its more.fair to call.the new.elves phalangites rather than hoplites!

Phalangites were hoplites too. "Hoplite" simply means "arm bearer".

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
Also, is it just me, or has AoS ramped up the Greekness factor of its factions? First you had the DoK with their Medusa theme, then Idoneth Deepkin, then Bonereapers with names like Katakros and Kavalos, then the new Elves became hoplites and now the Slaanesh Warriors of Chaos are wearing hoplite helmets too.
I assume this has something to do with the overall "gods and demi-gods" flavor of the setting.

I find the themes of AoS armies are so well developed and fleshed out that it is inappropriate to say they are anything else. GW unquestionably makes great miniatures and in that category of design I feel they particularly excel. Sure, you can pull out specific details like helmet crests but is it really fair to say a model is drawing on Greek themes because of that? Every culture has shared details among them; saying that a spear-shield-armor loadout belongs to one of them is more than a bit silly!

Erm, what? The painbringer helmets are clearly Greek-inspired, just like the Ogers are Mongol-inspired, Seraphon are precolumbian American-inspired and so on. I am not sure what you are trying to say here and I am also not sure how it's "inappropriate" to say that they are drawing from those particular cultural themes.

saying that a spear-shield-armor loadout belongs to one of them is more than a bit silly!

Good thing I didn't say that then. I said their helmets are Greek-themed, which they totally are.

Ah yes, the monolithic culture of "greece", which retained identical helmets from bronze age to roman conquest

Cronch wrote:
Ah yes, the monolithic culture of "greece", which retained identical helmets from bronze age to roman conquest

Sometimes I wonder if people on this forum are taking pills and seeing things that aren't there. It's uncanny that this is like the 3rd time this week I see responses like this. One would seriously hope that there is no issue with saying "Greek-themed" or "Greek -inspired" instead of "themed specifally after the Corinthian helmet dated at exactly 479 BC during the Persian Campaigns as exemplified by the surviving specimen found near Peloponnese in the year 1956".

Can the Hedonites get a pass? Because to me, its super obvious that the helmets are made to be a callback to the older Slaanesh champion.


Like the guy/gal on the boob snake had this helmet style. It's not like its a new look for Slaanesh followers. So even if it's a Greek/Hoplite inspiration, it's been one that's been around for a few decades.



I'd even say this guy counts, though his helmet is more like a classic WoC

 Esmer wrote:

Cronch wrote:
Ah yes, the monolithic culture of "greece", which retained identical helmets from bronze age to roman conquest

Sometimes I wonder if people on this forum are taking pills and seeing things that aren't there. It's uncanny that this is like the 3rd time this week I see responses like this. One would seriously hope that there is no issue with saying "Greek-themed" or "Greek -inspired" instead of "themed specifally after the Corinthian helmet dated at exactly 479 BC during the Persian Campaigns as exemplified by the surviving specimen found near Peloponnese in the year 1956".

If someone does not interpret your post the same way you did they are taking pills. Ok.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Esmer wrote:

Cronch wrote:
Ah yes, the monolithic culture of "greece", which retained identical helmets from bronze age to roman conquest

Sometimes I wonder if people on this forum are taking pills and seeing things that aren't there. It's uncanny that this is like the 3rd time this week I see responses like this. One would seriously hope that there is no issue with saying "Greek-themed" or "Greek -inspired" instead of "themed specifally after the Corinthian helmet dated at exactly 479 BC during the Persian Campaigns as exemplified by the surviving specimen found near Peloponnese in the year 1956".

If someone does not interpret your post the same way you did they are taking pills. Ok.

I admit it was an unnecessarily caustic comment because it happened several times in a row. Sorry for that.

 GaroRobe wrote:
Can the Hedonites get a pass? Because to me, its super obvious that the helmets are made to be a callback to the older Slaanesh champion.

Like the guy/gal on the boob snake had this helmet style. It's not like its a new look for Slaanesh followers. So even if it's a Greek/Hoplite inspiration, it's been one that's been around for a few decades.

The look may have been around for some time, but that doesn't make new hats in the same style any less Greek in their aesthetics of course. It's still somewhat notable in that the older champions are no longer for sale and obviously were part of Warhammer Fantasy, so they could have chosen to reinvent the Slaaneshy look somewhat. They didn't, and I for one am quite happy with that choice, as it's a smashing aesthetic, and combined with very non-Greek elements doesn't make them too derived (I do like the clearly Mesoamerican Lizardmen, Egyptian Tomb Kings or Landsknecht Empire figures, but the forces of Chaos should certainly not be so grounded in reality!).

The direchasm units are seen in the background of the reveal, you can see the archer in the background. The slaangor has already been pointed out. The archer is on the right, I suspect it might be a duel kit like the Painbringers.

 Esmer wrote:
I admit it was an unnecessarily caustic comment because it happened several times in a row. Sorry for that.

Ah, I know what that's like better than I wish I did. Respect for apologies.

At any rate, I don't think anyone is arguing that there are not definite cultural themes for WHFB miniatures, especially older ones. IMO it really wasn't until 8th edition that many armies started to gain an aesthetic distinct enough to be it's own thing. Ogres, for example, originally were super generic, then got the Mongol-lite reboot. But 8th saw the origination of a distinct set of motifs that do not line up with any real world cultures. Looking at just those models (clearly an aesthetic they want to stick with given the new Tyrant) no one would say they are Mongolian themed.

Bringing it back to new releases, my argument is that a crested helmet is not enough to establish a Greek theme. Lumineth spearmen bear no similarity to Hoplites beyond spear-shield-armor; a very common historical loadout and the formation tactics that come with it. There needs to be a trend of similarities to call a theme, even if there is an iconic shared element that is not enough on its own.

I think you're ignoring.that the helmet design on.the lumineth Spearman is pretty clearly inspired classical helmets, looking at it does like a kind of blend of the Attic and Corinthian styles.

Combine that with the long.spears and shields- a pair of armaments that un the west have its strongest associations with the Greeks (in this case in the form of Alexander's phalangites, a master class in early combined arms strategy, and a worthy if uninspired choice to influence elven design) and its.oretty easy to see the Greek themes running along in Lumineth design.

Not that I like it- I'd much rather have non stormcast.order.humans in classical armor,.as.that would tie.them.in.so much better to stormcast design and make a range of humans that feel whole and a natural progression.

Elves.should.be modeled after the Japanese: Xenophobic, dedicated to perfection and.sometimes a littlebtoobfullbof.themselves, even while.being very polite lol

Carlovonsexron wrote:

Elves.should.be modeled after the Japanese: Xenophobic, dedicated to perfection and.sometimes a littlebtoobfullbof.themselves, even while.being very polite lol

Oh wow, I just felt like it's the 1950s

To be clear, I love Japan- but they have a very distinct reputation in Asia, particularly among members of the South East Asian community I've met, and I can't say its entirely unfounded.

They don't have as xenophobic a reputation as the Koreans, but that might because they are too polite

Well yes, but we all know all asians are super-racist, so it's not surprising.

I wouldn't exactly call it racism, but there is definitely a very complicated cultural conservatism and what one might call 'curated' adoption of say western norms.

Though that said I would say that SEA- the overseas workers from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines etc can be treated very poorly, and it can be gut wrenching to anyone who pays attention.

Let’s stay on topic, feel free to continue this discussion about Asia in the Off Topic sub forum, thanks!

So, looking at the lore, people were right about the Shadeglass mirror containing Sigvald. Out of curiosity, is there any lore or short story that covers the Duardin stealing the mirror from Shadespire? I'm guessing it's probably just little fluff blurbs from Underworlds or the Hedonite battle tome, but it'd be fun to read up on if there's a dedicated story

 GaroRobe wrote:
So, looking at the lore, people were right about the Shadeglass mirror containing Sigvald. Out of curiosity, is there any lore or short story that covers the Duardin stealing the mirror from Shadespire? I'm guessing it's probably just little fluff blurbs from Underworlds or the Hedonite battle tome, but it'd be fun to read up on if there's a dedicated story

I'd honestly just like a refresher on the short blurbs if any.

"Vainest soul ever to have existed"

Well that is one way to describe Sigvald.